Before The Coffee » Photography

A very cool sunset spot in Portland along the Esplanade. Not only is it a great view of the city but you can scamper back and forth along the railing for some cool compositions. This pano is made from 3 images stitched together in PS. There was enough foreground and background light that I could get enough range with single images. But these are the +2EV images because the camera was responding to the bright sidewalk lights – you can see that in the EXIF data.

This pano is made from 3 single images +2EV stitched together in PS.

 

This pano is made from 3 HDR images stitched together in PS.

 

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  • John Barclay - December 19, 2011 - 8:46 pm

    Scamper? I love that!! I can picture you scampering like we did in South Africa… 🙂

    John, Yes indeed, scampering is one of the little known benefits for people under 6 feet tall 🙂ReplyCancel

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I love shooting sports, in particular Motocross simply for the reason in my younger years I lived to race motocross. Now a bit older I’m taking a new approach to being part of the sport, getting the camera and finding inspirational shots. One thing I can say is that after spending years shooting landscape, not only do I look for the action but I also look at the light. These pics were published in the leading motocross magazine, Racer X.

This particular event is called the ProAm and was held at Budd’s Creek, Maryland. It’s where semi-pros compete to earn enough points to race professionally. Even the mini’s got to ride at the end of the day, and as you can see, the light was very nice!

The pics with the sunlight through the bike were taken using Hi-speed sync fill flash, the shutter speed was 1/1250 sec. I also got out the 14mm – 24mm f2.8 which certainly adds to my excitement as a photographer – I have to get within two feet of the bike to get anything that’s close to full frame. Most of the time I don’t even look through the lens, see the 3rd pic (rider #285) and the last pic (rider #559). Most of the time I’m using the 70mm – 200mm f2.8. It’s a great lens but it doesn’t stop me from wanting the 300mm f2.8 lens, only about $5800.

 

 

 

 

 

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  • Charles Harris - January 27, 2012 - 6:25 pm

    Ferrell, your work is simply breathtaking. I cannot decide who is the “Ansel Adams” of HDR, yourself or Ratcliff. You are able to do, in post production, what Adams did in the darkroom, and then some. Either way, you two, in my eyes, set the standard for this area of photography. Thank you for writing your book and helping others develop their skills in this medium, which I believe is the most revolutionary and significant movement within photograph in at least 40 years.ReplyCancel

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I came across a 5 image set taken at Stonehole Bay in Bermuda that I decided to give HDR a chance. I was pleasantly surprised even to the degree that I made this my new desktop pic. I rarely  revisit folders, once I’m done processing my favorite shots I move on to future shooting ideas. This is a lesson learned, visit those old folders and see if anything jumps out that you didn’t see the first time.

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  • Lombard Bruno - November 27, 2011 - 6:12 am

    nice actuallyReplyCancel

  • John Barclay - November 27, 2011 - 2:47 pm

    In my lecture Dream – Believe – Create I talk specifically about giving yourself time away from the shoot. I believe we are too emotionally attached to the shoot to be objective. Its funny because we need that emotional attachment to make captures that matter and then we need to step away from that to be objective about the image. Does it stand alone? Does it work? Is the composition okay? etc, etc… I hope that makes sense… Well done Ferrell.

    Thank you John. I do think it’s difficult to separate emotions during the shoot and the one’s evoked by the image. Time certainly allows us to separate those emotions. A great tip for all photographers. FerrellReplyCancel

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They say luck is when preparation meets opportunity. If that’s the case, sunrise at Trillium lake was a lucky morning. We were greeted with serenity and a clear sky with soft ground fog. It was one of those moments when you’d run from spot to spot to capture as many different looks that you could. For extra piece of mind I shot 5 and 7 bracketed exposures just to be sure I got sufficient dynamic range. The first image was my favorite of the morning and is an HDR image created with 7 exposures, the second and third are single images.

 

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  • Hanna - November 5, 2011 - 1:08 pm

    I really love the mist in the second shot and the rafter addes a lot to the image IMO.

    In the third image, you can see the chemtrails and it’s disgusting that they exist even in gorgeous locations like that. These are not natural clouds.ReplyCancel

  • Breandan Dezendorf - November 5, 2011 - 3:13 pm

    I love these images. Especially the second one, but I was amazed that the first was an HDR – you haven’t gone the horrible over-saturate route that most HDR shots go. My hat is off to you!ReplyCancel

  • Gino Rigucci - June 3, 2012 - 12:05 am

    I like your second image it conveys a peaceful and mystique feeling to the surroundings with the mist and the canoe. I have shot quite a few images myself and I have to make it to an earlier hour sometime soon. Thanks for your inspiring images on this site.ReplyCancel

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For a long time I’ve been wanting to shoot Great Falls after a good rain, so after 4 days of torrential rains I knew it would be a unique opportunity. So at 5am I stood at the edge of Potomac River gorge at sunrise. The speed and roar of rushing water and the obvious danger along the cliffs dominates the thoughts at first. Within a few minutes it becomes serene, even relaxing. I shot a few compositions and liked this one the best. Within an hour the sun had come up, the fog burned off and the day had begun. I put this image in the “Maryland” category although I’m standing in VA the view across the river is Maryland.

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