elements

The three great elemental sounds in nature are 

the sound of rain, 

the sound of wind in a primeval wood, 

and the sound of outer ocean on a beach. 

~ Henry Beston

We spent the night at the coast this past weekend.I love the ocean.

I don't think I could ever live in a state that didn't have the ocean on one of its borders.

Not ever.

We went to the South Jetty in the Ft. Stevens State Park.

I love this location.

We were hoping for a nice sunset, but this is the best we got.

So, what do you do when expectations aren't met?

With landscape photography it's a bit more disappointing as you have traveled

a distance to be at a particular place at a certain time for the 'party',

but mother nature didn't get the invitation.

Don't cry. It's all good.

First, just enjoy the place you've found yourself...free of expectations.

Second, if you're intent on making a picture, there is always something to photograph.

Readjust your 'sights' and look around with new eyes.

You'll see something. 

Maybe even something better than what you were planning to capture in the first place!

Regarding the top image: I loved the vantage point

we had after climbing onto the rocks.

We were inline with the dilapidated wooden trestle, rocks, and the water, rather than viewing them from above via the observation tower.

If you've been visiting the blog, you know I'm a fan of long exposure water photography.

For me, the contrast between the textures of the hard rocks and wood and the 

soft water worked to create an intriguing compositional element.

I realized in researching elements of composition, that I had layers of the four 'elements'

in this image corresponding to:

Earth (rock), Wood (trestle), Water (sea), and Fire (sun).

I didn't think about this at the time I was making the image...maybe I did subconsciously...

In post-processing, I cropped out most of the sky except for the wee bit

of light at the top to provide context. 

Maybe I don't even need that...thoughts?

I do like the contrast between the warmer sky and cooler water, and keeping

the bit of sky in provides that contrast.

Below: An intact trestle near the Jetty.

Another favorite spot. We were able to walk all the way to the water's edge in the grasses.

I need to work this location more...we'll be back!

Let's round out the 'elements' theme of this post with a few links on 

elements of composition and strong imagery:

https://luminous-landscape.com/elements-principles-design/

http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/10-top-photography-composition-rules

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/photography-tips-12-elements-to-capture-that-winning-shot/

I especially liked this article:

http://www.photocascadia.com/blog/five-compositional-patterns-worth-finding-in-nature/#.VtMYqVKihdk

p.s. if you visit the jetty, be prepared for wind...it is always windy!

Bring plenty of microfibre cloths to dry off your lens/filters and glasses if you wear them...

the mist and splashes (yes, we were that close!) were unrelenting!

Carry a small water bottle, too...the sea spray is horribly sticky

on lens/filters/glasses.

choices

There are two primary choices in life: 

to accept conditions as they exist, 

or accept the responsibility for changing them.

~ Denis Waitley

Color or monochrome?

Sometimes the choice is easy.

Sometimes, not so much.

I was feeling a bit monochromatic on this day,
and the black and white image fit my mood better.
But, I also liked the color image.

It was a glorious February day and the color image was a perfect portrayal 

of the day and scene. 

I like monochrome because it accentuates the subject, and reduces the distraction caused by color. 
Some say you can see the soul of the subject when you shoot in black and white.

So, color or monochrome?

I don't believe there is a right or wrong when it comes to image processing...except regarding over sharpening (wrong) or swapping skies (also wrong)...but those things aside, how you process your image is personal.
You were there. You know what you saw and what you felt.
Your image is an echo of that moment.

Let your heart be your guide...it really is the perfect gps!

Remember,

if you save your original image with all the layers intact,

you can easily choose between monochrome and color 

as your mood and creative process dictate at some future date.

For me, I really like both of these images.
Usually I have a clear preference.
What about you, do you like one over the other?

Do you know what's more important than choosing how to process your images?

Yep! Shooting!!

Close down this blog post and go out and make pictures!

Do it now!

Fuji XT1 ISO 200 f/16 1/30 sec XF35mm (23.3mm EFL)

winter water

The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.

~ Joseph Campbell

We went exploring in the rain this past weekend.

We went to Beaver Creek Falls in Clatskanie, OR.

The water was running high and fast!!

