Best of August: Small Bridge at the Lake

I missed to nominate my personal favorite for August! How could that happen? :-) Well, anyway - here is it. I picked this photo because a) I like it very much (duh, really?) and b) because it gave me one hell of a hard time during post processing. Yes, this is yet another version of the photo shown both here in the blog and in my web album previously.

So for the first time (I think...) I do something that I usually simply do not do: show different edits and the original file (well, as far as "original" is possible, after all its that what Lightroom originally did with the raw data from the camera).

So, here's the (for now...) final color edit first, then a black & white version (I simply can't decide which one I prefer!) and then the original file:


Small Bridge at the Lake (FinePix S5Pro, 5s @ ISO 100; f/16, 300 mm DX)


Small Bridge (BW) (FinePix S5Pro, 5s @ ISO 100; f/16, 300 mm DX)


Small Bridge (Original) (FinePix S5Pro, 5s @ ISO 100; f/16, 300 mm DX)

When I made the photo I added one stop of exposure as a compensation for the bright haze... and as it turned out this wasn't all too bright. However - that overexposure allowed me to play much more during post processing, and I decided to go for the very artificial look of the first image (final color version) because I simply love that "glow" on the grass by the lakes, the popping red of the mountain ash berries.

The important thing for me is simply that the "artificial" looking post processed version transports the original mysterious and somewhat gloomy mood of that rainy afternoon the best.

Lightroom bug with Fuji raw data

There's a bug in Lightroom with Fuji raw data - "Recovery" defeats "Clarity": the effect of the Clarity setting will be dramatically diminished by strong Recovery settings.

This photo has the "Ultra Clarity" preset applied (a stack of 5 graduated filters over the entire image, each set to Clarity +100):


Ultra-Clarity, Recovery 0 (FinePix S5Pro, 6" @ ISO 100; f/16, 15 mm DX)

And there's a virtual copy of the image, now with the "Recovery" slider at 100. Certainly not what I expected with the "Ultra Clarity" preset.


Ultra-Clarity, Recovery 100 (FinePix S5Pro, 6" @ ISO 100; f/16, 15 mm DX)

And yes, thats the sister from the photo of the previous post. :-)

Capturing water in motion - River at Dusk

Just in case anyone out there didn't notice yet... I'm obsessed with photos that include moving water. Time to share some observations - of course it always depends on what you want to show and which mood the photo should transport. Since shooting water ususally means tripod anyway there's no problem to simply try different exposure times once you've set up the camera and picked a framing.

This photo was made yesterday evening at the river Alz. The sky through the trees had a warm orange glow because of the setting sun and an approaching thunderstorm. I cropped away a portion white sky in the top left corner which is why it has this "odd" aspect ratio. :-)


Alz River at Dusk (FinePix S5Pro, 28s @ ISO 100; f/16, 14 mm DX)

At 28 seconds, it's at the limit of what the automatic exposure programs - I'm using aperture priority most of the time - can do (the limit is 30s). But if you want a river to be smooth like this with really washed out water around rocks or cataracts, you need looooooooooong exposure times. I always try to be above 10 seconds for this type of photo.

Sidenote - this is one of the major drawbacks of the Fuji S5pro for me: it has no darkframe subtraction and I'm seeing a lot of hot pixels in 30s exposures (of course, I could do it manually with the aid of a tool like Blackframe NR but thats a separate post processing step and I try to stay in Lightroom only whenever it is possible).

For close ups of the movement of water in a river that should show some of the dynamic, exposures in the range of 1/2 to 3 seconds are good. A wave in a river (where it flows over an underwater rock or something) will still have enough shape and structure that way to transport the sensation of water rushing by.

Waterfalls are pretty easy - at least if they deserve the name and are not ephemeral thin falls that only show after rain. With the help of a polarizer and some stopping down of the lens its possible to get a soft blur of water falling down (if its falling fast enough) at exposure times from 1/10s on while retaining enough structure - with a stabilized lens or camera, short focal lengths and a steady hand its even possible to get these shots handhold (links to my Panoramio photo of a handheld waterfall). The other approach for waterfalls would be really long exposures (15+ seconds) - again, it depends on what atmosphere you want to transport.

One exception are really big waterfalls (I'm talking about Niagara, Iguacu and the like here): in my humble opinion, photos of big waterfalls look better with short exposure times (1/250s or shorter) to freeze the motion of the water, and it should really be tack sharp then - this transports the sheer size of the fall and the masses of water much better than a blurred and soft long exposure.

I finds brooks and little creeks most difficult: when there's not much water and/or not much movement, the surface won't have enough random movement to really blur things -OR- it will be too small, and with a lot of blur the water might become so transparent (especially with a polarizer) that it becomes hard to recognize in the photo, but to make a photo with blurred water really work the water itself must be clearly recognizable.

General notes - a circular polarizer is your best friend once more - it will reduce glare and reflections and allow longer exposure times through that (I've written about it here). In addition to that, a neutral density filter is a good addition especially during the daytime - but depending on the camera and filter it might introduce color shifts.

And one thing that always seems to work miracles on photos with moving water is the "Clarity" control of Lightroom/ACR. Depending on the scene and desired result, you might want to try a strong boost or a negative clarity - Lightroom's graduated filters (and paintbrush too) are really nice helpers for that. I've shown an example here (yes, not the best, I admit it).

