Sunbursts

Photofocus.com recently posted an article I wrote about how to make sunbursts happen in your photographs. I think it's a lot of fun, and can really add some spice to your images. I made this one a couple of years ago during an outing with my class and just dug it up. It's a favorite scene from Cache Valley, UT. I'm exctied to be living in Lake Oswego, OR now. The Agricultural imagery around here is archetypal and I can't wait to explore it more.

Nikon D700, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @ 28mm, f/13, 7 frame HDR, ISO 400, Nik HDR Efex Pro2. Cache Valley, Utah.

I used HDR software (Nik HDR Efex Pro2) to combine 7 different pictures. The pictures are all the same, but different brightnesses, which allows us to see both the brightest sky by the sun and the dark side of the windmill, much like I could see with my eyes as I stood there watching the sun set. The clouds around the sun helped give the rays shooting out by making the visible portion of the sun smaller. Man, it's fun to combine all these things into a single image!

Doodling

Do you ever wake up at night with a dream of something you can do, something you can make? I do pretty frequently, especially when I'm getting ready for something or studying a new technique. Well this picture is part of a study to create the drawing I made below. If things go well, I may be able to make this one happen this week...

Nikon D800, 50mm f/1.4 lens, f/4, 1/30s, ISO 500.

I know you're going to ask (everyone does): Yes, I drew it. I did it on my iPad with Wacom's Paper App and Wacom's incredible stylus. It's a free app, it's incredibly good, and you can get it by clicking on this link. Hey, it helps keep me awake in Church; there are studies, you know, that doodlers pay better attention than apparently attentive individuals. I'm just sayin'. I used another page to do several sketches of the dancer to get the perspective just so. It's really a cool tool. 

Paradise

You know what Paradise is?

Well, for starters, it's a little town in the south end of Cache Valley where the mountains converge, and the hills roll on forever. It's very small, with barns and horses and stables and mountains and rivers and fowls and fine people. There's a picture to be made everywhere you look, and that's paradise, too.

But really, paradise is friends. It's Neil dropping you a line when he hears you're in town and inviting you to go shooting. It's driving and talking and debating where to shoot and wishing for better light and hoping the sun will come through the gap above the hills and razzing Mel for not making it and being happy just to get out and expose too many frames of trees in poor light. 

You should go; I highly recommend it.

Nikon D800, 14-24mm f/2.8 lens @19mm, f/8, 9 frame HDR, ISO 100, Nik HDR Efex Pro 2 & Silver Efex Pro 2.

Sauvie Island

Sauvie Island is this wonderful little place. From driving around on it for a morning, I know there are farms, vineyards, bird refuges, historic sites, house boats, and lots of fishermen. I got to spend some time with a couple of best friends making pictures the other morning, and this is one from that excursion.

Nikon D800, 50mm f/1.4 D lens, f/11, 9 frame HDR, ISO 100, Nik HDR Efex Pro 2.

Photoshop isn't the way to make the sun burst on the sun, nor is it a trick filter on the lens. It's simply done by using a small aperture (f/11, f/16, f/22). It's a cool feature of having blades inside the lens. The rays are accentuated by catching only the edge of the sun, obscuring most of the sun with an object like a tree limb, or the corner of a building. It should be pretty simple to do this even with your iPhone camera: looking at the screen (not the sun!) position the sun behind the edge of a building and snap away. I predict that you'll get pretty good rays.

Nikon D800, 50mm f/1.4 D lens, f/11, 9 frame HDR, ISO 100, Nik HDR Efex Pro 2.

Nikon D800, 50mm f/1.4 D lens, f/11, 9 frame HDR, ISO 100, Nik HDR Efex Pro 2.

 

Camp Peak, ID

I like it. I'd live there and make pictures everyday. It's the kind of region where everywhere you go there's an interesting bit of light falling across a hill side. Seems like every time I drive by, whatever season, it's in the afternoon and I always want to stop and make a picture. You gotta drive Idaho State Road 34 to Jackson Hole some afternoon.

Well, a couple of weeks ago I was driving by with Scot Weaver and we did stop and make a picture. Think they'd support me as an artist in residence? There's that magazine, Arizona Highways; I reckon we need one for images made up here. Click on the image to view it full screen.

Nikon D800, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @28mm, f/8, 1/320-1/20s 5 frame HDR, ISO 100, Nik HDR Efex Pro 2 and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

What struck me about this picture was the light in the foreground coming from a different direction than the light in the background. In the front you can see the the light is from camera right, whereas the clouds and mountain in the back have the sun shining on them from camera left. The light in front is actually the sun reflecting off an enormous cloud on the right and shining on the ground in front of me. It's big and soft and it was really wonderful to see. The scene was gentle and serene. 

You may need to see the print to appreciate the light changes.

That's why I chose to use an HDR process. I made 5 pictures at different shutter speeds to ensure that I recorded the full range of light in the scene. That means that everything from the brightest part of the clouds to the dark side of the out buildings has detail visible. I think that's cool, and it let's me capture the gentle gradients of light in the scene. I really think Nik software's HDR Efex Pro 2 is the top tool to do this with.

There's an excellent new book on these techniques by my friends and mentors, Scott Bourne and Rich Harrington, and I'd recommend studying from it so that you're able to maximize your wonderful digital camera. Click here to get it on iTunes.

Here's the color version, too...

Nikon D800, 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens @28mm, f/8, 1/320-1/20s 5 frame HDR, ISO 100, Nik HDR Efex Pro 2.

Last note. The day before we took this trip to Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park...I sold my tripod. Bad move! How was I supposed to steady my camera? Pictures like this one are not possible to make super sharp on my D800 (36 mega pixels) without a tripod. Fortunately, I have a Joby GorillaPod. I've owned for a couple of years and never used it. Well, I really put it through its paces this trip. The picture below of the nightscape was also made using it. I was impressed that it was able to hold steady my heavy camera and even my 14-24mm f/2.8 lens steady--that's 4 1/4 pounds of camera! Not too shabby. I did have a small Manfrotto ball head, not the one made by Joby, so I can't speak to it's quality, but the legs were surprisingly good. Both pictures were made with the Gorillapod wrapped on a fence post...and me up to my thighs in a snow drift.