Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

ADK Forum Photo Hike Photos

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • ADK Forum Photo Hike Photos

    Well, busy weekend. Seems like I hiked a lot more than 15 miles over 2 days. Shot over 8GB of images over that time (lots of brackets of 16MB images), most in poor lighting and I haven't even filtered through more than a handful yet but here are some that I liked.

    Saturday was a great easy hike in the AMR Johnstp and Edelweiss. We kinda hit the lighting just wrong, and our overcast day turned a bit too sunny for even the diffused light provided by cloud cover. It was still very dead out there, as the trees hadn't even begun to bud. Black flies and bugs were non existent. Great day though and lots of fun to just kick back and talk photography while taking our time.

    Sunday, Aim, Caney and I headed for Crane Mountain. Our last trip there in 2000 or 2001 ended in Caney losing his pack around the lake. I listened to Aim and didn't carry snowshoes and the spur trail was covered with 4 feet of snow making the 1 mile hike an incredible post hole fest. Lesson learned from that...when in doubt carry snowshoes, and DO NOT PUT THE KEYS IN YOUR DOGS PACK!!!!

    Anyway, 2008 Crane adventure was quite nice, although covered with blowdown, and the trail was at times poorly marked, lots of route finding, and some bushwhacking to get back. Overall great day but the black flies were out, and lightly biting at times.

    Some shots:





    sigpic

    "As to every healthy boy with a taste for outdoor life, the northern forest -the Adirondacks- were to me a veritable land of enchantment." -Theodore Roosevelt

    Mountain Visions: The Wilderness Through My Eyes

  • #2
    Pico-
    That was a good solution to the problem of high light contrast between the rocks and water at Rainbow Falls. Did you use Mirror Lock-up on that shot as well as the Ausable River shot?
    Edelweiss
    BREATH OF FRESH AIR PHOTOGRAPHY Website
    Picasa Public Photo Gallery
    ADK46er #5438; CAT3500 #1745; CL50 #98; NPT Finisher

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Edelweiss View Post
      Pico-
      That was a good solution to the problem of high light contrast between the rocks and water at Rainbow Falls. Did you use Mirror Lock-up on that shot as well as the Ausable River shot?
      Edelweiss
      Yeah, I basically did the split ND filter thing on the Rainbow falls shot. I could have gone just for black shadows and exposed for the highlights but it didn't seem right even on the scene. It was always my intention to do what I did. I'm just surprised the lens was dry enough for a few consecutive frames. It was really like a rain storm in there and I fully expected to delete all 50 frames (10 brackets of 5 exposures). Any way, the voyeuristic approach I took seems to have worked for the shot. Kinda makes me want to see the rest of the falls, and I hope it makes everyone else feel the same way.

      I usually use mirror lockup (MLU) on any shot under 1/60th of a second (that is tripod mounted). It's amazing how much mirror slap robs your expensive lenses of critical sharpness. Plus, the MLU on Pentax is actually a 2 second mirror prefire, so it also gives the camera a moment to reduce any vibration I might have induced even with the cable release.

      I'm pretty sure I used it for the waterfall, I'm certain I used it for the river. The river shots were in the 4-10 second range at F/11 ISO100 and a 2 stop loss with the polarizer turned to almost full.

      I actually converted a few more this morning that I need to upload when I get home.
      sigpic

      "As to every healthy boy with a taste for outdoor life, the northern forest -the Adirondacks- were to me a veritable land of enchantment." -Theodore Roosevelt

      Mountain Visions: The Wilderness Through My Eyes

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by pico23 View Post
        Yeah, I basically did the split ND filter thing on the Rainbow falls shot. I could have gone just for black shadows and exposed for the highlights but it didn't seem right even on the scene. It was always my intention to do what I did. I'm just surprised the lens was dry enough for a few consecutive frames. It was really like a rain storm in there and I fully expected to delete all 50 frames (10 brackets of 5 exposures). Any way, the voyeuristic approach I took seems to have worked for the shot. Kinda makes me want to see the rest of the falls, and I hope it makes everyone else feel the same way.

        I usually use mirror lockup (MLU) on any shot under 1/60th of a second (that is tripod mounted). It's amazing how much mirror slap robs your expensive lenses of critical sharpness. Plus, the MLU on Pentax is actually a 2 second mirror prefire, so it also gives the camera a moment to reduce any vibration I might have induced even with the cable release.

        I'm pretty sure I used it for the waterfall, I'm certain I used it for the river. The river shots were in the 4-10 second range at F/11 ISO100 and a 2 stop loss with the polarizer turned to almost full.

