Steps to History | Washington DC
On my last night in Washington DC, I was lucky enough to finally have a nice semi-cloudy sky for sunset. As I was making my way around the Tidal Basin toward the Jefferson Memorial, I noticed just how wide the steps were to the memorial. Thinking back, they are that way on all the monuments. They could be so wide so that they could accomidate visitors, but I have a feeling the designers of the monuments had some other, deeper meaning to it. I figured I should work them into one of my sunset shots and make them the focal point of the shot.
I shot this with my 8mm lens so that I could capture that long sweeping curve of the first set of steps.
Capital Reflections | Washington DC
During my recent visit to our nation’s capital, I was plagued by painfully clear blue skies. I prayed to the photography gods to bring me some clouds at sunset, and finally on my last night in town they answered.
Such a big part of photography is about being in the right place at the right time and I think that is a big part of the allure of the trade too. There is so much that is out of your control. On this evening, my wife and I just happened to be along the Tidal Basin (directly across from where this was shot, actually). Walking toward the Jefferson Memorial, I could already tell the sky was shaping up to give us a grand sunset. I knew that, with the sun setting directly across the water from the memorials, that there would be some fantastic reflections on the still water. We walked around to a little bridge on Ohio Drive near the George Mason Memorial and I set up shop there. The purples, pinks and blues in the sky were an amazing sight to see as a backdrop for two memorials that are perhaps most synonymous with Washington DC.
Pictured here are, most obviously, the Washington Monument (left) and the Jefferson Memorial (right). The very large building in the middle is the Bureau of Engraving, the ‘money factory.’
The shot: Nikon D90, 18-105mm Nikkor VR lens, tripod held. 3 exposures, manually masked together in Photoshop. Finished with Nik Color Efex and Viveza plug-ins.
Right on Schedule | Bridgeton, NC
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This is part two of a bucket list shot that I posted a few days ago, and in my opinion, the better of the two. At first I was concerned about this one turning out. I only had time to shoot one frame of the train in this position, so everything had to be right and ready to go in camera. Turned out pretty good!
You can check out the old post, complete with a lot of info on bucket lists and the back story to this series of photos here.
The shot: Nikon D90, 8mm Rokinon lens, 2 exposures (one for the train and bridge, one for the sky). Manually masked in Photoshop.
Crossing the Neuse | Bridgeton, North Carolina
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Each and every photographer has a list of shots that the dream of. This ‘Photographer’s Bucket List’ is something that helps keep us going, striving for that shot that we have planned in our head time and time again. Most, if not all, of these dream photos can only happen by being incredibly patient or just being in the right place at the right time. If they could be planned, then they wouldn’t be so special, would they?
I have two sets of Bucket List Shots. The first one contains shots of and at places that will probably not be places that I spend much time at in my life. Fog on the green mountains of New Zealand, the blue interior of a glacial cavern or a foggy sunrise at the Golden Gate Bridge…places I fully plan on shooting eventually, but not places where I anticipate I will frequent. Set two are local shots. It’s a shorter list, but easier to achieve. All I have to do is be in the spot when conditions are right.
The above image was on that list. For those of you not familiar with the New Bern, NC area, at its mouth, the Neuse River is the widest river in the United States. Just a few miles upstream, in New Bern, it is still plenty wide. There is a very long span of railroad bridge that passes just a few feet above the water’s surface. I have long wanted to shoot a train passing over, just after sunset, so that I could capture the clouds and color of the sky, the light on the engine and the reflections of it all on the calm water.
I have been to this spot numerous times in hopes of achieving my shot. I have seen trains pass, I have seen the sun set. But never at the same time. On this particular night, I set out to shoot some pretty astounding storm clouds that were passing just west of New Bern. I figured my best bet was to shoot them from the other side of the river, and capture the sun setting over downtown. Soon after the sun set, I was packing my gear up when I saw the light of a train slowy moving across the far corner of New Bern. When I saw it make its turn toward the river, I hopped in my Jeep and sped to this little spot along the tracks for my shot.
The train was coming toward me so slowly. It just seemed to be creeping along. But, as it reached the point on the tracks where I wanted to start shooting, it seemed to just blow right by. I was able to get two shots, this one and one of it closer with a lot of motion (which I like more).
In the end, sometimes the best way to plan one of your bucket list shots is to not plan at all—just hope for some good luck and timing!
The shot: Nikon D90, 18-105mm Nikkor VR lens @18mm. 3 exposures, bracketed. Tonemapped in Photomatix and then masked together with original frames in Photoshop. The water is from the middle exposure, the sky from the darkest exposure (lightened with the middle exposure) and the bridge was from the tonemapped file. Finished with a touch of contrast and glamour glow using Nik Color Efex Pro.
Seeing the Wold in a Different Speed | 10-stop ND Filter
25 second exposure, ISO-200, f/5.6
I recently picked something up that has been on my gear wish list for some time: a 10 stop ND filter. For those of you unsure of exactly what a ND filter is or does, it is essentially a sunglasses lens for your camera. They come in different steps with 10 being the strongest. The 10-stop is the same as a piece of welding glass and allows you to stop down your lens to shoot long exposures in the daylight without over-exposing.
I haven’t used it much, in fact I haven’t even shot the cliche ‘moving water around rocks’ ND shot. I have used it a few times for post-sunset clouds. I love how it can pull out color left over from the sunset in all parts of the photo including the subtle reflection in the water that the naked eye barely notices.
138 second exposure, ISO-200, f/5.6
The following sequence was shoot in immediate succession of one another. Another great thing about shooting with the ND filter on is that what you see on your LCD after the shot is usually what you get. Meaning, you can usually tell that a photo is a keeper right away. There is little post processing to do with a long exposure like this aside from color correction and a little contrast adjustment. Minimal post processing is always a great thing! Now, the trade-off is standing around for 120-200 seconds while the photo exposes as you’re getting eaten by mosquitoes (as was the case this evening)!
123 second exposure, ISO-320, f/10
187 second exposure, ISO-320, f/9
198 second exposure, ISO-400, f/7.1
All of these shots were taken with a Nikon D90, 18-105mm VR lens, tripod held and remote fired. 77mm B+W 10 stop ND filter with 67mm step down ring.
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