Tag Archives: composition

Bucket List – Monument Valley

A winter sun kisses the horizon between East Mitten (middle) and Merrick Butte at Sunrise (Bill Ferris)

A winter sun kisses the horizon between East Mitten (middle) and Merrick Butte at Sunrise (Bill Ferris)

There are few places in the American West that call to a landscape photographer as clearly and compellingly as Monument Valley. Straddling the Arizona and Utah borders in the Four Corners region, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is home to an inspiring and iconic collection of buttes and natural landforms. For many, the significant time and effort required to get to Monument Valley can be a deterrent to making the trip but that effort is often rewarded with awe-inspiring views.

Anyone who has seen a John Ford western film knows this landscape. Ford, the Hollywood legend whose films defined the American Western for generations, used this remote area of the Desert Southwest as a location for numerous productions, including Stagecoach (1939), Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and The Searchers (1956). Timeless leading man John Wayne starred in many of Ford’s films, including the four just mentioned.

Before John Ford, Westerns had churned out by the dozens as film serials and held in low regard by film critics. Through Ford and his classic films, the Western rose to international acclaim as a genre that reflected American values of rugged individualism, and a willingness to risk everything in the pursuit of one’s dream or in defense of honor. Monument Valley came to be synonymous with the genre and to symbolize those cherished values. Today, more than 40 years after Ford’s passing, this place retains its status as the one location that, more than any other, signifies the mythology of the American West.

On a recent visit to Monument Valley, I had the opportunity to photograph the park from several locations. I arrived on a summer morning just before lunch. After paying the $20 entrance fee, I parked at the View Hotel and enjoyed the lunch buffet at the hotel restaurant. After lunch, I stepped out onto the tiered observation deck along the east side of the hotel. This platform offers an expansive view into Monument Valley, including the now famous arrangement of The Mittens and Merrick Butte.

Two half-buried boulders near the View Hotel can, with careful positioning of your camera, be used to obscure the dusty dirt road visitors and guides use to tour Monument Valley.

Two half-buried boulders near the View Hotel can, with careful positioning of your camera, be used to obscure the dusty dirt road visitors and guides use to tour Monument Valley. (Moto X photo by Bill Ferris)

The one drawback of The View’s observation deck is the visibility of the main dirt road visitors and tour guides use to explore the park. The road, vehicle traffic and associated dust will be prominently placed in any wide angle photograph taken from the deck. There is a spot just north of the paved deck where a pair of half-buried boulders can be used to good advantage. Visitors stand on or lean against the boulders for “we were here” shots. They can also be used as foreground elements in wide angle shots that hide the dirt road in a landscape composition.

The aforementioned dirt road is something of a double-edged sword, in my opinion. While it adds to the charm of the experience, the road’s poor condition is a practical liability. The posted maximum speed limit is 15 MPH, which is challenging to maintain over the steep half-mile descent from the east rim into the valley. Ruts, exposed rocks and sandy areas make navigation of the road a bit challenging. Drivers often weave from side to side in search of the least bumpy route.

For those who continue beyond John Ford Point, the road is posted as one-way. I encountered several vehicles traveling against the flow on this loop and had chalked it up to a tourist mentality of enjoying the view while ignoring the traffic signs. However, approaching the spur road to Artists Point, several vehicles had inexplicably pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. I did the same and walked up the road to find out what was going on. A vehicle was having a difficult time negotiating the uphill climb through loose, sandy terrain. After several failed attempts, the driver gave up, backed down the hill, made a Y-turn and began the long trek back the way he’d come…against traffic flow.

My trusty AWD Pontiac Vibe made short work of the hill. While high ground clearance is not (currently) needed to drive the Monument Valley road, a vehicle with AWD or 4WD might come in handy on some sections of road. The quality of light during my midday drive through Monument Valley was predictably poor. The high overhead sun and overcast skies painted the buttes and formations with a flat, harsh brush. The heat and generally poor placement of roadside viewpoints contributed to my decision to stay in the air conditioned comfort of my vehicle as much as possible.

