Tag Archives: Kroll Images

The Loops of Maryhill

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The Loops of Maryhill

Constructed from 1909 to 1913 by Samuel Hill (1857–1931), Maryhill Loops Road is located off Washington Scenic Route 14 just east of U.S. 97.

This week warm weather and sun has me thinking about the summer to come! One of our favorite events is theMaryhill Festival of Speed and it’s scenic setting. I’m proud to present The Loops of Maryhill as this week’s Image of the Week.

There is an incredible amount of history about Maryhill Loops Road and the area surrounding it. It was built from 1910 – 1913 as the first paved road in Washington by Sam Hill with Samuel Lancaster. Hill was the champion of “Good Roads” in our region and funded the construction in an effort to convince the government of the viability of a paved road through the Columbia River Gorge. That would lead directly to what is now the Columbia River Gorge Historic Highway that was designed by Lancaster.

In 1998 the Maryhill Museum of Art repaved and refurbished 3.6 miles of the road. This steep and curvy section now serves as the course for the Maryhill Festival of Speed each summer. The Loops of Maryhill was shot from near the starting point for the downhill longboarders near the famous Maryhill Tree. Racers in full leathers and helmets navigate the multitude of hairpin turns and steep downhill grade reaching very high speeds during the world championship level event.

Technical Specs:

  • RAW image with Nikon D300 @ 200 ISO
  • Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X116 Pro DX Digital Zoom Lens @ 11mm
  • 1/25 seconds @ ƒ/18
  • Sunday, July 3, 2011 @ 09:32
  • Maryhill Loops Road, Near Goldendale, Washington, USA

Gorge Serenity – One Year Image of the Week Anniversary

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Gorge Serenity

The Historic Columbia River Highway bridge over Multnomah Creek with Multnomah Falls in the background.

This week marks the one year anniversary of my Image of the Week posts. On March 29th of 2012 Column in Fogwas the first entry in the series. There are a few images that have come to represent my work that have been noticeable in their absence from this series. Gorge Serenity has become one of my signature images that I’ve been saving for a special post; I’m proud to present it as the One Year Anniversary Image of the Week.

Anyone who lives in the Portland area will remember the Arctic Blast of 2008. It was the biggest snow storm to hit our area in 40 years. In the early hours of Saturday, December 20th I decided to catch the Gorge blanketed in the snow that had already arrived before a major new storm hit. It was an adventure!

The big push of the storm was supposed to hit us in the early afternoon on Saturday. After checking the weather and road reports I loaded up at sunrise Saturday morning to visit my favorite place to play photographer, the Columbia River Gorge. The roads were pretty good on the way to the Dodson exit to access the Columbia River Historic Highway. Horsetail Falls was the fist stop where there was about 8 inches of new snow on the ground, it wasn’t as icy as I’ve seen it in the past but the snow really added to the scene. Multnomah (including the capture of Gorge Serenity) and Wahkeena falls were the next stops and were also blanketed in snow with more starting to fall and the wind picking up. My final stop was Latourell Falls where I spent quite a bit of time shooting different angles and trying to keep the mist from freezing on the lens.

It was passing eleven o’clock and time to head back for Portland before the weather got any worse. I headed back to the Escape and after knocking the ice off of the windshield wipers put my coat, gloves, and hat in the passenger seat to dry and my phone on the charger. That’s where the fun began!

Just after getting back on the historic highway I had to stop to knock another chunk of ice off of the driver’s side wiper that was causing a big blind spot. I picked a spot where I would be easily visible to any traffic that might come along and stopped in the road to hop out and knock off the ice. The problem is that I somehow locked the door, I still haven’t figured out how (the electric switch won’t lock the door with the engine running and in park so I somehow managed to hit the actual lock switch way up next to the door handle.) So, there I sat with the truck sitting in the middle of the road idling, doors locked, keys inside, phone inside, coat inside, and me outside. All I had was my light sweatshirt with a blizzard set to hit in the next few hours, in a deserted section of the gorge where the temperature was 19 degrees, and the wind and snow were picking up. Needless to say I was seriously kicking myself, I couldn’t believe I had managed to get myself into such a fix.

