Posts Tagged ‘long exposure’

Quarantine 4 – Water Long Exposure

Water Long Exposure of Holmes Run Creek ©TimeLine Media
Holmes Run Creek after an afternoon rain ©TimeLine Media

Falls Church, VA

During our daily walk, I wanted to test water long exposure images since we have a large creek in the neighborhood. In addition to practicing, this more casual photography helps my planning and pre-visualizing skills. When I made some images low to a running creek, I started planning on another shoot with different gear and conditions.

Running stream on sunny afternoon ©TimeLine Media

In the light of this first example, I knew that I was there at the wrong time. Now that there was some strong sunlight coming through the trees, it would be difficult to get a long exposure of the flowing water. To get what I needed I would have to come back on a different day. Specifically, I would need a time when the light was not as strong. With this in mind, I waited until an overcast / rainy day to try again.

Water Long Exposure

Water Long Exposure of Holmes Run Creek ©TimeLine Media
Bridge over Holmes Run Creek ©TimeLine Media

Subsequently, I brought out the tripod and planned to set it with longer exposures in mind. For what I was planning hand-holding the camera would not be an option. For these, I think it was successful. However, I already have some ideas to make them even better. Just waiting for another rainy day!

Large branch in a running stream ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Foggy Great Falls

Fog descending over Great Falls, Virginia ©TimeLine Media
Fog descending over Great Falls, Virginia ©TimeLine Media

Inversion over the Falls

Late last year, a thick foggy morning motivated me to get out of the house. Landscape or nature photography is not my forte. However, a foggy Great Falls has been on my list to shoot for a while. Unlike other areas, we generally do not have very foggy days often. On this occasion, the warm morning temperature created a thick inversion over the entire northern Virginia area. So, I got in my car and looked for a place to make some photos.

Great Falls on a foggy morning ©TimeLine Media

When I arrived at Great Falls Park, I knew that this would be a perfect morning for photos. Walking through the parking lot, and the park trails, the fog was still hanging in the air. I was excited about getting to the edge of the falls however, the walk through the park was just as inspiring.

Great Falls trail signs in fog ©TimeLine Media
Trees in the fog at Great Falls Park ©TimeLine Media
Trees in the fog at Great Falls Park ©TimeLine Media
Trees in the fog at Great Falls Park ©TimeLine Media

Finally arriving at the edge of the falls, I propped my camera on a tripod. Though it was not very bright with the thick fog and early morning light, I put on an ND filter. This smoothed out the motion of the water, and made for some nice prints later!

Fog over Great Falls in Virginia ©TimeLine Media
Fog over Great Falls in Virginia ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Black and White Challenge – Part 2

Nokesville, VA

To follow up from a post a few Fridays ago, I’m posting here more black and white photos I made specifically for the Facebook Black and White Challenge. Being that these were made over the holidays, we spent a lot of time with our family. The familiar surroundings sometimes makes it difficult to make new photos. The scenes are too familiar, and nuances that make for compelling images seem difficult to pick out. Sometimes, you just need to change your angle. Get higher, or get lower. That is usually my first go-to move! Here Dani, a little dachshund becomes much larger in the photo. I put my head and camera right on the ground. I took a series of photos as she sniffed around the grass. In a stroke of luck, she licked making her look like a lioness!

Dani-in-the-yard
Dani-in-the-yard

Moody Environments

In these other photos, the mood was really helped by a thick fog rolling in from the river. It was an unusually warm air day, but the water was still cold creating the foggy scene. You could almost feel the low ceiling when you were standing by the edge of the water. Not too much noise was cutting through their either – only lapping water and shore birds. This image of the tree branches cutting through the negative space of the cloudy background made me think of canvas paintings of a coastline. This is almost exactly how the photo was captured in camera:

Trees-through-the-fog
Trees-through-the-fog

The last took a little more work in Photoshop. I placed a neutral density (ND) filter in front of my wide angle lens. This filter does not change the color tone of the scene, it only makes it darker – like sunglasses for your camera! Putting the camera on a tripod, the ND filter allows you to lower the shutter speed which makes the moving water smooth into a blurry sheet at the bottom of the photo. To simplify the photo even more, I removed some string running across the pylons, and other piers that jutted into the left and right sides of the frame. It makes for a more minimalistic presentation that my eye likes much more than the original. Have a great weekend, readers!

Foggy-pier
Foggy-pier

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

1 2 3