Von „Uncommon Places“, dem berühmten Buch von Stephen Shore, hatte ich immer wieder gelesen. Irgendwann habe ich dann Amazon zu Rate gezogen und festgestellt, dass es das eine Buch „Uncommon Places“ gar nicht gibt. Viel mehr handelt es sich um ein Werk, das sich immer wieder verändert hat und vor allem erweitert wurde. Ende 2014 wurde die vermutlich definitive Ausgabe vorgestellt und über dieses Buch werde ich hier berichten.
kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin | Fotocommunity
There are few things in photography that people love more than dreamy sunrise shots full of bold oranges, big suns, washing waters, and burnt horizons. The dawn of a new day is a spiritually significant event as our past misdeeds of yesterday are forgotten under the promise of fresh beginnings. Sunrise also affords us some of the best light to work with in photography.
However, if you live near the coast and you plan to get up early to take some sunrise shots that involve you being in or around rocks on the water’s edge, there are some key things you must remember, especially in the cold, winter months.
This is stage one. You’ve calculated that the sun rises at 6:00 a.m., you want to get there by 5:30 to set up, it takes you 10 minutes to get there, so you set the alarm for 5:10. But be honest, it never works like this does it? The alarm goes off at 5:10, it’s cold, you’re snug in bed, it’s dark outside, you were in the midst of a dream, and you roll back over. Missed sunrise. How often do you ever jump straight out of bed at 5:10 to take photos, in the midst of winter? By learning this mistake, I set the alarm for 4:40 then give myself three hits on the snooze button to take me to 5:10. It never fails (unless it’s cloudy!!)
Think about it – you’re an avid photographer who has set up a kit to your liking with lenses, filters, batteries and your camera. You put it in your bag, put your shoes on, head to the wet, rocky location then bammo, you fall over on the freezing, slippery moss. Either you or your bag gets wet, and neither is a desired result. There’s nothing scarier than trying to keep your bag on your back and out of the water as you slip around the rocks on ill-equipped shoes.
I have fisherman’s boots that cost $ 40. They have small metal spikes on the sole, perfect for getting across the rocks, and for scurrying to new locations quickly. They’re waterproof too. Alternatively, you could try the little clamp-ons that hikers use in icy conditions. They work well too, but your shoes will get cold and wet.
The first time I brought mine I felt utterly ridiculous, like I was a miner heading down into the pits. Now, I wouldn’t dream of not having one. The convenience of having both hands free to see where you’re going, to open and close your bag, and set your camera up in the dark is without comparison. Especially if you are trying to get filters and holders attached to the ends of lenses.
Imagine this scenario: you are changing your lens out on the rocks and you put your cleaning cloth down to free your hands. There is a little bit of residue on the rocks so when you pick up your cloth and started wiping the lens, it gets coated in a film of goo. You may be able to clean the lens with different parts of the cloth (depending on the type of rock goo!) but it will likely leave most of the cloth dirty. Therefore, you will be unable to clean other lenses later on when they inevitably get hit by sea-spray.
How can I picture such a scenario? Sadly, I have lived it, and there is nothing worse than getting up early to a prime location, only to have your single cleaning cloth ruined before your shooting appetite has been satisfied, leaving you unable to do anything with other lenses that need cleaning. Now I always carry at least three cleaning implements in my bag.
Ideally, you should know exactly what you want to shoot, so you can frame the shot before you go and know where the water will be. This is not always possible, but at least you should know what the tide will be at sunrise. You might go somewhere the day before and see a perfect shot in your head, only to return at dawn the next day and find those beautiful rocks covered in two metres of water. There’s no point setting the alarm for 4:40am if the subject you want in your shot is submerged like a sunken ship.
6. Know where the sun rises. This may seem ridiculous – east you say! Well yeah, the sun rises in the east, but exactly where on the horizon will it rise for you? The angle changes every day. I once woke at 4:00 a.m. to get a shot in at sunrise only to realize after setting up that even my Sigma 10-20mm couldn’t get the sun and subject in my frame. East isn’t just east. Know exactly where the sun rises on the horizon in order to frame the shot you want.
