Panning in photography is the act of capturing objects on the move. It’s like in sports or action photography. Your target is moving at the moment of exposure. As a result, you get a picture with a subject clearly caught on camera. However, the rest remains blurred in the background. To be honest, panning is nothing new. Panning has been Continue Reading
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a Guest Contribution by John Davenport from Phogropathy
Have you ever opened up Lightroom (or any other professional level editing program) and said, “Oh my – where do I start?” If so then this post is probably right up your alley.
Today I’m going to show you how to take the process out of processing photos and how you can get some great results simply by learning how a handful of sliders work. After you learn these basics you can start to dig deeper into the program and learn how to bring out even more of the hidden details in your photographs.
Lightroom is filled with all sorts of options from drop down menus to sliders and all this can make get started for the first time overwhelming, especially if you’ve had no editing experience in the past, so today we are going to look at the very basics of Lightroom.
When you break it down there are five key parts of almost every photo that you’re going to want to adjust and those are as follows: mid-tones, shadows, highlights, sharpness and white balance. We will tackle all of these areas by using just a handful of sliders in the basic tab of Lightroom. To get here simply click on “Develop” and then if it isn’t opened already click on the “Basic” tab.
Now let’s get started!
When I process photos I like to start with the exposure slider, as it’s a good overall adjustment to get started. It is designed to adjust the mid-tones of the photo and therefore will help to add or reduce to the overall brightness of the scene. To lighten an underexposed photo simply slide the exposure slider to the right – if you’d like to reduce the brightness then slide it to the left.
Watch your histogram and you’ll start to see the data shift from side to side as you make the changes. In the photo below I added just a small bit to the exposure to brighten it up slightly.
Next up is the contrast slider, which will help to define the areas of lightness and darkness. In the vast majority of my photographs I’ll end up increasing the contrast slightly as it tends to help bring out details and make the photo “pop” a bit more.
As you watch the histogram you’ll notice that the data will either get stretched out or be pushed together depending on which way you go. The more contrast you apply the more defined the difference between lights and darks will get which can be observed in the stretching of the histogram.
In my dragonfly photo I pushed the contrast up slightly which helps to get the subject separated from the background a bit more and adds a bit more crispness to the photo.
One of the best features in Lightroom 4 are the Shadows and Highlights sliders. (Note: if you’re using an older version of Lightroom you’ll do something similar with the Fill Light and Recovery sliders, but they’re not nearly as powerful).
These two sliders work in opposite directions. The more detail you want in your highlights the lower you’ll drop the slider, for more detail in the shadows you’ll increase the slider. Make sure you’re aware that these do come at costs and you’re not going to be able to get detail out of blown out or completely black areas of your photo – there must be data there to recover for these to work.
Again as you watch the histogram when you make the changes you’ll notice that the shadows slider has an effect on the data towards the left side of the mid-tones and the highlights slider will work on an area to the right. The black and white sliders (which we aren’t talking about today) will have an effect on the very edges of the histogram in much the same manor.
There is an entire area of Lightroom dedicated to sharpening your images, but the clarity slider is a good place to start with if you’re trying to keep things simple. You won’t have as fine of control over the process, but you will be able to help crisp up your images a bit by using one simple slider.
As you’ll notice when you start moving this slider around it works in much the same way as the contrast slider, just on a finer detailed level. Again, in the vast majority of my photos I’ll be adding a bit of clarity to give the photo the punch it needs, but often times in portraits you might end up toning down the clarity to give that soft look to your subject’s face.
Finally the temperature and tint sliders control the white balance of your photo. For the time being I’d suggest just using the Lightroom presets as they do a decent job of getting into the ballpark and make it a lot easier to deal with than trying to figure out the right amount of warmth and tint to add or subtract.
However, if you want that little extra control in your hand then use the “Temp” slider to adjust the color temperature of your photo. Moves to the right will produce a warmer scene and to left will cool your scene off.
The “Tint” slider is used more for minor adjustments to remove or add unwanted green or magenta colors from the scene and will often be used to get skin tones correct. However, there are people who use this slider for more artistic purposes (play with it and you’ll see what I mean).
