Inspirations – Ratcliffe Power Station Study 5 by Mike Spriggs

© Mike Spriggs

Canon 40D with 17-85mm Lens, Focal Length: 85mm
60 secs @ f/25 ISO 100, Manual Exposure

During the winter months I quite often head out to photograph cooling towers of coal fired power stations. The cloud formation created is always greater during the colder winter months which makes for a much more dramatic image. In England, there are very few coal fired power stations still in commission and I think it’s important to document them whilst they’re still here. More recently I’ve been photographing them a lot more using a 10 stop neutral density filter. I like the calm surreal feel that a long exposure brings to moving cloud. I love the hyperboloid shape of the cooling towers too. It’s fascinating how the light and shadow changes on them at different times of the day. As the sun moves round, one cooling tower might start creating lovely curved shadows across a neighbouring one. These shadows can move quickly, but with patience and observance the resulting photos can be well worth the effort.

With this particular photograph, I opted for a tight crop using all of the available 85mm zoom. The strong afternoon low light played a key part in the visual strength of the final image. In post processing I made a curves adjustment to increase contrast and did a small amount of dodging and burning. ~ Mike Spriggs

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Inspirations – Relax by Mary Kay

© Mary Kay

Nikon D70s, 1.3 seconds at f/13, ISO 200
Nikkor 18-200 VR @ 22mm with Hoya Infrared (R72) filter

This tree stands right in the middle of nowhere, on the side of a narrow, winding country road leading to a surreal little village in Northern Chios, a village where time, seasons and space somehow loose their meaning and news from the outer world never reach you. The bench accompanying the lonely tree overlooks nothing in particular, just a plain, barren field, yet it’s the perfect place to lose yourself and to be lost for a while.

This is one of my very first attempts at infrared photography. I hadn’t dared to take a picture of this tree before because sometimes a shot doesn’t capture a memory; it just destroys it if it fails to capture its essence. When I saw how infrared filters work I though that it was the only way to capture the unreal quality of this place.

I took one exposure without the filter and one with it so that I could use the original shot to mask the bench over the infrared photo thus keeping its bright red color. ~Mary Kay

Inspirations – Marc Koegel

© Marc Koegel

 

Canon 5d Mark II 338 seconds at f/5.6 at 100 ISO with 16-35mm Ff/2.8 L @ 17mm

I shot this image as part of my Canada Prairies Series in September of 2010. This series of black and white photographs is geared to document the vanishing farm architecture of the region, focusing on old wooden grain elevators, farming equipment etc…Many of these structures are being taken down and demolished every day, and with them, a part of Canadian history is vanishing.

I have been photographing for this still evolving series for the past 2 years. Esthetically, I choose to work with wide-angle lenses, often with tilt and shift capabilities. Most of my images, including the one pictured, are assembled from multiple photographs merged into one large panorama. Using these techniques, I can achieve a perspective otherwise non-obtainable. It was important for me to show large sky areas, as these regions are often called the ‘lands of the living sky’. Furthermore, I utilize very long exposure techniques, which results in the dramatic cloud formations. Images are taken with exposure time of 5 to 30 minutes and longer, using very strong ND filtration. The long exposure technique captures the clouds in motion, but the structures remain still. Each image represents a fraction of time and thus history of each structure I capture. I hope it will do its part to conserve the all important memory of this region.

Images are captured in RAW and converted to black and white in Adobe Photoshop CS5. ~Marc Koegel

Goodies to Check Out

Here are a few interesting goodies to check out for your Christmas shopping list:

Stuck in Customs 100 Cameras in One iPhone app — very cool, very funky!

Ray Ringflash Adapter — if you thought the Many Faces of Samantha produced cool portraits, then this is the tool you need.

F-Stop Photo Bags — I have been testing out these bags and loved them so much I plan to be a sponsored photographer for 2011.

Outdoor Photography Canada — the best photo magazine in Canada.

Singh-Ray Filters — who says filters are dead in the digital era. Get effects you can’t get in software especially with the Vari-ND series of filters. If you don’t want to buy a Vari-ND filter go over to Visual Wilderness to win one! Maybe even pick up Sam and my eBook on Essential Filters for Digital Nature Photography while at Visual Wilderness.

High Speed Flash for Nature Photography – short duration, and high output flashes for special stop-motion photography.

Lens Rental Canada – I have heard great things about this company from numerous photographer who have used the service. Want to try a 300 f2.8? Go here!

The Photographer’s Ephemeris – a must have desktop or mobile app forgetting in the right place at the right time no matter where you live. Find out sunrise/sunset times and moonrise and moon-set times.

Camera Lens Coffee Mug – Cause you can’t flaunt your Canon or Nikon gear enough!

©Darwin Wiggett

Six Silly Uses of the UV Filters

Well… in the ‘how to make a fool of yourself‘ department, Samantha and I present the goofy video below. We really think that UV filters are a complete waste of time so if you want some ideas of what to do with all your old UV filters then watch on!

And if you want something a little more serious and instructional about filters then check out our new eBook,  Essential Filters for Digital Nature Photography over at Visual Wilderness.

 

 

The Daily Snap- September 30

©Darwin Wiggett

I had fun at the Paint Pots trail in Yoho National Park in British Columbia. I set up the Canon G11 on a tripod and used the built in ND filter to give me longer exposures while people walked through the scene. People close to the camera blurred a lot, while those further away blurred a little. This is a combo of three shots with people in different positions. I am the foreground person walking through the scene while I set the G11 to 2 second self-timer.

Weekly Photo – August 20

©Darwin Wiggett

This image was shot at Squanga Lake in the Yukon using my Canon EOS-1ds Mark III and a 24mm TS-E lens. I also used a Singh-Ray 5-stop solid ND filter to lengthen exposure time to 20 seconds to get streaking in the clouds.

The Daily Snap – July 3

©Darwin Wiggett - Canon G11

A 10 second exposure using the G11’s built in ND filter plus a Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer and a Singh-Ray 5-stop ND filter. This was taken in Yoho National Park. For information on how to filter the G11 see here.

Grad Filter Video

©Darwin Wiggett - No filters used

©Darwin Wiggett - Singh-Ray 2-Stop Hard-Step filter over sky

Unscripted video – can you catch my dyslexia in at least two places? Doh!

The Weekly Photo – May 21

©Darwin Wiggett

This is a sunset shot of Mount Outram from Glacier Lake in Banff National Park, Alberta. If you want an early season backpack trip to start the season (snow free by early May), I highly recommend this fairly easy 9 km hike to one of Banff’s hidden gems. I shot this with my Canon EOS-1ds Mark III and a 24mm TS-e lens tilted for maximum depth-of-field. I also used a Singh-Ray Z-sized LB Warming polarizer and a 2-stop Singh-Ray hard-edge grad over the sky and mountain to help even out the exposure. Click on the photo to see a bigger version. It was great to get out in the back-country this past week! Check out  what Wayne Simpson and Samantha Chrysanthou posted on their blogs from this trip.