Tripping and almost falling while looking for good photographic view points is one of my strong suits! When I stumbled across this scene in Greenfield NH I knew the possibilities were outstanding. The obvious choice is to shoot the wide scene with all the colors surrounding the covered bridge. Last week a friend and I were up in southern New Hampshire and were faced with just such a shot. Make the obvious shot of course and even wait for the light to hit the leaves better and light things up even more. But, the more interesting shots can be abstract images made by thinking differently. Here is the obvious scene below.
Colorful foliage can be seen around the Hancock – Greenfield covered bridge in Geenfield New Hampshire.
Did you notice the little surprise making this the quintessential New England image? In the right hand corner there is red and white fishing bobber that has gotten caught in the branch. How many times as a kid fishing in Maine did I do that? Here is a cropped version of the image above which I really like.
Colorful foliage can be seen around the Hancock – Greenfield covered bridge in Geenfield New Hampshire.
With the obvious images made it was time to look for abstracts! The image below is my absolute favorite.
Colorful foliage can be seen under the Hancock – Greenfield covered bridge in Greenfield New Hampshire.
The framing of the colorful fall leaves by the bottom of the covered bridge and its reflection make this image tops. A part of the scene as an abstract image what a concept. The next image is a little harder to pick up but it’s very interesting.
Colorful foliage can be seen in this reflection at the Hancock – Greenfield covered bridge in Greenfield New Hampshire.
This image is all reflection! If you look hard you can make out the water at the top of the frame. Some great images can be made if you look for parts of the obvious image as an abstract! So next time you are out shooting and faced with the obvious iconic image look for something different with a longer lens.
Pemaquid Lighthouse early morning light fall 2020.
Wide angle landscape photography can be described in two ways. 1. Getting in an entire grand landscape and 2. Emphasize the foreground as much as possible. In these two images I have tried to emphasize the foreground using the foreground to lead the eye into the frame and up to the lighthouse using the striations of t he rock below the light. I tend to use method #2 more than the first one because that is how I have always used my wide angle lenses. Using the foreground method you are able to use compositional elements to your advantage more than with any other lens. You are also able to get the most depth of field using wide angle lenses. Distortion can be your enemy or your friend depending on how you look at it. I love the distortion a real wide angle lens, eg; 15-21mm can give to your foreground. It’s always been a favorite technique of mine. In the vertical position especially, with the camera pointed downward the foreground just jumps right out at the viewer. The image above is just such an image. The rock formations take center stage and draw the viewer into the image.
Pemaquid Lighthouse early morning light fall 2020.
With this image the opposite is true. Tilting the camera to one side or the other distorts that side. As you can see in the image above, the left side is is much larger than the rest of the image and draws the viewer into the image and up to the lighthouse. To me this is the best way to work with extreme wide angle lenses. Now if the distortion is too much then you can correct it your processing software.
While working on compositions at this location I was very cognizant of the fact that foreground distortion was important. This prevented me from looking for other types of shots which I regret. Nothing really with longer lenses which is a problem. Working the scene is one of my mantras.
Pemaquid Lighthouse early morning light fall 2020.
I did get the shot above using my Fuji XF 16-80 but I cropped it up from the bottom to make the composition tighter. So as you can see, wide angle landscape photography can be used in many ways I have given you just a couple.
The harvest moon rises over Thachers Island in Rockport, MA Camera Settings – ISO 4000 0.5s f 5.6 347/521mm 7:02PM
Challenging long telephoto lens photography can be a deal breaker with landscape photography. Imagine if you will, walking out to a rocky out cropping to make a photo of a moon rising next to a light house at a half hour before sunset with the wind blowing 20+ mph. The thoughts going through my head went something like this. How the heck am I going to keep this lens steady with it blowing as hard as it is IN THE DARK!
Well this is a story of how I did this. A friend of mine was already standing next to his tripod contemplating the same issues at the highest point above the water as I approached. When I got there I suggested that we move lower down to minimize the wind. We found a more sheltered spot and indeed it helped, a little. The next step was to lower my tripod even lower and hang my camera bag underneath the head of the tripod and immediately things started to settle down. I was shooting with the Fuji X-T3 and the XF 100-400 and had the OIS on the lens turned off. Now thinking back, if there is movement, why not keep the OIS on and set the camera IS setting to shooting only. This might very well have solved the motion problem altogether! I will have to keep this in mind.
Harvest moon rising just after sunset at Thacher’s Island 10/01/20 Camera settings – ISO 4000 1/10s f5.2 290.6/436mm 6:53PM
The solution to challenging long telephoto lens photography
So the challenge was keeping the camera and lens steady at ridiculous shutter speeds while keeping the ISO as low as possible, in the dark. This is not easy! With the electronic marvels we have in the camera field now a days, I could have done some electronic hocus pocus like make a shot of the north tower when it was quite bright out and merged the shot of the moon in later. But in my view that is CHEATING! So I chose to go with a high ISO and take my chances with the slow shutter speed with a giant lens. In full frame terms well over 400mm. So I used my electronic cable release and put my hand on the top of the lens and pushed down lightly which helped to alleviate the movement caused by the long lens and the wind. With the shutter speeds approaching a half a second this is tricky business. But the Fuji gear responded marvelously. The images I got were outstanding.
The harvest moon rises next to Thacher’s Island on Oct. 1, 2020. Camera settings – ISO 4000 1/6s f5.2 290.6/436mm 6:55PM
As the time got closer and closer to 7:00PM I experimented with taking my hand off the camera at the shutter speed at .5 sec because I was worried about too much shake and was surprised to see that the images were blurry when I did. So I put my hand back on the top of the lens for the last few shots as the moon started to light up the water and the fresnel lens in the north light.
The harvest moon rises over Thacher’s Island north light on Oct. 1, 2020. Camera settings – ISO 4000 .5s f5.0 203.7/306mm 7:04PM
So here is the prognosis. When shooting in lots of wind get down low and lower your tripod. Hang your camera bag under the tripod and use an electronic cable release. Using the 2 sec. timer is a problem as you can’t time the wind gusts. Finally, because you are using a veeery long lens any movement creates a problem at slow shutter speeds so use the highest shutter speed you can. I used my hand on top of the lens to calm things down a bit which seemed to help. One last thing, use a very heavy tripod in these conditions!!! A small travel tripod is almost useless. My carbon fiber smaller tripod was too small I needed to bring out my aluminum Gitzo for this shot and I didn’t a big mistake. By keeping these techniques in mind for challenging long telephoto lens photography your next outing can be made much better.
