. Unpacking the slim packing box reveals the slider and a few accessories. There is a locking knob that you can screw into the carriage to lock it in place and a few other miscellaneous parts. Set up is simple, straight forward, and ridiculously easy. We had our Canon 5D Mk II shooting video on the Glidetrack SD in minutes. All you have to do is screw on your favorite ball head or pan/tilt head to the carriage and you are ready to do some pro video dolly shots. The Glidetrack has sturdy custom-made scratch-free feet for placing the set up on the ground for low-angle perspective shooting. There are also multiple tapped screw holes on the rail to allow the use of tripods, monopods, quick release plates, or any other options you can think of for 3/8″ and 1/4″ threaded mounts.

. We tried a central tripod mounted on a ballhead and found that slides worked great as long as you didn’t get to close to the edges because some flex will start to be introduced in the shot. We also tried a double tripod mount for extra sturdiness and found that to be the optimal set up for steady slides across the entire length of the rail. However, the two tripods were made by different manufacturers making it difficult to get both tripods at the same height. Another difficulty is simply attaching the tripods to the rail as you have to literally screw the tripod itself (without ball head) into the rail on both ends. We decided the best route for quick and easy set up would be a central mounted quick release plate for easy attachment to a ball head on a tripod. Then, with flanking quick release plates on both ends, attach two monopods for the ultimate quick and sturdy setup! Mounting the Glidetrack on a ball head allows you to angle the rail for crane type moves. This is how the shot was setup at the end of the above video. I had the Glidetrack almost vertical for a vertical reveal shot which proved challenging to setup without an extra set of hands.

. That brings me to my next important point – it is nice to have and extra set of hands! Multiple tripods or monopods and other gear can really bog you down when moving to multiple locations. Unless you want every shot from the ground, you will need all that gear to go with you when you want to get those dolly-type shots on location.

. Despite the difficulty we had setting up the Glidetrack on two different tripods we came out with some cool shots for our first video short, ‘Dolly Days…’. In the future we will be getting two monopods making setup much faster and easier. We plan on using the Glidetrack on our next Photomission to Arches National Park. We will combine some time lapse footage from that trip with video from the Glidetrack to hopefully create a really cool nature video. We highly recommend the Glidetrack SD 1 Meter version to other videographers out there due to it’s light weight, relative affordability, and ability to take dolly shots anywhere!

. Camping .

. We camped at the Flamingo Campground about 37 miles into the park just southwest of Homestead, FL. This is about as south in mainland Florida and the continental United States that you can go! The campsites were typical car camping with a grills and picnic tables. One lucky site had a fire pit but too bad there is no firewood to be had in south Florida! Shortly after Christmas people don’t necessarily think of vacationing in the Everglades so the campsites were mostly empty. This gave us the chance to have some peace and quiet at the campground and roam around freely at night for star photos. The few nights we were there it was quite chilly and it actually got down to 33º F one night! Fortunately, the community bathhouses had huge solar arrays powering infinite hot water showers!!! Thanks to the cold however there were few mosquitoes so we were spared (mostly) from their bites. The best part about the campsites to me was their proximity to the ocean. We miss the ocean out west here in landlocked Colorado so it was a treat for me to get some sunrise landscape photos on the beach. Other features of the campsite included: a murder of crows, a committee of vultures, the occasional red shouldered hawk flyby, a few barred owls, and if you are lucky – a fire pit!

. The sunrises were great to watch and one morning while shooting I was lucky enough to be able to take a hdr with an egret standing still on the beach. It was a magical moment I shared with my father and another amateur photographer during morning magic hour. The only sunset I did see at the campground was packed with people as the last photos shows. Nearby Eco Pond, like the beach, was walking distance from the campground. As cold as it was the area was still teeming with life. We got some amazing photos of a Roseate Spoonbill at Eco Pond because he walked right up to us! My dad got some great shots of a red shouldered hawk that occasionally flew through the campground. The hawk landed on some trees at the edge of the camp and my dad walked right up to the little guy who then proceeded to pose for the camera. I can see how in the hot summer months with bugs or at times with many tourists this area might not be that great to camp. Otherwise when the bugs are too cold and no one else is camping I recommend staying at the Flamingo Campground in Everglades National Park. There is much wildlife to be had and plenty of open space to be explored. The photography opportunities are great and there is much knowledge to be gained about the area.

