Working with the Light (Part 2)

It's Not Nice to try to Fool Mother Nature.

One of the key skills contributing to successful landscape photography is the ability to work with the prevailing light and not to try to force your images against what nature provides. Last week I shared a few thoughts on the subjects and techniques which work well with the beautiful Golden Hours and also on how to salvage quality images from the challenging bright midday sun. This week I cover approaches to some of my favorite "lights", overcast, fog and weather extremes. As always the key is to recognize the conditions and work within the opportunities and limitations that they provide.

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Overcast Light
 

Enveloping Light

The rest of the non-photographer world thinks that overcast days place a dull blanket over the natural beauty of the landscape, but I love to shoot when the sky is gray. In many ways this light has opposite effects from those on brilliant sunny days. Overcast light is soft and diffuse with the sky serving as one giant soft box. The light wraps around subjects working especially well for portraits and macros and the rich color of flowers and foliage can shine through without the reflections caused by harsh directional light.




 



Sleep In!

Soft Forest Green

Overcast robs us of the opportunity to shoot the golden hours, but on the plus side, we don't have to wait for sunrise or sunset, since the advantages of overcast light extend throughout the day.  You can sleep late, have a nice breakfast and then wander out to leisurely seize the day.

Overcast is Great for Waterfalls

Hide the Sky?

Oppressive Sky

One major disadvantage of overcast is that the skys are often flat and uninteresting.  The simplest solution is to avoid shooting the sky and focus on the colors and detail of the landscape.  

Focus on the Foreground

Show little if any of the flat gray overhead.  But the sky doesn't always need to be completely avoided. Proper exposure of the dark landscape can result in overexposing the sky and "blowing out" any detail, but current digital editing tools and high dynamic range techniques can salvage interesting detail in the clouds. When I'm able to bring out the drama and ominousness of the clouds I feel I no longer need to crop them out of the image. 

• Reclaiming the Sky

Dramatic Sky Revealed

 
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Fog and Mist  


First an entirely worthless answer to a question you didn't ask. What is the difference between fog and mist? Actually they are both essentially clouds which have come down to earth, but the difference has to do with how far you can see through the cloud. Fog is thicker, limiting visibility to one km or less, while you can see through mist for 1-2 km. Who decided this? Obviously NOT an American. How far is a km anyway?


 

Fog and mist are both bounteous gifts for photographers. Nothing gets me out of the house as fast as when I see the fog settle in. To the benefits of soft overcast light, they add a sense of depth and drama,  and turn bright colors to subtle pastels

Clear Foreground Depth

Clear Foreground

Misty Blanket

The key to the impact of fog and mist is to find situations with depth that can be effectively portrayed and the essential key to that portrayal is to have something interesting in the foreground that can appear relatively clear and sharp compared to the distant fog enshrouded background. Images with flat fog uniformly clouding the entire image may provide a touch of mystery but they suppress rather than enhance the feeling of depth.

Misty Depth

For maximum effect the sharp foreground elements are best placed off to one side. The rule of thirds still applies, but in rare situations, such as my image of the distant  house floating above a beach in Nova Scotia, the relationship between clear foreground and soft background can be effectively reversed.

Floating, Nova Scotia

See the Light

Seeing the Light

Fog and mist don't always occur under densely overcast skys and when the sun shines through, it makes the light dramatically palpable. To catch the brightest rays of light it is usually best to angle your view toward, but not directly into the light. The rays of light may only last for a few minutes as the fog lifts, but during that time you can find some magical images. It is well worth the wait.

• In the Fog

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Extremes of Weather
Photographers love bad weather. Whether it is howling blizzards, pelting rain or towering thunder clouds, bad weather provides many of the most dramatic and dynamic opportunities for photography. 

Lightning Light

 


Much like the effects of fog, rain and snow provide the opportunity to demonstrate a feeling of depth and the importance of clear and interesting foreground elements is similar. The difference comes from the fact that fog and mist create a soft welcoming feel while extreme precipitation should make the viewer shout, "I'm glad I'm not there!" Unfortunately, you ARE there and so special attention to the protection of your equipment is required. 

Soft Snow

Shutter Speed 
Shutter speed can have a strong effect on the mood of images of precipitation.  With snow, a slow shutter reveals streaks that emphasize the storm's ferocity while a quick exposure catches the individual flakes as soft points of light, suggesting a more peaceful scene.

Snow Streaks

• Photographing Falling Snow
• Surviving the Wet

Gentle Rain, Cape Porpoise, Maine

Finding the Weather
It doesn't take a meteorologist to recognize when a storm is overhead or that thunder storms tend to move from west to east, and  to help the planning, there is an endless supply of weather apps for our iPhones or Androids. The challenge is to figure out when and where to get out into the maelstrom. 

Storm Over Monadnock

Often the best light occurs just before or after the storm strikes. Some years ago I ran out from work just after a thunderstorm past and chased it to the top of a hill east of Keene New Hampshire. I was rewarded by one of my favorite views of a storm breaking over the top of Mount Monadnock.

After The Storm

On another early morning I was able to catch the clouds breaking up in the dawn light after a heavy snow storm had just passed.







Perhaps the most impressive "after weather" events are the rainbows that appear when the sun breaks through low in the evening sky and bounces off the interiors of the fleeting raindrops. The point is that poking around the edges of weather can be even more rewarding than being immersed in the storm.

