Long Exposure Landscape Photography

The word Photography is derived from two Greek words, photo - meaning “light” and graphy - meaning “to draw”. Enter long exposure photography in the digital age, and what better way to allow the light to draw the scene than letting the light scribe the definition and contours of the landscape in front of you.

Long exposure images elongate the moment that a photograph was taken until the reality of the scene before you takes on a surreal twist. Some even say they are an art form unto itself. Running water becomes a silky substance, raging oceans turn into calm pools of glass, stationary cumulous clouds turn into streaking light across the blue hour or night sky, and for the patient, even the bright stars above us can be transformed into bright trails that arc around the north star in the sky.

Personally, there are two reasons I enjoy long exposures. One reason is that it gives us the ability to remove texture from certain parts of the image. Take a waterfall, you can replace hard, high contrast falling water with a silky flow and then allow the eye to focus on the textures and structures of another part of the image. Or even take the water of an ocean, undulating, crashing waves can easily be transformed to placid glass and allow a wooden pier or rocks on a beach to punch out onto the image. The second reason I enjoy long exposure photography is that it allows you to control the introduction of light into an otherwise dull image. It evokes emotion in a photo and can, if done properly, force the eyes right through an image.

Hilton Falls, Milton, Ontario

Dave in Action, 3.2 second exposure, taken mid morning on a sunny day, ND8 filter

Fifty Point Conservation Area, Grimsby, Ontario

Nature Reclaims Industry, 15 second exposure, one hour after sunrise on a cloudy day, ND4 and graduated ND2 filter












White Lake, Haliburton Highlands, Ontario

Ethereal Reflections, 240 second exposure, taken 45 minutes before sunrise on a clear night, ND4 and graduated ND2 filter












Salerno Lake, Irondale Ontario

Midnight Winds, 240 second exposure, taken after sunset on a spring night, no filter












OK, now that we know what long exposure can do to your images and you have seen a few examples… How do we accomplish this type of photography?

Tools of the trade

1. A DSLR camera with the ability to shoot in RAW, set long exposures including BULB setting and also manipulate ISO and aperture.
2. A sturdy tripod to hold the camera in place while you are taking the image
3. A cable release to eliminate camera shake (or, a camera with a shutter delay)
4. Neutral density (ND) filters and graduated neutral density filters (not necessary, but in time, you will want them)
5. A flashlight and a glow stick … You are mostly doing this at night, the glow stick sits on the neck of the tripod so you know where your camera is at all times. The flashlight is so you can see in the dark
6. Appropriate clothing… you do more standing than pushing the shutter button. It can get a little chilly if you show up dressed for daylight and two hours later its black and you are on a windy beach somewhere.
7. Editing software. Nature is rarely perfect. So, using the RAW editor and giving you the ability to further manipulate will empower you to give the image some final tweaks.

Let me go into some details on the “tools of the trade”. My ideal setup for long exposures is to use a wide angle lens, mount the camera on the tripod, lower the camera close to the ground for a better perspective and I manually focus on the foreground about 1/4 or 1/3 up from the bottom of the image.

I set my aperture to f20 or f22 and put my shutter speed to BULB. I set my ISO around 400 (I use Olympus). If you are a NIKON or Canon shooter, try higher and lower ISO’s and see what it does to the shutter speeds. Your ISO capabilities are superior to mine.

I meter the light at the foreground, focal point first, and then I meter just the sky. I use the appropriate ND filter that will give me the desired length of exposure, and then apply a graduated Neutral Density (ND) filter to adjust the exposure of the sky to match the foreground. There are a few manufacturers of ND filters. You can screw on ND filters or use square filters that sit in front of your lens. ND filters come in different levels, each eliminating a percentage of the natural light. The graduated ND filters are just that, graduated from clear to a set ND strength… these are sometimes overlooked but make a huge difference in the final image. Some photographers prefer to have more control and do this in an editing program, me, I am more of a purist and like to do this in the field.

Then, when I am set, I take the image, holding the shutter release for the appropriate time, check the image in the viewfinder, and then take one longer exposure and one shorter exposure. I usually do not take anything less than 100 images when I am on a shoot… remember, this is the digital age, it does not cost you anything to take an image other than time.

Then, when I am in front of the computer at home and I have all the images downloaded. I open everything in a RAW editor. The RAW editor will allow you to adjust clarity, exposure, blacks, fine tune the colour and give you a chance to create a top notch base image.

Once the RAW editing is done, and because nature is rarely perfect, you can now clone out imperfections, eliminate digital noise and do any other editing you wish to do to your image to create a final product you can share with your friends or hang on your wall.

