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Apr, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in Ocean Springs, MS. Ocean Springs is located in south Mississippi and boarders alone the northern Gulf of Mexico. There are two prominent streets that run alone the shore line, that being; Front Beach and East Beach Blvd. Very popular drives alone the beach for sunset pictures.Time
This was taken at 7:31 PM., on 2/3/2014. The winters in South Mississippi, in general, are not that cold, so photographers have opportunity's to practice their skills year round. As always, in this region where humidity is usually about 65-85 %, it's extremely important to acclimate your camera to the current weather conditions. Be it summer or winter you should not expose your camera and lenses to rapid temperature and humidity changes, damage caused by fogging/condensation to the interior of both can leave water rings on the sensor and glass. I place my cameras and lenses in the bag then place them in the garage at least two hours before a shoot. They slowly warm up or cool down to the ambient temperature.Lighting
Just after sunset a low cloud bank moved in resulting in a very overcast blanket of uniform gray, the cloud bottom was about 3,000 feet according to the aviation app on my tablet. The light cast on the bottom of the clouds is a reflection of light to the west from across the bay in the city of Biloxi, 3.5 miles away. Light pollution is dominate in this area because of the gaming industry lights located in the nearby city's.Equipment
This picture was captured on my Nikon D700 using a Nikkor fixed 50mm f 1.4 G lens, no filter, hand held. Manual, incandescent setting, ISO 400, 1/6 sec.Inspiration
"Marty's Pier" house is a local icon for photographers to shoot. This day I had gone out to record the sunset but with the cloud bank that moved in, an alternate plan had to be devised. It's important to always have a backup plan so your time and efforts aren't wasted, there's nothing worse than coming home with a blank memory card! As I was about to leave my setting I happened to turn and the picture was there. The pier house lights just rippled across a very calm gulf water and the sky was illuminated by the reflection of lights. I removed my shoes and waded about knee deep to compose the frame, then held the camera just above the water's edge.Editing
Embarrassingly I have to admit I have seven post processing programs. Depending on which degree of refinement I what to achieve depends on which program I use. Overall - I'm a naturalist - I generally do not adjust the big three; color, contrast and tone. The Nikon D700 sensor is very accurate in color dynamics range if you get off of Auto. I also shoot in 14 bit NEF/RAW, lossless, no compression, that way you capture an unbelievable range of color and contrast. And people, never utilize, "in-camera" processing, it's useless! Most of my post production work is to align the pixels, reduce noise and crop. This picture was cropped to remove a red channel marker light - it was way to contrasting to the tranquil setting.In my camera bag
I select one camera for that days shoot - I have four Nikons. My lens selection are generally prime lenses, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm and my (monster) 85mm - f1.4 G. I bring a selection of filters ranging from 52mm to 77mm for daylight use and seldom if ever use a filter at night. I always bring my tripod to use with the 85mm because it's a very unforgiving lens. For cleaning, I use a micro fine cloth and a dust brush, the repeated use of chemical wipes is a no-no. Lens coating is a very delicate process and repeated use of pre-moistened wipes WILL damage the coating.Feedback
"Right place at the Right time." Every location you visit has a picture in it somewhere, the picture will not come to you - you have to search it out. The one thing I learn in a workshop years ago still holds true today - What's Behind You? People get so wrapped up with the subject before them - they seldom look behind themselves. Be observant to your surroundings - The Picture You Miss is the one You Don't Look For. Don't get so focused (pun intended) on the prime objective you may fail to notice the details of a beautiful cloud in the other direction. A camera is omnidirectional if we just observe.
