Sunrise Layers

June and I got up at 3:30 AM Saturday, jumped in the car and drove 1 1/2 hours to Carvers Gap on the Tennessee - North Carolina state line then took off up the Appalachian Trail towards Round Bald to be there for sunrise.   We were hoping for some clouds to make the sunrise dramatic but when the sky started in lighten there were no clouds in sight.   When the sun did come up over the mountains of Western North Carolina the sky was very bright but the mountains and grassy bald we were standing on was still very dark.  No digital camera can handle this extreme tonal range from dark to very bright without the darks being almost black or the sky being totally white or "blown out".

To handle this I used a combination of two techniques - graduated neutral density filter and High Dynamic Range or HDR.

The Graduated Neutral Density Filter or ND Grad is dark grey on one side and clear on the other.  I placed the filter on the front of my lens with the dark grey on the top to block much of the light from the bright sky and the clear portion on the bottom so I didn't darken the already dark grasses and mountain ridges.  I used a 2-stop ND grad, which cut the light from the sky to 25%.  That wasn't quite dark enough.  I think I need to get a 3-stop ND Grad for my camera bag for these conditions.

I also took three different exposures of the same image shown below



As metered by the camera



-2 stops darker



+2 stops brighter


The first exposure was almost good enough but some of the sky was blown out, meaning there was no information there only bright light.   A 3-stop filter would have fixed this but I didn't have one.  When I got back home I used HDR Efex Pro from Nik Software to combine the three images.   The software will basically take the properly exposed parts from each image and blend them together to make one High Dynamic Range or HDR image.   I use HDR Efex Pro because it allows me to create HDR images that are realistic and close to what my eye was able to see.

Once I had the HDR image I did a little additional editing in Adobe Lightroom to crop it, adjust the tone curve, update the color balance, add a little edge vignette and sharpened the photo.  Here's the end result.

This is not what I was hoping for when we got up at 3:30 AM, but I do like the layers of green, blue/grey and orange. 

We spent the rest of the morning, which there was still plenty of, hiking the Appalachian Trail to Round Bald, Jane Bald, and Grassy Ridge Bald.   The Rhododendrons and Flame Azaleas were in full bloom and beautiful.   Photos from our hike are available in the Blue Ridge Gallery on TheSiggins.com.

Sometimes you need more than one exposure

I was at the Grandfather Mountain Nature Photographers Workshop this past weekend.   In addition to spending the weekend with great speakers and and a fine bunch of photographers, I also got to be on the mountain after dark.  That meant staying up late to get the sunset and then getting up at "0 dark thirty" for the sunrise.  

I was one of the first to drive up the windy road to the top of the mountain.   I staked out my spot looking East and waited for the light show.   The mountain blocked sunrise and there were few clouds so nothing very spectacular developed in the sky that morning.  However, I did catch several other photographers rushing to the top to get there for sunrise.

When I got home and started going through the photos from the weekend I noticed that I had taken several from the exact same spot with the camera mounted on the tripod.   Here are three of those.

All were taken at f/8.0, ISO 320, 17mm.   The exposures were 15, 25 and 6 seconds respectively.   I used a two-stop graduated neutral density filter on each one.

The light trails from the tail lights were interesting in two of them and the sky was pretty nice in the third, but none of them were keepers by themselves.  Because the camera didn't move and only the exposure time varied between shots I was able to use Photoshop Elements to stack them together as layers and use layer masking to blend the three together.  Layer masks is one of the most powerful features of Photoshop and was exactly what I needed.  I'd never tried this before but with Scott Kelby's Photoshop Elements book  and 30 minutes I came out with this.

Click any image for a larger version.



I then used Lightroom to adjust the tone, clarity and vibrance in the final image.  I'm not a big fan of photoshopping a photo to create something that wasn't really there but am pretty happy with these results.   I don't think I could have gotten an image like this with just one exposure.

Not So WIld Flowers

We really enjoy getting out and finding wildflowers.  We'll drive and hike for hours to get to some of the best spots.  Wildflowers are special because they are exactly where God planted them and their beauty is all natural.   I'm always amazed with the beauty of these wild creations that grow out in the middle of the woods or along the side of the road.

Sometimes the flowers we have planted in the yard are under appreciated.   I don't always think to walk out and enjoy these beauties right in my own yard.  I got up early Easter morning and went out and shot these flower macros.   Seemed very fitting for Easter Sunday.

Although it's been a couple weeks since Easter and these flowers are gone, I hope you enjoy these photos.

Clematis
100mm Macro, f/16, 1/15 sec



Oriental Lilly
100mm Macro, f/6.3, 1/15 sec




Oriental Lilly
100mm Macro, f/10, 1/10 sec




Iris Mohawk
100mm Macro, f11, 1/5 sec




Tulip
100mm Macro, f/7.1, 1/50 sec













We have now planted some wildflowers in our yard so we can enjoy them without having to go anywhere.

The only bad part of spring is it's too short!

Celebrate Easter!

