GEO-tography: Shillouettes

It's time once again for a jealous look at what can be done with a camera on the off-road, IF the operator just has a tiny bit of skill and knowledge.

I've taken a fair number of these kinds of photographs, I must confess, not all of them intentional - well, very few of them intentional - ok, almost none of them intentional.

What I enjoyed about putting together this group of GEO-tography was realizing that for once, I already knew the technique of HOW to do it; IF only I had the eye to make it look good in the end. [I must confess, Photoshop helps me a lot.]

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GEO-tography: Lakes

More and more these days a criterion we look at when we decide where to go for a ride into the back roads, is: "Oh look, it goes right by Lake Whatchamacallit."

If rivers and streams are the noisy adolescents, lakes have got to be the wizened old grand dad whose porch you'd like to sit a spell on. They've got a whole different feeling to them, and it's a rare one indeed that doesn't make you wish you had your fishing pole with you… and your folding lounge chair… and a cold drink.

Snapping a photograph or two to bring back and show the family can even make your ride through the desert seem ten degrees cooler. And getting a good one shouldn't be too difficult as most body's of water are quite photogenic.

However, there are a couple of points that you need to watch for when you point your camera in their direction. They are most often characterized by their quiet beauty or reflective charm.

Reflections

While you are trying to focus on the water, actually take a moment to LOOK at it; what do you see IN it? I mean besides the ducks. Often it's the reflections in the water that make a photograph stand out.

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GEO-tography: Nat Geo

Where better to go for photos of our "Geo" than Nat-GEO? National Geographic has been and is still the premier magazine for photo essays about anything on the planet.

What you may not know is that photographers from all over the world submit photographs to them, hoping to jumpstart careers, get noticed, show off or just share a truly unique moment captured fortuitously. And they regularly make selected photos available for people to download as wallpapers.

Here is a selection of the best of the best of National Geographic desktop wallpapers, including some from the National Geographic photography team and some submitted by their site readers. The photographers’ comments are also included here.

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GEO-tography: Moon

It's that time of year again when, thanks to our wonderful congress, we get to see the moon rise when we are driving home from work. In fact, depending upon where you live, the dang thing may have already been out for hours.

That got me to thinkin'. I've never done a GEOtography post about the moon. The thing is, for photographers, it's a difficult shot. And once you get all the camera setting down pat, the kind of photographs you can take are a bit limited.

However, the photos you can take come out quite stunning. One does quickly discover however that its just as much about what else is in the photo as it is the moon. In fact that's what gives variety of these things and sets your shot apart from those everyone else has already taken.

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GEO-tography: Halloween 2 - Ghosts

It has almost become a tradition to do a Halloween post here on Offroading Home. We haven't done much riding this summer, and the posts have gotten a tad sparse, but we cannot go against tradition and disappoint Tevia. For, without tradition, what are we?

You remember that last year we highlighted photos relating to "Devil" of some sort: Devil's Cove, Devil Mountain, Devil's Fire – and so forth. This year we simply turn to Flicker and are inundated with photos relating to: "Ghost."

Not simply just Casper, but a whole host of photos documenting how often plants, trees, snakes, towns and ships are named after the specter.

We sorted through a thousand or so photos and selected the most interesting for your seasonal perusal – with preference given to those representing a location, geography, flora or fauna.

Clicking on the photo will take you to the original photo where there often can be found a more complete description.

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GEO-tography: Manipulations

I ran across a professional photographer and retoucher from Sweden named Erik Johansson in my surfing of the web the other day. The guy has an amazing talent for producing incredibly realistic and creative photo manipulations.

Of course he uses Photoshop, or some such photo editing program, but he starts with real photos then massages their little 'pixels' into some quirk of his bizarre imagination that surprises, if not outright stuns, an unsuspecting viewer.

Now, I know that they don't all have a direct relation to the "Geo" which is what these posts are all about; but, once you see them I think you'll agree that it's just too tough to break up the set.

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GEO-tography: Oceans

There is nothing quite like living next to, or near, an ocean. From the temperate temperatures, to the wild weather; from the (mostly) free swimming to the "magnetic" sand; from the great growing-seasons to the constantly limp and damp bed-sheets; from the… well, you get the picture.

The one thing they all have in common however, is: Grandeur – and terrific places to take pictures because of it; especially if you go a little off-road.

Just about every category of photo we've highlighted here in GEO-tography is amplified at least double near the ocean. The crags are craggier; the colors more vibrant, and more subdued; the clouds more widely varied; water more in-your-face; and the sunsets, well, let's just say that you've never seen one until you've seen one across the watery horizon.

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GEO-tography: Reflective

The magnificence of being outdoors is heightened by being "off the road." Offroader's prefer the destinations with a view and for many seniors the only way open to be able to see them is on an ATV or some like vehicle.

