While everyone else went to the mall and Disneyland, I headed for Little Corona del Mar again and stayed there for 5 hours from 12 noon to 5pm. My intention was to stay for the sunset but after 5 hours under the hot sun I had little energy left and I noticed that I was starting to make more and more mistakes. And besides I missed everyone. This had to be one of my most successful shoots as I remembered to do all the little things that I needed to do. My major mistake was that I had to set the vari-ND to the minimum setting to be able to see through the viewfinder and that was even minimal and I kept forgetting to adjust the setting back to the darkest setting and so over-exposed a few shots. Shooting during sunset hours as they say is the way to go and I realize that now as the photos lacked the warm colours of sunrise/sunset. But I am quite happy with the results.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Point Vicente Shoot
I wanted to revisit this location to see the effects of using filters. I found the use of the colour intensifier and circular polarizer to be quite effective. The NDs were not as effective. I used the vari-ND (6 stops) and 5 stop ND and I still could not get an effective blur at 30 seconds and F22. Coming at a different time where the light was not so strong would be needed. On the other hand I performed the process in the best way possible as I was able to use the 17-35mm at the widest, used a leveler and a remote trigger. This was on top of the other filters.
Huntington Beach Pier Shoot
Ok still trying to learn the tools as much as possible. Tried to combine the filters - colour intensifier, circular polarizer, Vari-ND and 5 stop ND. As result I believe using the polarizer will cause colour shifts which are not predictable. Having 4 filters also cause unwanted vignettes so I had to eliminate 1. I tried to go without the 5 stop ND but still got the shifts in colour so I went with the 5-stop ND in the end. This gave me the slow shutter speed that I wanted to blur the water. I now realized that clicking the shutter by hand limits my longest shutter speed to 30 seconds so I believe a remote shutter should be used. This will eliminate camera shake as well as better control of the shutter speed. I can just keep changing the shutter speed (using my watch) until I get the correct exposure.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Little Corona del Mar
A good location to shoot but a bit busy. Lots of people wandering around including other photographers. A good learning experience as seeing the light was an important part of getting a good composition.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Fail #3
The easiest problem to fix...don't shoot at the sun doh. Hide behind a cloud, bush or shoot away from the sun. Doh...
Fail #2
Guessing about this one...the light was blown out on the right and I think it was because of the haze. The haze messed up the exposure...
Fail #1
Not a good day for shooting...ran into lots of exposure problems. This was in a canyon...lots of contrast...tried to use a GND and was semi-successful. Still a bit too much shadow. Could have tried HDR technique but didn't think of it.
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
sunset blahs
No clouds, so-so foreground. Nice and cool sunset made it worthwhile. Just not much of an image.
Monday, August 02, 2010
While driving down the highway along Nothern California I was so impressed with the beautiful views...but nowhere to stop. I felt inspired and thought of Ansell Adams and wished I could stop and take photos. There was just this one viewpoint that had a view of Mt Shasta but not a very good one. So I took what I could from the parking lot.
Otter Rock
I was surprised to find a few images I liked from shooting at Otter Rock. We were as usual at the most convenient point in the park high up and looking down at the rocks and beach area. I came to the realization that an even more important part of photography is time and legs. The outstanding photos can only be taken if you have time to spend and study the location and even more importantly to be able to "leg" it to the not so convenient areas. At Otter Creek it would have meant walking down to the beach and rocks which would have taken another 2-3 hours that I did not have. I don't even know if the "better" areas are reachable.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
It still comes down to exposure. So there is the fog and that will make the image darker. And a portion of the image is darker because of the relative exposures of the different areas of the image. This also makes the image darker than one would like. No light or little light resulting in very little colour...maybe better as b&w.
