These images were made back in mid-October before my trip to Cuyahoga Valley National Park for the Tony Sweet Workshop. I wanted to test out my 70-200mm f/2.8L IS with a Kenko 1.4x teleconverter so I took the lens and TC along with my 30D to the office and went out into a local park (Lehigh Parkway in Allentown, PA) at lunchtime. I remembered this particular pair of trees from years past and knew they would make a perfect subject.
After shooting some very straightforward images of the trees and seeing that the 70-200/1.4x combo would work just fine (giving me 98-280mm at f/4.0), I decided to work on some motion blurs and came away with several images like this.
(1/25 sec @ f/22; ISO 100; 0 EV; FL 98mm)
I know I am kinda partial to motion blur images like this but I really liked what I had here. And I left it at that basically forgetting about the straightforward images that I made before and after the blurs… until now.
Using the digital sandwiching technique that I learned from Tony Sweet and described two entries below, I reworked one of the straightforward images by sandwiching it with a copy which I blurred pretty significantly (Gaussian Blur of around 24). I also like how the sandwich turned out.
(1/100 sec @ f/11; ISO 100; 0 EV; FL 98mm)
So there you have it. Fall Foliage – Two Ways. You have your choice of in-camera motion blur or post-processed digital image sandwiching. The choice is yours!
sandwich… it is beautiful.
Ed, I really enjoy all of your images, although I relate to some more than others, and I find your exploration very interesting and informative. There is so much to learn and understand about digital photography! Your work is a wonderful challenge to my understanding of the process.
I like both images Ed. The first one is nice and unusual with nice light and colours and like-brush strokes. The second one is nicely soft and for my taste it could be even softer. Again, colours are lovely and harsh light works for me as well. Really nice work! I like following your experiments with different techniques and different subjects, it’s refreshing and inspiring.
Ed, I think because of the vibrant colors, the picture works in both ways for me–both the abstract/blur and the sandwich. But I really like the softness of the sandwiched photo.
I’ll take #2! Beautiful!
I’m heading to the park today to look for fall color. Hoping to find SOMETHING!
I love them both and frequently use both techniques. Nicely done!
That first one says: It’s raining leaves!!!
How fun to play with that motion blur/sandwich technique. I might have to try that sometime!
I do love the 2nd one though…. ;o)
Love the creative process you got going with these Ed, personally I liked the motion blur myself, both are wonderful though !!
Nice work. I’ll go with the sandwich here. I’m enjoying your creativity!
Hey Ed,
Thanks for the recent comment on my wedding posting! I love these fall photos with the artsy effect. I could see that first one blown up really large and on a wall—it has such a cool, contemporary abstract vibe!
Cindy