wildforlight

Last year I came home from one of my Columbia River Gorge workshops

to the greatest personal loss of my entire life. Not knowing how to

process the acute grief, I turned around and went back into the Gorge

and stayed their in solitude for another month. During this time I often

slept in the Eagle Creek area, in my vehicle and every day challenged

myself to go farther and deeper into the Gorge than I ever had before

(including spending nights in the forest). I have a large load of

unprocessed files from that season, but I have not had the time this year

to get to processing them.

This is a less commonly photographed waterfall up Moffett Creek (Wehe

Falls). I was very inspired, refreshed and in some ways restored by going

to some new places. There is nothing quite like hiking way in to a new

place and being the only one there all day. Sometimes I would just sit

and look and rest for hours not taking a single shot.

I hope you enjoy.

Please view full size color managed image.

A brand new, original take on Metlako Falls. After 3 years of attempts I

finally found a difficult yet relatively safe way to get here. More information

found at my Facebook page or website.

When liquefied rock comes shooting or pouring out of the earth red in

color it's temperature is reaching nearly 2,200 °F (1,200 °C). The type of

thing you may want to shoot with a long lens. Here was my attempt with

the Canon 14mmL2! I was sure to ask friends Tom Kualii and Bruce

Omori (Hawaii's premier lava photographers) if it could be done, Tom

replied “go for it!”

What you don’t see here is that I only had about 2-3 seconds to get in

and get the shot before I nearly burst into flames! (Go to my FaceBook

page to see that photo!) I ran in, immediately took 3 auto - bracketed

shots (+ and - 2 stops) and then ran out as fast as possible, feeling as if

my shirt was on fire. The soles of my feet literally smoked and my tripod

burned my right arm. After getting something similar to a sunburn I

finished. Canon, Irvine (CA) appreciated that I had to send my camera in

to get it working again.

More Hawaii shots are in my Hawaii Gallery on my website:

WildForLight.com

Techie stuff:

Canon 5D Mark2

Canon 14mmL2

f/7.1

Shutter 1.6 seconds and 0.4 seconds

100 ISO

A 2 shot blend using my innovative "blend if" techniques for tonal control

and blending (more info about that on my website).

Processed (unusually) in Srgb so that I would not have color shifts in the

reds for web (the Fuji Flex print file will be developed in Adobe RGB

1998)

As always, most accurately viewed on a calibrated desktop monitor, via

a color managed browser such as Safari, Firefox or Chrome.

Thanks for looking!

"Panther Cascade". A difficult and unique angle on Panther Falls

accomplished by wading in chest deep water and using various special

equipment to stabilize the camera. More information at WildForLight.com

Thank you for looking.

Last spring, during my workshops to the area I thought up a number of

new ideas to try to shoot Spirit Falls. After finishing, I was compelled to

return for 3 consecutive days of considerable failing. Finally, I pulled this

one off. The logistics where not easy. Including harnessing up for safety,

and Gorilla taping my camera onto the end of a pole to get the

position/angle I wanted. Maybe the biggest challenge was the constant

bombardment of immense spray coming from this roaring cascade. I

named the image "Spirit Power" because of the deafening roar of being

right next to this huge wall of dazzling blue water. The word “awesome”

does not do the experience justice. During my 2nd and 3rd attempts I

became smart enough to actually wear earplugs to protect my hearing! I

am sure some might take issue with allotting almost 1/2 the frame to the

wall of water, but I am pretty sure in a much larger representation the

power of the area might be relayed. 

As always, more details on my Facebook page or WildForLight.com.

Techie stuff (for those who keep emailing me thanking me for them):

Canon 5D Mark 2

Canon 16-35L2 @ 16mm

100ISO

f/5.6

1/10th second

Circular Polarizer

Stephen, great idea and that photo where I ran up on the cloud is coming! :)

Well I too test lenses and my 24-105 definitely has the most discernible detail at f/8, without a doubt.

Wow I won photo of the day here! :)

"Ansel would be taking notes!"

Wow thank you!!!! :)

Ever notice how, sometimes, your photography may reflect the kind of

season that you are going through, the moment your photo was taken?

Of course life is flavored with a myriad of seasons, some beautiful,

maybe nearly euphoric. Some dark as the depths of night. Most

somewhere between these two extremes.

The approach: this image was taken in late July, after finishing my

Glacier National Park workshop. My assistant and I simply could not get

enough of the area (when can you ever get enough of Glacier NP?) so we

decided to stay in the park an extra week and spend an entire day 4-

wheeling every accessible dirt road we could find around the park. Just

as we were coming up an incredibly steep hill I caught this scene to my

left, abruptly stopped, locked in the parking brake, jumped out of my

vehicle running, while emphatically telling my assistant “there’s a photo

right there!“ Hand held, we shot immediately as the moment came and

went within a minute or two.

Techie stuff for those techy-ish:

This is a single raw file (shot to the right of the in camera histogram)

mainly finished in Camera Raw 8.2 / Lightroom 5.2 Raw (I often go back

and forth between the two interfaces, because I teach both). As always,

my somewhat innovative approach to Blending using the Layer Style

“Blend if” options was used for a wide variety of processes including (but

not limited to) blending for dynamic range, advanced B+W tonal control,

very subtle advanced dodging and burning, sharpening fall off of the

extreme darks and lights, and to pull the deep shadows of the land, a

little bit, out of complete silhouette (which I do not always believe is

necessary). Lastly, the image was sharpened for web using some

twists, turns and improvements on what some may call the “Adamus”

advanced pre-sharpening and then downsizing technique.

