Cloudplay №10 (Mirrored)

 Nature, Process, Reflections  2 Responses »
Oct 272013
 

Cloudplay №10 (Mirrored) ©2013 April Siegfried

{click image to view large}

Just the other day, shortly after sunrise, the waves of Lake Michigan were washing high over beaches near my home. Storm clouds reflected briefly in the backwash, before disappearing into the sand.

My first inclination, with so many beautiful images right in front of me, was to dive in and start shooting with the hope of capturing as many as possible. It soon became clear, however, that a scattershot approach wasn’t going to work. I was only getting frustrated.

Stop; breathe. What am I really seeing? Where? What shutter speed and aperture would best express that? Will I be satisfied with the ISO required to do so?

In landscape or nature photography, I always feel the pressure of time because conditions change so quickly. The scenes in this case were especially fleeting, never to recur in quite the same way again. Once I took a little time to just look and think about the technical questions, then I was able to slow down and perceive what was happening—ready to shoot when it did.

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Nikon D300; 1/180 sec @ f16, ISO 720 (handheld);
18-200 mm f/3.5–5.6 @ 26mm (39mm EFL); focus distance 3.76m

Paint №3

 Process, Walks  No Responses »
Oct 252013
 

Paint №3{click image to view large}

While our cat Sassafras was at her “spa” for grooming, I went out walking with my camera in the Andersonville area of Chicago. It’s a colorful Swedish neighborhood, with unusual shops and restaurants, outdoor seating and huge urns filled with flowers in bloom. Surely I could find something to photograph.

For some reason, though, I felt overwhelmed and couldn’t “see” anything. So, I decided to travel the alleys where it might be quieter with less distraction.

About a half-hour into that exploration, I (finally!) came across a garage door of peeling paint, each rectangular panel filled with fascinating patterns in green and orange. This image is one of my favorites.

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Nikon D300; 1/250 sec @ f11, ISO 200 (handheld);
18-200 mm f/3.5–5.6 @ 70mm (105mm EFL); focus distance 1.0m

Untitled

 Equipment, Everyday Life, Process  6 Responses »
Feb 262011
 

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I love the Neotec tripod.

Walking upstairs the other evening in our home, I was stopped by color in this scene. Light from the setting sun was changing rapidly, so I ran down to grab my camera which was already mounted on the tripod with a cable release attached. It took no time to find the right vantage point and set the legs on different steps. Even working that quickly, there was time for only two exposures before the moment was gone.

Noise was a problem during post-processing, despite in-camera long-exposure noise reduction. I exposed for highlights to capture the window as I saw it—spot meter +2EV—and let shadows fall where they may. In hindsight, to “expose right” even further and darken later would have been a better approach. Then, however, I’d have to rely on memory as a reference and try not to fall into the trap of opening everything up for detail.

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Nikon D300; f9.5 @ 20sec, ISO 200 (tripod);
18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 44mm (66mm EFL); focus distance 5.96m