Light Painting in the Mist

Saturday, August 12, 2017

It has been a while since I've had the itch to go out with the camera.  I've been working a lot lately, and there has been a lot going on to keep my attention away from creativity.  That's not to say that I haven't had some ideas about future pictures, I just haven't had the drive to go out and capture them this month.  One thing that I do know about me is...once I get an idea, I will get stuck on it until I try it.  That means that I won't be able to move on to any other ideas.  That was the case for most of the last two weeks.  You see, there is an old REO truck going out to Walnut Cove that I have passed by for years and years now.  I've thought about photographing it, but it just never had the look I was going for.  Recently though, I have been opened to automotive subjects that are not quite as rusty as I once sought to place in front of my lens.

Not only did this truck have some appearance issues that kept me from really looking close, there were two rather large power pole structures behind the truck which brought with them power lines which I can't stand in my pictures.  It was situated in a location that looked staged...quite simply because it was.  This was yard art, not some abandoned truck which is my normal go to for photos.

All these negatives aside, I have been looking more closely at this truck for a while now and have been finding more and more to like about it.  For the last couple of weeks, I have been pondering what kind of lighting I could use to do this truck justice, and to minimize the large structures behind it.  I thought about photographing it at sunset with a colorful sky behind it; but that would take all of the detail out of the truck.  I thought about trying it at sunrise with some color in the clouds behind it.  That was a possibility, but the focus would be more on the sky, and the power lines.  I then thought about doing some light painting with a very subdued sky behind it.  That had some possibility, but I wasn't sure if I wanted a clear sky, one with some clouds, or a totally overcast sky.  I could visualize the results of any of those options, but when it comes to light painting and log exposures, there is a large element of chance as to what you will get as a final picture.

I had woken up early several different mornings, but rolled over rather quickly due to a lack of interest in creating.  I had asked Toni to wake me up this morning since she was going to work, and I was going in for a community function later on in the morning.  I knew that I had enough time to go out to the truck and photograph it.  The weather was rainy with pretty much total overcast conditions.  That meant that I would not be able to rely on the sun at all for any lighting.  It was just going to be a matter of how light the sky got, which dictated my shutter speed, and the amount of time that I would have to paint my subject with a flashlight.  I was expecting to make my best exposures during what is called the "blue hour" which is about an hour before sunrise.  I would have enough light in the sky to give a little interest if there was any definition in the clouds.  There would also be enough backlight from the clouds to flesh out the metal structures in the background, but not make them a focal point.  This could work...but I didn't want to get up.

Well, this was the picture that I have been wanting for a couple of weeks now, and if I didn't get it today, then I would try tomorrow or the day after.  But, that would keep me from going and trying other things, and that was not a good option.  I needed to get this picture out of my system, and today was going to be the day.  I got up, and got ready for work, and was out the door at around 5:15.  About 20 minutes later I was pulling into the driveway, pleased to see that there were no street lights to complicate issues.  There was a slight mist in the air, but nothing that would prevent me from shooting the picture.

REO Yard Wagon

I looked at the scene, and found everything pretty much as I was expecting.  I knew that I would be using the power poles in the composition to give a sense of utility and power.  I found a nice bush to use on the right side as a framing element to balance with a softer, natural element to the man made majority of the frame.  The truck was given a position of power in the frame, slightly elevated from my camera location.  I found the right balance, and set the camera up right at the edge of the driveway.  I was using my 24-70mm lens, set at 45mm.  There were no filters at all used.

My first exposures were set for about three minutes which gave me plenty of time to paint the truck with the flashlight.  The sky was still a bit too dark to render properly though.  As the time ticked on, and 6am neared, the sky got brighter, but didn't have much detail to it.  This was where the power lines actually helped out.  I went through the same routine with each exposure, and finally reached an exposure point where I could move out of the Bulb mode and back into manual mode.  The picture that you see here was shot at ISO 100, f/8, 30 seconds.  I painted the truck for the entire 30 seconds, including the bush to the right.  The sky rendered just about right according to the histogram of the camera.  This was probably going to be "the one".  Just in case though, I shot one more at the same settings and did the same lighting.  The results were close, but the shadows looked strange, and I liked the other one better.

At this point, I was looking at the sky to see if there was going to be the possibility of any new interest as the sun came up.  It wasn't looking like it, and I wasn't going to get enough sun to hit the truck to make it pop.  My flashlight was starting to get dim as well.  I chose to pack it up and head back to the house to see what I had gotten before time to go to work.

I downloaded a total of nine images from the morning, and found that there were 5 that I really liked.  When I started looking at the details, there was one that shined through as having all of the elements that I was looking for.  That was the next to last exposure that I had made.  It checked all of the boxes, and once I finished polishing it in Lightroom, I actually had the image that I had been formulating in my mind.

The focus was on the truck which was a big old chunk of red inside the frame.  Red is a powerful color to include, and one must be careful with how it is used.  This truck needed some very cool tones to balance it out.  That was where the sky came in.  It was largely blue with a purple undertone.  It provided the exact amount of visual balance that the cab of the truck needed.  The lit bush also balanced out the two power poles behind which were left in the shadows.  Everything just really worked out well here.  Now, I'm ready to go and photograph something different, and that helps to spark my creativity.

Trying Something New at Doughton

Sunday, July 9, 2017

By now, everyone should know the love affair that I have with the weather forecast.  No matter what I plan around the weather, I always get bit in the rump.  It is frustrating to say the least, and it does wear on me after a while.  I spend hours, and sometimes days formulating pictures that I want to make based on a weather forecast that usually ends up being incorrect.  I'm then forced to try and find other ideas to photograph.  This weekend started out with me seeing that there was bright sun every day, and I decided to stay at home.  This was actually a great thing because Toni was home, and we could spend some time together since most of her time away from work is focused on her nursing school.

