Traverse Earth

Welcome to Traverse Earth. Below you'll find my daily photo blog with pictures from all over the world. If you'd like to see my whole portfolio you can click the link above the header. If you think you'd be interested in purchasing a print you can either do this by clicking directly on an image here or by browsing through my portfolio. If you're interested in licensing an image please e-mail me at johnnyp@traverseearth.com

I appreciate any comments you'd like to make. You can do so by clicking the title of each post or the button on the bottom right of every post. Also, if you'd like a notification each time I upload an image you can enter your e-mail address on the right. Please feel free to share my images via the buttons below each picture.

Niagara Falls

May 202012

If you’re interested in finding this “secret” viewpoint, I provide a few clues as to its location in Niagara Skyline. It’s a pretty cool spot to find, even if you’re not looking to photograph the area. It’s definitely a different view compared to what most visitors to the falls get to see. Once up there I decided I had to try to capture the whole scene. So, I framed up four different shots and bracketed each for HDR. I wasn’t positive at the time how I’d go about stitching them together.

It turned out it was pretty involved. I had a total of 28 photographs to work with. These 28 images could have produced 4 HDR photographs to then stitch together. This approach caused me all sorts of problems with ghosting. Another significant problem was setting the sliders in Photomatix so that they’d be optimized for all four images. I kept ending up with dark areas in the final result. So, I changed my tactic.

In order to get this to work, I wound up grouping the exposures for each image together – meaning that i had seven sets of four images ranging from -3 stops to +3 stops. I stitched each of these together to create 7 huge images that I could then run through Photomatix. Unfortunately, this pushed the limits of my computer’s capabilities and I kept encountering error messages due to insufficient memory. I had been trying to use Photomatix’s deghosting tool to clean up people and vehicles that had moved through the frame. Eventually, I decided I’d have to do this in Photoshop after producing the tone mapped image. This reduced workload appeased my computer, and I had an HDR image to work with!

I went into Photoshop and layered the seven original exposures under the tone mapped image and masked away any ghosting I could find. It was pretty time-consuming and I’ve spent ages trying to figure out how to do it, but I’m happy with the results. I’ll be producing more stitched panoramic images going forward. I’ve got an idea for another shot at the top of Horseshoe Bay using this technique. I’ll give it a try once the weather decides to behave itself again.

CLICK HERE To Buy a Print, e-mail HERE for licensing info.

Horseshoe Reflection

May 192012

After taking the photo posted here I made my way back down off the rock. Once I got down on the sand, I noticed the fact that the sky was reflecting in the thin layer of water left by the retreating waves. So, I walked out to where it was about ankle deep when the waves came in and set my tripod up low to maximize the reflections. The water was causing the tripod to sink into the sand. As a result, I didn’t take my usual 7 exposures. Instead I only took 3 because if I had to mess around with the settings the tripod would have shifted between photos.

Own your very own copy! Click Here

What Lurks Beneath?

May 172012

My first night sleeping on the Zambezi I had the opportunity to take this photo. I was still pretty creeped out standing next to the water at this point. Images of a crocodile leaping from the dark waters kept running through my head. As a result, I kept a safe distance away. This was actually ridiculous, when you consider that I had no idea what a safe distance was.

I like today’s image because I feel like it portrays that feeling of not knowing what’s beneath the surface. the darkness of the water preventing you from knowing if anything is there. I also like the texture on the surface of the water created by the wind blowing across it.

Print now available! Get it HERE

Indian Falls, Bruce County: From Above

May 162012

In an earlier post, you saw these falls from below. To get there I’d had to climb down and then carefully hop from rock to rock to get up the river. In that photo you could see that there was still a huge lump of snow/ice at the base. Today’s view is probably more like how normal people experience Indian Falls.

The path is pretty easy. As you approach the falls you can hear them from quite a distance away. Then you reach a cliff edge with a great view. I was surprised to discover a fence there preventing you from getting to the edge, the path there wasn’t exactly developed. I think I’ve mentioned it before but I’ll say it again, I hate fences. It was one of the things that I loved about Victoria Falls, the freedom to roam (after you’d signed in with the AK toting guard at the gate). To get this photo I reached over the fence to place my tripod and camera on the other side and used the LCD screen to frame the shot.

It’s funny when you’re looking for a waterfall and are a bit lost. You always think you can hear it, then it turns out to be small rapids. But then, when you actually hear it you can tell the difference. They’re always so much louder than you expect. I depart for Iceland in less than a month where I’ll have opportunity to seek out lots of waterfalls. On my first night there (baring in mind the 24 hours of light) I’ll be visiting one that is supposed to be particularly loud. It’s called Dynjandi, which means thunderous. It looks like it’s pretty spectacular.