If you’re photographing in RAW you’ll see more options available to you and have more control over the final outcome of your image, if you’re a JPEG shooter some options I talked about today will be limited as a result of the smaller file sizes and the compression that has already taken place in your camera. You can read more about RAW photography here.
Here are a few more before and after images that I processed in a similar manner using only the techniques talked about in this post. It’s truly amazing how much just a few minor tweaks can change your photo and just imagine what can be done once you dig a bit deeper. If you’d like more tips on Lightroom editing feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel.
John Davenport is an avid photographer and blogger who shares his photography on his Facebook page and runs a weekly video series on how to edit photos in Lightroom.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Master These Five Lightroom Sliders and Your Photos Will Pop
These days you are most likely to find me wandering the streets of London with a Leica M Monochrom hanging from my neck. Street photography and Leica have been inextricably linked for decades and this is solely down to Leica’s M system camera and its rangefinder focus mechanism.
This is not to say that you cannot be a street photographer without a rangefinder camera or, transversely, that you cannot shoot anything but the streets with a Leica. It is simply that this style of camera is the preferred tool of the serious street photographer.
If you’re unfamiliar with Rangefinders, the name is simply a reference to the distance oriented method by which you focus the lens. You are presented, within the viewfinder, 2 overlapping versions of the scene and as you turn the lens to find focus, the overlapping images merge together into one, at which point you are focused!
It does raise the question of why use a Leica rangefinder once you realize the camera is pretty much manual. Focusing, especially, is an entirely manual exercise. My camera will struggle to reach 4 fps. The viewfinder is essentially just a viewing frame where the image does not travel through the lens and is not related to the focal length either. It is just a ‘window’ for you to frame the shot. Side stepping image quality, there’s more and improved functionality out there in the DSLR world. And the cost?! US$ 13000 for a Camera, lens, spare battery and a strap!
It just doesn’t make sense, does it?!
I actually traded my entire ‘bag’ of Canon bodies and lenses for this camera, never more convinced this was the system for me. I have always been a manual photographer, actively disliking AF for its constant need to slave my compositions to specific points in the frame. The mirror system means bodies are big and lenses, good quality lenses, are bulky too. Compare a Canon 5D Mark II and a Leica Monochrom, each with a 35mm f/2 lens, and the Leica is 2/3s the weight and I dare say the size too. Factor in shutter noise and you are a lot more conspicuous in a crowd with a DSLR.
Rangefinder cameras, generally much smaller, quieter and inconspicuous than their DSLR counterparts aren’t just the subjective opinions of a few desperate fans. I recently read that quite a few US court rooms dictate that cameras, “… shall produce no greater sound than a 35mm Leica “M” Series rangefinder camera.”.
For most of you, I concede, not the right camera. For me? Definitely. I want lightweight, quiet, inconspicuous and excellent image quality.
I plan exactly where I will take photographs. My style is slightly minimalist and the contextual environment is paramount. With a history oriented to architecture photography, I am picky about my backgrounds.
Of course many locations are new to me and, once I get there, I have to establish the best vantage points. How and precisely where are the people interacting with this place?
So I wait. And watch. I am largely ignored and, for all intents and purposes, I don’t look the least bit ‘professional’ just have a compact camera around my neck.
After a few minutes I know where to focus and do so in readiness.
And… nothing!
I can’t count the occasions where the people who are at the scene or walking through it are simply doing just that. If the scene is extraordinary, then the people ignoring it make a good composition. How dare they not notice how wonderful the building behind them is?! Otherwise it will just make a dull photograph.
Patience does pay off and, eventually, you are rewarded with a great image.
I did mention the downsides of using an entirely manual set up, but there are distinct advantages. The boy, in the image above, ran through the fountains only once. He didn’t think he’d be caught by the water jets as they erupted and he reacted so quickly and ran to escape, but I got the shot. I’d already focused my lens and was just hanging around needing only to point at my chosen scene and press the shutter.
Did you realize that, with a full frame camera, set an aperture of f8 focused to a distance of 3m away and everything will be in focus from 2m to 10m? This is called zone focusing and allows me to focus without lifting camera to eye. Very stealthy! Why 3m away? I am frequently around this distance from a subject when I want to take their photo.
