Shooting in the Rain

Rainy weather might be a deterrent to some photographers, given the bad effects water can have on a camera. But it doesn’t have to be that way as any quick Internet search for “rain photography” will show. Nevertheless, as one who shoots in the Washington, D.C. area, I found inspiration in the book Washington by Night, featuring the lyrical night-time images of Washington D.C taken by Volkmar Wentzel during the 1930s. So I decided to give it a try.


Two nights ago, gambling that NOAA’s website forecast for a light drizzle was correct, I went into Washington with two other photographers to see what we could find at the east end of the Federal Triangle. The image above shows the West Building of the National Gallery of Art taken about 20 minutes after sunset. It shows that a clear sky is not required to get a dramatic twilight blue during the 30-minute period after the sun sets. More importantly, the foreground reflections show the principal reason for venturing out into wet weather at night.


The image immediately above was taken about 25-30 minutes after sunset and it is clear that color of the sky has changed considerably. The pink color of the clouds is caused by the city lights, an effect that can be quite vivid when the clouds are close to the ground. The effect was even more pronounced a few minutes later as shown in the vertical image below of the Old Post Office Building on Pennsylvania Avenue.



The final image was taken well after sunset, looking eastward on Pennsylvania Avenue toward the U.S. Capitol. The horizontal streaks across the lower part of the image were the result of several cars passing by during a 5-second time exposure. The B and W version of the same image evokes the style of Volkmar Wentzel.
Larger versions of some of these images can be seen at my website at www.photographybykent.com. An excellent resource for the images by Volkmar Wentzel can be found at www.volkmarwentzel.com. Read more!

Winter Shooting Part II

Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia is a popular location for photographers from late spring into late fall. But it can be especially rewarding in winter, if you are willing to endure a little discomfort and occasionally challenging hiking conditions.

The park is named for a large waterfall on the Blackwater River (see image above) where the Blackwater River departs the relatively flat Canaan Valley, suddenly dropping 62 feet to begin a turbulent journey through an eight-mile canyon. The river’s name alludes to the brown colors caused by tannic acid from fallen hemlock and red spruce needles.

In late January, three of us packed our gear and headed off for a two-day shoot, hoping that the conditions would be worthwhile. One member of our trio had been there before and therefore knew the best locations and how to get to each of them. In hindsight, such knowledge is pretty important when you are wandering around in a snowstorm with a low probability of seeing anyone else. We stayed at the park lodge, which is the closest facility to all of the shooting locations and also has reasonable rates.

We arrived in late afternoon and, after checking in, headed immediately to Elakala Falls, a small waterfall just a few hundred yards from the lodge. A footbridge crosses the stream just above the falls which is a good spot for close-up shots looking upstream. See, for example, the color image immediately below.

However, the best vantage point on that day was just below the falls but the steep slope, combined with the ice and snow made the way down fairly tricky to negotiate. Nevertheless, the descent was well worth the effort. We had choices of some tightly cropped compositions as well as a nice overall view of the waterfall and the cascades below. (See next two images below) These images were photographed with a Nikon D-200 and 18-200mm zoom lens and the ISO set at 400. Exposures were slow (between 1/8th and 1/3rd second), giving a sense of flow to the water. The light level was quite low, due to the late hour and the heavy cloud cover. We decided to come back for another session the next day.





On the following morning, we drove over to the trailhead for Blackwater Falls. The parking lot was deserted and the trail down to falls had clearly not been used for several days. We stopped briefly at the overlook halfway down (see next image below) and then continued to pick our way down the icy steps to an overlook at the base of the falls. Unfortunately, the swirling winds, snow, and mist from the water combined with the flat light limited our options. Neverthless, a few images were possible (see second image below).

In the early afternoon, we drove to the opposite side of the river and took a short flat trail to an overlook above the falls. The sun was out, giving much better definition to the scene. Here I used a Nikon D-700 with a 24-70 mm zoom lens and a Singh Ray variable density filter. Shooting at ISO 200 and the filter set at maximum density, I made a 1 second exposure at f/16. The result is the image at the beginning of this post.

Next, we returned to Elakala Falls and I stayed with the Nikon D-700, 24-70 lens, and Sing Ray filter. I again selected the maximum density (minus 8 stops) enabling me to expose for 3 seconds at f/16. The small aperture maximized the depth of field and the long exposure conveyed a sense of motion with the flowing water. The lens was not wide enough to cover the entire scene so I took two images and after returning home, combined them with photomerge in Adobe Photoshop CS4. (See final image below)




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Winter Shooting

This winter has brought record snows to the Washington, D.C. area and that means opportunities for new images. This will be the first of a series of posts describing what I’ve been shooting in the past several months.