By the time Sunday rolled around, we had plans for the middle of the morning, but I saw an opportunity to get out for a very brief trek right at sunrise.  The weather forecast was still pretty steady, calling for clear skies.  Saturday had seen more clouds than were forecasted, so I had some hope for a great sunrise for Sunday morning.  However, I decided that I would plan on no clouds since that would take a bit more planning to make a trip worth while.  I decided on Doughton Park because there is a group of trees right at the entrance I had photographed some time before that caught my eye.  They were positioned perfectly for a sunset, but I could also see some potential there for a sunrise shot using the twilight colors opposite of the sun for the visual interest in the sky.  It was a compromise between shooting a sunrise, and not having any clouds to capture the color of the sunrise.

My morning started at 3:15am so that I could be at the park by 5:30, which would give me about thirty minutes to work with to get set up, and find a composition I liked.  The trip was uneventful, but I did drive through some light fog through the foothills.  I was actually getting excited that I would have some great conditions to work with for a "real" sunrise shot.  My plan was to be wrapped up by 7:30 regardless, and back on the road home.  If there were going to be great clouds, I was going to have to shoot and run, but that would be ok with me.

As I was passing through Roaring Gap, I saw a store front with a really nice old Ford pickup on display in the parking lot.  It wasn't my typical old truck, but it did catch my eye.  The lighting was terrible though as the sun was far from coming up, so I put it in my bank to think about later.  I had to get to Doughton, which was still about 20 minutes away.  I could see that the sky was clear which didn't really matter since that was what I was planning on, but something was there that I hadn't really considered.  A full moon was hanging in the sky, and that posed some interesting possibilities for my morning shoot.

Moonset

I got to the park at precisely the time I had expected, and found it to be empty which was wonderful.  When I got out of the truck, I found it to be incredibly windy...and quite cold.  That was not nearly as wonderful.  Wind poses problems for low light photography which requires longer than normal shutter speeds.  I was going to have to deal with that as the problems presented itself though.  I needed to get set up.  The choice for the morning was my 70-200mm lens so that the moon would render as more than just a speck in case I chose to add it into the composition.  There was no need for filters as the exposure latitude opposite of the sun was pretty even.  I set up on the road, right at the fork in the road between the picnic site and Wildcat Rock.  It was just a matter of waiting for the sky to turn pink at the top, and work its way down.

The color change was very faint and very gradual, but it was there.  I started getting some shots that showed the color, but the trees were blowing too much in the wind.  My only recourse was to adjust the ISO which I rarely do.  It was cranked up to 640 which was higher than I had shot before.  Fortunately, I do trust that the 5DM3 will capture a dark image at this ISO fairly clean.  I was able to keep my shutter speed under control, and I found that the branches were mostly frozen which was what I was after.  I worked around several different compositions that I liked to varying degrees.  However, I got the idea for a panorama to capture the fence, and the long twilight wedge, known as the Belt of Venus.

Belt of Venus

I already had the right lens on the camera, so I flipped it over on its side.  The tripod was leveled and a dry run sweep was made across the entire scene to make sure that the camera was plum.  I kept the ISO elevated to keep the shutter speed fast enough to hopefully freeze the tree which was gotten in a single shot to make sure that there was no difficulty overlapping the branches.  Each of the eight frames only lasted a fraction of a second with the whole process taking less than a minute to complete.  I tried a couple of different panoramas in an attempt to capture the most appealing composition.  Probably the most complete composition included the setting moon to the right of the trees.  The vast emptiness of the sky to the left balanced the entire frame out, and the red gate made for a book end on the left side.  

Twilight Wedge

It is rare for me to photograph a scene void of any clouds, and even more rare to do it as a panorama.  The draw to the entire concept was the division in the sky, and that replaced the clouds as a visual element.  In short, this view was much more interesting than the actual sunrise to my rear.  The sky had long since gone completely white and the sun was dazzling as it inched up into the sky.  The only color to be found was to the West, where I was shooting.  Hey, what can I say, I had prepared for a sunrise with no clouds, and it was working out well for me.  I also had the added element of the moon to play with.  As you can see from the opening image (Moonset), I made a lot of use out of the moon.

It is funny that my first successful moon image was taken from this very park back in the winter as I was trying to capture a sunrise from the top of the ridge that appears in the above photo with the twin trees.  Here we were once again, shooting the moon, in a completely different part of the sky.  The feel of these images is worlds apart from the previous, as I am making use of warm dawn colors that the sky is offering.

Another World

As the moon approached the horizon, I positioned the camera so that I could get it dropping into a cradle in the distant trees.  I composed a very tight shot on the moon, and found that the sky was a very interesting shade of pink.  In fact, there was a rose color cast over the whole scene, but for some reason it looked natural.  I really wasn't sure if I would like this particular composition when I got home, but I shot it anyway.  As I was processing it, I started to look at it, and began thinking about some alien planet.  It all really came together, and I decided that it was an interesting enough photograph to warrant filing along with my keepers.  It isn't one of my favorites by any stretch, but it is a little different from my norm, and that was what this trek was all about.

With the sun well up into the sky now, the colors I was seeing were pretty much gone.  I still had about 45 minutes to play with before I needed to be heading home so I moved over to Wildcat Rock where a photographer friend of mine, Bonita Loggins has spent a lot of time.  I found the overlooks, but there wasn't anything of interest there with the current sky.  I started to look around in the woods to see if there was anything interesting I could work with before heading home.