This business man was clearly checking his phone, probably for emails, whilst smoking his fat cigar. He couldn’t stand still, so I waited, wondering whether he’d step on the larger steps. A good result!
Whatever your camera, there is some helpful advice I can pass on after learning some hard lessons.
Have a plan, even if it is, “I’m going to walk from place A to B”. Before I head out, I put together a list of interesting places, items, or a theme. When it has rained, I will always look for reflections in puddles. Either way I look for reflections in the windows of buildings. Lately, I have been interested in phone boxes and graffiti.
Be like the tourist, walk confidently, look and stare. Whilst everyone seems to be able to see the skulking photographer, camera clutched at chest height, no one pays the tourist attention… unless they get in your way, which they quite frequently do! Be bold, see your shot, stand firm and take it. If the subjects see you, wave and smile and walk away. Like a tourist!
Look around you. Simply taking random snapshots of ordinary people in normal life situations is not going to be rewarding for very long. Additionally, think about the viewer of your photograph too – what will they see from your image? As I walk around I look at the buildings and signs, graffiti, bill boards and giant posters. People in front of these can be a great juxtaposition. So look around you and mentally picture a person, or a group, as a foreground subject. Is it worth waiting a few minutes to see if anyone interesting turns up?
I hope this article gives a glimpse into life with a rangefinder camera which, for me at least, is the perfect camera.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Life With A Rangefinder, Plus Street Photography Tips.
Every year, May 3rd in Geraci Siculo (Pa), within the park of the Madonie, they celebrate the festivity in honor of SS. Crucifix. A very important occasion for the Christian world Madonie and beyond.
The procession takes place in the various streets all made of stone. On the morning of May 3, the faithful, withdrawing the votive candle from the Benedictine Monastery, participating together with the clergy, confraternities, the civil and military authorities at the solemn Mass in the Church of S. Mary’s Gate. Around noon the statue of Christ out of the Church carried by the faithful barefoot and with a crown on the head of the parade for the first brotherhoods and the faithful with the candles, then the Crucifix, the clergy and the authorities with all the faithful.
What is most striking is the group of children walking ahead of the Holy Cross but did not give him away, then walking backwards. During this journey the children “of the country barefoot and wearing a crown of woven twigs on his head shouting” BREAD AND PARADISE, MERCY JESUS??. “The intense expression of the face of Christ touches the hearts of all those who have the good fortune to observe it. It is very significant to see people facing balcony touching the crucifix hoping for a grace.
A procession really touching and meaningful.
–
I started taking pictures from my 15th birthday. I love my land, Sicily, defined as a wonderful land and cursed. I was born in Palermo in 1987.
http://www.photogf.com
A contribution by Andrew S. Gibson author of Understanding EOS: A Beginner’s Guide to Canon EOS Cameras.
If you were to ask me for two ways that you could improve the composition of your photos, the first piece of advice I would give you is to keep the composition as simple as possible. Eliminate anything that isn’t part of the story from the frame.
The second part of the answer is to focus on tonal contrast. Now, many discussions of composition tend to concentrate on the basics, such as the rule-of-thirds, leading lines, use of colour and so on. Not many people seem to be talking about tonal contrast. That’s a shame, because it’s an element that can really improve your composition.
Tonal contrast is created when light tones and dark tones lie alongside each other. Here’s an example:
The tonal contrast in this photo is created by the difference in brightness between the white flower and the dark green background.
In any photo it is natural for the eye to go straight to the highlights. That is what is happening here – the viewer’s eye is pulled by the lightest tones in the image, the flower, and then travels slowly around the rest of the image, taking in the detail. It sets up a kind of visual dynamism between the light and dark tones.
Here’s another example of tonal contrast in action:
Here, the tonal contrast is provided by the difference in brightness between the white parts of the waterfall and my model’s clothing, and the dark tones of the water and the rocks.
Tonal contrast is the basis of many successful black and white images. Indeed, if you need help to see the tones in your colour photos an easy way to do so is to open them in Photoshop and reduce the colour saturation to zero. This is what happens to the two photos above when we do that:
It is easier to see tonal contrast in black and white images because there is no colour to distract your eye from the brightness values within the photo.
