Spring Continues

Spring Buds at White Oak Marsh — Jordan Lake, NC

The new 70-300mm lens has been a bit tough to determine whether it was working properly since it first arrived. Originally, it was a camera firmware update that was the culprit for the lens and camera not “talking” to one another, and then I found that the old polarizer I had left over from the “film days” did not provide the sharpness I would like (maybe I’m too critical), so I ordered a circular polarizer and determined it was a bit sharper. However, while testing it, I found that after several shots, the wireless remote failed to trigger the shutter. At first I thought it was the original focus problem resurfacing, but instead, it seemed that the remote shutter release battery had failed, and when it was replaced with a spare from my bag, it began to fire again. Since I only needed a few more frames for the testing, I figured the problem was solved. But I wanted to give it another try out in the field the next morning with everything working properly to ensure there were no other issues that would impact the lens itself. With firmware and circular polarizer in place, along with an operating remote release, returning to the White Oak Marsh, I took three shots with the remote, and it again failed to trigger the shutter!! Now I was feeling really frustrated, but in one last attempt to get things working properly, I replaced the battery in the remote again with one I had placed in the bag for a spare…and it began working again. I figured that I had probably replaced the battery once before, put the old battery back in the bag and had forgotten to replace it with a new, fresh battery. I had replaced the dead battery the day before with another dead battery!! So now, with everything working as intended, I could concentrate on the spring buds at White Oak Marsh again without any distractions from the equipment. Finally, it seemed the lens worked fine without any reservations.

Morning Mist at White Oak Marsh – Jordan Lake, NC

I was glad to get the remote working again because I found during the last fiasco that even tripping the shutter with the self-timer caused a bit of blur when zoomed out to the full 300mm. Using a remote release with the mirror lock-up keeps things razor-sharp, and that is the preferred method with every shot, no matter what lens is in use. With the mist rising from the marsh waters as the sun came up over the far tree line, it was backlit by the sun and keeping it out of the frame eliminated the need for two or more differently exposed frames because of the tonal range being too great to capture in a single frame; and since there were no clouds in the sky, the sun would detract from the focus on the rising mist.

Change of Plans

Filtered Light — White Oak Marsh, NC © jj raia

Last Saturday night I checked the Clear Outside App for the cloud cover forecast at sunrise the next morning, and since it predicted about 35% high cloud cover, I intended to head out to Falls Lake in hopes of some dramatic sunrise light. So, as is usually the case, the alarm went off at O-Dark-Thirty, quietly got dressed and gathered all the gear, but had second thoughts. The lake really didn’t offer many differing opportunities other than just the water hopefully reflecting the beautiful sky. But if that didn’t materialize, it would most likely be a zero. So I thought about taking a shorter drive to the bridge over Oak Creek Marsh which, at this time of year, should have the sun coming up beyond the water there. It has quite a few standing snags, stumps and other things of interest, rather than simply the large expanse of water at Falls Lake. Of course, if things fizzled out at the marsh, I would be kicking myself for having changed my mind!!

Sunrise at White Oak Marsh © jj raia

Arriving with just a hint of light on the horizon, it appeared the sun would rise close to the stretch of water that flows through the marsh, so that part of the equation worked out. As for the sky, I don’t know where the other 30% of the clouds were, but they weren’t there. I suppose they left town early. The sunrise had some color, but not much in the way of clouds. I managed to gingerly make my way down from the road, through the jumbled rock pile to the water’s edge for a single shot before the color began to disappear. But it was not a very clean image, with too many distractions along with many of the elements blended together in large dark areas without definition. If I had stayed up on the road, I would have seen more of the water further into the scene, but lost some of the reflections of color, and would have had to shoot through some trees, further filling the frame with black shapes. Moving over toward the bridge would have a clear view, but the reflection of the sunrise colors would have shifted over the land and been lost all together. There were options, but none of them great.

Deeper into Digital

What Kind of Lens Would Take This?   © jj raia

There hasn’t been a new piece of equipment added to my camera bag since the purchase of my first (and only) DSLR back in 2012 when I finally left the world of film behind and never looked back. So I was a little excited when a replacement for an old manual focus 80-200mm lens arrived. The main drawback of the lens was, of course, the manual focus; but also the lens rotates as you focus, meaning the polarizing filter that was always attached, altered the image as it was rotated. So when it was focused, the polarizer needed to be adjusted, which sometimes rotated the lens a bit, so another slight adjustment to focus was needed. With my eyesight not what it once was, I figured it was finally time for an auto-focus lens. Another lovely perk of my continuing advancement in age, I have found I can no longer hand-hold the camera steady enough to maintain sharpness, and I’ve always wanted a bit more reach than the 200mm end provided. So I opted for a right-out-of-the-box, brand, spanking, new 70-300mm lens with the accompanying bells and whistles of some new fangled auto-focus motor (with corresponding switches), vibration reduction (also, with corresponding switches) and quite a few rave reviews for sharpness, figuring this leap in technology was about to make my photographic experiences that much easier and more fruitful. Just a few simple tests to determine everything was fine and I would be off to the races with the new addition.

