Shiprock - November

Location: Starting at Farmington, NM in the northwest corner of the state, go west on Highway 64 to Shiprock, NM. Turn south on Highway 666. About 7-8 miles south, head southwest on Red Rock Road (BIA-13). You'll see it on the north side of the road.

Find the location: Copy the coordinates below. Open Google Earth, paste the coordinates into "Fly To" and click on the magnifying glass.

36° 41' 20.05" N
108° 50' 12.37" W

Equipment:  Hasselblad C501 with 140-280 mm lens and polarizing filter.  Velvia transparency film, ISO 50.

Digital imaging/manipulation:  Image scanned with Minolta Dimage Scan Multi PRO at 4800 dpi.  Emulsion artifact removed. Given the long lens and a windy day, the silhouette of the mountain was slightly blurred. I outlined it with the Wacom pen and used the clone tool of Photoshop CS to fill in the edge to the selection line. Then I reversed the selection to pull in the clouds to the selection line. All in all it took less time than emulsion removal. The rock face was lightened a little to bring out the detail.

Notes:  This is a magnificent place. It is NOT public land, so I don't know what to advise about obtaining permission to get close. On the other hand, that's what telephoto lenses are for. This was taken from the road.