A few years back I was in southern California and spent the day at the Getty. The crowds were minimal and the weather promised an early Spring. The view stretched to the coast unhindered by the usual horizontal brown streaks, and a deep blue sky with voluminous billowy clouds floated overhead. The shadows were strong without the light being overly harsh. It seemed the perfect set of conditions to forego my visible light cameras and walk instead in the world of infrared photography.

Shooting with two different infrared-converted Pentax DSLRs at focal lengths ranging from 14mm to 70mm I was able to capture interesting compositions. The bright-white clouds contrasted with the deep black sky and both provided the perfect backdrop for the play of light and shadow in the near distance. The Getty Center, designed by architect Richard Meier, features his trademark white architecture, in this case white panels overlaid on a curving, even sensuous, framework. This is juxtapositioned with arrow-straight beams and walkways. Superimposed on all are multiple impressions of grids: in the walls, the windows, the stairwells, and railings. Occasional walls and foundations of rough-hewn, pale ochre stone act as a marked and organic contrast to the mathematical equation of the main metal and concrete structures.

The fun begins immediately after stepping off of the tram in the Arrival Plaza (you take a small ‘people-mover’ from the lower parking lot to the Getty complex, per se). Most people quickly shoot their first of many tourist photos here standing in the front of the wide ascending steps leading to the Museum Entrance Hall. This building yields the classic undulating pose featured in brochures, articles, and so many folks’ photographs. But having shot it from ground level a few years back, I wanted a different view. That’s what led me to climb the steps leading to the upper floor of the oft-ignored restaurant building. This put me at a level to shoot the curves of the main building straight-on, but more importantly gave me lots of lines, curves, patterns, light and shadows to play with as I worked my way around the structure.

From there my wanderings took me to the Research Institute Exhibition Gallery, the gardens (which were too crowded), the West Pavilion and back to the Museum Hall. When my day at the Getty was finished I had not even ventured into the Main Plaza, much less the North, South and East Pavilion buildings. No worries: something left for a return visit.

Exploring the lines, angles, patterns, light and shadow of architecture can not only be a visual and intellectual joy but it also can yield rich and compelling images, especially if you take the time to really work it.

Words and Images Jeff Clay

The post Lines, Angles, Patterns, Light & Shadow appeared first on Wasatch Camera Club.

One thing that can’t be argued though, is that Antelope Island is by far the largest island in the lake. It is also the most visited island and one of the reasons is to view the island’s wildlife. The ubiquitous bison, large mule deer, the rarely seen bighorn sheep, wily coyotes, shy bobcats, numerous different bird species and of course the pronghorn “antelope,” for which the island is named. It has been recorded that John C. Fremont was the first non-native human to explore the island (in 1845) and named the island after the animals he shot for food. Three years later the Fielding Garr Ranch was established and the island began its long transition from natural environment to open-air stockyard for sheep and cattle.

The irony is that prior to their successful re-introduction to the island in 1993, the pronghorn was reported to have ‘disappeared’ in the 1930s. I have tried to determine how a species can disappear from what was then a closed environment (no causeway) but given our animal husbandry track record at that point and the fact that in the ’20s and ’30s there were over 10,000 sheep foraging on the island, I can certainly imagine their fate. The happy news is that they are back and with a herd of around 200 are thriving quite nicely. 

The irony is that the “antelope” of Antelope Island — and indeed, of North America — are not in fact antelope at all. Correctly they are called pronghorn and are the last living species of a biological family whose closest relatives are…giraffes and okapi! Strange, but true. But, we can easily forgive the early explorers and settlers their taxonomic tribulations as the pronghorn certainly much more closely resemble old world antelope than giraffes!

The post When an Antelope Isn’t appeared first on Wasatch Camera Club.

In 2009 Congress designated 100,000 acres of the wild and seldom visited Cedar Mountains a Wilderness Area. Located only 50 miles from Salt Lake City, the Cedars are the third Great Basin mountain range west of the Wasatch. Typical of these types of mountains, the Cedars run north-to-south and are bordered on the east by Skull Valley and stretching to the west as far as the Nevada border is the Bonneville depression.

