Finally Some Snow

After a dearth of snow we are finally receiving a bunch. Now, should I ski or take the camera out?

Update: I went skiing. It’s too difficult to use my spare time taking photos when I could be skiing.

Delicate Arch in Arches National Park

Delicate Arch is one of the most photographed locations in all of Utah, which typically means I avoid photographing it. I usually shy away from a location if it has hordes of photographers or has been photographed every which way possible but, for some spots, I have to make an exception due to their iconic status. When I visit those locations, though, I typically try to shoot them in some unique way in order to differentiate my shot from the mountains of others. Delicate Arch is one of those iconic locations in the western United States and is in my backyard, so to speak. On a family trip to Arches National Park I took a hike up to the arch to try my hand at getting a unique shot of this amazing location.

First off, Delicate Arch is huge. It is much larger than I thought it would be, towering over tourists as they stand underneath its “legs”. As I got to the spot, I was frustrated by the hordes of people swarming the place. I knew I wasn’t going to get much opportunity for good light due to the clouds in the west so I had to quickly decide on a location. I didn’t want to take the typical Delicate-Arch-with-La-Sal-Mountains-in-the-distance shot so I worked my way to the left side of the arch. It was spring time so there was some green down in the valley below and I liked how the blue sky, red rock, and green vegetation complimented one another so I decided to setup on the left, higher up the bowl surrounding the arch in order to get more of the valley in the frame.

Probably the most difficult aspect of this shot was getting some good light to correspond to when a tourist wasn’t at the base of the arch taking a frustratingly long time to take their corny holding-up-the-arch shot. After having several spoiled shots due to inconsiderate tourists (standing around for 15 minutes at a time, causing a backlog of other tourists waiting for their turn to hold everyone else up), I finally was able to get this shot.

Christmas Meadows at Night

This was an experimental shot that I ended up liking. While at Christmas Meadows in the Uinta Mountains of Utah, I decided that the moonlit night was looking pretty good for an attempt at some night photography. I haven’t done much night photography (I keep telling myself that I should make it more of a focus but I’ve yet to actually do so) and figured the shot would be fun to attempt, despite my reluctance to leave the comfort of my chair by the campfire.

The shot was about a seven minute exposure utilizing my wired remote to keep the shutter open. You’d be surprised how long seven minutes can seem while standing in the cold and periodically checking one’s watch. Anyway, I had taken several previous shots in order to get the exposure right, eventually winding up with the seven minute exposure you see here. One of the challenges associated with long exposures like this is hot pixels as the digital sensor gets warm. Balancing the need for a long exposure with the potential of hot pixels is, I found, an important consideration for night photography and I have a new found respect for photographers taking excellent night shots. It’s tough to take mediocre shots like mine, let alone take excellent shots like I see elsewhere.

Lastly, the other difficulty with night photography that I hadn’t considered is how to properly focus the shot. It’s tougher than one would expect when you can’t make out details more than a few feet away. I ended up having to depend upon the lens markings to determine proper focus so, if you are considering purchasing a lens without focus markings – especially infinity – I’d highly recommend you get a lens with focus markings if you think you may ever do night photography.

Wasatch Mountain Winter

I had been dying to get out and take some photographs but the weather lately has been awful. There’s been little new snowfall, smog in the lower valleys, and the skies have alternated between gray or cloudless blue. Today, however, that all changed with a bunch of new snow overnight and throughout the morning. As the storm front moved through the sun popped out, causing all that new snow to sparkle, and, luck of all luck, there were still quite a few clouds out.

As I was clearing the driveway for the second time I noticed there were bunches of clouds billowing around the peaks of the Wasatch Mountains so I threw the camera gear into the Land Cruiser and headed up into the mountains. None of the nearby locations were terribly inspiring but I figured I’d give them a shot anyway. It’s been too long since I’ve gotten a decent landscape shot.

I had to drive a bit on an unpaved and unplowed road (the snow was up to the bottom of the door on the Land Cruiser), and then hike a bit in the deep snow, but I found a pretty decent spot with some decent foreground. I took several shots at different angles but settled on the one below. The photo doesn’t wow me but it’s decent enough to put on the site. Maybe it’ll grow on me.

One of the most difficult things about this shot was focusing on something at the hyperfocal distance. I had to focus on something about seven feet out in order to get 3.5 feet to infinity in focus. That turned out to be difficult to do with blinding snow destroying my eyes (snow is hard to focus on) but I was able to get the focus correct for the shot. You can’t check the LCD screen for sharpness in such bright light, making hyperfocal distance cards a must-have.

Fresh Snow and Photos at Lunch

We had some fresh snow last night and this morning so the ground and trees are looking great. The sun came out around noon and things looked quite fantastic, so I headed up to the mountains to see what I could find. I ended up taking shots at about four locations but have yet to see them. Gotta slam some lunch and get back to work. I hope to edit the shots tonight.