I started walking back towards the falls to see if I could find anyone at home in one of the homes down below. As I approached the parking lot I was very fortunate that a vehicle was approaching from the west. It was a Coast Guardsman and his visiting family and they very graciously called AAA for me and allowed me to warm up in their vehicle for a few minutes. While we waited for AAA to call back I saw a vehicle (it also happened to be an Escape) with state license plates approaching from the east and I flagged it down. Apparently my guardian angel was watching over me because the driver was the supervisor for the state parks in and around the Gorge. His name was Kevin and he went far above and beyond the call of duty to help me. After taking his family home he returned with coats for me to wear about the time AAA called back to say it would be at least two to three hours before help would arrive from Gresham. He let me use his phone to call Michelle so she could meet up with Todd who was in Troutdale and he could come rescue me. Kevin took me back to his house, fed me hot tea, and then took me back up to the Escape to wait for Todd. We had some nice conversation while we waited and he truly saved the day for me, before he arrived I was very close to deciding to break a window rather than waiting for AAA. Soon enough Todd arrived and we were back home eating brisket with the wives and kids before the brunt of the storm hit.

The trip produced a memorable story and one of my signature images. Kevin has a couple of framed 8x10s as a small thank you from a very grateful person! I hope you enjoy this series as much as I enjoy creating the images. Thanks for following year number one!

Historic Highway. Horsetail Falls was the fist stop where there was about 8 inches of new snow on the ground, it wasn’t as icy as I’ve seen it in the past but the snow really added to the scene. Multnomah (including the capture of Gorge Serenity) and Wahkeena falls were the next stops and were also blanketed in snow with more starting to fall and the wind picking up. My final stop was Latourell Falls where I spent quite a bit of time shooting different angles and trying to keep the mist from freezing on the lens.

It was passing eleven o’clock and time to head back for Portland before the weather got any worse. I headed back to the Escape and after knocking the ice off of the windshield wipers put my coat, gloves, and hat in the passenger seat to dry and my phone on the charger. That’s where the fun began!

Just after getting back on the historic highway I had to stop to knock another chunk of ice off of the driver’s side wiper that was causing a big blind spot. I picked a spot where I would be easily visible to any traffic that might come along and stopped in the road to hop out and knock off the ice. The problem is that I somehow locked the door, I still haven’t figured out how (the electric switch won’t lock the door with the engine running and in park so I somehow managed to hit the actual lock switch way up next to the door handle.) So, there I sat with the truck sitting in the middle of the road idling, doors locked, keys inside, phone inside, coat inside, and me outside. All I had was my light sweatshirt with a blizzard set to hit in the next few hours, in a deserted section of the gorge where the temperature was 19 degrees, and the wind and snow were picking up. Needless to say I was seriously kicking myself, I couldn’t believe I had managed to get myself into such a fix.

I started walking back towards the falls to see if I could find anyone at home in one of the homes down below. As I approached the parking lot I was very fortunate that a vehicle was approaching from the west. It was a Coast Guardsman and his visiting family and they very graciously called AAA for me and allowed me to warm up in their vehicle for a few minutes. While we waited for AAA to call back I saw a vehicle (it also happened to be an Escape) with state license plates approaching from the east and I flagged it down. Apparently my guardian angel was watching over me because the driver was the supervisor for the state parks in and around the Gorge. His name was Kevin and he went far above and beyond the call of duty to help me. After taking his family home he returned with coats for me to wear about the time AAA called back to say it would be at least two to three hours before help would arrive from Gresham. He let me use his phone to call Michelle so she could meet up with Todd who was in Troutdale and he could come rescue me. Kevin took me back to his house, fed me hot tea, and then took me back up to the Escape to wait for Todd. We had some nice conversation while we waited and he truly saved the day for me, before he arrived I was very close to deciding to break a window rather than waiting for AAA. Soon enough Todd arrived and we were back home eating brisket with the wives and kids before the brunt of the storm hit.

