I continually strive to perfect my art and one thing that I think is really important when photographing nature and landscapes is including the sun. There are many ways to capture the sun, but I find the cleanest way possible is a sunburst (or sunstar) effect. To achieve this there are 3 main components that need to be taken care of. First, you need a lens with an odd number of aperture blades, since the number of blades determines how many bursts you get. With an odd number, you double the amount you can get (e.g: 9 & 18), whereas with an even number of blades you are stuck with that number (e.g: 6 & 6 bursts). After, you dial in a small aperture, I find values anywhere from f/11 to f/16 work well (anything over f/16 can compromise sharpness due to diffraction, especially on APS-C sized sensors). Finally, you want an object partially blocking the sun so the rays are present for the camera to pick up, if there are no objects in the way, you can always use the corner of your frame. And voila, a nice sunburst should appear on your LCD screen. Oh, and a UV filter works well too. :)
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For this post, I concentrated on the characteristics of Autumn. Like most people the first thing that came to my mind was leaves! So on Saturday, I hiked up (really high) some of my local creeks, and I got up far enough to catch a waterfall just before the downpour. Using luminosity masks (mentioned 2 posts ago), I blended two exposures: one for the water and one for the general scene. The other two images of the series were shot today on a macro lens, which is quickly becoming my favourite. Using a tripod for stability, I was able to focus on the water droplets and fire away worry free. This is one of my most satisfying posts as I feel like these photos represent my artistic ability alongside my technical ability. -RN What better way to spend your weekday evenings than edit your summertime photos? Answer: There is none! For this image I applied many masks to selective edit certain points in the composition. For example, I used the dodge and burn tool on the cathedral to enhance contrast, whereas I decreased contrast on the outer buildings. I adjusted the high pass filter and unsharp mask to ensure maximum sharpness (even though I was using a prime lens). I then increased vibrancy to make the colours ¨pop¨, which concludes this edit. Maybe I should start a series on before and after images, I like the look. -RN A simple image of some geese flying by the Burrard Bridge. Using 1/25 shutter, I quickly panned (handheld) and hoped for the best! The light was not perfect, but I was shooting in the early morning, so I could use a sharp aperture and relatively low ISO. This should probably be a technique I should work on :) -RN I recently read a blog post written by a favourite photographer of mine, Matt Donovan (itsworthashot.com). He says he uses luminosity masks to blend many exposures together, enhancing the overall dynamic range of an image. So on Sunday, when I was up on Grouse (where else?!), I decided to use his technique: I took two shots (one -1 EV; one +1 EV) and later I blended the two together manually to give a more complementary look to the scene. -RN |
Ryan NealeWildlife enthusiast, global nomad. Archives
October 2016
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