As I understand it most of central and western Kansas was once a sea. I slept through geology class (it was way too early in the morning), but I've always assumed that all these crazy rock formations (there are many others, both sandstone and limestone out there) were the remains of ancient sea beds. I've been thinking about going back to college and taking a geology course just so I can understand some of what I am photographing.
Abraxas - Actually it is pretty easy. I spent about 5 min per photo in post-processing. I know how to do all of that in the traditional darkroom too, but it would have taken me days per photo. In PS painting the mask on detailed edges is the most time consuming part.
You can see how it works and play around with it by making a new layer, convert the new layer to BW, tweak as you will, and then change the blending mode to luminosity. You actually don't even need to switch the new layer to BW, but for me this works really well because I do a better job tweaking the contrast and tones of BW images than of color images. I also do most of my burning, dodging, and curve tweaking on the luminosity layer; this affects tones without changing hue or saturation. Sharpening on a luminosity layer works the same as switching to lab mode and sharpening using the lightness channel.
A couple years ago I became interested in learning more about what it was I'm shooting. I don't know if it has helped, but I've gotten some great sleep in geology seminars as recently as last month.
The colors in your shot got me to thinking about the Tecopa area in the Mojave Desert. Tecopa was hit by a blast from Yellowstone how ever many bztillion years ago, but it was a small portion gone errant from the main 'dust cloud' that settled through to the Kansas area. That looks like it was mainly western Kansas though -- according to a map on the link (maybe, don't know for sure).
I appeciate the notes on the post-processing. I've been using PSCS2 since September and been guerilla training. I like the your approach better and have had some interesting results that are definately worth pursuing- I'm not catching the 'blend' thing. But it ain't over until it's over. You've pointed me in a good direction, now, to read 'some' of the manual. Thanks.
I liked your film and B&W work before and am glad to see your new stuff. I hope you keep posting it.
(and a mountain bike LOL he does not grow old gracefully)
