56. Cloudscape - July 6-12, 2014
Paul-
Okay, what ham-headed ninny suggested “Cloudscape” for a theme this week? Sure, it sounded like an interesting challenge, but I’m not sure I got anywhere close to what I had hoped.
I love working with infrared and—despite the reputation that some pin on it as cliché and overused—it just plain fascinates me. Especially B&W infrared. I got a chance to shoot a few rolls of 35mm Kodak HIE before it went the way of the dodo and disco roller skating. I was hooked.
I’ve been able to coax a few interesting B&W infrared images of my DSLR, but it’s been a crapshoot. (Uh, that’s not to suggest I’ve been shooting crap. Only to suggest the results have been uneven and unexpected. Onward.)
With storms spinning up around here this week, it seemed like a good opportunity to see what I might be able to do with an R72 filer onto my lens. I kept the ISO fairly low and, as in the past, worked with a near-middle range f-stop. I shot in Manual and took several shots at the 40-, 50-, and 60-second marks. I even dialed up the red channel on my camera for a couple exposures just to see what would happen. The day I took this particular picture it was fairly windy. As such, at a 40-second exposure persistent movement becomes a blur. You can see it in the foreground trees and really see it in the clouds. (I’ve shot pictures like this before with near-zero wind speed at ground level and scored some nice cloud effects. I guess I was hoping on this day the gusts wouldn’t create too pronounced an effect. Oh well. It was still fun.) And, yes, I played with the color temperature a bit, too.
Next time I’m shooting infrared I’ll target the big ugly van the guy across the street has parked by the curb. That thing hasn’t moved in 14 years.
Our Story So Far… Percy Guy Fenesin despised nearly everything about the Middle Thropshire-On-The-Fens Academy for Promising Young Academicians. While the school may have boasted an impressive faculty, and had the distinction of producing no small number of celebrated statesmen and members of Parliament in its time, that time had come and gone. It’s once lavish gardens had gone to seed, its curriculum barely gave nod to the Greek classics, the Headmaster was more into his cups than his charges, and the rugby team was more scrum than score. Middle Thropshire, as far a young Percy was concerned, was a boarding school—and a second-rate one at that—that boasted faded robes and a chapel that listed like a poorly laden steamship. It was only in the Science lectures (and even then only those delivered by the ancient Professor Lindstrombrook) that the young boy found the satisfaction of deep scholarship and intellection stimulation. Lindstrombrook’s recitations on optics and image-catching chemistries spellbound the student and set his feet firmly on the path that would one day imbue him with a near-alchemical command of the art of the daguerrotype and calotype negative. So rarified were the skills he plied and widespread his artistic renown, that today his lavish marble headstone (located just outside West Thixsby) bears this inscription: “Olympus E500; 14-45mm zoom lens (shot at 17mm); 40 sec. at f9; ISO 200, Infrared R72 filter, camera mounted on a tripod.”
Okay, what ham-headed ninny suggested “Cloudscape” for a theme this week? Sure, it sounded like an interesting challenge, but I’m not sure I got anywhere close to what I had hoped.
I love working with infrared and—despite the reputation that some pin on it as cliché and overused—it just plain fascinates me. Especially B&W infrared. I got a chance to shoot a few rolls of 35mm Kodak HIE before it went the way of the dodo and disco roller skating. I was hooked.
I’ve been able to coax a few interesting B&W infrared images of my DSLR, but it’s been a crapshoot. (Uh, that’s not to suggest I’ve been shooting crap. Only to suggest the results have been uneven and unexpected. Onward.)
With storms spinning up around here this week, it seemed like a good opportunity to see what I might be able to do with an R72 filer onto my lens. I kept the ISO fairly low and, as in the past, worked with a near-middle range f-stop. I shot in Manual and took several shots at the 40-, 50-, and 60-second marks. I even dialed up the red channel on my camera for a couple exposures just to see what would happen. The day I took this particular picture it was fairly windy. As such, at a 40-second exposure persistent movement becomes a blur. You can see it in the foreground trees and really see it in the clouds. (I’ve shot pictures like this before with near-zero wind speed at ground level and scored some nice cloud effects. I guess I was hoping on this day the gusts wouldn’t create too pronounced an effect. Oh well. It was still fun.) And, yes, I played with the color temperature a bit, too.