Summertime Reach

Almost immediately, I saw a quagmire of trees atop a bed of ferns bathed in the warm sunlight of morning.  This was quite interesting in an abstract kind of way.  It was just the picture that Toni would like, so I decided to give it a try.  I kept my 70-200mm lens attached and framed up a composition that I thought captured the essence of what I was seeing.  I chose to go with a narrow depth of field to keep the attention on the trees, and also to help speed the shutter up as the wind was still blowing something fierce.  I cranked off several frames from this location as the lighting changed, and the wind speed varied.  I also tried a handful of compositions trying to get one that I liked the best.  

In the end, I settled on one that I liked the best and I showed it to Toni.  She really liked it as well.  And then I showed her the other contenders.  Since this was a composition for her, I wanted to get her opinion on things.  She pointed out one composition that I had liked, but didn't bother to edit.  She liked this one better, and so I pulled out the "Develop" module, and started to work the RAW image.  It became Summertime Reach, and I actually do like it better than the other one that I had originally selected.

Quagmire

While we are on the topic of Toni pointing out images that she liked better than those that I had already worked, I have to give credit to her for the opening image.  I had left it on the table after deciding that the panoramas were really good.  The intention was to omit the single shot images in favor of the large format compositions.  However, Toni pointed out that she really liked it...so, I brought it into the editing window and started to work on it.  The more I fine tuned it, the more I decided I really liked it.  That is why we make such a great team.  She sees a lot of potential in shots that I overlook due to having been so involved with the scene for so long.  She has saved me numerous times from tossing really good images out the door, and do appreciate her for that!

I was starting to get fed up with the wind after working the gaggle of trees, and was about to pack it in for the day.  However, when I turned around, I found yet another scene that I liked.  This one was backlit by the sun, and showcased the long grass being blown about in the wind.  Instead of fighting against the wind, I decided to harness the power of the wind, and use the motion in the composition.  Still using the long lens, I set up the shot that really made use of the backlit grasses, and dropped the ISO back down to 100 where I much prefer it to be.

Dream State

With an aperture of f/5.6 and an ISO of 100, I was still shooting with a relatively fast shutter into the sun.  It was enough though, to add a certain dreamy quality to the image.  The visual anchor was the small tree which was rendered sharp.  Everything else is either blurred by depth of field, or by motion.  The backlit grass creates a heavenly quality, and it just has a certain "feel" about it.  Again, this was not my typical image, and it fit with the day for just that reason.  Today really became about stepping outside of the box.  It is rather scary outside of that box, but I needed it for my own personal growth.

Personal growth aside, it was getting too bright to continue, and just like I had planned, it was time to head home.  Had there been clouds, I could have gone for hours more, but in the summer, good lighting lasts only a little while when the sun isn't diffused.  I had made great use of the hour and a half that I was out there, and was rather surprised at the number of pictures that I had captured.  I saw decent potential in many of them as well.  I would know more when I got home later in the morning.

Oh yeah, I forgot about something.  What about that truck in front of the store?  I'm going by it on the way home, and I'm pretty sure that the sun will be lighting it up by the time I get there.  Might as well stop and check it out in the daylight to see what it is all about.

When I pulled into the parking lot, it was completely empty which was a great thing!  The truck was all alone, and parked underneath a red, white, and blue banner that was undoubtedly still hanging from the Fourth of July.  The store itself, looked like a slice of Americana as well.  The best part...the sun was lighting it all up, and it was ready to be photographed!

A Patriotic Step

I parked near the road so I wouldn't get in the way of any potential shots, and started to build the camera.  I decided on using my 24-70mm which is one of my best lenses for automotive work.  I added an intensifying polarizer to make the colors pop and to remove some of the glare from the glass of the truck.  As I was building things, I saw a deputy pull in and park to the left of the truck skipping only one space.  Well drat!  So much for having the parking lot to myself.  He went to the door and waited before being let in by the store employee.  As this was going on, another car came into the parking lot and pulled to the opposite side on the other side of a median.  Things were getting crowded, and I needed to get these pictures done quickly before I lost the chance.

The exposure was difficult to say the least.  The truck was black, and it was sitting in front of a brightly lit white store front.  I needed to keep detail in both the darks and the lights, and quite frankly, this was going to be hard.  I had dialed the camera back to 100 ISO which was where I was most comfortable, and had the most control over the noise in the image.  I started working on compositions that I thought would work, but none really captured the truck and the banner to the rear.  I finally got in close and went kind of wide with the lens to capture a front quarter shot.  This was the best vantage point I could find, but I wasn't sure if everything would expose correctly or not.  The histogram looked good, and I was thinking that I had a complete range of tone information in the digital negative.  It was going to be up to Lightroom to pull the details out from here.

Bold

I've always enjoyed the "face" of these old vehicles, and each one of them has a personality.  Because of that, I decided to get a straight on, in your face kind of shot.  I wanted to showcase the red pinstriping on the grill slats, and put the banner right over the truck.  I flipped the camera on its side, and dialed in a composition that really highlighted the front of the truck.  Knowing that I was going to have a real hard time with the exposure, I decided to give this one the HDR treatment, and I shot 4 frames at different exposures.  When I blended them in Lightroom, it turned out pretty darn good.  There was still plenty of contrast, and not much in the way of the typical HDR look which I was quite happy about.  It was just an honest, clean image with lots of detail to work with.  I do have to admit though...it was strange working with a truck in this good of a shape.  I'm very used to rust and dust.  This was a nice change of pace, and fit right in with thinking outside of the box.

When I got home, I had shot a total of 91 frames since first light.  Considering that I had done multiple panoramas and an HDR image, that was still a bunch of pictures for a short amount of time with the camera.  I was figuring on maybe three or four images when everything was all said and done.  I was really surprised to have six out of the bunch that I really liked, and then Toni added another three to the bunch.  What can I say, it was a successful day at Doughton Park!

