Different approaches

Mingus Mill, Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina

One of the best things of digital photography is the fact that it gives you the chance to approach a subject differently from an artistic point within an extreme short period of time. Both images of Mingus Mill in the Great Smoky Mountains are from the same RAW file. The first one doesn't hide the fact that it was taken these days and it epitomizes the old mill as an historical building, worth to preserve, and worthwhile to visit, especially during the colorful fall.

Both images: Nikon D300s, Nikkor 24-120, f4

The second one emphasizes the structure and want make you believe it was created only a few years after the old mill was built (Okay, forget my watermark in the lower right corner… ;-) ).

In most instances I know already when I press the shutter release button how I want the picture be seen. Nevertheless, sometimes it turns out totally different while I work with an image in post processing. In this matter I knew the colors of the leaves would give a nice contrast to the building but I also saw the potential of the structure for a good B&W image (even if I used a sepia tint here). For me, there is not really a better or worse. It is just a matter of mood and my opinion about which one I prefer may change every minute. Do you like any of them? If so, which one do you like more and why? I like to hear from you! :-)

Thanksgiving delight

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 24-120, f4

I hope you all here in America had a nice Thanksgiving. We spent the holiday with the whole family on the farm in Northwest Iowa. Thank you again Shelly, Shelby, Jessica, and Don for having us. We had a great time with outstanding food, fun, and good conversation.

This part of the state is very flat and landscape photography isn't always on my mind when we are there. The relative warm weather made it easy to spend some time outside and at the end of the day we were blessed with a gorgeous sunset over the neighboring farm. There was no doubt about that I would get the tripod out and shoot into the setting sun.

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 24-120, f4

Fifteen minutes earlier the sun gave the old barn a wonderful warm color. I love these old farm buildings and numerous images of this barn made it on my hard disk already during the last few years. My friend Dave Updegraff here in Eastern Iowa has an ongoing project and writes about it in his blog quite often. He shoots old barns and other farm related things and I'm sure he would like to point his lens on this one.

A new adventure at the Bolsa Chica Wetlands

 Bolsa Chica Wetlands at 6:10AM

Hi folks, I'm still in Southern California. Work related events have prevented me from shooting the last few days. However, today I had planned to spend all day in the Bolsa Chica Wetlands again. Click on the "Bolsa Chica" tag below if you want to see my older posts about this nature preserve along the Pacific coast. I got up really early this morning because I wanted to be there before sunrise. The weather forecast had predicted rain for today but at 6AM it still looked like that we would have a chance to get some early sun light. I was only the second photographer on the wooden bridge that goes over the laguna and that is ideal for shooting in both directions. At this time of the year thousands of migrated birds are in these wetlands and from my previous visits I knew that the light can be gorgeous so early in the morning. Me and several other photographers have been finally not disappointed and we were able to shoot until 10AM before rain and heavy clouds set an end.

Western Grebe

I want to start with this image of a Western Grebe that is right out of camera, except for the usual contrast enhancement by tone curve and the necessary sharpening process (as always I shoot RAW only). The Western Grebe is not so difficult to focus on because of its contrast around the eye. That doesn't mean all images were sharp but it really helps to focus, especially in this early morning "killer light". More to come…

Approach with dramatic light

My flight from Houston, TX to Chicago, IL today was not very exciting until we approached the O'Hare airport. I had the new Nikon D300s with me and worked my way through the manual in order to learn more about some of the features that I hadn't really used yet. The sky was bald blue and boring during the whole flight and except for some test shots over the wing of the airplane I didn't make any interesting clicks. When we reached Chicago I saw huge clouds moving in from the west. It looked like we would fly over a mountain ridge. As always, the window was not clean and it wasn't easy to find a shooting angle without reflections from the dirt on the glass.