The ubiquitous explorer John C. Fremont passed through the range in the 1840s while later self-styled pioneer route-finder Lansford W. Hastings designated part of his infamous Hastings Cut-Off Trail to cut through a northern canyon of the mountains. The doomed Donner Party filled their canteens in this canyon for the 80 mile crossing of the Bonneville Salt Flats, unaware of the historic and grim fate that awaited them higher and further away in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.

Early settlers often mistook juniper for cedars. There are no cedar trees in the Cedar Mountains. Not much in the way of trees at all, actually. There are plenty of junipers though, and after the occasional lightning strike-induced fire, the skeletal limbs of these trees stretch skyward in plaintive and poignant fashion. Or, so it seems to me.

Being not so tall or wide as the Stansbury Mountains, nor so physically abused and trampled as the Oquirrh Mountains, nor so distant as the hyper-dramatic Silver Island Range, nor so remote and tough to get to as the Newfoundland Mountains, I have explored and wandered through the Cedars many times when I needed a close-by, West Desert escape in winter, spring or fall. Though the views can be quite grand, this is not dramatic terrain. Subtlety is the watchword for the Cedars.

I have walked the ridges in winter, punching through snow, with unblemished views to the Deep Creek Range on the Nevada border while behind me Salt Lake drowns in its own inversion. I’ve explored side-canyons in spring whilst trying to avoid trampling the occasional new flower struggling to raise its young head to the sun. I’ve seen the shy pronghorn, warily watching me, while ravens caw and circle overhead. I’ve taken my dogs for long hikes out there and, not surprisingly, I’ve done a fair amount of photography as well.

There may be no cedars, but I am glad there is a wilderness in the Cedar Mountains Wilderness.       

The post No Cedars in the Cedar Mountains Wilderness… appeared first on Wasatch Camera Club.

Factors that contribute to my decision include, but are not limited to the following:

• Time of Year
• Weather
• Subject Matter (Wildlife, Architecture, Landscape, Foliage)
• Location (how many people can it accommodate, parking, ease of finding it, fees to go there,)
• Lighting Options
• Interest

Time of Year is very critical here in Utah due to snow, rain, wind, and ice. The winter months will generate different results than the summer months and will also have weather to consider as well. Not everyone is excited to go do a shoot in cold weather and snow so I try to plan something that will generate interest and will be safe as well. The time of year will also take certain wildlife off the table and will affect lighting conditions. It will also determine foliage conditions such as spring will produce flowers, and insects, etc., whereas the fall will generate the explosive colors from our leaves. It is one of the major determining factors for choosing a location. If you are shooting indoors location may not matter as much unless you are shooting action shots such as with many sports. Shooting sports and sporting events are very time dependent. They have a definite season most of the time.

Weather seems like an obvious determining factor and of course is ever changing here in Utah. If you take photos outdoors, you should know that all locations outside are weather dependent. Camera equipment tends to be vulnerable to wet conditions so if it is raining, or snowing outside this could be a huge reason to avoid going to do a shoot, unless you are prepared to protect your equipment. There are ways to protect your camera equipment in wet conditions, so it doesn’t necessarily take the shoot off the table, but for many it will add an additional layer they may not want to deal while taking photos. If weather is a huge factor choosing a location indoors may be warranted during certain times of the year to avoid harsher weather patterns.

Subject Matter certainly decides location. If I want to shoot wildlife, I try to find known locations for wildlife sightings. Type of wildlife matters of course, and time of year will factor in as well. Is it the mating season? Is it migration season? Is it baby season? For example, if we want to shoot moose, we need to consider location, time of year, and temperament of these animals. Brighton is a popular location to shoot moose. They can be aggressive during the rut, or if there is a mother and her calf. Certain times of the year they are not as aggressive, and photographers can get closer without worrying about being harmed by them. If I want to shoot baby grebes on their mothers’ backs, I need to consider, where do I want to go? If I choose Bear River Bird Refuge, then I need to consider the bugs and how much do I want to tolerate them. I also might need to consider heat and clothing options to deal with bugs AND heat.

