Enchanted Rock - The Next Morning #2

A few minutes later, as the sun began its journey from the east, we were blessed with cloud cover that provided opportunities like this. As a hand-holder my photos from these moments were all slightly blurred, so used the Unsharp Mask tool in Elements to make the branches look more crisp...

Enchanted Rock - The Next Morning #1

Now we return to the next morning, when the first postings of this series were captured. We got back to the park before dawn (my favorite time of the day) to catch the rising sun against Turkey Peak. My friend is a pro-level landscape photographer, so he brought his full-frame rig with awesome tripod. I was left to hand-hold the Big Cahoona in the pre-dawn darkness.

Amazingly, this shot somehow made it without too much blur. The Big Cahoona stays in "P" mode 99% of the time, but in order to get the shutter to behave in the kind of light we were in I switched it to "S" and notched it up to 1/80th of a second. Still had to clone out some fringing and blur from the inside of the moon, but otherwise this photo is untouched...

Enchanted Rock - Evening Moss

These little clumps of moss could be found everywhere amongst the branches and twigs of the drought-stricken, leafless oak trees. Question is, how do you take a picture of them? I settled on making a silhouette against the darkened evening sky...

Enchanted Rock - Second Summit #4

Walking along the summit of Little Peak I chanced upon this line of grass...the setting sun was just at the right angle to illuminate the blades without shining directly onto the rock. Since the camera was pointed into the sun there was a bit of lens flare, which was cropped out of the upper-right corner of the photo.

Enchanted Rock - Second Summit #3

Amazingly they had this electric box very near the summit of Little Peak...even has a foundation. As you can see, the box was open, but very little in the way of wiring could be found inside.

Enchanted Rock - Second Summit #2

Sort of liked these branches and leaves against the blue of the sky...

Enchanted Rock - Second Summit #1

We decided to climb an adjacent peak, called Little Peak, to get a good bead on the big rock at sunset.

In a place like Enchanted Rock it is a challenge to capture something different, something that hasn't been taken a million times before...all the way back to the day that Ansel Adams himself was there doing landscapes.

So you go with unique landscapeture, multi-shot panoramas and closer-in subjects. This was taken after climbing an adjacent peak, known as Little Rock, with an eye to capturing Enchanted Rock from the west as the sun set.

I'll be taking a break for a week or so due to Thanksgiving, but hope to resume with a few more shots of this trip, then it's back again to the Renaissance Festival with the Big Cahoona.

Enchanted Rock - Sunlit Leaves

This one required a little work, as it was almost directly toward the sun, but turned out OK thanks to the black dropper in Levels...

Enchanted Rock - at the Summit #8

Opportunities increased as the sun began to set while we were on the summit, with the light casting longer shadows...

Enchanted Rock - at the Summit #7

It was very difficult to get a good shot of the cactus, which was everywhere, due to the fact that it was in such bad shape. Glowing Edges in Elements came to the rescue for this one...

Enchanted Rock - at the Summit #6

Another one of people, framed by twigs...

Enchanted Rock - at the Summit #5

Dead trees and other things compositioned against the sky were in abundance at the Rock. Elements was used to brighten the shadows created by the afternoon sun...

Enchanted Rock - at the Summit #4

This is one of those that you wish could be given to the subjects themselves, but alas to me they are "anonymous". Once I took a picture of the Jumbotron at an Astros game of a guy asking his girl to marry him. Thought about sending it to the organization so they could pass it on to the couple, but it never happened...

Enchanted Rock - at the Summit #3

Said pile of stones also made for a pretty good reflection shot...actually an advantage of shooting in the midday sun.

Enchanted Rock - at the Summit #2

In one of the pools at the summit someone decided to pile up some rocks, Druid-style.

Enchanted Rock - at the Summit #1

Little pockets of life like this were isolated on the summit, where the plane of the rock was relatively level. Tracks of deer and other animals could be seen in the mud of some; in all of them it was interesting to see the bits of granite mixed in.

All in all this area was little more than 10x10 feet; an angle was used to make it appear much larger...

Enchanted Rock - Climb to the Summit #8

Near the summit we came across pockets of life that are impervious to the incredible drought that Texas has suffered this year. The cactus, however, didn't look as healthy, as can be seen here...possibly because animal life has been forced to seek it for moisture not available elsewhere.

Enchanted Rock - Climb to the Summit #7

This little guy was walking way in front of its owner. By sheer luck the image was captured while all four feet were off the ground...

Enchanted Rock - Climb to the Summit #6

This one fell in with a little luck, as the girl neatly fills the gap in the brush; her boyfriend was a few feet in front and had just walked out of the frame. When I saw them approaching and realized they would be on the other side of the brush, the Big Cahoona was raised into position and the series began...

Enchanted Rock - Climb to the Summit #5

At the same place I moved to the right for this shot with the summit in the background. Lettering was added in Photoshop Elements 7.0, as this was the banner piece in a collage highlighting plant life at the Rock.

Enchanted Rock - Climb to the Summit #4

During this drought it was rare to find a splash of color to capture against the granite background, so this was a treat to find on the way up. It's cropped way in, though, because most of the cactus was in bad shape - either rotted or half-eaten by creatures of the night...

Enchanted Rock - Climb to the Summit #3

We diverted from the main trail and found this rock formation, which created an interesting frame for the tree and rocks behind. Had to use flash to bring out detail in the foreground since the late-afternoon sun was shining so intensely.

One thing that can be said for the D300s - it has a mighty good flash, though I haven't yet learned to use it just right. Another thing that helps in a shot like this is the Active-D lighting, which for now is always kept on the automatic setting.

Enchanted Rock - Climb to the Summit #2

Whenever I take pictures of people - especially strangers - it is done surreptitiously. Of course if there are children around I keep the lens cap on...as a parent I sure wouldn't want anyone I don't know taking a picture of my own kids. But cases like this are acceptable; these guys are caught in a moment of togetherness without obvious intrusion, and the viewer can caption the event with his own story...

Enchanted Rock - Climb to the Summit #1

Now from the beginning...

We arrived at the park in late afternoon with a full sun, which is not ideal for photos, but the purpose at that point was simply to climb to the top and explore possibilities for sunset. Being a more experienced landscape photographer, my friend took the lead on where we should be stationed when the shadows grew long.

This posting was snapped on our way to the summit - the drought this year sadly left many trees lifeless, but also made for some interesting captures.