Very different from our visit last September!

Looking back on my notes from back then,
I did have a tripod with me, but wished that I had an umbrella connected to the tripod this time.

I routinely carry a lot of microfiber cloths to dry off the camera and lens, 

and was very glad to have them!

A towel would've been nice. It was a soaker!

I did have boots in the car and, in fact, made a mid-day shoe change.

I had my cable release with me, so I was well prepared overall...except for the umbrella attachment. 

I visited Amazon to purchase one when I got home!

In the picture above, you can see the top of the falls depicted below.

You can also see how the bottom of the trail had been completely washed

out after recent flooding in the area. We couldn't get down to the bottom of the falls

and had to shoot from a different vantage point.

To add to the 4 lessons from last September:
Lesson #5: Always carry microfiber cloths (you can never have too many) for drying of your lens, 

and add a small hand towel for drying off your camera for really wet days or wet areas, e.g. waterfalls that spew a lot of spray!

Lesson #6: Carry boots and extra socks.

Lesson #7:  Carry an umbrella or other kind of protective 

wrap to protect your camera/tripod/self from rain and drizzle. If it isn't too windy and you
can attach the umbrella to your tripod, all the better!

Lesson #8: Use caution and be prudent when walking trails in the winter time. Damp moss and leaves are slippery. I used my tripod as a walking stick in some areas, but would've liked a true walking stick
to keep in the trunk and have available as necessary.

What items do you include in your everyday photo carry?

Canon 5DS R varied ISO and speeds 24-70mm f4/L IS

structure

I prefer winter and fall, 

when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, 

the dead feeling of winter. 

Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.

~ Andrew Wyeth

I'm sure you know by now that I like to play with my images - pre capture and post.

I like to play in setting up small vignettes of still life scenes in unconventional ways, adding textures,

turning images upside down, and popping them into black and white.

This time I inverted the black and white so that black became white and vice versa.

Too fun.

I use black to white gradient maps to create my B&W images. There are many ways to turn a color image into B&W, this is one way and it seems to work fine. I create three layers of gradient maps (all black to white) with three different blending modes, Normal, Screen and Multiply. I adjust the opacity in the Screen and Multiply layers as needed and use a soft brush to adjust finer details on their respective layer masks.

For the top most image I did the normal B to W gradient, then I added two W to B gradients.

I was smitten.

I loved how the graphical elements stood out, and the different tones in the water popped.

It totally changed the feel of the image.

The original and B&W images are below...which of the three do you prefer?

I imagine a little goes a long way and I won't be doing this B&W inversion often.

But it was fun to play with it in this image.

This is the home of the Whimsical Pixel! ;)

FujiXT1 ISO 200 f/2.8 1/40 sec  XF35mm (53mm EFL)

perception

While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph 

can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, 

there is another in which it proves to us 

how little our eyes permit us to see.

~ Dorothea Lange

I wanted to change things up a bit when processing this image. 

I turned it 180 degrees and what were once branches reaching skyward,

became 'roots'.

I'm not a philosopher, so I will just leave it at that.

I like to process my images. Sometimes I do very little,

and sometimes I add textures and such.

 I like to see if there is another story to tell or another mood I can

evoke via processing that may not have been in the original image.

And sometimes, when I'm very lucky, the image SOOC is just what I wanted!

FujiXT1 ISO 200 f/2.8 1/75 sec  XF35mm (53mm EFL)

possibilities

Everything that is possible demands to exist.

~ Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

The first image of 2016.

I'm thinking about how to mix it up this year.

Spark my creativity a bit.

I've been listening to some photography pod casts in which a 52-week project is discussed.

One picture per week for the year.
365 day projects are a bit more demanding

and can become a chore.
Not what you want when you want to spark creativity.
 Chores can the photographer to gravitate to taking

mindless images just to produce something and meet a deadline.

Versus a 52 week project.
A project with a fresh theme each week.

I don't think there are any rules other than 

making an image each week.

It seems like a doable project.

Quite possible in fact.

Happy 2016!!

FujiXT1 ISO 320 f/2.4 1/280 sec  XF60mm macro (90mm EFL)