Bi-chromatic sky

Usually, when the sky is the main focus of a photograph, or just an important element of a landscape or cityscape, one would use a wide angle lens to include much of it.  A couple of days ago, I was using telephoto lenses to capture soccer action.  I noticed unusual clouds and colors shortly before sunset.  The game wasn't going to pause for me, and I didn't have a "short" lens anyway, so I grabbed this shot of one small area (an angle of view of 6.9º horizontally...no, I don't have such statistics all memorized, but it was easy to look up given the focal length of the lens, which was 300 mm).  The color contrast was striking, along with the sharp demarcation between the small quasi-cumulus globs and the wispy stratus area.

With enough of a time out, I could grab a zoom that let me pull back to 100 mm and do this shot of a broader but still concentrated area (20.4º horizontally, in case you were dying to know).

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iPhone sky panorama

Let's admit right off the bat that this is not strictly a panorama. Most photos given that label are simply wider than average views. "Panorama" literally means a view of everything around you; I was not that ambitious, but maybe more selective. I simply stepped out of a restaurant into a parking lot and thought "ooh, look at the sky!"

To repeat the cliche, the best camera is the one you have, so out came the cell phone. I made a quick series of overlapping shots of the area the interested me, and combined them in Photoshop. Notice how I used a tree and a building to occult the disk of the sun, which otherwise would have overwhelmed the clouds and the orange and blue sky.

This worked well enough that I may try even wider shots with the phone when the scene calls for it. Maybe even a true 360º panorama.

Permalink: http://jilcp.blogspot.com/2014/09/iphone-sky-panorama.html

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iPhone does Stratocumulus

Sometimes, on a day and at a location where one would not expect any interesting photo opportunities, things just pop up. I try to keep an eye on the sky, without bumping into hazards or tripping over my own feet. In a parking lot, this view to the north was saved for my by the iPhone in my pocket.

The sun was almost at the horizon (which couldn't be seen). In the few minutes that it took me to get to my DSLR and zip to a location with a view of the western sky, the unusual cloud formations had dissipated, but rich sunset colors somewhat made up for that. Wires intruded on all the best areas of pink clouds, so I embraced them as part of the composition.

Call me a tree hugger.  I guess I hug them with my camera lenses.

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Fried Oreos?

Today, a nice sky in search of a foreground:

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Sky's the limit

"The sky's the limit!" Okay, but what's the limit to how big a role the sky can play in a photo that isn't a sunrise or sunset, and doesn't have any unusual colors? These are shots that I made in the middle of running "errands" this afternoon.

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Stitching cell phone photos

The term "stitching" only began to be applied to photography (as far as I'm aware) when digital image editing became widely used, with the propagation of programs like Adobe Photoshop®. We should keep in mind, though, that the combining of two or more photographs into one image is almost as old as the paper print process itself. The fabulous Jerry Uelsmann developed incredible skill at multiple printing, using as many as 8 enlargers to create extraordinarily imaginative images of a wide variety of types. When I first saw an exhibition about two decades ago, I was blown away. As well as the artistic strength of what I viewed, the technical achievement inspired me to try a few rudimentary experiments in my own darkroom. If nothing else, this gave me extra reason to appreciate Uelsmann's skill. Now, when people younger than me encounter Uelsmann's works, particularly online, they frequently assume that it has been accomplished digitally.

After that lengthy digression, let's return to stitching. This refers to the photographic rendering of a broad area by multiple exposures, and the joining of these photos into one image. There were panoramic photos printed in the chemical darkroom from multiple frames of film, but it was always very difficult to minimize visibility of the seams or joins. With the advent of digital imaging (including digital scans of film), it became much more practical to produce visually undetectable stitched photos, requiring only that the photos overlapped somewhat and were consistent in exposure and color. I did some of this in Photoshop "manually". That is, with each photo on a separate layer, I would make one layer partially transparent and move it until it lined up precisely with the next. When all were aligned, they were returned to full opacity, and masks were used to blend the regions of juncture.