Location is a factor for the following reasons. How far away is the location? Do I need to drive there? Walk there? Fly there? What am I trying to take photos of at the location? Waterfowl will most likely not be seen in the West Desert. Moose will most likely not be on Antelope Island etc. All the factors tie together when determining a place to go and take photos. Recently, the Mandarin Duck was seen at one sole location. It wasn’t seen anywhere else and for a few weeks photographers flocked to the one location until the duck decided to move on and hasn’t been seen since.  For field trips it is important to determine parking, fees, and how many people can the location accommodate. If we are a group are there permits needed or regulations, we must follow? If there are too many of us will the wildlife be scared off or choose to hide? Granted some of these things we will not know, and we just choose to take the chance. So much of photography is chance, luck and timing.

Lighting Options are one of the most variable outside of weather if you are doing an outside shoot. Our weather patterns here in Utah change all the time. The weather apps do a decent job AND they can only predict so much. A nice clear day without clouds can turn into a cloudy day with rain in a matter of minutes or hours and this will change the outcome of the shoot considerably. Being flexible is key to enjoying outdoor photography outside of a studio. We must go into the event knowing the variables and how quickly they can change. The type of lighting one wants to go for will determine the type of shoot. For example, it might be obvious but milky way shots can only be done at night and sunrise shots can only be done at sunrise. Timing is huge for lighting. The blue hour, golden hour and bright midday sun are all time dependent. If you are shooting indoors, lighting choices change and may include portable lighting, outdoor lighting shining through glass windows, or staged permanent lighting such as in studios.

Interest is one of the huge variables in choosing a location. If I am going out shooting by myself, I might have a different thought process around where I go versus if I am choosing for a group. Is the subject matter something many people want to shoot? Is it something people want to do more of but would rather go with a group than by themselves? Is the location going to accommodate a group (see above)? As photographers we all have our certain interests that drive us to go and take photos. Not everyone is interested in landscape photography, or macrophotography or even wildlife. For groups I try to touch on the top 10 hoping to accommodate most people. I also factor in doing something different versus always doing the same thing all the time. This can get tricky, but it is my focus to create fun and exciting new events each month.

I feel that scouting a location to do photography is very subjective, but these are the key factors involved in my personal decision making. There are so many resources online as well and depending on the type of shoot the list changes as would be expected. I hope this article does answer how I choose locations and what factors I consider in my planning process.

The post Scouting Out the Perfect Place to Shoot appeared first on Wasatch Camera Club.

I’m guessing that many – if not all – of us celebrate Mother Earth just about every day.  After all, we are photographers, based in Utah, where every venture outdoors offers a chance to experience nature in settings so unique and special.  

But let’s just spend a couple of extra minutes today, April 22, to consider the importance of Earth Day, now arguably even greater than on the day of its founding in 1970.  Thinking about the state of the earth can be depressing, frankly.  Climate change, mounting losses of biodiversity, increasing pollution, land degradation, and deforestation are very big problems.  So big that many turn away.  Don’t.  

Your part in the solution can be small but mighty, especially as a photographer.  Nature First, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering photographers as ambassadors of the natural world, offers the following principles:

• Prioritize the well-being of nature over photography
• Educate yourself about the places you photograph
• Reflect on the possible impact of your actions
• Use discretion if sharing locations
• Know and follow rules and regulations
• Follow Leave No Trace principles
• Actively promote and educate others about these principles

There are times when I come across something so beautiful and captivating, and instead of photographing it, I just take it in.  A beautiful sunset, a moose crossing my path, a budding flower about to explode with color.  Of course I enjoy capturing these images too, but the pleasure of the sensory indulgence is worth foregoing a picture sometimes.  These experiences make me double down on my commitment to cherish the earth and the sacredness of the natural world.  

