Archive for May, 2009
Starry Night
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on May 26, 2009
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As I mentioned in my previous article, I spent last Thursday night and Friday morning tagging along with a private group that Gary Hart was leading. All in all there was 8 of us perched up on Sentinel Dome watching the sun go down and waiting for darkness. We were all there for the same shot; star trails over the valley.
While all that it takes shoot star trails is a dark night and a long exposure, the Devil is in the details. Focusing and composing in the dark can be a bit challenging and often the final composition ends up being a bit of a guess. Battery life and just simple time constraints are also issues. In camera noise reduction takes as long as the original exposure. In the case of this image, the exposure was 25 minutes so after noise reduction I was able to take 1 shot every 50 minutes or so. I ended up only getting two chances.
On the first try I ended up setting the wrong aperture so the result was a very dark image; too dark to salvage. After discovering my error I corrected the setting and moved to this composition. After 25 minutes of laughing and joking we all packed up and headed back down the hill; cameras still busy processing images. I didn’t get a chance to look at my image until Friday evening back in my home and was pleasantly surprised. I actually had to darken the image slightly. I was also amazed and the brightness and quality of light coming up from the valley. All in all it was a very enjoyable evening with a fun bunch of people. The only pain came when the alarm went off at 4AM the following morning. As my grandfather used to say: “You can rest when you’re dead!”
The details. As I mentioned, the exposure was 25 minutes. I was using my Canon 17-40 f/4L, at f/4, on my 5D at ISO 400. I did have to apply a standard helping of Noiseware and painstakingly removed a jet trail across the top 3rd of the image. After processing I made a quick print which is now hanging in my office.
Cheers
Below the ground
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on May 24, 2009
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Late last week I made a trip to Yosemite. Gary Hart was leading a small private group and had invited me, and a few others, to tag along. We spent much of a cold night up on top of Sentinel Dome. After getting a full 3 hours of sleep, before getting up to shoot the rising moon, the rest of the group returned to the hotel to catch a rest. I opted to head back into the park and do some shooting on my own.
As much as I like Yosemite, I abhor the crowds that come with Summer. From May to September I rarely step foot in the valley. During the Summer months I find the Yosemite high country much more inviting. Because of the approaching Memorial Day weekend I knew that it was time to say goodbye to the valley for a few months. I drove the valley loop a couple of times, stopping often to take it all in and only fired off a few shots. On of the few locations that I shot at was Fern Spring.
When I’m in Yosemite with a group I usually don’t even shoot Fern Spring because it’s such a small scene that it’s hard to get creative while you’re trying to stay out of everyone else’s way. For this shot I’m basically down inside of the spring. I had two tripod legs splayed out straight and one set straight below the ballhead. My camera is below the level of the spring so I had to use an angled viewfinder to compose the shot.
The exposure was pretty straight forward. To get the whole scene in focus I used my widest lens, a Canon 17-40 f/4L, at 17mm. From my low vantage point the wide angle lens lets me exaggerate the depth of the scene; making it seem much larger than it really is. I set the aperture at f/11 and exposed for 1/2 second at ISO 100.
Yosemite Dogwood
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on May 19, 2009
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I have a love/hate relationship with the dogwood in Yosemite. I love the delicate flowers and how the light plays off of them. When back-lit, they light up. Caught in side-light, they have amazing texture. That is the love part of the relationship. The hate component is a little more complicated.
Every year I go to Yosemite, during spring, to shoot dogwood. Generally speaking, the first week in May is usually when the bloom peaks. All that it takes to change that date is an extra week of cold or unseasonably warm weather. Since I rely on a “day gig” it is difficult for me to adjust my schedule once I plan a visit. More often than not I just miss the peak of the bloom.
This image was taken during a trip that I mentioned in last week’s article. We were in the park at the right time for the bloom but it was a very breezy day. Read the rest of this entry »
Image Honesty
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on May 15, 2009
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Last week I took a small group of enthusiastic photographers up to the top of Sentinel Dome in Yosemite National Park. The goal was to catch the moon rising over the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Using a technique that I learned from Gary Hart, I knew when and where the moonrise would occur. Getting there was a little bit of a challenge.
Sentinel Dome is an 8100′ granite dome on the South rim of Yosemite Valley. It’s a great vantage point that gives you a 360 degree view of the area. You can see some of the tallest peaks in the Yosemite backcountry and all the way to the Coastal Range to the West. Normally is a fairly short, albeit steep, hike. This time, the trip up the side was through snow. The park service had just opened the Glacier Point road a couple of days prior to our arrival so not many folks had been up there yet. Getting up wasn’t too hard, coming down was a little dicey. The view was, however, certainly worth the effort. Read the rest of this entry »
Making Lemonade
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on May 11, 2009
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Never say “how about this weather?” to a landscape photographer on a bright blue sunny day. If you do, you’ll like hear him/her groan and mumble something about clouds. Nature photography is about about dramatic light and there’s nothing dramatic about blank blue skies. It’s one of those things that you just have to accept if you spent any time photographing in Yosemite. The typical spring and summer weather patterns bring many cloudless days to the park. For a picnic on the bank of the Merced River it’s really nice. For landscape photography, not so much.
Since I spend so much time shooting in Yosemite, I’ve come to expect blue skies. If anything, I take it as a challenge. As the saying goes: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” There’s often a notion that when you shoot landscapes, you need to include sky. One strategy that I take is to minimize the sky. I’ve a number of Yosemite images with no sky at all. I subscribe to the adage “if it’s not interesting you don’t need to include it.” For this image, I did the exact opposite.
Spring Time in Yosemite
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on May 5, 2009
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Yosemite gives you many different looks, depending on the season. In the fall, the leaves are turning many of the waterfalls have stopped completely. The lack of water makes Fall the ideal time to shoot reflections as the rivers and streams slow to a trickle.
Spring is the complete opposite. Spring time in Yosemite is all about water. The falls are booming and the rivers are swollen and raging. One of my favorite things about the Yosemite spring is the Dogwood. Timing the bloom can be a bit tricky but the first week in May is usually a pretty safe bet. These delicate flowers all come out of their winter sleep nearly in unison and are all over the valley. Their delicate nature makes them especially pleasing to photograph. Every year I try to time a visit to the park to catch them at their peak. This year is no different. I’ll be heading to the park in a few days to lead a small informal group.
In addition to catching the Dogwood bloom we’ll be there to capture the lunar rainbow over Yosemite falls. I featured a picture of the even last year in a previous article. With a little luck, I should have plenty more pictures next week.
Cheers
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