The Traveling Widower

Tag: travel

  • The Adobe Over-Processing Blues – How Far is Too Far with Lightroom?

    An elderly man sitting at a desk using a computer with photo editing software, accompanied by a golden retriever dog. A lamp and external hard drives are visible on the desk.
    Max and Aperture, hard at work with LrC

    14th Sept, 2026

    Warning: This one is more than a bit on the geeky side

    If you’ve been following my most recent posts from Yosemite, and maybe the one from Arches National Park, you’ve seen some really cool photos of the night sky and Milky Way.  And you might have thought…”Wow, that old Rich guy is a really great photographer.” And then, “How come I’ve never seen a sky like that before?”. For a good reason. I’m not that great a photographer, although I wish I was. I’ve got a lot to learn before I get close to that level. And, you’ve never seen a sky quite like that, because it’s never visible to the human eye (or brain) like that. And in some cases, the images I’ve created are to some degree, artistic creations that are not entirely real! Here’s why – take a look at the before and after photos of one of the image’s I’ve posted.

    Night sky filled with stars over a mountainous landscape, featuring a prominent rock formation and a silhouette of a pine tree.
    A stunning night sky filled with stars over a mountainous landscape featuring a prominent rock formation, highlighted by a blend of deep blue and purple hues.

    The original photo was taken pretty much at dusk, while there was still some daylight. The sky still had some blue in it, and you could see the stars, but overall, it’s really dark, especially Half Dome and the mountains. It was very under exposed. How did I turn this dim photo into an eye-catching creation? I do not have a magic wand, but I do use Adobe Light Room Classic, part of the Adobe suite of image processing tools, used by most serious photographers to enhance the images captured by their cameras. I’m not going to bore you with a lengthy descriptions of what LrC (or other Adobe products) can do – basically, if you have raw data files, you can change colors, exposure, contrast, clarity..pretty much every aspect of a digital image, all real-time using a complex menus with what seems like a hundred different sliders. Here is an example of the application, with that same photo in the Development panel. 

    Screenshot of Adobe Lightroom Classic showing an astrophotography image being edited, with a starry sky and a tree silhouette visible.
    Adobe Light Room Classic Dashboard

    One of the little sliders on the right side of the application window controls exposure. Slide it a bit to the right, and the result is pretty much what I was looking at through the lens when I pressed the shutter release on my camera. A nice view, post sunset but not even close to the final product I posted on the blog. 

    A twilight sky with scattered stars above a mountainous landscape, featuring a prominent rock formation and a tall tree in the foreground.
    The real view. Meh….not so great

    So why is this an issue? The simple change I made to that image was considered to be acceptable post processing. There was no physical change to the image – nothing added, nothing deleted. All I did was change the exposure. You can make quite a few changes to an image before a competition judge starts considering the results to be unnatural / over-processed – unless you are being judged for artistic creativity. Adding some crispness to an image is OK, but adding levels of contrast, clarity and dehazing can result in edges that are too sharp. Enhancing color is OK to a limit, but changing the sky or ocean to an unnatural shade, electric blue for example, is unacceptable in competition. And using tools which remove unwanted objects or people is definitely not allowed. 

    The cool Half Dome Starry Night photo definitely pushes the limits on acceptable post-processing. The most obvious issue is the deep blue cyan cast across the sky – I used a mask for the sky, which allowed me to alter the color and overall sharpness, so that the stars stand out. The edges of the mountains against the sky were sharp to begin with, but I over-processed the contrast to increase that sharpness – that leaves a bit of a halo or glow along the edge, something judges would notice. 

    I really like the over-processed version, and intend to order either a metal or glass print, and find someplace in the house to display it. But if I want to submit this for a competition, the photo below is likely what I’d have to submit. Same, nice looking composition, but it just does not have quite the same pop to it. And the sky might still be considered over-processed.

    Night sky over a mountain landscape with stars and a prominent dome-shaped rock formation, surrounded by trees.
    Stars, Clouds and Satellites Over Half Dome – Nightfall at Glacier Point, Yosemite

    The only remaining issue are the large number of satellite tracks whih you can see if you exand the image – I’ve never seen this many before and masking them would violate rules. Not much I can do about that…maybe complain to Elon Musk? There is also a bright spot on Half Dome – that was a from a climber using a flashlight – not sure why someone would still be up there just before dark. I hope he made it back down. Safely that is. As I used to tell the rock climbing classes, haste makes paste.

    Now I have to go back through all my Alaska brown bear pictures before I submit any for competition. I may have pushed a few over the no-no edge. Sigh. That might at least keep me busy until my next adventure in early November (Patagonia). I’m back home and bored already. Maybe I’ll get some photos of my upcoming cardiac procedure and post those. I used to send gross injury related photos to a friend at Google. He stopped opening any e-mail or texts from me. Smart guy.