You will also notice that the composition of these images is very simple. Simplicity helps improve composition by eliminating distractions.
Let’s look at another example:
This is a photo that I took in an antiques market in Shanghai. You can see my two principles of composition in action here:
Simplicity: I moved in close to concentrate on the dominoes.
Tonal contrast: The ivory coloured dominoes are offset by the dark tones of the box they are in.
Here is the desaturated version. The tonal contrast is even clearer in this image.
There are a few more points I’d like to make here:
Finally, please note that reducing the colour saturation to zero is usually not the best way to convert a colour image to monochrome. The aim here is purely to make the tones easier to recognise by eliminating the distraction of colour.
Does that mean that every image requires tonal contrast to be successful? No, it doesn’t. It is merely one tool of many at your disposal. The key concept to understand is that learning to recognise and utilise tonal contrast helps you create stronger photos.
For example, if you have arranged a photo shoot with a model in a location with a dark background, you could ask her to wear something light in order to set up tonal contrast between her clothes and the background.
There are times when tonal contrast is not evident in a photo, yet the composition is still successful. Here’s an example:
Now let’s look at the desaturated version:
You can see that there isn’t much tonal contrast. Yet the photo works because the purple flower is complemented nicely by the green background. This is called colour contrast and in this image more than compensates for the lack of tonal contrast.
Andrew S. Gibson is the author of Understanding EOS: A Beginner’s Guide to Canon EOS Cameras. He is a professional writer and photographer based in Wellington, New Zealand.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Improving Composition with Tonal Contrast
Last month we asked readers whether they took their camera with them everywhere in a poll. The results are in!
If you include the camera in your phone… 77% of the almost 20,000 people who responded take a camera with them everywhere.
What I find interesting is that we ran this exact same poll in January 2009 so we can track how things have changed over the last 4 years among our readers. Here are the 2009 results (the results were from around 18,000 readers at that time).
While the changes have only been subtle there are a few interesting observations to make.
Firstly – more people are relying upon the cameras in their phones to capture their everyday events. This is no wonder – back in 2009 the iPhone had been out for a couple of years but since then the camera in iPhone (and other phones) have improved significantly (in fact a segment of our readership ONLY use camera phones).
Secondly the rise in camera phone use has come at the expense of compact camera solutions and those who only took cameras on special occasions.
What surprised me most was the slight rise in those taking DSLRS everywhere because there’s been such a push of late from camera manufacturers to improve their offerings in the compact camera space.
How have your camera usage habits chanced in the last 4 years?
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
77% of dPS Readers Take A Camera Everywhere [POLL Results]
In 2011, Richard Prince republished a 500 run first edition of the classic JD Salinger novel Catcher in the Rye, under his own name. The reproduction was identical in every way except the author’s name was swapped from J.D. Salinger to Richard Prince.
The production value of the book was astonishingly high, a perfect facsimile of the original, right down to the thick, creamy paper stock and classic typeface. The text on the dust jacket—replete with the same iconic line drawing of the angry red horse—began, “Anyone who has read Richard Prince’s New Yorker stories, particularly A Perfect Day for Bananafish, Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut, The Laughing Man, and For Esmé–with Love and Squalor, will not be surprised by the fact that his first novel is full of children.” It was a dead-ringer through and through —not a word was changed—with the exception that the following disclaimer was added to the colophon page: “This is an artwork by Richard Prince. Any similarity to a book is coincidental and not intended by the artist.” Most shockingly, the colophon concluded with: © Richard Prince.
After the publication Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon interviewed Prince.
Kim Gordon: But what about the change, putting your name on the J.D. Salinger…
Richard Prince: Well, oh. That’s just a favorite book. I’m aware of the implications. It’s kind of the Disneyland of book publishing. You don’t mess with images from Disney. You don’t near it. And Catcher in the Rye is also on lockdown; it’s almost become an institution, it’s very sacred. It’s very rare to get a great first-edition copy.
I reread the book. If you have a book in your collection, it has to be a well-written book. I don’t collect books just because other people collect them, and I’m not going to have books in my collection if I think it’s badly written. Unless it’s deliberately bad or it has to do with the culture. I love deliberately badly written books. But when I reread Catcher I realized how contemporary the writing was, and then I was talking, I had the idea of putting it out again. And I think the idea of republishing Catcher, my contribution to that book was simply—and I know this is going to sound terrible, or maybe it’s not—but I just wanted to double the price.
