More from Utah

[OlDoinyo]

What follows is more of what I was able to obtain when I recently brought the A900 to central Utah, something that has not ordinarily been feasible for me. These pictures were taken in and around the San Pitch Valley, whose floor lies between 1,600 and 1,750 meters above sea level and could be thought of as a steppe environment heavily modified by human use. I used the Steinheil 50mm lens at f/16 along with the Baader U2 filter. I was able to process these as color images with display intent BGR. Exposures were generally in the 0.5-3 second range, depending on lighting. The bright snowpack provides a striking background to all the other surfaces and brings out the subtle colors well.

 

"Stone Shed near Milburn."

 

 

This shows that the sandstone masonry has a definite bias toward absorbing shorter wavelengths. Some coloration is shown in the wood surfaces as well. A green haze veils the piñon-juniper scrubland in the background slopes.

 

"A Crooked Indication."

 

 

I find the coloration on the dark foreground surfaces interesting, as well as the cloud detail I was able to resolve.

 

"The Watering-Trough."

 

 

Looking west, this is a sort-of-reshoot of an image that I took a couple of years ago with the SD14, which may be seen at https://www.flickr.com/photos/ol_doinyo/9676841002. The two cameras have very different personalities, as you can see.

 

For the botany nerds out there, the chief vegetation here is a woody forb called Artemisia. Before westerners settled the valley you would not have seen this, but rather an expanse of long grass; occasional grass fires would have cleared out most woody vegetation. However, heavy grazing by cattle changed everything. In the dry climate of the valley floor, the grasses were soon extirpated; the lack of grass fires then allowed plants such as Artemisia to colonize the flats. Cattle are much less fond of woody plants, so they have thrived from the overgrazing.

 

"The Bookends."

 

 

This scene just appealed to me. I cropped it heavily to get the framing I wanted (my teleconverter is not UV- or IR-usable.) The amplified haze adds some sense of distance.

 

"Overflown."

 

 

Unlike the other images, this was taken on top of the Wasatch Plateau above the valley to the east, at about 2,900 meters' elevation. I was shooting into the sun and there was plenty of UV up here. The backlit scene was handled reasonably well by the UV technique, and there is distinct sky color and cloud detail. The pendent vortices on the contrail at the top of the frame seem well-resolved.

[Andrea B.]

This last image is very nice indeed. I like seeing the man-made contrail as an accent over the beautiful grouping of trees and shadows.I'm imagining that in larger versions there is a lot of texture also showing in the trees & snow.

 

UV photos can often appear drab or flat if not carefully processed. But you have given these images a lovely range of subtle tints and good shadows & light. Nicely done!

[Cadmium]

OlDoinyo, I like the 3rd one very much!

[Andy Perrin]

The final image is my favorite of this bunch. I particularly like the shadows of the trees in there.

[colinbm]

Fantastic UV landscapes Clark.

You have really highlighted the extra UV available at altitude & have been able to show-off some fine details.

Col

[OlDoinyo]

Postscript: 2 months later...

 

These pictures were taken in late May in the same general area. Again, the A900 was used. Lens was either the Steinheil 50 with the Baader U2 front-mounted, or the Tamron 21 with a rear-mounted UG11/S8612 stack; in either case, f/16 was used. White balance was initially 2700G9; this is neutral for the Steinheil but produces noticeably tinted images with the Tamron due to its narrower bandpass. The tinted images were de-tinted with Photoshop. Display intent is BGR.

 

The first images were shot in cloudy weather with the Steinheil on the Skyline Drive at an altitude of about 2,700 meters.

 

"Landmark:"

 

 

"To Travel a Dark Land:"

 

 

There is very little chromaticity in these images, to the extent that I almost rendered them in b&w; but one can notice a subtle orange tint to the bark and twigs of the aspen thickets. The residual snowbanks are strikingly white, There seems to be surprisingly good cloud detail; the new spring ground-cover is rendered nearly black. A very different appearance to the terrain once the snow is gone!

 

The next image was taken with the Tamron from a road overlook at 2,740 meters; the peak of Mount Nebo (3,636 meters) is visible on the left skyline. This past season was much snowier than the previous one, and there is still quite a bit left on the mountain. The 21mm lens does a good job of covering the scene.

 

"Mount Nebo North Shoulder:"

 

 

I struggled a bit with the de-tinting on this one and the sky area still shows some odd tinges. Apart from the snow, the landscape is pretty uniformly greyish-brown.

 

Shot from down in the valley with the Steinheil, this view shows the western escarpment of the Wasatch Plateau. Still snow-covered, Horseshoe Mountain, a glacial cirque, dominates the skyline at 3,346 meters.