Next time I’m shooting infrared I’ll target the big ugly van the guy across the street has parked by the curb. That thing hasn’t moved in 14 years.
Our Story So Far… Percy Guy Fenesin despised nearly everything about the Middle Thropshire-On-The-Fens Academy for Promising Young Academicians. While the school may have boasted an impressive faculty, and had the distinction of producing no small number of celebrated statesmen and members of Parliament in its time, that time had come and gone. It’s once lavish gardens had gone to seed, its curriculum barely gave nod to the Greek classics, the Headmaster was more into his cups than his charges, and the rugby team was more scrum than score. Middle Thropshire, as far a young Percy was concerned, was a boarding school—and a second-rate one at that—that boasted faded robes and a chapel that listed like a poorly laden steamship. It was only in the Science lectures (and even then only those delivered by the ancient Professor Lindstrombrook) that the young boy found the satisfaction of deep scholarship and intellection stimulation. Lindstrombrook’s recitations on optics and image-catching chemistries spellbound the student and set his feet firmly on the path that would one day imbue him with a near-alchemical command of the art of the daguerrotype and calotype negative. So rarified were the skills he plied and widespread his artistic renown, that today his lavish marble headstone (located just outside West Thixsby) bears this inscription: “Olympus E500; 14-45mm zoom lens (shot at 17mm); 40 sec. at f9; ISO 200, Infrared R72 filter, camera mounted on a tripod.”
Jerry-
Howdy fellow earth travelers,
How do you control the sky? It's a lesson in our punyness I guess. My first cloudscape attempt came right after a rain where the water filled a puddle and you could see the sky reflected. I thought that photo was the one, it looked great on my iPhone screen - but it bored me later. A day later, with the iPhone, I got an odd photo of a wispy cloud with lots of blue sky and some sort of bird sitting on a wire coming from a tall pole. Another day later I had my real camera with on a walk with Sam the doglet and took this photo of some interesting clouds. I think I needed another day or so, but here you go! I guess I was hoping for something to appear out of the clouds, the face of Jesus or Moses, or maybe Rocky and Bullwinkle.
Nikon D5200 with 24-70 Nikkor set to 24mm, circular polarizer, f8 at 1/250, iso 400.
Howdy fellow earth travelers,
How do you control the sky? It's a lesson in our punyness I guess. My first cloudscape attempt came right after a rain where the water filled a puddle and you could see the sky reflected. I thought that photo was the one, it looked great on my iPhone screen - but it bored me later. A day later, with the iPhone, I got an odd photo of a wispy cloud with lots of blue sky and some sort of bird sitting on a wire coming from a tall pole. Another day later I had my real camera with on a walk with Sam the doglet and took this photo of some interesting clouds. I think I needed another day or so, but here you go! I guess I was hoping for something to appear out of the clouds, the face of Jesus or Moses, or maybe Rocky and Bullwinkle.
Nikon D5200 with 24-70 Nikkor set to 24mm, circular polarizer, f8 at 1/250, iso 400.
Kevin-
Here is my WPOTM Cloudscape image. I spent a lot of time looking at (and for) literal interpretations of the term Cloudscape via Google images and such. And it wasn’t a bad week here in the Twin Cities as we had lots of white puffy clouds in the sky, though unfortunately nothing like a great storm system moving in.
I test-shot a few long sequences of moving clouds and thought about animating them but ultimately decided that would have been too far outside of our WPOTM guidelines. I even thought about building a silly-looking cloudscape set using a sky-blue paper background sheet and cotton-ball clouds supported by popsicle sticks or something, but neh. Then I decided to go back to more traditional ideas, perhaps capturing a cloudscape reflected in the water of a calm lake, but the winds were strong enough where the reflections wouldn’t have worked.
Then Michelle saw an airliner taking off and disappearing into clouds as it rose and suggested I think about that. I knew it would be tough to do but thought that a smaller airport with smaller planes might help, even if it simply provided a better place to view skies filled with clouds without trees and buildings blocking them. So I headed to Flying Cloud Airport. Much flatter ground! More clear skies! While I was shooting clouds there I saw an occasional small plane take off. I swung my camera that way and waited. I captured several sequences, ultimately choosing this image. It breaks an important composition rule, as “the subject” is leaving the frame, not entering it. But for me it works better than the earlier images in the sequence as it’s the clouds themselves that are the subject, not the plane. The pilot has simply chosen to fly among those clouds, and with a photo of the plane leaving the frame at a slower shutter speed to give it a lithe bit of blur, I think it says that.
