Shoot the Moon on August 24th

What are the odds of a going out to shoot sunrise and coming back with a full moon near the horizon basked in the soft warm glow of dawns early light? If you leave it to chance the odds are slim to none. However, on August 24th the odds are excellent since that is when all the key elements come into play. The only variables are weather, which you can’t control and selection of a good location, which you can.

On August 24th there is a full moon with moonset at sunrise - plus or minus about 30 minutes depending on your location. The way to plan for this shoot is...1) consult tables to determine exact times of sunrise and moonset/moonrise 2) find a landscape location with a good western vantage point - the moon will be around 260 degrees - you can find more info on the moons position here 3) Make sure your landscape does not have tall mountains or other obstructions between you and the horizon else the subject of this capture will be obscured when the light is perfect. 4) If possible, shoot from the top of a high peak. The reason for this is that you might be able to get two great captures for the price of one by swinging around about 180 degrees and by also shooting sunrise. I did this two years ago in Acadia National Park by parking on a hairpin curve near the top of Cadillac Mountain and running back and forth to shooting both - the moonshot at dusk pictured above and sunrise shown here. 5) If the color is good and you want to preserve it then consider using a white balance setting of Sunlight. This will NOT add a color cast and may offer a nice cool - warm transition of color if you are lucky enough to have this. 6) Bracket your exposures. This is an insurance policy so you don’t blow out the detail of the full moon. If there is a big exposure difference and you are a photoshop user, then layer the best exposure of the moon over the best exposure for the landscape. Next, using layer masks, selection tools, and brushes, selectively brush in the proper exposure for the full moon. Grad-ND filters may not be the best choice since the sky is about 180 degrees away from were the sun will rise so the exposure range of the sky should be workable, especially if the moon is very close to the horizon. There is no fixed rule here since conditions vary and your image editor may not allow for layering so it is up to you to decide which method will work best but bracketing is always a safe bet. 7) If possible, make your composition a long long lens extraction instead of going wide. The reason for this is the subject will be the full moon at moonset in dawn light. A long lens means a bigger moon, and since the subject is the moon try to make it prominent by using the longest focal length that works - the moon above was captured at 200mm on a Nikon D300.

The best planning is not a guarantee of success since weather is the wildcard. As such it is a gamble to take a big trip to the perfect location for this shot but a good idea to plan a trip around this or similar future events. Ideally, you will know a good place on your drive to work and still make it to the office in time. Many of my trips and captures are planned around certain key events like this - which of course also work at sunset when the full moon is near the horizon. I often plan sunrise and sunset shots at a time and place calculated for when the sun will be the ideal position to balance the composition. Also, I have planned sunrise shots at the rocky shores of Acadia to coincide with high tides coming in to get the warm light and long shutter speeds like this one. My point is that as one grows as a photographer you make your own luck by scouting locations and researching sun, moon or tide tables, and planning to be in the right place, at the right time to make the picture in your head be recorded with your camera. Good luck and if this doesn’t work out do your homework to determine the next opportuntiy. The shot above was my third attempt at a full moon around dawn. But the first time when the weather cooperated. Happy shooting!!!

Topaz DeNoise 5 - A Good Thing Just Got Better

Topaz Labs, known for offering amazing plugins like Adjust, just updated DeNoise, their noise reduction program. The most significant difference in this version is speed improvements with claims of up to 2x faster. I downloaded their latest and greatest, version 5, and did a few comparison tests on my iMac with a 3.06GHZ CPU w/8GB ram, against version 4 and found speed increases to be closer to 50% instead of the claimed 100% but I am not complaining. In the latest version processing speeds for 12mp, 16 bit files was approximately 50 seconds on my computer. Of course results will vary depending on the settings one uses, the detail in the file, and the processing power of your computer, but nonetheless this is the fastest version to date.

