Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS, 73 mm, F 16, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

And we’re back from the desert. I returned home from Las Vegas, and Photoshop World, yesterday after five days of non-stop photography-related fun. And, I have a massive head cold to prove it.

While Photoshop World ended mid-Friday, my mate, Jacob, and I stayed through Sunday night to try and do some shooting outside of the city. We rented a car and headed to Red Rocks Canyon and Valley of Fire National Park. Both were simply gorgeous, even during the mid-day with the harsh light coming down. One of the themes that I had in mind was to get some windy road shots. It has been a while since I last visited the southwest and I always love how open the roads are to passing traffic. You can park your vehicle and take all the time you need to set up and get a cool shot. Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll share a few different vantage points of these roads, all showcasing the way they wind around and how they fit within the gorgeous natural landscape.

This road leads you directly into the entrance of Valley of Fire. We had a great time zipping through it from one end to the other. There really never is enough time but I’m so glad that we got to experience some of these amazing landscapes.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM, 14mm, F 16, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

By the time you read this, I’ll likely be running around somewhere within Mandalay Bay, in Las Vegas. I’m attending the Photoshop World Expo. If you’re there too, please swing by and say hi! I’ll be leading the APC HDR Walkshop tonight and will be presenting at both OnOne Software‘s booth (on Thursday at 2PM and Friday at 11AM) and at APC‘s booth (throughout the Expo).  As such, I’ve pre-built each daily post thru Monday, when I return home. Text content may be a little light on these posts, as I’m scrambling to make sure that I packed enough boxer shorts.

The scene above was a great example of setting your tripod and camera down while you go to rest from your hike, and you place it in a way that frames a shot wonderfully. We had just reached the summit of the Bubble Rock trail in Acadia and I set the camera down so that I could collapse and catch my breath. After resting up for 15 minutes or so, I decided to flip on the Live View to start composing. What I saw required no further movement or adjustments. It was just perfect to me. It had a little bit of everything that I love to see in a nature landscape shot. So, I metered, programmed the Promote, and bracketed away.

Serendipity can be such a nice thing.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM, 14mm, F 16, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

I love being able to use the elements as a primary character in a shot. I admit that I don’t really do it as often as I’d like… especially with the elements of my choosing. Notably, I’d love to incorporate fog, mist and lightning more but we simply don’t get much of that during the summer season… at least in the Boston area. Once it starts to cool off, the likelihood of fog will climb and I’ll be out, roaming around in the early morning. It instantly adds so much character that it’s easy to notice its allure.

In the scene above, I was in the middle of little rest stop on the way to the summit of the South Bubble trail in Acadia National Park. There was something pretty fantastic about seeing the fog move by so quickly. One second, you have no visibility and the next, you have a view of the shot above.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L, 24mm, F 16, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

This is another shot from the summit of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park, Maine. Given the fact that this is the area where the sun first lands on the US during half of the year, sunrise shooting in the area is pretty popular but I opted to take my chances with shooting as the sun made its exit for the night… and I couldn’t have been more pleased.

With a shot like this, it’s easy to get into a sort of wide-eyes paralysis in trying to get a strong composition. There is simply so much splendor – it really is a visual feast. And in these situations when timing is such a crucial factor, with each minute brining changes in color, quality and amount of light, keeping a level head and a game plan is very important. You can really approach this two different ways:

• You can start spraying away and grabbing as many frames as possible. There is certainly merit to this and I don’t know anyone who hasn’t taken this approach in their own photo adventures. You’re simply playing on the law of averages that by taking a large number of shots, you expect at least a few frames to be keepers. My best piece of advice here is to make sure you are changing your angle, position, and vantage point often. Don’t end up with 1,000 frames from the same spot of the same scene.
• You can hedge your bets on taking fewer shots and spend the time composing. Now, it’s important to note that spending more time composing and less time shooting doesn’t guarantee any sort of notable increase in how compelling your image may turn out. But, what it may afford you is more methodology in what you capture.

