Uploads from Edwinjones, tagged spain

Crater Gap Star Trails

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 00:03:45 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot
Another visit to my favourite Star Trails crater Montana Cuervo near Masdache, Lanzarote. Unlike the others taken from the Crater Floor this is taken looking out through the gap in the rim.

My trip here involves regular bicycle rides as well as photography for which I brought with me my custom bicycle used for these tours. Usually for Star Trails I would ride the 10 miles from the local resort to this location with the Tripod strapped to the rack and camera and padding in a pannier.

For this trip I decided to combine a day ride to the caves to the north of the Island for pictures there and timed it to get direct to the crater just before sunset. After 65 miles and 4000 ft worth of hills climbed I was feeling a little tired and indeed nearly fell asleep while the star trails were being taken.

I used my Interval Timer and set the camera at ISO 200 and bulb and the timer at 1 minute 59 seconds with a 1 second gap between exposures and aperture at f3.5. I set the timer for 1 hour 44 minutes. I was able to use all the exposures in the image as a strong wind directly towards the camera stopped any condensation forming.

I locked the Tripod in one place, well pushed the legs down in the regolith. The foreground image was taken as an HDR while there was still some light.

With the camera in the same place the star trail images were started when it was dark enough. The final blended star trails image was pasted as a selection into the HDR landscape.

The light pollution is from a nearby small town. This is minor compared with the light from the resorts to the south luckily hidden behind me.

A small meteor has been caught in the top right, probably the size of a grain of sand and quickly burning up.

The picture was taken with a Tripod with a Sony A700 with a Samyang Fisheye lens at 8 mm.

Full details of the processing together with before and after images and more information about taking Star Trails images are on my Blog see Edwin Jones Photography Blog
For Galleries, Prints and Licences see Edwin Jones Photography

Lava Cave Pool Lanzarote

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 00:03:12 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

Small Planetoid Sunset

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:02:46 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot

I went to the volcanic plateau which is 1000ft up and inland from Puerto del Carmen to take sunset shots with my fisheye lens.

The Samyang 8 mm fisheye lens I have is of the diagonal type which fills the frame. Pointed straight ahead and depending on the scene it can almost look normal. However if the camera is pointed upward in a landscape the horizon will curve upward at the sides. Conversely if the camera is pointed downwards the horizon will curve down at the sides.

This distortion combined with the other worldly look of the Lanzarote landscape helps to create the illusion of a picture taken on a very small world

The picture was taken handheld with a Sony A700 with a Samyang Fisheye lens at 8 mm. 3 raw images 2EV spacing. Opened in Photoshop first and each image noise reduced with Noiseware Pro and saved as tiffs.

This picture was enhanced with HDR processing and Topaz and Photoshop to bring in more detail.

Full details of the processing together with before and after images are on my Blog see Edwin Jones Photography Blog
For Galleries, Prints and Licences see Edwin Jones Photography

Red Planet Star Trails

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:02:42 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot
This was taken from the side of the Caldera Colorada volcano, near Masdache, Lanzarote. There is a 45 minute walk round the base of the cone. One side is an unusual rich red, made up from cinder, rich in iron oxide.

There is a story associated with this image. I had finished one hour 44 minutes of 2 minute Star Trail exposures. I put the lens cap on and did a 2 minute dark exposure for noise reduction. Then I tripped and fell against the Tripod, grabbed it to try and save the camera but over it went with me on top of it. The amazing thing is there was not a scratch on Camera or lens and both work perfectly. I was also holding a smartphone using the torch app and that was undamaged. I had only a few minor cuts. You might say I had an argument with a Tripod and the Tripod won. I think the day was saved by the Camera falling on loose gravel rather than the many hard rocks around.

I had with me an HTC Android Smart Phone with the Google Sky App. This enabled me to locate the pole star while there was still light. The foreground comprises an HDR image taken while there was still light. With the Camera and Tripod locked in position the star trail images were taken later when the stars were out.

I used my Interval Timer and set the camera at ISO 200 and bulb and the timer at 2 minutes at f3.5. The lens was a Samyang 8mm fish eye. I set the timer to take images for 1 hour 44 minutes. I use software to stack the star trail images. There are a number of free programs available though I use www.startrails.de/html/software.html

In the end there was too much light in the first 10 minutes of exposures. I used 47 images or 1 hour and 34 minutes worth. There was still enough light to get a little blue in the sky which I wanted.

Note that here is distortion in the image due to the fisheye lens pointing up which curves the landscape up from the sides. This was exaggerated with the processing where I used the clone tool to add to the curve on the right to remove light from a town and also on the left to remove an over bright area in the sunset direction.

