Lunch with Ken and Steve (images added)

[Steve Foss]

Hey all:

Ken (finnbay) has about a 2.5 hour break in the middle of his workdays this year, so we've gotten in the habit of cruising the back roads during some of those weekdays looking for grabshots of nature. We generally don't get much lunch eaten, but you can do a lot of photography in a couple hours if the critters are willing.

Things are starting to move a bit around here. The deer in particular seem to be out all day every day. Here are a few from the last couple of days.

[mmeyer]

Man, you guys have all the fun!

[finnbay]

Mike, we sure do! Here's a few of mine. Steve and I tend to see most things a little differently, but sometimes when you're shooting the same subjects they tend to look a lot the same. My shots are mostly of deer, but I tried to take some of mine that were enough different than Steve's to not bore anybody to death. Enjoy. By the way, Steve, even though it's not necessarily my best side, I do like the shot of me in the creek!

Caught one on the way home in the sun:

[Steve Foss]

Nice work, Ken!

I remember a Dead End shot you took of my butt a short while back that seemed to make its way onto the forum here. Paybacks, you know, are a b----. Hey, at least I photoshopped out the plumber's butt for you.

Frankly, I'm glad we had nice bright overcast for today's outing. That even diffuse light was a blessing after yesterday's harsh sun. And over the noontwohour, bright sun is at its worst!

The images of the red crossbills were shot in the sun yesterday with flash and Better Beamer to help even out the light, and an ample application of shadows/highlights in Photoshop helped a bit more. They're nothing special, but they'll do.

[finnbay]

Those deer do pop in that filtered light!

[Steve Foss]

Ken, I edited my last post while you were making yours. Sorry about that plumber's butt crack. But hey, if you can't give friends a hard time, what good in life remains?

The first three images (pair of deer and crossbills) were shot with the 300 f2.8L IS and 1.4 TC on the 30D. Today's creek shots were the 10-22 on the 30D, and the deer were with the 200 f2.8L and 1.4 TC on the 30D.

[finnbay]

Quote:

But hey, if you can't give friends a hard time, what good in life remains?

And there's always the next outing to get even on! By the way, that was some pretty good photoshopping to get rid of it!

[finnbay]

Worked on a couple more. If the one kind of looks like Steve's, it was because I was shooting across in front of him from the passenger side through the driver side window. Another one of our drive by shootings!

[MN Shutterbug]

By the way, that was some pretty good photoshopping to get rid of it!

I, for one, am sure glad he was able to.

[pickinupafew]

Simply nice!

I really like the 4th image... awesome!

[Dbl]

Nice way to spend your lunch hour.

[Paul]

I really like the 1st stream shot Steve. Our photo club's april topic was water. Kinda fitting aroud the valley this year. Saw a lot of shots last night at our meeting similar to yours but yours has great exposure and color pop. Great capture.

[buzzsaw]

A tripod and a polarizer would have been nice on those moving water images guys. Sounds like your burning some winter calories as well!!

[Steve Foss]

Actually we wished we had an 8-stop neutral density filter along so we could do some neat cottony water stuff, but we were too much into traveling mode to take the time to set up.

Burning winter calories is right. I've knocked off 19 pounds now, with more to go.

[harvey lee]

Awesome deer shots.

[panthrcat]

nice shots!! Hey I couldn't help but ask something in reference to what buzzsaw had to say about polarizer filters,, I'm going on a trip in June to the Rocky Mountains, and don't currently own a polarizer filter, I guess it's a "must get" huh?

I love this forum!!

Sue

[Steve Foss]

Sue, a polarizer will deliver more saturated colors and will bring out more detail in whites like clouds, as well as killing reflective glare off windows and water.

It will, however, cost you a stop or two of shutter speed because of the darkening effect, and it darkens everything in the frame, so shadow areas are even darker than they would have been.

Buzz was referring to using a polarizer, the lowest ISO setting and smallest aperture (f22 and up), to make the shutter speed so slow that flowing water turns to cotton. The slower your shutter speed and the faster the water, the more cottony the effect. You really need a tripod, remote shutter release (or camera's self-timer), and the mirror lock-up feature to ensure there's no blur added from camera shake. It also helps to have a dark cloudy day.

There are other filters that allow the effect more easily than the polarizer. A typical polarizer slows shutter speed from 1 to 3 stops, but a person can buy a neutral density filter that's dark enough the slow shutter speeds 8 stops or more.

I've got some cotton water images with shutter speeds 4 to 10 seconds long, and you really need to shoot when it's nearly dark (or at least after sunset or before sunrise) at the settings already mentioned -- or put on the polarizer or neutral density filters during the day to achieve those long shutter speeds.

My typical recipe is: ISO100, f22 to f39, very dark conditions, tripod, remote shutter release, mirror lock-up. Variables include how fast the water is flowing and whether there's sun or not. Faster water = cottony effect with faster shutter speeds. Sunny weather = harsh glints off waterfalls/rapids that can ruin the effect. So I tend to do this on cloudy days or when there's no sun left in the woods, which both offers slower shutter speeds and evens exposure so you don't get those irritating pinpoint reflections.

Here's an example of one of the first fuzzy water images I attempted after moving to Ely. I've included the exif data so you can see what I'm talking about.

Canon Digital Rebel, Canon 100-400L IS @170mm, iso100, 8 sec @f29, circular polarizer, tripod, camera self-timer.

[bassNspear]

awesome shots. What do you think them deer are thinking of

[Steve Foss]

What do you think them deer are thinking of

Succulent green shoots and leaves.