Immature Blad Eagle on a fabricated perch on the refuge

Canon 5D Mark II with Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II lens
ISO 100, f/7.1, 1/800 sec, 420mm (with 1.4x II teleconverter)

For parts two and three of my series on Oregon, I will highlight my time in Klamath Falls, Oregon and what I learned about making pictures of eagles in the wild. To prepare for the trip and the task, I spent a fair amount of time researching wildlife photography on the Internet and practiced shooting moving subjects at a local high school basketball game. I can’t tell you how valuable the time at the ballgame was in achieving satisfactory results on my trip. Using that experience, I ended up capturing a very nice eagle in flight, which I will share in my next post.

A map of where we were chasing eagles

Lesson #1: Look for the best light

What? Looking for eagles was not the first and most important thing to do? Well yes…it was..but making nice photographs for me has everything to do with having good light. Sure, you can capture eagles in any light for documentation and research purposes, but a shot will always be made better in good light. For example, look at the shot just below. It was the first eagle shot of the day. We immediately noticed two problems with our approach. First, there was a car ahead of us that kept pushing the eagle to the next perch down the way. As you can see, this made the distances too far for the focal length of our lenses. I will cover that in lesson #2.

The other problem was the orientation of the sun to the subject. The sun was mostly behind him. You can tell by looking at the shadows on the perch. Since eagles seem to sit with their backs to the sun, all we were going to get from our first approach were darkened silhouettes. What did we do? Well, we turned the car around and drove around the lake and came in from the other side. It allowed us to get much closer and provided much better light to illuminate the bird. As evidence, the shot at the top of the post is what we ended up with. You can see from the shadows that the sun was now behind me, which put our eagle in full and beautiful sunlight. Much better!

An eagle too far and in not so good light

Lesson #2: You lens will probably never be long enough

Although I deem my results acceptable, I wanted a longer lens almost the whole time I was in Klamath Falls. That said, the lens I took with me is very nice. It is the Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II. The optical quality if this lens is unrivaled in the professional Canon EF lineup and it performs exceptionally well when paired with Canon’s 1.4x III teleconverter. Since I was shooting with a full-frame Canon 5D Mark II, the lens with the teleconverter gave me 420mm of reach. That may sound like a lot until you try making pictures of birds high on a perch or a tree. Restless birds no less. The closer you get, the more likely they will fly farther away. Bummer!

As you can see from the photograph at the top, when the conditions were right the results are amazing. Even with the teleconverter, the Canon 300m f/2.8 is an incredible piece of glass. Literally no chromatic aberration and incredible resolving power. I bought the 300mm primarily for photographing larger wildlife like elk, lions and giraffes. In fact, my primary purpose for owning it is to take it to Africa next year. For that use, I think it will be perfect. For birding, however, the rule of thumb is to buy the highest quality and longest lens you can afford. I am not sure if and when I will go longer. My penchant for the best gear available will set me back five figures for a longer lens. I am not sure I am willing to make that commitment right now. In the mean time, I will use and love the 300mm for its intended purposes.

I overcame the focal length deficiency with patience. We parked the car and then very slowly moved toward the bird in stages…taking pictures as we went. Some birds were more temperamental than others. We just had to proceed with caution and hope for the closest shot possible.

Snow-capped volacnic peak from the Klamath Falls Wildlife Refuge

Lesson #3: Keep an eye on your lens and exposure settings

When first starting out in photography, I can’t tell you how many times I shot pictures at the wrong settings. I remember once shooting a bunch of landscapes in broad daylight at an ISO of 1600. They were the settings from the night before while shooting a concert! For that reason, I have made it a ritual to check all settings before embarking on a new outing. Here are a few things to consider when setting your camera up for photographing eagles:

• Are your lens buttons in the right places? - Super telephoto and zoom lenses have buttons that enable faster focusing at various distances. The Canon 300mm f/2.8 has three lens focus ranges. If you are shooting subjects in the distance, make sure the 6m to infinity setting is enabled. It will allow for the lens to focus faster, which will come in very handy if the bird launches and you want to catch him in flight! Also make sure image stabilization is enabled if you have it. The Canon 300mm f/2.8 II has four stops of stabilization. That allows for much clearer handheld images at longer focal lengths. This feature is worth paying for and proved to be invaluable on this trip.

The array of buttons to consider on the Canon 300mm f/2.8 II (Source: Canon Manual)

•  What ISO setting are you going to use? – In broad daylight, it was pretty easy to use an ISO of 100 and get the shutter speed and aperture settings I wanted. An ISO setting of 100 will give the cleanest image from a noise perspective, especially when you have a clear blue sky as a background. If skies had been overcast, I may have picked an ISO of 400 or higher to make sure the shutter speed stayed high enough to not only capture perched birds but also birds in flight.