. Hiking .

. We hiked a few trails that I unfortunately was not prepared to shoot for. I went on almost every hike with the idea that I would be shooting wildlife. Therefore I had the long lens on the camera with a monopod while carrying it over my shoulder. This became bulky and heavy which hindered my mobility and decreased my endurance. I wanted to be ready at any moment for some bird or something jumping around that I sacrificed my ability to shoot other things. What I was missing was photos of the hike themselves. At many times the landscape would change quickly to be like a jungle with many wide angle photo opportunities. The West Lake and Mahogany Hammock hikes were like this – no wildlife but good jungle/landscapes. Next time I will think with more of a photomission mentality to document the cool parts of the hikes as well as what you can find there. Fortunately I have plenty wildlife to show from it and much of our shooting actually took place not too far from our car anyway! Hopefully one day I can have multiple cameras, super sweet lenses, and a carbon fiber monopod to allow me to maximize my photo taking possibilities.

. Mrazek Pond .

. This pond is just off Main Park Road heading north only 4.5 miles from Flamingo Campground. On the way we would stop by each of the road markers looking for alligators that came up to sun themselves. We saw two gators and a green egret this way. We suddenly became targets of other tourists wanting to see what we were looking at. At one point a young boy almost walked right next to an alligator and I had to tell him to watch out! Upon arriving at Mrazek Pond we were able to just hop out of the car and immediately start shooting amazing shots of all the birds. American Coots, Snowy Egrets, fighting Anihigas (there were two fighting the whole time we were there), Belted Kingfishers, White Pelicans, and many more species of birds could be seen immediately on arrival. Having a long lens on a monopod made it easy to move around catching the action as it would happen. Once you found a good spot it was only a matter of watching something specific and waiting for it to do it’s thing. The Coots would flap their wings and run across the water – it is a funny sight and really tough to shoot! The snowy egret would flap across the water slightly with its legs extended almost walking on the water a bit too. I waited and watched one of the egrets and was lucky to capture it flying in this way. This pond quickly became another magnet for tourists driving by wanting to get in on the action. Between my brother, father, and I there was at least two other people there the whole time. Most people could only crowd around the one little opening big enough for 3 people. I was able to find a hole in the brush where I could shoot. I saw a Canon guy with the 100-400mm IS lens and a Better Beamer on his flashgun. He lay on the ground by the shore to get a low angle on the water. I should of thought of that at some point instead of not wanting to get my clothes too dirty. I did come away with some awesome shots of the egret and my dad some decent ones of the kingfisher. The kingfisher is tough to shoot because it is so small and erratic. My brother video taped the Coots being funny running around on the water. Mrazek Pond was a great little place to stop and when its not crowded with people can be a great place to move around to get some great wildlife-in-action photos. As always it is good to have a nice spot and lots of patience.

. Christian Point Trail .

