(Vertical Pan; 1.0 sec @ f/14; ISO 100; 0 EV; FL 70mm w/ Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L and my 5D Mark II)
There was a short break in the rains this morning so we headed out in search of something to photograph. I followed the fog to the top of South Mountain and Lehigh University’s Mountaintop Campus. I made a few fog images which I may post a little later but then I came across a pair of birches just off the side of the road. I pulled off the road and on to the shoulder, got out and started to work the pair of birches. I made images from several different perspectives but ended up liking the one above the best. It is a very busy image and it is that busy-ness that really appeals to me here.
With birches on my mind, I decided to return to Trexler Park in Allentown, PA where I had spotted a couple of real nice birches a couple of weeks back. The light wasn’t what I wanted that day so I filed these trees away in the back of my brain with a promise to return at a later date when the light would be more diffuse. That was today. Again my objective was to work the trees with both motion blur and multiple exposures. The first example below is a 10-image multiple exposure made with my Canon 5D Mark II and the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens, tripod-mounted.
(10-image Multiple Exposure; 1/125 sec @ f/4.0; ISO 400; 0EV; FL 140mm)
As I was working the multiple exposures, the rains started up again. So I finished up by taking the 5DMk2 and 70-200mm f/2.8 off the tripod, stopping down to f/22 and dropping the ISO to 100 in order to lengthen the shutter speed to 1.0 sec allowing me to make some images with the vertical pan technique. Same trees, same perspective, different technique and different look.
Ed… nice work. Birches provide such a great subject for this kind of art. All nice, but the the second is pretty special… would love to hear more about how you did this?
I like the second one best…with the grouping of the three trunks and the graduation of colors from dark to light.
I like the painterly look of the third photo but I like the second one most. There is no distracting background, only those birches and nice layers of colours behind them.
interesting to see the diffent looks. love the colors in all. they al work. i especially like the composition of the last one, the textures of the second.
As always, your comments and feedback are greatly appreciated.
David, you asked about how I did the second one. Some folks will handhold the camera but I prefer to work off a tripod. I loosen the ball head slightly so I can move it. Then I take a series of however many images (in this case 10) moving the camera slightly upward after each successive shot. I find working off the tripod helps me minimize any side to side movement while working upward. Now this is one place that Nikon shooters have an advantage over we Canon shooters. With the high end Nikon cameras, it is possible to do the combination of the 10 images in-camera to create the multiple exposure image. Canon shooters, like me, have to do it in Photoshop and it tends to be a pain in the butt. Each image is a layer. The opacity of each layer varies – the first layer is 1/1 or 100%, the second is 1/2 or 50%, the third is 1/3 or 33% and so on to the tenth which is 1/10 or 10%. Fortunately, a fellow (Uwe Steinmueller) out in California just recently created a script for CS3/CS4 which makes it incredibly easy to do the combining for us Canon shooters. You select the 10 images, push a button and all the work is done. A minute later, out pops the multiple exposure. Nice!
Once I have the multiple exposure image, I process it as I normally would to get the effect that I want. In this case, I used Nik Viveza 2.0 and Topaz Adjust 4.0. Just a tiny bit of sharpening and I was done. And that’s how I did it!
Hi Ed,
These are very pictural photos! it looks like art pictures! Incredible what you can do man! Beautiful and different!
Love the multiple, Ed – such nice contrast. Nice job with all 3!
Ed,
Boy that 5D Mark II sure takes nice pictures.
Of course I’m kidding… you’ve put your new creative tool to excellent use. All three are very appealing though the third is my favorite as the colors and softness remind me of a beautiful watercolor painting.
There’s something strange with the first image. It is busy though there’s a quality about it that draws me in. It’s a close second.