Immature bald eagle getting ready to launch

• What about shutter speed and aperture? – As a general rule, your shutter speed should be at least equal to your focal length to minimize unwanted camera shakes. This means that if you use a 300mm telephoto lens the shutter speed should be at least 1/320th of a second. Of course, lens- or camera-based image stabilization gives you leeway here but it is always a good idea to your shutter speed in mind when trying to reduce camera shake. The shot above was at 1/1000th of a second. This was plenty considering I also had image stabilization going for me as well. As far as aperture is concerned, make sure you pick an aperture setting that keeps the subject in focus while allowing the background to blur if that is the look you are going for. Keep in mind that longer focal lengths further reduce the field that will be in sharp focus. Settings of f/5.0 and f/7.1 seemed to work well for me. To be sure, I always preview my shots on the camera’s LCD at maximum magnification to make sure what I am shooting is in sharp focus. I always focused on the eagle’s eye. The eye is where most people look first and will make the greatest initial impression. Much like photographing humans!

A convenient perch for a Bald Eagle

Lesson #4: Have fun and take in the moment

As soon as I knew I had a few winners under my belt, I reminded myself to stop obsessing about the quality of my pictures and just enjoy the moment. Chasing eagles is not something I do everyday. I love the image above of a lone eagle perched atop a lone dormant tree. The serenity and solitude of that moment is something I will remember for a long time. This picture will remid me of it. Taking and committing to memory the beauty of the surrounding landscape and incredible wildlife amplifies the meaning of my photos when I bring them home. It allows me to transport myself back to the time and place they were taken and relive the moment all over again. What’s better that that?

The wetlands of the Klamath Falls Wildlife Refuge

My next post will feature a Bald Eagle in flight and nesting eagle in a natural setting. I am quite happy with them and I hope you will return for the next leg of this adventure!

Take care,
Lee

My friend Eric boarding the turboprop to Klamath Falls, Oregon

This post is part one of a multi-part series on my most recent trip to Oregon.
Trust me, a few eagle pictures are coming soon!

When I think about it, I have mostly been a fair weather photographer. Honestly, who doesn’t want to make pictures in the south of France in September? There is, however, something appealing about venturing out when most of the population is snuggled up to their fireplaces in the comfort of their homes. A few years’ back I can’t say that I would have sought out a photography trip in the middle of January. Until now. For me, winter photography holds the promise of unique photo opportunities in uncrowded places.

Since eagles do things on their own schedule, we had to plan a trip that would maximize our opportunity to see them. I have not engaged in a lot of wildlife photography but I have a friend that really enjoys it. Recently, he mentioned that he wanted to fly up to Oregon to make pictures of Bald Eagles at the Klamath Falls Wildlife Refuge. Not having been to Oregon before, I piped up and said let’s go! It seemed like a prime opportunity to see an unfamiliar part of the country and to try something new while doing something I love. Taking in the splendor of nature while capturing beauty through the iris of my camera’s lens. The final itinerary we settled on called for two days in Klamath Falls at the refuge, and three days making our way back to Portland by car along the Oregon coast with a stop at the base of Mount Hood for good measure.

Having not packed for cold weather photography before, I had to break my fair weather routine. My goal was to travel as light as possible while carrying enough equipment to make the pictures I wanted. The photo below shows everything I took for the five-day trip. This included all my camera gear, a tripod and monopod, plus all my clothes and necessities. All of this went on the plane as my two allowed carry on items.

Photo gear and necessities for five-day Oregon trip

To carry my camera gear, I decided on the F-Stop Tilopa Back Country backpack (shown above right). It is a pretty amazing bag that can be adapted to a variety of carrying needs. What’s nifty is that you can buy what F-Stop calls ICUs, or Internal Camera Units. They have different sizes to accommodate the needs of different adventures. The ICUs, which are available in small to monster sizes, hold your camera gear nice and secure and slide conveniently into the backpack for easy access while in the field. You just pick the size of ICU you need for gear and the balance of the storage in the bag can be used for other things. Brilliant!

For my trip, I used the large ICU (shown loaded below), which still left a bit of room in my pack for the other short-hike items that I needed. Within the large ICU, I was able to fit the following items:

• Canon 5Dmark II
• Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II Super Telephoto Lens
• Canon 24-105mm Zoom Lens
• Canon 17-40mm Wide Angle Zoom Lens
• Canon 1.4x III Teleconverter
• Two Batteries and Charger
• Three 16GB Compact Flash Cards
• Really Right Stuff Pano Elements Panning Base and Nodal Slide
• Three Singh Ray 77mm Filters
• Three Singh Ray Neutral Density Grad Filters plus the Filter Holder
• Canon Remote Release
• USB Camera Connection Cable

20.5 lbs. of gear in a large F-Stop Gear Internal Camera Unit (ICU)

Fully loaded, the large ICU with this gear weighed in at 20.5 pounds. Pretty awesome, huh? The dilemma was, however, with $13,000 worth of gear in my ICU, I could not risk having to gate-check the large Tilopa backpack loaded with camera gear and send it down into the cargo hold of the turboprop. To avoid this on the trip out to Klamath Falls, I decided to put the gear-loaded large ICU in the sturdy carry on canvas bag shown above along with my MacBook Air laptop. My Tilopa backpack was then loaded with my trip clothes and necessities as well as my tripod and monopod. This way, I could keep the expensive and fragile camera gear with me on the plane even if I needed to gate-check the backpack.

Once I got to Klamath Falls, I simply transferred my clothes to my canvas bag and slid the ICU back into into the Tilopa backpack. Now I was all ready to go hiking and picture making!

Next up will be a post on my experiences at the wildlife refuge and a few photo of the eagles that I was able to make. Stick around, I think you will like them!

Lee

New York's Chrysler Building on a misty January night

OK, I will admit that this is not as romantic as it sounds. Plus, Donna may not like the idea considering she was not with me on this trip. My schedule was very busy during my trip to New York this week but I did find a couple of late night opportunities to walk the streets and make a few photographs.

Colorful billboard in New York's Times Square

I really had just one goal for this trip with my photography. Take nighttime photos without a tripod. That’s it. What was my plan of attack for getting sharp handheld photographs? Well, take two of my fastest prime lenses and shoot at a high ISO setting. To be honest, It is easier than you might think.

Most of the photos you see here were shot at an ISO setting of 1250. For those not familiar with ISO, it is a common setting on digital cameras that sets the light sensitivity of the camera sensor. The higher the ISO setting, the higher the light sensitivity. Higher light sensitivity allows a photographer to use a higher shutter speed or smaller aperture opening to make a picture. Unfortunately high ISO comes with a compromise in the way of increased noise in the photograph. For handheld night photography, the trick is to pick a high enough ISO (but not too high) that allows you to use a fast enough shutter speed to overcome blur from camera shake.

Really? Having fun on a Thursday night in new York?

For instance, the shot below of our beautiful model drinking a Diet Pepsi was shot at ISO 1250, f/3.2 at 1/250th of a second. I was using the Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens on my Canon 50D DSLR for this photo. The lens has no image stabilization so I really needed to keep the shutter speed relatively high to keep everything nice and sharp. Keep in mind that I don’t just rely on the camera to do the work. I help out by carefully composing the shot, taking a breath, and releasing the shutter as gently and smoothly as possible.

A gorgeous Pepsi ad I could not resist

I could have opened up the lens even further to the maximum of f/1.4 and cranked up the shutter speed. The problem with that strategy is that I would loose depth of field and the poster would have drifted out of focus in the foreground and background. The reality is that 1/250 is plenty fast enough and f/3.2 kept the entire photo in acceptably sharp focus.

An ominous-looking W-Hotel in Times Square

Now, about setting your exposure. With shots like these, I like to shoot in full manual mode with the camera. The light is so dynamic in this type of shooting environment that the camera cannot automatically meter the scene with absolute predictability. Shooting in manual is not that hard. First I set my ISO to 1250. That sets the first leg of the exposure stool. Next, I set the second leg with a fast enough shutter speed to prevent camera shake. Then, I experimented with my aperture setting to get the exposure I wanted. I checked my histogram after each shot to make sure I was not over or under exposing too much. The fact is, you may blow out highlights in some part of your photograph. That’s OK as long as you like what you are getting. I am usually more worried about under exposing because once a pixel goes black, I will probably not get the detail back.

As you can see in the shot of the W-Hotel above, even though the light of the sign blew out, there is still detail to be seen in the lowest and darkest part of the hotel. We expect lights to be bright so it was better to over expose that area of the photo, which enabled the shadow detail to be preserved. After you shoot, take the time to preview the image on the camera’s LCD at high magnification to make sure you are getting what you want in focus!

I meant for this to be out of focus. Pretty cool, huh?

For the shot directly above, I was not interested in detail. I wanted make an abstract image made up of the lights in Times Square. To do this, I used my 100mm f/2.8 canon prime lens with my aperture to f/4.0. F/4.0 gave me two benefits in the photograph. It allowed for a higher shutter speed to keep the car lights from streaking and it allowed for beautiful bokeh to occur. Bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light. With my settings locked down, I merely auto focused on something close to me and recomposed a shot in the distance before pressing the shutter button. Since I focused close, all of the lights in the distance were rendered as the lovely multi-colored circles you see in the photo. Bokeh on some lenses looks better than others depending on the number of blades the lens aperture contains. Less blades means the circles start to look like polygons. Not a bad thing, just different and a matter of personal taste.

Clock in New York's Roosevelt Hotel

The goal of this post is to motivate you to get to know your camera and how it performs under different shooting conditions. Take some time to experiment and understand how different settings affect your outcome. Once you have a solid command of the camera, you will be more free to create the images you visualize!

Who needs coffee in Times Square?

Photo courtesy of John Dunne Photography - County Wicklow, Ireland. Please Click to visit John's site

Well here we are. Another year and another year of travel! In typical fashion, I thought I would provide a quick preview of my upcoming trips. Have I mentioned before that I love having something on the calendar to look forward to?

