Yosemite workshop

[woodyspedden]

Everyone

I just got back from the Yosemite Workshop hosted by Guy Mancuso and Jack Flesher. I think I can speak for the other 11 participants in saying it was one of the best workshops i have attended and would recommend it highly for others in the future.

We had some of the best fall colors in many years according to those in the know so that made the shooting even better.

I am posting just a few shots to show what I was able to get. Others did considerably better in many of the compositions so some good images will be showing up i am sure.

Woody Spedden

[woodyspedden]

Whoops

I should have noted that the evening shot from Tunnel View was shot with the m8 and 75 lux. I had not brought my 90 Apo Cron so i had to press the 75 lux into service. not a lens you normally associate with landscapes but here i thought it worked really well. The shot was taken about 15 minutes past sunset and this alpenglow appeared for about 30 seconds. I guess timing really is everything.

The second shot was taken with the Leica 15 elmarit mounted to the M8 with the Novoflex adapter. This lens really served me well on the entire trip.

The final shot is about one hour after sunrise and was shot with the M8 and 35 Lux.

Enjoy

Woody Spedden

[woodyspedden]

And finally one more of El Capitan on a different day and again shot about one hour past sunrise.

Woody

[DES]

Great shots!!!

I want to go,,,how do I find out about the next one etc...

[dfarkas]

Great shots Woody!

I've never been to Yosemite. Definitely on my list, though.

David

[jim stone]

Woody,

Great shots ! Not sure mine are up to yours, but I'll try to post a couple if I can figure out how to do so. I would echo your sentiments about the workshop. Guy and Jack definitely know their stuff and the group was just the correct size allowing for a lot of individual attention to folks at EVERY skill level. It certainly was beneficial to me and I believe the others feel the same. It was a great group. Look forward to attending another one soon.

Jim

[robsteve]

Woody:

Did you compare your 15mm to the WATE in the 16mm range and the CV 15mm?

Robert

[sjt1]

Very nice indeed. Got any more? If you have please post some. I have been to Yosemite but never got anthing as good as this. Looks like one of them (the first one) was taken from the car park by the wawona tunnel (I think thats what it was called) - where Ansel Adams' Clearing Winter Storm was shot. Sorry I just saw you said that it was taken by the tunnel viewpoint. I think the last one is superb - the colours and the relief are outstanding.

One thing apart from the fact that they are great pictures is that I noticed some artefacts in the black and white one that appear similar to something I have been suffering from. If you look at the top of the picture, slightly to the right of the middle, you can see what appear to be slightly diagonal stripes.

I was seeing this in some of my pics and reported it in a thread:

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-...l-streaks.html

I sent my camera back, reckoning that I couldn't use it against continuous tone backgrounds, and the story so far on this is that the camera has been back to Leica Germany, to be repaired and has been away for just over a month. I phoned up Leica UK (my locals) last Friday and they say it has been finished and I should be getting it back soon. I think I will find out what has happened to it when I get it back, and I will report further.

Hope this is not bad news!

Steve Taylor

[wattsy]

I was in Yosemite a couple of weeks ago (not on the workshop) and it is a truly remarkable place. I particularly recommend getting out of the valley area and up into the high country where the landscape is genuinely awe inspiring.

[guy_mancuso]

Steve I think that is the web because i sat down with Woody on that image as he was working on it and did not notice that effect in the top right.

[wattsy]

Originally Posted by sjt1

I sent my camera back, reckoning that I couldn't use it against continuous tone backgrounds, and the story so far on this is that the camera has been back to Leica Germany

I'm interested in this as I have been recently noticing unexpected posterisation in shots featuring blue skies (16-bit DNGs converted in Aperture, C1 and ACR). I see it in shots made with both my M8 bodies (bought six months apart).

[sjt1]

Originally Posted by guy_mancuso

Steve I think that is the web because i sat down with Woody on that image as he was working on it and did not notice that effect in the top right.

I did guess a possible explanation is that it is a "jpg crunching for the web" artefact, and I should have mentioned it sorry. I should have asked: "does it appear on the DNGs?" In my pics it is right there on the DNGs.

Please don't get me wrong - I think the pic is superb - I'm just wondering if anyone else had the same problem as me or if I'm going bonkers (or indeed being too fussy). That last pic of el capitan would look great printed huge.

[guy_mancuso]

I did not see it in the DNGs. i saw the image after his conversion and in PS . Woody maybe able to check it though from his Raws. I see it as clear as day also here on the site so wondering about it also

[woodyspedden]

Originally Posted by robsteve

Woody:

Did you compare your 15mm to the WATE in the 16mm range and the CV 15mm?

Robert

Hey Rob

Not yet. I just got the WATE and i need to make comparisons because i sure can't afford to keep both. Even at used prices this represents $10K! As soon as i have a chance to do a reasonably controlled shoot i'll use both lenses and post results

Woody Spedden

[woodyspedden]

Originally Posted by sjt1

I did guess a possible explanation is that it is a "jpg crunching for the web" artefact, and I should have mentioned it sorry. I should have asked: "does it appear on the DNGs?" In my pics it is right there on the DNGs.

Please don't get me wrong - I think the pic is superb - I'm just wondering if anyone else had the same problem as me or if I'm going bonkers (or indeed being too fussy). That last pic of el capitan would look great printed huge.

It is an area where I did some burning in to reduce the brightness of the cloud which i found distracting. The darker 'diagonals' are actually areas of sky showing through the clouds and the effect got more pronounced after the burn in. However it has nothing to do with the M8. I have no idea what natural effect caused the clouds to separate in this apparent diagonal fashion though. Guess it is just God at work. In any event it is just a difficult image due to the brightness of the cloud but i will keep working to see what can be done.

Woody

[woodyspedden]

Here is the image prior to burn in. As you can see, the sky showing through definitely shows the diagonal sky streaks in the cloud. I guess I will have to manually clone out the streaks.

[Jack_Flesher]

1 and 2 are still my favorites, just fantastic

On the B&W image sky, sometimes when you use CS3's B&W conversion, you can get posterization in skies that doesn't show in 16-bit mode in CS, but does present on the conversion to 8-bit for jpeg/web. It helps any time you want to darken a sky if you adjust both the blue and cyan sliders down --- the automated grab in CS3 will usually only grabs the blue one.

Cheers,

[woodyspedden]

Originally Posted by Jack_Flesher

1 and 2 are still my favorites, just fantastic

On the B&W image sky, sometimes when you use CS3's B&W conversion, you can get posterization in skies that doesn't show in 16-bit mode in CS, but does present on the conversion to 8-bit for jpeg/web. It helps any time you want to darken a sky if you adjust both the blue and cyan sliders down --- the automated grab in CS3 will usually only grabs the blue one.

Cheers,

Hey Jack

Thanks for the comments. It helps

By the way, just for clarity, the shot of half dome from tunnel view was optimized for print. As you would expect, at least on the paper i used, the colors were more muted. I am going to print on the new Harman Gloss Baryta and expect to get much better rendition. That paper is superb IMHO

Best

Woody

[woodyspedden]

Originally Posted by DES

Great shots!!!

I want to go,,,how do I find out about the next one etc...

I would just PM either Guy or Jack from this forum. They could provide you with their schedules.

[stnami]

Guy ! Jack! good to see you guys getting into heavy duty PP work................. reality caper was over rated......turning photos into new " uuhhgg realities" is the way to go...... see the camera is now number two......the new order as seen here computer> camera> and shutter operator if required