Filter, Focus, and Fantastic Light

Has this ever happened to you?

You are still 5 minutes away from your location as the sun begins to set. If you really hurry, you might catch the end of what promises to be a beautiful sunset. You pull into the parking lot, slam the car into park and jump out. You grab your camera bag and tripod and run like heck - tripping over stones on the uneven path. You find a decent looking bush for a foreground object (nothing spectacular, mind you - there just isn't time!), rip your camera out of the bag, and fumble with your tripod as you try to get it set up on slippery rocks. Quick! Grab your hyperfocal distance chart (What's my aperture? And how wide do I want to go? Hyperfocal distance is 1.2 meters with this focal length... so what's the near focus...?) You have to get your focus right, and then adjust the composition until your happy with it (not that it's that great a shot considering the fact that you are tripping all over yourself trying to get the darned camera set up before this spectacular light is gone!) Ok - now, you've got to pick the right GND filter. Choose the appropriate shutter speed! Hook up the remote release, set the camera on mirror lock up and two second timed release, and get ready to bracket! Lucky you! There is still some color left in the sky! Hit the shutter release... and nothing happens. Your battery is dead. And the other one is charging in the car.

AAHHH!We've all been there. ;)

Although you can't avoid this situation all the time, we do try to make sure we reach our location well before sunrise or sunset. In many cases, we'll check out the area the day before - or on a previous trip - so we know where we want to set up. When I get there, my camera is ready to go. (If you run into me at the airport, you'll probably find me cleaning lenses and checking camera settings while I wait for my flight.)

I have the hyperfocal distance memorized for the lens I use most frequently, and with experience, choosing the right filter gets easier. Batteries are charged after each trip - so they're ready to go at any time. I've also set up the menu options in-camera to include mirror lock-up and bracketing options under the "favorites" tab, so I don't have to dig through a series of menus to find them.

Now all I have to worry about is that other photographer who comes stumbling right into my shot just as the sky gets good - fumbling with his tripod, chasing his hyperfocal distance chart as it blows out of his hand in the wind, and screaming like a banshee....

No worries, buddy. I've been there.

Hyperfocal distance

Here's another early morning shot from Graveyard flats in Banff. I used a GND filter to reduce the overall dynamic range, and a circular polarizer filter to cut through the light bouncing off the surface of the water and allow you to see the beautiful stones at the bottom of the pond clearly. The sun had climbed high enough in the sky to require a shorter shutter speed here (0.5 seconds at f/16) - but the surface of the pond was absolutely still, so a longer shutter speed was unnecessary.

The question then, is this... why I am using f/16? Why not shoot at f/8 or f/11, since I know that's where my lens works best? The reason I chose f/16 is because that gives me a hyperfocal distance of about 0.5 m with my focal length at 12mm ... so objects just .25 m away will be in sharp focus!

At f/8 - that near focus point will be about half a meter away... not close enough to get those rocks in the foreground sharp. I have my tripod low to the ground, here... just about .25 m from the closest rocks. I could have gotten even closer with f/22 - but I want my aperture as close to f/11 as possible, since that's where I get my cleanest shot.

All right - no more technical stuff. Sorry about that. ;)

I took several shots that morning, and I'm not sure which one I like best. I've processed four and deleted the rest - and I'll add them all to a new Canada gallery once I've finished the rest from the trip. I'm having such a great time working through these photos!