. This was a long hike through mud, hot sun, and mosquitoes. At 1.8 miles one way it is not for the majority of everglades visitors. The first stint is a nice cool trot through the jungle where you encounter your first mosquitoes. It is so green and lush with vines hanging everywhere that you feel almost instantly transported. After a while it opens up for the first time with a few dead trees to note of. Then quickly back into a warmer less lush jungle with more mosquitoes and you have to run to get away from them. Then it finally opens up for a second time with many more dead trees and the barren landscape starts to look cool. There is a little bit of cracking mud adding nice texture to the ground. Unfortunately the conditions got worse because the mud ended up being muddy and made slow going. The mud didn’t quite stick to your shoes though so that was nice. The muddy parts of the path had thick black mangroves trees throughout with their weird roots shooting up out of the ground which made for some neat photos. At the end of the hike you end up at Christian Point. It opens up to the Snake Bight, one of the many named bays in the greater Florida Bay. It is a super saturated muddy sand that is impossible to walk through and impossible to boat through. There I found many species of bird flying around (egret, ibis, peregrine falcon). On the way back my brother found a very large spider with thousands of baby spiders on her abdomen crossing the trail. It was nice enough to allow us to take numerous photos for an extended period of time with different lens configurations. Overall the trail was a good experience for me even with the mud and carrying the lens on the monopod. On the way back I packed up the long lens and put on the wide angle. If you stick out the hike you will be rewarded with the birds in the Snake Bight. Along the way are good chances to photograph the dead trees amongst the cracked mud. My brother and father might not agree with me and probably most everyone else due to the boringness and lack of wildlife (until the end). We did find some interesting things about it that others might overlook but we still hiked it double time on the way through the mosquito parts.

. Anhinga Trail .

. This trail by far was an exploding cornucopia of wildlife. I must add that it was a very exciting place full of people bustling about with their cameras talking loudly with plenty of ooooos and aaaaaaahhs. Somehow the wild animals including alligators were just ‘chillin’ feet away from the trail. The boardwalk crosses over the water with gators swimming around you and people crowding to get a good picture. I was four feet away from a great blue heron with 630mm equivalent worth of lens getting an extreme close up of his face. I have tried so hard to sneak up on great blue herons in Colorado and they always get mad, start squawking, and fly away. Anhingas and Cormorants were all over the place spreading their wings acting like jackasses just next to the paved trail full of people putting on a show for us. Some of them were collected in a tree building nests and being very animated. Great Blue, Little Blue, Green and Great Herons were all seen on this short hike. Of course the occasional American Coot and Alligator showed up as well. I think the best lens to have for this trail would be a 120-300mm f/2.8 Sigma (I can dream) on a carbon fiber monopod and 1.4x teleconverter (f/2.8 becomes f/4). What I had was a fixed lens with no zoom at 300mm f/4 with a 1.4x teleconverter (f/4 becomes f/5.6). The ability to zoom out would help composition because most of the time I was just too close. Also, a flash on the hotshoe with Better Beamer magnifier attachment is a good idea as well to get the much needed fill light sometimes in the day. When spot metering I found my shutter speed becoming a little to slow and a flash could have added a catch-light plus the fill light I needed in darker situations. I could have bumped my ISO higher to make sure my shutter speed was faster while in aperture priority mode. Conversely I could have changed to shutter priority mode to guarrantee the fast shutter speed required to capture animals in action. I prefer aperture priority and shoot wide open so the subject is isolated with a blurry background thanks to large apertures.

. Boat Trip To Coot Bay .

. There is a group boat trip you can take up the Buttonwood Canal to the Coot Bay. At the marina in Flamingo you can see a herd of Mantee playing around in the water. Sea Gulls fly around your head and attack you while pelicans dive bomb in the waters feet off the dock. It is home to a couple of American Crocodiles and you can buy beer at the Marina store! Coot Bay is also accessible by canoe/kayak at Coot Bay Pond Just off the Highway. You could also rent canoes and kayaks at the marina to get around the back country of the everglades but paddling to Coot Bay would take forever! The guided group trip provides a captain to identify plants in the the park as well as give a history about the area. The no wake zones gave a chance for the wind to die down and make it easier to move about the vessel. The captain and first mate would point out animals and plants to look at as we passed them by. The ‘walking’ action of the red mangroves was really cool to see coming down from the high mangrove tree branches. Guess what’s in Coot Bay? Lots of Coots running around on the water looking silly. Most would fly/run on the water to get out of the way of the boat. The lazy ones just dive under water to get below the boat instead of flying. It was nice to cruise around in style and get some fun photos but it was really only a short taste of the wilderness that is the Everglades.

. Night Photos .