Today's collection of "Geo" related photography is about an aspect of the view which is not often noticed and in fact can be looked directly at but not seen. The human brain is funny that way.

I'm talking about: reflections. And, they are everywhere, not just in mirrors as the images below will reveal.

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GEO-tography: Forest

Without a doubt, most of the Utah offroad ATV trails run through our wonderful mountains. And, it just so happens that the most downloaded post of any we've ever done on Offroading Home is the GEO-tography post about mountain photos.

However, much of a mountains granduer has to do with its dressing: forests. It is true that often we don't stop to see the forest for all the trees, like these aspens near Old LaSal by Moab.

I ran across a photographer who had some great tips for us the next time we're out photographing trees. And from what he seems to say, it's not that difficult to obtain a great shot: "Take time, find a point of interest and shoot any season" – now those are things that I can do!

Take Time

"One of the beautiful things about landscape photography is that there is no need to hurry. Take your time and get a real feel for what it is you want to capture. Time is on your side. Lighting conditions can change dramatically throughout the day, and if you’re really fortunate, the perfect shot may find you!"

He say's for us to "wander through the forest and consider all the possible vantage points" which is something that most of us have down pat! Then he advises us to "try out both wide and telephoto lenses" or, I guess, to at least try zooming out and in if we have cameras without changeable lenses. Pointing a wide angle lens upward emphasizes size and scale. A telephoto lens compresses a row of tree trunks and captures patterns.

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GEO-tography: Silhouette

Photography of the "Geo" is what these sessions are about: GEO-tography. We look at them because as long as we are on the off-road most of us are taking photos, and as long as we are taking photos we might as well at least TRY to do a good job.

Are we photographers who need to go off road to get good photographs? Probably not… oh, let's call a spade a spade– mostly not. We're offroaders who either: want to prove where we've been or merely need to be able to remember where we've been.

This session is about a topic which all of us mostly overlook and most of us always misspell: silhouette's. They're not all that difficult to obtain, and most of us have accidentally gotten them unintentionally– some more than once – yes, you know who I'm looking at!

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GEO-tography: Dirt Roads (mostly)

Roads - it's what Offroading Home is all about. Whether it's being ON them or OFF them all together in an ORV. The lure of going somewhere to see something often puts our mind on something other than the road; but, it's there none-the-less.

On the other hand, sometimes for us off-roaders it's the road which is uppermost in your mind, whether it is in the high-uintas or looking down the Scanlon Ferry Road and wondering if you're going to ever going to be able to get back out. But, surely (excepting New Yorkers) it's a rare human these days who hasn't trodden at least one dirt road.

So, here is a collection of photographs of some of the world’s dirt roads just to show you how universal a dirt road is and how they can be used to add interest and perspective to the photographs we take.

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GEO-tography: Deserts

In the past I have showcased examples of landscape photography, which has included photos of mountains, valleys, plains, lakes, coast lines, and a variety of other types of landscapes. That's what I'm calling GEO-tography – photography of the "GEO."

I guess it depends upon where you do your riding as to what pops into your mind when someone says: "landscape"; but, around here it's pretty much desert. I admit that sometimes it hard to actually see the desert for all the sand, especially when you are washing it out of your hair and shaking it out of pretty much every bodily orifice.

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GEO-tography: Birds

Most of us old codgers spend more time sittin' on our offroad bikes than ridin' on 'em compared to "young bucks" who wanna' just get there! After a few miles of bouncing around on an ATV or JEEP, it's a welcome relief to disembark and sit a spell.

Besides, that's when you see things and hear things. Only the very naive think they can see the sights in a moving vehicle – what, merely wave as you pass by the Grand Canyon? It is true that compared to what many kids listen to today, an ATVs engine is probably barely noticable; but, not for a chipmunk or a bird! If you're wondering why you never see any wildlife on your rides it's probably because of the direction you have your key turned.

You don't want to have to reply "the handlebars" when you get home and are asked "what did you see today?" If for no other reason than the fact that it makes it easier to convince your wife to let you invest in next season's model of bike - you need to bring back some pictures! Some intrepid souls even learn to like taking them and then even become quite good at it.

That's the point of these collections that I call "GEO-tography." Photos of the "GEO" that you and I see in our offroad forays. And, you really know that you are getting the hang of it when you can capture one of those flighty birds on film (or memory chips as the case may be).

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GEO-tography: Paths and Trails

While we are spending a boatload of time trying to upgrade the blog to a new format, we could let you see a few more inspirational examples of offroading photography – what we call GEOtography. We call them inspirational because that is what we are attempting to do – become "inspired" with how to make our OWN photographs just a little less blurry, more in frame and possibly something that we can show to people outside our own family (who have to like our pictures).

