Afternoon Manna

After two hours of hiking around the dunes and over 85 different compositions, this is my favorite image from Ibex Dunes in Death Valley National Park. Here's what amazes me about this photograph, it's the first shot I took of Ibex Dunes. Due to the dunes' remote location, I was fortunate to discover the dunes unmarred by other visitors' footprints. And yes, I visit other national parks during my vacations. There will be more Death Valley posts to come. To learn how to create images like this, consider taking one of my nature photography workshops in Acadia National Park. 

EXIF data: Nikon D800, 420mm (300mm + 1.4 Teleconverter), f/14, 1/160 sec, ISO 200, 12/18/14, 2:27 PM

Ibex Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California

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Gentle Falls

Imagine my surprise when I was greeted by these very gentle falls. After raining for a number of days, I expected dramatic waterfalls. I starting with some wide shots favoring my 16-35mm lens, and then I moved in closer to the falls and honed into this composition. I snapped a few more shots in close to the falls having to clean the lens of stray water droplets in between shots. At this point, I thought I was all set with a composition and exposure until I looked closely at the LCD. I zoomed in at 100% and checked the edges - soft and blurry, I'd reached the limit of this lens. Fortunately, I packed my 24-70mm lens for the trip. Time to swap lenses, recompose, and reshoot the scene (continuing to wipe away water droplets). Did I mention this was late afternoon and the sun was setting causing a change in light conditions? Though I had to shoot it twice, I'm very pleased with the outcome. To learn how to create images like this, consider taking one of my nature photography workshops in Acadia National Park.

This image was processed in Nik: Silver Efex Pro 2 using the 'Wet Rocks' filter.

EXIF data: Nikon D800, 24-70mm @ 28mm, f/10, 3 secs, ISO 100, 12/26/14, 3:41 PM (sunset was 3:58)

 

Gentle Waterfalls, Acadia National Park, Maine

 

Sunset Encore

Very few wait for the 'sunset encore' (admittedly I just made this up ;-). It's the 15 minutes or so after the sun sets and the sky turns fire red. I was at the summit of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia yesterday and just after the sun set 85% of the folks got up and left, just as my shooting went into high gear. I spotted this little puffy cloud against the big luminance clouds. The second shot was just before sunset, offering that soft golden light, as I noticed the rim lighting on these two. I played with desaturation to emphasize the colorful rim light. To learn how to create images like this, consider taking one of my nature photography workshops in Acadia National Park.

EXIF data: Nikon D800, 300mm, f/14, 1/6 sec, ISO 100, 10/25/14, 5:44 PM (12 minutes after sunset)

 

Sunset Encore, Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park, Maine

 

EXIF data: Nikon D800, 300mm, f/6.3, 1/500 sec, ISO 800, 10/25/14, 5:22 PM (10 minutes before sunset)

Golden Rim Light, Blue Hill Overlook, Acadia National Park, Maine

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Aurora At Night Sky Festival

Wow, last weekend's Acadia Night Sky Festival in Bar Harbor, ME featured an aurora! I couldn't believe I was the only person at Jordan Pond to witness the event. I think everyone else was sleeping at 2:00 in the morning. Friday evening the aurora forecast was 'quiet', but I checked just before going to bed and the aurora was increasing and expected to peak around 1:30 AM. I grabbed my gear and headed to Jordan Pond in Acadia National Park, my favorite location to shoot the aurora given it faces north and it's 1.5 miles from my house. As I drove into the parking lot - no cars and I'm thinking to myself how can this be? There are thousands of people participating in the Night Sky Festival, maybe they're down at the pond. Nope, no one at Jordan Pond. I set up my camera and hung out for an hour, all alone, shooting the aurora. I was texting my wife, Brenda, while she was at work. To learn how to create images like this, consider taking my night sky photography workshop on Mount Desert Island.

EXIF data: Nikon D800, 24-70mm @ 24mm, f/22, 30 secs, ISO 3200, 9/27/14, 2:04 AM

Aurora At Jordan Pond, Acadia National Park, Maine

 

Aurora Text Message From Brenda

 

Golden Sunburst Sunset

While on our Sunset Cruise Safari, I demonstrate how to photograph the sunset with a sunburst effect. There are three steps to achieve this effect: (1) set your aperture at f/18 or higher, (2) shoot into the sun, (3) best results are when the sun is partial eclipsed - in this case, by the Western mountains of Acadia National Park. Sunsets from the water are magnificent, this night's was a deep golden yellow. To learn how to create images like this, consider taking my sunset cruise photography workshop off Mount Desert Island. 

EXIF data: Nikon D800, 24-70mm @ 70mm, f/22, 1/250 sec, ISO 400, 6/3/14, 7:58 PM

Golden Sunburst Sunset, Acadia National Park, Maine