. The milky way could be seen in long exposures with the fisheye lens. It would be nice to have a better shot planned but I did the best I could no more than 50 feet from my campsite. The glow from homestead could be seen to the northeast. With a low moon and a clear night in the back country you could probably have some nice star shots with the mangroves or some other landscape. I could have walked to the beach but we were kind of far from the water and I didn’t feel like it (plus it was cold and a little windy at night). I shot the fisheye for 30 seconds and f/3.5 and ISO1600. I would like to shoot at ISO3200 but I don’t like the noise on the D300. I did use it for some shots and I used some in-camera noise reduction settings. There are two settings for noise reduction. One for high ISOs and one for long exposures. Enabling both caused a wait time of just a bit longer than the original exposure which becomes more than 60 seconds total for the whole process.

. Sunrise and Sunsets .

. On this trip I made it out for two sunrises and one sunset. It was cold and a little breezy at sunrise. I suggest wearing gloves at the end of December in Florida if you are going to be taking photos at sunrise. It was chilly and my hands were frozen by the end of it. No one else was up taking photos at the sunrise so it opened up the beach for some decent landscape photos with rocks in the water. The second morning a crow was nearby trying to steal something off one of the canoes nearby. He was crowing loudly and defending his catch eerily adding to the early morning ambiance. As I mentioned in the Camping section I was able to take a few HDRs of an egret at sunrise. I’ve provided only a single image in the gallery saving the hdrs for other future online galleries and possible print. My only sunset was also on the beach by camp. By contrast from sunrise it was busy and crowded with people making it tough to get unobstructed landscape photos. At times on this trip I found myself anticipating the type of photos I could take depending on lens configuration and conditions. In this case I used the busy people and wide angle lenses to capture some nice silhouettes against the rich colors of the sunset sky. I swapped for the fisheye at one point during sunset to take more of the whole scene in. I found I needed to change my exposure to acquire the same silhouettes as with my 18-50mm. I had to use an exposure compensation of at least -2.0 due to the extreme wide angle lens gathering so much more light. When the fisheye was level and a crop performed on the image it is really hard to tell a fisheye lens was used when compared the 18-50mm. Sometimes a fisheye does a scene justice by being able to take it all in. I knew there would be people so I used them in my composition. At one point people noticed me and started to get out of the way but I told them I wanted them in the shot and they went back to what they were doing for a bit. Overall, I was happy with the sunset even with the lack of clouds and lots of crowds on the beach.

This was a great trip and even though it was short being only two days I was still able to pack as much photo taking in as possible. Sunrises, sunset, and stars meant I was not getting too much sleep which is worth it to me when I’m on a trip to take photos. Hopefully in the future there will be more photomission blogs. I know we will be going to Arches National Park for our yearly trip and we have other places planned as well. In the meanwhile stay tuned for the next blog which will be an equipment review and test of Pocket Wizard Plus IIs! Thanks for reading.

In this Photomission we hiked on a cloudy day in hopes to capture a nice HDR around sunset. Our last two blogs, HDR Creation and Intro to HDRs, covered the basics so now we are putting our knowledge to good use! This Photomission is in Boulder, Colorado again. As the summer draws closer we will start venturing outside of the ‘Boulder Bubble’ to the many breathtaking locations in Colorado. We have a 14,000ft mountain and a glacier planned so look forward to those Photomissions!

Traveling to the Location

Today we went to the Foothills Trailhead North which is part of the City of Boulder Open Space & Mountain Parks (OSMP) system. The first map is of the Foothills Trailhead North and South provided by the City of Boulder OSMP website located here. We also provided some Google Earth maps to help define the location better geographically.

Foothills Trailhead, North Boulder, Colorado.

The drive is really simple and you could even ride your bike to the trailhead if you live in town. It is just North on 28th St./Hwy 36 or Broadway. The dirt service road starts right after Broadway and Hwy 36 converge. We actually missed the first entrance to the road in our car but luckily there is another one just a little bit further North as you can see on the maps.

