Vintage Signs

Marty CohenArizona, B+W, Bisbee1 Comment

Vintage Signs

Vintage Signs at the Shady Dell Motel in Bisbee, AZ

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Hey, we’re back at the Shady Dell Motel in Bisbee, AZ. If you’re new to this blog, the Shady Dell Motel is a very interesting step back in time and history in the small southern Arizona town of Bisbee. These signs were on the wall of a small wooden structure by some picnic tables. They were mostly green and yellow in coloring but I wanted to play with processing this image in black and white. I liked the effect so decided to share it with you.

If you want to see other photos I’ve posted from Bisbee, click here.

The photo was taken with a Canon EOS 40D, EF17-40mm f/4L lens, 1/180 sec at f/6.7, ISO 200 as an HDR image from 5 exposures, then completely processed with Nik Color Efex Pro 4 Photoshop plugin.

Barrel Cactus

Marty CohenAgriculture, Arizona, Cactus, Tucson3 Comments

Barrel Cactus

Barrel Cactus in bloom. Tucson Arizona

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When we were in Tuscon this past April, many of the Cacti we saw were in bloom. This is a Barrel Cactus, or Genus Ferocactus. Ferocactus means “fierce or wild Cactus” and they are always cylindrical or barrel shaped. All members of this genus have prominent rigs and are “fiercely” armed with heavy spines. They usually grow along desert washes. When young, they are often globe-shaped and elongate after becoming about a footing diameter. They grow to heights between 4 and 11 feet.

Barrel Cactus flowers always grow at the top of the plant. They are usually yellow-green, orange or red. The flowers have no spines. They bloom between April through June, depending on local conditions. The fruits become fleshy and often are juicy when mature, but are not usually considered edible. Native Americans would boil the young flowers in water and eat them like cabbage and would mash older boiled flowers for a drink. The pulp has been widely used for making cactus candy, but this has also caused the destruction of this cactus and, therefore, they’re protected in many areas. Source: www.desertusa.com

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The photo was taken with a Canon EOS 40D, EF17-40mm f/4L lens, 1/1000 sec at f/4.5, ISO 125.

Eagle Hoodoo

Marty CohenArizona, LandscapeLeave a Comment

Eagle Hoodoo

Eagle Hoodoo at Paria Bluffs

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Here is another Hoodoo located in the Paria Bluffs area of Arizona. This Hoodoo was very near the ones I posted on July 22nd (click here to see the other Hoodoos). I gave this one the name “Eagle Hoodoo” because it looked like an eagle perched on some rocks. I took this photo in 2003 while on a photo workshop being led by a wonderful photographer and great instructor, Joe Brady. I reconnected with Joe during an internet webinar he gave  in 2010, and he told me that he had been back to that area and this Hoodoo had collapsed and fallen and “now it’s just a boring white pillar.” I was sad to hear that as I really liked the formation of this Hoodoo, and very glad I had taken this shot.

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HDR in Architectural Photography

Marty CohenHDR, Photography8 Comments

After your compare the photos, be sure to scroll down to read the explanation.

After: Multi-exposure HDR processing:

After 7 exposures were processed into an HDR image

After 7 exposures were processed into an HDR image

(To see the most detail in each image, click on it to enlarge it!)

Before: The single auto-exposure image from they camera:

The single auto-exposure image from they camera

The single auto-exposure image from they camera

One of the great uses for HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography is in architectural photography. All too often we face very difficult, mixed and uncontrollable lighting conditions. On exterior shots, like this one, you often have parts of the building in shadows and parts in sunlight, and, often against a bright sky. Unless you bring in a lot of lighting equipment and take time setting it up to bring some light to the shadow areas, you’re not going to get a very well balanced shot.

That’s where HDR comes in allowing you to take multiple exposures and blend them with one of the terrific programs like Nik Software’s HDR Efex Pro, HDRsoft’s Photomatix or just inside Photoshop itself. You’re able to use these programs’ tonemapping functions to blend multiple exposures into anything from a realistic image to a surrealistic one.

The key to this is that the camera must be on a tripod and remain still for all of the (5 to 9) different exposures. Most larger DSLR cameras can be set to take between 3 and 9 different exposures automatically. But, it’s really the very expensive, vey high-end ones that take between 5 and 9.If you don’t have one of those very expensive DSLR’s is to use one of the new iPhone Apps, like TriggerTrap or Trigger Happy which connect your iPhone to you camera and can be preset for the larger number of exposures. You just enter the iPhone settings, then take the shots with a single tap on the iPhone’s screen. These apps are really cool, reasonably priced and being improved all the time.

What I needed, and found, was a way to attach my iPhone to my tripod so I didn’t have to hold it, and possibly drop it, while setting up my camera adjust the zoom and focus. What I found were clamps made by Ram Mounts, a Seattle based company that manufactures them in Seattle. I liked the clamp that I ordered so much that I decided to become a dealer for their products and started TripodClamps.com . I found other uses for mounting my iPhone, and my iPad, to my tripod and I describe those at the new website. So, if you’re interested to find out more about this:

Go to my website at https://www.TripodClamps.com

LIKE the Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/TripodClamps , or

Add to your circles on Goggle + at https://gplus.to/tripodclamps .

Paria Bluff Hoodoos

Marty CohenArizona, Landscape8 Comments

Paria Bluff Hoodoos

Magnificent Hoodoos at Paria Bluffs

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I know some of the people who have followed my photography for a long time have seen this image before, but, I wanted to post it in this blog because many of you haven’t. I love this photograph and it’s one of my favorites. I knew when I was taking it that the rock structures of the hoodoos were interesting, but it wasn’t until I saw this image on my computer that I realized just how incredible the hoodoos were. I wanted to post it today because this photograph, as well as one from the slot canyons taken on the same trip to Page Arizona, marked a turning point for me as I began to feel like I really was becoming a photographer.

A hoodoo is a tall, narrow column of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin. They are usual formed from by erosion of their sandstone structure, which is a relatively soft rock, and they’re topped by a harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each column from the elements. They’re found mostly in desert areas and range in height from a few feet to hundreds of feet. Hoodoo shapes are created by the erosional patterns of alternating hard and soft rock layers. Minerals within the rock cause the hoodoos to have different colored layers throughout their height. And “hoodoos” is such a great name for them.

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