This image is from the ‘Out My Front Door’ project. You can read more about it on the about me page. The basic idea of the project is to make images of sites I have found within a bike ride of my house. The goal of the project is simple, make images instead of thinking about making images. This is one of those sites. It is the last remains of a ranch that was donated to the city as open space. Story has it that the man who owned the ranch would spend over 4 days to mend the entire line of fence. Now it is home to many miles of trails for both cyclists, hikers, and runners. Philanthropy at its finest.

In an attempt to capture the essence of this wonderful space, I had a great time processing this image. I surely pushed it a bit more towards an impressionistic interpretation of the scene. However, to me the mountain itself is a beacon of green rolling grass, painted on a canvas of sky, that can be see from miles away.

Tech Note: I was experimenting a bit using the Promote Control which allows the camera to bracket any number of frames (up to 99) at 1/3, 1/2, or 1 EV. Far more than most cameras are normally capable of. You can read a great review of it over on my ‘Bracketer In Cirme’, Brian’s Matiash’s site.

According to Brian, good Promote Control form.

Capture Notes:

Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VR II
Nikon CPL II
PromoteControl
Gitzo Traveler

Aperture:f/8.0
Focal Length:16 mm
ISO Speed:400 (oops)

Processing Notes:

Capture (21 images @ .3 EV)
NX2 – Raw Conversion
Photomatix 3.2 – HDR/Tonemapping
NIK Define 2.0 – Noise reduction auto profile
Photoshop – selective curve adjustments applied to grass
Photoshop – selective sat adjustment applied to grass (trying to tame it abit)
Photoshop – Global curves adjustment
Nik Color Efex Pro – Glamour glow
Sized For Web
LightAsMagic.com