Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III__TS-E90mm f/2.8__f / 32__ISO 100

Earlier this week, I received three calla lilies to photograph.  For three days, I left them in a corner of my dining room where I have found magic light in the past (see blog post from October 2009).  I hung my every-ready black velvet on a chair behind the blossoms.  On the second day, the early morning sun glanced across this one flow.  Aiming downward, I needed f/32 and a little lens tilt to hold sharpness in the vase and flower.

Due to the wide contrast, I bracketed seven exposures that were one stop apart.  This image was made with six of those frames using Photomatix by my assistant John.  The exposure blend enabled us to show fine separation of tones in the white, nice shading in the green stems but left the background black.

I made about 700 exposures in various light, including some blurs and many 7-frame brackets, so I still have much editing to do.

Until I can polish up some more selects, I hope you enjoy this one.  Let me know your thoughts!

Cheers,  Bill

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Here is another image from Monday morning.  I took seven frames, each one stop difference, and my assistant John assembled them using Lightroom and Photomatix’s Lightroom plugin (http://www.hdrsoft.com/).  This was taken with my Canon 16-35mm as the sun rose through the fog.  The tree behind the big oak were heavily tilted due to the convergence caused by aiming upward with 22mm of focal length!  I raced back to my car (yes, I should have had my camera bag next to me!) to get my 24mm Tilt Shift lens, which I used in the previously posted image.  To correct for the distortion of the trees, I asked John to straighten up the trees.  Instead of using Photoshop’s Lens Correction tool, he used the Crop tool, with Perspective box checked.  John writes about using this tool in this blog post, at the bottom of the page:  Breaking the Funk/Meditations on a Moment Blog.

Let me know if you have a favorite between the two Sunrise Fog images!

Bill

ONE ON ONE WORKSHOPS

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III__TS-E90mm f/2.8__2.0 sec at f / 13__ISO 100

I made this image yesterday on my patio.  The water reflects my ochre-colored wall.  I have been watching the light for when the stones and water were in shadow but the wall remained lit.  I was trying to find a good composition with a single frame but it wasn’t working.  So, used the shift function of my Tilt Shift lens as well as the forward tilt for increased depth of field.  I made one exposure with the shift all the way to the left, and then “shifted” the lens all the way to the right while making sure I had enough overlap for PhotoMerge in PS4 to create the pano.  I selected the best two images in Lightroom, then used LR’s Photo menu to “send” the two files to PS4 for merging.

BTW, I used my Canon TS-E90mm f/2.8 for this image, combined with my Canon 2X Extender to create a 180mm TS lens!

Enjoy,  Bill

William Neill Portfolios

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III__EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM__1/500 sec at f / 2.8

Last week, I was busy getting my kids to bed when I noticed a glow outside.  Ran upstairs to grab my camera, stepped out my second floor office door, and made this image.  I was almost too late, and only managed to click off 12 frames.  I am not sure what I had missed, but I am pleased with this photograph!  I am reminded of some of Eliot Porter’s sunset cloud photos.  See the link below.  I often prefer the later stages of sunset, with darker colors and a more moody quality.  Still, it is better to catch the whole show to have more choices!

Sunset Clouds, New Mexico by Eliot Porter

Enjoy!  Let me know your thoughts…

Bill

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