Laurie Excell

I’m going to make everything around me beautiful – that will be my life.

-Elsie De Wolfe-

Story behind the image…

Early one morning as we departed Old Faithful and headed towards Midway Geyser Basis the sun was just cresting the hills and burning through the fog as we arrived at Tangle Creek.  With fresh snow, backlit, burnt trees trees and long shadows, it was a perfect photo opportunity.  I jumped out of the snow coach and headed back down the road looking for that just right spot where the trees were composed just right and a trunk was in the right spot to block most of the brightness of the sun.  Using my D3X and AF-S 23-70mm 2.8 I zoomed to 32mm, dialed in a half stop of minus exposure compensation to emphasize the dark tree trunks and the shadows and clicked away.  ISO 100 f22 ( for maximum depth of field) @ 1/125.  I tried several different compositions before then the sun rose higher and the effect was gone.  Talk about being in the right palce at the right time with all the right elements coming together…pure luck?, or…several years of being in virtually the same spot with either too little snow, too foggy, too bright, too early, too late in the morning and on and on until that magic day when it all came together and I was there to witness the wonder of the moment and make some amazing images from that cold morning in Yellowstone.

*Cold weather tip: taking your camera and lense from the warm car/hotel into the cold and back into the heat can cause equipment to fog up rendering it useless until it dries.  I keep a towel handy in the car to wrap my camera in after being in the cold and I either wrap my camera in a towel or put it in my camera bag with the zippers closed and leave it covered for a couple of hours until it has time to warm to room temperature.  (First remove your battery and cards so they can be charging and downloading while your equipment is warming up.)

Yellowstone Below Zero Jan 12-19, 2014

Final details in the works.  Contact lexcell@earthlink.net for more information.

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

-Albert Einstein-

Story behind the image…

There are two ways to explore Lower Antelope Canyon; one is to have your own DSLR camera and a tripod and you can purchase a photo pass and be on your own for up to two hours.  The other option for all other visitors is to take a 2 hour guided tour of the canyon.  Since I was the only one with a tripod we took the guided tour.  I hung to the back of the group and was able to create several images that I am really happy with.  In this image I  worked the lines in the sandstone and the way they lead you into the image, wondering what amazing formation is around the next bend…  Even though this image could have been made with fewer frames, I wanted the look of an HDR image, I shot the scene as a five frame bracket to process in Photomatix and end up with some of the surreal feel that many HDR images have.  Base exposure of ISO 400 f10 @ 1/10 sec.  In order to stay up with the group to some degree, I dialed my ISO up a bit so that the braketed sequences wouldn’t take as long and hold up the group.   Nikon D4, AF-S 24-120mm f4 VR

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.

-Aristotle-

Story behind the image…

Deep in the bowels of the earth…OK, seriously… hiking through the twisting turning sandstone marvels of nature that is Lower Antelope Canyon near Page, AZ we came across a cooperative lizard (sorry, I’m not sure what kind it is) sunning itself on the rock.  It tilted it’s head one way and another as I photographed it froma  couple of angles and was still there when I moved on down the canyon.  I had the AF-S 24-120mm f4 VR lens on my D4 when we encountered the lizard but, since the lizard was so “friendly” and my lens focuses down to 1.5′ I simply moved in until I was “close enough”.  My exposure of ISO 400 f6.7 @ 1/20 sec was decided based on the fact that I needed to close down a bit to keep the whole lizard in focus and to get to an aperture of f6.7, I had to raise my ISO to 400 and use my best handholding skills to get a sharp image at 1/20 sec (Joe McNally I am not!  He can hold a 600mm from a moving helicopter!!!)  Luckily my cooperative subject who could be gone in a second was also an expert at holding very still for long periods of time.

“What no HDR?” you ask.  The exposure range in the shadows of the canyon was very compact and even making a single frame all that was needed to capture the entire range of tonal values in the scene.

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.

-Anthony J. D’Angelo

Story behind the image…

After checking in to our hotel in Moab and dropping off our suitcases, we headed off to Arches to explore.  The Windows area is always a great start to the park with the beautiful drive  along the way and the treat of several windows within view from one location and all easily accessible for a closer look.  A short walk to the base of North Window provided a view and a great frame through which to photograph Turret Arch along with the sun.  A few people in the lower left add some scale to the image.  Once again bracketing was necessary to capture the tonal range from the bright sun to the shadows.  I usually choose five frames with my base expsure of ISO 200 f22 @ 1/180.  f22 to create the starburst effect and in all honesty, ISO 200 because I forgot to change it from the previous shoot when I needed the higher ISO to keep my shutter speed up.  Nikon D4, AF 16mm 2.8D Fisheye.

I may go to 3, 7 or even 9 frame brackets (on rare occaisions) as I feel the scene and my finished image will need to convey the look I am after in my final image.  *Note: you can always delete an extra frame or two if you find you don’t need as many exposures but, once that camera has been moved I find that you can’t easily regain the additional exposure information that may later have come in handy when processing the images.

I was doing a lot of HDR this trip for many reasons.  Number one was because this was NOT a photo trip.  Don’t get me wrong, everyone had seemingly unending patience with me and my stops to make images but, we also wanted to see as much as we could and so sometimes we were in wonderful places at a time when the light wasn’t within the range of exposure the camera could capture in one click.  Rather than pass by some excellent opportunities, I turned to the tools that I have at hand (bracketing and HDR processing software) to extend the hours of the day that I can make beautiful images.

Yes, they do have a different look but, it’s a look that I, for one, like and will continue to explore along with many other ways of pushing myself to expand my vision and my ways of sharing that vision with you…visually!  Stay tuned.