The trip produced a memorable story and one of my signature images. Kevin has a couple of framed 8x10s as a small thank you from a very grateful person! I hope you enjoy this series as much as I enjoy creating the images. Thanks for following year number one!

Technical Specs:

  • RAW image with Nikon D300 @ 200 ISO
  • Tokina AT-X 124 AF PRO DX – AF 12-24mm f/4 @ 12mm
  • 1/15 seconds @ ƒ/16
  • Saturday, December 20, 2008 @ 09:29
  • Multnomah Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon, USA

 

Bursts of Color

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Bursts of Color

Fireworks over the Willamette River.

This week’s Image of the Week is the fourth image that is currently hanging in the Gresham Visual Arts Gallery. Bursts of Color is a fireworks shot with a few different stories behind it.

The fireworks event was one of the last family events we shared with Robin before his passing. His company had a company picnic scheduled for Independence Day weekend of 2011 that featured a private fireworks show on the Willamette River. However, flood conditions swamped the island that the show was to be launched from and the event was rescheduled for Labor Day weekend. We all knew that Robin’s health was on the decline so were very pleased when we were all invited to share the event with him.

During the fireworks show I found a location near the water to shoot from without people in the field of view. This shot was captured in the later stages of the show, but was not the finale. I used a technique for long exposure to capture multiple bursts in the same frame. The capture is 14.8 seconds in length which would typically blow all of the highlights and make for an unusable result. In fact, I used a piece of thick black poster board to cover the lens element for the majority of the exposure (from a tripod). I moved it away in a few quick bursts as the various shells reached their most colorful points. The actual time exposed was probably closer to 1 or 1.5 seconds of the time the shutter was open. The final result is effectively a multiple exposure showing several bursts captured in one frame.

This shot, printed onto aluminum, is hanging in the home of the gentleman who owns the company and hosted the party. It was presented to him by Robin and some of his coworkers. It meant a great deal to Robin and therefore to my family. A framed print is featured in the Gresham Art Committee‘s Passport to Adventure show running through April 4th.

Technical Specs:

  • RAW image with Nikon D300 @ 200 ISO
  • Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX AF 11-16mm f/2.8 Lens @ 14mm
  • 14.8 seconds @ ƒ/8
  • Sunday, September 4, 2011 @ 21:12
  • Willamette River, Portland, Oregon, USA

Hugging Tulips

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Hugging Tulips

Purple and Pink at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival

This week’s Image of the Week falls on Valentine’s Day so a floral image seemed appropriate. Hugging Tulips was captured at the 2006 Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival.

One of my favorite spring activities in Oregon is the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival near Woodburn. It is alive with color, a photographer’s dream. This image came from my first trip to the fields. One of the things my wife asked for was a good photo of a purple tulip, so my eyes were pealed for the color. This pair caught my eye as it appeared the two tulips were hugging one another. It was one of Michelle’s favorites as well.

The Wooden shoe has been the subject of many photos including Spring Colors of Oregon; a previous Image of the Week.

Technical Specs:

  • RAW image with Nikon D50 @ 200 ISO
  • Tamron AF70-300 LD @ @ 210mm
  • 1/250th of a Second @ ƒ/5
  • Saturday, April 18, 2006 @ 13:45
  • Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival, near Woodburn, Oregon, USA

Winter Sun on Mount Hood

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Winter Sun on Mount Hood

Sunny winter day on Mount Hood, Oregon. Image captured as an ultra high resolution GigaPan image.

I had the opportunity to rent and try out a GigaPan a few weeks ago. I’ve been intrigued by the work others have been doing with the systems and anxious to try it myself. I’m proud to present Winter Sun on Mount Hood in both standard and GigaPan versions as this week’s Image of the Week.

A GigaPan unit is a robotic camera platform that mounts on a tripod and in turn has your camera mounted on it. They sell three models for different sizes of cameras ranging from point and shoot all of the way up to full sized SLRs. The unit I rented from Pro Photo Supply is the GigaPan Epic Pro which handles any of my SLRs and controls the camera via it’s remote control port. Bruce Ely has been particularly responsible for my interest in the technique with his GigaPan of the Blazers game and an infrared capture of Mt. Hood. The capture of President Obama’s inauguration by David Bergman is probably the most visible example of what can be done with a GigaPan unit with over 14 million views.

