Hope you’re not tiring of El Paso sunsets. I know I never do. Below you’ll see a recent one, as well as a Momma Swallow and her Babies and some rather dramatic skies from a rain near-miss:
Tag Archives: Fun Photo Friday
Fun Photo Friday — The Golden Arches
It’s another Fun Photo Friday, and this one’s a two-fer. Not only are we going to take a look at some fun photos of Arches National Park, we’re also going to experiment (again) with Color Filtering Before Converting to Black & White.
First, let’s take a look at the drama of Arches National Park (click on an image to bring up enlarged versions in a slide show):
Now for a little return lesson on the use of color filtering in black and white conversions. Take a look above at “Dead Wood” and “Reflections of Nature.” Below you’ll see the same images converted to black and white. The left side conversions were filtered for green; the right side red. The green filtering will cause the sky to lighten and will darken the red earth, and red filtering will have the opposite effect.
To best compare the effects, open the green- and red-filtered images in separate windows (which as the added advantage of enlarging the images) and alternate between the two.
First, “Dead Wood”:
Now, “Reflections of Nature”:
When converting a color image to B&W, always remember to experiment with color filtering for the best effect. Start with the two extremes — Dark Green versus Dark Red — and adjust the intensity as needed.
Filed under Photography, travel
Fun Photo Friday
Cloudcroft is a small but charming mountain community located some two hours north of El Paso. The New Mexico town of Cloudcroft is home to around 800 people and situated at an elevation of 8,663 feet (2,640 meters). The following photograph was taken using a small Panasonic DMC-ZS6 (who says you can’t take good, creative shots with a travel zoom?).
Shot data:
- Exposure — 30 seconds
- f-Stop — f3.3
- ISO — 800
- Focal Length (35mm equivalent) — 25mm
And here is Milky Way Amongst the Pines:
Filed under Photography, travel

Decisions — Murder in Paradise
The Globe — Murder in Luxury