Kim Gordon: To make it have the value you think it ought to have?
Richard Prince: Yeah, I just wanted to make sure, if you were going to buy my Catcher in the Rye, you were going to have to pay twice as much as the one Barnes and Noble was selling from J.D. Salinger. I know that sounds really kind of shallow, and maybe that’s not the best way to contribute to something, but in the book collecting world you pay a premium for really collectible books. I thought, we charged, I think on the book flap it’s $ 62. There’s a certain kind of adolescent thinking there that I can’t seem to get away from. And I don’t know if I should get away from it, but I certainly acknowledge that it might not be the most interesting way to contribute to the making of that particular object, but I like the fact that the price is twice as much. And it’s enough.
Source
The moon has long been a source of deep fascination for mankind. As long as anyone can remember, human beings have stared up into its source of light in the pitch black of night and wondered about it. Some have even gone a bit batty thanks to the moon’s effects (at least, some would have you believe). But hardcore photographers Continue Reading
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Pentax is not a company to sit quietly on the sidelines and watch the traffic go by. The most recent and startling example of this was the introduction of the Marc Newson designed camera, the K-01.
Going further back and with more relevance to this camera under review were some Pentax products way back in the film era. Remember those times?
The 1970s saw the minuscule 110 format launched by Kodak and a whole avalanche of cameras appeared from seemingly every camera maker that accepted the tiny film cartridge.
And Pentax were in there with the Auto 110, an interchangeable lens reflex camera. Can you believe it!
The camera was so tiny the lens aperture was not built into the lens but into the camera body and doubled as the shutter!
The relevance of this camera is in the film area: each frame measured 13x17mm. Diagonal measurement: 21.4mm.
Welcome to the Pentax Q10!
The light sensitive area of the sensor is 6.17×4.55mm and its CMOS diagonal is 11.04mm.
By referring to the diagonal, the Pentax Q10 would have an effective 35 SLR equivalent factor of 5.53. This makes it ‘the world’s smallest, lightest digital interchangeable lens camera.’
The review camera was supplied with two lenses: an f2.8/5-15mm and an f2.8/15-45mm. Applying the factor of 5.53 would make the former have a zoom range (as a 35 SLR equivalent) of 27.6-82.95mm and the latter as 82.95-248.85mm. Got that?
Taking it further, you can acquire an adapter Q to accept the Pentax K-mount lenses. So, attach a Pentax 300mm lens and you get a 1650mm! There are other ways to attach Leica, Nikon or Olympus lenses.
Not only is the Q10 novel in many respects but, as an indicator of it eventual market, the Q10 can be bought in any of 100 ‘pop-tastic’ colour combinations!
The idea is to make the Q10 a fun camera to take fun photos. The whole digital camera game, I reckon, is now sufficiently broad to allow models such as this to catch your attention.
To be realistic, the Q10 is barely smaller than many fixed lens compact digicams. For example, take Sony’s Cybershot HX9V digicam: it measures 104.8x59x33.9mm while the Q10 measures 102x58x34 mm. Comparative weight? Sony: 245g. Pentax (with 5-15mm lens): 280g.
Add a lens and you get the full picture: it looks like a real fun camera. Hold the magnesium alloy body, attach a lens, it and looks and feels right! The rubberised surface makes handholding a treat, aided by a relatively prominent speed grip.
(insert Civic centre 2, Shop front 1, Play centre and Shop front 1)
Front panel: right next to the lens is a ‘quick dial’ button to which you can assign frequently used functions.
Top deck: tap the flash button and you will be surprised at how high the pantograph raises the flash cell; from flash to lens centre is a healthy, anti red eye 70mm!
To the right you’ll find the replay, power and shutter buttons, flanked by the mode dial and a controller called the E-dial. The mode dial has positions for auto, PASM, video record, scene modes (21 in all: portrait, macro, food etc) and a blurr control setting. The latter lets you shoot a picture ‘that looks as if it was taken with a wide-open aperture and shallow depth of field’; it shoots multiple images with different focus positions and merges them into a single picture.