Winter is Back With a Vengence

Saturday, March 11, 2017

For the past month now, North Carolina has seen temperatures in the lower 80's for several days.  Average temperatures have been in the low to mid 70's.  In short, we have been having a wonderful Spring.  Early this week we were still in that trend, but the long term forecasts were calling for lows in the 20's over the weekend with snow in the forecast...SNOW?!?!?!?  I was wearing shorts washing the vehicles just a week ago.  As the week marched on, I kept an eye on the weather and saw that there was more and more evidence that winter was going to be paying a return to the state as predicted.  The change in weather was going to happen on Saturday, and that worked out just perfect for me!

Looking at the hourly, there was going to be partial cloud cover in the morning, followed by increasing clouds later in the day, with snow developing in the mountains by afternoon.  That was setting up the potential for some really good weather patterns to develop.  It had been a while since I was able to get out with my camera, so I decided that I would made the best of the situation and head out early to catch what I could of the sky.  All that was left was to determine where I was going to be going.  Sunrise was looking promising, although quite cold.  My destination was about as scientific as a coin toss, and I just randomly selected Doughton Park.

Doughton has always been a favorite of mine, but after several attempts, I have not gotten a really good sunrise shot from there.  There is a lot to work with, which makes it fun to stroll around regardless of an early morning light show.  I had high hopes for creating a really good picture here this morning.

When I woke up at 3:30, I checked the weather which was still holding constant with what I had seen before going to bed.  It was going to be a matter of luck to get the right sky, but I had no chance of capturing a sunrise if I stayed in bed.  I went ahead and got up and ready to go.  By 4, I was on the road with hopes of getting to Doughton by 5:30 which would give me plenty of time to get set up for the sunrise.

Night Slips Away

When I arrived at the park, I couldn't help but notice that the forecasted 40% cloud cover was generally lacking.  I was losing hope for my sunrise, but went ahead and parked the truck and opened the door.

WHAT FRESH HELL IS THIS?????

I was instantly hit with a wind that could only be described as "frikkin freezing!"  Fortunately, I was prepared for the cold and had several layers on.  They weren't enough.  I opened the back of the truck and pulled my gloves from inside of my camera bag.  That should keep my fingers functioning.  I grabbed my bag and my tripod and started out to see where my best vantage point was going to be for the sunrise.  Looking at the clouds (or lack there of), I decided to go to my favorite tree at the top of the hill.  I figured if I couldn't get any real color in the sky, I could at least get a strong silhouette.

As I was walking up the hill, I found myself getting colder and colder.  I was losing feeling in my fingers...even with my gloves on!  This was going to be brutal, as the wind was cutting right through my clothes.  When I arrived at my spot, I found there to be barely any clouds to work with.  Knowing that the wind was moving with a purpose, I was hoping that in the next hour it would blow some clouds my way, so I went ahead and set up.  I decided to go with my 24-70mm lens along with my Lee Filter Holder in case I needed to use any ND grads.  I got down low so as to put the background clutter beneath the ridge and simplify the image.

In order to see how the composition looked, and to accurately judge the color intensity, I fired off a 30 second test shot of the tree.  There were 3 more that followed before I decided that this was going to be a lost cause as the color was fading fast.  I started looking for something else that I could anchor the sky with which might be a little lower.  As I was looking, I was just not happy with anything...until I happened to look over my shoulder.  Hey....what's that?

There was a nearly full moon which had been up all night long.  I have never had much luck shooting the moon, so I hadn't really given it much thought.  However, I was standing there looking at this HUGE moon setting over the mountains.  It was positioned nearly perfectly in the cradle of the ridge.  It was dropping fast, and I knew that I couldn't get it with the current lens which would cause it to be rendered very small in the frame.  I needed reach...and I needed more than my 70-200mm would provide me.

I went back to my bag and started to move things around so I could do a lens swap.  This was when I realized that my numb fingers were going to pose a slight problem manipulating the equipment.  I had to take my gloves off in order to have a chance of not dropping anything.  I fished out my 2x extender which went on first.  Then my 70-200mm was attached to that, giving me an effective reach of 400mm if needed.  I buttoned the 24-70 back up and mounted this ridiculously long camera back to the tripod.  I set up my position, and framed the first shot.  The moon was right at the ridge, so I focused really quickly and fired off the shot.  The exposure looked to be dead on, but I wanted to try to lighten it a little bit.  I got ready to fire the second shot, and once I released the shutter, I saw that the moon was already more than half way below the horizon.  The LCD review confirmed my suspicions...too late.

Dragon's Breath

The second one might have been too late, but the first shot really came through.  I honestly wasn't sure what to expect looking at it through the LCD, but when I started to edit it at home, I was quite impressed with it.  For being a quick grab shot, it turned out fantastic.  I loved the magenta hues under the clouds, and the way the moon lit up the haze was magical.  There was enough exposure in the foreground that there was plenty of depth to the image, and composition was pretty strong.  I ended up shooting this at 370mm which allowed me to render the moon as big as it shows.  So many moon pictures have been post processed to make the moon look bigger than it actually was which is photographic cheating in my book.  This is the real deal image, and for that I am very proud!

With the moon now far gone from the sky, I turned my attention to the sun again.  There were some nice clouds in the sky, but they just refused to settle over something that I could use for an interesting foreground.  I tried many shots where I loved the clouds, but ultimately the shots failed to meet my expectations.  With the color fading around the sun, I once again turned to the rear.  I noticed that there was actually some alpenglow starting in the sky, which I would be happy to make use of.  I quickly found a small rock outcropping that would catch the morning light here shortly, and I set the camera up.  I found that I had to leave the 70-200mm lens on (I had taken the extender off after the moon shot).  I could no longer manipulate the lens as my hands were absolutely frozen.  The sad thing was, I had been using chemical hand warmers since setting up for the sunrise.  Those warmers were now in my gloves, and my fingers were still throbbing.

