Time to Really Look

"If you’re struggling to see images, I recommend that you just sit and “be” for a while. Quietly contemplating your surroundings gives you time to really look at your environment, time to lose yourself and connect with its ambience. I strongly believe that time spent just sitting in these circumstances isn’t wasted; in fact it’s often the most productive thing you can do and will pay huge dividends."

– David Ward, On Landscape

 

Why f/4?

There is interest among many photographers in what are known as “fast” lenses. Fast lenses have large maximum apertures (from approximately f/1.0 to f/2.0) that provide a shallow depth of field (enabling out of focus backgrounds, aka “bokeh”) and excellent low light performance for working handheld.

I'm generalizing here, but more often than not, landscape photographers use small apertures (f/8-f/22) to create a large depth of field for maintaining sharp focus from the immediate foreground all the way to infinity (see image at right). They also often work on tripods to facilitate using live view for precise focus and framing, and to enable longer exposures for capturing cloud and water movement. Consequently, landscape photographers rarely have a need for the large apertures found in fast lenses.

Canon makes a line of pro quality "L Series" lenses with a relatively slow maximum aperture of f/4. My kit consists of the EF 17-40mm f/4 L, EF 24-105mm f/4 L, and the EF 70-200mm f/4 L. People often ask why I prefer these relatively slow lenses. The reasons mostly relate to size and cost. Because fast lenses are larger in diameter (and consequently require larger glass elements), they are both heavier and more expensive than their “slower” equivalents. The weight in particular is an issue for us "over 50" landscape photographers who do a lot of walking. I prefer these slower lenses because they're smaller, lighter, and less expensive than their faster counterparts, while still providing the clarity required for landscape work.

American River at Effie Yeaw

Exploring a Subject Deeply

"I believe that exploring a subject deeply rather than broadly results in more sensitive and insightful work. When you spend a lot of time in one place you really come to know it well — it’s moods, it’s special, hidden spots, and the small details that you might never notice if you were just there for a day."

– David Fokos

Plants in Water

Lottery for the Arts

My print, Stormlight Over Wetland, was accepted into the Blue Line Gallery’s annual Lottery for the Arts show/fundraiser. Lottery for the Arts is the non-profit Blue Line Gallery’s largest fundraiser of the year. From Blue Line Arts:

The Lottery for the Arts is a fundraising event that provides art collectors with an opportunity to acquire original works of art while also supporting a non-profit organization and community of artists. Everybody wins during this exciting event; every ticket holder will take home an original piece of art produced by artists from the Northern California region and beyond, while also supporting community art programs.

Blue Line Gallery
405 Vernon Street, Roseville, CA
Artists’ Reception: April 9, 2014, 6:30 p.m.
Lottery for the Arts: April 10, 2014, 6:00 p.m.

More Information →

Stormlight Over Wetland

Olympus Pointe Open Space

This wetland on the east side of Roseville, California is part of a larger network of open spaces that wind through the city from Granite Bay to the old Fiddyment Farm on the west side of town. They generally follow a pair of streams that run from the foothills near Auburn to their ultimate destinations in the Sacramento River. These slices of semi-wild land that cut through highly developed urban/suburban areas are arguably the most valuable assets the city has, providing habitat for numerous wild animals while providing recreational opportunities such as hiking and biking for residents.

Olympus Pointe Open Space

Time

Naturally, when we think of landscape photography, we think of place. Places are our subjects, captured in fleeting moments for future viewing. The shutter clicks and a particular place at a particular time is frozen on the film or sensor. This is the essence of still photography. 

It is possible though, to record more than just place in a photo. With a tripod and shutter release, anywhere from a few seconds up to multiple hours of time can be captured within a single still image. The images below are examples of photographs that capture multiple minutes of time in a single frame.

In each case, the camera was mounted on a sturdy tripod and the shutter was controlled manually using an intervalometer*. To lengthen the exposure time, the ISO was set to 100 and the lens was stopped down to f/16. To extend the exposure even further, a 10-stop neutral density filter** was placed on the lens, which took the exposures out to multiple minutes.

The primary subjects in the resulting photographs are both time and place. The captured movement tells the story of time, an aspect of the landscape that would have been completely invisible using conventional exposures. 

*An intervalometer is an electronic remote shutter release with a built-in self-timer, interval timer, and long-exposure timer. I use a Canon TC-80N3 that can be set anywhere from 1 second up to 100 hours.

**A neutral density filter (ND filter) is a middle gray filter placed on the front of a lens to reduce the amount of light that enters the lens. They are available in various degrees of density from light gray to almost black. The 10-stop filter I used on these images is designed to block 10 full stops of light. It is one of the darkest ND filters available.

Skunked

Landscape photography is a lot like fly fishing. Both are more about the experience than the end result. We may embark in the morning with high hopes, spend a wonderful day out in nature, and come home without rising a single fish or capturing a single worthwhile image. As frustrating as this may be, the overall experience is always enjoyable and worthwhile. And while we'd like to think we’ll be “successful” on every outing, a bit of uncertainty in the process is not a bad thing because it keeps us on our toes and coming back for more.