One type of image I always like are those with motion, such as the image below of sea stacks. The waves flowing around the rocks blur into a misty background. I took this photo at the end of the day using a 3 stop neutral density filter. The filter allowed me to take a 20s exposure, so that the motion of the waves produced a soft, flowing sea around the solid sea stacks in the foreground. The image itself was taken along the Central Coast of California. The stacks are coloured by the glow from the setting sun which you can see in the background.
Sea Stacks along the Central Coast -©Jon Bertsch
Details: Nikon D200, Nikon 17-55mm @48mm, ISO 100, f.20, ~20s
Neutral density filters come in a variety of strengths. Buy one and see what different effects with waves, waterfalls and rivers you can produce – maybe you’ll find some new ways of seeing the World.
We made a quick trip up to Yosemite over the President’s day weekend. Friends gave us a chance to take their cabin reservation at Curry Village and we jumped on it. The valley had about a 3 ft of snow everywhere and was beautiful. The road on the north side of the valley was closed which meant you could enjoy a little escape from the usual roar of cars while hiking. It was a fantastic day with few hikers and lots of peace along the banks of the Merced. The valley was crawling with people since it was a holiday weekend, but all you needed to do was walk a few hundred meters to escape the throngs.
February is the month famous for the orange colours at sunset that hit El Cap and some of the other walls of the valley and multitudes of photographers where there to recapture Galen Rowell’s (and others) superb Yosemite images. I remarked to my buddies that you “couldn’t throw a tripod without hitting one…” and it certainly seemed that way at sunset as they lined up along the banks of the Merced, pointing towards the shear walls of El Cap.
In the morning I spent some time wandering the valley floor before heading off to take some images of El Cap reflected in the Merced that I hade previously staked out. When I arrived a small gaggle of photographers were already in place, 4×5 film and digital vying for position. The image below is “classic” Yosemite photo with El Cap reflected in the waters of the quiet Merced.
Details: Nikon D200, Tokina 12-24mm @15m, ISO 100, f.11
The challenge in this photo was to balance the light between the walls of El Cap and the river below. Waiting for the sun to move down the wall it was easy to see that the wall was many stops of light brighter than the river reflection. By using a graduated neutral density filter (Galen Rowell series from Singh Ray) I was able to bring the two halves of the photograph into balance. These are extremely useful filters that were originally developed for film, but even in the digital age they retain a place in my camera bag. It’s much easier to get the images correct the first time than spend hours in photoshop trying to stitch different images together. In this case I droppped the line where the neutral density filter begins right into the tree line where the heaviest shadows were destined to stay.
Yosemite is a wonderful place to visit during the Winter when snow coats the valley floor and high walls. The waterfalls are not flowing heavily, but there is plenty else to see and way fewer people than in the popular Summer months.
See you out there.