Scenic North Shore

[buzzsaw]

Was in Duluth up to Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock this past Friday/Saturday and here are a few images from the journey.

Split Rock Lighthouse.

Split Rock Lighthouse.

Lower Gooseberry Falls.

Kettle River in Jay Cooke State Park.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Awesome buzz. I remember the view of that lighthouse while scuba diving shipwrecks. Brrrrrrrrr.

[solbes]

Split Rock is in my top 3 parks in the state. I love that pebble rock beach just SW of the lighthouse.

Did you take that longer shot of the light house from one of the campsites with a telephoto? Nice shot.

[buzzsaw]

I think it was called "Day Hill". There were campgrounds very near the area I was shooting from so probably the same area.

[walleyeking#8]

Buzz....Made my first trip to the northshore area earlier this fall or should i say late spring, what a beautiful place. The family and I stayed at lake breeze resort and did a lot of sight seeing along the north shore all the way up to tettagouchee state park. Can't wait to go up there again. Maybe this time do some fishing, hopefully.....Great pics, I will see if my buddy can post some from our trip on here....

[WCS]

Nice shots. The North Shore is definitely one of the best places to visit.

[buzzsaw]

Thanks guys, I'll be honest... I messed up all of my water shots... I wanted that silky look and was thinking I just needed to do the mirror up deal and I should have just raised my F-stop way up to slow the shutter speed down enough or added my polarizer and done trial and error until I got the right look. You live and learn.

[WCS]

With as bright as the days were, you probably would have needed a 2 or 3 stop neutral density filter to get a slow enough shutter speed. I like to take blurred waterfall pictures and I almost always need the filter.

[jonny_redhorse]

Nice Buzz!.......can't beat the scenery along the north shore!......wish I owned land on lake superior jonny

[Steve Foss]

Buzz, sweet work, as always. These are great.

I haven't shot Split Rock. Definitely going to have to get around to it one of these days. I've spent a lot of time hiking the Split Rock spur trail near the park, but haven't been in the park itself but once.

With my sily water shots, I almost always have to use the circular polarizer dialed to its strongest, iso100, the highest f-stop I can get, mirror lock-up and the tripod and timer/remote release. I've had my best silky luck at up to 8 second exposures.

And heck, experimentation is a lot of the fun, anyway.

[buzzsaw]

Thanks guys! It's all about learning new things right?! I think this next weekend will be great up there as well as far as great color goes.

[floating minnow]

Really nice Buzz.The first two really rock.

[Dbl]

Really some great shots buzz. I am still trying to get a good photo of Split Rock, just never the right light. Yours look great.

[MT Net]

Wonderful pics! I've always wondered how you get those "silky" water shots you refered to. Another thing to try to remember. i didn't realize the polarizer filter could accomplish this as well.

[Steve Foss]

MT Net:

Don't mean to hijack the thread (Buzzy's work is excellent, and we can get back to it), but there are a few more issues with silky water shots. The circular polarizer is especially useful because you can spin it to adjust strength. The more polarization, the less light passes through and the slower the shutter speed. One caution: When using a polarizer, you'll darken shadow areas as well as darkening highlights, so it's a really good idea to bracket your exposures. One of them will be just the right combination of not-quite-blown-out highlights and shadows that retain some detail.

The type of water also is an issue. If there's a lot of spatter and spray, it'll be hard to get that silky look, because those will appear like little meteor trails in the time exposure image. Better to find water that's fast flowing but not shooting all over up into the air.

Here's an example of that 8-second exposure I mentioned. Wouldn't have worked if there was a lot of spray.

It's off a tripod, with the Canon 100-400L IS and circular polarizer. Can't remember aperature, but it was way up there, like f30something, which is another way to ensure you have a slow enough shutter speed to get the right look. You can still see a little detail in the deepest shadow of the rock, but the white water highlights are not blown out. I have to admit that luck played a role. That leaf blew in for only a minute or so while I was setting up, and a cloud came over the sun just then, and I was able to get only two time exposures before the leaf blew back out. There was no time for bracketing, just shoot-n-hope.

[buzzsaw]

Thats the look I wanted! Thats not highjacking Steve, thats just plain helping out. I guess I'll give it another try and see how it works out.

[MT Net]

Thanks for the tips and great example, now we have a basis to work from, (even though some of us don't have a DSLR camera).

What I like about the circular polarizer is the way it can make a dull gray cloudy sky pop out rather than wa grayish sky tone. It also enhances the brilliant blue sky colors. But like you said, sometimes it's plainly too dark, muting details.

My apologies to Buzzsaw in taking this topic in another direction. But hopefully we'll all learn something.

[Swimmer]

Thanks for the advice Steve. That by the way is an absolutely gorgeous shot. Thanks again.

[Dbl]

Here is an example of shooting at high noon, handheld, with no polarizer. Taken at Tettegouche State Park at the Baptism River high falls in June.

#1

F25, 1/20s, ISO 100

#2

F9, 1/200s, ISO 100

As the two photos above show just a small change in f-stop and shutter speed can give you very different results. For the really great waterfall shots like Steve's, cloudy, overcast, conditions gives you that dreamy look that most people prefer and allow for the longer exposures. Plus in bright light it is very easy to blow out the water due to the longer exposures. Nothing special about either of these shots, they just illustrate how little changes in settings can give very different results.

[Redstormy]

Buzz these are fantastic