My first outing followed the mid-December storm that dumped about two feet on the area so on December 21st, the day of the winter solstice, I decided to try my luck at the Korean War Memorial on the National Mall. Unlike most memorials, the central feature is a statuary garden. A squad of soldiers, sculpted in a size slightly larger than life, is arranged as if the unit was moving through low lying brush on a combat patrol. As usual, I had scouted this location several times but had not yet developed a good concept of how best to photograph them. But my previous visits had all been in good weather. Now, with the snow on the ground, I thought that the fact the soldiers were all wearing ponchos would give the scene a sense of reality not normally seen.

The image above shows a full view of the tableau from the rear, including most elements of the memorial along with the few tourists who were visiting that day. The low angular light of the sun (it was about 30-45 minutes before sunset) gave definition to the soldiers and warmed the scene with just a touch of gold.

The second image isolates three of the soldiers, essentially removing them from the context of the memorial and other clues about the scale of the statues. The intent here was to provide some initial confusion in the mind of the viewer about what exactly is being shown. The panorama format was achieved by merging three images using the photomerge function in Photoshop CS4.




The last image shows a detail of the black granite wall that borders the memorial. Known as the “photographic wall,” it features about 2,500 archival photographs from the conflict sandblasted into the granite. I positioned myself so these images would mix with the ghostly reflections of the stainless steel statues illuminated by the golden light of the setting sun and nearby trees to create an ethereal scene.




For larger versions of these photographs, check my website at www.photographybykent.com. For more details about the Korean War Memorial check this website: http://www.nab.usace.army.mil/projects/WashingtonDC/korean.html. Read more!

Timing is Everything

At twilight, just a few minutes can make a major difference in the image that you can capture. The image above was taken on October 5th, the night following a full moon. I knew from checking the US Naval Observatory’s website that I would be able to capture the moon next to the Lincoln Memorial while shooting from the walkway on the Arlington Memorial Bridge. The image above was taken about 3 minutes after the “official” moonrise time provided by the USNO, but it was blocked from my view by the trees next to the Memorial. Although the twilight blue of the sky (about 30 minutes after sunset) was starting to darken, there was still sufficient ambient light to illuminate the side of the bridge and the Potomac River below. I chose a longer time exposure to trace the tracks of automobile lights on the bridge and the road along the riverbank below.

The second image was taken only 10 minutes later when the moon had almost cleared the trees, but the sky was now darkened and there was no ambient light to illuminate the side of the bridge or the river below. I moved my shooting location to the middle of the sidewalk so the right half of the image would not be a completely black void. The result is acceptable, but it would have been better had the moon shown up ten minutes sooner.

The question naturally arises about the possibilities for a better image on the previous night, when the moon was full and would have been above those trees sooner. Unfortunately, on that night, the moon would have been too far to the right of the Lincoln Memorial to be included in the frame.

The next full moon will be on November 3rd and from this position on Memorial Bridge it will be much closer to the Lincoln Memorial than it was on October 5th. In fact, it may well be obscured by the Memorial for a few minutes. Nevertheless, the timing of the sunset and moonrise indicates that there will be a better possibility of capturing the full moon in the picture before the twilight period fades.

Technical data for these images: Both images captured with a Nikon D-200 and an 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens and the ISO at 200. The first image was shot with the lens extended to 82 mm. The exposure was set at f/20 for 5 seconds. The second image was shot with the lens extended to 132 mm. The exposure was set at f/18 for 1.5 seconds. Both images were adjusted in Camera Raw and Photoshop.

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From One, Many

I find it is occasionally a good idea to go back and look at images you haven’t seen in a while. Often as not, a new idea may occur to you about how it might be interpreted. For example, the above photograph was taken about a year ago when I visited the gardens of Versailles, about an hour away from Paris. (Tip: If you go there, check to see if you can time your visit to coincide with a scheduled fountain display.)

The original was captured in film (Ektachrome 100VS). After the film from the week-long trip to Paris was processed, I didn’t see anything in the fountain series that stood out. But this week, I went back and looked over the slides again and I saw some new ways this one shot could be presented.