Views from Google Earth
Trail Top View	Trail: Angle View

Like the last Photomission it is always important to plan your hike beforehand and pack accordingly. Don’t forget that precious H2O water! We had our photo backpacks with our tripods lenses etc. If you have a super hike and aren’t hardcore enough to carry 30+ lbs. of gear then take only what you need- as long as water is included! In future blogs we will review camera bags to help provide an idea what kind of packs are designed for certain situations.

Views of the hike

Unlike the first Photomission blog, we had enough time to take shots of the hike! These photos combined with the Google Earth maps should help provide a good idea of what the area is like. The first shot is from the parking area looking towards Hwy 36. Unfortunately it was muddy from the rain/snow we had a few days before. The tunnel going under the highway seemed like it was flooded with a few inches of water and mud as the second photo shows. In all actuality it was more like half an inch of water on concrete and not much mud at all! The third photo from the hike is about half way up the mountainside looking back down the path to the tunnel and Hwy 36. The area seemed to be one of the victims of the brush fire in Boulder County back in January. Nature makes its own fertilizer! The grass and other plants were making a comeback with a vengeance sprouting up green and tall atop their visible ashen remains from three months ago!

Views from the hike
Shot 1	Shot 2	Shot 3

Views from halfway up

These shots are located by stars on the Google Earth maps at the end of the red ‘path’ lines. The HDR shot is differentiated by the number ’1.’ next to its respective little yellow star. The other shot is showing the view South towards the Flat Irons. The HDR shot definitely required the use of a tripod that I luckily had strapped to my pack.

Views half way from the top
View from half way up	HDR from Star 1.

The HDR shot is actually a stitched panorama of six HDR shots. I bracketed five shots for each of the six HDRs. We will save describing and creating panoramas for later blogs. The bracketing and creating the HDR have been described in the HDR category of our blog. Thanks for reading!

Photoshop HDR Creation

In Photoshop CS3 creating an HDR is fairly straight forward. It is only about three steps after opening Photoshop that you will have your HDR!

• PS Step 1: go to File>Automate>Merge to HDR.
  

  PS Step 1

PS Step 2*: click Browse and locate your auto-bracketed shots (3, 5, 7, or 9).

PS Step 2

PS Step 3: mess with the ‘Set White Point Preview’ slider to get best looking preview.

PS Step 3

Photomatix HDR Creation

In Photomatix creating an HDR is also fairly straight forward. It is only about four steps after opening Photomatix that you will have your HDR!

• PM Step 1: click ‘Generate HDR Image’.
  

  PM Step 1

PM Step 2: click Browse and locate your auto-bracketed shots (3, 5, 7, or 9).

PM Step 2

PM Step 3: click ‘Align Source Images’ and ‘Attempt to Remove Ghosting’ if needed.

PM Step 3

About the Shots

The shots were taken on a whim after some coffee and thinking of taking a HDR from inside a cave. I was actually at the 29th St. Mall in Boulder, Co and I happened to have my camera on me before work. Walking between the bookstore and coffee shop I realized the steps that brought you to a man made cave. We call it a parking garage. The ‘cave’ provided a setting for when a high dynamic range image will be able to show what the human eye can’t see. It happened to be overcast that day so the final image isn’t as effective as it could be to illustrate the capabilities of an HDR image.

I positioned the camera on the ground with a magazine under it that I bought from the bookstore. This gave me a more interesting perspective than if I was standing up. I auto bracketed for 3 and 5 frames and also recomposed the image a bit. I had to wait for pedestrians a few times but that is to be expected in a man made cave. The final shots we show are composites of the final Photomatix image on the left and Photoshop image on the right with the 3 or 5 auto bracketed shots underneath.