When I first testing DeNoise it was version 2 with a very different interface but results were great, better than Noise Ninja which I was using for years. However, that version could take over 5 minutes to process and the control sliders were annoyingly sluggish making the task of noise removal closer to 10 minutes per file - but I was also using a much slower computer. Fortunately I rarely need to use noise reduction even though I do not use the cleaner full frame FX sensor bodies. It is rare that I need to shoot at ISO 800 and extremely rare when I need ISO 1600 or 2200 but when I do need to remove noise DeNoise is easily my preferred tool. As a side note, Topaz Adjust includes a lighter version of DeNoise built in which can be extremely useful to control some of the noise that comes from aggressively working a file. Last year I was able to clean up a handheld nightscape photo, see above picture, captured at ISO 2200 from my Nikon D300 which went on to be finalist in a major competition. - see photo above. This year I mistakenly took a landscape at ISO 2200 and cleaned it up and it too became a finalist in a semi-major competition (about 3,000+ landscape entrees). Most recently I used DeNoise to clean up an old Nikon D200 photo taken a while back at ISO 800 from a birding shoot and just learned that it is currently in the final round of judging for Natures Best Windland Smith Rice Awards (over 20,000 entries). Prior to DeNoise my success with noise removal would never have all let these images get this far in any serious competition.

Almost two years ago I fell in love with power of DeNoise but it was annoyingly slow. That is no longer the case and although I rarely need to remove high ISO noise this is the only plugin I would use and recommend. I didn’t even bother to load my former NR software when I upgraded my computers earlier this year. If you are not perfectly happy with your current noise removal software, or don’t own one at all, I strongly suggest you take DeNoise for a test drive to see for yourself. Topaz offers 30 day free trials on all of their software.

New lens in my bag: Nikon 16-85mm f/5.6 VR

I love fast glass. Fast, f/2.8 lenses have brighter viewfinders, focus much better in low light, have greater ability to freeze action and isolate the subject form the background. Plus, these lenses often have a better build quality, so they are designed to take more abuse, and handle sustained damp weather with environmental seals. Once you try a fast pro lens you will likely be hooked. I know I was. So why is a slow Nikon 16-85 f/5.6 VR lens now part of my lens collection?

In the past year I have taken my landscape photography from the easy roadside or short walk from the car shoot to the more challenging and lesser photographed backcountry. I have gotten into hiking and camping and this lets me explore little known mountain waterfalls or spectacular vistas. These are the type of shots one earns because the price is often a long and sometimes grueling hike. These captures require not just camera, lens, and tripod, but also a few bottles of water, snacks rain jacket... which can get heavy over time. My go-to lens for hikes into the unknown up through May has been my Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 lens, sometimes accompanied by a superwide 10-24mm. It is just a bit heavy but also a bit short at times. Including a 70-200 f/2.8 lens on long hikes is useful but just not something I am willing to do. I would rather go lighter and longer and further so I picked up a Nikon 16-85mm in June for these situations. The range wonderful, weight is easily manageable, and the sharpness of this lens at f/11 exceeded my expectations and held its own with fast pro glass. At first I was reluctant to seriously consider this lens since I shoot more waterfalls than I can count these days and that work is often in soft low light. I figured once I screw on a CPL or ND filter the combo of slower glass, low light and ND filters would make it tricky to focus. So far that has not been a real problem and I have put this lenses through its paces including two hikes of 3 - 4 hours in the rain.

When I ordered this lens up I planned on taking both it and my 17-55 f/2.8 with me on major trips. Happily, after two trips and some local shoots, I can say that my heavier f/2.8 can stay home and come out to play when I need its virtues. The smaller, lighter, wider field of view of the 16-85mm on a Dx body is simply great, and it has VR. Also, unlike my larger 17-55mm, it does not attract as much attention. Optical distortion at the wide end, as opposed to perspective distortion, is there but this is easily corrected and rarely a concern for landscape. If I am shooting architecture around 17-20mm this would not be my lens of choice, but neither would my faster 17-55. For that range I would use my Nikon 10-24 which has insignificant distortion in its midrange. But getting back to backcountry landscape shooting, the 16-85mm can be the only lens I need to take for many hikes. If I know my destination is ultimately a mountaintop I would add a 10-24 and possibly a fisheye in my pack. When I am up high I tend to look for the grand vista compositions and not focus, pun intended, so much on longer extractions. If my destination is exclusively a mountaintop AND it is a long trek, the 16-85 would not make the trip and I would just go with a superwide and plenty of water and snacks. I believe in the right tool for the job, faster and heavier glass can be an anchor that slows me down in certain conditions where I might prefer that extra pound to be another bottle of water. The 16-85mm is perfect for me now that I have gotten into hiking. So far I have found no practical downsides to this lens and I can highly recommend it.