My big trip this year with Donna will be to Ireland for two weeks. By the way, if you have any suggestions for us, please comment below – we would love to hear about your experiences! We are booked to go at the end of August, flying in and out of Dublin. Already booked you say? You bet. I like to book as early as possible to take advantage of cheap frequent flyer tickets!

I just checked and these tickets would have cost us $1384 each, or a whopping $2768 for both of us! Fortunately, I was able to book two tickets for 130,000 United miles and $240 in taxes! I can’t stress enough the value of a miles reward credit card. To Europe alone, I have booked 12 “free” tickets since 2007. I am very disciplined about tracking all credit card charges in Quicken and netting those monthly charges against my checking account. This way, I am always sure that I can pay the card off every month to avoid interest charges. I also use Quicken to set savings goals that allow me to save all year to pay for the trip. That way, when we go, we don’t worry at all about what we are spending on the trip. It is already in the bank!

So, everything we can gets charged to the card. Car insurance, utilities, groceries, fuel, you name it. It all adds up to free trips! I do get the benefit of additional miles for work related travel but the card really helps boost the account for our free tickets to Europe. I posted before that Europe for us tends to run about $3500 per week. I am sure glad I don’t have to pay $3,000 more to get there!

My only motive in providing this level of information is to inspire you to travel. I meet so many people that seem to like the idea of travel but never go! Travel has enriched my life immeasurably. It is a true blessing to be able to experience the different cultures of the world and I find it incredibly inspiring to my creative pursuits.

Oregon's Klamath Falls Wildlife Refuge

Ireland is not the only plan for 2012. On a smaller scale, I am heading to Oregon at the end of January to take pictures of Bald Eagles at the Klamath Falls Wildlife Refuge. I will also make my way up the Oregon coast to scout locations and head over the the Mount Hood area to make mountainous landscape photographs.

Summer in Rocky Mountain National Park. What will it look like this winter?

Next, Donna and I bought each other snow shoes for Christmas. Yep, you guessed it, we are going snow shoeing! Our first snow shoeing trip is planned for a weekend in February in Rocky Mountain National Park. I plan to snow shoe up to one of the many beautiful lakes and make some wintery alpine lakefront photographs.

Icelandic Turf Houses - Source: Wikipedia

I am not sure if time will permit but I would like to try and make it up to Iceland for four days. We now have direct flights on Iceland Air from Denver to Iceland, making it very convenient to get there. I have become enamored with photographs of Iceland lately and would like to see the country first hand.

Well that is it for now. Other trips are also in the works but the details need to be nailed down. Next week I am heading to New York for business and will take the camera in case something catches my fancy. I hope you have a great weekend!

P.S. Please take the time to look at John Dunne’s photographs of Ireland at http://www.johndunnephotography.com/. John is a gifted photographer and his images, in part, inspired me to book my trip to his beautiful country!

View of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

About 200 miles south of my home in Monument are the tallest sand dunes in North America. That’s right, sand dunes in Colorado! Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve lies in Colorado’s San Luis Valley against the rugged and incredibly scenic Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The Sangre de Cristo Range is home to 9 of Colorado’s 53 14,000ft peaks. Several of the 14′ers including Blanca Peak, Crestone Peak and Crestone Needle are visible from the park . The San Luis Valley and the surrounding mountain ranges are quite beautiful due to the relatively untouched nature of the area. As a landscape photographer, I search out locations where man’s footprint is less noticeable and the San Luis Valley is rich with photography opportunities for that reason.

The photo above shows the dunes at the base of Mount Herard. This mountain does not make the list of Colorado 14′ers but comes close at 13,297 feet. For those interested, the dunes originated as wind and water moved grains of sand made from bits of mountain rock toward the valley floor. In a nutshell, huge quantities of sand are carried downstream by Medano Creek, and then redeposited by southwesterly winds on the eastern edge of the dunefield. All this did not happen overnight. Age estimates range from 12,000 to a million years. Research continues!

(Photo details (above): Three-frame, tripod assisted, panorama with a 100mm prime lens shot at f/7.1 and 1/500th of a second. Stitched with Photomerge in Photoshop.)

195 mile trek to the Great Sand Dunes

The area surrounding the park is abundant with wildlife. As we entered the park we saw the gorgeous buck below and stepped out of the car for a few pictures. He was quite interested in us but did not seem frightened. My guess is that he is used to people in the park bearing harmless cameras.

(Photo details (below): Handheld with a 300mm prime lens shot at f/6.3 and 1/800th of a second)

Wildlife in Great San Dunes National Park

The photo below shows 14′ers Crestone Needle and Crestone Peak. I used a 300mm prime lens on this shot to compress the landscape and pull the mountains toward me. If you try to shoot this with a wide angle DSLR lens or point and shoot camera, the mountains will appear much smaller in the shot! This view was reminiscent of the Alps we saw in Switzerland but they were literally in my back yard! My son, who shares my passion for photography, was with me on this trip and we found ourselves exclaiming over and over again how beautiful the landscape was. Simply breathtaking!