Today we'll look at paths and trails and ways of getting somewhere in the landscape. Dorothy had her "yellow brick road" to follow, others a "road less traveled" but there probably isn't one of us off-roaders who haven't said "I wonder where that road goes?"

My guess is that I'm not the only one on the trails who, when confronted with a fork in the road, feels compelled to find out where it goes – or, at least set a waypoint so we can see where it is on Google Earth!

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GEO-tography: Macro

If it's one thing that senior ATV riders have along offroad trails, it's the proclivity to stop and take a picture of things we see and want to remember or show those back home. I call it: Geo-tography – photography of our "geo." Not that any of us have any grandiose ideas that we're going to become famous photographers or anything; but, just capable enough so that our digital cameras weren't a total waste of money.

The way I figure it, if I just keep looking at good pictures for long enough some of it may rub off on me – even if it has to be sub-consciously. So, when I saw a group of photos using the "Macro Technique" I thought that they might could use a closer look.

Macro photography is all about capturing things up close, usually involving special lenses designed specifically for this task. However, I notice that most new digital cameras come with some sort of "macro" setting, although usually require some actual reading of the instructions in order to find it.

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GEO-tography: Sunrise

Sadly, the most beautiful part of the day occurs before many people wake up, but thank goodness there are those early rising photographers or most of us wouldn't even know what it looked like. Those intrepid souls are willing to set the alarm clock a bit early in order to get their traveling over with in order to be in actual position to capture the beauty of a sunrise so others can see.

They may have either ridden their ATV's offroad in the dark or (heaven's forbid) actually slept on the ground in order to have their finger poised over the shutter button as the first ray of light proclaimed the advent of the promised new day.

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GEO-tography: Spring

You know, if I don't soon post these photos that I've been saving about spring – it won't be spring any more. This year, we've got all the plants in but they haven't gotten out of their shock yet from all the snow and cold weather up here at summertime snowbird headquarters. By the time we take off our coats we will have missed spring entirely.

However, there must have been spring somewhere because look at all the examples of spring photography I have found. Our goal here is NOT so much become expert photographers BUT to get some ideas of how to make our own snapshots a bit more… let's say… "showable."

All of these, of course, are examples of what I call Geo-tograpy. They aren't always Geo-coded but are most always of our offroad Geo-graphy. As always, be a bit patient as they load because they are full photos. And if you've got some examples of spring geo-shots you'd like to share, post about them in the comments.

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GEO-tography: Forced Perspective

In our continual quest to make the photographs we take look more like the places we've actually been, I thought we might take a peek at something called "Forced Perspective."

We all (at least those of us who haven't been living under a basket) have seen the technique at work; but, may not recognize the accurate name. Forced perspective is the technique Peter Jackson (I guess we have to call him "Sir Peter Jackson" now) uses to make his Hobbit's look realistically small next to Gandalf.

Basically, it's using your camera's settings to obtain the great depth of field and focus necessary; then, aligning two subjects precisely - one closer to the camera than the other. (huh?) Look, take one subject and put it closer to the camera. Then, align a second object further away from the camera so that it looks like what you want in the view finder. Then do what you need to bring them BOTH crisply into focus at once.

Objects can appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than they actually are, and you don't need to use Photoshop or Gimp to do it. It just takes a little creativity with the placement of the subjects in the shot and the camera angle.

Still don't get it - well a picture is worth a thousand words. Twenty-eight of them to be exact.

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GEO-tography: Infrared

Anyone who has spent any time at all watching television has undoubtedly seen examples of the use of infrared. "Night Scopes" are all the rage, the isles at Home Depot are decked with infrared heaters and many of your home security motion detectors are actually "detecting" infrared.

It's nothing more than a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum of energy with wavelengths just a scosh longer than visible light. Human eyes can't see it but snakes (and Voldemort) can.

However, with a special lens, some cameras can photograph in that spectrum – and what a site it is! All you have to do in order to show up in an Infrared photograph is be warm blooded! (or have some kind of body heat). You put off heat – you show up, it's that simple. And the more you put off, the "whiter" you appear in the picture; the less, the darker.

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GEO-tography: Reflections

I'll bet not more than one in ten of us actually "see" the topic of this GEOtography post when we are out riding. We can be looking right at a magnificent reflection and still be completely oblivious to it's existence.

We probably see more of them, or at least are more aware of them when we are looking at photographs; but, up close and in person – not so much. Most of our brains have been trained to tune them out as distractions. Until, that is, we take the time to just "stand a spell" and take in the view. If we decide to "really" look at what we are seeing they pop into existence as if by magic!

These photographers have captured "Reflections" to the "umpth" degree! As I think you will soon agree.

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