Photography Travelogues by Peter Eastway – Antarctica 1/3

August 5, 2011 by 2 Comments


Leopard Seal, Foyn Harbour, Antarctica

Winter was holding on tightly in Antarctica, but a slight reprieve in the weather allowed us to venture out from our vessel and explore the snow covered foreshores within Foyn Harbour. The weather varied from heavy cloud to overcast with sporadic spots of sunlight, not ideal, but it hardly dampened my enthusiasm!

The radio cracked into life and our guide responded, turning the zodiac around and speeding off in between icebergs. One of the other zodiacs had found a leopard seal snoozing on an ice floe and we were off to investigate. A hundred or so metres away, our guide cut the engine and we slowly and silently drifted into position. It was a young leopard seal and while fully aware of our presence, was barely interested.

On an Antarctic expedition, everyone is a photographer and all ten of us had our cameras trained on our new friend. The guide moved the zodiac around, providing a variety of angles and giving everyone the opportunity for a clear angle.

Using a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III and a 300mm f2.8 lens, I was able to shoot a series of images from full length to much closer, but there was very little time as you never knew when the leopard seal might decide to leave. Shutter speeds were kept high using 1/3200 second at f3.5 and ISO 100, plus I had image stabilization turned on. The image is sharp!

As the zodiac turned around, I kept my camera focused on the leopard seal, firing quickly. Just when the leopard seal lifted his head, the zodiac turned a little further and one of the guests in front of me obscured my angle. There was hardly any time to notice and I just kept shooting. It was only later when reviewing the images in Capture One that I noticed the best shot of the leopard seal also had the red suit of the guest in the foreground.

However, there was a solution.

Here’s the full frame. You can see the problem easily.

Cropping the image helps by limiting the problem, but it is still there. I have also tweaked the file a little in Capture One, adjusting exposure and brightness, and ramping up the saturation to increase the colour in the background.

The solution can be found by using the Advanced Colour Editor. I chose to add a Local Adjustment layer first and used the Draw Local Adjustment brush to cover up the unwanted red colour in the image.

With the selection made, I used the Pick Colour Correction tool to select the reds and then dragged the Saturation slider back to -100, removing all colour in this area. Since the background is already white, the effect is pretty good and to a casual observer, you’d never know there was a problem.

By selecting other colours, further refinements can be made. In theory, I didn’t need a separate adjustment layer to achieve this result as there are no reds anywhere else in the scene. However, the combination of a local adjustment layer mask and what is effectively ‘colour masking’ can be very powerful.

To complete the image, two more local adjustment layers were added, one to increase the clarity around the leopard seal, and a second to add some highlights to the subject’s eyes.

The image was enlarged and using a small brush, the eyes were masked. Then it was simply a matter of adjusting the exposure and contrast sliders to produce an effect that was natural – well, at least it is natural to my non-technical eyes.

While I might not be able to adjust the light like this for scientific applications or even a book on wildlife, as an improvement for an album or audio visual on my trip to Antarctica, it seems to give the leopard seal a little more zest.

To see more of Peter Eastway’s images on Antarctica, visit his website at http://www.petereastway.com/showpics.taf?portno=57&PortName=ROCKHOPPER%20EXHIBITION

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Photography Travelogues by Peter Eastway – Karijini National Park 3/3

June 8, 2011 by Leave a comment

 

Living Dangerously In The Pilbara 

One wonders how it happens, or perhaps why it happens. As I walked over to the lookout above Circular Pool at Dales Gorge in Karijini, the first thing that struck me was the sheer red cliff face stretched across the horizon, backed by a rich green canopy of wet season foliage. The sun had set and there remained a hint of pink in the blue sky. Everything was bathed in a soft, delicate light. And then I noticed the equally delicate position of a large gum tree, hanging on precariously to the edge of the precipice. How long would it last on such a narrow perch?

Although situated in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia, the tree reminded me of another tree similarly perched on the edge of a ravine at Epupa Falls in Namibia. I’m not sure if the baobab is still there, or if the falls I visited 30 years ago have succumbed to a planned dam, but I remember spending hours in the darkroom refining the black and white print and using a brush with Farmers Reducer to bleach back the tree.

However, there’s no need to bleach back the white gums in the Pilbara. In fact, the trick when photographing them is to retain detail in the tree trunks so they don’t reproduce as ugly white blotches. To process this file in Capture One Pro 6, I began with a base exposure that retained full detail in the tree trunk.

One little trick I discovered by accident when processing my files, was to begin with one of Phase One’s ICC Profile presets under the Base Characteristics tool. Normally for landscape work, I’d use the Outdoor Daylight profile, but I found selecting the Portrait setting added in a lovely warmth. (Of course, the availability of this feature depends on the camera you’re using as not all models have a range of settings to choose from.)

