Posted by Jim Goldstein on October 5, 2006 at 4:09 AM
I was lucky that the weather, tide and lighting all coincided perfectly on the day I happened to think of visiting this location. After a short amount of rock climbing I was able to set up in a small cove wedging myself into the rocks close to the water. After a little experimentation I got a few shots that I thought were interesting. This one in particular was one of my favorites.
16mm, f22, ISO 50, 3sec, 2 stop ND filter and Vari-ND polarizer
Posted by Dan Truong on October 5, 2006 at 12:20 PM
Very nice effect and good mastery of this long exposure technique IMHO.
What's a vari-ND polarizer? Is it a combo of both on a ring filter (aka a full ND, no gradient).
Reason of use ND here is to allow 3s exposure?
Nitpicks if you want to hear some:
The wide angle's slight distortion of perspective is noticeable, and would be OK if it did not bend the waterline. If you work the photo, making the bridge redder to bring it back to what we expect would be nice, and help intensify its presence as the subject. As is the rocks on the beach take the eye. The bridge color makes it feel like a heavy dark day, especially with the very dark left side.
By rock-climbing, you mean risking your coccyx on slippery wet rock in these cliffs?
Another question... Have you tried to use a tele or some larger lens lower near the water to get a simillar water effect with a blow-up of the bridge by compressing the perspective? Of course the cloud line in your photo is too far left at that time to be in the frame.
Posted by Jim Goldstein on October 5, 2006 at 1:24 PM
Dan thanks for the comments...
It was a rather gloomy day so there wasn't a lot to be done about some of the dark lighting on the bridge... in fact I was looking for that. I actually did mask the bridge and added color and dodged it a bit. Any other manimpulation to this portion of the photo looked far too unnatural.
A vari-ND polarizer is a Singh-Ray product (think of it as two circular polarizers on top of each other) that allows you to limit the amount of light coming in to lengthen shutter speeds. The result is a mechanism to get slower shutter speeds in brighter lighting conditions.
There's not a lot of room to maneuver in these coves so a longer lens isn't an option. I actually was aiming for the wide angle look.
Posted by Richard Wong on October 5, 2006 at 4:19 PM
Very powerful shot, a bit reminscient of Adamus' beach pictures with that low incoming tide. The left side is a bit dark for my tastes, but to each his own.
Posted by Nelcha Cross on October 5, 2006 at 4:50 PM
Very nice composition Jim.....
and I'm glad you didn't break your butt or camera on those rocks
I agree unfortunaltely about the horizon line...Is there any way to fix that??
I'm also wondering if since it was an already dark day and the extra NDs you used made it darker
is there anyway you can add some light back in to the top half of the image and just the bottom rocks?
That might lift the image and yet not mess with the nice water in the foreground.
Just a thought.....trying to make a very nice image better....
Congrats...
In gratitude,
Nelcha
Posted by Jim Goldstein on October 5, 2006 at 5:05 PM
Richard... I think the left bottom corner appears darker in the smaller version that it really is. The upper side is naturally dark from the cloud cover. When I make an alternate version I'll consider lightening the water a tad.
Nelcha... I actually darkened the image selectively. It was a conscious decision.
Personally I like wide angle lens distortion. So I had no reservation in the horizion distortion or lean of the bridge. This covered a very wide angle of view and the distortion in my mind is the photographic way of communicating that. Granted I will try later to create an alternate version, but for now I'm still fond of this one.
I greatly appreciate the everyones alternate thoughts and ideas.
Posted by Richard Wong on October 5, 2006 at 7:36 PM
I don't think the barrel distortion is that obvious as the horizon isn't that prominent to this scene. It may actually even enhance the effect you're going for here.
Discussion
6 replies16mm, f22, ISO 50, 3sec, 2 stop ND filter and Vari-ND polarizer
What's a vari-ND polarizer? Is it a combo of both on a ring filter (aka a full ND, no gradient).
Reason of use ND here is to allow 3s exposure?
Nitpicks if you want to hear some:
The wide angle's slight distortion of perspective is noticeable, and would be OK if it did not bend the waterline. If you work the photo, making the bridge redder to bring it back to what we expect would be nice, and help intensify its presence as the subject. As is the rocks on the beach take the eye. The bridge color makes it feel like a heavy dark day, especially with the very dark left side.
By rock-climbing, you mean risking your coccyx on slippery wet rock in these cliffs?
Another question... Have you tried to use a tele or some larger lens lower near the water to get a simillar water effect with a blow-up of the bridge by compressing the perspective? Of course the cloud line in your photo is too far left at that time to be in the frame.
It was a rather gloomy day so there wasn't a lot to be done about some of the dark lighting on the bridge... in fact I was looking for that. I actually did mask the bridge and added color and dodged it a bit. Any other manimpulation to this portion of the photo looked far too unnatural.
A vari-ND polarizer is a Singh-Ray product (think of it as two circular polarizers on top of each other) that allows you to limit the amount of light coming in to lengthen shutter speeds. The result is a mechanism to get slower shutter speeds in brighter lighting conditions.
There's not a lot of room to maneuver in these coves so a longer lens isn't an option. I actually was aiming for the wide angle look.
and I'm glad you didn't break your butt or camera on those rocks
I agree unfortunaltely about the horizon line...Is there any way to fix that??
I'm also wondering if since it was an already dark day and the extra NDs you used made it darker
is there anyway you can add some light back in to the top half of the image and just the bottom rocks?
That might lift the image and yet not mess with the nice water in the foreground.
Just a thought.....trying to make a very nice image better....
Congrats...
In gratitude,
Nelcha
Nelcha... I actually darkened the image selectively. It was a conscious decision.
Personally I like wide angle lens distortion. So I had no reservation in the horizion distortion or lean of the bridge. This covered a very wide angle of view and the distortion in my mind is the photographic way of communicating that. Granted I will try later to create an alternate version, but for now I'm still fond of this one.
I greatly appreciate the everyones alternate thoughts and ideas.