Alpenglow Over Doughton

The wind did not ease up at all, and I was really starting to wonder if I would be able to break the camera down when I was done without getting in the truck and running the heat...yes, I've had to do that before.  That was going to be a problem for the future.  Right now, I needed to make pictures, and that meant I had to make due with what feeling I had left in my hands.  Once I was satisfied with the alpenglow shot, I moved off of the ridge to try and get out of the wind.  The rising sun was feeling very nice on my frozen body, and I made a conscious effort to stay on the side of the ridge with the sun.  I also found that there were some interesting clouds finally developing in the sky on this side.

After a little looking, I found an area with a few trees that I could use as an anchor for the clouds.  I got things set up, and figured that I would go ahead and fit a polarizer to the long lens to add some contrast to the clouds.  This was no easy matter with numb fingers.  Somehow I manged to get the adapter ring and the polarizer on without dropping anything.  I probably could have swapped the lens at this point, but I decided to keep the same one attached to minimize my fingers being exposed to the elements.

Slow Start

Because of my lens choice, I had to do a little bit of backing up in order to get everything in the frame.  This was fine by me, because keeping the wide end at 70mm kept the distant mountains a little more prominent which was very desirable for this shot.  I was pleased that there was still a little color in the sky just below the clouds.  It balanced the warm tones of the grass in the foreground, but I was going to have to wait until the sun actually cleared the clouds and lit the foreground before I could take advantage of that color element.  Fortunately, I didn't have to wait very long, and the sun lit everything up quite nicely.  So well in fact, I was able to dial down the exposure in the sky and keep everything evenly exposed without having to fumble with an ND grad...my fingers were very appreciative!

Evergreen Cluster

I found one other group of trees that seemed to be situated with a perfect natural balance.  I went ahead and framed those up nice and tight, using the clouds as a supporting element for the trees.  I had to wait for this one as well because the sun was behind the clouds when I first got the shot set up.  Once it escaped the clouds, the magic light was on.  This isn't my typical shot, but I'm actually quite pleased with how it turned out.  I was also quite pleased that I was starting to be able to feel my fingers once again.  The warmers were starting get my hands feeling right.  I was sure glad I had them, cause without the chemical warmers, I would have had to give it up.

It was time to get off the ridge and see what else the park had to offer.  My nose was feeling a little frost bitten, and I didn't want to push my luck any more.  My slow hike back to the parking lot gave me time to look around and find where the clouds were.  There were some interesting ones over to the North, and I worked my way to that end of the parking lot.  It took a little doing to find a workable composition to get these clouds though.  There was just not that much in the foreground for visual interest.

Prime Real Estate

What I settled on was a close range with a cleared out section for a green roofed cabin.  It was balanced out with a bunch of evergreens, and that made my foreground.  The layers and textures of the other ranges provided the path through the image, and then the distant peaks under the fading clouds.  At least there was still a little bit of color left in the sky at this point, but it was all but gone when I shot this frame.  I didn't make but a couple of exposures here because I didn't have a lot of faith in the outcome, and the light was fading too fast to do multiple compositions.  After about 5 minutes, I picked up and headed back to the large meadow going to Alligator Back.

I have spent a lot of hours in this meadow, primarily shooting this one tree smack dab in the middle of the field.  I don't know why I like it so much, but I always stop and make a few exposures here.  Sometimes I like the pictures, other times, I trash them all.  Today, was a day that I didn't have much hope for this old tree.  There were no clouds in the sky for visual interest.  It was just a tree, and clear blue above.  I kept framing shots that had too much grass below the tree, or too much blue above it.  If I narrowed the field of view, I lost the balancing element of the other bunch of small trees to the left.  I wasn't liking this at all.  I started to pick things up and continue my hike...then it hit me.

Doughton Meadow

I have been working on a new editing technique that allows me to shoot panoramas.  I haven't done many of them yet, but I instantly saw the potential here.  It provided me with the option to include the tree, as well as the other grouping of trees in the distance.  I could eliminate the extra sky and grass as well using the elongated framing.  I decided to set this up as a simple two shot pano.  It took about a minute to get both images, and I felt pretty confident that I had something usable with those.  I still would have liked to have a bit more interest in the sky, but occasionally, I find that the negative space provided by the blue sky works.  In this situation, it actually balances nicely with the generally simple meadow below.  There is a great color balance here as well between cool and warm tones.  I'm actually quite happy with this one...more so than other ones I've shot here previously.

I was starting to feel lucky now.  I had a few images I was excited about stored away on my memory card.  I wanted to add some more.  I looked for other things that I could shoot that would take advantage of the stark blue sky.  I mean, let's face it...this is North Carolina, and Carolina Blue skies is what we are all about.

Agonizing Reach

What I found was on the edge of the meadow.  There was a bare tree that was rather sun bleached.  It was standing over a nice green tree for balance.  I wanted this tree, and I actually saw it in monochrome originally.  I love how the blue sky renders as a dark tone with a red filter in black and white.  I composed the image for the maximum impact, and dialed in the right amount of darkening with my polarizer.  It was a simple shot, and only needed one other shot to try a tighter composition.  I didn't like the tight shot at all once I got home.  The Black and White conversion, went off without a hitch.  I didn't even need to massage any of the tones...it was perfect as it was.