Again, I definitely find virtues in both ways of shooting. I tend to assume that photographers will opt for the first method when they are visiting a scene that they don’t routinely have access to whereas others may forfeit exposure quantity for methodology when they can return to that scene with ease. Ultimately, I urge you to do whatever jives most with your style of shooting because you really are your own best resource.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L, 17mm, F 16, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

I took this during my recent visit to Portsmouth, NH last week. We had a great tour guide in Phil, as he led us on a wonderfully picturesque walk through some timeless parts of his town. At first, I didn’t really pay this veggie patch much mind and that’s mostly because I was looking at it from the opposite end that you see here. There really wasn’t much in the way of an interesting background so I resolved to ignore it altogether.

It wasn’t until I unintentionally found myself on this end of the garden that I saw my shot almost jump out at me. And there really is a good lesson here. Actually, two lessons. First, we really shouldn’t ever take our scene for granted or dismiss it as a loss. Again, I found this scene pretty much by accident. While leads me to the second lesson. Always explore each and every wall, angle, and perspective of your scene that you can safely get access to. Not only did changing my perspective give me the shot that I wanted, but I also added something to it by splaying my tripod legs, getting down to the ground and changing my angle.

That is one of my favorite aspects of photography. It’s one of the few activities where little nuances and slight changes in how you normally do something can have a critical impact. It keeps you sharp and it keeps you always looking.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L, 24mm, F 14, ISO 100, HDR, 1 Exposure, B+W 3.0 10-Stop ND Filter, 20 Seconds

Twice a day during low tides, people can walk (or drive) across a massive natural land bridge that connects the town of Bar Harbor to Bar Island in Maine. Our first attempt to visit the island was thwarted because President Obama was currently having family fun there. So, we were turned away by some plain-clothed, yes nonetheless lethal, Secret Service agents. Hey, they were cordial enough and that’s about as much as I would expect.  So, we had made plans to visit again after the President returned back to DC. And, thankfully, we were successful on our second attempt.

The time of day that we had visited the island was not optimal for good light. The sun was pretty much directly overhead, producing flat light and harsh shadows.  This is where the 10-stop ND filter plays its magical role in my gear kit. By slapping on a virtually opaque piece of glass on top of your lens, you are multiplying the amount of time it takes to get a proper exposure by a huge amount. The byproducts are usually warmer color and tones (notable in the lush verdure) as well as an overall capture of moving objects. Depending on what sort of objects are moving, you will get different effects.

In the image above, the tree branches and vegetation were swaying in the wind. With a shutter speed of 20 seconds, that is a lot of motion to capture. When I tried to tone-map using the multiple brackets that I had shot of this scene, I wasn’t really happy with the anti-ghosting results so I opted to derive the HDR from a single RAW file. The results of the vegetation motion were acceptable, as I felt that they lent themselves to the organic feel of the scene.

Going back to the effect of motion on certain objects when using an opaque 10-stop ND filter. Some of the most pleasing effects occur with clouds (the faster moving they are, the better) and water.  Clouds take on an ethereal, wispy characteristic and water gets a glassy/misty look. When incorporated effectively into your scene, both look stunning and bring the shot to another level.

The B+W 10-Stop 3.0 ND Filter costs about $100 and can be purchased at B&H. You’re welcome to use the link at the bottom of the blog to take you to their storefront. It really is a worthwhile investment.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM, 14mm, F 16, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

How about we end July off back in Acadia National Park. This wooded path makes up about one half of the Jordan Pond trail and was a huge relief on our feet after hiking the Bubble trails. I remember when we first came onto this portion of the trail, built primarily to help restore the natural habitat along the shore of the pond by limiting foot traffic to this path. Pretty much as soon as we got onto the path, I set my tripod down and started bracketing. Almost halfway through my brackets, I realized that I was falling into a habit that I have been working hard to break and that is to stop blindly shooting as soon as I come onto a new environment.

What I told myself was that I had to try and be more discriminating. I wanted to be methodical about what I was shooting. My scene provided a constraint that limited me to shooting while standing on this narrow path so an alternate, skewed perspective would be out of the question because it would require me and my tripod to stand on the forest floor. Resolving to be a good thru-hiker, I opted to observe this rule and did not break it. Instead, I walked at a slow cadence, taking in the path as it unfolded. When I came onto this portion of the trail, I knew that this was the shot that I wanted.

