We are into the foggy season here in the Northwest. It comes on with the transition from fall to winter. We only have a little moisture in the air out here in the Northwest (really) so it is easy to get days where the air temperature drops enough to create fog (technically speaking when the temperature and dew point are within about 4 degrees).  But don’t worry about the technical definition. If you see a change in the weather forecast from a warm trend to a cool trend and you have moisture – look for fog.

I love to shoot on quiet foggy mornings. It is so peaceful and the subtle hues of color are great. This week I had another chance to go back to the vineyard near my home. The blog images were taken there.

As I was coming back from a fall color shoot I noticed there were still a couple flowers blooming in the yard. I had been itching to create some additions to my “Floral Fusion” portfolio.  Unlike the past, I left these flowers in place (vs. bringing them into the studio). The wind was calm enough and a pop out diffuser provided shade when needed. As in the past these images are a blend (or fusion) of multiple exposures. Sometimes they are blended in camera and sometimes in Photoshop using layers and a brush. I used the later for both of these images. As you can see they both proved to be great subjects and the color mix of the backgrounds was great.

Blog Images: Both of these are textured glass blends: morning glory and kaffir lilies.

In the search for fall color I have driven around a bit, but it turns out there was some great subject matter right next door – well more like the other side of the hill. David Hill Winery is just a couple minutes from my home (I live on part of the hill). A while back I asked the owners about being able to photograph there outside of their regular hours. They said sure, no problem. So the last couple of days I have taken them up on that – late evening and early morning. It has been great fun shooting in and around the vineyard. All the vines are bright yellow and seem to glow after sunset. Unfortunately the grapes have been harvested, so no grape images but I am more than happy with what is there.

What do you have next door waiting?

Blog Images:

1) This is just a straight shot taking advantage of the evening glow just after sunset. The quality of light was exceptional.

2) This was taken the next morning just as the sun was starting to light up the tops of the vines. This is a 0.4sec pan where the camera is moving along the angle of the vines.

It is fall again and the effort to find new and exciting images is well underway. While color has been sparse in some areas, there is still great color to be found in others. I visited one of my favorite fall locations again this year – the Portland Hoyt Arboretum. There is one particular group of trees at the arboretum that tends to have the best color and groupings. I have shot there multiple times now. The blog image is a 0.4sec pan with a branch from the front tree close to the camera on the left and around the top. A wide angle (17mm) let me get this perspective. The image has only had tonal, color saturation and touch up work done in the post processing. The rest of the “look” comes from the camera panning action.

Now and then we are fortunate enough to witness a sunburst in the fog – where the sun breaks though a span of trees and magically we see sun rays shooting off in every direction. That was the case Friday morning this past week as I was driving to work. The phenomenon actually went on for quite a while as I stood there with my tripod trying different compositions as the sun rose up the trees creating various sunburst patterns. Sometimes I kept the sun behind a tree trunk and in others I let it peak out as in the image above. As with most back lit shots the exposure had to be adjusted off of that indicated by the auto exposure. I also used auto bracketing to generate HDR image data. This image was processed with Nik’s new HDR Efx Pro – keeping it very natural.

Looking through a friend’s images on Flickr, I was reminded of how much impact an empty chair can have in an image. I just presented a brief talk at my local photo club on shooting and processing for emotional impact so I am thinking about it this morning.

I have shot quite a few empty benches, picnic tables, etc in my time. They seem to draw me in. Perhaps they represent  loss or grief, loneliness or maybe a place we wish to be. I know one client feels the later about the second image; so much so she ordered a large framed print. What do they say to you? What do they make you feel?

Before the flowers are all gone,I wanted to create a couple more floral fusion images from my garden. One of my favorite flowers is the Windflower, shown above, that blooms late in the summer. Using moving textured glass techniques I created this  image by blending a straight high depth of field shot with one where the shutter speed was around a 1/2 sec with a moving piece of textured glass in between the camera and flower. No paint programs are involved.

As I have noted in previous blogs it pays to hang around after sunset. Once the golden hour has passed the blue hour begins. I continue to be amazed at how many photographers pick up their tripods and leave once the sun sets. That was the case at my recent sunset shoot at Bandon beach. Not to be critical, but they are missing out. Some of the most spectacular orange and blue tone combinations occur during this time. The blog image is just a taste of what can be seen. It was taken a good 30 minutes after sunset. Tripods required.

Face rock on Bondon beach at sunset. This image required a bit of footwork to get to the place where the sun would set in the eye of Face rock. I had hoped to get a star burst on the eye, but multiple attempts failed. Instead I went with this look. It makes me think of a how it feels to put your face in the sun after a long period of cloudy days, which happens a lot in Oregon.