We couldn't approach the airport directly and had to fly a few circles over Lake Michigan. Clouds were everywhere and the views were very dramatic. This is my favorite shot, with the sunlight reflecting on the wing and the little sun spot on the water of the lake. During touchdown on the runway it was heavily snowing. It seems winter has finally arrived in the Midwest...

Killer light conditions

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 24-120, f4

It wasn't as cold as it looks like in this photo from October 20, 2011. It was the day when we went over the mountain ridge to the north side of the Great Smoky Mountains. The first snow of the season had painted the trees white in the upper range of the mountains. It was a wonderful mix between fall colors and the white of the snow covered trees. Fast moving clouds made for real killer light conditions and constantly changing scenery. This photo was made at Newfound Gap at the border between North Carolina and Tennessee. More to come...

What's new in the backyard?

Don't worry, I still have plenty to post about our journey through the Great Smoky Mountains. Today I just want to show a few images made after our return from vacation here around the house. Any time during the last couple weeks when I saw a promising light situation develop, I grabbed my camera and run out of the house in order to work with that light.

You never know what comes out of it. Sometimes the light is gone within  the blink of an eye but other times you may get rewarded. Most leaves are on the ground now but we had some nice light that really let the colors shine.

 

All the birds that migrate south for the winter are gone. Those that stay here during the cold season come to the feeders now more frequently. Many come with their offspring, like the Downy Woodpeckers, that had at least three or four young ones this year. They are a great subject to practice long lens shooting technique.

 

Cooper, our little terrier, enjoyed sitting in a sunny spot among all the leaves from the maples and oaks. It was the light of the setting sun that made me press the shutter release button.

Let's talk about workflow

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 24-120, f/4

Probably most people that visit the Great Smoky Mountains drive at least once up to the mountain ridge and walk the last mile to Clingmans Dome (6643 ft / 2025m), the highest point in the National Park. We did too, even if we prefer the quieter places in the mountains. Lots of tourists up there! It is nice to be on the watchtower and have a view in all directions but I found the more interesting views on a little lower elevation along the roadside. Luckily there are many pull-outs along the roads in the Smokies that allow you to park the car and shoot your pictures safely. The clouds moved fast and the sun rays let the leaves glow whenever they touched them. It was just gorgeous.

If you are interested, here is the workflow I used for this image:

I dialed in -1EV exposure compensation to bring the clouds to their full potential and not to have any highlights blown out at the right hand side. I used a graduated filter and the adjustment brush in Lightroom 3.4 to bring back some of the exposure in the foreground. Next I used the tone curve to enhance the overall contrast a little. This is followed by the usual capture sharpening, necessary for any RAW file. No color enhancements for this picture! Next I switched to NIK Color Efex Pro 4 (I have version 3 but just used the free 15-days-trial on the new version) and worked with the tonal contrast filter. As always, my last steps are done in Adobe Photoshop. I have a special downsize algorithm that also serves to sharpen the image for the web. I learned this step from the book "Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera RAW, and Lightroom" by Bruce Fraser and Jeff Schewe. A book that I can highly recommend to anybody who tries to understand image sharpening. Before I save a jpeg for the web I apply my watermark. Most of the steps in Photoshop are done by pre-recorded actions and require only one click to execute them. Done deal!

Diversity

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 24-120, f/4

One of the things that impressed us the most was the immense diversity of trees we found in the Great Smoky Mountains. The question I asked myself was, how could I capture this in one image? Part of the answer came during a steep ascent by car to Cataloochee on the east side of the Smokies. Fast moving clouds in front of the sun with even a few rain sprinkles gave the colors of the leaves a great boost and show so the variety of trees and bushes. What no picture can transmit is the wonderful smell these forests have. Oh, just try to imagine it… I know you can't, it was heavenly… ;-)

Simple click

Nikon D300s, Nikkor 24-120,  f/4

Another picture from the Pisgah National Forest. Looking Glass Rock in the background was framed by the amazing colors of the leaves all around. Fall doesn't get any better than this. It was a simple click.

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…