I took a dark frame. This has to be taken at the same time and place. The reason is that with long exposures the sensor will produce hot pixel noise which will be the same for the star trail images if taken for the same length of time and crucially at about the same temperature. The stacking software can then automatically subtract that noise from the final blended image.
I was on site for 3 and a half hours altogether for this picture. Not really a problem. I brought a picnic supper, read an eBook on my smartphone and looked at the beautiful night sky.

For further information on taking Star Trail images see the my Blog Entry for the earlier Star Trails image edwinjonesphotography.com/blog/2013/1/crater-floor-star-t...
Full details of the processing of this image together with before and after images are on my Blog see Edwin Jones Photography Blog
For Galleries, Prints and Licences see Edwin Jones Photography

Landing Approach Fisheyed

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:02:26 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot
The end of the runway for Arrecife Airport, Lanzarote is on the coast. Between the sea and the Perimeter fence there is a footway and cyclepath which runs between Puerto del Carmen and Arrecife. This is a brilliant location to get shots of planes roaring in to land about 50ft overhead. You might call it a hot spot for Lanzarote Tourists.

This was one of those occasions when a plan comes together. I had taken shots here before but never looking directly up because the planes over fill a 10mm wide angle field of view. This time I took the fisheye lens with the aim of getting a dramatic overhead shot.

Usually I would edit out anything distracting right in the corner of an image. In this case I decided to leave in the face of the man looking up as it provides a good connection.

The camera used was a Sony A700 with a Samyang 8mm fisheye lens. The image was opened in Camera Raw and 2 additional images were created at -2EV and +2Ev for a “false HDR”. The 3 raw images were opened in Photoshop first and each image noise reduced with Noiseware Pro and saved as tiffs.

Adjustments were made in Topaz and Photoshop.

Full details of the processing together with before and after images are on my Blog see Edwin Jones Photography Blog
For Galleries, Prints and Licences see Edwin Jones Photography

Fading Colours Sunset Lanzarote

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:01:31 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot

The apartment where I am staying in Lanzarote is a 10 minute walk from the main beach of Puerto de Carmen. This provides plenty of opportunity to try out long exposure Photography with my BW 10 stop Neutral Density filter.

This was taken on the Playa Grande beach Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote at not far off low tide and was a 75 second exposure.

The picture was taken on a Tripod with a Sony A700 with a Sigma 10-20 wide angle zoom at 10 mm. I tried a false HDR from the original RAW file with Plus and Minus 2EV images created but this created far too much noise in the rocks. I switched to just using RAW processing and got better detail in the rocks with the fill light slider in RAW

Adjustments were made in Topaz and Photoshop
.
Full details of the processing together with before and after images are on my Blog see Edwin Jones Photography Blog
For Galleries, Prints and Licences see Edwin Jones Photography

Altar View Teguise Church Lanzarote

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 00:01:45 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot
This picture was taken inside the Church at Teguise, Lanzarote. This is an inland town which was originally the Capital. The Church does not look very special from outside but inside it has beautiful columns and arches and HDR is very good at bringing out the detail.

I have taken this Church on past visits to Lanzarote but this year I was able to bring a different approach with the fisheye lens which I feel add to the curves in the arches reflecting them in the curve at the base.

The before and after pictures on my Blog are a particularly good example of the improvement which can be obtained first with HDR and then the importance of additional processing.

The picture was taken on a Tripod with a Sony A700 with a Samyang Fisheye lens at 8 mm. 3 raw images 2EV spacing. Opened in Photoshop first and each image noise reduced with Noiseware Pro and saved as tiffs
.
This picture was enhanced with HDR processing and Photoshop to bring in more detail
.
Full details of the processing together with before and after images are on my Blog see Edwin Jones Photography Blog
For Galleries, Prints and Licences see Edwin Jones Photography

Crater Floor Star Trails [Explored #3 on 15 Jan 13]

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 00:01:35 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot

One of my earliest attempts at Star Trails was taken from this crater in Lanzarote last year. Then there was a high wind and quite a few clouds around. This time it was a crystal clear sky with little wind. Another difference was using the fisheye lens to get more of the Crater Rim in the image which I think gives a more dramatic look

This was taken from the floor of the crater Montana Cuervo near Masdache, Lanzarote. It is not as well visited as many places on the Island. It requires an easy 20 minute flat walk on a footpath from the road to the base of the Crater. Round the right hand side there is a great gash in the Crater wall permitting easy access to the crater floor. There are large numbers of rocks scattered across the Crater floor.