To see more of my landscape and nature photos please visit my Gallery

For more information, please contact me on my website

The autumn colors are in full bloom

the season doesn't last long... so make the time to get out before they are gone. The autumn colors are the best I have seen in the last three years here in Ontario.

Here is a shot taken just after sunrise as the sun kissed the tree line to make the colors pop. I had an ND filter on that eliminated 2 stops, set the camera to capture vivid colors and pu tthe camera on aperture mode. I focused just below the curve in the waterfall, put the aperture on f20, set the ISO on 100 and set the camera to bracket 5 photos.

The exposure times were approximately all between 1.5 seconds and 2.5 seconds. I then blended them in photomatix and then brought the final image back into photoshop and cleaned up the imperfections and fixed some ghosting and sharpness.

Here is another photo taken just as the sun came up. The exposure times were longer because the sun had not hit the tree line yet, but all other settings were the same

I hope you get the chance to get out and take some fall color photos... its a long dreary fall season here in Ontario once the leaves fall! :-))

Kev

Rick Sammon Workshop in Toronto - One Day Only

Introducing my good friend, Rick Sammon

Rick Sammon, a Canon Explorer of Light, is one of the most active photographers on the planet. The dude just can’t sit still!

Rick has published 36 paper books, including Secrets of HDR Photography, Exploring the Light, and Digital Photography Secrets. Rick’s book, Flying Flowers won the coveted Golden Light Award, and his book Hide and See Under the Sea won the Ben Franklin Award.

He is also a leader in iPad and iPhone photography apps. His apps include:
• Rick Sammon’s Light It! – a collection of live-action movies that show Rick’s basic lighting techniques.
• Rick Sammon’s iHDR – an interactive iPad app that shows the user the wonders of HDR photography.
• Rick Sammon’s 24/7 Photo Buffet – an e-book that offers 24/7 access to Rick’s best photo tips, tricks and techniques. iPhone and iPad versions available.

Rick, who has photographed in almost 100 countries around the world, gives more than two-dozen photography workshops (including private workshops) and presentations around the world each year.

He co-founded the Digital Photography Experience podcast (www.dpexperience.com) with Juan Pons and also hosts several shows on kelbytraining.com and has a three-day class on creativeLive.com.

Rick has been nominated for the Photoshop Hall of Fame, is considered one of today’s top digital -imaging experts, cutting through lots of Photoshop “speak,” making it fun, easy and rewarding to work and play in the digital darkroom.

When asked about his photo specialty, Rick says, “My specialty is not specializing.”

See www.ricksammon.info for more information about Rick.  

 Friday, August 9, 2013 – two field workshops
All attendees will receive directions to our shoot location and further details closer to the event. You are also invitied to roam the junk yard for the two hours that you are not involved in Kevin and Rick's 2 hour field workshop. For example, you are in the first two hours field workshop and can remain and wander the 25 acre junk yard for the next two hours before returning for our classroom session on editing.

Group One Field Photo Shoot from 7:30am till 9:30am
Group Two Field Photo Shoot from 9:30am till 11:30am

We will be headed out for a morning HDR shoot on Friday morning. Join Kevin and Rick, author of the iPad app, Rick Sammon iHDR and the book, HDR Secrets, on thsi one day only HDR workshop to a 25 acre junk yard.

Rick will help you capture the entire dynamic range of the scenes. He'll also help you with composition and stand shoulder to shoulder helping you take photographs.

You will have the chance to shoot strictly HDR shots or work with a model as she poses at various locations through out the junk yard.  

Friday, August 9, 2013 -12:00pm till 3:00pm

In the afternoon, the learning does not stop there. We will head back to the classroom at a local hotel and Rick will walk you through editing your photos we took on the workshop.

What to bring on Friday: a laptop for editing or notepad for taking notes during the editing session. In the morning bring your camera, tripod, flashes, gels, lenses, reflectors, and appropriate clothing.

To pay by check please make check payable to KPep Photography and mail to:
KPep Photography
100 Barrie Street,
Cambridge, Ontario
Canada
N1S3A9

Once we receive your payment by mail and your check has cleared we will send you back a receipt and ticket. Please bring that receipt and ticket to gain entrance into that event.

For PayPal payments you will receive a receipt immediately upon accepted payment. Please bring that receipt with you to gain entrance to the event.

Please contact me to book or visit http://www.photographers-lounge.com/workshops/hdr-workshop-with-rick-sammon.