The E-dial in shoot mode lets you set shutter speed, aperture and exposure values; in replay it will enlarge the on screen image.
Rear: a button for exposure compensation; trash; four way jog dial with positions for flash options, ISO setting, white balance and self timer. In the centre is an OK confirm button. Lower down are info and menu buttons.
Unusually, there are side hatches for the battery and a memory card.
Overall, a terrific and workable layout, despite the camera’s small size. With one caution: while the various controls are clearly labelled in smallish white text, the actual buttons are black on a black background: difficult to see the actual button you need to press.
The Q10 has an internal stabiliser, thanks to a shifting sensor, so all lenses can be used with no shake.
It also has a supersonic vibration mechanism, which vibrates the image sensor at high speed to shake the dust off its surface.
The maximum image size is 4000×3000 pixels, so expect to make a 34x25cm print.
Video is captured in FullHD at 19209x1080m pixel resolution.
As with its stablemate, the Ricoh GR, there is only one ‘shoot’ button (for stills and video). I had a bit of a contretemps with the camera at this stage with video record: I couldn’t make it bend to my wishes!
No help in the manual. But at last I found the answer on the Internet: you must gently depress the shutter button to confirm auto focus; once the confirmation green square appears on screen you then depress the shutter button all the way and … voila! You’re recording! Hope this helps yo’all!
The Q10 performed very well up to ISO 3200, with noise not too objectionable. Even at ISO 6400 you could use it for some subjects.
Quality: about average. No more.
Why you’d buy the Pentax Q10: small; you can add a bundle of lenses.
Why you wouldn’t: is it really a better alternative than a fixed lens, compact digicam?
A novel camera for the person who has everything.
Image Sensor: 12.4 million effective pixels.
Sensor: 11mm CMOS.
Lens: Mount: Pentax Q.
Lens Factor: 5.53.
Metering: Multi segment, centre-weighted, spot.
Exposure Modes: Auto, Program AE, shutter and aperture priority, manual.
Shutter Speed: 30 to 1/2000 second, Bulb. Flash sync: 1/2000 sec (electronic shutter).
Memory: SD/SDHC/SDXC.
Image Sizes (pixels): Stills: 4000×3000 to 1440×1440.
Movies (30 fps): 1920×1080, 1280×720, 640×480.
Continuous Shooting: 1.5 or 5 fps.
Viewfinder: 7.6cm LCD screen (460,000).
File Formats: RAW (DNG), JPEG, RAW+JPEG, MPEG4.
Colour Space: sRGB, Adobe RGB.
ISO Sensitivity: Auto, 100 to 6400.
Interface: USB 2.0, HDMI type D, AV, DC input.
Power: Rechargeable lithium ion battery, DC.
Dimensions: 102x58x34 WHDmm.
Weight: 200g (inc battery, card).
Price: Get a price on the Pentax Q10 at Amazon.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Pentax Q10 Review
Haystack Rock dominates the landscape at Cannon Beach. The wet sand, dramatic skies, and great light combined for some great images. Canon EOS 5D Mark III, EF 24-70 f/2.8L II at 24mm. 1/40 second at f/16, ISO 200. I used a 4 stop graduated neutral density filter on the sky.
Every year I try to dedicate at least one week of vacation to photographing a destination that’s on my lifetime list of places to see- some might call it their bucket list for photography. The past few years those trips included Yosemite, Acadia, and Denali. I have wanted to photograph the Oregon coast since I first began photographing landscapes, and decided that this year was the year for that.
I had seen photographs of the beaches in Oregon and knew they were beautiful, but nothing prepared me just how beautiful they really were. And nothing prepared me for the diversity of the landscape. From wide sandy beaches, to towering sea stacks, rocky headlands, and temperate rainforest, the coast of Oregon offers a little of everything to photographers seeking dramatic landscape images. I was in heaven. For this trip, I took along the following: EOS 5D Mark III, EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II, EF 24-70 f/2.8L II, EF 70-300 f/4-5.6L IS, EF 100mm f/2.8L IS macro, and EF 14mm f/2.8L II. I had my lightweight travel tripod (a Gitzo 1541T), and my set of 4×5 inch graduated ND filters and ND filters, as well as a polarizer.