I used my Interval Timer and set the camera at ISO 200 and bulb and the timer at 2 minutes at f3.5. I set the timer for 1 hour 45 minutes but did not use the last 30 minutes due to condensation on the lens building up. This is a really big advantage of blending a number of exposures for Star Trails rather than one long exposure.

I locked the Tripod in one place, well pushed the legs down in the regolith. The foreground image was taken as an HDR while there was still some light. With the camera in the came place the star trail images were started when it was dark enough. The final blended star trails image was pasted as a selection into the HDR landscape.

Full details of the processing together with before and after images and more information about taking Star Trails images are on my Blog see Edwin Jones Photography Blog
For Galleries, Prints and Licences see Edwin Jones Photography

Lanzarote Sunset Reflections [Explored #10. 11Jan13]

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:01:44 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot
This was taken on the Playa Grande beach Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote at low tide. This week in Lanzarote there has been a lot of scattered thin clouds making for some good sunrises and sunsets.
The picture was taken on a Tripod with a Sony A700 with a Sigma 10-20 wide angle zoom at 16 mm. 3 raw images 2EV spacing. Opened in Photoshop first and each image noise reduced with Noiseware Pro and saved as tiffs.
This picture was enhanced with HDR processing and Photoshop to bring in more detail.
Full details of the processing together with before and after images are on my Blog see Edwin Jones Photography Blog
For Galleries, Prints and Licences see Edwin Jones Photography

Puerto del Carmen Sunset [Explored #5 for 20 March]

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:02:20 -0700

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot

This was taken on the Playa Grande beach Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote at close to high tide. There were also some good waves coming in and I used my recently acquired ND 8 filter which reduces light by 3 stops to get a soft feel to the waves. The HDR exposures were 1/5 sec, 1.6 sec and 6 seconds.

I was on a slightly higher bit of the beach providing a safe location as the waves came in.

The picture was taken on a Tripod with a Sony A700 with a Sigma 10-20 wide angle zoom at 10 mm. 3 raw images 2EV spacing. Opened in Photoshop first and each image noise reduced with Noiseware Pro and saved as tiffs.

Photomatix

Outputted in Photomatix to detail enhancer. Click the Camera name top right for Exif details and the settings used.

Photoshop

Detail brought back in with Topaz adjust with HDR pop with adjustments

General adjustments in levels and curves to enhance.

Vibrance layer increase 25 points

The sunset colours were enhanced in the tonemapping and Topaz and slightly taken back by reducing saturation in yellows and blues with a layer mask to keep the colour in the water.

Layers flattened before going on to sharpening

First duplicate layer Noiseware Pro and a little sharpening

Second duplicate layer with mask to apply extra sharpening and contrast with low amount and high radius using Unsharp mask (Clarity Effect) The settings were 53 amount and 53 radius.

Resources

For Licensing and more pictures see Edwin Jones Photography

Plane Approach Composite Lanzarote

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:01:55 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot

The end of the runway for Arrecife Airport, Lanzarote is on the coast. Between the sea and the Perimeter fence there is a footway and cyclepath which runes from Puerto del Carmen and Arrecife. This is a brilliant location to get shots of planes roaring in to land about 50ft overhead.

The picture comprises a blend of 4 images taken in quick succession of the planes approach. Taken with a Sony A700 with a Sigma 10-20 wide angle zoom at 10mm. Taken handheld. The main image with the nearest Plane image was opened in Camera Raw and 2 additional images were created at -2EV and +2Ev for a “false HDR”. The 3 raw images were opened in Photoshop first and each image noise reduced with Noiseware Pro and saved as tiffs.

Photomatix

Outputted in Photomatix to detail enhancer. Click the Camera name top right for Exif details and the settings used.

Photoshop

The 3 earlier images in the sequence were opened in Photoshop and pasted into the main image. For each layer a layer mask and brush were used to show only the plane in each layer. To correct for camera movement between images the move tool was used to line up the layers. Each layer was also selected in turn and the transform- rotate tool used to line up the planes better.

General adjustments in levels and to enhance with layer mask to exclude highlights.

Vibrance adjustment plus 44.

Layers flattened before going on to Topaz. Topaz adjust used to bring back more detail using vibrant detail with adjustments with a layer mask to exclude most of the sky

First duplicate layer Noiseware Pro and a little sharpening.

Second duplicate layer for clarity effect using Unsharp mask with settings of amount 47 and radius 47

Resources

For Licensing and more pictures see Edwin Jones Photography

Mirador del Rio Lanzarote Balcony View

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:02:36 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot

Mirador del Río is a viewpoint situated on an approximately 475 meters high escarpment called Batería del Río in the very north of the Canarian island of Lanzarote.