I had the unit for the three day weekend prior to New Years. I had been out shooting both Friday and Saturday and learning a bit more each day about how to get the most out of the system. As it turns out I had an additional challenge; the unit was in need of servicing and was not as stable as it should have been (especially with a heavier lens I had used earlier in the weekend). The folks at Pro Photo Supply and GigaPan both took good care of me and were very helpful in aiding me to get the most out of a less than ideal situation.

For my Mount Hood shoot I waited for the clear skies that were forecast for Sunday. I had scouted out a couple of locations that would provide a good point of view and still allow me to get back into Portland for some shooting I wanted to do there. Unfortunately, the first location I had in mind near Sandy has turned into private property and now has a house sitting on it and the second had low clouds obstructing the view. I decided to head up the mountain and perhaps shoot from a spot I know near Government Camp or off of Highway 35. Once again low clouds interfered with both of those plans and the huge crowds heading for the mountain on such a beautiful day ate up a big chunk of the day with traffic. I ultimately had to punt and shoot from along Highway 26 just west of Government Camp, not the point of view I had in mind but interesting none the less.

Camera Setup

Once the unit is set up on location you determine the zoom level you want to shoot and program that field of view into the GigaPan robot. Longer lenses or zoom settings will produce more detail in the final image, but will also take longer and require more shots to capture. Shorter lenses or zoom settings are captured faster and with less images but will not give the same level of detail when stitched together.

Next you program the GigaPan for the panorama by setting the top left and lower right images you want to capture. This shoot consisted of 180 images (20 columns in 9 rows) from a Nikon D7000 with a Nikon 70-300vr at 300mm for maximum resolution. I shot three bracketed images at each grid location which was also automated by the GigaPan for a completely hands free shoot. The idea was to have the raw materials to do an HDR version if I chose to, but the 0ev images proved to be all that was needed. It took about 16 minutes to capture the 540 initial images (including the unused brackets). Because there were some thin clouds that snuck across the scene I then recaptured several of the key grid locations to allow them to be stitched in to the final image in place of the originals.

The GigaPan of the final result is below and can be viewed full screen at it’s home on gigapan.com. Use the controls on the left to zoom and pan. [It's come to my attention that this may not display properly on the front page of Kroll Images; you can view it on the page for this post.]

Software results.

Once I was able to process it back home the original GigaPan was 1138 Megapixels (62100×18328). (Here is a reprocess of the original which I had deleted in the meantime, the mismatches are because I put the substitute frames in this reprocess). As you can see the blending needed to be expanded to deal with some lighting changes and it needed to be cropped down a bit. The software stats for the final GigaPan are at left, as you can see it gives you quite a bit of information about the stitching and shoot. The system had shifted a bit after the original capture and before the additional shots (due to the service issue) so any replacement grids would need to be done manually. I had also intentionally shot more than I needed so the final result could be a rectangular crop. I took it into Photoshop and cropped to it’s current 919.2 MP size (54299×16929) before I did the final edits.

In Photoshop I blended in portions of two substitute frames (subbing in Hood Giga 0ev Row 4 Col 06 (2) and Hood Giga 0ev Row 5 Col 09 (2)) to deal with clouds that snuck accross the scene on the original shoot. I did shoot brackets but did not use them for this stitch. Images were 0.002 second exposures at ƒ/11 with a 300mm zoom on a 1.5 crop sensor equating to 450mm 35mm equivalent. I used the larger blending region in Stitch.

Those with sharp eyes will see skiers on the Magic Mile and Palmer Runs at Timberline along with the more obvious structures and snow cat. There is also a hawk or eagle that ended up in a frame just about dead center on the mountain (in one of the substitute frames).

16mm Standard image

Overall I am pleased with the final result and even more intrigued by the possibilities of what can be done with the GigaPan. The amount of detail that can be extracted is phenomenal in comparison to a standard shot from a similar perspective like the one at right. I look forward to renting it again, learning even more, and sharing the images here.