70-200mm Manual Focus Lens

But I have to gripe a minute or two here as there is one feature the old lens had that I will truly miss. Almost all lenses today are auto focus, and therefore do not have external focus rings (most are now internal) with distance markings, or f/stop markings on the  lens barrel as older prime lenses did, and in some cases, even zoom lenses as this one. My new, super-duper-techno lens has neither, not even a little window to see at what distance it is focused. There is no sure fire way to set the focus for hyper-focal distances whereby you can immediately determine what would be in focus for your chosen f/stop simply by reading the markings on the focus ring and barrel of the lens!! In the picture above, the old (outdated?) lens is set at  the blue f/22, with the corresponding f/stop under the black dot. By setting the focus ring as seen here, using the corresponding blue lines, the infinity marking lines up with the blue line on one side, and the 5-meter mark on the opposite side of the center white line. So you would then know that everything from about 15ft. to infinity is in focus. Done!! Simple and Easy!! Nothing like it on the new lenses for that determination!! But I digress.

Revisits

Faded Panel No.4 — Rocky Mount, NC © jj raia

It is not a revelation that revisiting a specific location under differing conditions of light, time of day or year, or different weather conditions, can produce different photographs from the previous visit. But the simple fact of being there again also allows you to capture things that may not have been seen initially. This is especially true for the natural landscape, but can be equally true when wandering around an urban landscape as well. During a visit to Rocky Mount, NC early last November under a cloudless, blue sky, most of the images I photographed were of subjects that fell in the shade at the time, with a few areas even enhanced with some reflected light that is often sought after in the “natural” landscape. A more recent visit a week ago to the same block under overcast skies was a completely different experience from the one in November. Of course, some of the reflected light was missing, but the entire area was now under even light. Harsh light was not an obstacle to overcome as it was in the first visit, and the only restriction was what to put within your frame. Everything you could see was a possible photograph unrestricted by the lighting from the sun. One image I wanted to take in November was ruined by the shadow of overhead wires falling across the image above, and even though I took the shot, the shadows were too much of a distraction. But this time, I was free to utilize the entire board in any way to create something from the chaos of swirling colors and fading paint. There were countless options unhindered by the shadows.

Yellow Wall — Rocky Mount, NC © jj raia

While some photos are more easily photographed with the even light of an overcast sky, they may lose some of the texture and character. Although I had shot this yellow door in November with the advantage of the sunlight raking across the surface of the wall and enhancing the textures (below), as a way to illustrate the difference the light can make, I shot the image above under the overcast light a week ago. It resulted in a completely flat and lifeless image compared to its sunlit counterpart. Sometimes the light can be an advantage as it is here, but if it were only few minutes later as the sun moved across the sky, the wall would have fallen in shadow and been rendered as lifeless as the image above.

Yellow Brick Wall – Rocky Mount, NC © jj raia

Some possibilities throughout the area as I wandered were textural, with or without an implied subject or focal point, utilizing the swirling patterns of a painted plywood panel (top), or the strict geometry of a garage door and concrete wall (below).

Faded Black Patterns — Rocky Mount, NC © jj raia

Sometimes, it is not only the flaking and peeling paint that creates the interest, it may be more about the harmonious colors that wander around the frame. The blue sky reflections on the door handle below, in a minor way enhances the harmony of color that would have been lost on the overcast day. And shooting in the shade with a blue sky above will usually give an overall blue cast to your image which you can use to your advantage, eliminate in post processing, or artificially add it in post processing to an image that otherwise lacks that blue cast.

Door Detail – Rocky Mount, NC © jj raia

Some photos might depict an implied history beyond the eroding paint or graphics, while others may simply be an exercise in texture and/or shapes. But it certainly is fun to lose yourself in the past, whether it is the more recent, where time is measured in decades, or the more distant past, where it is measured in millenia.

White Wall — Rocky Mount, NC © jj raia