An adrift half-shell on the wave-streaked sand rippling with ribbons of light under a tempestuous sky …

My first post for 2012: this image was shot a few hours ago. I still have some more photos to post from my last Canadian Rockies trip, but since we’ve been getting dramatic sunset skies, I went back to my local beach with my camera. Will resume posting when I find free time.

Happy New Year!

]]> http://www.photofool.com/2012/01/03/adrift-on-ribbons-of-light/feed/ 63 http://www.photofool.com/2011/10/04/twilight-sky-over-maligne-lake-jasper-national-park-alberta/ http://www.photofool.com/2011/10/04/twilight-sky-over-maligne-lake-jasper-national-park-alberta/#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2011 02:46:55 +0000 photofool http://www.photofool.com/?p=3970

Spent a week in the Canadian Rockies during foliage season and came home with many beautiful photos. Out of seven days there, I was able to photograph one good sunset. The Canadian Rockies have so many beautiful locations that I would love to be able to spend a few weeks there. Between Banff and Jasper, I much prefer the quiet beauty of Jasper. For this evening, I had all Maligne Lake to myself. For hours, our car was the only vehicle in the parking lot.

Will post and write more about my trip. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy this image. I captured many different variations of this beautiful sunset over Maligne Lake’s boat house, but like the soft pink clouds in this shot as opposed to later shots that feature intense red skies.

To get a good exposure of the sky and the foreground – including those trees that might have been in deep shadows, I stacked a 2 stops soft edge GND filter and a 2 stops hard edge GND filter. To get extra vertical coverage of the beautiful soft pink sky while maintaining my favorite rocks in the foreground, I took two horizontal exposures at 16mm and combined them in Photoshop. To capture the cloud movements, I lengthen my exposure to five seconds.

Last week, I took my camera gears to the mountains, hoping to shoot new photos, but for three days, I saw 50 inches of fresh snow and no sun. A day later, I was back on my local beach watching this beautiful scene unfolded right in front of me. What a difference a day makes: from a whiteout blizzard at 8000 feet to a colorful sunset at sea level.

As for the tittle of this shot, I could write a long post about it, but I am leaving possible interpretations to my viewers.

Normally a popular spot for photographers, but in the middle of a cold winter, solitude can still be found for intrepid travelers seeking a few moments of clarity before darkness comes. Mono Lake – Eastern Sierra, California

Twilight sky over the Tetons at the Snake River Overlook – Wyoming, USA

I shot this sunset over the Tetons near the same location Ansel Adams shot his famous, “The Tetons – Snake River“. Although countless aspiring photographers have attempted to locate Ansel’s tripod holes near the Snake River Overlook, I couldn’t resist trying my own version when I saw this blazing sky over the Tetons. It was unfortunate that the fine folks at the national park service decided to perform controlled burns during my visit. I wished that they waited another week to start the prescribed fires. The smokes did enhance the sky colors; however, it also obscured the details of the Teton range. I am not too happy with the composition nor the exposure for this shot, but this was the best sky that I saw during my trip.

A 100 seconds twilight exposure of a Southern California beach shot with a BW ND110 filter.

I haven’t been out on the local beaches as often as I did in the past years. I really missed shooting these shoreline twilight scenes.

Last Friday, I left work early and went straight to the beach. During my rush, I left my remote cable release and Lee filter holder at home. I ended up hand-holding a Lee GND filter with one hand and pressing down on the shutter release button for 100 seconds with the other hand. I wanted to make a longer exposure, but had to cut my exposure time short because I knew that I couldn’t make a sharp enough exposure without my remote cable release. I underexposed this shot by about 1 stop. Thanks to RAW and post processing works, I am able to salvage this shot.

Trying to find time to post … this was shot last December. I haven’t been able to do much sea-side photography lately. This was a two minutes exposure.

Another long exposure (120 seconds) made with a ND110 filter and a 2 stops hard-edge ND filter. I don’t have too much time to write a longer post, but I did update the previous post to show a comparison between an image shot with ND110 and one without.

I am heading up the mountains for a few days. Hope to bring back a good photo or two.