New Filter Ordered
First thing - I finally placed my order for a graduated neutral density filter. It will be my first for the Cokin P-Series mount. I had originally intended to get a Tiffen but instead I've gone with a Singh-Ray. Here's a link to the one I've ordered from B&H:
Singh-Ray 84 x 120mm Galen Rowell 0.6 Soft-Edge Graduated Neutral Density Filter
It's the 2-stop version, as is/was the Tiffen. That seems to be the best range for a lot of shots and a lot of folks recommend this strength for your first filter if you're only getting a single filter.
This is a elongated filter which allows it to be positioned in more places than the "square" filters. If you only need a bit of the top shot through the filter you can do it with this one without having the bottom of the filter in the shot.
And, looking at the right filter in the image from Singh-Ray's website, this filter is closer to a "hard edge" than the Tiffen which basically has the graduation across the full width of the filter. I think this one will be better for cutting in on horizons. But, I'll find out!
Withdrawals
It's been more than a couple of weeks now since my last photography outing and I'm getting antsy. I'm hoping that I can do something soon! Unfortunately I've got a dog that just can't travel and probably won't last much longer and I hate to be away from him. He's been such a loving friend to me for 14 years now and I can't turn my back on him.
That gave me an impetus to try to shoot a picture of him but I'm just not very good at shooting pets. They just don't cooperate as much as landscapes! Same with the picture of myself. If I used to be photogenic at all I don't see it any longer.
I doctored this some, trying to ease my complexion problems so I'm not so scary. I changed the background to blue because my light blue shirt didn't stand out against the original white wall background very well. At least my boy Alvin looks good! This was shortly after his surgery to remove a malignant tumor from his gum, and just after discovering another tumor on his throat which we just can't do anything more about. He's got an enlarged heart and can't withstand a more rigorous surgery, plus with the type of cancer he's got, it's likely growing in his lungs or stomach as well.
Such a good pup, and has brought us a lot of joy over the years.
More Amazon Spending
After talking to my photography mentor Jon for a week or so, and reading a lot online, I've started down the road of adding graduated neutral density (GND or "grads") filters to my kit. I just think that they would have helped out a lot with my Chiricahua pictures, especially the shots in the canyon on the sunny days.
I've worked on some of those pictures, and I'm just not happy with them. First, I tried to shoot them with the intent of doing HDR processing in Photoshop CC or Photomatix. That took some time to shoot because my Nikon D3200 does NOT have exposure bracketing. I adjusted for the "correct" exposure, took that shot, and then worked 2 stop brackets in both directions monitoring the histogram to try to get the full range of the exposure.
The HDR results were less than stellar, and in fact, so disappointing that I gave up after a couple of them. First, it was windy which causes "ghosting" between the different shots. That's where, for example, a tree could be in one position in one of the exposures but bent over more one way or the other in a different exposure. The more exposures you add to the HDR processing the worse it gets.
The HDR software has "anti-ghosting" processing available but I think it ends up making the whole image soft at best.
And that's another thing I noticed. I just don't like the end image from the HDR process in either Photoshop or Photomatix - at least not when trying to create a "natural" looking image. I do like the "un-natural" images that can result, but they're certainly not representative of what the actual view was!
The picture above is an HDR with 2 exposures and doesn't look too bad at this size but the original has some bad artifacts around the border of the top of the left hoodoo where the sky is in the background. The originals don't have that bad border. And, the sky doesn't look right, and I still have blown out clouds. Frown.
Note: you can (hopefully) see a bigger version of the pic at my new gallery:
http://www.randymorter.com/photography/imaginery/Landscape/Chiricahua%20National%20Monument/index.html
I'm still working with the new gallery software so it's a work in progress so please be forgiving!
I really want to avoid post processing as much as possible and try to get the shot in the camera. Hence the desire to at least try a graduated ND filter. Thank you again, Amazon!
My choice
I read a lot, and as always, the interweb info can leave you bewildered if you let it. You just have to filter through it all and make the best decision you can and hope you're not buying stuff you'll regret or replace quickly, thereby loosing more money on the hobby.
I decided to go with the popular Cokin P-series mount. Here's a page with some good info: http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/filter/Cokin-Systems.html.
I read about concerns that it's not wide enough but mentor Jon assured me he's used them for years including on a 77mm lens and has not had any vignetting or other cast, etc., on the images due to the holder. The other options are the larger filters such as the Cokin Z-Pro series.
Doin' the 2 Stop
Jon uses Singh-Ray filters, but I think I'll try a Tiffen at first. I have some other Tiffens which I like; they haven't crossed my acceptability threshold yet. And, I just found out while investigating this filter that Tiffens are made in the United States. I'll buy local if I can!
I haven't ordered the actual filter yet - I'd told the wifey that I was done spending $$$ on the camera. Well, I had warned her that this would be the last thing I'd likely get for a while. My plan is that now that I've accumulated some gear to see if the bug keeps with me for a year or so and if it does, THEN I'll get my Nikon 610 or whatever's available then.
I plan to get the Tiffen p-seried .6 (or 2-stop) filter, with a soft edge. I'm setting up right now only for my smaller (and wider) lens (52mm). The hard edge is more suitable for a longer lens. I also like the Tiffen because it's glass. Even the Singh-Ray filters are plastic (resin).
