Ronchetti’s repeated late January weather call indicated three storms in four days. The diligent photographer wants to be there just as the storm clears - that's the best time for magic light!
I've been scouting a pond on a golf course. During my walks, it had a bit of ice from a prior storm session. I thought, "If I can catch that S-curve of ice and water with ducks outlined on the pond at sunset, I've got a delicious full range HDR image!"
Only - when this storm cleared - no ice, just soggy turf and water in a normally bone dry creek bed. On the rapid hike to the pond, there was just enough sunlight, intermixed with clouds on the horizon, to let me see the sparkle of what looked like Golden doubloons (rain-soaked autumn leaves) lying on the ground each time I glanced towards the sun. I get to the pond ~ the light was not right! Oh well, I've taken this gamble before and lost... back home, wash all icy crud off the boots to keep the rug clean. Later, Ronchetti said, "The last storm's not going to clear until late day-after-tomorrow..."
Snowy Sandias and Emdudito Canyon
Driving north on Tramway an hour before sunset two days later, I could easily see along snow-covered Sandias. Swirling clouds hugged the crest like a warm wool cap. But direct sunlight was bright and glaring; not the best shootin' time...
This time, I got there with about 15 minutes to spare, sized up the terrain, then waited to set up tripod and go through rigors of a full range sunset HDR capture.
T-shirt, long sleeve L.L. Bean sweater, REI shirt jac, marvelous Helly Hansen rain jacket, elk skin gloves - it was a blustery 36° with the wind 20-25 miles an hour. But families were out. One kid looking grotesque, with his father's gloves covering cold hands. A toddler, slipping kerplunk on the ice...
Set Up
The night before, I've come to the same place, set up on some ice, and while manually changing shutter speed, got serious offset in vertical edge of the building. Somehow, the camera rotated on the tripod...
OK, Dig the tripod into snow and ice, so I could have a multiple view from the same position. Sandias to the north and Embudito Canyon southeast. Take a few practice shots using over an overexposed histogram limit to constrain full range capture, then change shutter speed until totally underexposed. About one second to 1/3000 for shutter range. Oops; too much light! Damn, it's cold and blowy out here...
The house just west blocked my actual view of sun set. So it was trial and error guessing when the Sun's mountain crest reflection would give the best soft sunset light and provide a passionate HDR image.
Passions Rise
As the last lip of the Sun dropped below skyline, things get furious. 20 seconds to shoot 11 Sandia images, swing the camera 135°, focus, then another 20 seconds to shoot 11 more images of Embudito. Three days of effort culminated in one minute of shooting. By then, my fingers were so cold I couldn't simply click the shutter dial twice and be sure I got a consistent 1 EV image difference.
Back at the ranch, it quickly became clear - for me, the most dramatically passionate image was Embudito. A dab of Photomatix, some Lightroom globals, masking pink rock and sky exposure - presto, changeo - and it's done. Well, it wasn't quite that quick, but full range workflow is a relatively simple task.
Oops...
Enjoy...
I've been scouting a pond on a golf course. During my walks, it had a bit of ice from a prior storm session. I thought, "If I can catch that S-curve of ice and water with ducks outlined on the pond at sunset, I've got a delicious full range HDR image!"
Only - when this storm cleared - no ice, just soggy turf and water in a normally bone dry creek bed. On the rapid hike to the pond, there was just enough sunlight, intermixed with clouds on the horizon, to let me see the sparkle of what looked like Golden doubloons (rain-soaked autumn leaves) lying on the ground each time I glanced towards the sun. I get to the pond ~ the light was not right! Oh well, I've taken this gamble before and lost... back home, wash all icy crud off the boots to keep the rug clean. Later, Ronchetti said, "The last storm's not going to clear until late day-after-tomorrow..."
Snowy Sandias and Emdudito Canyon
Driving north on Tramway an hour before sunset two days later, I could easily see along snow-covered Sandias. Swirling clouds hugged the crest like a warm wool cap. But direct sunlight was bright and glaring; not the best shootin' time...
This time, I got there with about 15 minutes to spare, sized up the terrain, then waited to set up tripod and go through rigors of a full range sunset HDR capture.
T-shirt, long sleeve L.L. Bean sweater, REI shirt jac, marvelous Helly Hansen rain jacket, elk skin gloves - it was a blustery 36° with the wind 20-25 miles an hour. But families were out. One kid looking grotesque, with his father's gloves covering cold hands. A toddler, slipping kerplunk on the ice...
Set Up
The night before, I've come to the same place, set up on some ice, and while manually changing shutter speed, got serious offset in vertical edge of the building. Somehow, the camera rotated on the tripod...
OK, Dig the tripod into snow and ice, so I could have a multiple view from the same position. Sandias to the north and Embudito Canyon southeast. Take a few practice shots using over an overexposed histogram limit to constrain full range capture, then change shutter speed until totally underexposed. About one second to 1/3000 for shutter range. Oops; too much light! Damn, it's cold and blowy out here...
The house just west blocked my actual view of sun set. So it was trial and error guessing when the Sun's mountain crest reflection would give the best soft sunset light and provide a passionate HDR image.
Passions Rise
As the last lip of the Sun dropped below skyline, things get furious. 20 seconds to shoot 11 Sandia images, swing the camera 135°, focus, then another 20 seconds to shoot 11 more images of Embudito. Three days of effort culminated in one minute of shooting. By then, my fingers were so cold I couldn't simply click the shutter dial twice and be sure I got a consistent 1 EV image difference.
Back at the ranch, it quickly became clear - for me, the most dramatically passionate image was Embudito. A dab of Photomatix, some Lightroom globals, masking pink rock and sky exposure - presto, changeo - and it's done. Well, it wasn't quite that quick, but full range workflow is a relatively simple task.
Oops...
Enjoy...
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