Throughout the two-hour drive, I kept thinking about a sign I’d seen which indicated that the road was open only from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. While those are normal business hours, they exclude the optimum times to view the magnificent stone structures of Monument Valley. The best times of day to experience a scenic masterpiece are around sunrise and sunset. Those times of day are when the quality of light is reliably at its best. To deny visitors access to the park when the light is most likely to have that magical quality made no sense to me. I was really stewing on this issue when I drove through the roadway entrance gate on my way out of the valley at 3 o’clock.

The View Campground at Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park features campsites with million dollar views.

The View Campground at Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park features campsites with million dollar views. (Moto X photo by Bill Ferris)

It was time to find a place to make camp for the night. On my last visit to Monument Valley in March 2014, I had stayed at a worthless excuse for a campground located about a mile down the road from the park entrance station. It was little more than a series of picnic tables surrounded by bare ground. I had pitched my tent there for a few hours sleep on a cold late-winter night and, in a pinch, could do the same on this trip. However, The View Campground (closed during the winter) is located at the entrance gate to the valley. So, I stopped by the campground office to check on site availability. A few minutes later, I was out in the sand dunes choosing a campsite. I went with the first open site I found, which happened to offer a spectacular view of The Mittens and Merrick Butte.

Returning to the campground office to let the attendant know which site I had selected, I asked about the road hours sign I had seen. “Can I go into the valley at sunset and sunrise to do photography.” The attendant confidently reassured me that the gate remains open throughout the night. If I wanted to go into the valley to do photography, that would be fine. With a campsite secured and my concern eased over after hours park access, I drove over to the View Hotel restaurant for an early dinner. The hostess seated my at a two-top with a window view of the valley. While enjoying my sandwich, I watched as the harsh midday light gradually softened and warmed in response to the sun’s race toward the western horizon. There weren’t many clouds to add a sense of drama to the sky but at least the light was improving.

About two hours before sunset, I drove a short distance down the valley road to the first large pullout I could find. After parking the Vibe and strapping on my photo pack, I walked across the road and followed a well-worn social trail over the flat, sun baked surface. I wanted to find an elevated vantage point offering a clear view of The Mittens and Merrick Butte. From a location east of the dirt road, I should be free to compose wide angle shots without having to contend with a dirt road cutting across the frame. A short hike delivered me to the perfect venue. Soon, I was setting up for the evening.

The golden light of a setting summer sun bathes The Mittens and Merrick Butte in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. (Bill Ferris)

The golden light of a setting summer sun bathes The Mittens and Merrick Butte in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. (Bill Ferris)

The location I chose was an elevated shelf with a clear view of the most recognized collection of buttes in Monument Valley: West Mitten, East Mitten and Merrick Butte. As the day drew to a close, I experimented with composition and exposure, eventually making a fine image of The Mittens and Merrick Butte. The soft, warm quality of the light gave the entire scene – foreground desert, buttes, sky and clouds an inviting summery quality. It wasn’t the only keeper of the evening but is my favorite exposure from the session.

At 3 o’clock the following morning, my watch alarm went off and I begrudgingly awoke to start the day. This reluctance didn’t last long as the thought of a sunrise in Monument Valley peaked my enthusiasm for the predawn expedition. I decided to save time by leaving my tent set up. More than likely, I would be back before most of the other campers were even awake. I made the walk to the restroom where I was treated to a most wonderful surprise. The bathrooms at The View Campground have complimentary showers…with hot water.

The shower left me feeling refreshed and energized for the day. It was about 3:45 AM when I rolled out of the campground parking lot in the Vibe, making the short drive to the same pullout I had used the previous afternoon. With my headlamp shining at full brightness, I had little problem finding the overlook in the July morning darkness. By 4:25 AM, I was making test exposures and at 4:40 AM, the horizon was showing enough color to nicely frame the landscape in silhouette. Low, thick clouds negated the obligatory starbust shot of the sun’s initial peak over the horizon. As soon as the deep, rich colors behind the buttes started to fade, I made the decision to move to another location.

