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“Last Light”

Grandhamptonadirondack
Canon 10D f2.8 Sigma 14mm lens Singh-Ray Gold and Blue Polarizer tripod

Theme Week Fifteen: Commercial Landscapes

This entry was written by Craig , posted on Wednesday August 08 2007at 01:08 pm , filed under Landscape . Bookmark the permalink . Post a comment below or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

9 Responses to ““Last Light””

  • mgrigsby says:
    August 8, 2007 at 1:57 pm

    Craig, Another two thumbs-up effort! I sure would like to be sitting in that chair watching the sun go to bed. By the way I am a real fan of saturated colors and the digital clean look so I am really enjoying your choices for this week!!
    Murry

  • Julie says:
    August 8, 2007 at 2:08 pm

    Beautiful and tranquil. Very engaging. Julie

  • jms698 says:
    August 8, 2007 at 2:23 pm

    Interesting shot. Lots of red everywhere. Nice compliment to the green.

    It looks like twilight shot, with a reasonable amount of light. So, I wonder, since you don’t say you’ve used a neutral density filter, who did you get the clouds to appear so blurred? Was it really windy, or did you use some special technique?

  • Patsy says:
    August 8, 2007 at 2:48 pm

    Okay, now you’ve done it. It’s so easy for a person to imagine himself sitting in that chair surveying his exclusive domain that everyone will want to go pitch a tent on that exact spot. Or, you could earn a few extra bucks by photographing people in your chair, pretending to own the world.

    I love this one. I would be interested in hearing about what kind of time and effort went into scouting and planning. Do you have to carry furniture in your car just in case? Also, since you call this set commercial landscapes, which of them were shot with a particular purpose/assignment in hand, and which did you “sell” after the fact? Craig, I can just hear your RV-DC voice saying, “The first thing I love about this shot is color…,” and you’d be off and running.

    Nice series!

    Regards…
    Patsy

  • Gordon says:
    August 8, 2007 at 3:05 pm

    Great colour – that Singh_ray polariser does a grand job. The location and light is great. I just can’t get the high pitched buzzing of a mosquito out of my head though when I look at that chair.

  • skedonk says:
    August 8, 2007 at 5:19 pm

    Very inspiring shot.

    I would love to learn how you use the gold-n-blue filter. When do you find it useful? What portions in the scene make you think about trying it? How do you align it?

  • admin says:
    August 8, 2007 at 6:09 pm

    Hi Everybody,

    Thank you for all of the very kind comments. The backstory on this shot is a lot of fun. It looks serene but getting this shot was an absolute miracle and the lead up to this shot was more chaotic and rushed than any other commercial shot I have ever taken (which is saying a lot :) . More in the Podcast.

    I will also be releasing a lot of information on using filters through Radiant Vista over the course of the next 6 months. Some of the info will be free in the Podcasts and some will be available in our download store. Filters are an integral part of my capture process…Photoshop has caused a lot of photographers to either abandon their filters or learn photography without them which I personally feel is very limiting from a creativity standpoint and can also lead to a lot of tedious, needless work in front of the computer.

    A few words about the Gold and Blue…its an amazing filter but it is also very hit and miss which causes some folks to dimiss it….it also dramatically alters the scene relative to how you see it which is also a problem for the literalists :) ! I can’t imagine doing a commercial landscape shoot without one because more than any other filter I have ever owned this filter can make something out of nothing…particularly in flat or hazy light conditions. I have a huge commercial project coming up where I will be shooting a lot with the Gold and Blue and I will be sharing some of the before and afters here so you can see what this amazing filter can do.

    Using the Gold and Blue wirth a digital sensor presents its own unique set of challenges as far as white balance goes. Here is an excellent link to the Singh-Ray blog where Darwin Wiggett does a great job of explaining how to manage color with the Gold and Blue

    Gold and Blue Color Management

    ….Craig

    P.S. About the soft clouds….I put a slight motion blur on the clouds here to simplify the quality of line in the sky.

  • Rick Allen says:
    August 9, 2007 at 7:25 am

    Craig,

    I look forward to a more extended discussion of the Blue / gold pol. My attempts with it are far from extraordinary, making the image look surreal (not that surreal is bad, but in landscape people generally expect a depiction of reality). As with LenBaby (no need to restart that thread), one needs to experience when and how to use it. I heard one big name dismiss B/G pol as a last resort when there was nothing else in the sky. From his perspective, he’s probably right. But it is terrific to see images where it was used with great success.

  • Paul Lester Photo » Blog Archive » Filters says:
    August 13, 2007 at 7:12 am

    [...] where the application of a filter has greatly improved the shot in a natural and pleasing way. Here is an example of one such shot. I seem to really like the effect of the Blue-N-Gold [...]

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