The location was created in 1974 by the local artist César Manrique in his typical style, consisting of a balustraded cafe, a souvenir shop and a platform on its top. These are integrated in the lava rock.

Mirador del Rio provides a stunning view over the strait of Rio towards the island of La Graciosa

This picture is taken looking along the balcony with the island of La Graciosa in the distance.

The picture was taken with a Sony A700 with a Sigma 10-20 wide angle zoom at 10mm. 3 raw images 2EV spacing. Opened in Photoshop first and each image noise reduced with Noiseware Pro and saved as tiffs.

Photomatix

Photomatix . Outputted to detail enhancer. Click the Camera name top right for Exif details and the settings used.

Photoshop

General adjustments in levels and curves to enhance with masks to exclude highlights.

Vibrance increased 35 points.

Hue saturation layer reduced blues for a more natural look.

First duplicate layer Noiseware Pro and a little sharpening.

Second duplicate layer for clarity effect using Unsharp mask with settings of amount 70 and radius 70

Second duplicate layer Topaz Adjust using HDR presets light grunge. The Topaz adjustment really brought out the waves moving through the strait on a very windy day.

Slight straightening of horizon and crop.

The clone stamp was used to tidy up some areas.

Resources

For Licensing and more pictures see Edwin Jones Photography

Lava Cave Reflection HDR Vertorama

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:03:32 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot

Cueva de los Verdes , the Green Caves is a part of a large lava tunnel system in northern Lanzarote. The caves can only be accessed as part of a guided tour every 20 minutes. In the caves artificial but subtle lighting has been added. This view is at the end of the Tour in the upper gallery. They are just kidding when they say photos of this view are not allowed. Photos are allowed at the end though best to wait until the crowd thins out and the flashes stop popping.

The pool is only about an inch deep but because of the absence of air movement it gives a perfect mirror reflection.

I took a similar image last year which was a 3 shot HDR. See the link to it in the comment below. This one was an HDR Vertorama combining 4 HDR images of 3 images each so a total of 12 images. There was a lot of overlap between images, probably more than 50%. All images were processed in Photomatix with the same settings. This can be done fairly easily as a new image in Photomatix always comes up with the last used settings as default.

The images were combined using Photoshop CS5 photomerge in the auto setting. Meant for panoramas so turned pictures 90 degrees. Some corrections using filter, Lens correction before cropping.

The picture was taken with a Sony A700 with a Sigma 10-20 wide angle zoom at 10mm. Taken with a Tripod.
Each of the 4 images comprised 3 raw images 2EV spacing.

Photomatix

Outputted in Photomatix to detail enhancer. Click the Camera name top right for Exif details and the settings used.

Photoshop

General adjustments in levels and curves to enhance with layer masks to exclude the highlights.

Brightness contrast layer with a mask used to decrease brightness in the rocks at the far end.

Vibrance layer increase 43 points

Layers flattened before going on to sharpening

First duplicate layer Noiseware Pro and a little sharpening.

Second duplicate layer for clarity effect using Unsharp mask with settings of amount 47 and radius 47

Third duplicate layer Topaz Adjust using HDR presets medium pop grunge. A layer mask was used to apply this only to some of the rocks in the lower part at 50%.

Clone stamp was used to tidy up some small highlight areas.

Resources

For Licensing and more pictures see Edwin Jones Photography

Mirador Entrance Passage

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:01:48 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot

This picture was taken inside the Mirador del Rio viewpoint building in the far north of Lanzarote. The view is looking back along the entrance corridor.

The picture was taken handheld with a Sony A700 with a Samyang Fisheye lens at f8 and 8 mm. Three raw images with 2EV spacing were taken. Opened in Photoshop first and each image noise reduced with Noiseware Pro and saved as tiffs.

This picture was enhanced with HDR processing and Photoshop to bring in more detail.

Full details of the processing together with before and after images are on my Blog see Edwin Jones Photography Blog
For Galleries, Prints and Licences see Edwin Jones Photography

View of a Small World Fisheyed

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:01:12 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot
This is the view from the Mirador del Rio in the far north of Lanzarote looking across to the small adjoining island of Graciosa. It was the hottest day of my trip with temperatures up to 25C.

The Samyang 8 mm fisheye lens I have is of the diagonal type which fills the frame. Pointed straight ahead and depending on the scene it can almost look normal. However if the camera is pointed upward in a landscape the horizon will curve upward at the sides. Conversely if the camera is pointed downwards the horizon will curve down at the sides.