 

"Wasatch Plateau escarpment:"

 

 

Notice the faint horizontal color banding as one goes from foreground to skyline. The sky was essentially clear above the escarpment and the sun was setting to the right out of the frame.

 

The last photo shows a tree I have photographed before, but the Tamron gave me an excuse to try it in ultraviolet. The trial-and error aiming procedure through a barbed-wire fence with a soft surface that barely supported the tripod got interesting.

 

"Carry On Regardless:"

 

 

I think there may be a faint green hotspot detectable in the center of this frame.

[Andy Perrin]

I like the last three; I see what you mean about the green spot in the last one but didn't notice until you pointed it out. The second one (on my monitor, which is old) is so dark in the non-sky portions that I really can't make out much detail. I can see the road and sky, but that's it.

[OlDoinyo]

I worked these up on my old travel laptop which tends to show images very pale--perhaps not the best idea, as the results will be on the dark side when displayed elsewhere.

[OlDoinyo]

Postscript 2: More of the Same

 

This view depicts Utah Route 31 which crests the Wasatch Plateau on the right skyline at 2,942 meters. Exposure was with the A900, the Steinheil 50, and the Baader U2 filter; exposure was 1/4 second at f/16 and ISO 100. Display intent for this (and all others) is BGR.

 

"East Approach, Fairview Summit;"

 

 

Even in late May, there was still a layer of snow (old slush, really) on the ground. The colors are very subtle except the orange line of road paint in the foreground. The light has a soft, dreamy look.

 

The next shot is of the Basin Drive-In theater north of Mount Pleasant, with the Tamron 21 at f/16 and the UG11/S8612 rear filter. Exposure was 5 seconds at f/16 and ISO 100. The lens allowed the entire screen to be included in the frame:

 

"A Day at the Movies"

 

 

This is probably one of my best Tamron shots so far; it exhibits distinct blue sky as well as the orange from the paint. There seems to be a faint greenish hue to the grass that is not merely light leakage. Some chromatic aberration is visible at the edge of the frame.

 

Next is a photo of Mount Nebo (3,636 meters) through the Steinheil from the Bald Mountain overlook at about 2,500 meters. Exposure was 1/4 second at f/16 and ISO 100.

 

"Mount Nebo from Bald Mountain Overlook:"

 

 

This is one of my favorite viewpoints on the Nebo Loop Road. Some reddish coloration is visible on the aspen branches at lower left.

[Cadmium]

Clark, Nice shots. :-)

[Andrea B.]

I particularly like 'A Day at the Movies'.

 

There is a photographer, Carl Weese, who made a speciality of photographing drive-in movie theaters because they are fast disappearing from the American landscape. I have a wonderful platinum-palladium print of one of his photos.

[OlDoinyo]

Postscript 3: A year Later, and More of the Same

 

The majority of this last batch was shot in late May on top of the Wasatch Plateau, as the last of the season's snowpack was ebbing away. The camera was the Sony A900; unless otherwise indicated, the ISO was 100 and the lens was the Steinheil Cassar-S 50mm at f/16, and the filter was the Baader U2. Display intent is BGR.

 

I open with what is essentially a reshoot of one of the images above:

 

"Spring in the High Country:"

 

There is less snow than in the earlier exposure, and the sky is not as pleasingly arranged; on the other hand, it is in better focus.

 

Snow fences at the edge of the escarpment are seen here beneath a mountain sky:

 

"Last Drifts:"

 

The dark grass provides a contrast to the bright, reflective snowdrifts, as is also the case in the next frame:

 

"The Road to Scofield:"

 

Just out of the frame on this road is a low pass, where the road margin stripe is quite apparent:

 

"The Pass to Scofield:"

 

Also on this road is an old mountain homestead, just emerging from its winter burial:

 

"Wasatch Plateau Homestead:"

 

A trace of color from paint on he doors can be seen. Across the road is an log cabin with Link-n-Log corner joinery.

 

"Wasatch Plateau Cabin:"

 

Just below the edge of the plateau, at about 2500 meters, Wasatch Academy maintains a ski cabin for student use. By the time I happened by, said use had ceased for the year, and a quiet, off-season atmosphere prevailed.

 

"Season's End" (Tamron 21mm/UG11/s8612 filter:)

 

"The Girls' Room" (Tamron 21mm/UG11/s8612 filter:)

 

The final image was taken down in the valley below, where I have shot many views of this last scene--visible, infrared, starwheel, infrared starwheel, and IRG. I took the time to image it in UV as well:

 

"The Grey Empty" (Asahi 35mm:)

 

There is very little chromaticity on the ground (other than some distant roofs;) however, the sky just after sunset showed some interesting hues. Mount Nebo (3,636 meters) is visible on the skyline.