You should meet Rick

Rick Wargo is a guy you should know. His job is to help people have a great time becoming fit, and he's made some terrific programs to make it happen. If you'd like a fun way to get in shape and really LIVE then you should head over to Club Sport and talk with Rick. I see him at Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce events, and it's always a pleasure. His smile is infectious and you'll be looking forward to living life more fully in no time.

Greener Grass

You know that the grass is always greener on the other of the fence, right? "If only I could go to Yellowstone, then I could make some great pictures! Or the Grand Canyon! Oh, and Europe would really free me to create..."

Well, those places are wonderful, and I could doubtless find some wonderful (if commonplace) pictures. But I find that when I get out locally and really try to find inspiration on my side of the fence, those are the times that I find pictures that are not so commonplace and much more valuable to me. 

For this picture my family and a friend headed to the beach to beat the heat in Lake Oswego...little did we know that there was no heat at the coast. The air was 60, and the water was 50 (my elbows were numb, but I gotta take advantage!) and there was mist and clouds and beach fires adding a little something more to the atmosphere. All day long I couldn't take my eyes off of this tree at Indian Beach in Ecola State Park (which is one of the most beautiful places in the USA). It seemed like one standing on it's own and not suffering for it.

Nikon D7100, 50mm f/1.4 lens, f/8, 1/250s, ISO 400, Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. From Lake Oswego, it's only an hour or so to Ecola State Park.

Now for the geek speak.

This image is a much wider field of view than you could possibly get in a single frame with a DSLR and a 50mm lens, and that's on purpose. I know that my 50mm is wide enough to get everything in, but it's the perfect lens for landscape work because it's clear and sharp and has no distortion. In order to maximize these things, I shot this as a panorama-like image.

First, I found an exposure that let me have a little detail in the clouds and nice enough detail in the dark areas, too, and set those settings in manual mode. I chose f/8 for an aperture because I wanted to make sure that I had all the important things in focus, and f/8 on 50mm focussed that far away lets practically the whole world fall within the depth of field. So I focussed on the top of the tree (with the clouds as a backdrop I was sure it was focussed on the main tree and not something else) and switched to manual focus so it wouldn't change. Ideally, I'd have the camera on a tripod, but I was going light and fast and handheld, so I used a higher ISO to allow a fast shutter speed to freeze my shake.

I then turned the camera vertical and shot three frames along the bottom of the scene, overlapping 25%, then shot three more in a row for the middle, overlapping 25%, and one more row on top. In Lightroom I made adjustments to white balance and contrast to the center image, as well as color toning, then applied those same settings to all the other images in the grid (one click with the sync button). Then I selected all the images, and chose to merge them to a panorama in Photoshop. I made sure to click the vignette control option and pressed go. A few minutes later, after PS worked its magic, I had the composite. I hit save and cropped it in Lightroom, then opened it in Nik Silver Efex for the black and white conversion. Back in Lightroom I used my special Grape Dreamcicle toning for the slight bit of color you see. (let me know and I'll share the recipe). 

Today I just got a Gigapan Epic Pro, and it makes this sort of picture automatically and I can't wait to try it!

I sure enjoyed making it. It came out just as I envisioned while being pounded by the frigid surf.

Feels Like a Flat Tire...

A few weeks ago we drove from Lake Oswego to Logan. It was a nice day, fair weather most of the way, temps in the high 70's, and about 32 people pulled over with flat tires. I've never seen so many! Everyone was getting it taken care of, and we were just crossing out fingers that we wouldn't have any trouble (it was our first trip with a kid in the car).

Well, this week is the Cache Valley Cruise-In, and three years we started a photo contest associated with it, and I've had a blast making pictures for the contest. Follow this link to see some of my previous entries. This year, however, I'm in a new place (Lake Oswego, Oregon) and still finding out all the cool things going on. Still, not going to the Cruise-In is a little like getting a flat tire.

Here's a fun one we made last year with the talented (and recently married) Jane.

Nikon D800, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II lens, f/3.5, 1/800s, ISO 800.

Working It

You know how it is: you get in front of the camera and you start working it, moving and making different poses, puckered lips, sassy eyes, a little GQ, perhaps. Well, it's different with waterfalls. When they are in front of the camera I'm the one who has to work it, hiking, squatting, rolling in damp leaves,  standing on my head--whatever it takes to get the shot. Especially at Multnomah Falls, which I've already photographed three times, I'm really trying to find a different picture to make.

