Specious Argument

This is just a short post to say that I have been keeping busy, though I don’t have much to write about. As mentioned in my prior article, I am still helping my friend Dan Margulis with his book. We are getting close to the end of the project, so I am excited to see his finished product. And, I have been busy bashing away on a few personal projects.

With the summer fast approaching, I hope to get outside more and engage in more photography. Then, I will have some photographs to share with you.

So that’s it for now.

I took the above picture near Bow Falls, within the town of Banff, in Banff National Park, Alberta. And below, is the same picture but straight out of the camera. As you can see, I enhanced the colors. You can click on either photo to be taken to a larger version at Flickr.

By being a beta-reader, I am helping Dan Margulis, a friend and a best-selling author, write a new book on Photoshop. I, along with 13 others, am proof-reading his text, making sure that everything flows, the discussion and examples can be readily followed, and, we hope, there are no typos.

For those that are unfamiliar with Dan, he has already written several highly acclaimed Photoshop books, including: Professional Photoshop: The Classic Guide to Color Correction (5th Edition); Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum and Other Adventures in the Most Powerful Colorspace; and Modern Photoshop Color Workflow The Quartertone Quandary, the PPW, and Other Ideas for Speedy Image Enhancement (Amazon affiliate links). We are working on a follow-up or revised edition to his Canyon Conundrum book.

Although I am strictly an amateur photographer who enjoys working with Photoshop, I have read Margulis’s books, which many readers consider difficult but worthwhile, and have taken two of his courses. That said, to become extremely good at photography and Photoshop, one needs to gain considerable experience with each. I am improving, slowly but surely. Every time I take a new photograph and process it through Photoshop, I learn something new.

To keep learning, I am observant and willing to experiment. As mentioned in my photography articles, I compare my results to what I had envisioned. That usually helps to spot mistakes quickly. And, I am willing to try different techniques or methods, both in photography and Photoshop.

Returning to Dan’s book, the beta-reading exercise is a challenging but rewarding endeavor. The challenge is to understand everything and that takes some effort. I have had to read some parts two or three times. Because of my limited experience and proficiency, I might be working harder than others in our group. That said, we each fill a certain demographic of Dan’s expected readership, so I am helping to fulfill the serious amateur role. Moreover, each of us works independently to provide feedback. As I have commented to others, being a beta-reader is much like being a student taking a graduate level course—it takes a lot of hard work and effort. The great news is that it is rewarding because I have the opportunity to gain more insights and experience.

As you’ve seen from a prior post, on February 23, I went out to Banff to take photographs. My favorite photograph from that day is the one at the top of this article. The most difficult challenge I had in retouching it in Photoshop was the blue shadows on the ice immediately in front of the camera. I deliberately brought out color variation from the trees and the rocks, but that move also intensified the blue shadow, so much so that it looked garish in my first iteration. One of the unfortunate aspects of working for a while in Photoshop is that you become inured to overly strong colors. Soon, they begin to look proper and normal. It’s only when you step away for a while or someone else comments on your photograph that you begin to see the problem.

In this case, I was unsure how to treat the overly blue shadow. Dan has an online Color Theory Group where other enthusiasts can exchange information. I posted my dilemma and asked for help. Another enthusiast Les De Moss came to my rescue. He just happens to be a former beta-reader for Dan’s books, just happens to own a color lab, and just happens to live in the Rockies. He provided a sample file where he showed how to split the file into parts and treat each separately. So everything but the ice was one part, which I already had completed, and the ice with the blue shadows was the second part. Once I knew how to treat the ice, I didn’t take long to finish both parts and recombine them.

All that said, I am happy with my final result. You, of course, will have to form your own opinion.

Every exercise increases my learning and experience. In this instance, I learned how to work with blue shadows on white snow and how to separate and recombine parts of a photograph. The other positive aspect of this type of learning experience is helping and receiving help from others—a little help from my friends.

This past Monday I went to the Rocky Mountains to take photographs at Lake Louise and some other areas within Banff. In the past, I have engaged in photography during warm weather only.

I learned that winter photography is less forgiving than during the summer. One obvious challenge is the colder temperatures. I took my gloves off and used my exposed fingers to work the camera. After a few minutes, my fingers were surprisingly cold. Another challenge is that the sun hovers low over the horizon during the winter. So, catching the ideal time to photograph an area becomes more difficult, especially in the mountains where the sun has to rise over them.

To create great photographs, a photographer needs to be very picky about the specific time of day within a particular season and weather conditions. In the summer, I typically visit a few locations and get okay photographs. In the winter, that becomes more difficult. Although I went to great locations, the lighting conditions simply did not work. I recall one instance in the early afternoon where the sun was low on the horizon and almost shining directly into the lens. And, in another, the long shadows over the valley detracted from the overall view. So if I go back during the winter or early spring, I will need to visit these locations at better times.

Every photography trip adds to my experience and knowledge. I always come away with some added insight about how I want to approach my next trip. I find photography is much like writing—it takes an inordinate amount of practice to become good.

Have oil prices hit bottom? While I don’t know the answer, I have a hunch that we might have bottomed or might be close to bottoming. In a Financial Times article “Opec chief says oil prices could soon rebound” (subscription might be required) on January 26, 2015, Abdalla El-Badri indicated that prices might have bottomed.

Oil prices may have hit a floor and could soon rebound, said the secretary-general of Opec, the oil producing cartel, on Monday.

After hovering in the $45-$50 a barrel range, Abdalla El-Badri said, “maybe prices have reached a bottom”.

Speaking on the sidelines of a Chatham House conference in London, Mr El-Badri said to the Financial Times: “How long will it last? I don’t know … but I am sure the price will rebound.”

In a New York Times article “Oil Prices Surge 8% After Long Slide Down” (subscription might be required), there were a few factors contributing to a sudden rise in prices this past Friday. The decreased rig count, however, seems to suggest that oil production will decrease and that a bottom should not be too far away.

The rally came shortly after the Baker Hughes service company reported that the nation’s rig count had dropped by 94, or 7 percent, in the last week, the largest single-week drop since the late 1980s. That leaves 1,223 rigs in operation, the lowest number in three years, and energy executives say another 300 rigs could be decommissioned in the next few months as service contracts expire.

A drop in oil production normally happens several months after rigs are decommissioned, but the Baker Hughes report was another sign that oil companies were responding fast to the global oil glut by cutting their spending.

…

“My gut says the oil price has been artificially low, and I think this is a logical correction from that overreaction,” said Joel Moser, the chief executive at Aquamarine Investment Partners. “It would not surprise me at all that this may reflect a bottom.”

While I am not positive that oil prices have bottomed, I think we are at least close. Perhaps oil prices touch the high $30s. But I doubt that oil prices could stay in the $30s for an extended period of more than two months. I believe the pain being endured by the oil industry is intense, as evidenced by the dropping rig count. Thus, I expect that oil prices have either bottomed or will soon bottom.