This distortion helps to create the illusion of a picture taken on a very small world.
The picture was taken handheld with a Sony A700 with a Samyang Fisheye lens at 8 mm. 3 raw images 2EV spacing. Opened in Photoshop first and each image noise reduced with Noiseware Pro and saved as tiffs.

This picture was enhanced with HDR processing and Topaz and Photoshop to bring in more detail.
Full details of the processing together with before and after images are on my Blog see Edwin Jones Photography Blog
For Galleries, Prints and Licences see Edwin Jones Photography

Serene Sunset Lanzarote

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:29:05 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot
This was taken on the Playa Grande beach Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote at not far off high tide and was a 104 second exposure.

For this image I wanted to try something different so used processing to make the sea mono and whiter and leave colour in the foreground and sky.

The picture was taken on a Tripod with a Sony A700 with a Sigma 10-20 wide angle zoom at 10 mm. Processing started with adjustments in Camera RAW for better detail and exposure.

Further adjustments were made in Topaz and Photoshop.

Full details of the processing together with before and after images are on my Blog see Edwin Jones Photography Blog
For Galleries, Prints and Licences see Edwin Jones Photography

Exploding Sunset Lanzarote

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 00:02:30 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot
This was taken on the Playa Grande beach Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote at not far off low tide and was a 100 second exposure.
The picture was taken on a Tripod with a Sony A700 with a Sigma 10-20 wide angle zoom at 10 mm. Processing started with adjustments in Camera RAW for better detail and colours.
Further adjustments were made in Topaz and Photoshop which enhanced the colours more.
Full details of the processing together with before and after images are on my Blog see Edwin Jones Photography Blog
For Galleries, Prints and Licences see Edwin Jones Photography

Jameos de Agua Underground lake Lanzarote

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:08:19 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot

Jameos de Agua is part of a 6 km long lava tunnel system in northern Lanzarote. Parts of the roof of the tunnel have collapsed. I got lucky with this picture as a person was sitting cross legged on the rocks and still while I took the pictures.

The picture was taken with a Sony A700 with a Sigma 10-20 wide angle zoom at 10mm. Taken handheld.
3 raw images 2EV spacing.

Photomatix

Outputted in Photomatix to detail enhancer. Click the Camera name top right for Exif details and the settings used.

Photoshop

General adjustments in levels and curves to enhance with layer masks to exclude the highlights.

Vibrance adjustment plus 46.

Brightness reduced with layer mask to apply only to the highlights.

Layers flattened before going on to sharpening

Duplicate layer used first with dust and scratches filter

First duplicate layer Noiseware Pro and a little sharpening.

Second duplicate layer for clarity effect using Unsharp mask with settings of amount 38 and radius 38.

Sunbeams can be seen from the hole in the roof but usually in the middle of the year and middle of the day. Not being here at the right time I followed an online tutorial to create them using radial blur, zoom blur and various light effects. A layer mask was used to restrict the effect to the area below the hole in the roof.

Resources

For Licensing and more pictures see Edwin Jones Photography

Mirador del Rio Lanzarote Entrance

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:25:49 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo:

The Shot

Mirador del Río is a viewpoint situated on an approximately 475 meters high escarpment called Batería del Río in the very north of the Canarian island of Lanzarote.

The location was created in 1974 by the local artist César Manrique in his typical style, consisting of a balustraded cafe, a souvenir shop and a platform on its top. These are integrated in the lava rock.

Mirador del Rio provides a stunning view over the strait of Rio towards the island of La Graciosa

This picture is taken in the entrance corridor looking back towards the entrance.

The picture was taken with a Sony A700 with a Sigma 10-20 wide angle zoom at 10mm. Taken handheld at ISO 1600 for short enough shutter speeds. Tripods are allowed here but I wanted more flexibility. 3 raw images 2EV spacing. Opened in Photoshop first and each image noise reduced with Noiseware Pro and saved as tiffs.

Photomatix

Photomatix . Outputted to detail enhancer. Click the Camera name top right for Exif details and the settings used.

Photoshop

General adjustments in levels and curves to enhance with masks to exclude highlights.

Vibrance increased 42 points.

-2EV image copied as new layer and layer mask used to apply it only to highlight areas.

First duplicate layer Noiseware Pro and a little sharpening.

Second duplicate layer for clarity effect using Unsharp mask with settings of amount 70 and radius 70

Second duplicate layer Topaz Adjust using HDR presets light grunge.

Healing brush with Content aware and clone stamp was used to tidy up some areas.

Resources

For Licensing and more pictures see Edwin Jones Photography

Lava Tube Fire Lanzarote

nobody@flickr.com (Edwinjones) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:03:59 -0800

Edwinjones posted a photo: