One Frame

I was asked by my friend Mark Carruthers to do a blog about one of my favorite images that I’ve captured over the years and I wanted to share here as well.

Over the span of my career I’ve been very fortunate and have had the opportunity to create a collection of images that are extraordinary, but one stands above the rest. I’m sure some of it may have to do with location (although I’ve been to many amazing locations throughout the United States) but I believe the majority of it has to do with the connection that I have with the landscape.

Let me back up and paint the backdrop and atmosphere for this image. As a full time professional landscape photographer, there’s something enlightening and personal about being able to spend time with Mother Nature. Now don’t get me wrong, we all love to capture pretty pictures but to truly have a connection with the landscape is when you are able to create remarkable images.

I’ve been visiting and teaching workshops in the Grand Teton National Park since 2005 and I have to admit that it never gets boring or mundane. There’s always something new and exciting to photograph and let’s be honest, who could get tired of looking at that landscape.

As a workshop instructor, you wouldn’t be doing a good job if you didn’t allow your clients to capture a few of the classic iconic images and an image of Oxbow Bend is certainly a classic. During our 2012 autumn workshop, I had taken the group to capture sunrise with amazing results. However, as the day progressed and the storm clouds rolled through the light started to really become wonderful and as we all know, “photography is all about the light” and being able to capture extraordinary light is truly the key to success.

When you have a lot of ground to cover and only so much time to do it we don’t normally visit the same place twice during a workshop but there are always exceptions to the rules. So, we headed back up to Oxbow Bend to see if we could capture a reflection with the storm clouds and I have to admit my hunch certainly paid off allowing me to capture this amazing image of Oxbow bend with the storm light. When you’re teaching a workshop you never seem to have much time to capture your own images because you’re busy helping and instructing others but here the light was so amazing that I couldn’t resist firing off a shot.

A lot of people will say “boy you got lucky with this one” but I believe a well-prepared photographer will make his own luck by knowing how to read the light and being in the right place at the right time with the knowledge to capture what is presented before you.

Best of Light,
Ed

Crystal Mill

Greetings,

Zach and I just got home from teaching a workshop in stunning Colorado and what a great time it was! All of our workshops are intense learning experience for everyone and for us it’s no less than an awesome adventure!

Before our workshop started Zach and I thought we would visit Crystal Mill and I can honestly say it was the most adventurous road we have ever driven. When people tell you, it’s a rough road and only a four-wheel-drive vehicle will make it is certainly an understatement (lol). We had a new 2016 Toyota 4Runner with high clearance and believe it or not it was a challenge for that. Of course it had stock tires and would’ve been much better equipped if it had some nice all terrains on it. The weather was a little undecided and was pouring the snow down in the mountains which allowed me to capture slightly more drama than the typical mill shot.

All in all, it was a tremendous adventure and I look forward to the next one 🙂

Metadata:

• Nikon D810
• Tamron Lens –SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC
• Gitzo GT3542xls tripod
• Lexar CF Card
• Nik Software
• Exposure – 1.5 seconds
• Aperture – f/16
• ISO – 64
• Manual Mode

Best of Light,

Ed

Advantages of Using a Polarizer

Greetings,

I wanted to take a minute to talk about polarizers and their usefulness. Now trust me when I tell you not all polarizers are equal (lol) and I’ll come back to this comment.

I get asked all the time if I shoot with a polarizer and the answer is, yes I do. The next questions is do I leave a polarizer on the front of my lens all the time and the answer would be absolutely not. There are certain shooting situations that dictate whether I use a polarizer or not. For example, when I’m shooting creeks and streams I always use a polarizer and any time there seems to be glare or shininess on subjects (wet leaves or fog) a polarizer will certainly help. Polarizers work best at a 90° angle to the light source or Sun in the landscape shooters case. I’ve included two images one with a polarizer and the other without showing the difference between the two images. Some may say it’s subtle and not enough to worry about but for me I think the advantages are huge.

I’ve used many polarizers over the years and my all-time favorite is the Singh-Ray LB Color Combo! It enhances the warm colors and subtracts two stops of light and for a landscape photographer this is a good thing!

(Singh Ray – “heaton10” for a 10% discount on all Singh Ray Filters)

Metadata:

• Nikon D810
• Tamron Lens –24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC @70mm
• Gitzo GT3542xls tripod
• Lexar CF Card
• Nik Software
• Aperture – f/16
• ISO – 64
• Manual Mode

Best of Light,

Ed

Ramblings from the White Mountains

Greetings,

Zach and I just wrapped up a seven-day photography / camping trip to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We took the new camper and I have to say it was a nice upgrade over our normal tenting. Having water and electric plus A/C (although we didn’t really need it) was perfect not to mention being able to setup our laptops and edit was a nice treat. WiFi was an issue but we just used the hotspot on our phones for a quick upload to Facebook.  We spent a lot of time roaming the White Mountains in exploration of photo opportunities which seem to be abundant. They are spread out, but so are many of the iconic areas, so this was nothing new to us. There were numerous waterfalls in the area and if you head down to the Lakes Region you’ll find countless lakes and reflections.

I have two complaints: One – they charge for all of the spots one wants to visit and two, we had a tough time finding overviews without hiking three or 4 miles (for the most part) straight up. Now, for a younger man (let’s just say a much better shape guy) this would not be an issue but for me it was certainly a challenge.

One of the highlights was visiting Mt Washington and the spectacular views it afforded. Now let me clarify that last statement, because once you arrive to the peak of the mountain a huge percentage of the time it is fogged in with little or no visibility. However, the journey up and down the mountain had breathtaking views.

