Photography from Angels 30

Over the Siskiyous
 5D Mk III, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II, f/7.1, 70mm, 1/400 sec.

 The Views from an airplane can be quite spectacular, if you have a fairly clear window, photography from 30,000 ft can be a lot of fun and good images can be acquired, if the right technique is used.

 Use fast shutter speeds and get your lens right up against the glass. Think about that composition and horizon before pulling the trigger.

737 winglet at sunset
Fuji XT-2, f/1.4, 1/50 sec ISO 250, 56mm

787-9 over NE Canada

5D Mk III, EF 16-35 f/4 L IS, f/11, 30mm, 1/60 sec.

737 winglet and Mt Rainier
Fuji XT-2, f/11, 1/240 sec ISO 250, 56mm

Ross

Images In Light

Archived Images

Finding an old image in the archives that was overlooked is always nice, I frequently review my archive to see whats available and I often find an image I like. This is a good reason to not delete every image you don't like when you download to your external drive.

I often read of people saying to delete images you don't like. Disk space is cheap, you can get 3 or 4 terabytes of disk space for $100 these days, so better to just hang on to those images and review them later.

The above image I took in Nov of 2015, but I somehow missed this image in black and white, today I really like it. So hang on to those old images, you never know what gems you might have hidden in the archive.

Ross

Images In Light

Mountain Spring

Mount Rainier

5D Mk III, EF16-35 F/4 L IS, 30mm, f/13, 1.3 sec, 6 stop Lee ND filter.

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When the clouds don't cooperate at Martins Beach

5D Mk III, EF 16-35 f4 L IS, f/11 16mm and 35mm, 79 sec single exposure

I went to shoot the forbidden beach just south of Half Moon Bay for the first time and the clouds did not cooperate with me. So faced with a very boring beach shot with the Hay Stack, I thought I would try playing with zoom in a single exposure. I framed the shot at 35mm and let my camera expose for 40 sec and then zoomed all the way out to 16mm quickly to avoid shake and zoom trails and let it expose for another 39 sec, the result is the above image.

Martins Beach is in the mist of a land controversy, the land owner is denying people beach access and there is an ongoing dispute with San Mateo county, is it legal to visit this beach? the answer is currently yes, however I think this will be mired in legal BS for a while.

In the mean time I intend on returning here until I capture the image I'm interested in getting.

Ross

Images In Light

Selective editing in Lightroom

Final modified image: 5D Mk III, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II,  f/11, 1/80sec, 70mm

Original RAW Image

Landcsapes in Portrait mode

Image, 5D Mk III, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II, 70mm, 1/80th sec, ISO 400

When doing my research on this shot, I found most images where done in landscape mode, so an easy way to make something different is to do what others have not, this image highlights the moss more than the trees, yet still gives that vanishing point effect that I wanted. Just wish I had better light that day, another trip to Savannah is in order.

Ross

Images In Light

Shooting by moonlight

Image: 5D Mk III, EF 16-35 f/4 L IS, 16mm, 4sec at f/6.3, ISO 100

After a very uneventful sunset at Panther Beach, I decided to stick around and try shooting by moonlight, more for fun than any real serious photography. While trying to keep my ISO as low as possible and not letting my shutter speed get to long, I opened up my aperture to f/6.3 for a 4 sec exposure, that way I would get wave blur instead of completely smoothing out the water, like I would have at shutter speeds of around 20 sec.

I pulled the shadows extensively in Lightroom to balance the image.

If you try this, do it during a full moon for the most light possible, keep your ISO at 100 and try different shutter speeds to see what you get.

Ross

Images In Light

Capturing Atmosphere

5D Mk III, 24-79 f/2.8 L II, Lee Little stopper
f/11 at 2 sec

This was an interesting scene, when we arrived it was a hazy/foggy late evening and the atmosphere was not something I thought I was going to be able to catch, often times unsettled air does not allow for good images. Here I feel like I was able to capture the atmosphere of that moment and the long exposure helped, giving it a more dreamy look with the blurred waves.

Ross

Images In Light

Monochrome

 

5D Mk III, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II, Lee 10 stop ND filter, 5 sec at f/11.