Topaz DeNoise Saves the Day

Last month, prior to holding a landscape workshop in the White Mountain National Forest, I camped out to explore/scout a new section of this enormous region. The first night while sitting by my campfire I looked up and noticed how the warm light from my fire colored the surrounding trees which framed the starry sky and I decided to shoot it. In order to do this I needed a fast shutter speed to record the stars as points instead of short streaks. To do this I used my widest lens, a fisheye, wide open at f/2.8, and ISO 2200 on my Nikon D300. The resulting composition was good, not WOW shot, but heh, I had nothing else to do.

Now the sad part, when I finished shooting I broke one of my sacred rules which is to always return my camera to ‘my personal base settings’ after each shoot. Well, the next morning I woke up to shoot sunrise at the lake next to my campsite. That sunrise shoot yielded some pretty good stuff but later, after checking into the hotel and reviewing my captures on my laptop, my draw dropped as I realized I shot everything that morning at ISO 2200 instead of a nice clean ISO 200 setting. Well, fortunately just before I left I downloaded the latest version of Topaz’s world class noise removal software, DeNoise 4 to my laptop. I ran my favored captures through DeNoise 4 and low and behold Topaz saved the day - or rather my morning shoot.

Topaz DeNoise is one of several Photoshop (and Aperture) plugins the company offers. I am a big fan of their products, especially Simplicity, Adjust and Detail. I am not one of those photographers that loads his computer will all the latests plugins. I find Photoshop adequate for most of my needs along with Photomatix for HDR’s. Less than a year ago when I discovered DeNoise I did several tests against Noise Ninja, my noise reduction software of choice since 2005. I don’t need to use high ISO much and when I do it is rarely more than ISO 800, but I need NR for those times. Earlier this year when I upgraded my computer from PC to Mac I did not even bother loading Noise Ninja since DeNoise made many of my ISO 1600 test shots look like ISO 200. I never did any ISO 2200 tests since I never needed to shoot that high until that trip. I can’t say I was able to get ISO 2200 to look like ISO 200 but the results were very acceptable. If you are looking for a good noise reduction program I strongly suggest you take DeNoise for a test drive. Use some of your own captures and play with the settings to get a feel for it, then decide for yourself. Never just buy something because you read a good review, always do your own testing when possible. With DeNoise 4, I think you will find this to be the best of the bunch. Of course first and foremost, always use the lowest ISO settings you can get away with since that will yield not just the cleanest result but the greatest dynamic range.

White Mountains Spring Shoot - Part 2

Last week I posted part I of my spring shoot/workshop in the White Mountain National Forest in northern New Hampshire. Today I will comment on the opportunities that the back country offers - opportunities that exist off road and require more than a few minutes of walking or as I call it, ‘the shots that need to be earned’. Excursions on the road less traveled are always a gamble, especially if it is a new location. Unlike many popular shooting locals like the Great Smoky Mountains, the hidden treasures are not documented and thus treks into these regions may or may not produce WOW shots. However, since this region is well hiked, good topographic maps and waterfall guides are available but offer few pictures of what to expect since they are not written for photographers. Since I have spent a considerable time over the past few years on the easier stuff I have been exploring the lesser known shooting opportunities and this area offers many.

My recent trip began with a scouting mission prior to beginning my workshop in the southwestern region. I spent my first night camped out in Russell Pond campground, an area accessed via a private road over two miles long and off a longer pot holed road which is several miles off the main road. I was pretty much the only person there and the grounds keeper came to my site to ask me how I found this place as it is ‘the best kept secret in the region” and even on weekdays in peak season it is quiet. The following morning I was up for a sunrise shoot about a minutes one walk from my campsite to the still lake where I was able to shoot a sunrise with perfect reflections of the clouds on the water. (Note: this image just made the Finals of BetterPhoto.com's monthly contest). I also captured many long lens impressionist extractions of reflections of the trees on the ponds still surface and quickly realized how wonderful this place will be in peak foliage season - especially with no crowds. After my mornings shoot I packed up my site and drove to a new location where I hiked up to Beaver Brook Cascades, about 30 minutes up and 30 minutes back on somewhat rough trail and only saw one person in the 2+ hours I was gone. The payoff was well worth it and then later that evening started my workshop with an evening shoot in the Basin region of the Franconia Notch area.