Nikon D4s, tripod mounted. ISO 100. 24-70mm Nikkor set to 62mm with a circular polarizing filter. f/11 at 1/50th of a second.
Here is my WPOTM Cloudscape image. I spent a lot of time looking at (and for) literal interpretations of the term Cloudscape via Google images and such. And it wasn’t a bad week here in the Twin Cities as we had lots of white puffy clouds in the sky, though unfortunately nothing like a great storm system moving in.
I test-shot a few long sequences of moving clouds and thought about animating them but ultimately decided that would have been too far outside of our WPOTM guidelines. I even thought about building a silly-looking cloudscape set using a sky-blue paper background sheet and cotton-ball clouds supported by popsicle sticks or something, but neh. Then I decided to go back to more traditional ideas, perhaps capturing a cloudscape reflected in the water of a calm lake, but the winds were strong enough where the reflections wouldn’t have worked.
Then Michelle saw an airliner taking off and disappearing into clouds as it rose and suggested I think about that. I knew it would be tough to do but thought that a smaller airport with smaller planes might help, even if it simply provided a better place to view skies filled with clouds without trees and buildings blocking them. So I headed to Flying Cloud Airport. Much flatter ground! More clear skies! While I was shooting clouds there I saw an occasional small plane take off. I swung my camera that way and waited. I captured several sequences, ultimately choosing this image. It breaks an important composition rule, as “the subject” is leaving the frame, not entering it. But for me it works better than the earlier images in the sequence as it’s the clouds themselves that are the subject, not the plane. The pilot has simply chosen to fly among those clouds, and with a photo of the plane leaving the frame at a slower shutter speed to give it a lithe bit of blur, I think it says that.
Nikon D4s, tripod mounted. ISO 100. 24-70mm Nikkor set to 62mm with a circular polarizing filter. f/11 at 1/50th of a second.
Byron-
This WPOTM: Cloudscape theme was a difficult one for me. I decided to interpret it literally, mainly because I couldn't think of any other way. I shot some photos earlier this week but nothing was very exciting. This morning I was at my Brother's farm near Barnesville, MN. The sky looked nice and the sunrise was unusual. This is my entry.
ISO 100 f/14, 1/800 sec. -1.3 EV. I set the white balance to "Cloudy". I wanted the shot to have a warm look.
This WPOTM: Cloudscape theme was a difficult one for me. I decided to interpret it literally, mainly because I couldn't think of any other way. I shot some photos earlier this week but nothing was very exciting. This morning I was at my Brother's farm near Barnesville, MN. The sky looked nice and the sunrise was unusual. This is my entry.
ISO 100 f/14, 1/800 sec. -1.3 EV. I set the white balance to "Cloudy". I wanted the shot to have a warm look.
Deron-
Shooters,
While I had a bit of a cloud issue, or lack thereof, I thought I try a little 'out of the box' photography by downloading a cloud pic from the internet onto my phone, then holding it up to the cloudless sky. Then, as I was driving home from shooting the phone photo, the single whispy cloud above Riverside lit up with the setting sun. I pulled over and shot it... We'll go with it.
The only thing I don't like is the few spots that show up on my photos. I try cropping them out the best I can, but sometimes I have no choice.
Also, I have no more internet connection right now at my house, so my descriptions may be limited... this hunting and pecking on my iPad is for the birds!
Shooters,
While I had a bit of a cloud issue, or lack thereof, I thought I try a little 'out of the box' photography by downloading a cloud pic from the internet onto my phone, then holding it up to the cloudless sky. Then, as I was driving home from shooting the phone photo, the single whispy cloud above Riverside lit up with the setting sun. I pulled over and shot it... We'll go with it.
The only thing I don't like is the few spots that show up on my photos. I try cropping them out the best I can, but sometimes I have no choice.
Also, I have no more internet connection right now at my house, so my descriptions may be limited... this hunting and pecking on my iPad is for the birds!