To refine the image, I used the Exposure, High Dynamic Range, Clarity and Vignetting tools which I have collected together under my Quick tool tab.

The main issue with this photograph was the difference in exposure between the sky and the cliff. They required different exposures, but this is easily fixed using Capture One Pro 6’s new Local Adjustment tool. I chose to set the exposure for the cliff face correctly with my background layer, and then add in local adjustments to darken down the sky and increase the colour saturation of the green trees.

I also named the local adjustment layers, but I confess only because I was posting this blog, but it is a useful feature as instead of ‘Layer 1’, you can call it ‘Sky – First Pass’ etcetera.

Whether using layers in Capture One or Photoshop, I’ve found it is better to build up an image with two or three small adjustments, rather than one strong adjustment. I also prepare separate, slightly different masks for each local adjustment, the idea being I want my adjustments to be ‘invisible’ when finished.

To darken the sky, I used the Local Adjustment brush to paint in the sky. I find making a precise mask problematic, especially where the sky meets the earth, so instead I use a large brush with a soft edge (setting 0) which feathers the transition nicely. With the selection made, I then used the Exposure and Contrast sliders to darken the sky.

The next local adjustment selected both the sky and green foliage, again using a large brush with a soft edge. This time, I increased the contrast slightly, but I also used the Advanced Colour Editor to select the greens of the trees and increase their saturation.

After reviewing the file, I felt the sky was still a little light, so I repeated the process for the first local adjustment, but with a different mask and slightly different settings for Exposure and Contrast.

From here, the file is ready for processing for web, slide show or printer, straight out of Capture One Pro 6.

To see more of Peter Eastway’s photography techniques, including his Landscape Photography MasterClass, please visit http://www.betterphotography.com/.

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Photography Travelogues by Peter Eastway – Karijini National Park 2/3

June 7, 2011 by 8 Comments

Dales Gorge, But Not Sunset

Things are not always what they seem! The strong reds and oranges in the photograph of Dales Gorge in Karijini National Park, Western Australia are not from an early morning sunrise or a late sunset. Rather they are from sunlight reflected off red canyon walls.

Australia’s ‘Red Centre’ is at its reddest in Western Australia and there are few places I have visited that are as colourful as Karijini. As you walk down into the gorges, steep textured cliffs rise above you and if they catch direct sunlight, it is reflected strongly into the water pools and cascades below.

It might seem like a relatively straightforward matter to walk along the base of the gorge, looking for reflections – and to a certain extent it is. But those reflections don’t stay in the one place for long and so you can find yourself constantly moving your camera angle to retain the light and the colour. For images like this, mid morning and mid afternoon are usually the best times because this is when the sun is strongest on the gorge walls, but the gorge itself is still in shadow. The dim surroundings contrast wonderfully with the rich colours reflected from the cliffs up high.

This image is taken with a mid-telephoto lens, ideal for the angle I wanted, but challenging in terms of depth-of-field. To make the most of the location, I wanted sharp focus all the way from the bottom of the frame up to the top. A small aperture (like f22) almost gave me what I wanted, but as you stop down a lens (use a smaller aperture), diffraction increases. Diffraction reduces image clarity and occurs when light is forced through a small aperture, so while a smaller aperture is increasing image quality with more depth-of-field, at the same time you’re losing image clarity through diffraction.

My solution is to use a wider aperture – such as f8 or f11 – and shoot a series of images, each focused at slightly different points.

This series is then ‘stacked’ together. A popular program for ‘focus stacking’ is called Helicon Focus (www.heliconsoft.com) and while originally designed for scientific applications, it can work wonders for landscape photography as well.

To get the best results from focus stacking, you need to ensure your camera is locked off on a sturdy tripod. Although the light was changing quickly, I forced myself to slow down and ensure I had a good camera angle. I use an Arca Swiss Cube head on my tripod and it allows very precise positioning and once set, the camera won’t move. With the camera ready, I switched to manual focus and took a series of six images with different focus settings, beginning close to the camera and extending out to infinity. It’s a good idea to use manual exposure mode as well to ensure the exposures are consistent.

In Capture One Pro, turning on the Focus Mask quickly shows you where each image is correctly focused, the green ‘mask’ covering the areas of critical focus. If you’ve focused accurately, you can determine which frame gives you best focus in the foreground, and then follow the exposures through until you find the one with the best focus in the background.

Once I had selected the five files I needed, I refined the exposure, colour and tonal settings on the first frame. Then I copied up these adjustments (using the upward sloping arrow icon) and applied them to the other four images (using the downward sloping arrow icon). The images were then output – I produced full size 16-bit TIF files.

With my five files processed, I then opened Helicon Focus, selected the files and further processed them into a single file where the small curve of rock in the bottom left of the frame is just as crisp and sharp as the small cascade in the middle up the top of the frame.