A summer day dawning fills Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park with a golden glow as seen from Artists Point. (Bill Ferris)

A summer day dawning fills Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park with a golden glow as seen from Artists Point. (Bill Ferris)

The previous afternoon, I had surveyed Artists Point as a possible sunrise location. Nearby rock formations block a clear view to the east where the sun rises but the vista does offer a fine view of the major formations to the west. If the early morning light were of the right quality, some fine landscapes and panoramas would be on the table. I raced the Vibe down the dirt road, taking a shortcut against the posted traffic flow to cut a solid 20-30 minutes off the drive time.

Within minutes of my arrival at Artists Point, I was setup and checking compositional options. Eventually, I settled on working East Mitten, Merrick Butte and the flat, open desert to the right (east). It wasn’t spectacular light but there was a warm, soft quality to it that produced several pleasing frames, including the one above. After a half-hour, the last of the golden hour light yielded to a duller, somewhat lifeless glow and I began packing up my gear. It was just then that several vehicles arrived at Artists Point, all filled with visitors and cameras hoping to make a memorable photograph.

The spectacular landscape of Monument Valley really deserves more time than I had available to give. After Artists Point, I drove back to the campground, packed my tent and went over to the hotel for breakfast. Afterwards, I would hit the road for a sunset date with Arches National Park in Utah. The meal allowed time to reflect on the previous 18 hours. This was my third trip to Monument Valley. I had come for one sunset and sunrise cycle, and had successfully captured several keeper photographs. Having focused on making images of the more popular vistas, I was already thinking about my next visit and the opportunity to explore the less frequented scenes found within this iconic symbol of the American West.

Hey, you should get out and shoot.

Bill Ferris | August 2014

Water

Visitors stand in silhouette--and in awe--against the thick plexiglass wall of the Open Sea exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The scene begs the question, who's watching who? The obvious answer would be that the collection of tourists are watching, enthralled, the scene playing out before them. But put yourself in the mind of a tuna, sea turtle or shark and ask yourself, would you be enjoying the human show on display beyond the glass walls of the tank? Would you wonder if those strange looking bipeds were brought in for your enjoyment? (Bill Ferris)

Visitors stand in silhouette–and in awe–against the thick plexiglass wall of the Open Sea exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. (Bill Ferris)

Water can be many things in a photograph. It can be a mirror. A ribbon. A frame. Water can be soft, inviting or a threat. It can be the subject of the photograph or a simple compositional element. Water is a wonderful blank canvas upon which you, the photographer, are allowed to paint your masterpiece.

In the above image, water plays a role that is very different from the norm. Often, water’s textured surface is the featured quality in a photograph. Roaring rapids, the silky smooth surface of a quiet lake or the feathery curves of a waterfall are what we’re used to seeing in a photo. In this image, water is a medium through which we’re viewing the alien universe of ocean life.

The scene begs the question, who’s watching who? The obvious answer would be that enthralled tourists are watching the scene playing out before them. But put yourself in the mind of a tuna, sea turtle or shark and ask yourself, would you be enjoying the human show on display beyond the glass walls of the tank? Would you wonder if those strange looking bipeds were brought in for your enjoyment?

(Bill Ferris)

The tranquil Merced River in Yosemite National Park catches the reflection of sunrise light painting El Capitan with a golden glow. (Bill Ferris)

Here, we see water as both mirror and medium. This image was captured on a chill December morning. Setting up along the bank of the Merced River, I repeatedly checked the viewfinder of my Nikon D90 only to see that I would not be able to encompass both El Capitan and the river in a single frame. I was shooting with my widest lens, a Tokina 12-24mm, which delivers the equivalent of an 18mm ultra-wide angle view at its shortest focal length.

I wanted to capture both the river and the massive rock formation, but how? It was at this point that I noticed the reflected image of El Capitan on the still Merced waters. After some experimentation, I settled on the above framing. It frames both the river and iconic El Cap. The grasses, ice and rock along the river’s edge offer a wonderful contrast to the massive form of the stone temple on the other side. And in using the glassy surface to present an inverted image of El Cap, we see this ancient stone monument in a very different context. He is both imposing and delicate, awesome and fragile, immediate and dreamlike.

