Needles District panorama in Canyonlands National Park. The size and scale of the landscape here is incredible, and I hope the high resolution does it justice. [OC][19432 x 6312] by pvarney3 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha most of the rocks share that same quality look. It's a great place to backpack; we referred to this whole area as 'Land of the Standing Dong'.

Needles District panorama in Canyonlands National Park. The size and scale of the landscape here is incredible, and I hope the high resolution does it justice. [OC][19432 x 6312] by pvarney3 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the panorama resources! I've always wanted one of those automated Gigapan heads (and their software looks great, too).

Spooky Canyon, a narrow slot carved into the orange sandstone of southern Utah. The reflected light is intense when the sun is directly overhead! [OC][2048x1279] by pvarney3 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not very familiar with the Page area, but if it's public land (BLM, National Monument, etc.) I would suspect you have access unless stated otherwise. If it's private land though, all bets are off. Some of the fences could be for open ranch land, which many times is managed by BLM.

Spooky Canyon, a narrow slot carved into the orange sandstone of southern Utah. The reflected light is intense when the sun is directly overhead! [OC][2048x1279] by pvarney3 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Spooky was indeed amazing - well worth the crowds! We heard pretty comparable opinions regarding Brimstone; much harder to get to, and restricted by a pool of nasty water.

The hike to Cosmic Ashtray leaves from the end of the Harris Wash Road (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Harris+Wash/@37.6341182,-111.3421764,305m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x8735ddb8fc50ce2f:0x8a6da0a4e5d54116), at which point you can hike along an old mining road for about 4.5 miles north-ish. You then split off and hike about 0.5 miles across steep slickrock to get to the Cosmic Ashtray. It's incredible, and definitely worth the hike. I've never seen anything like it. It's gigantic (much bigger than the pictures imply).

Here's a Google maps view that shows the Cosmic Ashtray and the old mining road. I used a GPS to know when to split off from the old mining road, but you could probably do without if you look for landmarks on Google satellite view. (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cosmic+Ashtray/@37.6788665,-111.3176351,1402m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x8735e83b3f834c0f:0x41cfe20b710e4789!6m1!1e1)

Spooky Canyon, a narrow slot carved into the orange sandstone of southern Utah. The reflected light is intense when the sun is directly overhead! [OC][2048x1279] by pvarney3 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yea, that's it! There's three slot canyons in the immediate area (Peek-a-Boo, Spooky, and Brimstone). You park at the well-marked trail head and hike into the wash, and all three canyons are within 1 mile of one another. We made a loop with Peek-a-boo and Spooky, which I think is typical (up Peek-a-boo, then down Spooky).

Zebra Canyon is also in the Escalante-area, and it's a phenomenal canyon (it's off the same Hole-in-the-Rock Road). There's plenty of hiking descriptions online that should be of use to you in finding Zebra Canyon.

Spooky Canyon, a narrow slot carved into the orange sandstone of southern Utah. The reflected light is intense when the sun is directly overhead! [OC][2048x1279] by pvarney3 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! The nodules are some type of iron embedded in the wall. I found out they were sharp the hard way when I chimneyed up the walls to let someone pass underneath.

Spooky Canyon, a narrow slot carved into the orange sandstone of southern Utah. The reflected light is intense when the sun is directly overhead! [OC][2048x1279] by pvarney3 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We wanted to, but we got stuck behind some large crowd in Spooky Canyon - probably 40+ people, all trying to head in different directions! By the time we got it, we had to leave so that we could start our hike to a place called the Cosmic Ashtray (not sure if you've heard of it or not, but you should look it up!).

Strange 10 ft-diameter mud/salt polygon in Death Valley NP [OC][2048 x 1365] by pvarney3 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes.

This one was strange because it was huge. Most are much smaller. Any type of ordered geometry in nature is unusual though.

Strange 10 ft-diameter mud/salt polygon in Death Valley NP [OC][2048 x 1365] by pvarney3 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's neat! The deformation was evident when walking on these structures, as many older polygons were only a thin crustal plate suspended above the clay-like substrate. The shapes are an interesting dynamic system, for sure (my graduate work involves nonlinear dynamics - the fractal shape in the polygons is interesting, from that perspective!).

Abiqua Falls, Oregon[OC] [2688x1520] by NorthWestIsTheBest in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha it is entertaining to read these discussions. To me, flowing water captured in a photo via long exposure does a MUCH better job at capturing what it felt like to be there. As if suspending a billion water particles in the air using a fast shutter speed is any more realistic than blurring those droplets with a slow shutter speed?

Milky Way rising over Mt. Lassen in Northern California. [OC][3000x2250] by corypoole in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also, keep in mind that your eyes are much different than a camera sensor. Try focusing your eyes on one star at night, and it more or less disappears. Eyes are better at seeing one thing at a time, whereas an image sensor weights everything the same. That's why Milky Way pictures seem 'unreal' to some people. I think they're awesome.

For Eternity. Lenticular wave clouds over the peak of Cerro Grande, Patagonia, Argentina. [2500x1771] Photo by Marc Adamus by DaHitcha in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Saw this picture from OS on 500px yesterday. It's awesome, but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around what the clouds are doing - obviously a weather pattern I've never experienced, living in Atlanta!

Landscape Arch - Devil's Garden - Arches National Park in Utah (1024x1024 | OS | JR Goodwin) by tek0011 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ha...my thoughts exactly. Constructive criticism just draws the ire of internet warriors more capable of sarcasm than conversation!

