Welcome to the Maru Landscapes Blog. Here, I will share with you my latest images, techniques, and thoughts on landscape photography. From the best places to go, to the best equipment and techniques to use, you will find it here. I hope you enjoy the blog and come to visit often.
Jeremy Jackson
California Light
By:
Jeremy Jackson
| Sep 29, 2013
Location:
Bowling Ball Beach
| California
Field Notes: As a landscape photographer working mostly in British Columbia, I have become used to a certain kind of light. I'm not really sure what it is but the light here seems less luminous than some other places I have visited. On a recent trip to Northern California, I photographed a number of locations that seemed to shine with a luminous, soft light. This image was made on an evening that looked pretty dull an hour before sunset. But as sunset neared, the clouds on the horizon lifted and the light shone beautifully on this collection of rocks along the shoreline. I made a number of images here that all share the quality of light that I find so pleasing. There is a distinct and clear tonal range in this image that varies from rich darks to soft mid tones and vibrant highlights.
There was another photographer at the beach that evening. He stayed until a light rain began to fall and then left just minutes before I made this image. It is so important in landscape photography to wait a bit longer and look around the next corner. Some of my best images were made very shortly after terrible conditions. Stay a little longer and be patient. You will be repaid.
Technical Information: This image was made with a Nikon D800E and a 24-70, f2.8 Nikon lens set at a focal length of 24 mm. I used a B&W 3 stop ND filter and exposed at ISO 50, f22, and 4 seconds. Another exposure was made at f8 focusing on the rocks in order to provide maximum sharpness of the rocks in the final printed image. I think it's important to mention that I made about 50 similar exposures and selected the image that I liked the most. In many of the other images, the shape of the water in the foreground was less pleasing to me than in this image.
Many people make images like this with modern digital cameras and are immediately dissatisfied with the look of the image on the back of the camera or on their computer screens. I shot with film for many years and was similarly disappointed when I transitioned to a digital camera. It took some time for me to realize that modern digital RAW images tend to be very low contrast and so produce very dissimilar results to film. In order to create the rich tones of an image like this one, it is necessary to significantly increase contrast in the processing of the RAW image. Only then will the result begin to look somewhat similar to what might have been obtained with black and white film. The best account of this issue was given many years ago by Ansel Adams. His Zone System explains and describes how to deal with this kind of exposure situation. It's well worth a read.
Some Related Links...
Recent Images
Oceans Gallery
Zone System
ND Filter
Nikon D800 E
All images copyright of Maru Landscapes - 2010. Landscape Photography of the Pacific Northwest.