Agonizing Reach in B&W

An interesting side story about this tree.  I had talked with Toni about a project that I would like to do at some point with her.  In this project, I am going to attempt to depict in my photographs what it is like for somebody with Bipolar Disorder.  There are many emotions that come with BPD, and they tend to be rather extreme.  In an attempt to more fully understand what she is going through, I am going to try to listen to her cues, and take guidance from her about what pictures to take, and how.  When I saw this tree, I thought about depression, and how prominent it can be in someone's life.  Even when surrounded by happy things like a clear blue sky.  Hey, it's a start, and I did it without guidance from my muse.  It does let me know that there is potential to my idea.  It is just going to take a long time to really put the collection together.

I continued my hike over the ridge and towards Alligator Back.  The sky wasn't looking good at all in that direction so I decided it was time to head back to the truck and get mobile again to look for something else to shoot.  As always, I took my time going back and looked for any other possible subjects to shoot.  I saw a few, but none of them really worked enough to even turn the camera on.  However, when I got back to the truck, I looked at the fence right behind where I had parked.  It lead to a tree...one that I had photographed several times before.  I liked how the shadows were playing across the ground, and there was a little bit of cloud cover above.  Why not?

Receding Shadows

Well, I left my 70-200mm on since I wasn't quite sure how this would turn out.  I had to back up a good bit, but I found that I was able to take full advantage of the strip of clouds by shooting at 70mm, and no wider.  It is a relatively plain shot, but I like how it turned out.  The shadows, fence, and the clouds seem to point to the tree.  The sky is a beautiful shade of blue as well.  It was good enough to make it into the keeper stack from the day.

I wasn't sure how many keepers I had, but I had shot about 65 frames at this point.  I was hoping that the sky would get more interesting as the day went on.  I had supplies to keep me out there till sunset if conditions developed as I was hoping for.  I pointed the truck South and headed down the Parkway to see what I could see.  It was actually the only direction that I saw clouds, and when I have my camera, I tend to chase the clouds.

I stopped at several overlooks that looked promising only to find that there was really nothing there for visual interest in the current lighting.  The clouds were marginal at best.  I might not have been finding anything, but at least I was riding in style.  I'm really liking this 4Runner for my treks.  The only problem I've found with it is the roofline.  It is very hard to see out and up when chasing clouds.  I'm sure I'll get used to it in time, but the Tacoma had a much better viewing angle of the sky.

The roofline wasn't my only problem.  Remember when I said that there was snow in the forecast?  Well, it was scheduled to start around mid afternoon in the mountains.  I wasn't worried about that, and I was actually kind of looking forward to it.  Well, the park rangers weren't sharing my enthusiasm for the pending weather.  Much to my surprise, I started to see rangers going up and down the parkway with their blue light activated, and they were starting to close up the gates.  Hmmm, maybe they knew something I didn't know.  I was hoping that the path ahead would stay clear....but it wouldn't.

I ended up having to turn around on the Parkway just before 321.  I was then forced off of the Parkway at Aho Gap, which put me on 321.  I guess that was the end of that.  I wasn't wanting to play find the Parkway at this point.  I figured I would just head home the long way and look for barns and old cars instead.

As I was heading down 421, I turned down a road where a friend used to live and I recalled there being some old homes out that way.  Most of it had been cleaned up, and I wasn't finding anything promising to shoot.  I ended up on Bamboo Rd which I remembered intersected on the Parkway.  I had been watching a couple of really interesting clouds overhead, and decided that my best chance to shoot them would be from an overlook.  I went ahead and got back on the Parkway, headed South.  I seemed to remember that the next gate would be past the 421 exit, so I had a little distance to travel.  

The clouds were looking really cool, but every time I found a place to shoot them, they would change up, and I would lose the visual interest in the sky.  It wasn't until I stopped at the Grandview Overlook that I found the clouds I wanted.  This is a very popular overlook, but one that I have a hard time shooting from due to weak foregrounds.  The sky was just too good to pass up though.

I set the camera up with the 70-200mm lens to reduce time.  I also wasn't going to be needing much in the way of a wide angle since I didn't want to capture the recently bushwhacked edge of the overlook.  I found interesting peaks on the mountains and composed them with interesting clouds, but I wasn't happy with any of them.  I probably shot 15 frames without actually getting happy over one of them.

I stopped for a moment and asked myself a very important question.  "What was I wanting to capture here?"  For a photographer, that is probably the single most important question that can be asked.  It was...for lack of a better answer...the "Grand View."  I wanted to capture the epic sky over the vast rolling landscape.  That was not going to happen in a standard ratio photograph.  I was going to need to shoot a panorama for this to really make sense.  I estimated my edges, and figured out exactly how I wanted things composed.  I flipped the camera on its side to shoot portrait, paying close attention to where the horizon was.  I also made sure that I was going to capture the clouds that I wanted.  It was then time to make the exposures...five of them to be exact, keeping the exact same focus point and exposure for each frame.  It took about 90 seconds to get all five shots done.  Looking at the LCD, I could only tell that the exposure was right.  The composition was going to have to be checked when I got home and put all of the images together.

An Epic View

When I got the images stitched together, I was in awe.  My Grand View had been captured epically!  I'm really starting to get the hang of this panorama thing, and I'm seeing a lot of potential to it.  I'm starting to think that I actually see more in a panoramic fashion, which is directly opposite of what I have thought for the longest time.  I'm really looking forward to playing with panoramas more often, especially when Spring fully hits.

My epic panorama was the last shot of the day.  I came to the end of the Parkway, and since I was needing to get gas soon, I decided to work my way home.  While I didn't get anything that I expected to get on this trek, I have to say I'm very pleased with what I did capture.  Once again, I'm stretching my creative boundaries and I'm finding that I have several tricks up my sleeves that I never even knew about.

