Oct 25, 2011 | Landscape Photography
Coming up with just one click that expresses all you are seeing and feeling can be a real challenge! I can’t say I push myself to tell it all in one photograph, but I try to edit while shooting so I’m not approaching a scene shotgun style. The question comes to my mind then, “What has grabbed my attention?” In the top shot I like the three waterfalls for sure but I also like the feel of the water in the foreground. But it’s not a strong enough like to stay with that so I zoomed in closer. I would have loved to be physically closer and shoot across the top of the water to the falls but since we were on a bridge, getting closer wasn’t an option. I zoomed in but it wasn’t strong enough. A piece of the pump house and a bridge were in the frame (been removed here) was part of the problem. But more was the fact that I wasn’t smacking you, the viewer of my image with the subject. The bottom frame, that’s the one I like the best. It’s tight on the subject with much of the unneeded elements removed. And the subject, that Milky Way Caramel in the water comes out.
Finishing was pretty straight forward. In ACR I worked the Highlights, the whites to make them as clean as I could. That makes the “caramel” visually pop more. After that, I used CEP4 Detail Enhancer to pull out the detail in just the rock. If your wondering about shutter speed, it’s real fast, 1.5sec. That water is ripping! mtc…
Photos captured by D3x, 70-200VRII w/1.7x on Lexar UDMA digital film
Oct 25, 2011 | Landscape Photography
“So, what do you see here?” I was hit with that question a lot this morning and rightly so! This is Ausable Chasm, a gorgeous geological feature that mother nature has graciously filled with a river. Back in time at this spot the energy of the water was tapped, hence the seen before you. Now the water has this really cool look to it, what I call the “Milky Way Stretch.” With all the fall leaves in the system, the water has a stretched caramel look to it. That instantly got my attention and upon that I built my photography. This top shot is a wide image of the gorge from the bridge that spans it.
The top shot was taken with a 24-70, the bottom with a 70-200 with a 1.7x attached. The photos I saw this morning are these two extremes, from wide to long. All image finishing done in ACR, mother nature didn’t need any help here! mtc…
Photos captured by D3x, 24-70AFS / 70-200VRII on Lexar UDMA digital film
Oct 24, 2011 | Landscape Photography
With such a rich and gorgeous area, we took the gang to Giant Mtn Roaring Brook and it was a huge hit! I came back with a lot of images I like from this one locale, from shooting straight up, across the brook and then up the hillside. I didn’t even photograph all this short trail has to offer but I got in the licks I could.
These are two simple clicks I took while walking up the trail. I went up with just the 14-24AFS lens but these two scenes needed more lens. So what I do quite often with the D3x is to go into DX Crop mode. This crops the image right at the point of capture and makes the lens attached a little more versatile. Then the post was pretty simple. In just layer I used CEP4 Detail Enhancer and Tonal Contrast to finish the images. Total fun!!! mtc….
Photos captured by D3x, 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Oct 24, 2011 | Landscape Photography
Probably as much as railroad tracks, photographers flock to moving water. The allure is obvious, you can create motion in a still photo. But just “milky” water doesn’t make a photograph. There is more to it then that and during our DLWS in Lake Placid last week where we had three water shoots. I’ve received a number of compliments on my images from the shoots with a follow up question of, “How did you get that?” If there is one “trick” to this is what my bud Joe McNally loves to make fun of. I realize I’m photographing bubbles!
The first thing you need is a slow shutter speed. You can do that in a number of ways from lowering Aperture and ISO to attaching a Polarizer or ther filter. Or my favorite way, no light! These shots were taken in the rain at the time the sun was officially setting. It was dark! So getting a slow shutter speed was easy. Now what we’re recording as “flowing water” is actually the bubbles in the water created as it tumbles over rocks. Rocks then are the next key to making this kind of shot. You need rocks to create the bubbles and you need them visually as a sharp element. Without this, everything is blurry to the mind’s eye and that ain’t good. After finding these two prime elements I then personally take a bunch of test shots. I find it hard to predict what the design element of the water will be in advance so I shoot possible candidates and once I find one I like, I go to work.
I normally go through five or six test locations before I find one I like. Once I have the one, I shoot a bunch with varying shutter speeds to look at the final effect of the blur on my LCD. Blur is a combination of water speed vs shutter speed. Once I have the shutter speed dialed in for the particular shot, I will shoot at least a dozen of the one scene. Later at the computer I will select the one I like the best on the pattern of the “bubbles” and finish it.
Finishing can be any number of steps based on the image. You have here everything from dust removal to CEP4 Detail Enhancement, White Neutralizer, Darken/Lighten Center and Silver Efex Pro 2 to a simple Adjustment Layer > Curve. The before and afters are here so you can see where I started to where I ended. mtc…
Photos captured by D3x, 70-200VRII on Lexar UDMA digital film
Oct 20, 2011 | Landscape Photography
Our second say of DLWS was just stunning! It started grand fashion as I already posted and finished with a WOW! We headed to High Gorge Falls which are spectacular! We hard overcast skies which was perfect for slow shutter speeds for blurring the water. And the water was ripping so fast the pattern in the bubbles were fun to play with. We all had a great time dodging the mist and making the clicks. Then we headed up river just a tad for sunset. The hillside I thought was really cool with some great patterns and splotches of color. The gang stuck together the whole time which just makes it a great time. More to come…
Oct 19, 2011 | Landscape Photography
Great times, that’s how we roll! Monday evening we left the highnoon classroom session to find rain. No surprise, that’s what we’ve had basically since we arrived at Lake Placid. But it hasn’t really dampened our spirits or photography. It’s just like one participant said, it’s just “Depressed lighting.” Monday evening we went to Jay Wooden Bridge. Driving in I saw this old barn and even though the sky was gray and raining, I saw a slight texture to it. So I wondered over and made the click of it. As the folks saw in the classroom, there was a whole lot of character in them clouds that you can easily pull out using Silver Efex Pro. I then walked back to the bridge to play with the water. Gorgeous water way! Then yesterday morning we ventured to Wesport for a simply spectacular sunrise. In the classroom, Scott after presenting every participant of his new book, Light It, Shoot It, ReTouch It, did this amazing, simply brilliant ACR main panel lesson that was jaw dropping. The guy is simply a genius. Stick around, more to come!
Photos captured by D3x, 24-70AFS / 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