Slow down you move too fast...hard to get away from old habits. The run-and-gun method used to work but as your standards get higher, the method of preparation becomes more important. Yes there were people in the photos which could not be avoided but the images could have been better and there could have actually been more of them as opposed to a lot of so-so shots with exposure, sharpness or composition problems that I could have avoided by taking time to do things the right way. First is to determine the relative exposures in the image by aiming the camera using spot metering to determine the difference in exposures and to determine if ND/GND filters are necessary. Then compose the shot by looking through the lens without the ND filters. Determine the hyperfocal length in order to set the camera focus manually or at least set the focus while the ND filters are not on. Then set the exposure on manual and set the exposure accordingly. Add the NDs and then shoot. Adjust as necessary.
Friday, July 30, 2010
where did the sun go?
Went from lots of sushine around the Portland area to the gloomy fog on the Oregon Coast. This is our 3rd time around and it seems that when I really want to shoot the fog is so think and makes for black and white images...even if taken in colour. I wonder what the locals do? I guess they keep one ear on the weather report and head down to the beach areas as soon as they see that the sun will appear.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wahkeena Falls
This was dowstream from the main falls. Never made it to the bottom as we were getting tired. The photos I took here were probably closer to the way I wanted to see it. Shooting waterfalls is not easy as looking at the LCD does not really look like what it actually does on the 'puter. There are so many variables to shooting the water - the speed of the water, the angle, the colour of the rocks and underwater surface and the light. At least this time I remembered to shoot at different speeds but what looks 'good' on the LCD isn't necessarily what is good. Lots of experimentation still to do.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Northern Falls
Make a trip to Silver Lake Falls near Silverton but arrived quite late as we did not expect it to be so far. There are 10 waterfalls in the park and we saw 2. Difficult lighting and I also ran out of light at the end. Did a lot of 20 second exposures with the polarizer and colour intensifier. Being so late in the day it wasn't necessary to use the ND filters. Big mistake was not to bracket the shots. It is difficult to gauge the effect of the blurred water and shooting at faster speeds could have made the blur look nicer. I love the overhang on this falls and wish I'd had the time to really expose the shot properly. A wider lens would have been nicer as well to get in more of the overhang into the shot.
Monday, July 26, 2010
to the top of Whytecliff Park
Climbed to the top of the park with Hans and took some photos. This must be the hardest to shoot (nature) as there is little impact for most of the photos other than light and shadows. It appears that this was a matter of cropping that is finding a crop that would make the image interesting among the confusion of the trees and rocks. I used a polarizer and colour intensifier to at least make whatever little colour pop. I also tried using GNDs with little success and multiple exposures for HDR generated images. In the end, the lack of impact makes for so-so images.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
water lillies
Somewhere along the line I forgot about my polarizer and as I reviewed its use I found that the experts recommend its use in all outdoor shoots. So I did and I found the results exactly to my liking. The images I took of the water lillies were not post processed except for the conversion from RAW to jpeg and resizing for display. I also added my colour intensifier to the polarizer which has a warming tint. I will get a neutral version which is a screw-on and have the 2 filters on the lens for all my outdoor shoots.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Van Dusen Waterfalls
I guess this is the best I've done as far as waterfalls is concerned. Needed a Vari-ND to slow down the shutter speed and held a GND SS upside down to even the exposures a bit as the foreground was being lit quite a bit. Also used a colour intensifier to hopefully make the colours pop just a little.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
I like this image. It is not as dramatic or as pretty as the other attempts I have made in using ND and GND filters but I think that technically I did a better job here. Better in that it is brighter but being brighter shows the plainness of the foreground which gives the image less impact. The moving clouds was an unexpected bonus. I didn't realize they moved all that much during the 30 seconds it took to expose the image. I used the Vari-ND, GND HS and colour intensifier on this image.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Whytecliff HDR
Created this image from 9 separate images of different exposures. Due to the wide range of exposure, the camera will either blow out the highlights or blacken the shadows. By taking 9 separate images and combining them with Photomatix, a better image with the highlights and shadows preserved is created.
