Friday, August 27, 2010

Yosemite's Fire Waterfall, Thanks Ray!

Yosemite's Fire Waterfall

A rare sight!! Yosemite National Park, California, USA
This park was gazetted as a national park in 1890. It is world famous for its rugged terrain, waterfall and century-old pine trees. It covers 1200 sq km and the "fire" waterfall of El Capitan is one of the most spectacular of all scenery.
The spectacular view of the waterfall is created by the reflection of sunlight hitting the falling water at a specific angle. This rare sight can only be seen at 2-week period towards the end of Feburary. To photograph this rare event, photographers would often have to wait and endure years of patience in order to capture them. The reason is because its appearance depend on a few natural phenomena occurring at the same time and luck.
1st, Is the formation of the waterfall - The water is formed by the melting of snow and ice at the top of the mountain. It melts between the month of December and January and by the end of February there might not have much snow left to melt.
2nd, is the specific angle of the sunray hitting the falling water - The sun's position must be exactly at a particular spot in the sky. This occurs only in the month of February and at the short hours of dusk. If it is a day full of clouds or something blocking the sun, you can only take pictures of your own sorry faces on the waterfall. It coincides with the fact that the weather in the National Park at that time of the year is often volatile and unpredictable. It compounds the difficulty of getting these pictures.
Someone did !!! and we all get to see it !!!


Lavafall at Yosemite
Lavafall at Yosemite




February firefall of Yosemite National Park
February firefall of Yosemite National Park


Lavafall at Yosemite National Park
Lavafall at Yosemite National Park


Lava fall at Yosemite National Park
Lava fall at Yosemite National Park


Yosemite firefall
Yosemite firefall


Yosemite fire waterfall
Yosemite fire waterfall


Yosemite lava fall
Yosemite lava fall


Yosemite National Park Lavafall
Yosemite National Park Lavafall


Yosemite waterfall on fire, at dusk
Yosemite waterfall on fire, at dusk


Rainbow with a waterfall at Yosemite National Park
Rainbow with a waterfall at Yosemite National Park




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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Examples of Color Macro Shots of Fruit and Flowers

Examples of Color Macro Shots of Fruit and Flowers

Detail shooting of flowers and fruit can bring beautiful, high saturation color and intricate textures. This kind of shooting is best shot with a good zoom lens so you do not blur the photo with standing incredibly close to the subject matter. It is also helps to turn on the manual zoom so you can focus on the particular detail in the flower that you want to show.

Pink Flower
©Elizabeth Anderson, 2010 www.design-flip.com
Pink Rose
©Elizabeth Anderson, 2010 www.design-flip.com
Purple Hydrangea
©Elizabeth Anderson, 2010 www.design-flip.com
Dahlia
©Elizabeth Anderson, 2010 www.design-flip.com
Shooting on a medium light day also greatly helps the vibrancy and illumination of the petals. High light can cause blowout and overexposure of the image which will wipe out all the intense details. Low light will cause color distortion and inaccuracy. It will be important as well to adjust your ISO setting, if you can, up and down per shot as you need to depending on the direction the flowers are facing. Also, light meter carefully to bring out the richness of the color without having to do a lot of post work on the computer.
Magenta Flowers
©Elizabeth Anderson, 2010 www.design-flip.com
Bunch Hydrangea
©Elizabeth Anderson, 2010 www.design-flip.com
Also, consider the form and shape of each group of flowers you are shooting. The contours of the edges may be the most interesting so you could show the flower from the profile side. Or, the texture and softness of the flower may be best shown in intense, zoomed in detail. Or, perhaps show the grouping of tiny flowers by not zooming in too much and allowing space to show the bending of the stems as well. Perfection is not always the goal in shooting this kind of subject matter. Each flower has its own personality. Try to bring out their character by embracing their imperfections as well as their color. The background, if left simple, can also be used to bring out their intricacies.
Apricots
©Elizabeth Anderson, 2010 www.design-flip.com
Nectarines
©Elizabeth Anderson, 2010 www.design-flip.com
Photographing fruit is a similar situation to shooting flowers. They often have amazing color and their abundance in a group are fascinating to capture. Their textures and shape are interesting and through proper exposure, their high saturation color can also be shown in all their vibrancy.
Peaches
©Elizabeth Anderson, 2010 www.design-flip.com
Green Apples
©Elizabeth Anderson, 2010 www.design-flip.com
These were shot at an outside farmer’s market which is ideal lighting. Bunches of fruit can also be shot at a grocery store, but often, the fluorescent lights can make the colors inaccurate and dull. You may need to shoot different fruits at different times of year, depending on when they are in season and at peak ripeness and color. This will depend a lot on where you live and what is available. Keeping the exposure accurate is also important to keep the roundness of their shapes. Over exposing the image can take away the edges and blend each piece together.
Remember to experiment with each image to capture the subjects at their maximum color. You may want to bracket in case the lighting changes or the color is not 100% accurate.