Joshua Trees

We spent the long weekend at Joshua Tree National Park. Why would the weary Narayanan family to to a desert in 100 degree heat? Well, we have seen most of the other parks and the one park which is new to the family and to the parents is this one. 

So off we went and spent almost two full days there. The flora and fauna in this place is unique and so are the rock formations. 

Walking around Joshua Tree national park is like walking around Jurassic park! So surreal that the Photoshop HDR pluggin actually does justice to what it really looks like. 

The tips of the cactus glow in the morning and evening sunlight. The rocks and boulders seem to have been picked and placed to perfection. The Joshua trees seem planted in formation and do not look very natural. There is an eerie lifelessness and the occasional movement of a desert squirrel or lizard that reminds you of the hidden life in this unique desert forest. 

We made it to a few hikes and made it back in one piece without the parents or kids going through any major events! That was a big plus. 

There are more than 500 photos (all combo photos in HDR) which need a lot of processing time. After driving for a good 8 hours this is what I could manage to post tonight as a sample.. 

Yes! Did shoot the caterpillar in with exposure bracketing using a feature that comes in handy on the Manfrotto tripod (widen the legs to make the camera come real close to the ground.. you can even put the camera upside down on this tripod) using the 50mm Macro lens. The real caterpillar is 1 inch long! The kids spotted a whole bunch of caterpillars on the ground when we went to take photos at one of the scenic spots and it turned into a HDR attempt.. 

Seriously, this is how this place really looks as the sun casts shadows on the trees and cactus on the floor. The rocks actually look like this as well in the setting sun! 

More to come in the next few days as more editing time is found.

We had a great time with the parents, kids and cousins. The trip was not without its nervous and lucky moments. I got a cactus ball between my heel and sandals and it was a painful experience extracting the thorns out. We very near ran out of gas and did not notice trying to chase the sun as it set through the mountain ranges and barely made it out to the park entrance before the reserve ran out! 

Strongly recommend this place to photo enthusiasts. Please do try to go in April when the oasis have water in them and the cactus and Joshua trees are blooming!

In and around the house.

Two photos to share from today..

Both show the need for perfection and ideas for improvement..

The first one with the Photography

The second with the subject.. should have been able to hold this pose without moving. Was having Jr. click the shutter button once (had set it to continuous shooting mode with a self timer). The 2 second timer delay kept throwing me off. One thing we don't do in Yoga is open our mouth and talk. That is forbidden in the Yoga room. So it was odd for me to get into the pose and let Jr. know to hit the shutter release. My fingers practically look like they are coming out of the screen simply because we are able to see the detail in the shadow. There was not much editing in this one.. simply merged three images taken in succession!

Both will be improved, starting tomrrow!

My parents really like the way the HDR images are created and sit with me and watch my photoshopping experiments. They have started being vocal critics as well, which is good and bad! 

My mother had the same request as my MIL.. Both were private requests but so identical in choice of words, it is too hilarious not to share.

"You are really amazing at this photo editing thing! Can you not do something to make me look thinner? Your photographs make me look too big. Know that it will only show what is there.. still a guy with your ability has to be able to do something, no?!"

If I quit my day job, trust me, the first thing on my "to do list" is to develop a "Thin Plugin" for Photoshop which selectively takes any shape and converts it to the closest 36-24-36 (if those are still numbers today's women are shooting for!).. May be way off as yours truly is still living in the past...

Here to having grandparents around! It is very precious..

Happy weekend everyone!

More HDR

Two key players in the house were not captured in HDR yesterday.. so they got their chance today during the feeding time. 

San will not pose.. So the plan for tomorrow ? Self Portrait in HDR. Hopefully the Yoga will help me take a deep breath and stay absolutely still.. who knows, maybe go +/- 3 or 4 eV bracketing?!

We saw a gorgeous sunset today with some amazing clouds. Will try to capture that tomorrow. Looks like this weeks pet project to take my mind off things is HDR.