        I actually converted a few more this morning that I need to upload when I get home.
        Pico-
        On my Canon XTi I have to go into the menu, locate custom function, find 07 mirror lock-up and click to enable. That's a pain but, as you said and I've been reading, a necessity to reduce vibration at low shutter speeds. When I push the remote button, once this has been set up, the mirror locks and 2 seconds later the shutter opens to take the pic. I didn't use MLU for any of my shots on Saturday and I don't have a split neutral density filter (need to get one soon). The polarizer stayed in my pack, the UV filter stayed on my lens, but I can see how the polarizer would have been useful in the Rainbow Falls shots. The shot I took close to the falls shows too much contrast between rocks and falls. I also should have reduced the shutter speed on some of the river shots. Oh well, next time!
        Thanks again to you and John for all the photo tips. Lots to learn .........
        Edelweiss
        Attached Files
        BREATH OF FRESH AIR PHOTOGRAPHY Website
        Picasa Public Photo Gallery
        ADK46er #5438; CAT3500 #1745; CL50 #98; NPT Finisher

        Comment


        • #5
          The key is always reducing contrast between highlights and shadows otherwise you have to decide which to keep since the camera (film or digital) only has about a 5-7 stop range of tones.

          Usually you can check the range by setting the exposure for your mid tone in the scene and then metering the highlights and shadows. If either is more than 2.5 stops off mid tone they will be recorded as black or white. My bumps pond shot from last weekend was a good example. The shadows are very dark because I was trying to retain highlights.

          The MLU on the Pentax models is typically an external button with a few presses to toggle through. I actually just realized this (last weekend) but using the infared remote my camera prefires the mirror on the 3 second self timer, I don't know if that is an option on the XTi and if it in fact it raises the mirror early but it might be worth checking into if it requires less menu diving. On most cameras the self timer modes are pretty easy to access.

          Oh I thought of a non complicated use for you old canon flash. If you are doing night photography and "painting with light" you can use the flash by using the "test" button to illuminate things.

          For this one I used my headlamp but you could have done the same thing by firing the flash from various angles at whatever is your foreground. It just happens that a headlamp is generally less of a hassel to carry than a flash.

          sigpic

          "As to every healthy boy with a taste for outdoor life, the northern forest -the Adirondacks- were to me a veritable land of enchantment." -Theodore Roosevelt

          Mountain Visions: The Wilderness Through My Eyes

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by pico23 View Post
            This is still my least favorite of all your photos for fwiw.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by pico23 View Post


              Wow! Both are awesome in completely different ways.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Kevin View Post
                This is still my least favorite of all your photos for fwiw.
                I know I know...but I like to do different stuff. Really what else can be done at 8:30pm in the middle of winter from the forest floor? You gotta be creative even if just for fun!

                Do you like the Stars Over The Raquette? Or just not like light painting at all?



                Thanks about the two from this weekend though. I was happy to come away with anything after the sun came out. One of my favorite quotes from Ansel Adams is something like "12 significant photos in a year is a good year". Reminds me that every outing can't (or doesn't have to) yield a great photo.
                sigpic

                "As to every healthy boy with a taste for outdoor life, the northern forest -the Adirondacks- were to me a veritable land of enchantment." -Theodore Roosevelt

                Mountain Visions: The Wilderness Through My Eyes

                Comment


                • #9
                  I don't mind the raquette shot as much, seems less contrived. I think that's the main issue - doesn't look natural. I would think trying to highlight the objects in as close-to-natural-light-as-possible would be the goal, not to literally spotlight it. Technique I was taught was reflection and reflection of flash for this effect, but that was years ago with different (inferior) gear, and intended for mostly studio setting work. I guess proper headlamp use could work, but I'd probably still only shine indirect light on the object.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Excellent photography. I really like the Aus. River shot.

                    thx for sharing
                    A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they never shall sit in

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Point well made Kevin. I don't agree, but I also like light painting a lot, just haven't done enough of it yet. However, some people hate it so I see your point.

                      I think the light looks pretty natural to me, not nuked but subdued enough, the only thing I'd change in hindsight is the forest lighting. Since moonlight isn't truly blue (but daylight balanced) I'd change that to match the headlamp.

                      But then I've had photos I thought were total crap and people love, and I've had photos I thought were great and people no one else seemed to notice. The Buck Mountain one is somewhere in the middle to me.
                      sigpic

                      "As to every healthy boy with a taste for outdoor life, the northern forest -the Adirondacks- were to me a veritable land of enchantment." -Theodore Roosevelt

                      Mountain Visions: The Wilderness Through My Eyes

                      Comment

                      Working...
                      X