The image above is the full frame of the shot and was scanned on a Nikon ED-8000 film scanner and then processed in Photoshop CS3. The original scan, as a 16-bit TIFF file was the starting point for all four of the images shown here. The first image was processed using a very modest curves adjustment layer, a medium boost to the blue and yellow colors using a hue/saturation adjustment layer, and sharpening with the Unsharp Mask.

The next image involved only a crop of the original image, but the result is something quite different. The viewer no longer sees a large fountain, but might imagine a story of a female figure struggling up a waterfall.

The third image is an even tighter crop, followed by a conversion to grayscale using the Channel Mixer adjustment layer. The contrast was enhanced, with a more aggressive use of the curves adjustment layer than the original color image.

The fourth image started with the cropped color image, and I introduced one of the many filters available in Photoshop. The command sequence for this one was Filter > Artistic > Plastic Bubble. If you want to experiment with these special effects, be aware that the final result can vary considerably depending on the size at which the final result will be viewed. There is a control in the lower left corner of the filter dialog box that enables you to reduce the size on the monitor from the default 100 percent. Be sure to play around with the sliders in the upper right portion of the dialog box; their names vary depending on which filter is being used.

Finally, I opened the original scan (a TIFF file) with Camera Raw, a somewhat unorthodox procedure since the Adobe Raw tool is designed for digital photographs originally exposed in the Raw format. I made adjustments in the exposure, fill light, clarity, vibrance, saturation and curves tools. I then opened it in Photoshop, and used only the Unsharp Mask to sharpen the image.

I don’t know that any of these versions would be considered outstanding, but the point here is that you have many tools available. Just spending some time using them will enhance your skills for the times when you do get a great image.

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Hidden Gems

When photographing the monuments and public buildings in Washington, DC, we most often gravitate to the locations that are best known, such as the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial. But there are many potential subjects that are less well known that offer opportunities for a strong image. The photo above is a case in point.

The Arlington Hemicycle is located in plain sight at the end of Memorial Drive, the main approach to Arlington National Cemetery. The site is accessible at any time of day and the security guards who occasionally pass by do not seem to mind the use of a tripod. The Hemicycle and Memorial Drive are actually key elements of the overall design of Arlington Memorial Bridge and were built as a single project, completed in 1932. The Bridge axis, angled southwesterly from the east west Mall axis, continues with Memorial Drive as it crosses the Boundary Channel Bridge to entrance of the Cemetery. There it terminates at the Arlington Hemicycle, originally intended as the ceremonial gateway to Arlington National Cemetery, with Arlington House rising as the focal point on the hill above. In 1997, the semicircular wall was adapted to incorporate the Women in Military Service Memorial. To get a sense of the overall design, go to the following link (http://wikimapia.org/4936837/Arlington-Memorial-Bridge), which includes an impressive aerial photograph of the entire site. Use your mouse to navigate the image.

I had found the structure a few days earlier when I was scouting possible shooting locations at the Cemetery. The image above shows the effects of the golden light of an early summer morning (taken last July). It actually is a combination of seven separate images “stitched” together using the Photomerge routine in Photoshop CS3. I set up the tripod in a low perspective to emphasize the reflections in the pool. I was there perhaps five minutes, taking a total of eleven images.

Technical data: I used a Nikon D-200 with an 18-200 mm lens, set at 18mm. The seven exposures were exposed at ISO 400 with slightly different apertures and shutter speeds. A typical exposure was f/9 at 1/250th second.
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Paris at Night

When photographing a subject that has been the subject of millions of previous efforts, it is advisable to try for a slightly different take than the usual fare. Otherwise, your resulting image may fail to attract the attention of jaded viewers.

I was in Paris last week and, like hundreds of others, decided to capture some night images of the Eiffel Tower. Most of my fellow shooters had no tripod, so that gave me a number of options not available to them. For Image 1, I positioned myself on the Ièna Bridge on the west side (Right Bank) of the River Seine. I set the camera for a long time exposure that would trace the taillights of vehicles traveling toward the Tower. This image was exposed at f/16 for 15 seconds. One of the advantages of such a long exposure is that pedestrians walking by tend to fade into a ghostly blur, an effect that heightens the sense of motion suggested by the traces of the vehicle lights.

The second image was taken about 150 yards from the first. There is a small carousel at the edge of the Place du Trocadero. Although a time exposure of an illuminated carousel is a common technique, with the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop, I couldn’t resist. This image was exposed at f/16 for 1.3 seconds. The starburst effect with the two street lamps is a side effect of using a small aperture such as f/16.

Both images were shot using a Nikon D-700, a Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, and an ISO set at 200.

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