Story Behind the Image - Hawaiian Landscape

This image was taken from a trail at Waahila Ridge State Park on Oahu, Hawaii.  The way the branches stretched out over the pathway provided a wonderful opportunity for a beautifully framed image.  This image was taken shortly after sunrise so the light was still very soft.  I chose an F-stop of 6.7 which gave the background a slightly soft focus.  This helps to bring the viewer's eye to the main subject, the tree.  It was shot at a wide angle with a 24mm lens, allowing the branches to stretch across the top of the image.  It was also shot with an ISO of 500 at 1/20 or a sec.  To me this image evokes emotions of peace and tranquility, its one of my favorites.

Nichole Shanks
West Coast Fine Art

Story Behind the Image - Yosemite Valley

This is from one of my favorite places in California, Yosemite National Park.  I always feel very humble and small in this park.  Sometimes its hard to communicate what I experience in a place through the camera. I think this image communicates well how I felt, humble, peaceful and small, surrounded by enormous cliffs and large trees.  This was taken with a wide angle lens of 12 mm, showing off  the grandeur of the valley.  I love how the tree to my right frames the image while showing off the river , the trees, and El Capitan all together.

The early morning light creates the soft colors in this image.  It also creates a need for long exposures because there isn't that much light.  This image was taken with an exposure of 2 seconds.  It works nicely here accentuating the motion of the river and it giving the foreground a soft feel.  

I really love the contrast in this image between the solid rock above and the soft motion of water below.  The contrast even shows up in the bright green trees against the gray rock face.  This image was taken with F-stop 22 and ISO 100.  These settings give the image a large depth of field, showing off the detail throughout the foreground and the background.  This is one of my favorites.

Nichole Shanks

West Coast Fine Art    

Story Behind the Image - Cityscape

This image is from downtown San Francisco.  What an amazing city!  When I shot this it was late in the afternoon and the sun was casting shadows on the tall buildings around me.  I like this image partly because of that.  The light created an interesting contrast on the building, giving more life to the shapes in the architecture.  I used the tress around me to frame the buildings.  I also exposed the image for the light on the building making the leaves in my frame a silhouette.  I used an Fstop of  F14.  This made the outline of the leaves relatively in focus.  If I had chosen a wider aperture, they would have been fuzzier and distracting in this image.  I like how the leaves are almost in focus and create a silhouette.  They provide a good frame for this image.  Leaves and trees can be a good way to provide a frame for subjects.  It helps to focus the viewer's eye and makes the image more balanced.  This images was shot with a 70mm lens, 400 ISO, at 1/80 of a sec.  Its one of my favorites.

Thanks for reading,

Nichole Shanks
West Coast Fine Art

Photo Essay | Valley of Fire State Park | Overton, Nevada

The Valley of Fire State Park in Overton, Nevada is a quick 55 mile, one hour drive northeast of Las Vegas. I highly suggest making a trip to the park if you find yourself in the area, especially if you are looking for an inspirational place to take pictures.

  I was in Vegas for a convention and mentioned to a local friend of mine that was looking for nature scenes to shoot. He told me that I needed to check out the Valley of Fire, saying that the landscape looks like "The Fires of Hell" at sunset. With a description like that, it was not a question of 'If' I would be going but 'When'.  I decided to photograph sunset on my first evening in town and sunrise the following morning. The area definitely presented some really wonderful points of interest and natural wonders and I enjoyed spending several quiet hours in the park during each of the two photo sessions. My images were captured on a Sunday evening and Monday morning in mid-January and the park was not crowded. I basically had the entire place to myself on Monday morning, seeing only one car drive past on the road between 6AM and 9AM. 

I would have to say that watching this silent sun rise over the hills to the east, slowly giving life and color to the purple, then burgundy, then magenta, then orange and finally red rocks without another soul in sight was the highlight of my trip to Las Vegas. It was one of those rare encounters with nature when one starts to feel as if their footwear might just be growing roots, bridging the gap between oneself and the surrounding desert. 

My only complaint would be that there was not a cloud in the sky during the morning shoot, making for some pretty dull above horizon imagery... but hey, we can't always have our 'Fires of Hell Cake' and eat it too!

 

All images from this photo essay are available on canvas, metal, acrylic and bamboo. Please contact us if you are interested in ordering any images that you see here.