Once the workshop was over I shot the remainder of the day in a few new locations hiking at least 5 miles. My shoots for that day included Ripley Falls, the second highest drop, 100 feet, in the state. I clearly remember my reaction when I arrived at the base of the falls. I was in total awe and loudly gasped WOW but no one was around to hear me. This is a double edged sword in that I have these places to myself but in the event I break a leg I could be stuck until found by a hiker the next morning - cell phones are useless. After a sunset shoot I drove to Maine to visit family since it was the weekend and I hate crowds. Then on Monday I returned and camped out for several more days but began this leg of my adventure with a 3-4 hour hike ending at the highest waterfall in the state, Arethusa. This was a tricky shoot since the sun was directly over the top of the falls and the bottom was in shade so to get balanced light without a white sky or flare I need to return after 4pm on a clear day for ideal shooting conditions - can’t wait.

Over the next few days I scouted and shot a few new sunrise and sunset locations for this time of year. I put plenty of time

into exploring all the waterfalls in the Crawford Notch region plus a hike to the top of Mt Willard with a wonderful view of the notch which works well on a sunny day with a super-wide lens. My crowning achievement that week was my rigorous hike on the Tuckerman Ravine trail which ends the top of Mt Washington, the highest mountain in the northeast which still has snow. I did not make it to the top, partly because the top of the trail was closed because it was snowed in. If it wasn’t snowed in I still would not have made it since my hike to about 4,500 feet and back took 6 hours and drained me. Perhaps in the future I will hike to the top of the mountain best known as ‘the home of the worlds worst weather’ if I can have someone drive me back down. That hike was rocky and near the end did have me walking on some snowy areas where I got to see melting snow change into a waterfall and form the source of major rivers that begin here and end in the Atlantic. too bad a longer lens was too heavy to lug up but carrying plenty of water was far more important. Most of the way there is no view at all but once I got to Hermit Lake and then above the tree line the view was spectacular, and I had it all to myself. Frequent rests and plenty of water were critical but the bugs were hungry and relentless and didn’t let me rest long. This was the most grueling of hikes for me and I was glad I got in great shape for this trip - I am now a P90x graduate!!!

I walked off about 5 pounds on my 10 day trip and loved every minute of it, especially camping and it was the first trip where I was able to get a good shot of a moose which I spend about 20-25 minutes following on foot one morning. Although I have been shooting here since 2004, in the past year and half I have really worked this region finding more and more wonderful places to shoot and I know there is still plenty more potential to tap. The great thing is that the area is not overrun with photographers competing for ‘the good spot’. My love for this area grows more and more with each visit and I can’t wait to return. I do hope that some of you reading this will join me in the Fall for workshop or perhaps next spring. the WM’s are known as one of the best fall shooting venues in the east. Also, you can check out some of my favorites from this trip as I slowly add some pictures to my trip to this gallery

White Mountains Spring Shoot - Part I

The White Mountain National Forest in the Spring is a little known yet prime location for shooting since crowds are small and hotel rates are very affordable. I held a workshop the third week in May, mostly waterfalls, sunrise and sunsets along with some digital darkroom work and a presentation on what I consider the most important aspect landscape photography to master, Composition. In addition to the workshop I arrived a day early to scout/shoot a few new places then stayed in the area for about five days afterwards to further scout new locations as well as do some personal shooting in the back country.

The White Mountain region is one of those places that has many hidden treasures. Hidden in the sense that optimal sunrise and sunset locations are not obvious, and the areas many waterfalls are well hidden from plain site. The way I see it many of the great shots in this area need to be earned, either from diligent scouting or through hiking. For workshops one must always consider the weakest link which in general means keeping walks/hikes to prime shooting locations within 15 minutes or less which is not a problem for an area so rich in opportunities. For those willing to push these boundaries for longer hikes to the areas many waterfalls or to mountaintops for the spectacular views, the region is a treasure trove of possibilities, so much so that I am considering adding on option for next year for those in good shape and willing to make a longer trek to get great captures that few photographers have in their portfolio.

