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Showing posts with label falls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label falls. Show all posts
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Vol. 1 No. 47
The cool wet weather we've been experiencing is accelerating the changing autumn colors. IloveNY.com's foliage report shows NYC and Long Island at a 25% color change, and yellow, orange and red leaves of average brilliance. Expect the City to reach peak within the next 10-14 days at most. Colors are peaking in the Rockland and Westchester counties. With a great variety of broad-leaved trees, you can always expect a spectacular color range to photograph.
Here are a few tips to help get you out capturing the autumn colors.:
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Here are a few tips to help get you out capturing the autumn colors.:
- Best time to photograph - during the last hour before sunset when the reds and oranges really pop.
- Best weather - I find overcast days to be the best when photographing the autumn colors. It's like using a giant diffuser, the clouds soften the light. Rain should not deter your shooting. Just purchase or make a rain drape for your camera and you'll capture some stunning images.
- Use a polarizer - Capturing bright fall colors are dramatically enhanced through the use of a polarizing filter. It will help reduce reflections and make the colors look more intense.
- Use a tripod - Don't make me state the obvious. A steady camera equals sharp images. Makes sense, right?
- Experiment with your white balance - Don't rely on "Auto" white balance or you could lose out on some of the vibrant colors presenting themselves. Try warming thing up a bit by setting your WB to "Cloudy."
- Underexpose - I prefer to shoot at a 1/2 stop or more under to increase the saturation of the scene.
- Color contrast - Look for bright red and orange leaves against evergreens in the background.
- Try shooting macro - Focus on a single leaf or a cluster of colorful leaves and highlight the detail. Macro photography will force you to pay very close attention to your depth of field.
- Focus on more than just leaves - pumpkins and other gourds abound along with bushels of freshly picked apples and the Halloween decorations all qualify as fall season subjects.
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Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Vol. 1 No. 46
This past weekend, my wife Roz and I took an impromptu trip to the Finger Lakes region of Western New York State. With very little pre-planning, we packed up the car and headed out on a 5 hour ride to beautiful upstate New York.
Upper Buttermilk FallsThe purpose of this last minute getaway was to photograph the numerous waterfalls in the area surrounding Watkins Glen and Ithaca.
We were fortunate to have our trusty TomTom 430s GPS nav unit along for the trip. This device allowed me to enter a list of the falls we wanted to visit and their coordinates as an itinerary. What a great feature. Here are the coordinates we used:
- Eagle Cliff Falls N42º19.908', W76º49.080'
- She-Qua-Ga Falls N42º20.683', W76º51.083'
- Hector Falls N42º25.066', W76º51.933'
- Watkins Glen State Park N42º22.05', W76º54.04'
- Taughannock Falls N42º32.133', W76º36.666'
- Buttermilk Falls N42º24.66', W76º30.799'
Taughannock Falls from inside the gorge.
Interesting fact I learned while reading roadside historical signs was that Louis XVIII of France, while in exile, sketched the She-Qua-Ga Falls. The sketch now resides in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
She-Qua-Ga Falls (Montour Falls) photographed with a Nikon 10.5 Fisheye LensTo get that "smooth and silky" look in your waterfall photography, you must conquer the exposure by slowing down your shutter speed to a couple of seconds or more. Start by setting the lowest possible ISO your camera allows. Then stop your aperture down around f/22 to restrict the light even more. Unfortunately, even with an overcast sky, you might still have too much light to slow down the shutter. In this case you will need to use a neutral density (ND) filter to reduce the light by a few more stops. I like using a 0.9 ND which reduces light by 3 stops.
Eagle Cliff Falls in Havana Glen Park
The whole point is to slow down the water so it flows through the exposure. The surrounding stationary surfaces remain sharp. Of course, the only way of achieving this is through the use of a tripod. And don't forget, when utilizing a tripod, to shut off any image stabilization or you could wind up with blurry images.
*** Next Photowalk - Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum ***
Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 10:00 AM
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Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 10:00 AM
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