Canon 5D Mark2

Canon 24-105L

105mm

f/8 (sharpest f/stop)

1/1600 shutter (w stabilization on)

100 ISO

Feel free to Facebook me if you so desire. I generally share even more

gruesome details there.

Thanks for looking! 

Thanks Alexander! 

After spending over two months in the Columbia River Gorge I finally

finished the photo projects I have been wanting to accomplish, including

photographing this bad boy from its base. I went into Metlako Falls a

second time, last week, wanting more perspectives than my last shoot.

This was the last composition from that trip, a last moment perspective

that caught my eye just as I was packing up.

I have to say that after spending as much time in the Gorge as I have

this year including going up a variety of exploratory routes, I am only

much more enthralled about the place than ever! We often see so many

of the same locations on the web, but for the adventurist who wants to

find incredible rainforest waterfall oasis's, there are countless in there! In

fact the Oregon side of the Gorge alone might boast a higher

concentration of accessible waterfalls in all of the US or North America

(one stat I found said over 100 waterfalls - not including smaller drops -

within 420 square miles).

Tech stuff:

Canon 5D Mark2 (still waiting for Canon to step up their game if they

ever do)

Canon 16-35L2 at 16mm

100 ISO

16 shot DOF blend at f/5.6 (the sharpest for the lens)

Also a single raw file, double processed, using my innovative "Blend if"

technique for dynamic range/tonal control.

First time ever experimenting with "Camera Neutral" as my base profile

in raw

2 second exposure

Adobe Camera Raw and PS CS6

100 foot waterfall

The tree tilt is really tilted, not lens distortion

Interestingly, I broke three photographer "rules" on this one:

1. Don't shoot in the Gorge after its spring peak.

2. Don't shoot when there are no clouds.

3. Don't shoot anywhere near mid day.

*As always, more accurately viewed using a calibrated monitor, browsing

via Safari, Firefox or Chrome.

Thanks everyone. Sorry I was out for a while and just got back home.

I appreciate your feedback very much!

It is hard to comprehend scale here but this waterfall is 101 feet from

where the water begins to fall off, to where it reaches the bottom. In a

word, it is ROARING! There are very few positions to shoot it from and

the base is basically only accessible by extreme kayaking (which I am

considering taking up to get down in there). This was shot on friday. I

have been targeting the Gorge about 3 x a week now that I am back in

the great NW and am utterly enthralled by its sheer beauty! I wanted to

reach a very remote and difficult to get to falls and got up at 2 am to hike

in by headlamp but after hours of bush whacking I made it within 200

yards. The river levels are near their highest ever (highest I have ever

seen them) and I was not able to cross at a certain location due to

extreme river currents. Very disappointed, I bushwhacked the hard miles

back but decided to go to Eagle Creek to check out Metlako. It was

raining, clouds were very low, fog everywhere and the atmosphere gave

me a resurgence of inspiration! The goal was the least obstructed view I

could get.

Hope you enjoy. Also hope, more importantly, that you get to see this

place for yourself. With the water as high as it is right now it is like a

Jurassic paradise waterfall land.

Thanks Jorge!

Certainly not original, but I have been wanting to go here for years and

finally got my chance. Because of the mellow diffused weather I was

simply scouting to take it all in on this trip not expecting to get any

keepers. In CS6 I decided to give this comp a try and am pretty happy

with it. I know it might not resonate as much with photographers wanting

to see cutting edge work. Yet my print market, I think, will like it. Work

done in ACR7 and only a dapple and a touch in Photoshop.

Comments appreciated.

Canon 5D Mark2

Canon 24-105@105

f/8

Hand held

100 ISO

Thanks everyone.  Joscelyn Sylvester thanks for the feedback.  No hanky panky.  My adjustments are pretty basic.  It's all about getting the very best moments of light, then working within those parameters, yet with excellence.

Thanks everyone.  Living in Oregon is an amazing privilege!

On certain days of the year, in this very remote SW slot canyon, a truly

amazing amount of color variation can be seen with the naked eye. The

method of capture was to hike in very early in the morning and spend an

entire day carefully watching the light do it brief dance in various parts of

the canyon and simply take careful mental note. The next day, very early

in the morning I went back, this time with the aim of being prepared to

capture the site. Once reaching the end of the canyon I found the

location and simply waited. Eventually the light did its brief dance, I shot

off a 12 shot focus bracket (each 12 shots also exposure bracketed for

insurance) with the Canon 5D Mark2, Canon 14mmL2 at f/5.6, 400 ISO,

no filters. Image was processed mainly in LR 4 raw.

Thank you for the feedback.

Thank you everyone for the valued feedback.

Thank you Ryan

BTW, this site does not color manage photos properly. It is not supposed to have a slight red tint.  Here you will see it as it is intended:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1097575

I think it is very cool.  Wish it had been sharpened better is all.

Excellent red on white here!

Near the end of teaching a one week private workshop/tour (The Pearls of

Oregon) my client and I were completely engrossed in a heavy fog layer

that I thought might break right at sunset. We raced the The Heceta

Lighthouse and just as the sun set, the fog layer began to break and the

most unusual golden glow radiated for about a minute as we both shot our

long exposures. No "Orton" glow effect was used in post production. We

used both a circular polarizer and a 9 stop ND filter. Almost all work was

completed in Lightroon 4 raw.