Wheel Structure, Keys Ranch, Joshua Tree National Park (click to enlarge)
One final image from Keys Ranch, Joshua Tree National Park. These wheels are part of the machinery to move things up from the ground.
The textures, contrast, and brown color make for another good black and white image.
When you visit Joshua Tree National Park, set aside plenty of time for Keys Ranch. There are lots of interesting things spread out over the property such as cars, wheels, wells, and buildings. These present lots of opportunities to work on your black and white visualization skills.
Keys Ranch, Joshua Tree National Park N 34 02 44.47 W116 10 09.36
Keys Ranch Water Pump (click to enlarge)
Here is another image from Joshua Tree National Park. The appears to be part of the water pump from a windmill along the trail leading to Keys Ranch at Joshua Tree National Park.
Everything man-made at Joshua Tree has that sunbaked, weathered, and brown look about it. These items make for good black and white images with strong textures and contrast.
Keys Ranch, Joshua Tree National Park N 34 02 44.47 W116 10 09.36
Snow Girls (click to enlarge)
After the snow ends, take out your camera before you take out your shovel. Here is an image I took next to my front door after the snow stopped.
This is a small statue that sits right against the red brick wall of our house. The red brick wall dominates the original image taking the viewers eyes off the snow and statue. Because the statue is so close to the brick wall, I could not blur it using aperture. In Photoshop, I selected the brick wall and used a blur filter to get rid of the brick patterns. Blurring the red bricks put the emphasis on the statue and not the wall.
I then used Silver Efex Pro from the Google Nik Collection to convert the image to black and white.
Remember, there is always time to shovel snow, so make your camera the priority!