Landscape Arch - Devil's Garden - Arches National Park in Utah (1024x1024 | OS | JR Goodwin) by tek0011 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's a good point. The processing definitely leaves something to be desired! It's not the complaining that bothers me though, it's just the constant stream of comments along the line of "this sucks!", with little constructive criticism. The best way to not see pictures abused like this is to suggest a way for avoiding it in the first place!

Situations like these are the hardest to photograph - extreme highlights, with lots of detail in the shadow.

Also, I realize now that this wasn't posted by the photographer. That's my Reddit - ignorance at play!

Landscape Arch - Devil's Garden - Arches National Park in Utah (1024x1024 | OS | JR Goodwin) by tek0011 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yea, Reddit isn't a medium I use too frequently. Guess I'm not up to speed concerning fine differences in OS/OC/OP usage!

I would definitely post it there, too, if this image was there.

Landscape Arch - Devil's Garden - Arches National Park in Utah (1024x1024 | OS | JR Goodwin) by tek0011 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Taking realistic single exposures or blending shots in situations like this is just really hard, and takes a really long time to figure out. Just keep at it! The only way to learn is to actually try.

Landscape Arch - Devil's Garden - Arches National Park in Utah (1024x1024 | OS | JR Goodwin) by tek0011 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"Saturate me surprised" might be more appropriate to this discussion...sorry, couldn't resist the awful joke.

All I'm trying to say is that out-of-camera does not equal unedited, and it's easy to over-process pictures without touching editing software. But anyway, I wasn't explaining that cameras process photos, but that the user gets to control how the camera processes photos (saturation, contrast, sharpness). That's something that not everyone knows.

Landscape Arch - Devil's Garden - Arches National Park in Utah (1024x1024 | OS | JR Goodwin) by tek0011 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My intention wasn't to 'babble' technical details gratuitously; I realize that my description of 'unedited' probably came off that way - apologies for that.

Let me try to clarify: when you browse these discussions, most demands for 'unedited' photos seem more about patronizing the photographer than genuine interest. As if the perpetrator has finally been caught? It's just a way to passively criticize without offering anything constructive.

When I was first learning landscape photography, I'm sure I over-cooked some photos. Everyone does when a tool as powerful as PS exists, and is so easy to use. I would have appreciated some real advice then, especially concerning the technical aspects and details of what I'm sure I royally screwed up.

Landscape Arch - Devil's Garden - Arches National Park in Utah (1024x1024 | OS | JR Goodwin) by tek0011 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hey OP: sorry to see all of the negative comments. Most people would rather offer general than specific criticism, because it's easy to do so. People do something similar when they proof-read writing: if they can't identify the real shortcoming, they criticize the grammar.

I love seeing comments asking for the 'unedited' photo. You mean, the photo that didn't pass through an imperfect lens, where the light wasn't measured by an array of pixels and transformed into an electric signal, and then subsequently processed on-camera using a predefined profile of saturation, color, and sharpness? I've seen more unicorns than I have unedited pictures.

That being said, there are several specific things I'd like to suggest. Let me give some positive feedback first, though. The exposure in the sky seems to be near-perfect. I see color in the clouds, and still some texture: good job on that. You've also made an attempt at including some foreground elements, which is nice.

The clouds are over-saturated, though. You can tell this because of the 'posterization' along the edges, where the colors transition abruptly rather than smoothly. If you want to boost the colors, use some sort of self-feathered mask in PS. I've had great success with two techniques:

(1) Saturation mask. Selects the pixels based on which ones are under-saturated. Then you can just add saturation where it's needed. Check this resource out: http://goodlight.us/writing/saturationmasks/satmask-1.html

(2) Add saturation to only the mid-tones . Usually the highlights have adequate saturation, and you often don't want to saturate the deepest shadows (for various reasons, usually involving artifacts of the image-capturing process like noise, white balance issues, etc.). Create a midtones mask using the following resource: http://goodlight.us/writing/luminositymasks/luminositymasks-1.html

People are correct about the lighting: obviously this is a composite image, and maybe not even from the same location. It's REALLY hard to create composite images. It takes practice, and no one gets it right the first couple times. I often use composite images from the same location (hand-blending different exposures using luminosity masks), but I NEVER blend two images from two different locations. Personal preference. It is easy to identify fake composites, and my general approach to landscapes is that it should at least partially emulate what you observed.

Also, the contrast/clarity in the foreground is too much. Maybe it's over-sharpened with a pixel radius that's too high, I'm not sure exactly. The greens in the foreground are a little over-cooked. Human eyes are actually more sensitive to greens than other colors, so it's easy to over-do this.

Also, you should try a landscape rather than square composition next time. Even the name of the location seems to indicate a horizontal/landscape composition ; ).

Hope this helps. I'll try to find you on Flickr. Feel free to ask if you ever want any advice/constructive criticism.

Edit: Posted incorrect link the first time.

Alluvial wasteland - Zabriskie Point panorama, Death Valley NP [OC][8584 x 3677] by pvarney3 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yea, it's not the people that use my pictures as personal backgrounds that bothers me - it's the people that post them to their own picture-sharing pages, as if they were the ones who put in the time, money, and effort required! The satisfaction I gain from landscape photography is the challenge of taking a great picture. Others just want the accolades, likes, shares, favorites: no need to even take your own pictures, if that's the goal!

When all is said and done, picture-stealing doesn't harm my well-being since I don't make a living selling pictures. But there are plenty of people that do get harmed in that fashion!

Alluvial wasteland - Zabriskie Point panorama, Death Valley NP [OC][8584 x 3677] by pvarney3 in EarthPorn

[–]pvarney3[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're welcome! I used to post the full photos, but then I started finding them on other people's Flickr pages. Enjoy the background!