Prints Available!! Click Here

The Start of a Good Day

May 152012

You stand in Zambia, on the shore of the broad Zambezi, gazing towards Zimbabwe from Zambia. It’s surprising you can feel so energized after a night being woken by such noisy neighbors – elephants trumpeting on the salt lick behind camp and lions rumbling across the river. They’re far away but sound as if they’re knocking on your tent flap. As the flaming sun slowly emerges from below the horizon, lighting the smooth flowing waters in front of you, the peace is shattered by the grunting of a nearby hippo. Your canoes are ready to go, but they’ll have to wait a little longer as the smell of breakfast, bacon and scrambled eggs, wafts to your nostrils. After eating your fill the Zambezi will continue to provide surprise after surprise, bend after bend. It’s going to be a good day.

If you fancy waking up to this scene, you can buy a print here.

Coming through

May 142012

Shooting in RAW

I’ve read a few articles on whether you should shoot in RAW or JPEG. Today’s photo is a good illustration of why you should shoot in RAW if your goal is HDR. I fired off three bracketed exposures, as I usually do when shooting handheld. However, the gorilla was moving to me so quickly that I could never combine these three exposures. RAW to the rescue. I was able to use the standard exposure to create the rest of my exposures. At the standard exposure the gorillas faces were far too dark. By expanding this image from -2 through to +2, I was able to recover this detail.

Today’s photo: Coming Through

I’d like to be able to claim that I carefully set my camera to blur the gorillas left hand and show movement. The reality is, with a gorilla bearing down on me, playing with the camera was not the first thing on my mind. Getting a few shots and getting out of the way was priority. I wouldn’t say I was particularly scared of a gorilla attack. I was more worried about being the asshole that gets in their way and disrupts their day. Nobody wants to leave a bad first impression with a silverback. After firing off a few shots I stepped quickly out of the way and directly onto Chris’s foot. You can here his muffled scream 29 seconds into this video. In this case I’m glad I didn’t succeed in freezing the gorilla’s motion. It’s blurred left hand makes it clear that this silverback is coming straight at you.

If you’re interested in buying a print: click away!

JE Smith Farm

May 132012

It’d be pretty easy to spend all of your time driving around Bruce County photographing the farms that dot the landscape. They’re all the stereotypical barn and silo combination. Most of them are positioned in the middle of flat areas. I particularly like this one, nestled at the bottom of a hill, with a lone tree to the right at the crest.

If you’re interested in buying a print, click here.

Victoria Falls and Batoka Gorge

May 122012

My Tripod Search

On my gear page I mention that I’m not fully satisfied with my current tripod and mentioned one set of legs I’m considering. I’m going to be expanding this section soon because the more I look round the more options I find. I’ve got a good idea of what I want. The legs max height needs to be about 5’3″. At this height, the tripod head plus the height of my camera should get the viewfinder to eye level for me. It also needs to be able to set up with the legs spread out flat so I can shoot from ground level. With this in mind I don’t want a center column, as they reduce stability when extended and make getting the camera to ground level difficult. With setup in mind, one thing I like about my Benro Angel is the twist locks on the legs. So, that’s something I’ll definitely be looking for in my replacement. Additionally, I want to go as light as possible so will be looking at buying carbon fiber. These parameters are pretty easy to fulfill, but I also want it to fit in a carry on. This is where things get tricky. Hopefully, I’ll find something suitable soon as I want to bring it to Iceland with me in June.

Today’s Photo: Victoria Falls and Batoka Gorge

After crawling out on a ledge for the photo posted here, I set up in a much safer position on the other side of the tree. I still can’t believe how unrestricted we were at the top of the falls. This day Shannon and I had gone back to the falls without a guide and just walked right along the edge in search of photos. We did have one scary moment though. On the way back to the parking lot, I’m pretty sure we encountered the biggest baboon in the world. It was terrifying and grunting. It definitely did not sound like it was in a good mood. We backed off and hid behind a bush as it crossed the path and disappeared.

Interested in buying a print? CLICK HERE

Water Slide

May 112012

I found this on the side of a river in Grey County. There was a sign nearby saying what it used to be but I can’t quite remember. I have a feeling it was used to transport the output of power plant. Either way, it’s no longer in use now, a modern ruin. I liked the way the water rushed through it and the textures on the inside so set about taking a photo. Once again I found myself balanced on rocks with water rushing around my feet and tripod.

7 Ladder Gorge, Romania

May 102012

The original plan, when starting this site, was to not include any pre-HDR photos. I’ve changed my mind. My trip to Romania inspired me to invest more in my camera equipment and I like a lot of the pictures I took there. Today’s photo was taken on the way down a mountain headed toward 7 Ladder Gorge with my old Canon Rebel. Topaz Adjust has allowed me to recover some of the details in the shadows and a few extra tweaks (including applying Unsharp Mask, which I never used to use) have allowed me to improve this photo a bit form the original. Going forward, I’ll release a few more of my older pictures every once in a while.

Older Entries

Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha