On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.
You can, of course, send an email with pictures if the form gives you trouble, or if you are trying to submit something special, like a zipped archive or a movie. If your pictures are already hosted online, then please email the links with your descriptions.
For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Today, pictures from valued commenter ?BillinGlendaleCA.
The Chinese Garden at The Huntington
The Huntington Library and Gardens are on the former estate of Henry Huntington in San Marino, California; just south of Pasadena. Henry Huntington ran the Pacific Electric Railroad which ran the Red Car transit system; he even had a spur into his estate for his private car. He built his mansion with a view of the San Gabriels at the top of a slope formed by the Raymond fault. After his death in 1927, the estate became the Huntington Library and Gardens with his mansion becoming the European Art Gallery(the most famous works housed there are Pinkie and Blue Boy). During Huntington’s time at the estate; the Japanese, rose, and desert gardens were the only gardens that existed. The palm garden, jungle garden, Australian garden, and the Chinese garden were added later. The Chinese Garden is the most recent addition with the first phase opening in 2008 and the second in 2014(there are still 3 more pavilions yet to be completed).
View to the south(Infrared)
Taken on 2016-04-17
Chinese Garden, Huntington Library and Gardens, San Marino, CA
The pavilion on the other side of the lake is the dining area for the restaurant housed within the Chinese Garden(serving Chinese styled food, of course).
This was shot on my second visit to the Huntington, the first was in 1999 so there was not a Chinese Garden to see then.
View of larger bridge looking east.
Taken on 2016-04-17
Chinese Garden, Huntington Library and Gardens, San Marino, CA
There are two bridges on the eastern side of the lake, this is the larger of the two and is north of the smaller one.
View of larger bridge looking east(infrared)
Taken on 2016-09-19
Chinese Garden, Huntington Library and Gardens, San Marino, CA
Pretty much the same shot as the one above, but from a slightly different location and in infrared.
View to the south(fisheye)
Taken on 2016-09-19
Chinese Garden, Huntington Library and Gardens, San Marino, CA
This was shot on my first visit to the gardens after I got my fisheye lens. I’d just visited Mission San Gabriel and the gardens were close to my return route; since I have a membership, why not?
The day was somewhat cloudy(I actually got rained on a bit at the mission), so I did some additional post processing(contrast and saturation using the Nik Collection from Google) to really bring out the clouds.
View to the south, evening(fisheye).
Taken on 2017-07-16
Chinese Garden, Huntington Library and Gardens, San Marino, CA
One of the advantages of having a membership at The Huntington is that several times during the summer they open the gardens up in the evening for members only.
View to the north, evening shot
Taken on 2017-07-29
Chinese Garden, Huntington Library and Gardens, San Marino, CA
This shot is a composite of two shots shot at different exposure levels and then blended together in Photoshop to reduce highlights and bring out shadows.
Sunset at the Chinese Garden(fisheye).
Taken on 2017-07-16
Chinese Garden, Huntington Library and Gardens, San Marino, CA
This is shot to the west as the sun was setting on one of the summer evenings. This shot is also a composite shot blended from two different exposure levels.
Thank you so much ?BillinGlendaleCA, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email
eclare
Great photographs, I like the last two the best.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@eclare: The last 3 shots are “Golden Hour” shots, so they have some really nice lighting. They’re also the most recent shots and I’ve gotten better at both the front end(shooting) and back end(processing).
ETA: The last two shots were taken just as the sun was setting.
JPL
It’s so nice to come to BJ in the morning and look at the beautiful pictures. The contrast with the lighting on today’s pics is lovely.
OzarkHillbilly
Nice.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL: I’ve got some nice pics from the Japanese Garden too. That may be the next set, or pics from tonight’s shoot in Venice(CA).
?BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: Thanks.
satby
You do gorgeous work Bill!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@satby: Thanks, I’m getting there. The local meetup group I joined early summer has helped quite a bit.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
Thank you Billin for such gorgeous pictures. happy Monday Morning to everyone.
rikyrah
Bill, these were simply beautiful ?
Please stay safe.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: You’re quite welcome.
@rikyrah: Thanks.
Baud
Really nice.
Ben Cisco
Holy smokes, that first pic is PERFECTION.
Ben Cisco
That’s not to say the others aren’t great b/c they are, but HOLY COW!
MomSense
I just want to step inside the second to last photo. So beautiful.
Major Major Major Major
#3 and the last two are wonderful!
Anonymous patient
Can’t pick a favorite this morning.
Wish I could do what you’re doing in post-processing. I used to be able to dodge and use darkroom tricks to adjust contract, now I can still work with contract easily. But adjusting color balance is a hit-or-miss proposition, and I’ve never tried blending multiple exposures, although there are tools to use that technique for gaining depth-of-field in macro and micro work, where depth-of-field is actually like a couple of millimeters.
You need a controlled environment for that work, and a very stable tripod or other way to hold your camera still. not to mention the software loaded and running.
Good job, Bill. Take care and stay safe!
Aleta
nice curves
J R in WV
While the infrared photos are quite interesting, I don’t really care for them as much as I do the standard color work. Is it possible to make in-camera adjustments on the camera that you had the IR filter removed, so that it can be used for standard photography?
White balance, for instance?
Elizabelle
Love these photos.
Bill is a treasure.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Thanks.
@Ben Cisco: Thanks, that was taken on my first trip there last year. I was a guest of fellow BJ commenter Mnemo accompanied by Ruckus.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Major Major Major Major: #3 is my favorite of the two IR pics.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Anonymous patient:
I generally don’t adjust color balance, I have the camera set to “Auto” for color balance and usually(at least now) use the “As Shot”. The exceptions are night photography(astro and regular) and if there’s haze(since it makes things more blue). In those cases, I try to look for something that I know is true grey(like a portion of a building).
I was using exposure blending here, basically exposure bracketing the shots and then combining(usually the set exposure and the darker one to get more color in the sky). Focus blending is the same principle but done by focusing on different elements of the shot, I’ve done a bit of that(my best attempt at doing this was also taken in the Chinese Garden). A tripod is probably necessary for focus blending, but if you have enough light you can do exposure blending handheld.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Aleta: Thanks.
@Elizabelle: Glad you like them(not sure about the treasure part, opinions differ).
?BillinGlendaleCA
@J R in WV:
That’s OK, they’re just something different and artsy.
On the camera I use for IR pics, yes. The way I had it modified was to take out the “hot mirror”(it’s in front of the sensor and filters out IR and UV) and replace it with optical glass. So to take an IR photo, I have to use an IR filter(I use a fader to get photos with multiple wavelengths). If I want to use it for visual light photos, I just need to put a “hot mirror” filter on the lens and it works just like a regular camera. However, I usually don’t do this and shoot IR with the altered camera and visual with my main camera(it’s a newer model and has a higher resolution). So if you saw me yesterday in Venice, I was carrying two cameras.
debbie
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I love the way the world looks right at sunset. I also love the morning sky just as the sun is rounding the bend. Below the remaining stars, the sky’s a Maxwell Parish blue and the horizon is a golden cream.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@debbie: I used exposure blending to get the sun so it wasn’t completely blown out(just a mass of white), the darker exposure had a lot more detail that the properly exposed photo. Blending was able to bring that detail out and retain a proper exposure.