by chphoto | Oct 6, 2014 |
The setting sun created a beautiful golden glow over the field of soybeans and the end of an old prairie road. ISO 250 – f/22 – 1/20s – 25mm – Tripod – Single Exposure Canon EOS 5D Mark2 Body and Canon EF 17-40 L USM Lens with Formatt Hitech Filters 2 Stop Reverse Grad ND Filter and 2 Stop Soft Edge Grad ND Filter. Photographed in Barnes County, North Dakota on 10-6-2014 at 6:30 PM I am very proud of this photo, It won “Photo of the Day” 10-17-2014 on CaptureDakota.com...
by chphoto | Oct 6, 2014 |
Everyone seemed to enjoy the Sunset Photo which I posted yesterday, so I decided to share a followup. This image with a different composition was taken about 5 minutes after the previous photo. Please leave a comment and let me know which one you enjoy looking at the most! The setting sun created a beautiful golden glow over the field of soybeans and the end of an old prairie road. ISO 250 – f/22 – 1/20s – 17mm – Tripod – Single Exposure Canon EOS 5D Mark2 Body and Canon EF 17-40 L USM Lens with Formatt Hitech Filters 2 Stop Reverse Grad ND Filter and 2 Stop Soft Edge Grad ND Filter. Photographed in Barnes County, North Dakota on 10-6-2014 at 6:30...
by chphoto | Aug 7, 2014 |
I spent the evening watching the sunset from Mounds Park in St. Paul, Minnesota. The flowers in the foreground seemed to compliment the color of the sunset nicely I thought. To create this image I used several different Neutral Density Filters to help balance out the sky and foreground. I used a 100mm Formatt-Hitech filter holder, 2 stop reverse grad ND and 2 stop soft edge grad ND. ISO 200 – f/11 – 15 sec – 21mm – Tripod – Single Exposure Canon EOS 5D MkII Camera Body and Canon EF 17-40 f/4L Lens with Formatt Hitech Filters Photographed in St. Paul, Minnesota on 8-7-2014 at 8:30...
by chphoto | Aug 1, 2014 |
After visiting Willow Falls the other day, I drove north to Osceola, Wisconsin to photograph this waterfall near the St. Croix River. This is another very fun waterfall to visit, however it did involve going down several hundred stairs and then back up again. There were many people visiting this spot and several people were even playing in the waterfall. By using a long exposure time I was able to eliminate them from the image because they never held still long enough to become part of the image. There were a few small kids which were playing in the water that showed up as small blurs, but the spot healing brush in Photoshop took care of that easily enough. ISO 100 – f/11.0 – 20.0s – 31mm – Tripod – Single Exposure Canon EOS 5D MkII Body and Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L Lens with Circular Polarizer and 6 stop ND filter. Photographed in Osceola, Wisconsin on 8-1-2014 at 5:00...
by chphoto | Jul 28, 2014 |
The upper portion of Vermillion Falls in Hastings, Minnesota. Taking long exposure photographs with a very dark Neutral Density filter (6 or 10 stop) can create some issues because it messes with the exposure metering system in your camera. It becomes easier for light to enter the camera through the viewfinder than through the lens. Sometimes I use an exposure calculator app on my phone where I can tell it an exposure setting without an ND filter and then calculate the proper exposure settings to account for the 6 or 10 stop ND filter. I have found that unless the viewfinder is completely covered it will dramatically impact the result of the image. I have been using a piece of black electrical tape which I place over the viewfinder after I have composed and focused. I take a test shot with no ND filter on and then use that for the baseline in my exposure calculator. I prefer to shoot with my camera in Aperture Priority mode and most of the time I can get it to work correctly with these ND filters, but only if the viewfinder is completely covered. The effect of the ND filters on the exposure calculation can actually be observed by noting the exposure reading once, while looking through the viewfinder, second by moving away from the camera leaving the view finder uncovered and third with a cover completely blocking the viewfinder. Most of the time (during daylight) you would see three different exposure readings. Only by putting a cover on the viewfinder can the proper exposure be calculated (as close as possible by...
by chphoto | Jul 26, 2014 |
The Lift Bridge in Stillwater, Minnesota photographed with a long exposure. There was a gondola out for an evening cruise decorated with red lights which created an interesting shape while it moved through the scene. ISO 200 – f/11.0 – 30s – 17mm – Tripod – Single Exposure Canon EOS 5D MkII Body and Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L Lens. Photographed in Stillwater, Minnesota on 7-26-2014 at 10:00...
by chphoto | Jul 18, 2014 |
Downtown St. Paul, Minnesota at night reflected on the Mississippi River. Photographed from Harriet Island. Photographed well after the sun was down, it was dark enough to make long exposures with little need for ND filters. The long exposure helps to smooth out and intensify the lights reflecting on the water as well as to smooth the surface of the water. You can also notice that the clouds moved during the exposure, resulting in a streaking appearance. ISO 50 – f/11.0 – 60s – 28mm – Tripod – Single Exposure Canon EOS 5D MkII Body and Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L Lens with circular polarizer. Photographed in St Paul, Minnesota on 7-18-2014 at 9:00...
by chphoto | Jul 18, 2014 |
Downtown St. Paul, Minnesota reflected on the Mississippi River. Photographed from Harriet Island. Photographed well after the sun was down, it was dark enough to make long exposures with little need for any filters. The long exposure helps to intensify the lights reflecting on the water as well as to smooth the surface of the water, removing waves and debris. When making long exposures it is often convenient to shoot at the lowest possible ISO and maximum aperture (f/22) to achieve the slowest of all possible shutter speeds. However attention needs to be paid to the diffraction effect caused by the narrow aperture setting. Every camera body has a diffraction limit, effected by the aperture setting of the lens, a point at which the image begins to degrade when the aperture is set near the maximum setting. Most camera and lens combinations are optimal at around f/8 to f/11 aperture setting. The star effect on the lights is created through exploiting aperture diffraction which among other things causes the bright lights to appear as stars. This same scene photographed at f/8 only moments before this shot did not have any stars at all, the lights all appeared to be round (and boring). ISO 100 – f/16.0 – 120s – 40mm – Tripod – Single Exposure Canon EOS 5D MkII Body and Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L Lens with circular polarizer. Photographed in St Paul, Minnesota on 7-18-2014 at 9:30...
by chphoto | Jul 17, 2014 |
St. Anthony Main Street along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis Minnesota. ISO 200 – f/8.0 – 1/30s – 40mm – Handheld- Single Exposure Canon EOS 5D MkII Body and Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L Lens with circular polarizer. Photographed in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 7-17-2014 at 7:30...
by chphoto | Jul 16, 2014 |
Downtown St. Paul, Mississippi River and the Wabasha street bridge. Photographed from Harriet Island. ISO 50 – f/11.0 – 1/4s – 40mm – Tripod – Single Exposure Canon EOS 5D MkII Body and Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L Lens with circular polarizer and 2 stop graduated ND filter. Photographed in St Paul, Minnesota on 7-16-2014 at 2:30...