The result is an image with more clarity and sharpness than a single frame taken at f22, both in terms of the extent of focus, and the lack of any diffraction.

To see more of Peter Eastway’s photography techniques, including his Landscape Photography MasterClass, please visit http://www.betterphotography.com/.

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Photography Travelogues by Peter Eastway – Karijini National Park 1/3

June 6, 2011 by 5 Comments

 

In the coming weeks, landscape photographer Peter Eastway will share his passion and knowledge about photography with the readers of the Image Quality Professor’s blog. Peter will take us with him through his recent photographic experiences in Karijini National Park. He will write about his preparations, what gear he uses and finally how he uses Capture One to get the best out of this photos.

Karijini National Park is one of Australia’s largest national parks, and arguably one of the most spectacular. The park is famous for its sheer gorges, waterfalls, cool swimming holes and amazing photographic opportunities.

Hancock Gorge, Karijini, Western Australia

Some places are simply difficult to get to, but the effort is worth it.

Carved out of the iron-rich stone of the Pilbara region in Western Australia, Hancock Gorge lies hidden in Karijini National Park. Leaving the dry heat of the surrounding desert, the trail to this tapering cascade starts with a steep descent down a rough bush track, followed by a rickety steel ladder. This brings you to the bottom of the gorge and from here it’s a further kilometre of rock-hopping, scrambling and swimming to get into position. The most difficult section is a crab-walk along a 200 metre rock wall, its near vertical sides punctuated by narrow, uneven ledges. It would be quite fun without 20 kilograms of camera gear on your back, a large tripod and just one spare hand.

Shoes are off for the last stretch down the narrow Spiders Trail, the cool water rushing around your feet, your legs pushed out to the sides of the cutting for balance, before opening up into a beautiful swimming pool and the cascade at the far end.

Of course, for many people, getting down into Hancock Gorge is a stroll in the park. If you’re fit and active, it’s not a problem, but you need to be careful. Every year there seem to be a few walkers who are seriously hurt or even killed because they didn’t watch their steps carefully enough.

Each time I visit Hancock’s Gorge, it’s different. The time of day and cloud cover affect the way the light bounces off the gorge’s walls, creating different colours and reflections. And rain followed by flash-floods re-arrange the large rocks and boulders strewn along the gorge’s floor.

However, one thing that remains the same is the sense of tranquillity I have as I set up my camera. There’s no need to rush as the light won’t change too quickly. Tripod legs can be spread across the watercourse and the camera pointed down. Generally speaking, a wide-angle is useful for tight locations like this, but maybe not as wide as you think.

As you can see by referring to the original image above, I ended up cropping this photo, choosing a square format so I could centre the water cascading over the stone steps. I also tilted the frame so the image looks level. I actually think the camera was perfectly level when I took the frame, but when I cropped the image, it looked too angled, so I used the Rotate Freehand tool to make it look visually correct. This left a sliver of image missing in the bottom right corner, but this would be easily fixed after processing out the raw file using Photoshop’s Content Aware Fill feature.

After cropping, I have used my Quick tab in Capture One Pro 6 to set the exposure, contrast and colour saturation accurately for the entire image, except the bright flowing water in the centre. When you’re sitting in this position, you’re keenly aware of the colours in the rock, but they don’t always translate onto the sensor because of the cool, blue skylight illuminating the scene. Capture One Pro 6’s Advanced Colour editor let me select the yellows and blues in the rock and give them a little extra saturation.

I also remember seeing the pools down the bottom of the gorge as being iridescent green – they certainly are when the sun is striking them directly in the middle of the day, so I decided this needed to be corrected as well. This meant I had two areas in the image – the flowing water and the distant pools – which needed local adjustments. This is where Capture One Pro 6 really shines!

I add a Local Adjustment layer and worked on the flowing water first. When you use the Local Adjustment brush, you can control the area you want to change by adjusting the size of the brush and the edge of the brush (whether it is ‘hard’ or ‘soft’). This means you can be as accurate as you need to be, but I’m a bit lazy and prefer when I can to use larger brushes with a soft edge. This lets me feather the local adjustments into the image, so you can’t easily see where the adjustment begins and ends. I like to think of this as ‘invisible editing’ – you know I’ve done something, but you can’t really tell where!

To control the water which was overexposed, I found that darkening it made the image look a bit muddy, so I also increased the contrast setting. This rescued some of the detail in the rocks below the running water, while maintaining some white highlights and sparkle.

For the distant pools, I added a second Local Adjustment layer and using a small brush with a hard edge (around setting 80), I carefully selected the two small pools. I then used the Advance Colour Editor to change the golden yellow colour to a more ‘accurate’ green.

Hancock Gorge is a place you never tire of and I can still see some angles I have yet to try.

To see more of Peter Eastway’s photography techniques, including his Landscape Photography MasterClass, please visit http://www.betterphotography.com/.

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