And it's hard at National parks and famous places because I've seen thousands of pictures that are all really good, so finding something unique isn't always my goal. Just making a good one myself is quite satisfying, something I haven't shot. It's also hard at these places because you walk down the path and there's a beautiful picture, and you turn this corner and there's a beautiful picture...and that's it. You're not allowed to venture off the path in search of a different vantage or a fresh perspective. William Henry Jackson was the last one to shoot a unique picture of these places. Sigh.

So, I'm pretty pleased with this image I made with Mel Torrie last week because it's a view I've not made before, and it's one I've not seen, either. It's a panorama of six images using a 50mm lens tipped vertically, so it's a pretty detailed view at full resolution. 

Nikon D800, 50mm f/1.4 D lens, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 100, 6 frame panorama, Nik Color Efex Pro 4, CS6.

Are you sick of Waterfalls...?

...'Cause I'm not. Having lived in Deserts for most of my adult life, waterfalls are a fresh view that I won't soon tire of. I visited Yosemite as a kid, and falls there were impressive. Taiwan held the largest I have ever seen. Now that I live in this wonderfully lush land, I'm really enjoying discovering all kinds of waterfalls and the challenge of photographing them.

These happen to be on Mill Creek right outside the town of Prospect on the Crater Lake Highway. I've shot these before, but never shared that image online; it's my masterpiece to date, and I'm really proud of it. I may be a little scared that if I throw it out here it will under appreciated. "I'm just not sure I can take that kind of rejection."

Nikon D800, 14-24mm f/2.8 lens @16mm, f/8, 9 frame HDR, ISO 100, Nik/Google HDR Efex Pro2.

Creating this image was tricky. Last time I photographed it, I stood on the top of the cliff opposite right in the center of the frame. That was at the end of a road, and a pretty simple approach. This time I walked down a trail to access the creek, but it put me too low. See, the river falls about 100 feet in a very shoot distance right here, and it took me a long time scrambling over basalt boulders polished to glass by the stream and scaling the biggest manzanita trees I've ever seen to find a spot where I could photograph the tumble of water and the bridge without driftwood sticking straight up into the image or a boulder obstructing the view. This with my tripod and shoulder bag and my dress clothes on. Pretty fun, I must say. 

I tried hard to remember the scene as I experienced it. I don't want to visit these places and only make pictures. I want to be there, be present while I'm there, and then share an image with you that helps bring you into that instant as well. 

I used High Dynamic Range technics to create this one so that I could have both blue sky and bright sun on the bridge as well as running toffee water and detail in the shadows. HDR lets me show you the whole scene as I saw it. Less the raucous roar of the tumble, like a passing train and an airplane and a hurricane five feet away. 

Uncle John's Bridge

Actually, it's St. John's Bridge. In Portland. But there's no song in mind for "St. John's Bridge." Walking the lengths of the cables and stanchions a couple of weeks ago, though, I kept singing "Come walk Uncle John's Bridge, by the riverside. Come on along or come alone, he's come to take his children home." See, now you're singing it, too. And if you're not, you will be now (mind the language).

Nikon D800, 14-24mm f/2.8 lens @ 14mm, f/8, 5s, ISO 1000, Nik Color Efex 4.

There are a couple things about the making of an image like this I think you should know. Firstly, everyone always asks, "How do you get the rays on the lights?" I think you can do it in Photoshop, but I don't know how, and I don't know why you would when it's so easy to do. All you have to do is use a small aperture (opening in the lens), something like f/11 or f/16. In this image I used f/8, but in my experiences most lenses won't do it this well at such a wide aperture. This lens is pretty unique when it comes to these rays. For instance, the number of rays is usually the same as or exactly double the number of blades in the iris of the aperture (this is my personal observation, and I could be mistaken about the causal relationship). So, the kit lens you may have bought with your camera probably has five blades (every 18-55mm I've seen does) and they usually give off five rays on the lights. This 14-24mm lens I'm using here has nine rounded blades and there are a ton of rays! I think it looks cool. Also, you'll get more defined rays the longer the shutter is open. Which leads to the second part.