The best thing about long time water exposures is actually doing it. Its such a relaxed activity. Slow pace. While you wait for the 30s exposure to finish you can look around and identify other potential subjects for a photo, prepare a different lens or filter - or just sip on your beer (if you brought one, which is what Boyd Norton recommends anyway in his book). :-)

Bad Weather - Good Photos (Part 2)

Last Saturday it was raining... and raining... and raining. It finally stopped in the afternoon, and I decided to visit the Frillensee near Inzell once more. Thats about a one hour drive from here, and after I was driving half an hour it started raining again. I had my rain poncho with me so I thought "what the heck" and went there nevertheless.

Best of July: Hochalmbach

Picking the "Best of July" photo was not easy. I made quite some photos that I personally :) was really fond of in that month. In the end, I picked the "featured photo" from the Picasa Web Albums "Explore" feature:


Hochalmbach (FinePix S5Pro, 3s @ ISO 100; f/16, 12 mm DX)

I chose this photo because as of today, it had almost 30.000 (!) views in my Picasa Web Album. It received a good number of friendly comments too of course, I found some new folks in Picasa Web that I added as Favorites, and its one of the first photos that really made me "aware" of the charme of square crops.

And it also caused me some worries: one user downloaded a good portion of the photos in the album - and uploaded them to his own web album! I do believe that some people are simply "collectors" that want to show the photos they like to the public... but thats certainly not the way to do it. :-/ I had to file a DMCA complaint to Google and they removed my photos from the other persons album - but to go through all this hassle just because some noob wasn't aware what he's doing... man, I certainly have better ideas on what to do in my spare time.

I'm not offering this as a wallpaper this time because it wouldn't make much sense trying to somehow fit the square crop into an aspect ratio that works as wallpaper.

I'm a digital child

While having some lunch at the Hindenburghaus (above Reit im Winkl/Blindau) on a hike last Saturday another guest noticed my open camera backpack (I have the Naneu Pro K4L because unlike "normal" camera backpacks, it has a daypack compartment where I can keep some food, a bottle of water, windbreaker... just the things you need on a small one day hike), said hello and told me he has a Nikon D40, if he could ask me a question... ?

He accidentally switched to the picture info with the 4-way control pad and wanted to get back to the normal picture control. I told him how to do that and added that from my point of view it would be best to use the highlight warning picture control (and explained it to him of course).

He told me that he comes from the analogue world of photography and how everything was easier for him there - and sure enough, handling even a small DSLR like the D40 offers a wealth of options and possibilites that may not have been available in "everyday" film bodies (and I'm not really qualified to judge that).

He then had another question - if there would be another way to set the aperture instead of using the (single) command dial of the D40. I was puzzled, wondering "why would anyone want to set the aperture any other way? Isn't the dial the most comfortable way?"

Only after leaving it dawned on me... the guy came from the analogue world, and what he really missed was the aperture ring! I'm used to set the aperture on the camera itself with the command dial - using an aperture ring all of a sudden would most likely be as puzzling and strange as using the dial on the camera was for that guy.

Lichen & Moss - don't be square? :-)

I like square crops more and more... I think its a very "direct" aspect ratio and I appreciate the immediatey impact, the intimacy, the compressed arrangement. It leaves little to no room for the eye to "escape" from the main subject.

These photos were made in the forest near Hofstadt in Austria. I love the color combination of the greens with the brown of the trees' bark.


Bark / Lichen / Moss I. (FinePix S5Pro, 3.6s @ ISO 100; f/16, 24 mm DX)


Bark / Lichen / Moss II. (FinePix S5Pro, 3.6s @ ISO 100; f/16, 24 mm DX)


Bark / Lichen / Moss III. (FinePix S5Pro, 3.6s @ ISO 100; f/16, 24 mm DX)

Backup, again

I wrote about the importance of a backup of your photos before - but what I'm always missing is an automatic backup. The built-in backup in Picasa is nice - but it can't be scheduled to run automatically. Lightroom on the other hand only has a feature to automatically backup its catalog, but not the photos itself (and I'd prefer it if LR would ask me if I want to backup when I quit the application and not when I start it - when I start I usually want to work on my photos and not wait 5+ minutes for the catalog test & backup to complete!).

So far I've been using the good old NTBackup that was part of Windows until XP (XP Home users had to install it from the CD, XP Pro users found it in their Start menu in Accessories/System Tools). I don't know which backup software is used in Vista (sidenote: and its coming Service Pack, Microsoft calls it "Windows 7" while its version 6.1 internally - Vista was 6.0, go figure...).

But its user interface is somewhat awkward (typical Microsoft style with options hidden beneath "Other", "Advanced", "More" and whatnot buttons) and I figure that the not-so computer savvy folks might have a hard time to use it. And the backup archives that it creates require NTBackup to access them (proprietary format).

I'm using "GFI Backup Home Edition" for some days now - its a free utility, and it makes me really happy. For the photos I'm using no compression at all, and it simply copies my files to my external harddrive - I can access the backup right away with Windows Explorer (or Total Commander, which I prefer as a file manager). If you want compression, the program creates ZIP archives.

While its not an image software that allows you to restore the entire operation system its a very handy little program and if you haven't solved your personal backup riddle, check it out. I've configured it to run at shutdown - very handy! The only problem might be that it is only available in english.