Photo of the Week 2023-11-27

 

During last month's Superior Wild and Scenic Photo Retreat we visited several locations on Lake Superior. Most were known to me from previous travels in the area but one in particular was not and oh what a treat it was.

Calm waters were not expected but they did allow for some unique waveless images on the rocky headland at Coldwater Cove. I ended up with quite a collection showing the interesting and accessible rock formations. Sneak previews when I was downloading after they days shoot had me excited for one or two but with well over a dozen it was difficult to know where to start, so I'll just start.

' wave action worn '

I had switched out lenses to the 17-40 wide angle zoom in order to get more in the frame and include more of the interesting formations in the foreground. I also used a polarizer to tame some of the glare and reflection from the strong mid-day sun, both on the rock and the water.

 

This is certainly a location that I plan to get back to for some more shooting.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2023-11-20

 

' Fall Colour @ Sand River Falls '

' Sand River -  lower falls'

' Sand River Falls - detail '

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A return visit for shooting at the Sand River Falls allowed me time to make the short hike from the trailhead up to the lower falls. Apparently there are three falls accessible by the Pinguisibi Trail that starts from the parking lot N-E of the highway but I was with a group of photographers and only had so much time allotted for our stop at this location. Given that, I quickly set out for the nearest (lower) falls after telling the group leader where I was headed (safety first). Along the way I was getting glimpses of the water cascading through the relatively narrow channels of the river. I had been informed that during lower flow levels, much of the jagged and undulating river course is exposed and can be accessed. Not so when the water is high and raging.

Rather than stop on my way up, I chose to head straight to the top of the falls and work my way back, checking out vantage points on the return trek. I arrived at the top of the falls and explored the area, able to walk out on a fairly extensive network of exposed rock and look further upstream hoping for a calm, still water basin before the plunge for some reflection images.

 

There was no upstream still water and I started looking around for other photo ops finding a small maple in full red leaf at the edge of the river just as it starts to plunge. I removed by backpack and placed it away from the water with my tripod and took just my camera out onto the rock in search of a composition that would suit the dramatic red leaves. I found something that worked using my lens wide open at f/4 and zoomed out at 105mm to blur the background a bit and place emphasis on the red leaves in the foreground.

 

A short time later on my way back down, I stopped just below the main plunge and tried a technique to add motion blur to water, one we had discussed the previous evening. There are options in most of the new cameras these days to make and blend multiple exposures in-camera. That option usually outputs a jpeg image and while it may be of sufficient quality, my camera can shoot a maximum of 9 frames in this mode and has the option of keeping the RAW captures as well as the output jpeg which is what I selected. I used the output jpeg on my rear LCD to judge exposure and the blur of the flowing water and retained the RAW files as a fall back. Lighting conditions were rather bright and it was difficult to select a longer shutter speed to help with the motion blur. The water was not blending smooth enough for my liking and I ended up blending the results of 2 sets of 9 RAW images in Photoshop to get the results shown in the additional 2 images above. Of course you can use ND (neutral density) filters to obtain slower shutter speeds and blur water nicely but I wanted to try something new.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2023-11-13

 

It had been a while since last away on a photo retreat or workshop and once all the planning, preparing, packing, paying and travel to get there is done, it was time to make best use of shooting time and all available opportunities ...

 

' rock & ripples '

After another shoreline sunrise shoot at the lodge we were on the road and away from our accommodations in the strong sunlight of an uncharacteristically calm and warm late October morning. We had stopped at a little day-use park area and the group was scrambling around some interesting headland rock formations using the time to photograph details and patterns. Uninspired by the harsh lighting and a bit frustrated with the cramped location, I wandered away from the group and explored the sandy beach along the south side of Katherine Cove.

When I came across this rock embedded in the sand at water's edge I liked the simplicity of the scene but my first thought was that the glare off the water would be a problem. I decided to add a polarizing filter to my lens and see if they could be tamed. I turned the filter ring as I  re-positioned and voila! Magically the ripples below the water surface were revealed and the added bonus of darkening the exposure brought out the warm rich tones of the sand.

As often happens when I'm out with a group of photographers, I'm pushed to explore more, to work the location more, to extract more ... and there you go, opportunity not wasted ;-)

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2023-11-06

 

Three different looks from one capture ...

 

When I framed this composition and made the original exposure, I was concentrating on the reflection. I wanted to keep as much symmetry as possible, with a low POV, bending down, camera hand held, not using a tripod, I was really just scouting the location at this point knowing that I would return in a day or so with a group of photographers.

 

What caught my attention later, while reviewing the day's images on the computer, was the difference in luminance between the clouds in the sky and their reflection on the calm water. After a minimal amount of processing on the original, I reworked the file to balance the luminance of the sky to that of the reflection and in addition, the reflection luminance to that of the sky ending up with three different interpretations of the scene, each with their own mood.

 

For reference and clarity, in the above trip-tych, the top image is the original.

 

DJE