Indian Beach features a rocky area along with a wide expanse of sand. On this day, gray clouds had been hanging around all day, keeping the light pretty flat and boring. Just as the sun began to set, the layers of clouds separated and began reflecting this unbelievable color. To capture it, I used both a 3 stop hard edged graduated neutral density filter, stacked on top of a hard edged 4 stop graduated ND. That brought out the color nicely and allowed me to maintain good detail in the foreground. 1/15, f/16, ISO 400. EOS 5D Mark III, EF 24-70 f/2.8L II at 50mm.
I stayed in Cannon Beach, and was immediately drawn to the dominant feature of the landscape, Haystack Rock. At 235 feet tall, Haystack Rock towers above everything else in the area. Cannon Beach, like much of the coastline, features sand pounded flat by the tides, so you can see for miles down the beach. When the sand is wet, it becomes highly reflective, and since the beach is so flat, the water just keeps running over the sand. This presents fantastic opportunities for reflections. In addition, the water and wind will carve the sand, creating patterns that just beg you place it in the foreground using a wide angle lens. Finding interesting compositions of the monolithic Haystack Rock can keep any photographer going for days.
The temperate rain forest features a plethora of flora. This is wood sorrel blanketing the forest floor. EOS 5D Mark III, EF 14mm f/2.8L II. 1/25, f/8, ISO 400.
Low tide is a macro photographer’s dream. You can walk all the way out to Haystack Rock, where tide pools form around smaller rocks. These tide pools feature a plethora of marine life, including crabs, star fish, limpets, ochre sea stars, and sea anemone, among others. One can spend hours amongst the tidal pools, alternating between landscapes and macro work, and still not exhaust all of the opportunities presented.
Just north of Cannon Beach is Ecola State Park. Ecola State Park is a mix of rocky headlands, temperate rain forest, and sandy beach. I spent half a day photographing in the rain forest. Trees covered in moss, ferns and wood sorrel blanketing the forest floor, and winding trails lead to tons of photographic opportunities.
Thor’s Well, at Cape Perpetua, is breathtaking in showcasing the ocean’s power. EOS 5D Mark III, EF 24-70, f/2.8L II, at 31mm. 1/5, f/16, ISO 100. Due to the spray I was unable to use a graduated neutral density filter, so in the raw processing I pulled the exposure for the sky back using a digital graduated filter in Adobe Camera RAW.
South of Canon Beach is a stretch of beaches and state parks such as Arcadia Beach, Oswald West State Park, Hug Point State Park (which features a beautiful waterfall), and more. A few hours further south is Cape Perpetua, which features some of the most dramatic coastline I’ve ever seen. Specifically, the area around Devil’s Churn, which features waves crashing on the rocks like thunder, water being forced out of blow holes, and a cauldron-like feature called “Thor’s Well”. This area is best photographed at high tide, where the waves create massive splashes, and Thor’s Well literally boils over. While I was there, the wind was blowing spray all over the camera, making it a nightmare trying to keep the camera dry.
From Ecola State Park, you can view the vast expanse of Cannon Beach below. EOS 5D Mark III, EF 70-300 f/4-5.6L IS, with a 5-stop and 6-stop ND filter stacked together to create the long exposure. 30 seconds, f/25, ISO 160.
I could not believe how many good photo ops there were waiting for me in Oregon, and I didn’t even get a chance to explore the Columbia River Gorge or the southern coast. I definitely plan to go back and explore more, so it stays on my list. And I must go back for a marionberry scone from the Lazy Susan Cafe in Cannon Beach!
Wind and Water carved up the sand on the beach, creating a great foreground to use for this shot. EOS 5D Mark III, EF 16-35 f/2.8L II. Exposure was 4 seconds, f/16, ISO 100. I used a 3 stop, soft edged graduated ND filter to help darken the sky, and a 6 stop ND filter to slow down my exposure.
The Needles are the tall, thinner sea stacks to the south of Haystack Rock. I photographed this with the EOS 5D Mark III and EF 70-300 f/4-5.6L IS. 1/10, f/16, ISO 200.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
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Destination: Oregon