Last Light on Half Dome

Physics was never one of my favorite classes as I took nearly two years of it in college, but I was fortunate upon graduating to get a job at the world's leading color printer manufacturer, where I was able to apply what I learned about the properties of light.  One of the interesting things about light and human color perception is that light which we perceive as having different colors can blend together to form other colors.  Blending primary colors red, green and blue results in colorless white light.  This property of light being "additive" and creating new colors has practical applications in landscape photography.  

When you see an orange object, what color is it?  You perceive that the object is orange, but orange is actually the wavelength of the light reflected, so in a sense the object itself is every color but orange, orange is the light it doesn't absorb, the color of the light it rejects and sends towards us.  As a photographer that colored light reflected off of objects is what you're trying to capture.  

There are times when scattered light in the sky contributes a lot of the light on the landscape, and reflections off of the objects you're viewing and off of dust particles in the air change the color of what you're trying to take a picture of.   The scattered light is changing the color of the objects in your scene, applying what you'll perceive as a color-reducing or color-muddying influence.  Fortunately reflected light is polarized, so you can use a polarizing filter to reduce the effect scattered light has on the scene, and reduce the interference it has with the colors in your shot.  Some people think of polarizing filters as "enhancing" a shot, when actually it's arguably more accurate to think of them as unmasking and enabling you to more accurately record the light and colors which already exist in the scene.

This ability of polarizing filters to help us better see a scene's color and reduced scattered and reflected light is why I recommend considering them as one of my top tips for landscape photography:

16 Tips for Better Landscape Photography
http://activesole.blogspot.com/2007/10/16-steps-to-great-results.html

Polarizing filters get somewhat of a bad reputation for working inconsistently across a wide section of blue sky, but there are a few simple characteristics you can understand about them and improve your success rate with them.  First of all, in the sky light is polarized most at angles perpendicular to the direction sunlight is coming from .  So if the sun is setting due west, the light being reflected in the sky is most polarized due north and due south.  Second, a wide angle lens covers a wide range of compass directions, so the polarization will be uneven across the sky it covers.  Once you understand these simple characteristics, you can watch for the negative effects in wide shots and remove the polarizing filter when it's creating undesirable effects, but still take advantage of polarizing filters when your focal length is longer (as in this image captured at 144mm) or when the light in a wider shot isn't displaying an objectionable range of uneven polarization, such as when you're shooting closer to directly towards or away from the sun and there's less strong and a lower range of polarization across the scene.

This image was taken during one of my recent landscape photography workshops in Yosemite National Park.  I recommend that photographers bring polarizing filters for their lenses, and it often surprises me how many have such a strong negative bias against polarizers that they either refuse to bring one on the trip at all, or they have them along but leave them in their camera bag back in the car when they set out to capture sunset shots.  If I have a compatible filter size I'll loan them one of mine, and they can see the difference for themselves.  That's one of the values of a photography workshop.  If you have an experienced and knowledgeable instructor, they can help you anticipate and uncover opportunities which you may overlook in your current shooting practices.  It's not that their approach is any "better" simply that if the really have been exploring a range of techniques full time for years, they can help you evaluate new approaches and  consider them when you approach given shooting situations, perhaps saving you the years it might take to go through a similar process of discovery and learning.

Anyone can take a few good pictures and offer a landscape photography workshop.   Not everyone has truly spent enough time in the field, and explored and mastered a wide range of situations and techniques, to have a lot to teach you.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III camera
Canon 70-200mm f/4 IS L Series lens at 155mm focal length
Marumi Super Cicrcular PLD filter
Sirui T-2205X tripod
Manfrotto 494RC2 ball head

Posted for #mountainmonday  by +Michael Russell
Blog: www.JeffSullivanPhotography.com/blog
Prints: www.JeffSullivan.smugmug.com

Last Light on Half Dome Physics was never one of my favorite classes as I took nearly two years of it in college, but I was fortunate upon graduating to get a job at the world’s leading color printer manufacturer, where I was able to apply what I learned about the properties of light. One of the interesting things about light and human color perception is that light which we perceive as having different colors can blend together to form other colors. Blending primary colors red, green and blue results in colorless white light. This property of light being “additive” and creating new colors has practical applications in landscape photography. When you see an orange object, what color is it? You perceive that the object is orange, but orange is actually the wavelength of the light reflected, so in a sense the object itself is every color but orange, orange is the light it doesn’t absorb, the color of the light it rejects and sends towards us. As a photographer that colored light reflected off of objects is what you’re trying to capture. There are times when scattered light in the sky contributes a lot of the light on the landscape, and reflections off of the objects you’re viewing and off of dust particles in the air change the color of what you’re trying to take a picture of. The scattered light is changing the color of the objects in your scene, applying what you’ll perceive as a color-reducing or color-muddying influence. Fortunately reflected light is polarized, so you can use a polarizing filter to reduce the effect scattered light has on the scene, and reduce the interference it has with the colors in your shot. Some people think of polarizing filters as “enhancing” a shot, when actually it’s arguably more accurate to think of them as unmasking and enabling you to more accurately record the light and colors which already exist in the scene. This ability of polarizing filters to help us better see a scene’s color and reduced scattered and reflected light is why I recommend considering them as one of my top tips for landscape photography: 16 Tips for Better Landscape Photography http://activesole.blogspot.com/2007/10/16-steps-to-great-results.html Polarizing filters get somewhat of a bad reputation for working inconsistently across a wide section of blue sky, but there are a few simple characteristics you can understand about them and improve your success rate with them. First of all, in the sky light is polarized most at angles perpendicular to the direction sunlight is coming from . So if the sun is setting due west, the light being reflected in the sky is most polarized due north and due south. Second, a wide angle lens covers a wide range of compass directions, so the polarization will be uneven across the sky it covers. Once you understand these simple characteristics, you can watch for the negative effects in wide shots and remove the polarizing filter when it’s creating undesirable effects, but still take advantage of polarizing filters when your focal length is longer (as in this image captured at 144mm) or when the light in a wider shot isn’t displaying an objectionable range of uneven polarization, such as when you’re shooting closer to directly towards or away from the sun and there’s less strong and a lower range of polarization across the scene. This image was taken during one of my recent landscape photography workshops in Yosemite National Park. I recommend that photographers bring polarizing filters for their lenses, and it often surprises me how many have such a strong negative bias against polarizers that they either refuse to bring one on the trip at all, or they have them along but leave them in their camera bag back in the car when they set out to capture sunset shots. If I have a compatible filter size I’ll loan them one of mine, and they can see the difference for themselves. That’s one of the values of a photography workshop. If you have an experienced and knowledgeable instructor, they can help you anticipate and uncover opportunities which you may overlook in your current shooting practices. It’s not that their approach is any “better” simply that if the really have been exploring a range of techniques full time for years, they can help you evaluate new approaches and consider them when you approach given shooting situations, perhaps saving you the years it might take to go through a similar process of discovery and learning. Anyone can take a few good pictures and offer a landscape photography workshop. Not everyone has truly spent enough time in the field, and explored and mastered a wide range of situations and techniques, to have a lot to teach you. Canon EOS 5D Mark III camera Canon 70-200mm f/4 IS L Series lens at 155mm focal length Marumi Super Cicrcular PLD filter Sirui T-2205X tripod Manfrotto 494RC2 ball head Posted for #mountainmonday by +Michael Russell Blog: www.JeffSullivanPhotography.com/blog Prints: www.JeffSullivan.smugmug.com

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