I’ve been working through my Yucatan travel shots, and thought that while I was at it, should take advantage of the 15-day free trial period for “Silver Efex Pro 2.” Here’s a black and white treatment of the Palace at Kabah, on the “Puuc Route:”
I hadn’t thought of it at the time, but old ruins like this tend to look really good in black and white. Use the right colored filter settings, and you can bring out some drama in an otherwise bland sky, too!
The “marquis” structure at the Maya ruins of Uxmal in México:
Sadly, you can no longer climb this pyramid’s steps — they were showing the toll of thousands of tourists’ feet over the years. At least visitors can still admire this beautiful structure from a not-too-great distance.
Two women start their descent of Structure I (as seen from Structure II) at the ancient Maya (no, not Mayan) ruins of Calakmul, México:
Structure I (a.k.a. Pyramid I) is the highest at Calakmul (by virtue of its being built on a small hill), but not the tallest. Its neighbor Structure II (a.k.a. Pyramid II) is the tallest at the site, and the largest (in bulk) too — standing about 50 meters / 160 feet tall (these numbers vary depending on the source you’re looking at). Structure I is just a few meters shorter than Structure II, meanwhile Structure II’s base is some 120 meters (390 feet) square.
Translation: they’re both really big…
Shot with a long lens from the Temple of the Cross, about 1/4 mile away:
You might think I framed this shot the way I did to heighten the contrast between the structure and its background — but actually, I was avoiding a line of tourists just off the bottom of the shot!
A really good reason to embarrass yourself publicly in Paris — to get a unique shot of a thoroughly-photographed landmark:
Come to think of it, I guess I didn’t make *too* many people laugh by laying on my back for this one. Makes me wish I could go back again soon…
I thought this looked best in black and white…
Brings out the geometry, don’t you think?
Another shot from this year’s Photographers’ Night trip downtown — a much broader view of the Denver City and County building in all its gaudy holiday colors:
I took this from across the street in Civic Center park (good news: easier to take in the view; bad news: no way to get the trees out of the shot). If you look closely, you can see the smeared lights of cars coasting by on Bannock street…
Every year in December, the city of Denver turns off the street lights near the City and County building for a few “photographers’ nights” — so we can get good shots of the (somewhat gaudily) lit building.
Here’s one shot I took last night — of the building’s clock tower. More to come…
This is a pretty simple, staple shot inside the Lincoln Memorial at night. That said, it’s a surprisingly tough shot to get…
You’re not allowed to use a tripod inside the Memorial (some say it’s because the tripod legs damage the floor, others that tripods are a tripping hazard when the place is crowded). Meanwhile, the lighting is… subdued, to say the least.
I took this shot at ISO 1000 with an aperture of f/2.0 — and still, it required a one second exposure (and some noise cleanup with Topaz Denoise afterwards). Curious how to take a decent one second exposure without a tripod? It turns out that while tripods are banned in most Washington D.C. museums, monopods aren’t — not even ones with little pop-out tripod feet.
Go figure…
A few days ago, we got back from a quick family vacation to the Washington D.C. area — in part driven by the lucky acquisition of tickets to this spring’s White House garden tour. Those words probably make the thing sound more exclusive than it is in reality — it’s more like the world’s longest conga line, just you and a few thousand of your closest new friends shuffling through the White House grounds between ropes.
Still, it’s as close as most of us will ever get to the place (particularly with a camera!)…
This shot came from right in front of the White House, looking across the rose garden (just tulips in bloom…) toward the steps outside of the Oval Office. I think leaving the building out of focus and mostly out of frame gives the shot a sort of expectant look, as though a big event is about to take place. Of course, the President was out of town at the time, so only some miscellaneous staffers appeared when we were there.