I also found that the heater works phenomenally well in the 4Runner!!!

Halloween at Old Salem

Monday, October 31, 2016

For a little more than the past month, I've been concentrating on the mountains of NC for photography.  Of course, this is largely due to the season, and the chance to see the leaves changing.  This has taken a large toll on my time over the weekends, but has been very much worth it.  With the color about gone in the mountains, I can start setting my sights closer to home now.  Since I worked all through the previous weekend, I did not have the chance to get out at all with the camera.  Ironically, with the actual work week starting back up, I found that I had a little bit of time in the evening that I could get out real quick and hunt some pictures.  The sky was a little boring when I left work, but the hourly forecast gave me some hope for some decent skies right before sunset. 

For some reason, I had been thinking about Old Salem, which is a historic location about five miles from home.  I don't normally think about going here much any more, so that was strange.  I've been to Old Salem several times over the years and found some moderate scenes that I could shoot, but overall, I was never overly impressed with the layout.  One thing that I have found over the years is that the Fall colors seem to be pretty vibrant there, if nothing else.  With questionable weather, and limited daylight, I went with my urge to go to Old Salem.

Autumn in Old Salem

When I arrived, I was less than excited about things, but there was something pulling me into Old Salem.  I've learned over the years that there are times when I get strange urges to go places with the camera.  When I listen, I'm usually rewarded with some pretty good pictures.  Considering how tired I was, I was actually in a pretty creative mood, and I was ready to try some new things.  One of the first streets I came to had some very nice color in places.  I happened to find a nice rustic gunsmith shop in close proximity to a bright yellow tree.  This would be my first shot of the day.

In the spirit of trying new things, I decided to use different glass than I would normally think about for this scene.  While I have always used my mid lens (24-70mm), I decided that I would go with my telephoto 70-200mm instead.  This would give me a different perspective, and would help to emphasize the background as much as the foreground.  I added my Singh Ray Intensifying Polarizer to help bring out the color in the tree as well.  Because of the reach, I had to set up a fair distance away from my composition.  While this felt strange, the image that I was seeing in the viewfinder was well worth changing things up.  I was instantly excited about how this Trek was going to turn out!

Fireball

Once I left the street scene, I was really hunting Fall color.  I started to look for individual trees that were set apart from the others.  It wasn't long before I found a lone tree, a maple, I think.  It was close to one that I had shot before that really has a vibrant color to it, and it is also right over a bench.  Unfortunately, that tree was still 90% green, and did not look all that special today.  The one close by, however, was in full color, and had a little bit of character to it.  It was worth grabbing a few shots of.  I left the camera set up the way that I had it for the last scene with the telephoto, and color intensifier.  I worked on a composition that utilized a fairly uncluttered background, while finding an angle that showed the trunk, while not letting too much of the sky through.  That really narrowed my possibilities, but when I found the sweet spot, I knew I had it.  Thinking back to one of my new photography mentors, Josh Cripps, I decided to fill the frame with what I liked.  In this situation, I loved the colors of the leaves.  That was what filled the frame for this composition.  The fallen leaves provided a much needed balance to the bright leaves still on the tree, and I really like the composition here.

The Hidden Face

Just in case I thought that the leaves were too much when filling that much of the frame, I cropped in a good bit, and used the leaves to frame the tree trunk.  As I was focusing in on the trunk, I happened to notice something kind of spooky though.  Maybe it was the fact that I was out on Halloween night, or maybe I'm just a sucker for the macabre...but I was looking at what appeared to be a rather dramatic skull in the bark.  There was an eye, nose, and a creepy, grinning mouth looking to the right of the picture.  It wasn't until I started to look at this in detail that I found a second, smaller skull below.  If nothing else, this photograph gets an emotional response from me, and I see a certain animation in this static image.

With the light quickly changing, I decided that it was best for me to keep moving rather than stay one place too long.  I continued on through Old Salem figuring that my ultimate destination would be the cemetery where there is usually a very large yellow tree right smack in the middle.  That was what I was looking for, but I told myself that I would not pass up other shots along the way.

Lavender Bouquet

One scene that I came upon was the Single Brother's House (If I'm not mistaken).  I've shot this building a number of times, but never quite like this.  Today, I was drawn in by the purple bush at the corner.  That was really all that grabbed my attention.  I thought about shooting the entire building, but the sky was generally overcast and not all that interesting.  The building was also big enough that the size would reduce the scale of the flowering bush and make it barely a supporting player in the final composition.  So, what I decided to do was leave my camera as it was, and shoot a tight composition using the building as a backdrop instead of a primary element.  I was able to use a deep green bush as a counter element, and there was enough warm tones in the picture to give it a bit of visual drama.  I wasn't quite sure I liked this one, and I asked Toni's opinion before I gave it my final blessing.  She really liked it, and since I value her artistic opinion, I decided I liked it too.  Again, today was about doing things different than I normally do them.

As it turned out, there was a little garden on the other side of the street with a small house on the other side of a fence.  It was mostly obscured by the vegetation and the fence, but there was something very German about the scene, and I liked what I was seeing.  I decided to give it a try with the camera and see what I could come up with.

Humble

There were two things going in my favor for this image.  The sun was low in the sky, and was positioned over my left shoulder.  This provided a nice warm hue over the scene, and helped to brighten the house.  Second, the trees behind it were big enough that I could exclude the sky which was still rather boring.  With my tele lens still on the camera, I started composing shots.  I found that horizontal worked best for this particular subject, and grabbed a number of variations before deciding that the sun was dropping too low in the sky to keep the warm tones on the house.  I decided to head back into the main section and keep looking while working my way to the cemetery.

