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travel photography

Landscape Photography in the Painted Hills

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Landscape photography in the Painted Hills Oregon
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.

Landscape photography in the Painted Hills abstract
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.

Painted Hills Oregon
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.

Painted Hills Oregon
The Painted Cove walk through at the Painted Hills in Oregon

 

Painted Hills landscape
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.

Painted Hills Oregon
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.

 

Seascape Photography – Cape Hedge Rocks

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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.

Cape Hedge rocks
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.

Cape Hedge rocks
2 sec. exposure that defeated the purpose of the leading lines in the foreground.

Shooting Reflected Light and Blue Hour

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The other day I knew there was a good chance of a spectacular sunset. The problem was I did not have time to get to a good place to shoot it so I had to make other plans. This got me thinking that if the sunset was strong enough there would be some reflected light of clouds near by to give me something to shoot. It turned out that this was the case as the sunset lit up everything around me.

Sandy Bay Sunset
Clouds show off an insane sunset further off to the west over Ipswich Bay. Fuji X-T3 w/10-24

Upper Granite Pier gave me a wonderful look over Sandy Bay and all I had to do was wait and see if the the clouds would reflect the light from the sunset over Ipswich Bay. I was not disappointed. The sunset was so crazy that it was a 360 degree light show.

Straightsmouth Light Sunset
Reflected sunset over Sandy Bay and Straightsmouth Island. Fuji X-T3 w/50-140

As soon as the light started to fade I rushed over to Back Beach to catch Blue Hour and the Rockport skyline lit up with lights from the Shalin Liu and Brackets Rest.

Blue Hour Rockport
The lights along the Rockport waterfront reflect on the water as Old Sloop stands guard. Fuji X-T3 w/50-140

The Blue Hour light was beautiful and the lights from the Shalin Liu and Brackets Rest. lit up the water along the shore line with intense reflections. The newly refurbished First Congregational Church of Rockport shines bright white in the low blue light. So don’t always shoot the sunset look for the reflected light around the horizon it could give you beautiful images! Blue Hour is a wonderful time of day and can also offer some great images.