1st Final HDR Composite

2nd Final HDR Composite

3rd Final HDR Composite

The History of HDRs

Technically, HDRs were developed by this guy Charles Wyckoff in the 1930s and 1940s. That is over 70 years ago! I say he ‘technically’ developed it because he brought it into the digital age with ‘computational photography’ what we call today as image processing. He also popularized it by having his HDR shot of a nuclear explosion (what our eyes can’t see) on the cover of LIFE magazine in the 1940s. In all reality the history of HDRs goes back to the infancy of photography in the 1850s by this other guy Gustave Le Gray. He was just trying to take pictures of the ocean with the sky! He shot one negative for the sky and another for the ocean to combine into a positive. Good thing we are in the digital age now! We can take a decent shot of the sky and the ocean on our cellphones. But thanks to yet another guy in 1997 named Paul Debevec, we use our computers to make HDRs out of auto bracketed shots.

Example HDR

We used the shots from the Auto Bracketing blog to make the example HDR image. Keep in mind that landscapes are not always the best candidate for HDRs due to general lack of extremes in light. Sometimes some ominous dark clouds on a sunny day may help! Today we are merely showing the effect of combining 3 differently exposed images of the same cloudy scene into a HDR. My warehouse example from the intro sounds like a good HDR Photomission to me! Stay tuned for that. Now on to the shots to show where the final HDR came from in case you didn’t read the last blog:

+0	Auto Bracketed Shots in Aperture Priority	-1	+1

Final HDR From Test Shots

Unfortunately this is just an intro to HDRs and we won’t get into how this one was actually created. Remember that we have been able to make HDRs on our computers since 1997 so there are quite a few ways to combine shots into a HDR. Adobe Photoshop and Photomatix are the most prominent examples of computer software programs that allow you to combine multiple shots into a HDR. We will post a later blog explaining the process of HDR creation. For now enjoy the dynamic range from our test shots!

3 Shots Combined Into HDR

Conclusion

Notice that the clouds and the foreground grass are exposed to show the details in each. It gets closer to how the scene actually looked with the human eye. HDRs can also show what the human eye can’t see, like the nuclear explosion example.

Imagine you are in a cave instead of a warehouse. The extremes in light from the cave opening to the depths are more extreme than the warehouse example. The cave entrance and its ‘dark corner’ would be impossible to see with the human eye simultaneously. The camera could potentially expose enough shots for the extremes in light to create a combined image and spawn another Photomission idea! Please stay tuned for more on HDR creation and our exciting Photomissions.

About Bracketing and Auto Bracketing

What is bracketing and auto bracketing? Bracketing is a technique used to take a series of images of the same scene at a variety of different exposures that “bracket” the metered exposure (or manual exposure). “Auto” simply means the camera takes the 2, 3, 5, or more exposures automatically with a +-0.3 to +-2.0 exposure compensation. In Auto bracketing mode the camera will automatically take a positive and negative exposure from the original ‘zero’ shot (0, -, + or -, 0, +). In manual mode you would have to set these exposures manually by changing aperture and shutter speeds or both.

Using Bracketing and Auto Bracketing

In order to shoot a series of bracketed shoots a tripod is a must, unless you can set the camera in a place where there will be no movement. Once you have the tripod in place shoot one shot with the camera exposure then one shot under exposed and one shot over exposed (0, -1, +1). In auto bracketing mode just set it to the exposure you want and the camera will do the rest. Most cameras will go (-.3,+.3) (-.5,+.5) (-1,+1) (-2,+2) increments and shoot 2, 3, 5, or more shots.

So why would we want to use bracketing? Well for starters bracketing is useful if you can’t capture the dynamic range of a picture with a single exposure. An example would be if you are trying to get a shot from the interior of room with a window, with bracketing you can get the room exposed in one shot and the outside exposed in another shot, and later you can put them together in Photoshop or Photomatix. By combining the multiple shots you would get a final shot with high dynamic range (HDR). Bracketing is great for making HDRs; in a later episode we will explain how to make HDRs from an exposure bracketed scene.

Today’s Experiments

In today’s experiment we will bracket in three different modes (only 3 exposures per bracket). We will shoot the first in manual mode by changing the aperture and shutter manually (we actually forgot about changing the shutter but you get the idea). The second will be shot in Auto bracketing with Shutter Priority mode. The third will also be shot in Auto bracketing with Aperture Priority mode. All the exposures in today’s experiment will be shot in 0, -1, and +1 auto bracketing increments.