I opted for a portrait perspective to give the idea of the pathway stretching out into the horizon. But what made the shot for me was the way the path curved out a little, right where the sun was shining on it. This provided something that was visually pleasing for me. I felt like there was a story that I could craft around this shot and that was exactly what I was going for.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L, 24mm, F 14, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

The isle of Capri was one of the most visually pleasing cities that I had visited during my two-week trip around Italy. You could literally turn in any direction and be treated to some sort of gorgeous shot. I was also really lucky to visit during a gorgeous Golden Hour and sunset.

Golden Hour is a term that photographers commonly refer to as the arbitrary hour or so before the sun sets for the night.  Golden Hour is one of the most popular, and visually pleasing, times to shoot during the day because your scene is usually bathed in the gorgeous warm light that adds immense depth and character.  Buildings, people, landscapes – they all take on a new look when they are enveloped in the golden hour sun.

I find there are two ways that you can approach Golden Hour:

1. Randomly - There have been tons of times when I’ll be walking around the city, turn the corner, and be greeted by a scene that looks amazing primarily because of the gorgeous light that is caked on.  This is usually followed by a Keanu Reeves inspired, “Whoa”, and an abrupt plop down of my tripod.
2. Methodically - It is my belief that this option is not one that is used as often. This is not a slight at all. I just believe that we do not really put as much research around where scenes stand to benefit optimally during Golden Hour. This can be a combination of taking where you live for granted by saying “oh, I can always come back tomorrow” or simply because you prefer spontaneity. But, I challenge you to give it a try. Do some research on the location that you live in or around. Look into the time that sunset is expected to occur and plan backwards accordingly. Run a search on Flickr or Google Images to see what others have shot already (partly so that you can try to add your own unique take to the scene). Finally, walk around the area during that time and just look. Instead of focusing on getting a shot with your camera, start crafting ideas in your mind, plan it out, and return the next day (or the next opportunity when you get similar light).

To wrangle it back to the image above of Capri, for this shot, I went with the Methodical approach. I knew that I was going to Capri and I knew that it would involve a trip up the Funicolar.  So, I did some searches and used the online tools that I had at my disposal to see what I should expect. I had an idea in mind of how I wanted to frame my shot and I looked up the expected time for sunset. As luck would have it, time was on my side and I was able to make Golden Hour accordingly to plan and sketch out a shot that I had envisioned.

Both methods are rewarding and, hopefully, you’ll be treated with some beautiful shots no matter how you approach it. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter. How do you all of you approach Golden Hour shooting?

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L, 24mm, F 20, ISO 100, HDR, 4 Exposures, B+W 3.0 10-Stop ND Filter

Do you ever get that feeling when you fondly look at a photo that you recently took and it feels like you took it years ago? You remember bits and pieces of what it felt like to stand there but the memory is almost wholly faded. I guess that is one of my favorite draws with photography. It is your chronicle, your book of records, your life journal. I do remember standing on this precipice, waiting for my long exposure brackets to complete and partly praying that my tripod doesn’t slip and send my camera crashing into the Atlantic. And sure, there are some missing and fuzzy pieces. Like, I know that there was a distinct smell of ocean spray but I cannot remember it at all. I know that there was the ever-calming sounds of the waves undulating but the only sound I have in my head is that stock wave sound you hear when you walk into a Brookstones.

I guess that is what I really love about photography. I love talking to other photographers and learning what bits and pieces fashion the memory that they have of the shots that they have taken. Storytellers in action.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM, 14mm, F 16, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

It should come as no great surprise when I say that nature photography is not my strong suit.  I’ve heard the same sort of utterance by many photographer friends who say, ‘oh, portrait/wedding/lifestyle/street/etc photography isn’t my strong suit’.  In the same breath, I say, ‘Rubbish’.  What sort of excuse should I give myself, or anyone for that matter, for not taking the time and making the effort to get a compelling shot regardless of where I am or what I am shooting?

Sure, a forest scene is not where you’d typically find me but if I do happen to find myself in such a locale and I have my camera with me, you can bet that I’ll be applying whatever lessons about nature photography that I can remember and doing my best to find something cool to shoot.  The same applies when I am shooting a wedding or a quick portrait for a friend.  We’re photographers.  We are not limited to any particular genre.  Just because you don’t know how to use a strobe doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use a strobe, as it were.

Go out. Experiment. Fail. Refine. Experiment more. Succeed. Before you know it, you will transcend the internal boundaries that you have imposed on yourself and you will start finding new levels of confidence that you never thought was possible.