Colorado landscapes: Great Sand Dunes - Zapata Falls

 

During midday the sand dunes may not be the No.1 place to be in and around Great Sand Dunes National Park if you look for photography opportunities. There are other alternatives and being just at the foot hills of the Sangre de Christo Mountains you don’t have to go very far. Zapata Falls is an interesting place and a welcome “cool down” opportunity if the temperatures are high. I have never been so wet during a shooting as in the canyon that leads to Zapata Falls high up in the mountains. There is no way to enter the narrow canyon that bares the water fall without getting at least your feet wet. Keeping the camera and lens out of harm in the spraying mist of the falls is a good idea but nearly impossible. While quickly shooting the lower part of the water fall the mist in the air made it almost impossible to get a clean sharp image of the upper part. Only my first click is sharp enough to be shown here. The water drops on the filter in front of the lens made for an interesting blur, but that doesn’t mean I liked it. :-(

I knew from reading about the access to the falls that there would not be much light and so I took of course the tripod with me. Another factor is the glare from the wet walls in the canyon and that’s why I mounted the Polarizer to the lens. It turned out to be a good idea, adding it later wasn’t really an option because of all the water spray in the air. Acting fast was key for success in this matter. The photos were made around noon hour and having the light from almost above lead to some images that reveal the beauty of Zapata Fall, at least in my humble opinion… More to come…

Stop at Niagara Falls

 

My German photography friend Maren guessed it right already, our next stop on the way to Maine was Niagara Falls. We are really not big fans of going to places with a lot of tourists but it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. The main vacation season is over and the falls were not so crowded with people as we expected.

If something had really impressed me there, it was the vast amount of water that shoots down Niagara Falls every second. Beside all the touristy stuff, Niagara Falls is still an impressive place that shows the beauty and the forces of nature.

The falls have been photographed many million times and there was not much to add from my side. We went there late morning, which is not the best time for landscape photography anyway, but some clouds made at least for interesting backgrounds and a constant change of light.

We are enjoying the coast of Maine since three days already and if time and internet availability allow, I will post here again soon. Please stay tuned for more...

Playing with water

 

We had a good amount of much needed rain this weekend. I used the time for several photography related projects (see my post from yesterday) and finally thought it is a good time to post some "water pictures" from our recent trip to the Rocky Mountains.

The first shot was taken above the Copeland Falls in the Southeast corner of the National Park. I made quite a few clicks, knowing that each picture would look differently by using a variety of different exposures from 1/20 to 1 second . The creek was in the shade of trees and the absence of bold colors made me process the image in B&W. It was the pattern, created by air bubbles in the flowing water and revealed by the long exposure, that I was after and 0.7s at f/16 created a desirable result for me. As always, NIK Silver Efex Pro2 is my software of choice for processing a B&W image.

The second image was taken after a hike higher up to Ouzel Falls. Despite a heavy overcast and even some rain sprinkles some light was left and revealed the colors of the surrounding rocks. I liked this one better than a B&W version I made and I want to share with you.

I wish all of you a great week.

Keep it stabile

 

One of the things I wanted to experiment a little more during our trip to the Rockies was shooting of flowing water with long exposure. I really like the abstract look of photographs with this subject. I have done this before and after studying my previous photos I really believe it is all about composition and about keeping things out of the frame to make an image work. These shots are quite often made in narrow valleys or canyons and a stupid branch coming from the side or a log in the water at the wrong place can have a very negative impact on the photo. The degree of how much the flowing water gets blurred can be a little bit of personal taste and I experiment a lot with the exposure time in order to obtain the results that satisfy me. Sometimes it is enough to just close the aperture but mostly I use a polarizer or a neutral density filter to extend the exposure time.

The best spot to make the click is not always the most stabile place. Quite often I have the legs of the tripod (and my own as well) in the water of the creek or between slippery stones. Every vibration of the tripod is fatal for a long exposure time and I have trashed many pictures because the rocks in the creek were blurred too. These kind of images are not very difficult to make from a technical standpoint but keeping the tripod stabile is very essential. Finding the right composition and the right light is the more challenging part...

Slick Rock Falls - two perspectives

Slick Rock Falls, Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina

The Appalachians have countless streams, creeks, and waterfalls. Combining the colors of fall with the play of water was one of my photographic goals during our vacation. Not all experiments turned out satisfactory but they were part of the process getting used to the new Nikon D300s and trying to understand light and its impact much better.

Both images of Slick Rock Falls in the Pisgah National Forest were made just minutes from each other but from different angles. First I climbed over the rocks in order to shoot the falls in the shade. Slick Rock Falls was more like a mist but the three seconds exposure made the water visible where it hits the rocks. I like this effect very much. The colorful leaves play their role on the dark wet stones.

Slick Rock Falls, Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina

The second image was made from the opposite side and deals with a back-light situation. I tried different exposure times. One tenth of a second gave me the desired effect with the sun rays caught in the mist of the waterfalls and illuminating the leaves on the ground.

I have to admit, both images are not perfectly sharp. Its hard to judge on the small pictures here in the blog but my original files tell the truth. Some vibration on tripod or camera must have had an impact. I guess I have to work on this…