As springtime weather beckons us outdoors, into parks, monuments, and public lands, you will find yourself with ample opportunity to be an ambassador of the natural world.  Make images that reflect your own commitment to nature, and share them in a way that fosters respect for our planet.  I hope to see you out there!

The post Celebrating Earth Day, Today and Everyday appeared first on Wasatch Camera Club.

I won’t go deeply into the technical aspects of infrared photography here (if interested, check out this detailed Wikipedia page or this short article), but there are two basic approaches to it: creating faux color images or converting the images to black-and-white. Color infrared photography requires that in addition to permitting infrared wavelengths to touch the camera’s sensor, you also allow certain amounts of visible light. B/W infrared photography instead necessities the removal of any color – if any is there. You may hear talk amongst IR photographers of what “cut-off” their cameras are. What they are referring to is what bandwidth range their given filter or camera conversion is. Alpine resident Clarence Spencer (who has converted all my IR cameras) has a good page detailing the IR filter options. The take-away is that for color IR your camera should capture in the 590nm+ wavelength whilst for B/W IR photography it is preferred to shoot 720nm+.  

In text messaging conversations I’ve had with her – as well as on her website – Nevada has been clear that she does not do black-and-white IR photography. Instead, she has developed a color infrared style that not only suits her subject matter and compositions but is very creative and is easily identifiable as being hers. Most of the color infrared photography images I have seen are strongly false-color centric (some might say tending to garish at times) with cyan or emerald skies and magenta foliage dominating. My own dabbling with my 665nm converted camera was fun but ultimately not something that I seriously pursued. Nevada uses 590nm converted cameras, but her processing is very subtle and creates dreamy images that successfully blend pastel colors with a slightly monotone back palette. She talks a bit about her approach here and has taught her techniques as well. If it is not clear yet, I greatly admire her creative vision and what she is able to do with it.

Other than the “dabbling” I mentioned above, my approach to infrared travel photography is perhaps more basic and certainly less medium-and-genre bendingly creative as Nevada’s is. I primarily use IR to explore and display black-and-white images with strong light, deep shadows, lines and patterns in landscapes, cities, villages, ruins, and temples. Unlike with Nevada’s images, people, if present, are not the main subject. With color infrared photography Nevada is exploring what she calls “The Invisible World.” My IR explorations over the last twenty years have yielded several projects variously labeled “In a Different Light.” This is what is so interesting and ultimately rewarding about photography: we are all using basically the same or at least very similar tools and yet the ability to explore, discover, and share different worlds is there for all of us.

Below are four infrared explorations each from three recent overseas trips.

The post Approaches to Infrared Travel Photography appeared first on Wasatch Camera Club.

Shadows can be as strong a force in photography as light itself. The same is true in painting. Think of a Rembrandt or a Caravaggio and you cannot help but visualize inky shadows as well as light-and-dark-sculpted faces and torsos. In music, sometimes the quiet pauses between notes heighten and enhance the music to come. These are all forms of negative space or ma in the Japanese art world. Ma is an artistic interpretation of empty space that often holds as much importance as the rest of the image/artwork. Ma is represented by the deep shadows in the four images shown here. They are certainly as important as the illuminated landscapes and are needed to craft the expressiveness of the photographs.

In the world of dunescapes, shadows are integral to creating a well-made, compelling, and yes, beautiful composition. Without them scenes are flat and as lifeless as the desert often appears. With those deep pools or dark rivulets, the dunes come alive and speak of mystery and sensuousness. They create soft wells to sink your eyes into. Places to linger and wonder about. They add grace and form to shapes and lines otherwise commonplace. They create a balance and contrast that is both natural and otherworldly.

Shade for the mind; an oasis of rest. Shadow-light.

Technical notes:

These four images were taken 12 years ago in the Eureka Dunes of Death Valley National Park. They were captured with an infrared-converted (780nm) Pentax 10D, 10 megapixel camera (!). The RAW files were all recently reprocessed in the following ways:

Eureka #1, #3 and #4 were single exposures with first Lightroom’s AI Noise Reduction applied, then they were brought into Photoshop to clone out dust spots and make some light level adjustments. Black & white conversions were then accomplished with Nik SilverEfex 6 and finally Topaz’ AI Sharpen tool was used.

