Lights and Darks

Another photographic challenge while in Europe was getting a good exposure when shooting dark buildings against bright, washed-out skies. Remember that the human eye can see a range of about 11 F-stops whereas the camera sensor can only "see" about 5. This presents a dilemma when attempting to capture a scene with very bright highlights and dark areas. A general rule of thumb is to expose for the highlights and let the darks go darker, just like in the film days.

There are a couple of tools that can improve photographing these situations. One is to use a graduated neutral density filter. This is a rectangular piece of glass that is dark at one end and gradually becomes clear at the other end. The filter is held in front of the camera lens with the dark end covering the bright part of the scene. This may help reduce the range of brightness and allow the camera to record all parts of the scene better.

A second option is using digital neutral density filters, such as found in Adobe Lightroom and some other photo editing software. The image is brought into the program and the digital filter placed over it and sliders are used to brighten or darken areas as needed. Keep in mind though that if there are overexposed areas in the original capture, there is probably no data for the software to work with. Always check your histogram and "blinkies" in the field to make sure that no important elements in your image are totally blown out.

A third option is to use High Dynamic Range software. HDR allows you to combine several images, each taken with different exposure settings, and combine them into one perfect picture. A few cameras, such as the Canon G12, have this feature built in. You push the shutter button, the camera takes 3 exposures in rapid succession and automatically combines them in the camera. This feature is still rudimentary but I believe it will become better and standard in future camera models. Probably not too far down the road, these new technologies will equal the seeing ability of the human eye and worrying about the range of light in an image will become less of an issue.

In the top image, the sky was very bright, but I was able to tone it down using a digital neutral density filter. In the second image, again the sky was a little too bright, but I brought out some detail with the filter. I also used the filter tool on the foreground flowers and then vignetted the corners to bring the viewer's eye more to the center.

Removing the Present

I am back home in Flagstaff after visiting 15 countries over the last six weeks aboard the National Geographic Explorer. One photography challenge was capturing interesting images of historic features while excluding contemporary objects. One example was this replica of the type of sailing vessels used by the Hanseatic League during the Middle Ages. Unfortunately it was moored in the industrial part of the Lubeck, Germany harbor with cranes and other modern machinery near and behind it.

I made the image and then in Adobe Lightroom cropped out what I could and vignetted the corners to further hide unwanted features. You can also see that I changed it from color to sepia to give the image a vintage look. I may go back and do additional work on this image such as cloning out the building and crane that are still visible.

Baltic Sea

I am currently on the National Geographic Explorer sailing through the Baltic Sea with visits to many of the Hanseatic cities established during the Middle Ages. One of the main highlights occurs in Gdansk, when Nobel Peace Prize winner and former president of Poland, Lech Walesa comes on board to speak to our group.

My role on board is to help guests with their digital cameras so that they can take home better vacation images. It can be quite a challenge considering all the different models of cameras and varying photographic abilities. But it is fun.

Flagstaff Photography Center Show

Hope to see you at the exhibit, which runs until September 24th. The Flagstaff Photography Center, located on Heritage Square in downtown Flagstaff, is open Wednesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 pm and by appointment. Call 928-774-2544 or visit their website: www.flagstaffphotographycenter.com for more information.

The End is Near

With help from some Bluffoons (or is it Bluffites), I finally have the major adobe clay coat on the inside walls of the strawbale shed. Ann spent her time being very creative on the exterior walls, including "painting" on a beautiful lime-clay slip and greatly improving the outside niche complete with a heart-shaped rock. The loft is ready for guests and is accessed by a ladder I built using directions off Youtube. The ladder's slope is such that a person can carry something in each hand (e.g. beers) without using a hand rail. Sweet!

Adobe Dreams

We were back in Bluff in July and did some more work on the strawbale shed. We also got up on Cedar Mesa to have a walk-about and look at some centuries-old clay work. A couple of wonderful rainstorms managed to blow through and one produced a great rainbow. Another trip in August and most of the adobe clay work should be done. Ann is having fun (at least, I hope that it is fun) trying some different clay and lime slips on the outside walls.

La Plata Mountains

Ann & I recently enjoyed some day-hiking along the Colorado trail in the La Plata Mountains of southwestern Colorado. The wildflowers were amazing and having a camera (Canon G-12) with an articulated LCD screen made picture taking very easy. No groveling in the dirt to get those low down shots.