Josh Whalen

Story Behind the Image | Framed Bamboo

These stalks of bamboo are from a section in Balboa Park. This image was taken during the day while the plants were in the shade. You can see how the highlights appear on the left side and the shadows on the right. The transition between the contrast ratio is slow and soft, making it pleasing on the eyes. During the middle of the day, shade is excellent place to shoot because of the soft light it casts on its subjects. I really like the soft transition of light in this image and I also like the framing. The stalk in front of the images was placed there to help frame the image. Its soft and out of focus, which helps to shift the viewer's eye to the area in focus. The image was shot at F 2.8, 1/60 sec at ISO 500 with a 70mm lens. This is one of my favorites and has also been popular with our healthcare clients. Thanks for reading.

Nichole Shanks

West Coast Fine Art

Story Behind the Image | Reeds in the Water

I like this image for its color and simplicity. This was taken over by the old dam in Mission Trails. I thought the foam in the water would be problematic but it turned out nicely. The portions up towards the top of image are slightly blown out due the the angle of the light. The highlights of the foam in the dark water provide an exciting background. I shot at F5.6 to give the background a soft feeling while keeping the reeds in focus. The soft contrast in the background makes it interesting but doesn't act in a way that is too distracting. I also included the entire reflection of the reeds in this shot to give it balance. Reflections offer a simple way to provide symmetry and balance in an image. I really like the color in this image too. The cool soft blues and greens evoke feelings of relaxation. This has been one of our more popular images and it is also one of my favorites, thanks for reading.

Nichole

Story Behind the Image | Color Contrast

My favorite thing about this image is the stark contrast between the bright green seaweed and the dark black volcanic rocks. This image is from a beach on Oahu, Hawaii. I took a number of different shots in this area because I really liked the color of the landscape. I love finding contrast in nature; it creates such beautiful and dynamic images.

This image was shot around sunset, so I used my tripod and shot a few different exposures to capture the color in the foreground, and the background. I used an ISO of 100, with an f-stop of 22 to keep everything in focus, and an exposure time of 2 secs. The long exposure gives the water that soft haze of motion. I also added the small rock in the foreground to give a little stability of focus amidst the haze of water.

The clouds in the background came from a different exposure that I added in as another layer in Photoshop. I kept the contrast of the clouds in the background light, so the focal point would remain on the rocks and water in the foreground. This image conveys to me emotions of relaxation and invigoration all at the same time. This is one of my favorites, thanks for reading.

Nichole Shanks

Story Behind the Image | Rich Color in Stormy Weather

Shortly before I took this image I was sitting on some rocks by the side of a small stream waiting for a storm to pass me by. The rain was coming down in sheets and bursts of thunder cracked in the distance around me. I like this image because of the color and composition, but also because it reminds me of how much fun shooting pictures can be. The rain started to let up a little bit, so I left my shelter and continued on my adventure. I left the camera in my backpack where it would be protected from the rain that was still lightly falling.

Stormy weather can be a great opportunity to shoot photographs. This image was taken in the middle of the afternoon. Usually that time of day is a horrible time to shoot. The angle of the sun casts harsh shadows on its subjects and creates unflattering scenes. With the cloud cover of a storm the light becomes softer and the colors become richer.

As I walked past this patch of clovers and bamboo, the rain stopped. So I decided to take out my camera and do some more shooting. I like the high perspective in this image because it brings out the shape of the clovers. I composed it so the bamboo would rise out toward the edge of the frame. These natural lines act as a way to bring the viewer's eye to the focal point of the clovers. The water droplets give this image an added refreshing element, and the cloud cover from the storm makes the green vibrant and rich. This image was shot at f/4, for 1/60 sec. with a 70mm lens at ISO 320. It's one of my favorites, thanks for reading.

Nichole Shanks

Story Behind the Image | Clouds over Lake Henshaw

It was almost dark when I took this photograph. I hiked down along a path that led to a small beach of Lake Henshaw. I took some images down by the water and headed back up the trail. It was a quiet and peaceful evening as I walked up the trail through the rolling hills. I turned back to look around me as it was getting darker, and noticed the wispy clouds stretched across the sky.

That split second at dusk before it gets completely dark is a great opportunity for creating some dynamic images. The colors become rich and vivid, and there is opportunity to shoot with a longer exposure and a smaller aperture, allowing for more of the image to be in focus. Some of the best images I've created come from this time of the day. It always amazes me how quickly the light changes, increasing the color saturation, and then shortly after, pitch black.

I like this image for a lot of reasons. The biggest is the clouds. The color in them is beautiful and also the softness they convey works well here. The exposure time I used was just under a minute. As the clouds moved across the sky during that minute, it translated into the soft motion you see here. I like how they are the focal point, and how they tower over the lake. The lake and the hills seem small and still underneath them. I used an aperture of 9.5 to keep everything in focus, from the grass on the hillside to the mountains in the background.

