The Things Photographers Do – Part 2

If you've read last week's post entitled The Things Photographers Do you might be curious just how far up we hiked after I took that shot of Garner State Park from above. Well, here's the view from the top and what a magnificent view it is. That hill just to our right is where I wanted to shoot from but I new that another 100 foot rock climb was beyond my capabilities, even though my 69 year old friend thought we might make it.

So here's a challenge for you younger landscape photographers. Climb those hills early in your career and enjoy the view. Life is way too short to settle for anything less!

Garner State Park Hillside, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 24mm, f/13 for 1/15th of a second using a Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer and a 4-stop, graduated neutral density filter at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4 using Nik Software's Color Efex Pro plug-in filters. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 5D Mark II, Garner State Park, Landscape Photography

It’s the Climb

I've travelled all over the world and visited many different countries, landscapes and terrain in my time. I've seen the sun rise in Beijing and set in Singapore. I've felt the dry, brittle cold of a winter's day in Alaska and the cold, damp, rainy nights of autumn in Scotland. I've walked the quiet hillsides of the Napa Valley and the noisy streets of Hong Kong. I've hiked Isle Royal in the springtime and canoed Lake Placid in the fall.

Nowhere I've ever travelled has felt more like "home" to me than the Texas Hill Country. Drive a few short hours from Dallas, Houston, San Antonio or Austin and you can find yourself in a region like no other on Earth. A place of contrast, beauty and solitude where the sky stretches almost to heaven. A place you can climb and gaze for miles and miles and see no sign of civilization.

A place called Texas!

Hill Country Hillside - Bandera, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 24mm, f/11 for 1/80th of a second using a Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer and a 2-stop, graduated neutral density filter at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 5D Mark II, Hill Country State Natural Area, Landscape Photography, Photography

Texas Landscape Safari – Pedernales Falls

Here's another shot taken at Pedernales Falls State Park on a warm, muggy summer evening. The summer long drought had lowered the river's level enough to expose the wonderful color of the limestone boulders cut by the water thousands and thousands of years ago. Each time I visit this unique spot, I find another feature of these beautiful falls just waiting to be photographed. That's the truly wonderful thing about shooting waterfalls. They are constantly changing with the flow of the water.

Pedernales Falls State Park is the fourth stop on the Texas Landscape Safari beginning October 18th and running through October 21st. Given the weather forecast for next week and the rain we've had lately I'm certain we'll all get some nice shots at the falls.

Pedernales Falls near Johnson City, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 50mm, f/13 for 1/10th of a second using a Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Adobe Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 50D, Landscape Photography, Pedernales Falls State Park, Photography, Texas Landscapes

Add a Little Vibrance!

Take a quick test. Walk outside on a bright and sunny day and look at the sky and the trees. Now put on a pair of sunglasses and look again. Notice how much more "vibrant" everything looks? Notice how the sky is a deeper, richer blue and the leaves on the trees are a softer and more earthy green?

This is "vibrance" and it's your minds perception of colors and textures in the absence of glare. Glare is a harsh, white reflected light that overpowers the colors and textures in a scene and it's pure death for a landscape photographer. That's why most landscape images are taken during the early morning or late afternoon hours, when the sun is low in the sky and the harsh reflections are at a minimum. Glare is why we buy sunglasses and why we use polarizing filters on our lenses.

Adding Vibrance in Lightroom

Vibrance is what landscape photographers strive to capture in their images. It's that very subtle combination of color and tone that makes a landscape image compelling. Unfortunately, most raw file formats seem to lack vibrance and it's up to the photographer to add this key ingredient back during post capture processing.

Luckily, this is very simple using the Presence controls in Adobe Lightroom 2. Making this even easier is the Punch preset which increases the Clarity and Vibrance but leaves the Saturation unchanged, which is vital to creating an image that is vibrant without being over-saturated.

Guadalupe River Canyon, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 28mm, f/16 for 1/8th of a second using a Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer at ISO 100 on Lexar Professional digital film. Post capture processing was done in Adobe's Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 5D Mark II, Landscape Photography, Photography, Texas Landscapes

Sunset in Kingsland

It’s been bitter cold here in Texas and I’m getting tired of wearing sweaters every day. So here’s an image taken last fall at one of the best spots in the state to capture a sunset, looking west over Packsaddle Mountain. I’m going to keep posting these “warm” images until the weather breaks or I run out of shots, whichever comes first.

Sunset – Kingsland, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 45mm, f/13 for 2 seconds at ISO 100 using a Singh-Ray 3-stop (soft) graduated neutral density filter. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 5D Mark II, Landscape Photography, Photography, Texas Hill Country, Texas Landscapes

Driving around Inks Lake

Inks Lake was created in the 1920′s as a means of flood control along the Lower Colorado River. It’s the second of six such lakes that make up the "Highland Lakes Chain" here in central Texas, created by the Buchanan dam to the north and Inks dam to the south. It was built by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) during the Great Depression and provided employment for 1,500 workers during its construction. The state acquired the land in the 1940′s as part of a public works project sponsored by Lyndon B. Johnson when he was just a US Congressman.

The geology of the area is truly unique with pink, granite-like outcrops called “Valley Spring Gneiss” pushing their way up through the surrounding limestone. These outcrops support a unique ecology of wildflowers, grasses, mosses and even ferns. Inks Lake State Park is a place that you could explore and photograph for years and never run out of interesting sights to see. In the springtime when the wildflowers bloom, the area comes alive with color and that’s why Inks Lake is always one of the stops on the Texas Landscape Safari.

Inks Lake – Burnet, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 50D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 24mm, f/11 for 1/50th of a second at ISO 100 using a Singh-Ray 2-stop (soft) graduated neutral density filter. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 50D, Inks Lake State Park, Landscape Photography, Photography, Texas Hill Country, Texas Landscapes

Canon PowerShot G9/G10/G11 Neutral Density Filter

I’ve recently received several email messages asking how to enable and correctly use the neutral density filter built into the Canon PowerShot G9, G10 and G11 cameras recently.

Here are a few tips & tricks to get you started. Enabling the built in 3-stop ND filter is very simple:

1. Press the Function/Set button to get to the Function menu.
2. Use the Up arrow or Down arrow to highlight the ND icon.
3. Use the Right or Left arrow to select ND (ND Filter On).
4. Press the Function/Set button again to exit the menu.

If you plan to use the ND filter often you can assign it to the little “S” (shortcut) button using the Set Shortcut Button menu.

Other Tips & Tricks

• Use a tripod to eliminate camera shake when using the built in ND filter. Read my previous post for more details.

• You can use a Canon RS60-E3 remote cable release with the PowerShot G10 / G11 or use the Self-Timer to activate the shutter and eliminate even more camera shake.

• Use a circular polarizer to eliminate reflections and add color depth to you images. My previous post explains how to “trick out” your G9/G10/G11 for landscape shooting.

The River Flows – Spring Branch, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon Powershot G10 set on full manual mode and tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 30mm, f/8 for 0.6 seconds using the built-in neutral density filter at ISO 80. Post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon Powershot G10, Canon Powershot G11, Canon Powershot G9, Landscape Photography, Photography, Texas Hill Country