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 24-70mm f/2.8L, 25mm, F 18, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposure

There was a time when I would just dread taking brackets of a scene like this one – with the people introducing themselves as non-stop moving elements. It would require masking and blending and lots of time. And it would have been a shame, too, because the sunset was truly brilliant. And then Photomatix 4 beta came into my life. I’ve been lucky to have had the opportunity to be on the HDRSoft private beta team for about six months now and it has been amazing to how far it has been developed. And it’s great that they finally released the beta to the public.

Now, with the ‘semi anti-ghosting’ feature that is built in, all I do is draw a selection around the moving elements, select a bracket to source from, and Photomatix does the rest in terms of blending. I have to tip my hat to these guys. I’ve used this feature on a number of occasions now and I’ve been impressed each time. It’s an exciting time on the HDR front, I tell ya.

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 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 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.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L, 24mm, F 18, ISO 100, HDR, 9 Exposures

Ahhhh, it feels good to be back home after five days of camping in Acadia National Park, Maine.

It just so happens that is exactly where we find ourselves in the shot above.  This sunset image was taken at the summit of Cadillac Mountain last night. During the autumn and winter seasons, it is the first place in the US where the sunrise hits the country (it first shines on Mars Hill during the Spring and Summer seasons).  Because my days were filled with various hiking/paddling activities de rigueur, I didn’t really try to get up extra early for sunrise. Instead, I pressed my luck on getting a nice sunset and I was definitely not disappointed.  It had been pretty cloudy for most of the day and I knew that if the clouds stuck around, I’d be in good shape.

Normally, in a scene like the one above that has so many moving elements, I’d mask in the best features.  But, I was really pleased with the sense of motion that the ghosting trees brings to the scene, so I opted to leave it as-is during post.

Here’s another little tip: if you want to try and get a sunburst effect from the sun (or any other bright light source), narrow your aperture to about f/16 or smaller. The sweet spot aperture varies based on the lens that you use but play around with it.  I wholeheartedly believe that effective use of a sunburst can add all sorts of great character to a scene.

I tend to think of my ‘photography firsts’ to occur in increments that are commensurate to how long I’ve been shooting.  For example, I remember the first time I really got the correlation between Aperture, ISO, and Shutter Speed.  It was pretty early on in my photo-taking adventures, around 1998.  I remember the first time I did a long exposure and actually understood what it really meant to keep the shutter open for that long.   Also, a bit further down that road.  And how could I forget my first HDR experiment <cringe>.  That was about two years ago.  So, I found it very peculiar that the first I experienced a few weeks ago happened this late in the game.  That was shooting my first sunrise.

Now, the reason that it took this long really boils down to one very strong excuse – I love my sleep.  It comes so randomly and with such scarcity that when I do get it, I hold onto it with my talons.  You really need to pry it from me.  My first sunrise was actually supposed to have occurred a few weeks earlier than it did, but was canceled last minute by me after I started feeling under the weather.  But this time, I was resolute in my efforts to see the day actually begin.  I had planned out the sunrise shoot with my two good friends, Chris Lazzery and Richard Williams.  Neither Chris nor Rich are strangers to early-morning photo escapades so I knew that I was in good hands.

The plan was to crash at Chris’ place, get up around 3:30AM and drive to the Portland Head Light, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, to capture what we were certain would be an awe-inspiring sunrise.  From there, we would make our way into town for some breakfast and follow that with a day of shooting around Portland.  We would then head over to Old Orchard Beach, about a half-hour or so from Portland, to shoot the sunset.

So, picture if you will, me being awoken from my slumber on Chris’ floor by Rich, in a disproportionately calm voice, telling me that it is 4:10AM.  My hope is that Chris’ discovery of how to properly set an alarm will come to him in the same bravado as when the cavemen first discovered fire, namely with a lot of grunting, jumping, and flailing of the arms.  I only hope to be there when it happens.  The nuances of the anti-meridian and post-meridian are understandably hard to grasp, which is why I was able to forgive Chris for setting the alarm for 3:30 PM.  It was one of those things that could happen to anyone, I guess.

We somehow managed to get dressed, pack the car and even brush our teeth by 4:30AM and were on our way.  Because of the delayed start, we had to revise our plans to get to a destination that would afford us enough time to scout, prep, and shoot the sun rising.  The decision was that we would shoot Old Orchard Beach for sunrise because we could make it there with enough time to get properly situated.

Now, the saying that I often hear is that with sunrise, the light gets progressively worse and with sunset, the light gets progressively better.  Perhaps that is true but what I learned was in that short amount of time, as the light of the sun starts to break over the horizon and the colors in the sky start to form this beautiful gradient of blue to orange to yellow, it is simply breathtaking.  There was something very rewarding and magical about seeing the sun come up while standing on a beach.  It offered me unique challenges in terms of what to meter off of and how to frame the shot effectively.  The timing of seeing my shots and taking them also proved to be a challenge because I could see the light change, and got progressively worse, with every second that went by.  I am sure that a lot of you read this and go, ‘Duh!’, but understand that this is totally new to me, so fumbling around was all part of the learning experience.  And I loved it.

True to form, once our light quality turned flat and harsh, we made our way from Old Orchard Beach to Portland for some amazingly delicious diner breakfast and a day of shooting.  The city of Portland offered so many different photo opportunities, especially on an early Sunday morning with the temperature at about 25-degrees Fahrenheit.  We had the city pretty much to ourselves which made meandering around random streets easy without having to carom off of surrounding pedestrians.

About an hour before sunset, we made our way to the Portland Head Light, a regal structure that sits perched and attentive.  Chris, Rich, and I went straight to our routine of scouting for our shots and eagerly waiting the approaching Golden Hour and sunset.  While the original goal was to photograph the sun breaking the horizon with this beautiful lighthouse in the foreground, the sunset did not disappoint at all.  We were all able to find unique vantage points to photograph the lighthouse and walked away assured that we had some real keepers to process.

What I took away from this experience was that, in most cases, real effort has real payout.  Because I got my junk in gear and made it to this sunrise, I walked away with some of my favorite shots that I have ever taken.  I even got to spend a whole day shooting with two of my good friends.  Toss in a sunset shoot for icing and what you are left with is a great day.  It certainly won’t be the last of these types, I promise you that.

Cheers,

Brian

Technical Notes

I spent the day shooting with my Canon 5D Mark II.  While I had a lot of my gear with me, I spent most of the day switching between the lovely Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L, the Lensbaby Composer, and the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM.  I did a lot of tilting and shifting at Old Orchard Beach because of the way it was laid out.  I found it pleasing to keep the structures that were sitting atop the wooden beams tack sharp and change my plane of focus to blur out the horizon in the distance.  I felt that it gave the shots a dreamy feel.  For the sunset, I mounted on my B+W 3.0 10-stop ND filter onto the Canon 24-70.  This allowed me to grab a few four-minute exposures without blowing out any details.  Exposing for this long also provided an awesome ghosting of the water as it crashed over the rocks in the foreground.