After I took this image, I decided it was time to go back. I could barely see and I still had to follow the trail back up the hill. I should have brought a flash light with me, but I was not that prepared at the time. I didn't get lost, thankfully, and made it back safely to my car at the top of the hill. This is one of my favorites, thanks for reading.

Nichole

Story Behind the Image | Nature Back lit

This comes from one of my favorite lighting situations, back lighting. This image is from my trip to Arizona. I was hiking around shooting some images just before sunset and found this plant surrounding me as I walked down the path. As the sun was getting lower in the sky it started to act a huge back light for this setting. I love how the back lighting creates almost a halo around the border of the leaves and highlights the pattern of the veins. It adds so much to the color and shape of the plant. This image was shot at ISO 400, F-stop 9.5 and 1/90 sec., with a 60mm lense.

Thanks for reading,
Nichole

Story Behind the Image | Abstract Water

This day of shooting, I went out in search for water. I was inspired by a family friend who was a photographer and had shared with me a collection of water images. I was amazed with the detail and how different each one looked. As a photographer, there are many ways to approach water. It can take so many shapes and reflect light in very interesting ways. The way it moves can be translated into a soft white surface or it can be captured showing great detail and turbulence.

This day I decided to focus on the reflective surface. I chose a larger lens, 280mm, to help me isolate the shapes more and focus in on the details. I went down to Mission Bay around sunset. The light from the setting sun skipped across the bay creating distinctive highlights in the surface. As the water in the bay undulated it gave curves to those highlights making the flowing image you see above.

To make it a little more interesting I shot with an f-stop of 5.6, giving it a lower depth of field. The foreground and the background are soft while the shapes in the middle are more in focus. The exposure time was quick also, allowing myself to freeze the motion of the bay focusing attention more to the simple shapes of light. I really like these types of abstract images showing nature. We are surrounded by so much that is overlooked. I like taking a closer look at the details and sharing them with people like you. Thanks for reading.

Nichole Shanks

Story Behind the Image | Crimson Sky

This photograph was taken in Flagstaff last year. I took a trip in June to do some shooting out around Arizona. Living in San Diego, I forgot how hot the rest of the country gets during the summer. I drove through Phoenix and then headed north to find a location a little higher in elevation and cooler. My idea was to find some local scenic trails around the area and shoot some images from there.

The first night I stayed in Flagstaff I was tired from driving all day, but found an easy trail nearby around Mount Elden. It was getting close to sunset and I wanted to make the most of my time so I grabbed my camera and tripod and set out to hike the trail. This trail is situated on a mesa in between two parts of Flagstaff, so it was really easy to get to.

The trail led out into a large open field bordered by pine trees and off in the distance I could see two prominent peaks. I took a few shots here and there as I walked down the trail, taking in the scenery. The sun was getting lower in the sky and it started to dip behind some of the clouds. And then all of a sudden the whole sky started turning this deep red hue. It was gorgeous!

I really wanted to get the rich color in the sky with the open field together in the frame, but there were power lines in the way of my shot. This happens a lot, in a semi urban area, signs of man are all around. Which is helpful when you need electricity, but never looks good in a nature photograph. I looked up ahead the trail and saw a spot where the power lines would be out of view. The sun was setting fast and I knew I didn't have much time, so I started running.

Running with camera equipment by the way, not the most graceful thing to do. I've gotten better at it, but it's always a little awkward. I kept running and finally got to a good place to shoot. I took a low vantage point to emphasize the field and highlight the red sky in the top of my frame. I wanted everything to be in focus so I decided on a f-stop of f22 to give me large depth of field. I kept my ISO at 100 which allowed me to shoot a little slower capturing the movement of the flowers in the field. The exposure on this was a 0.7 sec. I ran fast enough to shoot some more of the sky and the surrounding area before the color dissipated. It was an amazing sunset and I'm really glad I was able to be there to witness it!

Thanks for reading,
Nichole

Story Behind the Image | Fall Leaves

Hey everyone. So this is the first post of our story behind the images. We want to share with you our adventure of shooting and creating. We'll go through our thought process and inspiration behind some of our favorite images. We'll also share with you the technical details we used and what we had to go through to capture them. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

Even though fall is past, this image captures how I feel about the weather right now. I took this image in November of 2009. I went out in search for fall leaves. I wanted something with rich color to express the current season. I drove out to Julian with this goal in mind and plenty of time to do some shooting. I hiked around in search for trees that were changing colors. I shot a few things but didn't find anything that I was really that excited about. So I packed up my stuff and started to head back to San Diego. I was feeling a little down on my drive back for not accomplishing what I had set out to do.