Although this region has plenty of potential there is a price. This time of year and this far north sunrise comes very early and sunset comes late. Leaving around 4am is part of the price and despite the latest weather reports both sunrise and sunset is always a gamble as clouds can often obscure the fireball as is passes through the horizon and storms can seemingly come from nowhere in the mountains. This can test ones patience but the when everything works the payoff is worth it. I will be posting some of my favorite captures of the spring shoot in this gallery through June. I will also add a ‘Part II’ of this blog post discussing a little of the back country shoots I did on my own including hikes to the 2nd and 1st tallest waterfall drops in the state and my long hike up the Tuckerman Ravine trail towards the top of Mt Washington, the tallest mountain in the northeast. Also, I am considering expanding on my Composition presentation to create an eBook along with at least two other ebooks on Shooting Water, and Shooting Sunrise & Sunset, as these are my areas of specialty with regards to landscape. I hate missing a single sunrise/sunset and I seem to shoot about 100 waterfalls and streams a year so I hope to be able to share some of the finer points with those interested in mastering these highly rewarding areas of landscape photography.

The White Mountain region is one of the best fall shooting venues so I hope you can join me for my Fall workshop in October.

Just say NO, to a MacBook Pro

Just say NO, to a MacBook Pro, at least for now. Apple offers great products with a simple, intuitive OS that includes plenty of useful software to perform most of the tasks we buy computers for. They generally cost a premium over similarly specs PC’s but after you see what you are getting you start to think, “okay, expensive but worth it!” plus every user I know says, "once with a mac you never go back (to a PC)”. So why do I write, ‘just say NO…’ Well, since the launch in 2006 of the MBP refreshes to the line came about every 8 months with a pattern of October, June, February, October…. Those that follow Apple pricing know that unlike all other technology companies, the prices listed on the day of launch remain constant up to the final day of sales. This means that customers get the best bang for the buck by purchasing at the beginning of the product cycle and start getting ripped-off prices towards the end. We are now well overdue at 9 months for MBP refresh with no tangible update rumors in sight. Apple seems to be the only company that does not offer the latest turbo boosted Arrandale processors in their laptops and are charging last years prices for last year’s technology. With the falling prices of RAM and chips Apple is making about $300 additional profit on a MBP today vs early June 2009 when they last refreshed the line. For example, want to upgrade from 4GB of RAM to 8GG, Apple will charge a $600 premium. Instead you can buy two – 4GB (total 8GB ram) for about $350 and upgrade yourself and keep the original 4GB.

Apple tends to make announcement of new products on Tuesdays. Today is Tuesday but not today, March 9th, 274 days into the average 230-day cycle. Perhaps next Tuesday, or the next, or next month… Some think that Apple will not refresh the line until after iPad is shipping and the whole world wants one. This may be true and if so it is a insult, IMO, to their customers. For many, like myself, a computer is first and foremost a tool as opposed to a toy. Smart consumers try to invest in the right tool for the job within their budget. I want a powerful laptop that can be hooked up to a quality monitor for photography. An iPad is a different tool and cannot possibly distract me from what I actually need as a professional. Is it that the company cannot walk and chew gum at the same time? Of course not, it is seems more like that the company thinks consumers can’t.

If the marketing genius’s at Apple believe that updated laptops will confuse people into not buying an iPad then why not adjust prices for last years technology down a bit – like everyone else. The market for new MBP’s include those like myself that are using old and slow P4 processors and anxious to make a switch from PC’s to something like a i5-540 processor that is 2.53Ghz and boosts 20% up to 3.06 Ghz with hyper-threading technology because of performance needs. It also includes existing Apple customers whose current laptops are under performing relative to their needs, and those whose computers are old and dieing out. Sure, they can buy a brand new MBP for the price of two similarly specked PC’s, and Apple would love this because again, their profits are inflated since the product, like its price, is now over 9 months. Apples best selling laptop in their 13” MPB which starts at $1200 and includes a 2.26Ghz C2D CPU, 160GB 54000 drive, and a meager 2GB Ram (no dedicated graphics card is included). A 15” MBP upgraded to a 2.8Ghz C2D with 8Gb ram and a 500GB 7200RPM hard drive with anti-glare screen is $3000 (okay $2,999 before tax). You can buy a much more powerful desktop and laptop combo for that price which includes the latest and greatest processors.

Bottom line, Apple products are cool and people love them. But, apple is incredibly greedy and currently the biggest technology laggard with the highest profits (they own 90% of the over $1,000 desktop market - good new for stockholders, not so much for consumers). If you want a new Macbook Pro wait. Tuesdays are the most likely time for a refresh and in the past month many at macrumors.com have labeled it, “Disappointment Tuesday.” Hopefully it will be worth the extended wait and hopefully it will be ‘next Tuesday’. The longer they wait the more profit they make, and the less value its customers realize.