In the wintertime, near the coast, you need something to cover your hands. But not gloves. Mittens are those cute, little gloves that have all the tops of the fingers cut off. The very reason you need mittens is to keep the tips of your fingers free to play with the camera and to get everything set up. This is very difficult with padded, woolly gloves on. Also, don’t make the mistake of buying woollen gloves, then cutting the tops off yourself. This leaves threads hanging that get longer and longer every day, and more and more annoying.
The joy of getting those early morning shots makes a perfect start to the day. Follow these tips and all you’ll have to worry about is framing that perfect shot.
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The post 7 Uncommon Tips for Winter Sunrise Photos Near Water by Iain Stanley appeared first on Digital Photography School.
Couple in Sheep Meadow, Central Park
It’s that time again when we get to burn off those holiday pounds by trudging through the snow to capture those stunning winter shots. I’ve got a few extra ones this year, so you’ll see me out there a bit more than usual.
In this article, I want to share with you a few, fairly uncommon tips that I often use, which can make the difference between an average snow photo and an epic one. Do you do any of these things?
The purpose of a vignette is to keep the eyes from falling off the edge of an image and to lead the eyes back to the center of it. With the amount of white and grey in snow photos, you generally can’t use a traditional dark vignette, since it will be too obvious and look out of place.
So use a white one! White vignettes can add a magical quality to snow photographs and can further enhance the middle-of-the-storm effect. Adobe Lightroom is the tool I use to add my vignettes and it works well.
This is such a simple tip, but it can make all the difference, as seen in the photo above.
Brooklyn Bridge at Sunset, During Snowstorm
I’m usually one to hold back a bit when retouching photos, but for winter captures I often throw all of that out the window.
When you photograph in the middle of a snowstorm, the photos will often come out grey and lack contrast and will have the streaks of snow that will give the capture a painterly texture and quality. Use this quality to your advantage and enhance this look by increasing the contrast and saturation to help the photo become even closer to the look of a painting. Over-saturating photographs is generally a bad idea, but for snowstorm scenes it can be a great one.
Compare the untouched negative below to the print at the top of the post. Enhanced color, added contrast, and a white vignette were pretty much all that was needed to completely transform the scene.
Couple in Sheep Meadow, Original Negative
If you’ve got a photograph with a lot of white snow and especially one where you have add a white vignette, further emphasize the look by adding a white mat and white frame to it. The frame will merge to become part of the effect.
Snow doesn’t only have to be portrayed as friendly, peaceful, and simple. It can often have a dark and menacing feel when captured in the right way, particularly at dusk or night.
When the light levels go down, the contrast between the white of the snow and the dark of everything else becomes further emphasized. This can lead things like tree branches to look like tentacles or mangled fingers swirling through the scene. The contrast between the beautiful quality of the snow and the menacing quality of the scene is unique and different.
Lamppost at Dusk, Central Park
I’ll admit, I don’t typically do much HDR. However, I do use it sometimes for black and white photographs and particularly for black and white snow photos. I prefer to use HDR with black and white scenes because it can add that great, textural HDR quality, without the unrealistic HDR colors. Depending on the lighting, snow can often lack texture, and the difference between the bright whites and deep shadows within these scenes can be so pronounced that it just doesn’t work well. For scenes like this, HDR is the perfect tool to make them work.
Here is a before and after, made with Photomatix, to show you an example.
Central Park Tunnel at Night, Original Negative
Central Park Tunnel at Night, HDR
And don’t forget a sled! Here are a few more snow photographs to take a look at.
Happy trudging!
Stuck Cab, 5th Avenue
Couple in Snowstorm
Carriage and Trees
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
5 Uncommon Snow Photography Tips That Can Transform Your Winter Scenes.
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