(Photo details (below): Tripod assisted with a 300mm prime lens shot at f/5.0 and 1/2000th of a second)

Crestone Needle and Crestone Peak

We did not plan so well and ended up driving to Alamosa for lunch, which was about a 50-minute drive from the park. We decided to make the most of our side excursion by taking some time to visit the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge. Due to the time of day, we did not see much wildlife but we were able to capture a few more stunning vistas and the back lit cattails you see below. I love how the 300mm lens created the beautiful blur in the background. It allows the subject to pop off of the frame and amplifies the sharpness of the photograph.

(Photo details (below): Tripod assisted with a 300mm prime lens shot at f/10 and 1/160th of a second)

Winter Cattails at the Alamosa Wildlife Refuge

Below, with the cattails in the foreground, I took a panorama of Blanca Peak. At 14,351 feet, Blanca is the tallest peak in the Sangre de Cristo Range and is the 4th tallest mountain in Colorado. It is notable for its prominent position at the end of the range and I love how it sits majestically on the valley floor with little evidence of man to be seen.

(Photo details (below): Tripod assisted,  six-frame panorama, shot with a 100mm prime lens shot at f/7.1 and 1/1,000th of a second. Stitched with Photomerge in Photoshop.)

Blanca Peak Panorama from the Alamosa Wildlife Refuge

Who could resist the John Deere below with a stunning backdrop? We couldn’t! My guess is that this equipment is used to maintain the grasses in the refuge. The refuge was established in 1962 for migratory birds and other wildlife. The refuge consists of wet meadows, river oxbows and riparian corridor primarily within the flood plain of the Rio Grande, and dry uplands vegetated with greasewood and saltbush. These areas support songbirds, water birds, raptors, mule deer, beaver and coyotes. In March there is a crane festival at the nearby Monte Vista Wildlife Refuge. Thousands of cranes stop there for fuel as they migrate beginning in February. I think I will make the trip back to see and photograph the spectacle.

(Photo details (below): Hand held with a 100mm prime lens shot at f/5.0 and 1/2,00th of a second.)

John Deere and Blanca Peak

Below is another shot of the cattails. I was taken by the shear quantity of them and how they commanded attention with the sun’s back lighting. I used the silhouette of the trees as a compositional element and to provide a sense of place.

Winter Cattails

By the end of the day, we were getting pretty tired but wanted to take advantage of the lack of light pollution on La Veta pass. With widespread development, it is getting harder to find places where stray lights from neighboring cities don’t pollute the skies with light. Due to the lack of development near the San Luis Valley, it is ideal for astrophotography.

This was really my first foray into night photography. I have much to learn but I thought I would share my first results with you. As with any type of photography, part of the challenge is getting the right mix of settings to achieve a desired results. With a long 25 -second exposure, I was able to turn the dark landscape into an eerie daylight and expose the splendor hidden in the skies. I will continue to try this as I have opportunities, hopefully with better compositional elements in the frame.

(Photo details (below): Tripod assisted with a 24-105mm zoom lens shot at f/4.0 and with a 25-second exposure.)

Night Photography on La Veta Pass

Château de Villandry - A château with an awesome back yard

Of all the châteaus we visited in the Loire Valley, Château de Villandry was Donna’s favorite. Knowing how much she loves gardens, I had put Villandry on our itinerary and prayed that September was not too late to see Villandry’s famous gardens in all their splendor. The lavender was done so I assumed that nothing else would be blooming either. Boy was I wrong. As you can see from these pictures, we were not disappointed.

Impressive boxwood hedges and ornamental gardens at Villandry

We spent a few hours visiting the chateau and its lovely gardens. Although the chateau itself was very nicely kept and full of impressive works of art, the gardens stole the show. Villandry’s Renaissance gardens include a water garden, ornamental flower gardens, and vegetable gardens – all maintained to perfection. Visiting Villandry actually brought back memories from my childhood. I was born in England to an English mother and and American father. While living in England up until about first grade, my family would visit English gardens from time to time. I remember being fascinated by boxwood hedges. I loved the preciseness of their forms and how they could be used to create designs on a grand scale. I suppose this early attraction was an indication of my future love of art and design.

The gardens of Château de Villandry

Villandry was built toward 1536 and was the last of the large chateaus built in the Loire Valley during the Renaissance. Villandry’s builder, Jean le Breton, also oversaw the construction of Chambord. According to Wikipedia, The château remained in the Le Breton family for more than two centuries until it was acquired by the Marquis de Castellane. During the French Revolution the property was confiscated and in the early 19th century, Emperor Napoleon acquired it for his brother Joseph Bonaparte.

Château de Villandry's gardens

In 1906, Joachim Carvallo purchased the property, saved it from being demolished, and poured an enormous amount of time, money and devotion into repairing it and creating what many consider to be the most beautiful gardens anywhere. Today, Villandry is still owned by the Carvallo family. Like all the other châteaux of the Loire Valley, Villandry it is a World Heritage Site.

