Flowers are a lot of fun to shoot, but really tiny ones can be a real challenge. For this shot, I used a very narrow depth of field to allow just one flower to be in focus. I chose to include a collection of soft flowers behind the main point of interest to provide a sense that this little flower was not alone. I was careful to make sure I got a nice, sharp shot – breezy conditions can create motion blur.
Here is an image from a workshop in Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming). This was the first day of the workshop, and we had gathered at Mid Geyser basin to practice using GND filters and work on composition.
This shot works well with a GND filter, since the horizon is nice and straight… but instead of using my GND, I bracketed 3 images and then blended them later using our iHDR workflow. Why? Because I let one of our students use my GND filter. :) I prefer to get the shot right in-camera if I can’t, but in a case like this, bracketing works just fine.
Sometimes, unexpected conditions help me create a unique photograph. While wandering around a local park near Hilo (on the Big Island of Hawaii), we were stunned to see light beams streaming through the branches of this giant tree. The brilliant sunlight was being traced by the mist blowing from the pounding waves a hundred yards away. It was a bright, blue-sky day, but this small section of the park seemed to have its own micro-climate.
I used a small shelter as a point of interest. I often use a man-made structure like this to draw attention in a composition. I used our iHDR manual blending workflow to capture the details in both the highlights and the shadows.
There is nothing like being able to walk right up to a lava tube and watch it rupture over and over again right before your eyes. The red hot lava comes flowing out creating some amazing, textures patterns and colors. The heat generated by some of the surface flow is so great that your hands and face start to burn if you get too close… but who cares when you have a camera and tripod in your hands? ;)
This is a composite image created with 3 different photographs – I used Layers and Masks in Photoshop to get the look I wanted. I used parts from different images to replace out-of-focus areas in the original photograph, so that the entire scene would be sharp. I used a long lens to get the shots, and had to move away quickly because of the intense heat.
As we hiked down from a ridge overlooking Lanikai Beach on Oahu, I noticed a small cactus flower blooming beside the trail. The mid-day light was shining through the flower, creating a subtle glow inside. When I got close, I could see brilliant, red veins scribbled across the thin membrane inside the flower – so I pulled out my macro lens to take a shot. By the time I finished, I was sweating… but I had the shot I wanted.
I got in as close as I could for this shot – pushing my macro lens to its focusing limit, and cropping the finished image to get in even closer. The repeating patterns are particularly appealing to me. They remind me of writing… I think it’s poetry. Don’t you?
When we photographed these falls, there was so much mist and water flowing that it was very hard to get close without being splashed. I stood in the stream to take the shot, and ended up soaking wet.
I took this photograph on an overcast day with a circular polarizer. You might think this would be an easy exposure – but it wasn’t. All that water ended up being pretty bright – and the deep shade left me with very dark shadows – so the dynamic range was pretty broad. I used our iHDR manual blending workflow to restore the details in post processing.
Spring is coming, and the question is – Where should I go shoot next? If you have not visited Redwood Forest National Park (CA) in spring, I would highly recommend you do so. I arrived at the park in pouring rain… and the next day, when I wandered into the woods I was greeted with by thousands of pink rhododendron in full bloom. Gorgeous!
It is difficult to shoot in a cluttered place like a forest, so for me, this was a exercise in composition. I calculated my hyperfocal distance in order to get as close to the flowers as possible so that they would stand out in the image. I selected a patch of flowers surrounded by green to create a fresh spring mood, and to make the flowers even more visible against a complimentary background.
I took this shot of Lanikai beach from a high ridge that looked down on the palms from high above. The angle gave me an incredible panoramic view of the clean, turquoise waters and the coral beneath the waves. I chose a composition that eliminated the dry land, and left the palms framed by the ocean. Standing up there, looking down – this is what stood out to me. Those tall palms, swaying in the wind – and the brilliant backdrop of liquid sky. What a place!
I don’t typically post black and white photos… but I am intrigued by the world of monochrome images and would like to do more. So, here is one feeble attempt. The mist hanging around lake Crescent that morning was wonderful, and we spent hours photographing this location.
I used a long shutter speed to remove distracting ripples from the water, and then converted the image to black and white with NIK Software’s SilverEFex Pro. My goal was to create a dark, moody scene. Once the conversion was complete, I made targeted adjustment to the highlights and shadows in Photoshop.
