Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...

[ksmattfish]

Oh wait, yes we are! Photos of the ancient ocean floor at Wilson Lake, Kansas.

 

[abraxas]

The first is great, excellent. The second is a little topsy-turvy for me, but still excellent.

Is this different for you?- I was expecting B&W when I peeked. -I'm not disappointed.

 

[LaFoto]

Topsy-turvy ... I like that WORD!
There is a Mike Hargreaves* childrens book on Mr Topsy-Turvy in Britian (and in my shelves, I have just about ALL the Mr Men books, mind you) --- funny association in connection with this very wide-angle landscape photography!!!

I like the COLOURS in both of these, so - no disappointment AT ALL about colour photos by our mattfish!

I was expecting you to like the second one very much, Walter, for its geological aspects (which I cannot read, but geologists may be able to), and here you say you like the first very much? I find both of them fascinating because they are landscape photos, but vertically framed ones, and they are very, very wide angle ones on top of that. Coolest!

(*I do hope I remember the name right, I was too lazy to rush upstairs to check...)

 

[SommarShade]

these are pretty nice, I love the composition. the 2nd is even cooler then the first to me.. I like how you balanced the highlights well, but taking out so much of the shadow values leaves it feeling a bit flat, maybye its just me..
still very nice shots !!

 

[abraxas]

Topsy-turvy ... I like that WORD!
There is a Mike Hargreaves* childrens book on Mr Topsy-Turvy in Britian (and in my shelves, I have just about ALL the Mr Men books, mind you) --- funny association in connection with this very wide-angle landscape photography!!!

I like the COLOURS in both of these, so - no disappointment AT ALL about colour photos by our mattfish!

I was expecting you to like the second one very much, Walter, for its geological aspects (which I cannot read, but geologists may be able to), and here you say you like the first very much? I find both of them fascinating because they are landscape photos, but vertically framed ones, and they are very, very wide angle ones on top of that. Coolest!

(*I do hope I remember the name right, I was too lazy to rush upstairs to check...)

If I could do -that- with colors, people wouldn't call my shots names any more (maybe).

I'd think, that they were shot with a maybe, 12-24 or 10-20 lense. Something like that- Encouraging to me (I'm going out today again with mine).

Sandstone possibly? Limestone would take incredible heat and pressure(?). I can't think of that type of faulting in the area (although I think there was a major-major quake in the early 1800s that reversed the Mississippi for a bit), that would morph it.

Geology's old-hat nowdays. This month it's California Native American ethnographies and hacking on public domain E.S Curtis (a cursed pictorialist) photos for my web site.

Last year I visited a museum that featured 'Upside-down Town.' I've tried to use 'topsy-turvy' as much as I can since then- and willy-nilly.

Again, really nice shots.

 

[ksmattfish]

Sandstone possibly?

Yeah, lots of orange and red sandstone in central Kansas (this is just west of Salina). These were taken with a Canon 5D with a Tamron 17-35mm f/2.8-4 at 17mm, and a polarizer. Since getting into digital I've been shooting a lot more color in my personal work. These are just quick first edits (I just got back this morning); color and contrast will probably be tweaked after I see proof prints.

 

[ksmattfish]

From the same place as the second photo. Taken many years ago with my Widelux, and probably either Tmax 100 or FP4 125. Topsy turvy back then too!

 

[ksmattfish]

If I could do -that- with colors, people wouldn't call my shots names any more (maybe).

A polarizing filter gets the ball rolling. In PS I make multiple BW versions using the channel mixer optimized for specific parts of the image (such as heavy red channel for the sky). Then I mask them together how I want, flatten the BW layers, and set the blend mode of the BW layer (perched over a color layer) to luminosity. This gives me the tone values from the BW in my color image. High percentage/low radius smart sharpen for crispness, followed by low percentage/high radius USM for local contrast (also all done on a luminosity layer to avoid color shift).

 

[abraxas]

A polarizing filter gets the ball rolling. In PS I make multiple BW versions using the channel mixer optimized for specific parts of the image (such as heavy red channel for the sky). Then I mask them together how I want, flatten the BW layers, and set the blend mode of the BW layer (perched over a color layer) to luminosity. This gives me the tone values from the BW in my color image. High percentage/low radius smart sharpen for crispness, followed by low percentage/high radius USM for local contrast (also all done on a luminosity layer to avoid color shift).

:shock: - ok.

 

[OregonAmy]

Your first two are beautiful.

I'm moving to Overland Park this weekend, so you have provided me with some inspiration on geographic landscapes (having mostly lived in the PNW much of my life). Can't wait till autumn.

 

[abraxas]

Not quite as easy as it sounds,.... but very cool- Thanks!

 

[abraxas]

Not sure where lake wilson is, maybe n/e kansas?

LaFoto got me thinking about it;

Looks like interesting geologic area. Possibly combination of Pennsylvanian, Permian and glacial drift?

http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Publications/ancient/rep02.html

Limestone?
http://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/wilson/geology.htm

Looks like fossil shots might be possible-
http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Publications/ancient/rep01.html

Sorry- don't mean to hijack.

 

[ksmattfish]

Lake Wilson is in central KS, just NW of Salina.

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.

OregonAmy - There are a lot of interesting places in both Kansas and Missouri if you get off the beaten path. Here are some of my favorites in Kansas (google them for more info): Flint Hills, Konza Prairie, Rock City (the world's largest concentration of Dakota sandstone concretions ), the Garden of Eden, Kanopolis Lake, Wilson Lake, and the Chalk Pyramids. Of course MO has the Ozarks. After you get settled in OP if you are looking for a good photography group you might check out the Lawrence Photo Alliance ( http://www.lawrencephotoalliance.org/ ). We meet the first Tuesday of every month at the Lawrence Arts Center (Lawrence is about a 20-30 minute drive from OP), and have several KC area folks who regularly attend.

 

[tkme4ard]

Matt those are great! Although I love your work anyway so that's not a surprise. I'll have to tell my dad to check that lake out. Very cool!

 

[ksmattfish]

I'll have to tell my dad to check that lake out. Very cool!

Tell him to rent a boat to get out to Rock Town at Wilson Lake. On the map it's less than a 2 mile hike, but there is no trail most of the way, and it's much harder than it seems like it should be (I'm lucky I'm still not out there being scavenged by turkey vultures). Wilson Lake has very few trees, which means no shade. I've done the hike about six times now, and from now I'm renting a boat!