Vegetable gardens at Château de Villandry

The vegetable gardens were the epitome of form and function. Oh how I would love to be able to grow such a garden. We now live at 7300 feet here in Colorado so the growing season is relatively short. We have made a nice garden but it is more of a challenge to grow the type of variety that we witnessed at Villandry.

Flower gardens at Château de Villandry

The flower gardens were equally beautiful and more whimsical in their arrangement. Rose bushes could be found throughout the gardens as well. In the photo below, you can also see a grapevine-covered pathway along the left side of the canal. Awesome!

Villandry is complete with a water garden

The photo above provides a view of the canal, which leads up to the water garden above. As you can see, the site was not overrun with tourists in early September. This was typical for most of the chateaus we visited on our trip. As I have mentioned before, you can see several chateaus in a single day if you have your own car. They are all very easy to find with a Garmin and the driving experience is quite pleasant and rewarding. I highly recommended Villandry as an essential stop on your first trip to the Loire Valley. If you go, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

A beautiful staircase at Château de Villandry

Chinon, France on the Vienne River

I thought I would have a bit of fun with today’s images of Chinon, France by processing a few of them in a way that makes the town look miniature. These photographs were taken while Donna and I toured the Forteresse Royale du Chinon last September. The images overlooking the town are particularly well suited for miniature processing. Basically, if you have an image with a high point of view, like looking down on a model, you can apply a few processing techniques that fools the brain into thinking it is small. I will talk about that later in the post.

Chinon’s castle is perched up on a hill next to the Vienne river. There has been a castle on the site since the 10th century, when Theobald the Trickster, Count of Blois, built a tower there. In 1154, Henry II Plantagenet, Count of Anjou and King of England, set the fortress on a course to its present grandeur. The castle recently underwent several years of restoration work, which included a complete rebuild of the roof. The project, per the castle’s website, cost $14.5 million Euros, which is about $20 million US dollars. Portions of the chateau remain in ruin but that is part of the charm and serves to amplify its heritage and historical importance.

Château Chinon

Vienne and looks down on the old town of Chinon. I was fascinated by the visual impression of the town and the cluster of steeply pitched rooftops. In the photo below, you can see the glorious random arrangement rooftops attached to perfect little French houses. I am sure scenes like this have inspired animators for years since the view reminded me of something right out of a Disney movie. I really love the unspoiled look of this town from above. No satellite dishes or annoying remnants of modern day to be seen anywhere. A photographer’s dream!

Chinon's village as seen from Château Chinon

Above and below, you can see the difference that miniature post processing makes. Just click the images to see larger versions. If we fake the look of macro photography on a full scale image, the brain believes the objects in the image are small. This is an interesting exercise in fooling the brain by exploiting what it already knows. If you think about it, this can be a very powerful concept in painting as well. We are used to seeing small things photographed in a certain way so, when we process an image in that way, the brain interprets what it sees with that bias in mind. No pun intended!

Chinon village without miniature processing

I used a Photoshop plugin called OnOne FocalPoint to process the miniature effect seen in the images of the town. You can download a free trial if you want to give it a try on your own image. You can also achieve the same results manually in Photoshop but the FocalPoint interface makes it very easy to get the effect right out of the box.

Miniature post processing with OnOne FocalPoint 2.0

Basically, all you have to do is use the “Planar” version of the Focus Bug in the application to blur the foreground and background of the image. The amount of blur is adjustable. You can experiment with different settings to achieve maximum fakery. The processing mimics the the shallow depth of field of macro photography, which is used to photograph small objects. It is also a good idea to pump up the saturation of the final image a bit to make it like more like a model than real life. I did not go too far with these because I wanted to preserve some the natural details.

Château Chinon and the French countryside

Above, you can see where some of the castle still in ruin. You can also see the beautiful French countryside and the Vienne river. We could also see vineyards from the castle. Per Wikipedia, though typically thought of as lighter wines, reds from good producers and strong vintages can be full bodied and well structured for aging. Chinon inspired whites are composed primarily of Chenin Blanc and are typically described as dry, soft, light, and clean.

A vineyard as seen from the Chinon castle grounds

I have been buying French reds and whites since our trip and they are fabulous. I have heard and confirmed that 2009 was a very good year for French wine. I rely heavily on our local wine expert to help me pick good wine. It has been fun to pick up wines from the areas we visited on our trip to France.

Clustered rooftops as seen from Château Chinon

I hope you have enjoyed this brief look at Chinon in the Loire Valley. I also hope I am not trying to cover too much ground in these posts. As you may have guessed, I am passionate about travel, art and photography and want to drop something in these posts for everyone! Have a great Sunday!

Lee@ADNW

Four hours of diving bliss to the French Riviera

After spending three nights in the hilltop village of Roussillon in Provence, we hopped in the car and made our way to Nice on the French Riviera. I had to return the rental car by 5:30pm in Nice so we had to plan our trek carefully. Rental return hours can be unpredictable in Europe so it’s always a good idea to make sure you know how late the return counter is open.