Eureka #2 is a two shot vertical panel with first Lightroom’s AI Noise Reduction applied, then the square-ish pano was created in Lightroom. Then was brought into Photoshop to clone out dust spots and make light level adjustments. Black & white conversion was with Nik SilverEfex 6 and finally Topaz’ AI Sharpen tool was used.

Words and Images Jeff Clay

The post Shadow-light appeared first on Wasatch Camera Club.

We see it all the time – negligent disregard for our precious natural spaces and its denizens.  If you’ve ever ventured to Albion Basin during a good wildflower season, you’ve undoubtedly watched carloads of brides-to-be and their photographer entourages trample through gorgeous stands of colorful flowers in search of the perfect backdrop of blooms.  In their wake are smashed patches that scar the scene for everyone else.  Sure, the flowers will be back next year, but that kind of thoughtlessness conveys such disrespect for a resource that belongs to us all, and should be preserved for us all.

There is some irony in that those whose craft is all about capturing images of unspoiled beauty are among the worst offenders.  In pursuit of a single “trophy image”, one can do a great deal of harm to wildlife and nature. There will always be the one bad actor, but I am convinced that most in our camera club would choose to be the heroes for nature and wildlife.  Beyond the obvious – first do no harm – here are a few ideas:

• Don’t geotag what you post. Don’t you want your amazing shot to be the one and only?
• Respect private property, and public areas that are off limits, and think about what you are leaving in your wake.
• Include #stewardship and #leavenotrace in your image captions. Social media is a fact of life for photographers. When posting a great image of a rock formation out in the desert, include a note about how you avoided the cryptobiotic soil.
• Choose your circle of photographer friends wisely! I once went out on a weekend adventure with a very talented photographer whose work I admired, only to witness him dump food waste while camping in a no-camping area. I found other photographers to shoot with.
• Amplify the stories of those doing good work around conservation and wildlife protection. There are many great photographers who use their art to tell the story of wild places, and the importance of preserving them. Be one of them! There are many great organizations working hard to save species at risk of extinction.  Support them!

Next time you head out, think about how you can have a great experience, without leaving a mark.

Claudia O’Grady, for the Wasatch Camera Club

The post First, Do No Harm appeared first on Wasatch Camera Club.

I’ve been thinking a lot about HAL lately and that brings me to the point of this one-sided conversation on process and product. HAL was focused on the product, the mission. He didn’t care how he got there — or who got in his way — the product was the mission, the end goal. It’s in this way that I think of the challenge and conundrum of AI-generated images. They are first and foremost focused on the end result, the product. In contrast, photography is as much about the process as the product. The journey you the creator took to arrive at the photograph you have created, is at least as important as the photograph itself. In many cases, for me certainly, the journey is often orders of magnitude more important than the final image.

Think of it this way: each photograph has some story behind it, no matter how short.  Perhaps the stories are poignant, perhaps banal, but they are always personal. This is different than a photograph “telling a story.” Not all photographs have to “tell a story.” Some may simply strive to express a concept, like beauty for instance. Or maybe they were designed to provoke an emotion, like some abstract photographs do. But to create that image, there is the process, a journey undertaken by the creator. This could involve going into the field, getting on a plane, hiking miles, visiting remote villages, or simply retiring to one’s studio. That’s the physical part but equally important the creator needs to be mentally present to photograph what she/he visualizes. The process – the journey – doesn’t end there. With images in-hand (more likely, on memory card or disk) those raw images that were captured are crafted via post-processing to become your realization. Each of the eight photographs featured here have a story around their creation. The stories may not matter to every viewer of the images, but they certainly matter to me. (Anecdotally, many have commented to me that images’ stories do matter to them and thereby make the viewing of said images, all the richer.) Without the exploration, the journey, the process, there can be no discovery. The photograph is not the discovery, per se, but a visual expression and representation of that moment in the journey. A partial summation of your entire process. To turn a phrase on its head, a story is in a thousand (really, millions of) pixels.