    A surgical scene in an operating room with a patient on the table and three medical staff members dressed in scrubs and masks, with a golden retriever service dog sitting nearby.
    Aperture goes everywhere

    Peace

  • Now and Then – Photographing Yosemite Half Dome

    A panoramic view of Half Dome, a prominent granite rock formation in Yosemite National Park, surrounded by rugged mountains and clear blue sky.

    Sept 11th, 2026

    Another unseasonably warm day in Yosemite – yesterday it was in the high 90’s, which is unpleasant for hiking here. What’s up with that? My friends arrived from the Bay Area around noon, so after chatting for a while, I transitioned into tour guide mode and we cruised around the park.  It’s not like I know the place that well, but I guess I have hit most of the main tourist attractions in my past visits.  We started off at Bridalveil falls, which this time of year, the falls are basically more like a wispy drizzle….very much like a veil I guess. 

    A waterfall cascading down a rocky cliff face against a clear blue sky.

    We did see a pretty, Stellars Jay on the way back to the car, posing for us in a tree.

    A blue jay perched on a tree branch, vocalizing in a natural forest setting.

    After that, we headed up my un-favorite road, to Glacier Point and sure enough, we had yet another road sloth in front of us. Which turned out to be some tour company car and the driver at least knew the rules and pulled over. Once we made it up to the Glacier Point parking lot, which is a lot different in the daylight, I remembered why this is one of the most popular locations in the park – the views of Half Dome and the surrounding granite peaks are astounding. We hiked around to the different view spots, took a lot of photos, and just stared out at the incredible scenery. 

    For me, there were some memories that came back staring at Half Dome. A little over ten years ago, I stood atop that massive pile of granite, after four months of preparation, all documented in my first attempt at a blog. It was quite an adventure. So here is a “Then and Now” shot. I was in a lot better shape ten years ago.

    A hiker poses triumphantly on a rock, raising both arms with a scenic mountain landscape and blue sky in the background.
    2016 on the top
    A man standing on a rocky outcrop, raising a hiking pole above his head, with a scenic mountain landscape and blue sky in the background.
    2026…no way

    And a few more shots of the view for the fun of it.

    Panoramic view of a mountainous landscape featuring Half Dome in Yosemite National Park under a clear blue sky.
    A scenic view of a waterfall cascading down a rocky cliffside, surrounded by dense evergreen trees and rugged terrain.

    The blog of my Half Dome adventure is still out there, on the Google blog site. Some of the photos have disappeared, but it’s still fun to read. 

    After reminiscing for a while, and buying some ice cream at the gift shop (no gelato so I had to make do), we headed on down to the valley to make a few stops to view El Capitan, that amazing wall of granite which is a mecca for serious rock climbers. Even at my very best in my climbing days, I would never have considered climbing any of the routes on that wall. And then there’s Alex Honnold who did one of the most difficult routes free solo. No ropes. 

    After that, it was late enough to head back to the hotel, rest and have some dinner. I had plans to do a bit more astrophotography in the evening, this time at the Tunnel View. Only a short drive from the hotel. In the dark of course. 

    The Tunnel View is a large, crowded parking area, on the valley side of a long tunnel which connects to the Glacier Point side of the park. The view from the parking lot is a classic for Yosemite – you have the expanse of the valley walls, including El Cap, straight out to Half Dome. Pretty nice. But, it attracts hordes of people to take selfies, so there is usually a major slowdown for cars and people crossing the road. It is listed as a good spot for astrophotography since you can capture the stars and the Milky Way, hovering over the valley if you are lucky. The problem is, car traffic and people with flashlights.  During the prime tourist season, you have heavy traffic going both ways at the tunnel, long into the night, and gobs of people who want to see that view on a starry night. Headlights are a problem for dark sky photography – with long exposures, bright lights ruin images by “light painting” the foreground. It may not be prime season but the traffic was very heavy when I pulled in at 7:40. And stayed heavy most of the time I was there. Plus, there were quite a few serious photographers there, including one brave soul who was trying to do a star trails shot – that’s where you take multiple photos, and use software to stitch together one of the circular streaks of stars. 

    So, I set up my tripod in an empty spot, and tried timing my exposures when it seemed like there were breaks in the traffic. It was fun talking with some of the other photographers, and I spent some time using my Photopills application, trying to find the Milky Way. I shot about 70 images, some of which are throw-aways due to light painting from headlights, and eventually headed back to the hotel around 9:30. I did not want a repeat of the previous night, with bad leg cramps on the drive back.

    I managed a few good shots – here’s the best so far.

    A panoramic view of Yosemite Valley under a starry night sky, featuring mountains and peaks illuminated by starlight, with shooting stars visible across the sky.

    One more day in the park tomorrow (Saturday), and then it’s back home. This has been a relaxing, fun trip so far, even with the traffic and slow drivers. Yosemite is such an incredibly beautiful place.

    Peace