Today’s Exposures

Manual
Manual Mode +0	Manual Mode -1	Manual Mode +1

Shutter Priority
Shutter Priority +0	Shutter Priority -1	Shutter Priority +1

Aperture Priority
Aperture Priority +0	Aperture Priority -1	Aperture Priority +1

Conclusions From Test Shots

From what we see in the test images there is not too much to talk about. We see an optimum exposure for each set but what does that mean? Ultimately auto bracketing will help you get the best exposure for a scene when you cant seem to get the sky and foreground simultaneously exposed correctly. This is also an opportunity to post process the bracketed images into a single HDR image to capture the best from each shot.

Other Forms of Bracketing

We mentioned HDRs as an application for exposure bracketing. What we didn’t mention was other forms of bracketing. In a later blog we will discuss Flash Bracketing and White Balance Bracketing and their uses. However, before we blog more about bracketing we will blog about creating High Dynamic Range images from auto bracketed shots. Stay tuned because a new Photomission is also in the works!

This episode is a followup to the last blog, Neutral Density Filters. In the previous article we touched on the fact that ND Filters will allow you to achieve long exposures in daylight. What is different from the last blog is that this one will be more experiential rather than technical; the ability to be at the right place at the right time is important in professional landscape photography. Today we will describe what made it possible to get a great shot at a specific location. This will be a common theme in our ‘Photomission’ series of blogs.

Traveling to the Location

Location Map. Baseline Reservoir. Boulder, CO

It is important to always plan your route beforehand and pack accordingly. In this case our only resources for getting to the site was Google Earth and Flickr. We assumed there was a perfect spot to park and be right next to the water. The map we altered shows the correct way to get there. Later investigations revealed that access to the service road required a ‘membership’ which is difficult to obtain but not unprocurable. The reservoir is on private property and actually doesn’t even supply water for Boulder. Baseline Res is the city of Lafayette’s water supply.

Without this knowledge in hand I was at risk for missing a decent shot at the lake. I left with about 45 minutes to sunset. I had not planned on hiking a mile to take the shots. Setting up the camera on the tripod then attaching the filters takes time. Not to mention the test shots to get the long exposures right with different filters! What this Photomission required was a Rambo mentality. It was the mission and that’s all there was.

Long Exposure 1

It would be nice to include photos from the hike/run because it really is a nice trail but that is a consequence of not having enough time! So for our first Photomission we only have shots showing the use of the filters.

When the trail opens up to a field it really becomes beautiful. You can’t actually see the water at that point because the embankment for the Reservoir is built up pretty high. This actually helps create the nice shot because it blocks out most signs of human activity (buildings) with the Flat Irons in the distance. In a future trip we will include more shots of the area or hopefully shots from the service road which is right at the top of the embankment behind a fence (one can dream). You can not go past the fence because the reservoir and the road around it is private property.

Filters Used On Location

Long Exposure 2

What is important in this blog is the fact that attaching filters and adjusting exposures is time consuming. For my setup I was using 58mm filters on a 52mm lens. This requires the use of a Step-Up Adapter Ring to use the larger filter on a smaller lens. The ring then creates a dark halo around the frame causing you to lose maybe 15% of your image or zoom range. Furthermore, stacking filters or using a 3.0 or greater will decrease your ability to auto-focus. The viewfinder can get so dark that manual focus will even be extremely difficult if not impossible. A tripod is your best friend in this scenario. Nuf’ said.

