Mark, I just read an article on luminous which has finally got me working sensibly with layers. I think it would be of great benefit for you and any others with dark areas in photos - extracts a surprising amount of detail!
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/u-contr ast-masking.shtml Another MUST READ for any DSLR users. > -----Original Message----- > From: Mark Roberts [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 03 November 2003 14:30 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Dolly Sods Wilderness (long) > > > A couple of weeks ago I went on a one-night camping trip to a > place in West Virginia called the Dolly Sods Wilderness. For > those who want to cut to the chase and skip the extended > exposition, the photos are here - > http://www.robertstech.com/dolly_s.htm > > It all began this past summer when I did the art show in > Morgantown, WV. One of the shots that received a lot of > favorable attention was of the top of Linville Peak on > Grandfather Mountain shortly after dawn > (http://www.robertstech.com/graphics/pages/7d101932.htm). > Many of the people who liked it asked "is that Dolly Sods?" > I'd never heard of the place and several extolled its > virtues. One came back several times to recommend that I take > a trip there to get some photos. > > Fast forward to mid-October when I found myself at home alone > for the weekend. My S.O. had gone to a conference and I was > left behind to entertain myself. Some time after lunch on > Saturday I thought "why not check out that Dolly Sods place > everyone told me about in Morgantown?" I located it (roughly) > on a map, threw a tent, sleeping bag, small cooler of food > and water and some camera gear in my car and set off around 2:00 p.m. > > It ended up being almost a 4 hour drive to the Dolly Sods > Wilderness, not including the final 9 miles of very rough, > unpaved road to my eventual campsite. Some of the final back > roads to this area aren't particularly well marked. At the > entrance there is a map which shows the one road that passes > through Dolly Sods, indicating a campground about 9 miles > from the entrance. Upon arriving at the camp grounds, I found > every camp site occupied so I proceeded down the road; the > map had indicated that roadside camping was permissible > farther on, but there were no signs in the area to show > where. I eventually settled on a spot that had a ring of > stones for a campfire and an obvious camp site, even though I > was pretty sure I hadn't gone far enough to be in the area > where "primitive" camping was allowed; it was getting dark > and I had to get settled in quickly while I still had some daylight. > > I should mention at this point that it was already completely > "socked in" with clouds/fog. Dolly Sods itself is a plateau > that rises about 2000 feet above the surrounding countryside > (I have no idea how high that is, but West Virginia is fairly > mountainous). The road had been climbing steadily for miles > before I got to Dolly Sods and had kept on doing so all the > way to the camp site. It's a place that had a very primitive > atmosphere. The place I would most compare it to would be > Dartmoor. Even though the two places are quite different in > many respects, they have the same sort of mysterious "feel". > They do share an abundance of bracken fern (or something > similar)... and of course there was the fog. I would imagine > that the hound of the Baskervilles would feel quite at home > at Dolly Sods. > > I set up camp and settled in, expecting at any moment to be > confronted by a ranger of some sort telling me I couldn't > camp there, but darkness set in completely and I was left > undisturbed to wonder if I had wasted my time coming all that > way only to spend 12-14 hours in pea soup fog and not get any photos. > > Some time around 3:00 a.m. I was awakened by bright light. My > first thought was that I had indeed been found by someone who > knew I wasn't allowed to be camping in that spot, but I > quickly realized that the tent was to evenly illuminated for > the light to be coming from any man-made source. It was, in > fact, the moon. While I had slept the sky had cleared > completely and an almost-full moon was casting a light strong > enough to have woken me up and to give the landscape an ever > more eerie appearance. Now I suddenly had a sunrise to look > forward to! > > As sunrise was to come at around 7:15, I had planned to sleep > in until 6:00 or so but I woke at 5:00 a.m. and knew I > wouldn't be able to go back to sleep so I got up, packed the > tent and sleeping bag into the car and hefted my LowePro > Photo Trekker pack onto my back. It was still quite dark, > despite the moon, and I had no idea where to go to get a good > view at dawn. But I knew there was nothing interesting back > in the direction from which I'd come so I set off ahead down > the road. I recalled the park map indicating some kind of > scenic viewing area somewhere ahead, but had little clue of > how far away it might be. > > Less than a mile down the road I found a promising area. The > road doubled back and began a series of switchbacks down a > steep slope. At the top of this area were a lot of granite > boulders and what promised to be a good view of the valley > below, especially in the direction my compass indicated we'd > be seeing the sun before too long. > > I set up the tripod and started shooting as soon as the > horizon began to show light. The first shot > (http://www.robertstech.com/graphics/pages/7d303014.htm) was > about a 20-30 second exposure at f/4, using the A20/2.8. On > the web, you can only really see a single point of light in > the sky, but I named the shot "Stars Over Dolly Sods" because > at full magnification you can see quite a few. And the > resolving power of that lens is amazing: When you zoom in on > the full-res image in Photoshop, you can see that the > brightest "star" is actually a planet because you can tell > what phase it's in! > > In the next shot > (http://www.robertstech.com/graphics/pages/7d303020.htm) I > used the FA*80-200/2.8 with a 2-stop split ND filter. By this > time it was getting light enough to see my surroundings a bit > and I discovered several other people with tripods in the > area! It turns out that there had been a photo workshop there > the day before but they'd been in fog all day so several of > the participants decided to stay the night and hope for > better weather. They definitely got it. > > After a few shots with the A20/2.8 I switched to the > FA*24/2.0 because the extra stop of aperture made framing > shots in the viewfinder so much easier. Shots 3 and 4 > (http://www.robertstech.com/graphics/pages/7d303025.htm and > http://www.robertstech.com/graphics/pages/7d303103.htm) are > similar shots from the same vantage point but the second, > besides being taken later when the sun was up, also benefited > from fill flash (set 1.5 stops below ambient light). > http://www.robertstech.com/graphics/pages/7d303105.htm just used the 2-stop split ND filter again and I went back to the fill flash technique for http://www.robertstech.com/graphics/pages/7d303107.htm. It's easy to get so wrapped up in one part of the scene before you that you miss other photographic opportunities nearby. One of my personal rules for any kind of landscape shooting in great light is "stop and look at what's *behind* you every once in a while!" http://www.robertstech.com/graphics/pages/7d303108.htm is what was behind me. The final two shots (http://www.robertstech.com/graphics/pages/7d302918.htm and http://www.robertstech.com/graphics/pages/7d302926.htm) were taken at the side of Interstate 79 on the drive home. Upon my return to Pittsburgh, further adventures awaited me: The lab screwed up my first roll of film. The knowledgeable folks of the PDML offered several possibilities, and I've decided that worn out bleach fixer in the E6 processor is the most likely candidate because it fits with the general M.O. of this lab. They seem to economize a little too much and not maintain their equipment/chemicals as much as one would prefer. I always have a lot more dirt specks on my slides when I have them processed there. Still, there's not much choice around here. Photoshop allowed me to salvage a few shots from this first roll. The rest came out fine and I almost had *too* many good shots from which to choose. I'm definitely going to have to go back to this place to shoot some more, though (perhaps with an *ist-D next time so I won't have to worry about processing problems). Hope the length of this post hasn't been too inconvenient (you *were* warned!) - now back to your regularly scheduled programming. :) -- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