Technical Specs:

  • 180 RAW images with Nikon D7000 @ 100 ISO
  • Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED IF AF-S VR Nikkor Zoom Lens @ 300mm
  • 1/500th of a Second @ ƒ/11
  • Sunday, December 30, 2012 @ 13:11 – 13:27
  • US Highway 26, near Government Camp, Oregon, USA

Kroll Images 2012 Collage Mosaik

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Kroll Images 2012 Collage Mosaik

Mosaic collage made up of thousands of images captured in 2012.

The final week of 2012 has arrived and I wanted a way to remember some photo highlights from the year. This week’s Image of the Week is a collage that at first glance consists of 14 photos captured in 2012. A closer inspection reveals that Kroll Images 2012 Collage Mosaik is actually made up of thousands of images from 2012.

Kroll Images 2012 Collage

Kroll Images 2012 Collage

The first step was to create a collage of some of my favorite images from the year. I used Picture Collage Maker for Mac to create this final version after playing with several different layout options. The images were chosen to represent some of the memorable photo shoots, moments, and events from the year for Kroll Images. Nelscott Garden of Color made a colorful background that would lend itself to a mosaic with a variety of different source images.

Callout of a small section

Callout of a small section

I used Mosaik to create the mosaic after playing with several different software solutions. The software has a number of different options to create various types and sizes of mosaic images. Kroll Images 2012 Collage Mosaik was created as a standard mosaic with thousands of gridded images blended to create a representation of the original. The full size mosaic is 600 megapixels, uses over 175MB of disk space as a JPEG, and could print a full resolution 300dpi image over 25 feet wide! It took nearly 4 hours to render on very fast Mac dedicated to only this process.

Mosaik Techniques

Mosaik Techniques

The software can also create mosaics with scattered images. I created a companion image using this technique which skews the component images to best match the source image.

The Mosaik software chose the component images from all 2012 captures through December 23rd of 2012. This gave it over 37,000 images to choose from to create the best possible match to the original. As you can see from the comparison above the standard and scatter techniques in some cases chose different images to create the mosaics.

If you’ve been at any of the events I’ve shot this year there is a good chance you are in the mosaics! Both images are available to download at full 10,000 x 6,667 resolution for free a limited time. If you’d like to search for images of yourself or see the images in more detail simply follow the links to their image pages and select download (note that this is for personal use and Kroll Images retains all copyrights to the images). Be aware that they are large files (about 27MBs each), so make sure you have the space and bandwidth to have a good experience with them!

Don’t forget to download your free 2013 Kroll Images 8×10 calendar while you are here! Here’s wishing you a very happy and healthy new year!

Technical Specs:

Nelscott Garden of Color

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Nelscott Garden of Color

Tide pooling on Nelscott Reef during extraordinary low tides coinciding with the Super Moon. These pools are only exposed a few times a year.

With the tragedy that hit our community this week and the fact that it seams to get dark about 3 in the afternoon these days I thought a bright and colorful image was called for. This image is from spring break along the Oregon Coast, I’m proud to present Nelscott Garden of Color as this week’s Image of the Week.

We were very fortunate to be in and around Lincoln City to coincide with the super moon this past May. The super moon brings with it extraordinarily low tides exposing tide pools that may only see the sun a handful of times each year. On this particular day it was a -1.5 and after shooting most of the night under the light of the Super Moon I headed for Nelscott Reef below Spanish Head.

Camera Setup

Camera Setup

I climbed through a small opening in the rocks to an open area that was teaming with color in multiple pools. I had to tread very lightly to be sure and not trample any of the delicates sea life. Nelscott Garden of Color is an HDR blending of three images. The shots were captured with the D7000 on a tripod using the Tokina 11-16 at it’s widest setting. As you can see the lighting was quite challenging as I faced nearly due south to capture the images. I wanted to be sure to capture enough RAW data to pull the vibrant colors from the shadows. I knew it would be an HDR in it’s final product so that allowed me to use a longer exposure to pull the detail from the dark crevice without concern to the fact it would blow the brighter areas of the scene.