Garrapata Beach

Black and White conversion done in Lightroom. I feel sometimes monochrome images can better convey mood than color and at other times color more efficiently tells the story. Regardless, telling the story is the key to an image, not what camera or what software was used. Composition and understanding of how your camera works are far better than your cameras ability to recover shadows or print large.

Ross

Images In Light

silhouette

5D Mk III, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II at f/3.5

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Silhouette's can be a very interesting to shoot, finding the right background is key, here is a fern set against a brooding sky, converted to black and white in lightroom. I especially like to shoot people in profile like this one here or this one.

Ross

Images In Light

Stormy Weather

 5Dmk III, 24-70 f/2.8 L II, f/9, 1/125 sec, 35mm hand held

5Dmk III, 70-200 f/4 L IS, f/4, 1/800 sec, 100mm hand held

 5Dmk III, 24-70 f/2.8 L II, f/10, 1/160 sec, 35mm hand held

I love shooting weather, one of these days I'll go storm chasing in the Midwest and chase some real weather, until then I will have to work with the occasional hurricane remnant that works its way up from Mexico like this one last weekend in Big Sur. 

I head out whenever possible if weather is in the forecast, the next trip to Yosemite will be based on that. Incoming weather is always a good opportunity for landscape photography, it sets a mood that sunny blue sky's just can't do. Ideally it happens at sunset or sunrise, adding that wonderful light to a moody sky.

Ross

Images In Light

Getting the right shutter speed for motion

Garrapata Beach. 5D Mk III, 70-200 f4 L IS, 1.3 sec at f/13

With neutral density filters you can get the shutter speed you want at almost any time of day, on this very bright morning at Garrapata I used a 6 stop filter on a 70-200 f/4 L IS lens to isolate the rocks and show movement in the waves. 

It takes a while in the morning for the sun to get over the hill behind the beach, so when it arrives its pretty intense in the summer, holding back the light with a neutral density filter helped to cut down on that very bright sun and give me the shutter speed I wanted to show some motion in the waves without completely smoothing out the water.

I could have used a 10 stop filter but the effect would have been more than I wanted, by using aperture priority I could have easily gone to 30 seconds and completely smoothed out the ocean, but I was looking for crashing waves with a small amount of motion to show the interaction with the rocks.

I have found for slight motion in waves .6 to 2 seconds is a pretty good rule of thumb to use depending on wave height and light conditions.

Ross

Images In Light

More from Big Sur

 

5D Mk III, EF 16-35 f4 IS L, f/16, 1/60 sec, ISO 100, hand held on fence post.

 

5D Mk III, EF 16-35 f4 IS L, f/13, 1/200 sec, ISO 100, hand held on fence post.

Big Sur is sure turning in to one of my favorite places to shoot, nudge nudge, know what I mean?

A place that holds its rightful location at the top of peoples list's to shoot, I have been fortunate recently to spend some time in this area, witnessing scenes like this one unfold as I drive along the coast highway. Truly a beautiful place, sometimes magical and mystical, but always very photogenic.

 5D Mk III, EF 70-200 f4 IS L

More soon from the Big Sur coast....

Ross

Images in Light

Canon EF 16-35 f/4 IS L

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5D MK III, EF 16-35 f/4 IS L, 29mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec, ISO 100, hand held.

It was not that long ago that Canon users complained about the wide angle zoom offerings, because Nikon had the 14-24 f/2.8. Now Canon has surpassed Nikon with both the EF 11-24 f/4 L and the EF 16-35 f/4 IS L and I'm sure soon an f/2.8 wide angle zoom.

EF 16-35 f/4 L IS

I sold my 16-35 f/2.8 II because of the reviews I read on the new 16-35 f/4 and couldn't be more happy. I know, f/2.8 vs f/4, the age old argument, the thing is, they are for different photographers, most people can get away with f/4, f/2.8 is mostly for low light hand held captures, wide angle is not really for portrait, although I have seen a few photographers use the 2.8 version that way with good effect.

This is a landscape/architecture lens mostly, sweeping vistas and towering cityscape's, there are lots of uses but these are the standouts for me. It is sharp to the corners, it has resolution to spare (think 50mp here) excellent micro contrast, oh and did I say sharp? It is an excellent companion lens to the EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II, which has been pretty much glued to to my 5D III since I got it. Along with the 70-200 f/2.8 IS L II or 70-200 f/4 IS L, Canon now has a full series of zooms that are excellent from 11mm to 200mm and beyond if you can afford the $11K 200-400 f/4.