Water can be many things in a photograph. What role will she play in your next image? Get out and shoot!

Bill Ferris | October 2013

Line and Composition

(Bill Ferris)

The last light of day washes O’Neill Butte in a golden glow as seen from Yaki Point on the South Rim. (Bill Ferris)

Every picture tells a story. So, in this blog post, I would invite to think back to your grade school days. Remember the short compositions you were assigned to write? What you did on your summer vacation, what makes your mom the best, why Abraham Lincoln was a great American president. These were (and remain) common themes in the stories written neatly in number-2 pencil in old school composition booklets. These stories can teach us something about photography.

Like a well-written story, a good photograph leads you on a journey. It takes you by the hand and walks with you from beginning to end. And at the end, there is a reward. How do you, the photographer, accomplish this? By employing good composition to take advantage of the natural lines in the subjects you photograph.

In the above image, your eye is drawn first to the lower-right corner by the strong contrast in color and brightness between the green junipers and the shadowed background. From there, your gaze follows the line of the ridge across the image. Near the left side you are redirected to follow Cedar Ridge toward O’Neill Butte. There lies the payoff, a tidal wave of light washes over the ridge and butte creating a dramatic mid-summer scene. By composing the image to play off the natural line of the ridges, I’ve taken you a journey through the photograph. Your eye follows this natural line from beginning to end. And where the line ends, a reward awaits.

A stream of cars scud across the iconic Golden Gate Bridge after dark. Fog shrouds San Francisco, a city aglow with light. (Bill Ferris)

A stream of cars scud across the iconic Golden Gate Bridge after dark. Fog shrouds San Francisco, a city aglow with light. (Bill Ferris)

This photograph of the Golden Gate Bridge also uses line and light to lead you on an adventure. The journey begins in the lower-left corner where the brightly-illuminated bridge emerges from out of frame. The large north tower grabs your attention and immediately identifies the iconic subject of the image. Your eye naturally follows the bright line of vehicle headlights across the bridge to the upper-right. Again, you are rewarded for taking this journey. The south tower, the sharp contrast of the bridge’s shadow against the glassy surface of the Pacific Ocean, and the hazy profile of San Francisco present a mysterious quality of this city by the bay.

By looking for and taking advantage of natural lines in the the scenes you photograph, you can lead your audience on a journey. Like all good journeys, yours should have a beginning and an end. And by delivering a reward to your audience at the end of the journey, you will transform the journey into a story, well-told. Use composition and line to allow your photography to tell great stories.

Get out and shoot!

Bill Ferris | September 2013

After the Shutter Clicks

For many photographers, pushing the shutter release button ends the process of taking a picture. They hear that satisfying, “click,” check the image on the camera’s LCD display, smile approvingly and move on to the next photo op. Later, the image gets uploaded to Facebook, Flickr, Google+ or another social network so friends and family can share in the moment. The photo, however, was done when the shutter closed. Pushing the button and hearing the click completed the image-making process.

I’d like to encourage you to adopt a new approach, one where the process of creating a photo is just getting started when you push that button. After the shutter clicks, there are simple tools you can use to transform a good photograph into something special.

What makes a photograph special? Well, it begins with good composition. Everything visible within the frame should help tell the story of the photograph. Since stories typically have beginnings and endings, a good photograph will often lead the eye from one area to another. Exposure is another critical element of good photography. Lighting creates the mood of the scene you’re trying to capture. Proper exposure conveys that mood through the photo to the viewer. Investing a few minutes of your time to work with a raw exposure in image editing software to enhance these important qualities can rescue marginal photos and transform good photos into great ones.

A web search will reveal a host of good options for free and reasonably-priced image editing software. GIMP, Picasa and Windows Live Photo Gallery are some of the free apps you’ll encounter. Adobe offers a diverse suite of excellent image management and editing software. I happen to use Photoshop Elements, which is a stripped down version of their well-regarded Photoshop product. Apple, Microsoft and others also offer excellent image editing apps. I’m not going to advocate for one over another. I will suggest you choose an app able to perform, at a minimum, the following functions: brightness/contrast adjustment, hue/saturation adjustment, crop and unsharp mask.