As I was walking, I happened to look to my left.  At first all I saw was a white fence, but as my eyes started to explore the scene, I found a really nice tree framing what was almost a pink tree.  I stopped in my tracks and heard Toni saying I had better shoot that.  It was more of a squeal, but I got the message and started to look at the scene, trying to imagine what she was seeing.  Yes, even when she is not actually with me, I know her well enough now to know what kind of pictures she likes.

Dream Catcher

There was a lot here that I wanted to capture.  I really wanted to keep the tree as dominant as I could, and I wanted to keep the power of the fence in tact by photographing it as completely as I could.  The colors would be a soft textured background for the scene.  In order to do this, I figured that I would actually need to keep the telephoto lens on, and would need to zoom in a pretty good amount.  As it turned out, the composition I liked the most was with the lens racked to a full 200mm, with me standing across the street.  This is really different than the way I would normally shoot this type of scene, but I found that the resulting composition was yards away better than I was expecting.

With the 200mm zoom, my depth of field was very shallow.  In order to expand it to where I needed it, I stopped down to f/20 (to maintain sharpness, while expanding depth of field), and focused about a quarter of the way down the fence.  With an exposure of five full seconds, I had to wait until the breeze died down as much as possible before tripping the shutter.  The resulting image had several nice surprises.  First of all, the depth of field was not quite front to back sharp.  There was a noticeable softness to the background as the leaves fell out of focus.  The lighting was not so much difficult as it was atypical for me.  The scene was essentially backlit so the leaves carried with them a certain vibrance, and glow which contrasted beautifully with the shadowed tree trunk.  There was also the contrast between the white fence and the dark wood of the tree.  The fallen leaves introduced a wonderfully warm foreground which helped to make the colors in the trees pop.

When I started to look at this picture critically, I found that I loved everything about it.  The soft focus in the leaves, along with the back light, gave the scene an ethereal tone, and the shape of the tree was holding those leaves so gently.  The fence was there as an obvious barrier, but for some strange reason, did not provide a visual obstacle to go deep within the image.  However, the assumption can be made after seeing two sides of the fence, it is designed to keep things in.  All of this worked together and made me think of a dream.  Knowing that Toni has always put a lot of emphasis in her dreams, and has expressed an interest in dream catchers, the title almost created itself.  Yes, this one was Toni's picture from the beginning, and remained right up to the finalized title of the print.

Main Street

Shortly after I shot Dream Catcher, I continued on to the cemetery and found that the tree I was looking for was still very much green.  Not wanting to bypass any more potentially good images, I returned into the main portion of Old Salem.  I stopped to talk to a resident for a few minutes, who gave me a bit of a history lesson before I continued on looking for other scenes.  The sun was dropping fast, and the sky was not looking like a sunset was going to be all that possible.  However, I decided to stick it out for a bit instead of packing it in just yet.

I'm glad that I did because I found that there were a few places where the street lights were throwing a pretty glow on the buildings.  I happened on one of these lights and decided that it was worth grabbing a few frames.  After a quick read of the scene, I decided that I needed to swap glass, and go with my 24-70mm lens, and I needed to shed the polarizer due to the low light.  I quickly got into position and composed this shot as the opening exposure.  I would try a few more in the horizontal orientation, and a few additional in a portrait orientation.  When it was all done, my favorite was my initial composition as far as balance and color.  Again, it was not my typical picture, but I really enjoyed the process and result of shooting this one.

With the end of the day quickly approaching, I struck out to see if I could take advantage of the sky which was starting to get some really good texture to it.  The sun was down, so I didn't have long to find something, and that meant that I might not be able to be too picky.  As I passed by the tavern, I noticed the woodshed behind was lit up from the inside, which was really cool.  But even better was the fact that the sky was fascinating above it, and the wind was moving the clouds towards me, as opposed to moving side to side like they normally are.  I set things up quickly, knowing that I had about five to ten minutes before the light was gone.

Woodshed

In order to capture the sky, I left my 24-70mm lens on, and set up low to the ground.  This allowed me to angle the camera up and into the sky.  The clouds were moving fast, and with a 20 second exposure, I was hoping to see some movement in the sky.  There was no time for any filters for this shot, I just composed, and exposed.  Looking in the LCD, I was pretty sure that I had a winner, but can never be sure looking at the desaturated and flat image that the image review shows.  It was not until I got home and started to process the image that I was able to realize the scene that I had previsualized when I came upon the woodshed.  There was drama, action, texture, mood, and it all played together so nicely.  Again, this was not a typical image for me, and I was very lucky that there were lights on since I did not have a flashlight in order to light paint the shed.  The highlights and shadows were a natural marriage, and the sky was the glue that kept the whole image together.  I'm hoping to shoot more images like this one in the future!

With the woodshed now in nearly total darkness, it was time to head back home and get some dinner.  I kept thinking to myself that I really felt like this was a largely successful Trek even though I only shot 40-some frames in a couple of hours.  It wasn't until I was done processing that I realized just how successful this outing had been.  With eight images deemed keepers, I was well over my standard 10% keeper ratio, and just about every image was shot in a different flavor than I normally do.  It is fun to keep things fresh, but when it comes to photography, it is always so much easier to keep things in your comfort level so you don't stand the chance to miss that one great shot.  By experimenting, I have found out that I might not get the typical image that I like, but I'm finding so many other approaches to the same old scenes.  Honestly, I'm really liking the different feel that my photography is starting to take these days.  It is a constant struggle to kick myself out of my own ruts, but when I do, I'm overwhelmingly impressed with the results.

As it turned out, I did very good listening to myself when I decided to go to Old Salem.  Everything I shot today was done in a different fashion than how I usually do business, and that paid big dividends in the end.  Now to pick what images go in the gallery!