2011/10/19 Benson to Mammoth

I had to go to Tucson yesterday so I tacked on a photography trip.  I've never been from Benson to Mammoth so it sounded like a good idea.  Ended up making a 384 mile loop out of it.

Note: You can click on any of these pictures to see a larger version.

Most of the road between Benson and Mammoth is a dirt road.  About 20 miles into the journey it was confirmed.

It was a washboardy and boring drive for the most part.  I do not recommend it.  I did run across a patch of very big saguaros.

The Blue Front Inn in Mammoth had some character.

On to Winkelman.  There were some interesting old buildings there - worth a return trip.  I was taking pictures of them and someone yelled, "What are you doing?"  I got to talking with him and he said he knew I was there taking pictures because it's happened many times before.  "Really?," says I.  "Yep, let me show you what they're after."

He unlocks one of the abandoned buildings and we go inside.  I'm thinking, yes it's interesting but no more than what I was shooting.  Then at the back of the building he unlocks another door.  It's his apartment.

Then he points to his ceiling.  "It's Jesus.  See it?  In a robe, with the cross on his chest.  See it?"

No, I don't see it.  He explains it's the little image on the edge of the stain.

Anyway, he was a nice guy and loved to talk.  Meet Pancho Cruz.

This is the store front.  Pancho lives in the store on the extreme right, right of the old Burrito Cafe sign.  He said about 15 years ago his buddy hanged himself in the store on the left with the front missing.  His wife had cheated on him and they didn't find his body for 10 days, he said.  I don't know if Pancho was pulling my leg but either way he's a nice guy.

Winkelman is another copper mining town.  It's interesting to have the golf course tucked in next to the slag heap.

No CPL
D50, IR, 18-55mm
D700, 17-35mm, 28-200mm

The Winkelman store front is the only HDR and it's purposely overdone.  The Blue Front Inn and the portrait are tonemapped.

2011/10/07 Trip to Young Arizona

Last week I took a photography trip to Young Arizona and ended up making a loop through Show Low and down through the Salt River Canyon.

Note: You can click on any of these pictures to see the 900 pixel version.

My first stop was at the McFadden Lookout on top of the mountain before dropping down into Young.  Here are a couple of pictures as the sun was coming up.

Young is in Pleasant Valley and some history of the Pleasant Valley War can be found here.  The area reminds me of Mule Creek, New Mexico - grassy prairie.

The town is as neat as a pin.  Of course the only thing I take pictures of are old buildings.

Just east of Heber/Overgaard I came across the path of the Rodeo-Chediski fire of 2002.  Miles of destruction and waste.

The weather threatened all day and finally let loose with some sleet while I was on the forest road.

Before dropping down into the Salt River Canyon, I decided on a detour to Cibecue on the Apache Reservation.  I thought the dome might be a casino, turns out it is the high school.

Then on through the Salt River Canyon.

At the bottom of the canyon stood this faux-jail.  It made for an interesting subject.

What is a stop of light?

What is a stop of light? A stop is a measure of light. The term 'stop' is most closely associated with aperture settings but is also used to describe shutter settings and ISO settings.

How big is a stop of light? Each stop of light is a doubling or halving of light. In other words, to increase the amount of light by one stop is to double the light. Conversely, to decrease the amount of light by one stop is to half the light.

What do the stop settings look like? Here are some shortened stop lists for Shutter, Aperture and ISO.  By the way, the settings in these lists are considered 'whole' stops - most cameras can also set 'half' or 'third' stops.

Shutter:
30s
15s
8s
4s
2s
1s
1/2s
1/4s
1/8s
1/15s
1/30s
1/60s
1/125s
1/250s
1/500s
1/1000s
1/2000s

Aperture:
f/1
f/1.4
f/2
f/2.8
f/4
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16
f/22

ISO:
3200
1600
800
400
200
100

Briefly, what are shutter, aperture and ISO?  Shutter is how long the camera's shutter (similar to a window blind) is open to take the picture.  Aperture is the opening inside the lens (similar to the iris of the eye).  ISO is the sensitivity setting of the camera's sensor (the sensor is what records the image).

Examples, by text:
A shutter of 1/2 second allows one stop more light to hit the sensor than a shutter of 1/4 second.
An aperture of f/2 allows one stop more light to hit the sensor than an aperture of f/2.8.
An ISO of 1600 is one stop more sensitive to light than an ISO of 800.

Examples, by picture:

In these examples only the shutter setting was changed - the aperture and ISO were constant.  From top to bottom, each image halves the light to the sensor from the image above it.  To reinforce that point,

• the first image is shot with a 1/2 second shutter - let's call this the base image
• the next image is 1/4 second shutter which is half the light of the base image
• the next image is 1/8 second shutter which is half the light of the image directly above it and 1/4 of the light of the base image
• the next image is 1/15 second shutter which is half the light of the image directly above it and 1/8 of the light of the base image
• the next image is 1/30 second shutter which is half the light of the image directly above it and 1/16 of the light of the base image

Real world application.  Stops of light apply equally to shutter, aperture and ISO.  In other words you can mix and match - if you take an image and discover it is underexposed by 2 stops, you can add a stop of shutter and a stop of aperture to get the 2 stops of light you need.  A stop of light is a stop of light no matter the source, shutter, aperture or ISO.

Intent:  The intent of this post is to give a brief introduction to some of the terminology of photography, particularly the use of the term 'stops.'
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