There are a number of other brands I found mentioned such as HiTech and Cokin and Lee. I read a lot of good and bad about the HiTech and other cheaper brands. I didn't read anything bad about Tiffen, Lee, or Singh-Ray. But, my wallet can more easily afford the Tiffen (which still isn't cheap - the total system of holder, adapter, p-series lens cover (which may or may not really be necessary), and filter will cost about $170 or so).
I'll send off for the filter itself in a week or s
o. Then I'll have to go out on another photo trip!
I took another trip to the Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona this last weekend and camped two nights there with my travelin' dog Elmer. I really like that place. I just wish it was closer to home (nice Grand Funk Railroad reference, eh?). But then it likely wouldn't be as nice - I'm sure there'd be trash all over, traffic congestion, less friendly staff running the place.
On the other hand, I don't feel like I got a lot of significantly better pictures than I did a couple of weeks ago. This was for a few reasons, all of which remind me that I'm a newbie at photography.
Amazing Rocks
First, the park has some amazing rock formations, or at least I think that they're something else. I developed a cursory fondness for geology in college where I took a number of engineering geology classes, and I retain some interest in the science behind geology as well as how the reverse engineering of the formations is performed.
The park offers a number of view points and road turn offs where you can see some of the formations. Those are the areas that I target and shoot pictures from. Consequently, the pictures are, in my opinion now, somewhat pedestrian. What I should be doing is hiking the many miles of trails and getting up close and personal with the geology. If I wasn't so, uh, physically unfit, I'd love to do that. I think I'm going to have to start easing into hiking and being more active so that I can get more involved in the scenery. Now that I have a reason to do so I'm hoping I'll actually follow through with it.
By the way, one of the reasons I chose to try photography was so that I did have a reason to get off my seat, get out doors, and do something besides sit at a computer on the weekends (I work as a software developer during the week so most of my waking hours the last decade or more have been spent in front of a computer). Getting more fit so that I can actually hike a bit will be in line with my original goals.
I did take Elmer up the hillside behind our campsite. I even got slightly lost - I knew the direction to go (down hill) to get either back to the campground or at least the one road that would take you back to the campground so it wasn't too disconcerting - but I did not know exactly where I'd come up the hill from. There were enough trees and such that you had to make twists and turns. My footprints weren't visible. It was cool! We were able to see some scenes that didn't have asphalt in them!
I purchased a small book about the Chiricahuas which had some pictures in it - few of which were taken from the viewpoints. The photographer for that book actually walked more than 100 yards from his car! Thanks for prompting me, dude!
Correct Exposure
The last time I went to the Chiricahuas I had a problem with exposure settings. The rocks in the canyon extend from the dark canyon floor to above the canyon where they were in bright sunlight. I could either use a ND filter to darken the whole image or shoot for darks or brights. Unfortunately I didn't notice that I was having problems until I had returned home. (This is a good reason to have the blinkies enabled!). After blowing up the pictures and seeing the blown out highlights or blacks, I was really disappointed and didn't even want to post the pictures (I did post some on Facebook but I considered them more like poor snapshots).
This trip I had the grand idea to shoot as much as possible with the intent that I'd do HDR processing on the pics in either Photomatix or Photoshop. I usually took at least 3 pictures with different exposures, sometimes even more, like 5 or even 7. I looked at the histogram and made sure I had pics ranging so that there was a gap at the dark end and white end, adjusting the shutter speed as required to get all of the shots.
I was aware of the need to avoid movement in the individual pictures as much as possible. My Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod and 468MG ball head worked great at keeping the camera solid even though there were some decent wind gusts. I shot in between the wind gusts as much as possible.
When I tried processing the pictures, however, there were trees that were in different positions due to the wind in the different pictures. I could see it when navigating between related pictures in Nikon ViewNX.
Both Photomatix and Photoshop have provisions for eliminating ghosts, which, in theory, would get rid of moving trees. But the software ends up guessing at what should remain and what should go. The results were less than pleasing in most cases. I think the resulting HDR images also end up being soft when ghost removal is applied.
I spent a lot of time trying to get different exposures of the same subject in order to have the HDR capabilites available. But between the significantly extra amount of work involved in both shooting and processing, and the lack luster results, I am again disappointed in my results. I think I'll be able to get some useful images, mainly the "optimum" exposure setting images or first level of under-exposure, but my HDR goals seem to have fallen on the error side of trial and error.
Focus Randy, Focus
My final issue seems to be, once again, my focusing. I recently read an article somewhere else where the author of the article said he had to use auto focus in the early morning because his eyes weren't working as well when he first got going. I think I may have that issue too. My early morning shots that I rushed to get are just not as sharp as my shots from later in the day. I don't know if it's due to lower light levels or just old age (or even medium-old age).
I actually tried doing more auto focus, but since I was also trying to shoot for HDR, and couldn't have the focus change between shots, I didn't do a lot of it. This is another thing to be aware of. In the past I have resorted to the LCD zooming focusing trick, but I haven't seemed to need to do that lately. Looks like, in the early morning anyway, I may need to double check my focusing that way at least some of the time.
The easy and hard parts
As a result of this latest trip, I realize a couple of additional things. I think I have all the equipment I need to take pictures. Just like my guitars and recording set up, my gear is NOT the limiting factor - I am. It's easy, although not always inexpensive, to get the gear.
The hard part is achieving great results. That isn't something you can buy. You actually have to have knowledge and practice your craft. After 6 months, I think I've finished with the easy part and am now moving on to the difficult part.
The pictures on this page are from this last trip. The first and third are from stops along the road through Bonita Canyon, the sunrise is from near Massai point.
