Perspective correction

Shooting from a boat is never easy, tripods are ruled out pretty much and faster shutter speeds are needed to prevent blurred images. Inevitably you end up with tilted horizons, add that to perspective issues and you have a recipe for bad images.

5D Mk IV, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II, f/10, 41mm, 1/250 sec
before correction

Same image as above after correction

When shooting tall vertical objects, converging vertical lines can be a problem, as you can see in the top image, the vertical lines converge towards the upper center of the image. I used Lightroom's Transform module to correct this image. When using the Transform module you have to be careful not to over correct, if you do a lot of correction, resolution will be lost. I tend to not use auto correct. For this I used vertical and a small amount of horizontal. I lost some resolution and sharpness, however, the sharpness was brought back with Photo shop, using a mask on just the man made objects and applying a smart sharpen filter.

Its a pretty amazing tool and I will use it for all converging vertical and horizontal lines. This is also an argument for higher resolution sensors, with more resolution, you are able to do more correction, assuming you left enough space around the image that may be removed by correction.

Ross 

Images In Light

High Key Landscape, Mono Lake

Its not often I come across a landscape scene that works as a high key shot, this one seemed to fit the bill for me. Mono lake Tufa, shortly after sunrise.

 5D Mk IV, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II, Lee Big stopper 10 stop ND filter,
 f/16, 50mm, 1.6 sec, ISO 100, +2 EV.


 5D Mk IV, EF 16-35 f/4 L IS, Lee Little stopper 6 stop ND filter,
 f/11, 16mm, 10 sec, ISO 100.

Same location, that evening

Part of the fun of being a photographer is experimenting and enjoying my time on locations like this.

We had a great three day shoot in the Eastern Sierra and I have a lot of images to go through. Hope to post some more soon.

Ross 

Images In Light

Lake Tahoe Storm

5D Mk IV, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II, Lee 10 stop ND filter, f/11, 24mm, 1.6 sec.

A quick trip up to Tahoe this weekend. Trying to decide last minute where we wanted to go, we ended up going to Lake Tahoe. This was my first photographic trip to Tahoe, almost all the images I've seen from there are of a calm beautiful lake with azure waters and boulders strewn about as if thrown in to a swimming pool. With a winter storm on its way in we ended up with just one morning shoot ahead of the storm.

5D Mk IV, EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II, Lee 10 stop ND filter, f/10, 47mm, 1.3 sec.

With winds blowing and gusting to 15mp or so it was a Challenge just to keep a tripod upright, never mind getting a sharp image with a long exposure, so I had to hold the tripod down against the rocks and try to keep it still while I took my images.

Ross

Images In Light

Using a ND filter for long exposure

 5D Mk IV, EF24-70 f/2.8 L  II, f11, 53mm, 30 sec

Processed  in Lightroom for monochrome and split toned.

When imaging a scene with lenticular clouds like this one, I like to use a long exposure to exaggerate their circular rotation. Here I used a Lee 6 stop ND filter to extend the exposure time to 30 sec. Instead of the wispy clouds, I got more of the circular motion of the whole storm system.

This was predawn light, so my original exposure would have been a couple of seconds at f/11, not long enough to get the full range of motion. The below image was a similar exposure taken after the sun came up and the exposure time difference with the same setup was 27.5 seconds, for a 2.5 sec exposure.

5D Mk IV, EF24-70 f/2.8 L  II, f11, 70mm, 2.5 sec

Of course its all a matter of personal taste, I happen to like both, I also have a shot at normal exposure speeds without an ND filter and like those as well. This is just one example of the use of an ND filter and why they should be in every landscape photographers bag.

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

Hand Held Landscapes

Larger Image

Hopi Point, Grand Canyon National Park

Image: 5D Mk III, EF 24-70 f/2.8, 33mm, f/7.1, 1/250 sec, hand held.

Larger Image

Hopi Point, Grand Canyon National Park
Image: 5D Mk III, EF 70-200 f/4, 81mm, f/11, 1/20 sec, tripod.

I have found that I need to shoot at at least 1/500 of a second and use very good technique in order to get a print quality image hand held. A tripod is a must for conditions that are not very bright, even image stabilization is not enough to get a tack sharp image hand held in low light. The upper image can be printed at probably 24 inches (hand held at 1/250 sec), while the lower image can probably be printed at 36 inches (tripod at 1/20 sec).

Some times an image can be shot sharper hand held, I shot the upper image hand held and on a tripod, the wind was blowing at about 20 mph and it was obvious to me that shooting on a tripod was not working out so well, so I switched to a larger aperture, hand held and got the faster shutter speed and also took the wind blown tripod out of the equation. Later when the wind died down I was able to shoot back on my tripod and get sharp images.

Ross 

Images In Light

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

Brick and mortar - Savannah, Georgia

Image: Fort Pulaski Detail. Canon 5D Mk III, 24-70 f/2.8 L II, 67mm,

f/5.6, 1/80th sec, ISO 1600

I recently visited Fort Pulaski, just outside Savannah, GA. on Cockspur Island. A unique history surrounds this fort, the end of an era for brick and mortar.

Image: Fort Pulaski Detail. Canon 5D Mk III, 24-70 f/2.8 L II, 70mm,

f/5.6, 1/80th sec, ISO 1600

Savannah and its environs are a place dear to my heart, I spent two years living there and I have some close friends that still live there. But in all my time there I only visited Pulaski once and never photographed it, now I wish I had more time to go back and fully document this piece of Americas history from the Civil War.

More coming soon....

Ross

Images In Light