For cancellations prior to 14 days before the event you will receive a full refund less $5 handling charge. For any cancellations less than 30 days or mor ethan 14 days prior to the event we will retain 50% of the fee. Any cancellations less than 14 days prior to the event there is no refund offered.

The fee for this workshop is $129 plus HST and we are limiting the attendees to maximum of 15 per field photography session.

To read about how people felt about our last workshop at this location please read this blog from one of our students at the last workshop.

Evolution of an image

I always say to my students that nature is rarely perfect. Inevitably you have to make modifications to a photo to bring back the colors and tonal range that you saw through your view finder.

Now, there are some purists out there that say they never crop an image, or they never make any more modificatiosn to a photo that using Ligthroom or a raw imaging software... and, HEY, thats OK, to each his, or her own...

The following is an example of the post processing I just did on an image I took this morning when out at Puslinch Lake with a good friend, Gary Simmons.

I bracketed 5 images, this is the middle exposed images, there were two lighter, and two darker.

 As you can see, its a decent photo, a good tonal range, th eisland in the cross hairs of the upper right 1/3 lines, nice color in te sky, strong reflections, and thanks to a graduated filter, a close exposure between the sky and the refelctions.

But I still wasn't happy with the image. So, here are the steps I took to bring back the vibrance to the photo to better represent the scene I had scene.

1) put the 5 images into NIK HDR Efex to create a base HDR image. I used a default setting that I have for sunrise water photos and it created a much better image that brought back the magenta's and lightened up the shadows in the foreground.

2) I took that image into NIK Color Efex PRO and used a preset filter I have set up for these twypes of images. It further brought out the magenta, brightened the sky and added a hint of vignetting.

3) I took that image and saved it, then reopened it in NIK Silver Efex PRO and created a black and white version with strong blacks. I then saved that photo.

4) I opened up the black and white image and the image I ran through NIK COlor Efex PRO and layered the color image over the black and white image... then with a layer mask I brought through the stronger blacks while leaving the sky and refelctions alone.

5) I then merged the layers in CS6 and fixed the levels, cloned out some imperfections and cropped the image to an 11x14 and saved the image to a file...

Here is the final image that was created using NIK Software... I like them both, but personally, the stronger contrast and increased saturation and increased detail on the rock pile on the right draws me to the bottom photo... plus, the alterations on teh bottom photo seemed to bring back the true sky color and a truer white in teh morning fog... you be the judge...



A HUGE "Thank You" to the sponsors of the Rick Sammon event the weekend.

Rick Sammon is speaking in Kitchener, Ontario this weekend and we wanted to thank all the sponsors that donated prizes and product to the event...

Henry's generously gave us...

Henry's t-shirts

1 Lowepro Photo Hatchback 16L Bag

10 DSLR Pro Cleaning kits

2 4GB Lexar Jumpdrive USB Keys

4 $25.00 Henry's Gift Cards

Free tickets to Exposure Show this October for everyone

Lexar generously gave us...

A card reader

16gig memory cards

NIK generously donated...

3 HDR Efex Pro 2

1 Complete Collection Ultimate

OPC generously gave everyone a copy of their latest magazine and...

(5) one year subscriptions

HDR Soft generously gave us...

three free licenses of Photomatix Pro Plus

We want to thank all our sponsors and partners for making this a great event...

For more information on the event please visit... http://www.photographers-lounge.com/seminars/rick-sammon/

Digital Photo Academy comes to Canada to teach photography

The Digital Photo Academy is coming to Canada and they have asked my good friend, Tom Baker, www.mylifeinhdr.com and Kevin Pepper, www.kpepphotography.com to be their instructors in and around the Toronto and South Western Ontario areas.

To join these informative and enjoyable shoots, simply contact the DPA Booking Agent toll free at 1 877 372 2231 or to register on line, go to www.digitalphotoacademy.com and click on Toronto. From there scroll down and the directions to enroll are clearly explained.

the Digital Photo Academy is an organization that offers photographers learning opportunities through photography classes in the field where we teach composition, exposure, metering and other basic advanced shooting techniques

Chetlenham Badlands - Photographic Destinations in Ontario

Cheltenham Badlands is a small example of Badlands formation in Caledon, Ontario.
The site is located on the southside of Old Base Line Road (between Ontario Highway 10 and Creditview Road/Peel Regional Road 12) and features exposed and eroded Queenston Shale. The formation is located along the Niagara Escarpment.