The sun had set and the light was quickly fading as I drove through part of town. Just off the side of the road I saw this tree with large full branches of beautifully colored leaves. I pulled the car over and got my camera out, excited about my discovery. It was cold and the wind was picking up, rustling the branches about.

I increased my ISO setting to 500 and changed my aperture to 3.5. I did this so I could shoot a little faster to freeze the action of the moving branches. I was shooting close ups and didn't want them to translate into blurry blobs of color. The settings on my camera worked well, but still I had little light to work with, so I also used my tripod to keep things sturdy. This image was created at 1/30 of a sec, so the tripod was helpful. The aperture setting also gave me a low depth of field which creates a soft feeling in this image that I really like, and the leaves in focus show up beautifully crisp.

This tree came across my path just in time. I stayed there and took a few more shots as it got dark and then packed up my things. On my way home, I felt better knowing the last shots I did were going to come out great. Just when I stopped looking, I found what I went there for, weird how that happens.

What Type of Image are You Projecting?

We all project an image through what we choose as our surroundings, one part of this is the color that we surround ourselves with. Color has a strong effect on our lives. Colors can affect us physically in how the wavelengths hit our eye. Color can also cause emotional reactions, sometimes as a result of how our eyes are affected physically by the light wavelengths. We often surround ourselves with colors that we enjoy, which can vary widely between individuals. Although our likes and dislikes of color are very different depending on the person, there are universal ways in which we as human beings react to color. The following is some information compiled from color studies and books on the subject to help you decipher what the color around you is saying.

In all areas of life we strive for balance. The same is with color. In studies done by Rikard Küller in the 1960’s and 1970’s, the effects of color and patterns were measured with EEG’s (brain wave activity), and EKG’s (heart rate). Six men and six women were put in 2 rooms for a period of 3 hours. One room was gray and sterile. The other room was colorful and diversified. The subjects’ brain wave activity was lower in the colorful room than in the gray room. Also the subjects’ heart rates were slower in the colorful room than in the gray room. These results were consistent with other research in concluding that a dull environment can prod brain activity and actually create anxiety or stress.

In a later study done by Goldstein, connections were measured between patients and two specific hues of color, red and green. The patients with brain damage and Parkinson’s disease we’re exposed to red and green in different groups. He found those patients with Parkinson’s disease that we’re exposed to red tended to worsen in their pathological condition, while those exposed to green seemed to improve. Goldstein also found patients with brain damage were excited by red and calmed by green. This indicated that certain colors are more arousing than others. The level of excitement can be explained partly by the physical aspects of the green and red light wave lengths.

Red light wavelengths, which are long, have a natural focal point past our retina. So our eyes have to adjust to focus them. This creates the illusion that red advances towards us and makes red objects often look closer than they appear. The opposite is true of green. Green light wavelengths have a natural focal point that is exactly on the retina of our eye. This makes green easy to look at, less arousing, and gives the color a relaxing nature. Thus, colors with longer wavelengths tend to be more arousing than colors with shorter wavelengths.

So what other associations are there between color and human reaction? In 1961 K. Warner Schaie wanted to know this question. He analyzed the adjectives people associate to certain colors. He presented groups of people with 10 colors. He asked them to pick from 11 given adjectives and apply them to each color they thought corresponded. The following are some of his results:

Red: exciting, stimulating, strong, aggressive.

Blue: relaxing, secure, comfortable.

Purple: dignified, exclusive, mournful, mysterious.

Orange: stimulating, lively, energetic, sociable.

Yellow: cheerful, sunny, vital, high-spirited.

Green: relaxing, tranquil, refreshing, natural, quiet.

A combination of these colors can also conjure certain emotions. Here are a few suggestions of color combinations and what they can create. Color schemes with orange are often used to project friendliness. This could include orange, yellow and red, or orange, green and purple. These combinations have a sense of energy to them but luck lack a strong sense of power. The idea of fresh can be created with color schemes using green and blue. These are associated with color combinations in nature and can project feelings of health and vitality. Dependability can be attained with a color scheme involving navy blue. And to tone down the sternness level of dependability, a little red or gold can be added.

I hope this fuels some ideas if you are thinking about changing or adding something to your surroundings. Just remember Küller’s study and create some balance in your environment by adding variety. Take a look around your office or home. Think about what the surroundings you have chosen say about you and what they are communicating to the other people in your life.