South rim of the Grand Canyon

Gear: Canon 40D, 17-40F4L @ 21mm
Exp: 1/800s @ F/8.0, ISO 200, CPL

On a recent road trip across the country I had a chance to stop at the Grand Canyon for the first time. I didn’t have too much time there but the above shot was my favorite shot of the set. Unfortunately the time of day wasn’t the best for shooting so I had to do some work to add contrast and definition to the far side of the canyon and compensate in the sky for the dynamic range. The person standing on the ledge in the left of the image give perspective and scale, you may need to click the image for a larger version to see them.

Exp: 1/3sec @ F4.0, ISO 200
Gear: Canon 5D mkII, 70-200F4L @ 145mm

While here in California I was able to spend time in the Muir Woods National Monument.  Since I visited the park during the week I pretty much had the park to myself for the first 2 hours that it was open.  Confined to the the trails it was hard to make wide angle shots of the trees so I focused on picking out details.  Found this group of branches hanging low enough to set it against the trunk of these other trees.  I just had to shift down until the spaces between the trees were closed.  I converted it to black and white to bring out the texture and light in the image.  If you are ever in the San Francisco area and have an hour to kill you should definitely head out to Muir Woods.

Exp: 1/3s @  f/22.0 , ISO 100
Gear: Canon 5D mkII, 70-200F4L @70mm w/ ND filter

This will be a quick post as I’m headed to the airport to drop my rental car off. But I wanted to share an image from the other day.

Exp: 2.5sec @ f/11, ISO 100
Gear: Canon 40D, 17-40F4L @ 17mm, CPL, 0.9ND

Well after two days of snow and about 8 or so inches later, I figured I’d venture out and do some shooting.  I only had about an hour of light left after going to a great photography exhibition at the Brecksville Center for the Arts.  They are featuring 6 photographers from the Cleveland Photographic Society.

(more…)

Exp: 15sec @ f/13.0 ISO 100
Gear: Canon 40D, 17-40F4L @ 17mm, 0.9ND, CPL, Tripod

Over the past weekend I took a trip out to Blackwater Falls State Park. I went out to see if I could get some fall color shots.  Unfortunately I was probably a week or so too early. But, I was still able to come away with some images that I’m pretty happy with. The image you see above was taken at Elakala Falls just a short walk from the lodge. I used an ND filter to get a long exposure to capture the swirling bubbles in the lower pool and a CPL filter to eliminate reflections on the rocks.

Widescreen

Exp: 1/100s @ f/8.0, ISO 200
Gear: Canon 40D, 70-200F4L @ 70mm

Well I’ve taken a little break from photography since the Alaska trip but I’ve gone back and started processing some more images.  This is a shot that I saw while I was out on a walk without my camera and I liked it so much I walked 2 miles back to get my camera.  I’m glad I did.  I processed this image with the demo of Lightroom 2.  The localized adjustments you can make with this version are great.  I was able to bring out more of the detail of the rocks that would have been otherwise lost in the shadows.  This is a testament to the Canon 40D being able to record and retain the detail.

Widescreen

Exp: 1/5sec @ f/10, ISO 100
Gear: Canon 40D, 17-40F4L, CPL, Tripod

Well I’ve been home for a week now and I’m traveling to Washington D.C. for work again.  I’m slowly working through processing all the images I shot in Alaska.  The image above is of Horsetail Falls on the Richardson highway outside of Valdez.  The weather was working with me on this day, as we drove out to photograph this fall and bridal veil falls the clouds were low on the hills which made for a heavy overcast so I was able to get a nice slow shutter to get the nice flowing water.  I use the polarizer to cut the reflections from the rocks and leaves.  I took quite a few compositions of these falls but this is the one I liked the most.

Widescreen

Thanks for the correction Ray!

Exp: 1/125s @ f/8.0, ISO 200
Gear: Canon 40D, 70-200F4L @ 109mm, tripod

Well we’ve been in Alaska for a couple days now.  The weather has been a little much to be desired but it is still fun.  I’ve started an Alaska Gallery for the pictures so you can click the image above or the link.  We are traveling to Homer tomorrow from Valdez across Prince William Sound so hopefully we will get to see some wildlife.  So far I’ve just seen a young moose and a couple bald eagles from a long ways out.

The image above is blue ice in the Worthington Glacier near Valdez, AK.  The blue color comes from the light absorbing properties of the glacier ice.  Click the link below for a wallpaper sized image.

Widescreen

Exp: 17mm, 8sec @ f/13, iso 100
Gear: Rebel XTi, 17-40F4L, Circular Polarizer, Tripod

This is a shot from back in October after a short hike back to Blue Hen Falls. The falls were not much more than a trickle but the swirling leaves makes this shot interesting. I used the polarizer for 2 purposes, the first was to knock out some of the reflections in the water and secondly to lengthen the exposure time to get enough movement in the leaves. Click on the image above to get a larger version.

On a side note I haven’t been doing a very good job posting articles so in the next couple weeks I’m going to make an effort to post more. As always if you like something here on the site and would like a print don’t hesitate to drop me a line you can find my contact info on the main site www.williamsebastianphoto.com