Final Shots
Long Exposure 3	Long Exposure 4 (Pano)

Experiment with Google Earth:

About Neutral Density Filters
What exactly is a neutral density filter? A neutral density filter or ND filter is a “grey” filter that reduces light of all wavelengths or colors equally. The purpose of standard photographic neutral density filters is to allow the photographer greater flexibility to change the aperture or exposure time, allowing for more control, particularly in extreme lighting circumstances. ND filters are quantified by their optical density or equivalently their f-Stop reduction as follows:

Using Neutral Density Filters
There are a number of ways to use filters to achieve certain effects. ND filters give you the flexibility to achieve long exposures during bright circumstances. For example, popular tourist attractions are usually filled with many people and it becomes difficult to get a great shot. Using a ND filter will allow you to use a relatively long shutter speed to hopefully make the moving people disappear! Of course a tripod or other way to completely stabilize the camera is necessary with such long exposures. A 3.0 ND filter (1,000x) will easily allow it possible to have a 30 second or longer exposure during the day. Other examples for great shots using ND filters include waterfalls, sunsets, fountains, Full Moons and many more! In another episode we will put the filters to use for a creek or busy pedestrian place.

Today’s Experiments
In today’s two experiments we shot in manual mode for a constant exposure. We set the camera to f/4.8 and 1/200sec for all four shots of the first experiment and f/4.8 and 1/400sec for the second experiment. ISO and exposure compensation were also kept constant. The shots are just before sunset when the light was beaming through the mountains. The first shot in each experiment had no filter attached with each consecutive shot using a filter with a higher optical density. We have three ND filters to test: 0.6, 0.9, and 1.8

The ND Filters Tested
0.6 ND Filter (4x)	0.9 ND Filter (8x)	1.8 ND Filter (64x)

Today’s First Experiment: Filter Swapping
In today’s first experiment we took four shots in manual mode swapping out a ND filter each time. The first shot has no filter and is extremely washed out. Notice that with each filter less light is being transmitted and the scene becomes more clear and finally too dark with the 1.8 filter. To get a better exposure with the 1.8 filter a longer shutter speed could be used which would have the effect of motion blur on the clouds.

The First Shoot
No Filter.	0.6 ND Filter (4x)	0.9 ND Filter (8x)	1.8 ND Filter (64x)

Today’s Second Experiment: Filter Stacking
Today we also experimented with ‘stacking’ the filters. The first shot again was with no filter attached. The difference now from the first experiment is that we will consecutively add the next filter on top of the last one. Starting with the 0.6 then stacking the 0.9 and 1.8 will give interesting results. When stacking filters even longer shutter speeds become possible because even less light is available for the exposure.

The Second Shoot
No Filter.	0.6 Filter.	0.6+0.9 Filters.	0.6+0.9+1.8 Filters.

Small, medium, and large

About Reflectors

Professional reflectors are usually of the circular collapsible disc type and come with a storage bag. Most often one side is silver and the other side is white. There are also gold and black reflectors but we won’t get into them today. Don’t forget that you don’t have to buy a professional reflector! Anything that reflects light is fair game: aluminum foil on cardboard, white poster board, foamcore board, a car dashboard windshield reflector, the only limit is your imagination and how much you can carry! Luckily for amateur photographers a 52″ circular collapsible disc reflector can be found online for under $50.

Open reflectors

Benefits of using Reflectors

A reflective surface shines additional light on your subject to fill in shadows cast by ambient light. The silver side works best on overcast days or shady areas. The white side is best suited for direct sunlight. The silver side also provides the greatest amount of light while the white provides a softer, less harsh reflection. Filling in a shadow with reflected light helps to bring out details lost in the shadow.

Today’s Experiment

Large Reflector

Today’s Setup

We found a location outside with wide open space to allow for a group portrait. Unfortunately there were no large groups around to help us with our experiment so we had to settle for a single model.

Reflector Scale

Today’s Results
Silver	White	No Reflection

I hope you enjoyed our first episode here at Higher Dimensions Photography. Please stay tuned for more tips, tricks, tutorials, and Photomissions!

This is the first test post. We are currently learning how our new blog and website functions. Soon this blog and the neighboring website will be filled with all of our photography knowledge and glory! Stay tuned for the awesomeness that is Higher Dimensions Photography!!!