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Jeremai's Photos


jeremai

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So, I have a recently-acquired Mazda MX-6 and I wanted to see what she was made of, so I took a trip to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area outside of Las Vegas. Turns with a 30ft radius at 40mph will test any car - and she perfomed admirably for being completely stock. :happydance:

 

Anyway, Red Rock is absolutely incredible, but difficult to photograph, tending toward being very high contrast, so I went with HDR for the first time. The first image is my new toy and the rest are all HDR, some better than others. They are made in PhotoMatix and sharpened in Photoshop, but there were no other corrections made. Let me know what you think.

 

RRMX6.jpg

 

RRHDR1a.jpg

 

RRHDR5a.jpg

 

RRHDR6a.jpg

 

RRHDR3a.jpg

 

RRHDR4a.jpg

 

RRHDR2a.jpg

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Very nice! Hopefully you didn't hit any cyclists or wild burros out there while test driving that thing. :lol:

 

I would love to take a stab at HDR photography myself, I gotta get a decent camera though. I like taking pictures at Valley of Fire.

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lol, thanks. No bicyclists or burros this time around, though - just lots of old people, typical Thursday.

 

HDR can be done using any camera with exposure bracketing. A lot of P&S cameras have the feature, too.

 

I think Valley of Fire will be my next day trip, sometime next month when the flowers bloom. Should be awesome.

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HDR can be done using any camera with exposure bracketing. A lot of P&S cameras have the feature, too.

True, but I'm trying to justify getting a decent DSLR here! lol Which really, I should already have. I recently acquired an Olympus E-510 for work and so far I'm impressed. I'm considering picking one up for myself.

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I find the 'flash flood' signs humorous.......hopefully you saw them, or you won't have a clue what I'm talking about. B) Anyways....nice shots.

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I find the 'flash flood' signs humorous.......hopefully you saw them, or you won't have a clue what I'm talking about. B) Anyways....nice shots.

Thanks. I've seen the signs, but they remind me of far less humorous times - I had to hike through one of those flash floods once. Ten inches of water moving at 30 mph does NOT make for a pleasant experience. Pfft. It's been a rough winter for us, the road to Red Rock washed out twice, and the loop itself has washed out in three different spots four or five times since the monsoon season ended last year. It also made for a short climbing season, since most of the winter the rock was too soft. But lots of water during the winter means lots of flowers in the spring - and lots more good photos! :)

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thank goodness, when I read HDR I was afraid of the overly excited pimple faced HDR person who goes way overboard with the HDR to make it look insanely unreal. you were able to bring out the best of the photos, the dark skies etc. It's so natural looking, and is akin to how our eyes compensate for the contrast as well.

 

great work with the HDR, it's so subtle but it makes the picture really pop.

 

cool car too ;)

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Nice pics. Man there must be a lot of air planes around there!

lol yeah, coming and going from California, mostly. Usually the wind is blowing enough to obscure them, but this was an incredibly rare February day - 75 degrees and calm.Gotta enjoy it while I can, in a couple months it'll be 115 at Red Rock. :eek:

 

thank goodness, when I read HDR I was afraid of the overly excited pimple faced HDR person who goes way overboard with the HDR to make it look insanely unreal. you were able to bring out the best of the photos, the dark skies etc. It's so natural looking, and is akin to how our eyes compensate for the contrast as well.

 

great work with the HDR, it's so subtle but it makes the picture really pop.

 

cool car too ;)

Thanks, on all counts. I don't like anyhting over-processed, and since I'm still a PS novice, I couldn't overdo it if I tried, lol. The second one is my favorite, but the shadows in the bottom left came out all funky; it's a good composition, though. And thanks on the car, I think I like it better than my RX-8, hehe.

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Well, I spent another morning at Red Rock, and I figured rather than make a new thread I'll just add to this one. I was in a different section, across the valley from where the last set were taken. The trail is 2mi each way, from Willow Springs to White Rock Springs. And now, with commentary!

 

On the way up:

RRHDR15a.jpg

 

Detail of lichen on rocks:

RRHDR8a.jpg

 

Halfway there, lol. Red Rock is known for its iron oxide deposits, as well as the juxtaposition of the newer iron oxide against the older granite of the Spring Mountains:

RRHDR14a.jpg

 

There are four distinct ecosystems covered by this hike. The center section is like this, flat and covered with Mojave Yucca and creosote:

RRHDR12a.jpg

 

The smalless habitat, and the most fragile, are the riparian systems. Las Vegas Valley is the largest natural aquifier in the Mojave Desert. There were ten large springs in the Valley once, but by 1960 demand for fresh water had outpaced the flow and the springs dried up. there are still dozens of small springs up at Red Rock, though - the largest is at my starting point (Willow Springs), but the quietest is here, the White Rock Spring. In the 1970s the BLM got a little overzealous and built the conctrete trough, with a pipe running from the source of the spring, about fifty feet up behind where the picture was taken. For all of you interested in biology, look up Pyrgulopsis deaconi - they are the reason the BLM is so adamant in saving these riparian habitats:

RRHDR11a.jpg

 

Another view, showing the Spring Mountains in the background:

RRHDR16a.jpg

 

See, you learned something! :)

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el fabuloso

Yes, it was the learning. :lol:

 

The pics are great though! Were there little froggies out there? I like the little froggies. One time I smuggled them in my water bottle. :P

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lol, I saw no froggies at White Rock Spring, but there was a bus of Japanese tourists all chattering excitedly around Willow Springs, so I imagine there could have been some there.

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  • 1 month later...
great shots as always

 

great color

Thanks. I got a new circular polarizer. It's a half stop faster than the old one, and the colors seem to be a lot better. Hoya ftw!

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  • 7 months later...

Well, it was raining pretty hard all night so the loop was closed due to flooding. I was still able to salvage a trip though, from the overlook:

 

112608-1b.jpg

 

112608-2b.jpg

 

112608-3b.jpg

 

112608-5b.jpg

 

112608-4b.jpg

 

And some late fall foliage, for the naysayers:

 

112608-6b.jpg

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