More Carrie Furnace

just to keep the blog items for getting too lengthy, see the prior two blog posts for the story.  The furnaces are going is going to require another trip in the fall, to make up for the battery fiasco.  That visit will have a different strategy, since the tour is not really a tour and tripods are OK, I'll bring the Gitzo and a rented 17 TS-E.  This place needs wide, really wide.  

Oh yeah, I forgot, I thought I had packed the 17-40 f/4.0L when I got there it turns out I packed the 35 f/1.4L — really clueless morning.  Anyway, fast but not really wide, especially on a crop camera like the 10D. Although I guess I could have put it on the 10D, gotten a 50mm equivalent and dropped the ISO.  DOF would likely been an issue and frankly given the grittiness of the furnaces the high ISO noise isn't much of a problem.

Yet, I am not unhappy with yesterdays snaps.  Thanks to being lucky with the XZ-1 being in the bag, with power and with a card and an old 10D.  What could have been nothing but a nine hour drive worked out OK.

Canon 10D, 70-200 f/2.8 IS, f/2.8, 75mm, ISO 800, bracketed off 1/640.  Two shots, no way I am good enough to handhold the over exposure steady.  Slight (low opacity) Midnight filter application.

Canon 10D, 70-200 f/2.8 IS, f/2.8, 75mm, ISO 800, bracketed 1/30 and 1/90.  As above only two shot. Again slight (low opacity) Midnight filter application.

Canon 10D, 24-70 f/2.8, f/8, 24mm, ISO 400, single shot.  Slight (low opacity) Midnight filter application, Topaz adjust, plus the regular stuff.

Compact proficiency

Read the post just below this, if you already haven't, to hear the reason for the XZ-1 at the Carrie Furnaces. All taken with the EVF and the new productivity enhancing lens cap.  Anyway didn't know what to expect under really tough conditions.  I think these are stunning snaps — digital cameras have come a long way with these kind of results from a compact, albeit an enthusiast compact.

So what doesn't work so well?  Dynamic range.  While DSLRs can recover lots of highlights, large sensor compacts cannot, in these dark shots any sunlight coming directly in is completely blown out.  Even the passé 10D has a little bit of latitude for highlight recovery.  Solution... make sure the framing is is accomplished to reduce the required demand on dynamic rage. The supply just isn't there.

XZ-1, f/2.2, ISO 640, 1/50, 18.2mm (what ever that means).  Standard one-shot processing.

XZ-1, f/2.2, ISO 640, 1/50, 18.2mm (what ever that means).  Midnight filter in Color Efex 3.

XZ-1, f/2.0, ISO 640, 1/30, 11.8mm (what ever that means).  Standard one-shot processing.

XZ-1, f/2.0, ISO 640, 1/50, 6mm (what ever that means).  Standard one-shot processing.

XZ-1, f/2.0, ISO 640, 1/25, 6mm (what ever that means).  Standard one-shot processing.

Juice

or actually no juice and a severe lack of MIPs too!.  Twelve hour round trip to the Rivers of Steel "Hardhat" "Tour" of the Carrie Furnaces in Rankin, PA.  Not really a tour (good), no hardhats for the touristas (not an issue) and no batteries for the MIPless snapper.  Yep, 4+ hours out there, get all strapped up, cameras hooked up, hit the on switch switch and nothing, absolutely nothing, perhaps because the batteries were 4+ hours away in Charm City. Serious MIP shortage.

I did manage to toss the XZ-1 in the bag and it had power and a backup and fellow snapper (who did the driving) had a backup body, a rather long in the tooth, 10D (ca 2003).  So I guess we shall see what trumps what, equipment or the artiste.  10D high noise at high ISO (800 for the indoors shots) might present some challenges, it was dark inside the furnaces.  I suspect most of these will wind up in B&W.

I can see why Tim rarely uses the handmedown 10D anymore.  It is slow, really slow and the buffer even fills up writing RAWS to a fast card after a couple of fast bracketed shots.  Five years is a long time in camera technology.

Three shot bracket, 10D, 70-20 f/2.8 IS, ISO 800, f/2.8, bracketed off 1/125 @ 70mm.  HDR Efex & Silver Efex Pro 2.

Three shot bracket, 10D, 70-20 f/2.8 IS, ISO 800, f/2.8, bracketed off 1/30 @ 70mm — saved by IS.  HDR Efex. Looks like some color might work.