Google maps indicated that it would take 4 hours and 8 minutes to get from Roussillon to Nice along our preferred route so we planned for seven, accounting for stops at Moustiers Sainte Marie, Castellane and other spots along the way. We left Roussillon at 9am so, if all went well, we would get to Nice at about 4pm.

Our first stop - Moustiers Sainte Marie

In addition to getting to Nice for the final leg of our trip, we wanted to experience the French countryside by car and see the Grand Canyon du Verdon, which is by many accounts considered to  be the Grand Canyon of Europe. From Roussillon, it took about two hours to get Moustiers Sainte Marie, which marked the beginning of our hour-long drive through the canyon. The two hour drive from Roussillon to Moustiers took us through a small towns as well as a handful of farms blanketed with enormous lavender fields. Unfortunately, we missed the blooming of the lavender this year but the tranquility of the open fields and mesmerizing rhythm of the fast passing  rows of plantings were beautiful and very relaxing indeed.

Moustiers (shown above) is a beautiful town, but as Rick Steves mentions in his book on Provence, it gets very crowded with tourists so it is better to visit as early as possible in the day. It was quite busy when we arrived so we only stopped for lunch before heading into the canyon. Oh, and a word to the wise. Make sure you have enough gas in the car before heading into the Parc du Verdon. There are no gas stations around and it would be a rather stressful situation to run out while driving through the park. The best plan is to stop in one of the more urban towns along the way to the park and fill up.

By the way, I love how everyone in France says “Bon Appétit” when you are eating. It happened several times while we were on our trip. When eating our mozzarella and tomato sandwiches in our car in Moustiers, a car full of older French ladies pulled up beside us. I looked over and a lady in the passenger seat smiled and exclaimed, “Bon Appétit!, through her window.” How can you not love that!

The stunning Lac Sainte Croix at the Parc du Verdon

Le Grand Canyon du Verdon, which lies about two hours north of Nice, is named for its incredibly gorgeous (no pun intended) turquoise-green river that runs though the canyon. In the photo above you can see the canyon’s lake, the Lac Sainte Croix. The lake is also shown on the driving map above about half way to Nice. Seeing the lake for the first time is an, “Oh wow,” experience that is one of the many highlights of the drive. the lake is enormous and, as you can see, relatively untouched by commercial activity. The intense green color of the water results from very fine particles of rock  suspended in the water, pulverized by glaciers above.

Driving throu Europe's Grand Canyon, the Parc du Verdon

The road through the canyon is is very good condition and not too scary to drive. The only unnerving spots are where you see a falling rock sign and then immediately see a few crumbs of rock actively rolling across the road. Yes, we did see that once along our drive. As you can garner from the photos, the scenery is breathtaking and we could not have asked for a better day weather wise do do it. We could have spent all day hiking in the canyon but we had to get to Nice. We did stop frequently though and take in the canyon’s stunning views and snap a few pictures.

Driving through the canyons at Parc du Verdon

According to Rick Steves’ book called Provence, the gorge drops 2,200 feet to the river at its deepest point. The canyon is as narrow at 26 feet wide at the bottom and spans as far as 4,600 feet across at the top. The variability of the French landscape is something to behold. I feel very fortunate to have been able to see such a broad brush of France’s beauty on a single trip!

Gorgeous views near the Parc du Verdon

As the canyon disappeared behind us, we began to see pristine meadows accompanied by dramatic mountainous backdrops. I initially drove right by the little church you see below and then said, “I have to go back!” I did a U turn and parked the car running with Donna in it on a little side street. Yep, a one lane side street. Fortunately, there weren’t many folks around, so I had time to run across the field and capture a shot of the this beautiful lone church in the hill.

A lone church as we exited the Parc du Verdon

Castellane, shown below, was the “official” end to our breathtaking ride through the Canyon du Verdon. I stopped long enough in Castellane to take this photo from a bridge leading into town. We needed to get moving in order to get to Nice on time. The rest of the drive was relatively uneventful until we got to Grasse. Grasse may be the capital of perfume but driving in town stinks. We just happened to be there during rush hour. After a few go arounds on the roundabouts we made it out of the city alive and made our way to Nice. Nice is Nice and that will be the subject of my next post!

On to Nice after a quick stop in Castellane, France

Boathouse in the Loire Valley

What could be more perfect than a boat tied to a quaint little boathouse with flowers everywhere and no swing set in the back yard? The beautiful scene above is one we ran across while visiting Chateau Azay-le-Rideau in the Loire Valley. As I crossed the bridge, I was instantly drawn to the near perfect composition of elements. If you are attracted to a scene, there is probably a good reason. I highly recommend you stop for a second to try and figure out why. Once you do, the trick is to get the camera to see it the same way you do.

