Jan 14, 2010 | Landscape Photography, Photography
There is a small slice of heaven just north of San Fransisco, Muir Woods. This grove of coastal redwoods has long been a favorite of our families and today, we were fortunate to be be able to share it with our DLWS family. Nestled in the hills behind Mill Valley, the early morning fog lifts and the sun rises creating a magical world. You follow the creek up the walk as you explore the massive trees along the route. I’ve never reached the end of the trail, i spend so much time not really too far from the parking lot.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP7149bw.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Photographing redwoods is something I’ve very comfortable with now. The main thing I look for are small amphitheaters in the forests, miniature groves within the grove. I’m looking for a means of showing the trees in the forest, a visual depth. And at the same time, communicate the majesty of the trees. I also use the PC-E lenses now, I really like not having leaning trees. I really, really like this particular photo that I created today. It started off with plumbing the body to use the PC-E lens. Next was to take a 5 image HDR set that was finished using Photomatix Pro and Silver Efex Pro. The 45PC-E is so wicked sharp, this final image is gorgeous! Simple a grand morning!
Photo captured by D3x, 45PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jan 10, 2010 | Landscape Photography
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been going to Ft Point. My first trip as far as I know might have been in a stroller, but whatever the case, I just keep going back. This could be because it’s historic and I love history, it could be its location, the base of Golden Gate’s south tower, or it could because it’s a great place to shoot. Shooting there again this weekend proved to be another great visit.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP9912.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
I visited the Fort this time deciding to attack it with two basic thoughts, use 1 lens and chase the light. In the beginning, the light was winning, I couldn’t make it snap in the viewfinder no matter how I looked. Then I looked down a hallway of one wing, you could see through a half dozen doorways without obstruction. With that one shot under my belt, the rest started to fall into place.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP9977.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
The majority of the images were taken with the razor sharp 50f1.4AFS at f/1.4. I had a lot of fun with that for quite awhile until I went up on the second level. I got to one of the canon ports and it just screamed 16Fish. The problem, NO light! We’re talking dark as sin, just small droplets of light here and there and that’s what made it all work. Handholding at 1/10 of a second, I cranked off some fun shots. These two are the current favorites; that could always change. These are both single capture HDRs. A three image HDR is in the show, see if you can figure out which one it is in the gallery below.
Click Here to launch the Ft. Point Gallery.
The one thing that is very deceiving is these two images were taken in locations that were really pitch black. The exposure comp dialed in was -2.5 stops to deal with the darkness. That exposure comp along with the little light really popped the color in the brick and made the blacks really black. All good stuff! When it comes to finishing, other than the B&Ws (still not sure what I like better, I started with B&W but now like the color) was real simple, it’s right out of the camera.
I’ll be going back again in a couple of days. I wonder what will strike me this time, can’t wait!
Photos captured by D3s, 50f1.4AFS / 16Fish on Lexar UDMA film
Jan 4, 2010 | Landscape Photography
There I was sitting in my favorite chair, images selected, thought at hand staring into the fire. I had it all ready, text written, images tagged and the draft saved when I looked out the windows to see the simple beauty of a Sierra sunset lighting up the sky. I grabbed the camera which is always sitting next to me and went out and shot it and then came back and deleted all I had wrote, removed the tags for the images. And now, you see it here.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP8088.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Sometimes I get all wrapped up in some technique or flowery words or, something other than just simply enjoying making a simple click. Enjoy a simple click.
Photo captured by D3s, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Dec 28, 2009 | Landscape Photography
I have to admit, I enjoyed the challenge of shooting in the contrasty light of high noon. I actually looked for situations where I could play with HDR for a couple of reasons. I had a new way I wanted to finish my HDR images pushing the edge of Elvis on Velvet without going there and, had new HDR software I was asked to beta test (not so hot). For the most part I liked my new approach to finishing of the HDR in Photoshop (nothing different in Photomatix). It’s still a work in progress to achieve what I was seeing in my mind’s eye on paper. My bud RC got me to thinkin about it, now to keeping moving forward with that thought.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP7517.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
I wasn’t going HDR just because I could, I wanted to achieve a certain look. I wanted to bring some of that “old” Hollywood western light & warmth to the images while not going cross the line. I reached my goal 50% of the time which ain’t to bad for experimenting with new ideas. This image from inside the grocery store turned out to my liking. So did the bed and wagon wheel. Jury still out on the Model Ts. I assembled a little collection of what I’ve finished from our two hours of shooting for you to check out. You can see them here, enjoy! And the very last image, that’s no HDR, it’s just one I like.
And be sure to check out Jake’s blog, a couple of very sweet images from the same shoot!
Photos captured by D3s, 24 & 45 PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film
Dec 27, 2009 | Landscape Photography
Our great friend Jeff Cable is here in Mammoth for the holidays so we decided to get out today and make a couple of clicks. He brought his son along so we headed to Laws to play with the trains. Laws is located down the hill and I knew the light would be hard since they don’t open until 10am. So I went knowing I was going to play with the light of High Noon. This is one of the images I came back with that I really like.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP8075.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Now playing with High Noon in my mind is using the contrasty light, the shadows and making them as much of the photo as the subject themselves. In this case, the milk cans on the platform are just part of the image. It is their shadow (which is enhanced in post) leading up to the cans that I liked just as much. It was a fun couple of hours which produced some fun results. I’ll post a couple more and a video tomorrow.
Photo captured by D3s, 50f1.4AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Dec 14, 2009 | Landscape Photography
The light just became too incredible for me to just shoot as I drove so I finally pulled over. I found a spot, not the safest, to pull the truck over and parked in a snow bank. Our local sheriff went by and just waved, you could say my truck is known around here (that’s another story and not what you think). I had driven all the way from Reno with the D3x in the seat next to me so I just threw the truck into park and ran out.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP6724.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
These are Mono Cones, three extinct volcanoes that are just south of Mono Lake. It’s said that a geologist saw steam coming from the middle one in 1924. The drama in the clouds over the cones just got better and better. I didn’t have time to do it right in camera but knew I could finish the photo in post. Other than the B&W process, I used Nik Color Efex Pro Split grad to darken the top 1/3 of the photo.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP6730.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Turning to the west, the light over Bloody Canyon was spectacular! That in combination with the fresh snow made the image a slam dunk with really little skill on my part. I finished the image the same way as above. You might wonder about the really blown out highlight. That’s where the sun was trying to shine through and for someone who leaves in snow country, that’s a very welcomed sign after a storm. Capturing detail in that highlight would have taken away from its meaning so I let some pixels die.
Photos captured by D3x, 24-70AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