No HDR here, just one shot with 10D, 70-20 f/2.8 IS, ISO 800, f/2.8, bracketed off 1/15 @ 70mm.  Hit with Color Efex Midnight Filter.

Three shot bracket, 10D, 70-20 f/2.8 IS, ISO 100, f/2.8, bracketed off 1/2000 @ 70mm. HDR Efex. No problem outside at all.

Single shot, ISO set wrong at 3200 from prior indoor shot.  Actually looks pretty good with high ISO in decent light.  24-70 f/2.8L @ 24mm, 1/500.

Great Sands Dune NP approach

From the approach road, a few miles away.  The dunes are about 750' high, the white between the clouds and the dunes is blowing sand. Sangre de Christo range in the background.  The name, meaning "blood of Christ", is said to come from the red color of the range at some sunrises and sunsets, especially when the mountains are covered with snow.

7D, 24-70mm f/2.8L, ISO 400, f8.0. Three shot HDR.

Lupita's

Bessemer, CO.  Across I25 from CF&I.  Lot handy for parking while shooting CF&I from the I25 overpass.  Great colors, but I guess Yelpers! have discovered Bessemer yet!

7D with the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L which just happened to be on the camera.  Thought maybe not the best place to be changing lenses.  ISO 400, f/8.0.  Three shot HDR.

Throwback

somewhat reminiscent of the 2006 Nebraska snap that got a runner up in a AAA contest.  Both happenstance, this on the way to Great Sand Dunes National Park the Nebraska one en route to the Ogalalla National Grasslands.  I guess I get better stuff by accident on the way to to places that only sometimes work for me.

Off CO 17 on LN6N north of Alamosa.  5D Mk II, 17-40mm f/4L @40mm, ISO 100, f/8.0, three shot HDR, handheld, out the Hertz SUV window.

Off NE 2, West of Hemingford, NE, ZCBJ Lodge #298, 5D with 17-40mm f/4L @ 40mm, ISO 100, f/16, on the Gitzo, July '06.

Fairplay bound

en route to Fairplay from Buena Vista, across the stunning South Park, the 5D Mk II can't be found on the rear seat floor.  So we pull over in front of a ranch gate.  Randomly, it turns out to be a ranch founded in 1862 and still in the same family.

We spent the next several minutes of the ride, yacking about how cool it would be the day you found out that someday you would be running the family ranch.  Anyway... turns out this place, the Salt Works Ranch, is a big deal.  So is Mr. Hall and the family.  Read about how Hall, astonishingly a Mayflower descendent, found his way from New York to South Park here, fascinating. 

Charles L. Hall established one of Colorado’s earliest industrial enterprises, The Colorado Salt Works, on his ranch west of Hartsel in 1862. By 1868, this business was producing 4,000 pounds of salt daily, much of it for use in processing gold ore. Hall’s son-in-law, Thomas McQuaid, built the Salt Works Ranch into one of Colorado’s largest cattle operations, comprising some 80,000 acres. Salt Works Ranch is still owned by descendants of Charles Hall and is also on the National Register of Historic Places.

5d Mk II, 17-40 f/4.0L @ 17mm, ISO 100, f/11.0, 1/40.


CF&I

Colorado Fuel and Iron, Bessemer (Pueblo), CO.  One of the first shots of a day meandering over a big chunck of Colorado.  A warm up for the Carrie Furnace Tour, in Rankin, PA, next Saturday.  Snapped from a bridge spanning I25.  More, very varied snaps to come from the rest of the day.

7D, 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L, because it happened to be on the camera.  Silver Efex Pro B&W conversion. Again a less than stunning downsizing for the blog post.

Castlewood Canyon

State Park, south of Franktown, east of Castle Rock and at the very end of the plains.

Most with the 5d Mk II mounting the 24-70 f/2.8L and the 17-40 f/4.0L, the picnic shot with the 7D and the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L. 

The east side of the Park, HDR processed

The Lucas Homestead (west side) — not much between here and Kansas actually not much between the front windows and the Mississippi

Tree in front of the Lucas house.  This image down sizes horribly

South side of the Lucas house, HDR processed

Picnic on the East side, the tarp is to block the persistent wind.  Lots of local knowledge

Cojones

Cosmith, cobrown, cojones!  JFC the 'piscopalians have no shame, check the cojones on "African Dog".  This is now burned in my cortex for sticky client service situations.  Screw that real lace stuff, just blame it on the ascendancy.  Some balls they got — must think they are Mattel and have a mandate for anatomically correct. Ken and Barbie rock, so does "African Dog"! Hah!