Source Image 1

Source Image 1

Source Image 2

Source Image 2

Source Image 3

Source Image 3

The three source images were combined using HDRtist Pro. This is a recent addition to my software arsenal and has quickly become a staple. While it is not as customizable as the tools in Photoshop it is very fast and often produces excellent results in a fraction of the time. When it works it really streamlines my workflow, and if the results are not to my liking I haven’t wasted very much time before moving on to Photoshop or another tool. In this case I was very pleased with the results with a minimum of tweaking.

I hope this splash of color brightens your winter day and it’s peak at one of nature’s wonders lifts your spirit!

Technical Specs:

  • RAW images with Nikon D7000 @ 200 ISO
  • Tokina 11-16mm F/2.8 ATX Pro DX Autofocus Zoom Lens @ 11mm
  • 3/10th, 1/8th, & 1/5th of a Second @ ƒ/8
  • Sunday, May 6, 2012 @ 08:28
  • Nelscott Reef, Lincoln City, Oregon, USA

Autumn Falls

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Autumn Falls

Autumn leaves framing Horsetail Falls in the Columbia River Gorge.

Last Friday I made my way out to the Columbia River Gorge for the first time in much too long. The past several months have been very busy and I haven’t had the opportunity to visit one of my favorite places. The prime time for fall colors has come and gone, but Horsetail Falls still had a large quantity of leaves on the ground. I’m proud to present Autumn Falls as this week’s Image of the Week.

I spent a few hours touring some of the iconic and easily reached waterfalls along the historic highway. I only had a few hours of light after leaving work in the early afternoon, sunset was at about 4:30 in this first week of standard time. Horestail was my final stop and light was quickly escaping me.

I knew that I wanted bracketed images for an HDR final result, so the tripod was a necessity. One of the few things I’m not fond of in the D7000 is the fact that it only brackets 3 images. That means in order to get I wide bracket set I have to shoot multiple bursts and use exposure compensation to achieve 5 or 7 bracketed images. The D300 has a clear advantage here, but I wanted the higher resolution and better noise containment that the D7000 offers.

I captured several image groups while I was there, but this one was really what I was looking for from the start. I wanted something that had good fall color in the foreground along with the falls in the background. As I captured the first group from the upper level I saw this pile of leaves along the stone wall below and knew it would make a great foreground.

I used a new piece of software for the High Dynamic Range conversion. I recently acquired HDRtist Pro for the Mac. I’ve been quite impressed with it’s output for quick conversions. Photoshop still offers better fine control, but HDRtist Pro is very fast and easy to use and often provides very good results in a fraction of the time. It is also very affordable at less than $30, I highly recommend it for my Mac friends!

Technical Specs:

  • 5 RAW images with Nikon D7000 @ 100 ISO
  • Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX (AF 11-16mm f/2.8) @ 11mm
  • 2.5, 5, 10, 15, & 30 seconds @ ƒ/20
  • Friday, November 9, 2012 @ 16:51
  • Horsetail Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon, USA

Leonard’s First Field Goal

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Leonard's First Field Goal

Meyers Leonard’s first NBA field goal on the sweet dime from Damian Lillard who drew the defense of Dwight Howard.

This week’s Image of the Week is a departure. It combines my passion for photography with that for basketball and the Portland Trail Blazers. Last night was the season opener and featured the very promising debut of two new rookies. In Leonard’s First Field Goal they combine on a play early in the victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Sometimes photography is more about capturing the memory than it is about the quality of the image. Shooting from my seat in the upper level of the Rose Garden Arena is a perfect example. My goal was to try to catch the first points and assist from Damian Lillard and the first points and rebound from Meyers Leonard for my own photo scrapbook. Cameras with removable lenses are not allowed in the stands so the WX10 was my tool. That requires a bit of anticipation to capture the image, and some compromises to image quality with a higher ISO. The image is certainly not of gallery quality, but the memory is!

As it happened Leonard’s first points were free throws. Leonard’s First Field Goal however was one to remember! You could see the play developing all of the way from my perch on the far corner (although apparently not from Gasol’s perspective as he failed to rotate). Lillard drove past Steve Nash drawing help from the paint in the form of Dwight Howard. This left Leonard all by himself busting to the hoop just in time to hammer home the perfectly placed lob.