Along these lines, the original color photo (shown below) is almost too much. Although beautiful, the camera sees everything in the scene with the same intensity, which makes it a little overwhelming. It is like getting whacked over the head with a color sledgehammer. So, because I was originally attracted to the boathouse, I processed the photo in a way that would draw the most attention to it.

The original photograph

First, let’s address cropping. In my view, the boathouse fits nicely in the left third of the photograph. If you are not familiar with the Golden Ratio, you can read a quick primer that I wrote a while back HERE that my help. It is basically the rule of thirds with a little math thrown in for good measure. In addition to being able to position the subject near a third, it’s also nice that there are a number of converging lines that also draw our eyes to the subject.

After cropping with the concepts above in mind, I ran a black and white conversion on the photo with an Adobe Photoshop plugin called Silver Efex Pro. After the conversion was done, with a click of a button, I ended up with a new black and white layer on top of the original full color layer containing the original photo.

Showing the layers and painting with mask to bring back color

At that point, I used a layer mask in Photoshop (shown above) that allowed me to “paint” in the color from the layer below. The black/dark areas in the mask layer in the upper right of the layer palette are where the color is being let through from the photo below. Looks complicated but it really isn’t.

In much the same way I paint, I tried to focus the most color and detail around the subject. If you look at the final image at the top, the flowers are more saturated the more you move toward the boathouse. Also, the vignette mutes some of the peripheral detail so we can focus more easily on the subject. Photos like this can be processed a million different ways and it is great fun to experiment to try and achieve your artistic vision. Give it a go!

The beautiful Loch-Vale of Rocky Mountain National Park

I considered being able to take this photo a privilege and a significant accomplishment at the same time. The scene you see above is what I found at the end of a two and a half hour hike to an elevation of 10,200 feet in Rocky Mountain National Park. I know Everest would be infinitely more impressive but, you see, ten short months ago it was all I could do to take a single lap around the surgical trauma floor at our local hospital. Without getting into the gory details, what I thought was going to be a routine laparoscopic gall bladder removal last January turned into a a full blown invasive abdominal surgery that included a bile duct exploration and transduodenal sphincteroplasty topped off with a pulmonary embolism for bad measure. Talk about a surreal experience. In an instant, I was confronted with a potential life changing event over which I had no control.

When I reflect on the ordeal, I did not seem all that worried at the time. I just wanted to feel better. Nothing else mattered. I later asked myself why and came to the conclusion that I seem to worry more about the things I perceive I have control over. I worry about the outcomes of decisions I may make that could turn out badly. My medical condition, however, evolved so rapidly that I felt like I was just along for the ride and the outcome for better or worse was out of my hands. What good was worry when there was no way that I could alter the outcome? My biggest fear, quite honestly, was that I might not be there after the surgery for my wife and son. Aside from that, I felt I had, by the grace of God, lived a blessed life beyond my greatest expectations, rich with experiences and deeply meaningful relationships.

A day after surgery, I woke up with a nine-inch incision across my abdomen and all the fun that came with it. My surgeon told me I would be at the hospital recovering for a while and that he would need to follow my progress for three months. Despite the pain, I was out of bed that day and thought I was on my way back. My general surgeon, who brought four other doctors onto my case, came in to check on me later in the afternoon. With a slight wave of emotion, I said, “Thanks for pulling all the talent together and helping me get better.” To my surprise, he said, “Wait a minute, you are not out of the woods yet.” I was shocked. At that point, I had not thought for a second that I would not get completely better. It hit me in an instant that many of the things that I had enjoyed in life were now threatened by this unplanned turn of events.

Fortunately, after leaving the hospital nine days later and and five weeks of follow up, my surgeon told me I did not have to come back to see him again. He said, “You have had a very good result. Much better than it could have been.” With that, I was free again. Free to enjoy life to the fullest with a new respect for the frailty of life. I am completely better now and consider myself a very lucky man indeed.

What did I learn from this life experience? I learned that I REALLY love my wife. Her unwavering support in every aspect of my life has made me a better and stronger person. I can strive to attain the highest levels of self proclaimed importance at work or anywhere else, but in the end, my wife, family, and close friends are who I can depend on to be at my side.

The experience also drove home the importance of the A Day Not Wasted concept for me, which I had embraced long before the events of last January. If things had turned out worse and I had lost the freedom to do the things I love, I would still have all of the great memories from the experiences that Donna and I have shared together. My passion for living life to the fullest would have paid off. All I would have had to do is close my eyes and remember hiking the Alps in Switzerland, meandering the canals of Venice, and marveling at the grace of Paris, among other truly memorable experiences. Those memories are mine forever and they can’t be taken away. Run, don’t walk, to enjoy your life. Every day is a gift that is not to be wasted. Are you pursuing your passions and creating memories? I hope so. If not, put a plan together today that moves you in that direction. You will not regret it.

This post is a lot more personal that I usually get on the ADNW blog. I have wanted to write this for a while and finally had the clarity to put it down. Thanks for listening and have a fabulous weekend!

Lee@ADNW