This last week I had the privilege of spending a day with my wife and a second day with my wife and my camera club buddies hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and taking in the abundant Spring wildflowers God created for us to enjoy.

Field of White Trillium

Showy Orchis

Spring is a special time in the Smokies where there are places with dozens of varieties of wildflowers growing right along hiking trails. Some varieties, like the White Trillium, are abundant with thousands of blooms every where you look. Others, like the Yellow Lady Slipper, Painted Trillium, and Jack in the Pulpit, seems to be more special because they are uncommon. All are beautiful creations.

Yellow Lady Slipper

Jack In The Pulpit

For years June and I walked past the flowers without paying much attention to them. It wasn't until I got into photography that we began to appreciate the beauty in each and every bloom. Look inside the Lady Slippers or up close at the Showy Orchis and you can see God's handy work. We missed so much when we passed these by without stopping to look and appreciate the gifts. Now we take 7 hours to go 4 miles where we used to do it in 2 or 3. It's more important to slow down and appreciate what's around us than to get in those extra miles.

Spring is also a time of Joy. Because God sent His Son to die for us and be resurrected we have the gift of new life. The wildflowers can remind us our new life but unlike the wildflowers our new life lasts forever.

I shared one of my photos of a Painted Trillium on a Smoky Mountain Wildflower website and was blessed with the following comment.

Painted Trillium

" Red for the blood and White for His garment. The beauty of Salvation in a 'flower'. Thanks Lord for dying on the Cross for me"

What a time to Celebrate Resurrection!

I Am a New Creation!

Springtime is beautiful where I live in East Tennessee.   The trees are budding out in brilliant new green, the Dogwoods and Redbuds are in bloom, dozens of varieties of wildflowers are in bloom, and the birds have their brilliant breeding colors.   After Winter, Spring is a welcome change but it doesn't last near long enough.  We've planned out just about every weekend to go somewhere to get out and enjoy God's new creation.  

The last two weekends I spent Saturday morning in Laurel Run Park in Church Hill Tennessee.  It's a fantastic place for wildflowers.   Although only one week apart, the flowers changed from one Saturday to the next.   Here are a few of the flowers from those two Saturdays.  More are available in the Laurel Run Park gallery.

Rue Anenone

Trillium

Virginia Bluebells

Everything about Spring reminds me of the good news given by Paul to the Corinthians - "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" - 2 Corinthians 5:17

Wasn't That A Mighty Storm?



100mm Macro, f/3.2, 1/80 sec



That's the title to a  song by Nancy Griffith that I enjoy.   It's an old classic sung by many great artists over the years.  The song started as a spiritual and was first recorded in a prison near Sandy Point, Texas, sung by "Sin-Killer" Griffin who claimed authorship.  It's reported to describe the very famous 1900 Galveston hurricane, which remains the deadliest natural disaster in United States history, responsible for an estimated 6,000 to 12,000 fatalities.

This past Saturday we had a series of thunderstorms roll through our area with confirmed tornadoes, golf ball sized hail, and lots of damage.   We didn't have any damage at our house, but it did leave everything very wet, including the kitchen window.   This is a shot taken in the kitchen looking out with Red-Tip Photinia at the bottom and Dogwoods at the top.   Just goes to show you can find something interesting to shoot no matter where you are and the conditions.  Just look around!

Color Efex Pro 3.0 from Nik Software

I got the complete collection of Nik software as a Christmas present last year.  

Software included in the collection:

• Define 2.0 for noise reduction
• Vivenza for selective light and color control
• HDR Efex Pro for, you guessed it HDR
• Silver Efex Pro for converting to B&W
• Sharpener Pro for image sharpening
• Color Efex Pro with over 250 filters for special effects.

This is great digital imaging software.   I had Define 2.0 before and had used it extensively.   Since I got this collection I've been playing with each package.  I've started to come around to creating HDR now that I can create HDR images that look realistic and not like cartoons.   I haven't spent much time in Sharpener Pro or Silver Efex and am still using Adobe Lightroom for B&W conversion and sharpening.   Nothing against the Nik software, I just haven't had time to learn how to use these packages.

Lately I've been using one filter in Color Efex Pro - Glamour Glow.   Based on the name, I suspect this was designed to be used on portraits to smooth skin and give a person's face a soft glowing effect.   Here's an example from the Nik website.    I've used it a couple times on portraits and it can make even one of my portraits look good.   After seeing images from professionals like Tony Sweet using this filter on landscapes I gave it a try.  I really like the the effect you can get.  

Here's a few examples of photos before and after the Glamour Glow effect was applied.  To really see the effect you need to click on each pair of images to zoom in and then click again to zoom in even more.  



This last one is a little extreme.  I was going for a dreamy look.   You can adjust how much glow you apply, plus the warmth of the image.   

This filter blurs the sharp edges without losing a lot of detail.  It also puts a glow on the edges.    The end result almost never looks like reality, but it's a cool effect.  I'm trying to branch out and get out of the rut of "it must look like it did when I took the picture".   That still applies to most of my photos, but sometimes I want a different look.