A few years ago I would have never thought this was possible. Make a photograph with your camera in raw format. Process said photograph in camera and convert to jpg then send to your phone or tablet with the camera app, then tweak it a bit in Lightroom mobile, and finally post it here or on Instagram or Facebook.
A rake waits to be used at a neighbors house.
Both of these images were made with the Fuji X-T3 and the new Fuji XF 16-80 f4.
Earlier in the day I was shooting with the smaller X-T30 and a newly purchased 23 f2 and did the same thing with my phone and posted the photo below to Instagram. Wow! But since I needed it here on my iPad I had to transfer it from the phone to the iPad. No problem Apple Airdrop sent it right over. Pretty incredible.
Fuji X-T30 with Fuji XF 23 f2
Technology certainly has come a long way since we waited for the prints or slides to come back. For me it was a bit more instantaneous as I only had to wait about 45 minutes before I could make a print.
The Painted Hills of Eastern Oregon provide an interesting foreground to the mountains in the background.
Once a year we head out to Oregon to visit our sons in Portland. So I always try to schedule in some landscape photography if I can. This year we decided on The Painted Hills . It was a long three hour drive down to Prineville (our Hotel) from Portland. We met up with some friends there and we headed out around 5pm (it’s an hour drive) to get there an hour before sunset even though it was very cloudy. When we arrived the lighting was very flat and was not a very good situation for interesting light on the hills. Plus it was dark as a thunder storm was moving in. But we soldiered on and made images anyway.
The Painted Hills of Eastern Oregon form an interesting abstract design on a cloudy day.
The situation steadily got worse as the thunder storms kept getting closer so the photography was a bit hurried. At the same time I was trying to shoot video as well. Really it was kind of a nightmare. The images are ok but nothing that really gets me excited.
Early morning sun at the Painted Hills in Eastern Oregon.
The next morning we decided to try and get there a bit after sunrise. This time of day is not optimal for the Painted Hills as the light is coming from the wrong direction. Most of the iconic hills are facing west toward sunset. We did find some that looked fairly decent.
The Painted Cove walk through at the Painted Hills in Oregon
Scrub trees along the Painted Cove section of the Painted Hills in Oregon.
On the way out I decided to make a shot of the iconic hill that everyone takes around sunset to just give some contrast to what we were given in the morning light wise. I tried to old patience and persistence that I mention in this blog post but it just did not workout this time.
One of the main hill sections of the Painted Hills in Eastern Oregon.
Overall the trip was worth it, even with the lousy light on the first day. Landscape photography is always weather dependent so we were lucky to be able to go back twice. Take a look at the video below to get a feel for the experience.
Earlier this week I ventured over to Cape Hedge Beach here in Rockport to photograph some rocks that are part of the beach. Interestingly this is not the case for the rest of the beach as there are no rocks bursting through the sand anywhere else. I loved the way they seemed to point to an outcropping of rocks further off in the distance and chose to use a slow shutter speed as the waves rolled in while the tide came in.
A series of rocks at Cape Hedge Beach in Rockport seem to point out to the end of the beach. ISO 160 1/10s f18
I started using my Breakthrough Photography six stop dark cpl which is a six stop neutral density filter with a polarizer in the same filter. I toned down the cpl and was able to use shutter speeds of one or two seconds. I prefer this one which was at 1/10 sec. at f18. The 2 sec. exposure covered the rocks with water and did not show the rocks pointing or leading the eye up in the frame to the spit of land in the distance. As far as images go it’s not the best but I kind of like it. I made a video of the experience on my YouTube channel which you can see below.
2 sec. exposure that defeated the purpose of the leading lines in the foreground.
