Summer 2008
Wow… I certainly feel quite stupid right now – what can I say? Here I am, shooting my mouth off in my last blog/newsletter about how insect “hunting” is a photography no-miss during the summer months… Well now, I certainly did not count on record rainfall in July, coupled with many extremely windy days!
July was a complete wash on the photography front, weekends being mostly wet and windy. What a bummer! But August has been great. Frighteningly, we’re now at the end of August, and there are only 4 weeks left until the end of summer, thus, I title this blog entry as “Summer 2008″.
Let’s start with a sunset picture… For a variety of reasons (bad weather, working too late, weekend evening plans, etc.), I’ve not gone to do a sunset picture since the winter. Shame on me, as sunsets (and landscapes) is really what I find most satisfying photography-wise. On Saturday, August 23rd, everything lined up for me to go out for a sunset shot… And I was rewarded! This was the first attempt at using my new Singh-Ray Gold-N-Blue polarizer filter on a sunset. I’d love to hear your feedback on this shot:
Late August Sunset over Lake of Two Mountains
Canon EOS 20D with Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens at 28mm
2 seconds at f/16, ISO 100
Singh-Ray Gold-N-Blue Polarizer (blue polarization), Hitech 3-stop graduated neutral density filter, 2-stop neutral density filter
Gitzo G2220 tripod, Really Right Stuff BH-55 ballhead, cable release, mirror lock-up
Ah…. yes… And suddenly, I remember why I love landscape and sunset photography. And… before anyone asks, the above image is as I saw it in my viewfinder – there is virtually no PhotoShop work on this image: it’s all about understanding how to use filters and properly exposing the image.
The Singh-Ray Gold-N-Blue filter transformed somewhat “blah” colors to the stunning colors you see… I love that filter!
Published!
It never gets old, and I never tire of this… The current edition of Grit Magazine has published one of my bird images. It is so rewarding to get paid to do something that you love and consider a “pure hobby”. This is not a new image, as it was taken over 3 years ago.
Rose-Breasted Grosbeak
Canon EOS 20D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM lens
Canon 500EX flash at -1 2/3 EV. equipped with Better Beamer
1/400s. f/5.6, ISO 800
Cooperative Birds
I’ve stayed away from the Ile Bizard marsh since sometime in May. As mentioned in my previous blog entry, it is sometimes difficult to get up at 4:15AM on a weekend when I already get up early every weekday for work. But I did go to the marsh twice in August, and was rewarded…
There have been many Least Bitterns at the marsh this summer. This normally shy and skittish bird seems to have become much friendlier at the Ile Bizard marsh, and I was able to get a number of full-frame shots of this bird, the smallest of the heron family.
Least Bittern
Canon EOS 20D with Canon EOS 400mmm f/5.6 L USM lens
1/500s., f/5.6, ISO 200
Least Bittern with Fish
Canon EOS 20D with Canon EOS 400mmm f/5.6 L USM lens
1/100s., f/8, ISO 400
“My, what big feet you have!”… Another cooperative bird was a juvenile Common Moorhen, just 12 feet from the boardwalk.
Common Moorhen (Juvenile)
Canon EOS 20D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM lens
Canon 550EX flash at -1 2/3EV equipped with Better Beamer
1/400s., f/5.6, ISO 400
Insects
As mentioned, the lousy July weather put a serious damper on my insect photography this summer… Still, I managed to get a few decent shots.
Eastern Pondhawk Dragonfly
Canon EOS 20D with Sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro lens
1/250s, f/8, ISO 200
Gitzo G2220 tripod, Really Right Stuff BH-55 ballhead
European Skipper Butterfly
Canon EOS 20D with Sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro lens
1/400s, f/8, ISO 400
Gitzo G2220 tripod, Really Right Stuff BH-55 ballhead
Two-Striped Grasshopper
Canon EOS 20D with Sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro lens
1/60s, f/11, ISO 400
Gitzo G2220 tripod, Really Right Stuff BH-55 ballhead, cable release, mirror lockup
Other Stuff
I admit that I’m an opportunist… I’ll shoot whatever I can, although I’m a stickler for quality. There was a beautiful bullfrog about 10 feet from the boardwalk at the marsh… Getting a shot like this is not exactly easy! I was lying down on the hard wooden boardwalk, resting the camera as best I could on my hand. I tried something a bit different for this shot, using a polarizer on my 400mm lens. The polarizer cut the bright reflections on the frog’s wet skin – but it also lowered my shutter speed from about 1/640s. to 1/160s. If you think it’s easy to get a sharp shot with a 400mm lens, well… then you’d be seriously wrong!
American Bullfrog
Canon EOS 20D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM lens equipped with a polarizer
Canon 550EX flash at -1 2/3EV, equipped with a Better Beamer
1/160s, f/5.6, ISO 400
Hand Held (lying on the boardwalk)
Well, that’s it for now, friends…. If you have any photography questions, please let me know. And I’ll remind you that my prints are available for purchase, from 8″ x 10″ to 20″ x 30″, either framed or unframed. 
See you in the field,
Rob
Posted by Rob under Filters,L'Ile Bizard (Quebec) | Comments (2)
Hi Robert:
Are you satisfied with the way digital sensors capture sunrise/sunsets. I find that oftentimes I get a “funky” kind of “halo” (for lack of a better word) going on around the sun. Also, how do you manage to capture a sunset without much flare while using multiple filters (somewhat of a rhetorical quetion from a Nikon user)!!
Thanks!!
Hi Paul,
So nice to hear from you. I am extremely satisfied with my 20D’s sensor and its image quality, even when doing sunsets.
Halos happen when the sun is still high and very strong, and sunlight hits the lens directly, causing highlight to blowout. You’ll also get strong flare to show in the filters and the lenses. Note that your RAW converter may also worsen this “funky halo” problem – it depends how it handles blown highlights, so you may want to try another converter for problem images. There are a few solutions to that problem:
1) Shoot in hazy conditions. This will significantly reduce the sun’s strength, and will also give the nice an orange or red hue as the sun is going down.
2) Shoot in partly cloudy skies, just as the sun is peaking though the side of a cloud. Again, this significantly reduces the sun’s strength.
3) Shoot as the “magic moment” – just as the sun is barely over the horizon. The colors in the sky will dramatically saturate, and the sun is again weaker, making a flare-free shot simple to take.
4) Use a polarizer! If you use a GND filter in front of your polarizer, some of the flare caused by the GND may be eliminated by the polarizer.
5) Make sure your lenses and filters are clean and scratch-free. Dust and scratches will worsen flare.
Of course, when doing sunset photography, you have to use a graduated neutral density filter to hold back the very bright sun and sky, and balance the overall exposure.
While the sun is still in the sky, you’ll need at least a 3-stop GND, and then a 2-stop once it has set but the sky is still bright.
Alternatively, you can bracket multiple exposures(number of shots and stops depending on how bright the sun and sky are, but typically try a 5-8 stop range for bright conditions to 3 stop range for dark conditions) and blend in PhotoShop or go the HDR route using Photomatix. I love Photomatix, but if I can do a single exposure using a filter, that’s what I’ll do. I often also do a combo of GND + bracketed shots for Photomatix.
I often shoot sunsets with up to 3 filters, and really only encounter problems when the sun is relatively high in the sky. The sunset shot in this blog entry was done as a single exposure with three filters. No halos or flare! But consider the clouds, the haze, and the sun low in the sky…
Hope this helps – let me know if you have other questions.
Rob