Comparison of Photos
It's been recommended that a polarizer and colour intensifier be used when taking photos and to show why I decided to take a comparison. I definitely like the results on the right side where a colorizer and colour intensifier was used.
big thumb
Theoretically speaking using filters is quite simple. Use ND filters to cut down the light so that the water will be blurred. Use graduated ND filters to balance the relative exposure of the sky and foreground. Use a colour intensifier to make the colours pop a little and finally attach a polarizer to minimize reflections and increase saturation. Unfortunately the polarizer will not stack with the ND so I didn't do that. The colour intensifier attached to the variable ND filter without a hitch (although I don't really know the effect). Then I hand-held the graduated filters in front of the lens. Not quite as easy as it sounds. Hands shaking fortunately does not affect the image a lot but big fat fingers in front of the lens do! I have a few shots with that. But a bigger problem is the inability to see clearly what one is doing. With all the filters cutting the amount of light into the viewfinder it was difficult to see the transition point between the dark and light areas of the filter. So it is a guessing game at times. I am quite happy with the images but can still improve a bit.
10 Stop ND
I admit a bit of ignarance as pertains to light and f-stops. In other words I have not paid much attention to exposures and it causes me grief from time to time. The point of this blog however is not that but how bright the sun is. In the early/late afternoon I wanted to take photos of water on rocks with the water as blurry as possible. Out came my ND filters...an 8-stop Variable ND filter, a 5-stop and a 3-stop that I could stack and presumed that would be sufficient. Not so...at 30 seconds and f22 it was still too bright and the blurry water was not quite blurred. Amazing how bright the sun is...will have to do this when I get my new 10=stop ND or at least I will wait for a dull, overcast day and late in the day.
10 Stop ND
I admit a bit of ignarance as pertains to light and f-stops. In other words I have not paid much attention to exposures and it causes me grief from time to time. The point of this blog however is not that but how bright the sun is. In the early/late afternoon I wanted to take photos of water on rocks with the water as blurry as possible. Out came my ND filters...an 8-stop Variable ND filter, a 5-stop and a 3-stop that I could stack and presumed that would be sufficient. Not so...at 30 seconds and f22 it was still too bright and the blurry water was not quite blurred. Amazing how bright the sun is...will have to do this when I get my new 10=stop ND or at least I will wait for a dull, overcast day and late in the day.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
morning walk
Trying out a combination of a polarizer and a color intensifier. Supposed to be the best combination to bring some pop to an image. Not sure if I was successful...I don't think my eyesight is keen enough to detect subtle differences.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Sunset at Queen E
Been reading how some photographers hand hold their GNDs and seeing as how I was getting vignetting when using my 12-24mm I decided to hand hold it and the result was quite pleasing to me. I started just using the reverse grad filter and eventually realized that the middle portion was quite dark. So I reversed a soft graduated filter to darken the foreground and try to bring out a bit of detail which I managed to do. With a little more patience and a few more filters the light would have been more balanced. The more I practice...the more I learn.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
water lillty X 2
Using a circular polarizer to eliminate reflections has a nice effect. All one does is to be 90 degrees from where the light is coming from. The 2 images show what it is like (top with polarizer/ bottom without polarizer).
Monday, June 14, 2010
Expositor
Understanding manual exposure isn't an overly difficult concept but remembering the proper exposure for different conditions is not easy. Now I understand why they say some photographers really know their light. It isn't the lighting setups that needs to be learned but seeing the differences in light patterns in the image so one can visualize the end result. If you can see the f-stop differences between the elements of the image then you can see it as light or as dark. So I am now trying to avoid using the camera to meter the photo but to "guess" what it is and see the result before clicking on the shutter.
Peppermint
Colour like light and lines has impact on an image. Complement or contrast , one has to decide to maximize the effect of the image on the viewer. Or at least consider it when deciding the overall result of the concept being developed.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
PhotoCalc
Have been aware of dof for a long time but seldon really think of it when I am shooting at all times. So I got this IPhone so it will help me when shooting. It has helped me to visualize a shot before doing it.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Saturday, May 08, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
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