This JPEG is an unedited conversion of the original RAW exposure from which the below photograph was created. Comparing the two, look for modest brightness/contrast, color saturation, crop and unsharp mask adjustments.

This JPEG is an unedited conversion of the original RAW exposure from which the below photograph was created. Comparing the two, look for modest brightness/contrast, color saturation, crop and unsharp mask adjustments. (Bill Ferris)

Brightness/contrast adjustment is the first tool I use to help an image pop! One of the benefits of shooting landscapes early in the morning or late in the day is the way light from a low-hanging sun sculpts a scene. Shadows create contrast. They separate the foreground from the background and define an image. Well, if you’re on vacation and take a lunch break at a scenic overlook, the sun will be high overhead and the landscape before you will be almost devoid of shadows. A raw image of this scene won’t have the pleasing level of contrast and detail you desire. Opening the exposure in your app of choice, decreasing the brightness and increasing the contrast will enhance what little contrast there is in the image.

After making modest adjustments to brightness and contrast, the next tool I reach for is hue/saturation adjustment. Very rarely will I make any change to the hue of an image. Most digital cameras do a pretty good job of rendering colors accurately. If whites look white, skin tones look natural and the sky looks blue, the hue is good and can be left as is. Saturation is another matter. Think of saturation as the depth or intensity of color in an image. I also think of saturation as the it factor.

When standing on the rim of Grand Canyon or at the edge of another spectacular vista, there is something about being present in that place which makes colors feel more intense. It’s difficult to convey that feeling with a photo that renders colors merely as they are. By enhancing the saturation, you help the photo convey the way the scene felt to you, the way you experienced that moment. To those of you thinking, “There he goes again, getting all abstract and mushy,” I can respect that. Rich colors may not be your thing and that’s OK. Photography is a big tent hobby with plenty of room for disparate views on what works. Pushing the color saturation works for me and, if you give it a try, I think you’ll find it makes your photos more powerful, more memorable.

Crop, is the next tool up in my image editing kit. You should know, I invest considerable time studying and adjusting composition prior to taking the raw exposure. As a result, I don’t often use the crop tool during processing. However, this isn’t because composition isn’t important to me. It’s because I try to get composition right, before pushing the shutter release. I’m not always successful in this regard and, when I do get a photo with extraneous space or odd framing, I have no reluctance to make a correction. That’s when the crop tool gets used.

Crop is useful for removing distractions that prevent the viewer from seeing the subject of your photo and understanding the story you’re trying to tell. If you see a brilliant waterfall and think, “Ooh, there’s a great photo,” do all that you can to fill the frame with the waterfall. If the subject is a family member, let that person fill the frame. If the story you’re telling with the image is about the relationship between a person and the vista they’re amidst, crop the image so that the person and the landmark they’re admiring define the frame.

This is the processed final version of the above RAW exposure. Brightness/contrast and color saturation adjustments make this image pop more than the original. The applied crop removes my distracting shadow and emphasizes the relationship between the hiker and the distant butte. Finally, a modest unsharp mask gives this image a bit more impact by helping fine details stand out.

This is the processed final version of the above RAW exposure. Brightness/contrast and color saturation adjustments make this image pop more than the original. The applied crop removes my distracting shadow and emphasizes the relationship between the hiker and the distant butte. Finally, a modest unsharp mask gives this image a bit more impact by helping fine details stand out. (Bill Ferris)

To put the finishing touches on my photo processing, I reach for the unsharp mask. A light touch with unsharp mask will enhance fine detail in your photo in subtle but impactful ways. Again, the net result of a modest unsharp mask is an image that seems to pop just a bit. It’s similar to that moment when the focus is just right in pair of binoculars. You turn and turn the focus knob until, pop, the image is crisp and clear. That’s what unsharp mask delivers when applied with subtlety and discretion.

Using image editing software and these simple tools, you can elevate your photography to a new level. And in so doing, the images you create will do a better job of conveying the dynamic nature of a scene which inspired you to reach for your camera.

So, get out and shoot!

Bill Ferris | August 2013