Same approach and recipe as below for a gargoyle snap.  Never know what a long lens will reveal.  Anyway what does an "African Dog" have to do the the US National Cathedral?  BTW, "African Dog" can be found on the North Nave.

That is it for the WNC, assuming the tornado warnings are just that, off to Denver in the AM.

Outside, inside

Washington National Cathedral, Outside: "Master Carver" gargoyle, North Nave, Inside: State Flags, South Nave.

Both two shot HDR sandwich, third was too slow and shaky.  Flag snap with 5D Mk II, 35mm f/1.4L @ f/2.0 and ISO 800, gargoyle with 7D, 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L, ISO 100, f/8.0, 380mm (equivalent FF 608mm)

Interesting, passed 10,000 snaps on the 7D (acquired September 2010) and 40,000 (acquired May 2009) on the 5D Mk II yesterday.  Aperture library since October 2003 is now over 120,000 snaps.

Biorythms

The physical curve must have been cracking hot yesterday.  This image had some cropped off the bottom but the rest is exactly as three handheld shots came from the camera.  Framed perfectly, can't recall that happening very often — much less in a handheld sandwich destined bracket.

Rose window, west end of the nave, at the Washington National Cathedral.  Yesterday with the 5D Mk II with the 35mm f/1.4L @ f/2.0 and ISO 800.  Decided to leave the colors in on this, unlike the last post, because the color is coming from the windows not being adulterated by interior lighting.  Otherwise similar recipe of HDR Efex, Exposure 3 faux Velvia 100 and several Color Efex 3 filters.

Complexity

Complex subject, complex photo, complex processing — some say complex snapper.  Ceiling of the Washington National Cathedral. Snapped yesterday.  Complex subject speaks for itself, the photo is actually a bracketed three image set. The processing is HDR Efex, Exposure 3 faux Velvia, Silver Efex 2 and bunch of Color Efex 3 effects. The ceiling was a mélange of color casts ergo the B&W conversion but the window color needed to stay, so the windows were painted back in via a mask on the Silver Efex Pro layer with a WACOM tablet.

5D Mk II with 35mm f/1.4L @ f/2.0, ISO 800

Simulated Picture

Because I am off to Colorado for the week, a Colorado snap.  Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs via a really, really early start to be there for sunrise in March of '06.  Cropped 16:9 like HD TV because this shot (well... actually someone else's like it) was used for a couple years ('08 - '09 or so) by Samsung as the "Simulated Picture" in their HD TV ads.  Oughta know — all of the TVs, here atop Butcher's Hill (there are several of them) are Samsung's of that vintage.

Unforntuately, I buy Apple stuff instead of Apple stock and I buy Samsung TVs instead of selling them snaps, oh well... so much for monetization.

24-70mm f/2.8L on the 5D, @ f/22, 1/4, ISO 320 on the Gitzo.  Weird settings but it was early.

Toned interior B&W

Nuanced, shadowy, interior, B&W conversions with split toning.  

Snapped in June '09 at Kerry's Blacksmith Shop, corner of William and Clinton (Hah!), Delaware City, DE. Handheld, 17-40mm f/4L @ 40mm, f/4.0, 1/50, ISO 3200!  It is very dark in Kerry's.

Vindicator Mine, near Goldfield, CO.  October '06, TS-E 45 f/2.8 on the 5D, f/8.0, ISO 400, 1/4 on the Gitzo.

Two mile high wheels

Leadville, CO, Elevation 10,152.  Heading to Colorado on Sunday, not likely to break a mile high though. Denver bound again, unfortunately likely Denver tied.  

Falcon: 24-70mm f/2.8L mounted on 5D, f/8.0, ISO 400, 55mm, on the Gitzo.  Two shot HDR sandwich.

Beatle: 24-70mm f/2.8L mounted on 5D, f/11.0, ISO 400, 51mm, on the Gitzo.  Two shot HDR sandwich.

Umpire State Building

At least it was until I was maybe eleven or twelve.  As a kid growing up nearby occasional viewing lanes to Manhattan, probably should have caught on faster.  Seen here from the CNJRR ferry slips in Jersey City. Snapped in August '06, early in the day that included the trip to Bethlehem, PA.

Three shot bracket with the 70-200mm f/2.8L mounted on the 5D at 80mm, f/16 and ISO 100. HDR Efex.