It was a game I won’t soon forget, in part because I have these photos to supplement my memories. Even when circumstance prevents the use of your full camera bag, an image can still be worth a 1000 words!

Technical Specs:

  • JPEG image with Sony DSC-WX10  @ 800 ISO
  • Integrated Lens @ 30mm
  • 1/125th of a Second @ ƒ/5.9
  • Wednesday, October 31, 2012 @ 20:47
  • Rose Garden Arena, Portland, Oregon, USA

One Me, Two Me, No Me

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One Me, Two Me, No Me

Ghostly double self portrait night shot in front of Carl’s Cabin in Sumpter, Oregon.

Our family pilgrimage to Eastern Oregon provided some unique shooting opportunities for me to play with night images. This this week’s Image of the Week was captured exactly four and a half hours after last weeks. I call this double self-portrait One Me, Two Me, No Me.

Sumpter is a very small town and I wanted to do some exploring on foot after we arrived in the wee hours of the morning. This small hunting cabin was very near where we were staying. It caught my eye right away as a good place to experiment with some long exposures. When I first started walking I took a few quick JPEG shots before heading to the Sumpter Valley Dredge.

On my way back from the dredge I set up for some more images at the hunting cabin. This time I shot in RAW+JPEG and experimented more with the light and ghostly self-portraits. In low light situations it takes a very long exposure for the camera to capture the scene in front of it. You can take advantage of that by moving things around within the scene during the exposure that will be ghosted in the final image. There was a street light that provided a few challenges just out of the top right of the frame, but the building had so much character I couldn’t resist it as a backdrop. Because of that side light I backed the camera down to 100 ISO to extend the exposure as long as I could and keep the digital noise to a minimum. I did have the aperture all of the way open at ƒ/2.8 to try to gather as much sky and background light as possible without introducing unnecessary noise. The D7000 was on my tripod and I used the remote control to trigger the bulb manual exposure.

With the camera all set up for the shot it was time to execute. From the previous exposures I knew that I wanted about a sixty second exposure. I triggered the camera using the remote from the left hand position as you view the image. I used the timer on my iPod to prompt me to move to the other spot after about 25 seconds. After another 25 seconds I walked out of the frame and closed the exposure from behind the camera. The camera then captures me and the background behind me in both locations giving the ghostly appearance. It is not able to capture me moving between the spots or out of the frame because I’m never in one spot long enough while in motion.

Split JPEG/RAW

Split comparison of the corrected RAW vs. the JPEG (and what the original RAW looked like).

Back at the computer I made a few adjustments to the RAW capture to result in the final image. Out of the camera the image looked like the JPEG version with a significant color cast caused by the artificial light coming from the street lamp along with the heat generated on the camera’s sensor during the exposure. I used Apple Apertureto color correct the image with a white balance adjustment. I also made a curves adjustment to balance the whites and blacks in the image and boosted the shadows and contrast slightly.

A RAW capture gives you much more latitude to make these adjustments without compromising the quality of the image.

There are quite a few subtle details worth noting in the final image. You can easily see “through” my ghosted images to what is behind me while everything else in the scene is solid. The street lamp causes shadows from right to left across the scene, there was very little moonlight on this evening. There is a slight ghost of the street lamp and it’s light in the background tree on the right. You can see subtle star trails starting to emerge from the roughly one minute exposure (most noticeable in the bright star just up and to the right from the flag pole). Without the street light it would have been possible to do a longer exposure and have more pronounced star trails.

I did have an audience during this shoot. Four deer stood and watched me set up, they were only a few yards behind the camera as I shot. They were not willing photo subjects however, I couldn’t convince them to stay stationary for 30 seconds for a low light capture!

Technical Specs:

  • RAW image with Nikon D7000 @ 100 ISO
  • Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X Lens @ 16mm
  • 58.6 Seconds @ ƒ/2.8
  • Sunday, September 16, 2012 @ 02:48
  • Sumpter, Oregon, USA