Five seconds was the shutter speed and that requires a tripod. The two of us (me and my tripod, that is; I'd love suggestions on a name for her/him...) are standing on the sidewalk making adjustments and triggering the shutter as the traffic drives by. Normally, I love to have traffic in this sort of image because it gives the streaking lines of the car lights as they drive by. But not on a bridge. Every time a car goes by the whole thing shakes and vibrates, pretty much negating the tripod (oh, for a name!). That's why this exposure is so short. I usually do these as 30 seconds with a smaller aperture and a way lower ISO. However, five seconds was the longest I could get between vehicles.

And 'C', always have a light pair of gloves in your bag; you never know how cold it will be 100 feet over the water on a long straight river in the Pacific Northwest.

Next time you're in Portland I hope you'll come down to Saaaaaaint John's Bridge, by the riverside...

Red, Gold, and Green

You know that song, right? It's a bit kookie, but it really sticks in your mind...and if you haven't seen the video--well, it's an early 80's British band, so be warned, but here you go.

What has it got to do with these colorless images I'm sharing with you here? You see, T.'s hair is hot red, and K.'s hair is blonde (gold?) and we were shooting on a beach in Oregon surrounded by the greenest greens on planet earth. "Karma Karma Karma Karma, Karma Chameleon..." See what I mean?

It was really a pleasure and an honor making pictures for these newlyweds. My wife and I were guests and photographers, so we were busy. We started by arriving early and scouting the beach to find the best place to have the ceremony; someplace with beautiful scenes and not too much noise from the surf. We built a walkway from heaps of drift wood for the bride to walk down on the way to the beach. This first image is shot on the same spot where the ceremony was performed.

Nikon D800, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 98mm, f/5.6, 1/320s, ISO 800, Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

 A serene vista for the ceremony wasn't our only goal. We also need to find the perfect places to make portraits of the bride and groom. It's true that we're on the beach, and it's early September, but this is Oregon, not Florida: it was about 60 degrees in the sun...but there was no sun. So we needed to be ready to quickly make portraits of the bride and groom before she turned into a popsicle. Plus, there was the seafood dinner awaiting us, so we needed to shoot, you know, pronto.

Nikon D800, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 135mm, f/5.6, 1/320s, ISO 800, Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

The bride loved this location for the lighthouse on the cliff (I think she's a Pete's Dragon fan), but she didn't know the lighthouse was closed for restoration. And in Oregon that means that it's covered top to bottom in a black tarp. Not exactly the picturesque backdrop we had imagined. Fortunately, the caretaker's house was in perfect shape and gave balance and interest to the background.

Nikon D800, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 180mm, f/5.6, 1/320s, ISO 800, Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

Still, it's just a background, and I'm always telling my students that backgrounds don't make good pictures: good light makes good pictures. And the thing about that house back there is that it's white, and surrounded by dark green, which really makes it pop. Add to that the sun setting behind dense diffusing fog, and it was pretty dark on that beach, and the light was totally flat. Looking at people there were no harsh shadows, but there was also no direction to the light on their faces and little light in the eyes--especially K.'s eyes which are rather deeply set. Without intervention we were doomed to pose people facing the beach to try and get a little light in their eyes, which left the highway dissecting the images in the back. 

This is where off camera flash saved my bacon. For all of these images I used a Nikon SB-900 in a 24" softbox to bring definition and contrast. It was controlled using the popup flash on the D800. The great thing about the Nikon CLS is that the brightness of that SB-900 can be controlled wirelessly from a long distance (Joe McNally recently tested it to 85 ft. is full sunlight). That means my wife can be anywhere on that beach and I can make the light brighter or darker by simply pushing some buttons on the camera. It's really a powerful tool and makes the images I have in my mind's eye possible. That first image above is totally lifeless without that flash, and the one below lacks definition without the light from behind separating K. from the trees.

Nikon D800, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 90mm, f/5.6, 1/100s, ISO 1600, Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

This image was the one I was most excited about making. While we were scouting I saw the road coming out of the trees and the tunnel like nature of the branches overhead. I knew that right at the edge of that tunnel there would be great light, like a porch that shields the light from overhead leaving a directional brightness. I balanced the flash to add a little kick from behind and positioned the couple with cheesy thoughts about roads to the future running through my mind. Anyway, it's the picture I envisioned while scouting and it's a real pleasure to be able to make something in your mind into something shareable.

The dinner was wonderful, and we had a lovely evening--even the cop who pulled me over was kind enough to let me go with a warning. I do love Oregon, and being there with loved ones, doing some picture making for loved ones, makes it more memorable even than those Culture Club lyrics.

Nikon D800, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 180mm, 1/110s, ISO 1600.