Downtown Rochester Pano 1 [Sky Watch Friday]

It’s high time to return from our travels and feature my adopted home town.  In addition to having an abundance of arts and cultural organizations/productions, Rochester, NY also possesses a rich history. It offers a wide variety of architecture and natural beauty that interests photographers of every stripe. Since one can park for free anywhere in the city on Sunday, I took advantage of good weather and ventured downtown alone and shoot some images that could be merged into panoramas. But, unlike those I made in Ireland and Arizona [scroll down through my archive], I used a tripod here-- turned out to be a wise decision. In the image below, some of the iconic buildings and structures are evident [I recommend clicking on the to enlarge the view]. I will post more of Rochester in the coming weeks. [Be sure to click on the image to enlarge].

Sedona Sky Panoramas [Sky Watch Friday]

These will be the last posts from our Arizona trip. Generally, panoramas  are ‘stitched’ together as a post processing event from a series of overlapping images [usually, one tries to have adjacent shots with about 1/3 overlap].  Recently, the stitching can be done right inside some cameras. That was not the case with the shots below. While one can use images from hand-held shooting, the likelihood of success is much higher if the camera was mounted on a monopod; and, a tripod is even better. Generally, panos are made with the camera 'held' in the horizontal/landscape position; however, they can also be shot in the vertical/portrait position. The two panos were shot either on a monopod in the horizontal mode or hand-held in the vertical mode [I think you can guess which is which]. They were taken from Airport Mesa in Sedona, the best place to see the valley and catch a great sunset and get a grand overview of some of the surrounding terrain. Staring in the center, the highest peak is Capitol Butte, with Sugarloaf to the right; and, slightly in front it and to its right is a group known as Coffee Pot Rock.

Upper Antelope Canyon

For a long time I fantasized about shooting in Upper Antelope Canyon, which we missed on our trip to Arizona last year. Well, we did it last month. We left Sedona [see pics below and more will be added above] and headed up to Page. The only way to get into Upper Antelope Canyon is on a tour led by a Navajo guide. While I have seen many fabulous published photos of this famous 'slot canyon', I was not prepared for how dark it was inside. I did not bring a tripod or monopod along, thinking that my camera could shoot at really high ISO; and, that that would offset any low lighting. Well, I almost blew it -- I had to shoot at 3,200 - 6,400 and bracketed every shot. Still, exposure times varied from 1/30th - 1 sec; Image Stabilization and resting my arm/shoulder against a wall was my salvation. The images you see below were ultimately HDRed in Dynamic Photo HDR [an inexpensive and user friendly program].  I do not understand how the colors came out so brilliantly, since I tried to avoid going overboard in the tone mapping [a common occurrence with HDR images]. In any event, I think they came out well.

Cathedral Rock [Sky watch Friday]

Here are more traditional images of Sedona's Cathedral Rock. It is really an amazing group of 'rocks', and one doesn't tire of seeing at from different perspectives. The clear blue skies in these two shots reflect of what we experienced during our week in the area. Now a technical word of explanation. These images were generated by HDR processing of three bracketed shots [using the app, Dynamic Photo HDR]; it was really a fast, straightforward and simple procedure. At first glance, the upper image appears to contain the moon; actually, it was generated by lens flare, which I deliberately included. If you look further down in the image, you can see more flares.
Some people might think that the color in the bottom image was made by enhancing the hue/saturation during processing. In fact, I reduced them -- at sunset, the rock color turns a rather deep orange -- really breathtaking.

Sedona Skies [Sky Watch Friday]

 After a brief sojourn at home following our return from Germany, my wife and I headed out for another vacation--this time to Arizona. Although we had taken a marvelous Road Scholar tour last year through northern Arizona, there were still places/things left to be seen/done. So, we went back, but on our own. The ‘red rock country’ of Sedona was our first prolonged stop. The top image was shot from our balcony -- of course, we did not always catch such an awesome sky, as is evident from the lower image. That was shot in the early morning as we were driving toward Cathedral Rock [it consists of two massive rocks and two or three narrow vertical rock spires in between them]. As we came around a bend, I was stunned by the fog shroud in the distance. I had to pull over, get out and start shooting. This is the image I like best; and it is not typical of those you see of Cathedral Rock, perhaps the most photographed site in the Sedona area. Anyway, I will post more images from Arizona in the coming weeks.

Vierzehnheiligen [Sky Watch Friday]

This beautiful sky provides a wonderful backdrop for the facade of the Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers [in German, known as Vierzehnheiligen]. This week we travel from Halberstadt, in the former East  Germany, down south close to the town of Bad Staffelstein near Bamberg. The church, in the late Baroque-Rococo style, was constructed between 1743 and 1772. The church attracts many visitors, who have to be reasonably fit in order to traverse the steep climb up the road from the parking lot. However, one is rewarded with this striking view, and an even better interior.

Halberstadt Dom [Sky Watch Friday]

Well, we were away again and I have fallen even further behind. But, here are two shots taken of the Halberstadt Dom [pronounced 'dome'], St. Stephan's Cathedral, which dates back to the 13th century. Halberstadt is a lovely old city in northern Germany [but, south of Berlin]. Although it suffered massive damage in WWII, there are three churches and a synagogue still standing in the heart of town [I think that much of the original structures actually survived]. Anyway, as you can see from these two images, the sky underwent some dramatic changes, which made it fun shooting.

Niagara Falls [Sky Watch Friday]

Rochester has many wonderful places to shoot, but none have quite the grandeur of the Niagara Falls. Fortunately, they are only a relatively short car ride away. So, it's always nice to take visitors there, since there is an endless variety of possibilities for a keen eye. One is frequently rewarded with a rainbow to enhance an image, and this was no exception. However, I have to confess that the sky, nice as it was, is not the subject here.