“Badlands” is a geologic term for an area of soft rock devoid of vegetation and soil cover that has become molded into a rolling landscape of rounded hills and gullies. Such areas are rare in Ontario and this is one of the best examples. They exhibit the reddish hue of the Queenston Shale that forms them; the iron oxide in the shale produces this colour. The narrow greenish bands that can be seen throughout the shale are due to the change of red iron oxide to green iron oxide brought on by the circulating groundwater. The relatively soft shale is essentially clay and is easily eroded by water. This site was acquired by the Ontario Heritage Foundation in 2000 and is under the care of the Bruce Trail Association.

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The Badlands, near the villages of Inglewood and Cheltenham Ontario, are an Earth Science Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI), managed by the Bruce Trail Conservancy. In order to protect the sensitive environment of this site from degradation, visitors are requested to comply with the following: no sliding or digging, stay on the flat area in the vicinity of the interpretative signs, stay off the trail during wet conditions, no tobogganing, no motorized vehicles, no bicycles, no horses and please, do not litter. The Side Trail is closed due to erosion. Take nothing but photographs and leave nothing but your thanks.

The Great Lake Basin

From the snow covered Atlas Mountains framing a red desert in Morocco, to the Eiffel tower glistening in a pool of water at night, to a breathtaking sunrise over the mountains in Switzerland, I have viewed some breathtaking scenes that will stay with me for a lifetime. Yet, I overlooked a world renowned geological formation that has the ability to give us some jaw dropping images. That geological formation would be the Great Lakes...

The Great Lakes comprise over 21% of the world’s fresh water supply; the lakes have close to 20,000km’s of shoreline and contain approximately 35,000 islands. Three of North America’ s largest cities are situation on the Great Lakes, Toronto, Chicago and Detroit, and the total population surrounding the Great Lake basin is approximately 34 million.

For the scenic photographer, the shoreline of the lakes has the highest concentration of lighthouses anywhere in the world. In fact, the lighthouses that dot the Michigan coastline are part of the largest collection of maritime landmarks in the United States. Michigan alone boasts 116 lighthouses and navigational lights.

If shipwrecks and underwater photography is your thing, there are literally hundreds of shipwrecks scattered throughout the Great lakes. Locations to key in on when researching are, Thunder Bay (Michigan), beneath Lake Huron, near the point where eastbound and westbound shipping lanes converge. It is here is where the greatest concentration of shipwrecks lies. You should also consider the Lake Superior shipwreck coast from Grand Marais, Michigan to Whitefish Point. This area is now known as the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes". More vessels have been lost in the Whitefish Point area than any other part of Lake Superior.
In addition to shipwrecks, Georgian Bay and the East coast of Lake Huron on the Canadian side photographers can also enjoy spectacular underwater geological formations, including underwater caves, rocky overhangs and ancient corals.

When it comes to shoreline differentiation the Great Lakes offers photographers an abundance of opportunities. From the wetlands along Lake Ontario's shoreline, to the sand dunes along Lake Michigan, the rocky shores of Lake Superior and the geological wonders of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, the Great Lakes shoreline abounds in diversity and opportunity for photographers. Whether seascape is your passion, birding, under water, nature or architecture, taking a trip to the Great Lake basin is a “must do” on your photography bucket list.

For birders, the Great Lake Basin is a mecca for your style of photography. Whether it’s during the summer months or during migration, the area offers the avid birder thousands of species of birds to photograph. Migration periods especially produce an incredible opportunity; both the Mississippi flyway and that Atlantic flyway cross over the lakes. It is said that there are 462 known species of birds in Canada. While some of these are year-round residents, many fly south for the winter to more favorable grounds for feeding and breeding. From Point Pelee west to Windsor, the area is known for their bird migration.

For landscape photographers, the choices are endless. The Georgian Bay rock formations such as Flowerpot Island or Tobermory’s grotto that seem to transport you to the southern Atlantic Ocean are an absolute breathtaking view.

Or there is the shoreline of Lake Ontario and Erie that offer the avid photographer beautiful sunsets and sunrises, and turn around with your back to the water after the sun has peaked the horizon to find deer, birds of prey and other photographic interests.

As with any photo outing, do your research first, identify what you want to achieve, look at local area photographers work, talk to people that have visited the area, and travel at the right time of year to suit your needs.

Personally, my favorite locations to shoot in and around the Great Lake Basin are as follows:
Spring – Canadian shores of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay for the spring storms crashing on the geological formations and rebirth of life along the Great Lake basin.
Summer – Coastal shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie for the calm shorelines and abundance of birds.
Fall – Northern shores of Lake Superior for the fall colours and incredible fall storms.
Winter – Along the shoreline of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. This is where the snow is abundant and the local people still get out and enjoy the season.

Regardless of when or where you go... i would put this area on your bucketlist.

Happy Shooting

Kev