Now to the present, when things have become much easier if the goal is a seamless stitch. There are various software options that accomplish it automatically. Recent versions of Photoshop incorporate panorama creation. Last night, at intermission of a concert in Meymandi Hall, I stepped outside to see whether the thunderstorms in the area were active. (George Takei appeared with us - the North Carolina Symphony - and joked that he had "beamed down through turbulence.") The rain hadn't reached us yet, but the sky was begging for a photograph. I only had my iPhone with me. The camera's field of view wouldn't do justice to the spread of cloud formations, so I grabbed four overlapping shots, planning to stitch later. Here is the result.

Permalink: http://jilcp.blogspot.com/2013/06/stitching-cell-phone-photos.html

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Yates Mill, with the last remnants of ice

I had never visited Yates Mill before today, but thanks to fellow nature photographer Ken Whitlow, I knew it would be a worthwhile place to explore. We arrived about a half hour before sunset, hoping that the sky colors would be warm enough to throw some interesting light on the mill. There never was much of a pictorial sunset, but the clouds offered a nice background field in the northwestern direction. While Ken headed for the lake view above the mill, I paused to explore the possibilities from below the water wheel.

The shot above is a blend of two exposures, one for the sky and one for everything else. I used a 24 mm tilt-shift lens, shifted up a few mm.

I became so intrigued by the water wheel, the rusted gear teeth, and the ice that I quickly did a series of images using a telephoto zoom (100-400 mm).

These icicles must have formed in the manner of stalagmites, though much faster than stones formed by deposition of minerals from dripping water. They appear to be "hanging upward"! No fancy hypoid gear teeth on this wheel, just a straight cut. I wonder what it sounds like in operation. I'll have to wait at least until March to find out.

I used the longest focal length to highlight the shower of water from ice melting on the stonework above.

When I finally tore myself away from the mill works and walked part way around the lake, the light was beginning to fade, but still not showing much warmth of color. I first did an "establishing shot" with the tele. I think you can sense the cold weather in the image.

This is one of my favorite shots of the outing. The vantage point is similar to what Ken Whitlow used for a photo he recently showed me, but we each have our own way of seeing things, and I feel that my image shows an individual approach. 

My final image is an attempt to tie together the foreground and background, both through the obvious use of the water as reflective medium and by setting up the weeds as an analog in size and tone for the mill building.

I can hardly wait for more chances to probe the photo opportunities of Yates Mill - maybe even on a warm day!

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A few more from the shore

Here are three more seashore sunrise photos that I decided should also "make the cut".

Again, all were shot with a Canon G10.

Cliché: the very best camera is the one that you actually have with you when a photo opportunity presents itself!
Also: sometimes the best time to shoot "sunrise" is before the sun actually rises. The light of the sky, although dimmer, may have more color and contrast, and be more easily captured in the same exposure with landscape features than the sun itself could be. That goes double when you're using a small-sensor camera, which, other things being equal, will tend to have less capacity to capture a great range of tones than a large-sensor camera. This is one thing that was completely different in the age of film, although large format film had other advantages over small format.

All in all, I think it's pretty amazing what we can now capture with cameras that we can carry in a pocket. A bit of processing skill also helps.

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Chasing the sky

A week ago, I was out running errands when the clouds began to develop such a fascinating mix of different types that I felt compelled to get to a spot where I had a clear view of the sky. I was determined to make a photo of some subject - any subject - that would be complemented by what was above and around. Failing that, I figured I should at least document the crazy shapes in the sky.

I got to an area on the outskirts of town, where there is a view down close to the level of the horizon in most directions, albeit with power lines and other things not usually thought to be photogenic. I found a bike path that looks much like a country lane. I set up a composition with the electrical lines on the left kind of mirroring the wire fence on the right. I also liked the way the clouds fit in with the receding perspective of the road and the trees on the right. It really was amazing watching all the layers of different cloud types sliding over and under each other. I was enjoying everything, but also trying to keep my mind on getting the shot before it disappeared.

I grabbed one of the sky alone, figuring that I could possibly add it to a new landscape some future day (Photoshop is easier than darkroom multi-printing!), but I rather like it by itself.

Nearby, this little urban pastoral scene intrigued me even though some of the incredible sky was hidden by the tree.

Permalink: http://jilcp.blogspot.com/2012/09/chasing-sky.html

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