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5D MK III, EF 16-35 f/4 IS L

5D MK III, EF 16-35 f/4 IS L

5D MK III, EF 16-35 f/4 IS L

Ross

Images In Light

Garrapata Beach

Image: 5D Mk III, 24-70 f/2.8 L II, Lee Big Stopper, f/11

Garrapata Beach

Adding to my series, Coastal California. Garrapata Beach, just on the north end of  Big Sur,  a beautiful and more remote beach on the California coast, by remote I mean not crowded at 7:00am on the weekend.

The start of one of the most rugged and beautiful locations on the West coast, Garrapata is just south of Carmel, Big Sure stretches south roughly 90 miles and 20 miles inland. Many photographers have spent their lives documenting this area, with spectacular results.

Being new to the area I hope to capture something new and interesting, I know I could explore the area for years. The area is lined with coastal and rugged mountain trails, flowers abound in the spring, stunning beach's dot the coastline, art galleries and restaurants fit neatly into curves high above the ocean on highway 1 as it meanders its way south to San Simeon.

More soon from Big Sur.

Ross 

Images In Light

Yosemite Dogwood Bloom

Image: 5D Mk III, EF 70-200 f4 L IS, 160mm, f5.6, 1/250 sec, hand held, on the tree.

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The Dogwoods are blooming in Yosemite valley as of 4/18/2015, by the hundreds, a great time to visit, they should be working their way in to higher elevations over the next week, still time to go and see this beautiful spectacle.

Glacier Point also opened early this year due to low snow pack.

Ross

Images In Light

Incidental Black and White

The Bay Bridge: 5D Mk III, EF24-70 f/2.8 II L

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Its not always easy to see in black and white, I use my iPhone 6 sometimes for visualizing what a scene may look like in black and white, when I set it to B and W it is a very useful tool for that.

The City by the Bay image above was a super high contrast scene that had little color other than the very bright sun, it made an ideal setting for black and white photography. My initial thought was to wait for sunset and shoot a low light scene, but this light presented itself to me, so I walked down the bank until the bridge blocked the sun and revealed the the beams that where initially hidden by the veiling glare of the bright sun.

Metering in live view helped to reduce the contrast so I could reveal detail in the bridge and still have the light beams highlighted on the city.

Another image I didn't originally see in B and W. I like both
the color and the B and W versions.

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More Black and White images here

Ross 

Images In Light

Working Yosemite

 Falling Fire

5D Mk III, 70-200 f/4 IS L, 6 stop ND filter

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El Capitan from Pohono trail

5D Mk III, 70-200 f/4 IS L, 6 stop ND filter
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The Merced and Cathedral Rocks

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I have been to Yosemite 4 times over the last year and have not come away with anything I really like, I hate to get skunked on these trips, but I still get to enjoy the hiking and making friends with other outdoor types. I will keep hitting Yosemite until I've cracked it.

 Tunnel View

5D Mk III, 24-70 f/2.8 L II

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Some times it takes persistence,  but patience comes in handy too. I'll be back there again next month to try to shoot the Dogwood blooms.

Ross

Images In Light

Shooting the Bay Bridge

Bay Bridge, 5D Mk III, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II, f/11

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Bay Bridge, 5D Mk III, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II, f/11

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Bay Bridge, 5D Mk III, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II, f/11

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Its fun to get up close and wide on Treasure Island, getting to the location is not an easy feat, but worth the effort. Next I'd like to try super wide from the beach. Maybe with the new canon (rumored) 5Ds R and 11-24 f/4. I'm ready for higher resolution.

 

I can print these at 24 x 36 on metal prints, it would be nice to go to the next level, a 50 mp camera would do that.

Related Post and Here and Here

Ross 

Images In Light

Looking for reflections

Panther Beach, 5D Mk III, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II

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Instead of doing the same old beach shot, look for tide pools and get down low and see if you get a decent reflection. Panther Beach is always a great place to shoot, just north of Santa Cruz, on this return trip I noticed a huge tide pool behind the beach and came away with some interesting images.

Ross 

Images In Light