Here are a couple of sunrise images of Chocorua Lake. The opening image is using my Singh-Ray 10 stop Mor-Slow ND filter to push the exposure time allowing me to flatten out the lake and blur the movement in the clouds. The second image is just before the sun peaked the horizon using my Singh-Ray LB Color Combo Polarizer.

Metadata:

• Nikon D810
• Tamron Lens –24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC (Top Image – 52mm, Bottom Image – 35mm)
• Gitzo GT3542xls tripod
• Lexar CF Card
• Nik Software
• Exposure – (Image 1) – two minutes, (Image 2) – two seconds
• Aperture – f/16
• ISO – 64
• Manual Mode

Best of Light,

Ed

Aspens

Greetings,

I had the honor of doing a “Why” segment with my friend Skip Cohen this morning that will air later today and it prompted me to sit down and write this blog post.

Last year I spent some time in southern Colorado near Aspen and Crested Butte photographing and scouting for some workshop locations. Needless to say I came away with some amazing images and outstanding locations which I’m extremely excited to revisit this year with our workshop group.

I wanted to share this image of a group of aspen trees near Crested Butte. That area has some of the most pristine aspen trees in the country.

Metadata:

• Nikon D810
• Tamron Lens –70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC @140mm
• Gitzo GT3542xls tripod
• Lexar CF Card
• Nik Software
• OP/TECH USA Custom Classic Strap
• Exposure – 1/750 seconds
• Aperture – f/2.8
• ISO – 64
• Manual Mode

Best of Light,

Ed

Sunset at Lake Jean

Greetings,

Here’s an image that almost slipped through the cracks. It’s one that I made the day before Zach’s workshop at Ricketts Glen this past May. During the day we had great clouds so we had hoped that they would hang around for sunset and as luck would have it they did. Standing along the banks of Lake Jean it was an exceptionally buggy evening and impossible to capture an image without bugs throughout the image.

This is a single image and I am truly impressed with the dynamic range of the Nikon D810.

Metadata:

• Nikon D810
• Tamron Lens –24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC @30mm
• Gitzo GT3542xls tripod
• Lexar CF Card
• Topaz Labs
• Exposure – 1/10 seconds
• Aperture – f/16
• ISO – 64
• Manual Mode

Best of Light,

Ed

“Life is Good”

Good Sunday morning,
What a busy day we had yesterday. We started out by visiting the Gordonsville Mud Sale where we ran into a couple of good friends Jerry Esh, Harry Goodman and Stephen Blank! The Mud Sales always provide a great photo opportunity and hopefully I came home with a few keepers.

After spending the morning at the sale, Kelly, Zach and I hurried home for a quick lunch and then headed to Brooklyn Bridge Park in NYC for the afternoon.

Being a workshop instructor/lecturer allows to meet a lot of people from all different areas. Well, Brooklyn was no different, we bumped into Alan Weiner, Michael Downey and Stefanie Michenfelder, what a nice treat seeing a few friends in the big city.

We shot all afternoon and well into the evening at the Brooklyn Bridge Park. I had the opportunity to shoot the pier pilings with the city skyline in the background which I’ve wanted to do for quite some time now.

Life is Good!

I used a two stop Singh-Ray “Galen Rowell” Split ND filter to hold back the skyline.

Metadata:
• Nikon D810
• Tamron Lens –24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC @30mm
• Gitzo GT3542xls tripod
• Lexar CF Card
• Topaz Labs
• Exposure – 30 seconds
• Aperture – f/16
• ISO – 64
• Manual Mode

Best of Light,
Ed

“A View from the Orchard”

Good morning,

I wanted to start off and wish everyone a happy Valentine’s Day weekend.

On Tuesday we had a nice surprise snowstorm blow through the region. I’m sure not many people are as excited about snow as I am but as a photographer it does certainly help clean up and enhance the winters’ stark backdrop. Kelly, Zach and I ran around Lancaster County to capture some of the local flair.

There was something about this scene that screamed my name. I added a texture overlay to give the scene a more artistic feel.

Metadata:

• Nikon D810
• Tamron lens – SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC
• Gitzo GT3542xls tripod
• Singh Ray Filters
• Lexar CF Card
• Topaz Labs
• Exposure – 1/20 seconds
• Aperture – f/167
• ISO – 64
• Manual Mode

Best of Light,

Ed

Year’s End

Good morning and Happy New Year,

As 2015 comes to a close I’d like to take a moment and reflect on this past year. It’s been a good year, although it hasn’t been without troubles and trials, I am thankful for what I have been given! I have met some amazing people and have made some new friends. I have been very blessed and I’m looking forward to new adventures and journeys in the coming year.

Yesterday morning Zach and I traveled over to the Susquehanna River for sunrise. Well needless to say sunrise was a bust but the trip certainly wasn’t a failure. We ended up capturing this great old barn nestled on the hillside.

Metadata:

• Nikon D810
• Tamron lens –SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC @ 80mm
• Gitzo GT3542xls tripod
• Singh Ray Filters
• Lexar CF Card
• Topaz Labs
• Exposure – 0.7 seconds
• Aperture – f/16
• ISO – 64
• Manual Mode

Best of Light,

Ed

Kebler Pass Pano

 

Good morning,

 

It’s funny how life seems to keep you busy. I’m still working my way through my Colorado images looking for as I like to call them “the keepers”.  Here’s a 10 images panoramic from Kebler Pass. I’m happy with the results and I love the dramatic light and clouds 🙂  I stitched this with Autopano Giga which is by far the Mercedes of image stitching.

Metadata:

• Nikon D810
• Tamron lens –SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC
• Gitzo GT3542xls tripod
• Lexar CF Card
• Topaz Labs
• Exposure – 1/20 seconds
• Aperture – f/16
• ISO – 100
• Manual Mode

Best of Light,

Ed