We were planning to take it easy this morning, but we were "rudely interrupted" by some hot air balloons flying nearby! We ran outside to photograph them, and the light was mostly backwards. The image to the left was created by processing one RAW file three times: once for the foreground (shadowed green hill and balloon), once for the background (red rocks), and once for the sky (to get some color back). It's not the best image, but it does give you an idea of the view out of the RV — not bad, huh?! :)

After the balloons moved away, which took quite a while, we went back inside the RV, and J cooked up a big breakfast of Denver omeletes, potatoes, and OJ with Lucile's tea for J and LavAzza Gran Filtro Dark Roast coffee for me. It was nice to relax over breakfast.

After doing the dishes, I processed two images for the blog then worked up a blog entry. I processed some images for a stock submission, then had lunch around 1:30! I helped J process an image of Denali using some advanced Photoshop techniques. We left in the Jeep around 3:20.

We went to the Crescent Moon Picnic Area, a.k.a. Red Rock Crossing — one of J's favorite spots near Sedona for photography. I found a nice rock among some interesting reflections in Oak Creek. I used a polarizer to maximize the reflections, and 7 stops of neutral density to increase the exposure to enhance the blur of the water. Then I set up to photograph Cathedral Rock at sunset. The wide area of Owl Creek produces a nice reflection, and I added the small cascades in the foreground to make it more than just a reflection shot. I used 6 stops of solid neutral density to increase the exposure time, and both a 2-stop and 1-stop graduated neutral density filter to balance the exposure.

I think I'm going to have to buy a real Lee Filters Foundation Kit. You might recall that the Lee Foundation Kit I purchased on eBay in October 2009 wasn't the complete kit — it came set up to hold one 1.5mm thick filter and two 2mm thick filters. (You may read more about that on the blog entry for October 23, 2009.) In theory that should be fine to hold one of my 1.5mm thick HiTech neutral density filters and two of my 2mm thick Lee graduated neutral density filters. However, with the 2mm filters already installed in the holder, it's nearly impossible to insert the 1.5mm HiTech filters! The 2mm filter slots hold the HiTech filters just fine.
We returned to the RV around 6:45 and I cooked ...

Dinner of Bertolli Italian Sausage & Rigatoni and Texas Toast. The glass of Charles Shaw Merlot went well with dinner — mmm.

After dinner, I had a second glass of merlot while downloading and then downselecting images from today. I processed three images for the blog while J watched some of the Winter Olympics using her new Miglia Digital TVMini — a USB device that displays TV channels on a Mac. After I finished processing the images, I watched some of the Winter Olympics too — the women's moguls.