The process, so to speak, for creating the like-themed AI-generated images shown here involved nothing more than entering in a series of text prompts. The journey, so to speak, was then performed by the AI, the computer, with its procedures and protocols and algorithms going out to the ether and grabbing bits and bobs of images and data to mash and meld together its interpretation of my text strings. Have I as a creator learned or discovered anything from that “experience?” Other than the manufactured product, a fabricated image, what have I gained?

But this brings up another point. We are all consumers and as potential customers of some company’s product, do we care whether it’s a real photograph or an AI-generated image that is prompting, encouraging us to buy? I would wager that those involved in selling products generally don’t care and if they can save some money using AI-generated images over real commercial photographs, they will. Because, in the instance of being marketed to, it is about the product, not the process. We don’t care about the commercial photographer’s ‘experience’ shooting that bowl of corn flakes, do we?

So, why would a photographer dabble in AI-generated image creation? There is the novelty, the curiosity to see if the machine can create something similar to what your process created. As well, some might say that it is fun playing with the AI-generators, though for me, I didn’t derive a lot of joy in creating the generally inferior faux photographs featured here. As machines become better at emulating photographs, it will become close to, if not impossible to discern the real from fake. Actually, we’ve already crossed that line: AI-generated images have already reportedly been used in recent political campaigns. Another example: a well-respected bird photographer has been playing around with creating AI-generated bird images and posting them on his Instagram account. He clearly labels them as AI-generated and not a photograph but people see what they want to see and interpret accordingly, even if incorrectly.

There is one arena where I think AI-generated art can be a bit of fun: in the creation of the fantastical, the mythical, the fanciful, the historical, the a-historical, the science-fictional. But then, I never could draw and I am sure that professional illustrators would love to school me about their journey in creating their images!

To be continued…I’m sure.

The below images show 8 photographs taken by me and 8 like-themed AI-generated images produced by Microsoft’s DALL-E image generator. For the latter the text prompts are shown. The above image “cosmonauts on saturn’s moon, Titan” is not real. Cosmonauts never made to our moon, much less Titan.

The post Process and Product in Photography and AI-Generated Image Making appeared first on Wasatch Camera Club.

So, I look forward to re-shooting a number of early images “properly,” meaning with at least 5 hours of photon gathering, as well as with newer, more optimized gear and better post-processing techniques and tools. In the meantime, due to this crazy winter we have had — snow, grey skies, single digit nights, and yet more snow — as well as my own travel, I have not had a telescope up since mid-December. That is a long drought for me. That has allowed me time to re-visit some older captured objects. The image above is a good example of this. This was only 2.5 hours worth of data taken over 2 years ago. The only telescope I had then was my first, a Celestron 6″³ reflector. I no longer use this for anything other than planetary or lunar work, but since there had been auto-guiding in place coupled with ZWO’s ASI Air Pro to control the telescope and frame gathering, I figured that the data acquired was “good enough” to try re-processing, considering all the new things I have learned about image creation. The image you see here of NGC 2264 — the Christmas Tree Star Cluster and the Cone Nebula — is much better than what I originally was able to create. Of course, I should and will re-shoot it, but in the meantime and with all the cloudy skies, I’ve re-processed some other images seen below from data acquired over the last couple of years.

Now, in mid-March and with our stormy winter (perhaps) fading into a slushy memory, I look forward to still trying to have my cake and eat it too. The difference is that now I have added more scopes and mounts and cameras to feed my astrophotography addiction and usually set up two telescopes a night. With each one gathering data from only one DSO a night, I can gather up to 6.5 hours of photo capture per target (in the winter…in the summer, with shorter though warmer nights probably around 4-5 hours is max). I also sometimes will shoot the same subject over two nights…8-14 hours of light gathering yields some fantastic results. Quantity AND quality…that’s my mantra these days.

Words and images Jeff Clay

The post Having Your Cake and Eating It Too appeared first on Wasatch Camera Club.