Town Hall Rainbow, Chesterfield, New Hampshire

Protect the Equipment

So protect your equipment and chase after that wonderful miserable weather that nature generously provides.

 















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Celestial Light

Dublin Lake

 
Of course I have left out one important type of light, the lack of it. Night photography has expanded with the rapidly improving capabilities of digital photography and it is a topic deserving of its own discussion. In fact I have written a number of articles as I have learned about exploring the depths of our milky way and the drama of or own satellite.

• Night time Photography
• Star Track Photography
• Look to the Foreground in Milky Way Photography 
• Exploring the Night Sky
• Photographing Comet Panstarrs

Overcast, fog, bright overhead sunlight, extremes of weather and the night sky all offer their own attractions. It is the glory of shooting in New England that we can often experience many or all of them in the same day. In New England there is never a bad time to go out shooting as long as you accept the challenge of embracing what nature provides.


Jeffrey Newcomer
partridgebrookreflections.com
603-363-8338

Lemon Aid for Photographers

 This weekend has been a workshop for bad weather photography

There should be no surprise that we are experiencing miserable weather this holiday weekend. This is New England and terrible weather is the population's curse and photographer's treat, but this weekend has been depressing even for those of us trying to keep the damp from our cameras. Fellow New England Photography Guild member Jim Block is even dealing with snow on the Lilacs. Crummy days are always good for getting caught up in the studio. With a show at Keene's Prime Roast Cafe and the Keene Art Walk all coming up next week, I have plenty to do, but I had to get out to try to see what I could do with, and in spite of, the weather.

Hubbard Brook Falls
Spring rains are always an obvious invitation to shoot our many waterfalls. In a few weeks the summer droughts will dry many of the

Hubbard Brook Falls

best cascades, so my first trip was to falling water. I was trying to decide where to go when I received a call from a photographer in Laconia New Hampshire asking about a image of the falls on Hubbard Brook in Chesterfield, New Hampshire. It is challenging to get to, and not freely open to the public, but it is a lovely spot when the water is high. The call made my decision and Nellie and I headed out. The falls on Hubbard Brook are actually a series of cascades and higher drops. The hike into the ravine involved bushwhacking down steep embankments, made trickier by the soaked ground, but as usual it was worth the terror. As I worked my way down along the brook, two things occurred to me. First the cold weather had swept the black flies from the forest. Second, if slipped, Nellie would be of no practical value in getting help, and I had no cell reception in the depths of the ravine. Through much care and considerable butt bouncing I made it down and out alive.

Sound of Thunder
The light was gone, but I still had one more capture to make. The night was fractured by a series of dramatic thunderstorms and I was able to record about 40 minutes of the action on my Zoom H2n field recorder. I have started to collect natural sounds as background for my slide shows. Check out the pasture melodies on my web site front page and the thunder storm on my Summer slide show. 

To the Dump
On Saturday I was able to excite Nellie with one of the few phrases she actually understands, "Want to go to Dump?" Dump, Walk and

Pasture Corner, Roads End Farm

Dinner, that's about it. The weather remained cold damp and blustery, but we still made our regular circle through Roads End Farm. The horses were way off in the back pasture, but the rain had freshened the spring leaves along the fields. By afternoon I had to get out of the house and went into Keene to plant myself with a cup of coffee at Brewbackers Cafe. Brewbackers is usually bustling, but for some reason I find it the perfect place to write. I settle in with my iPad and my own music selection and can usually get more done in an hour than in an afternoon with the distractions at home. 


Infrared in the Rain

Central Square Gazebo

 
 
As the afternoon progress the sky grew darker, but I had a plan and I had my Infrared camera. The great thing about infrared photography is that the images are not much affected by extremes of weather. Bright, impossibly contrasty, midday light ignites the infrared spectrum. The leaves shine and the sky stays black as ink. At the other end, dull flat light still comes through with good contrast between bright foliage and dark trunks and structures. I ended up spending time shooting around Keene's iconic Central Square. I have photographed the square countless time before, but Infrared provides a whole new perspective. 


Ladies Wildwood

Wildwood Depths

I was loosing light but there was one other place that I thought might do well with the soft light. Ladies Wildwood Park is a surprising treasure in the middle of Keene. In 1890 the park was created to protect a stately grove of trees from development. The original grove was leveled in the 1938 Hurricane, but it has been replace by ranks of tall White and Red Pines.

Infrared Park

The park is small but in the right spots you can feel enveloped by the forest. The challenged is to find the angles to look through the pines without catching glimpses of the surrounding houses and roads. The flat light was great to capture the brooding mood of the pines on a carpet of nearly iridescent green. Infrared also worked well, contrasting the bright ground cover with the towering dark pillars. Light gone. Time to go home. 







Remembering 

Today Nellie and I visited the flag bedecked Spofford Cemetery. Nellie wandered respectfully among the stones and then honored the fallen by doing her business off in the woods. I grabbed a couple of flower images in the soft light, but then disaster struck. The sun actually broke through.

 

Disappointing. Nothing to do but go home, edit images and write this article. My only consolation is that, this is New England, and the good weather can't last forever.

Jeffrey Newcomer
Partridgebrookreflections.com

The Angry Wet Sea

Last weekend Susan and I went to the Maine seacoast for a celebration of her birthday. I love photographing the coast. It's the one thing I miss by being in the center of New England, and I'm always looking for a reason to get back to the ocean. This weekend the food was great, the bed and breakfast was warm and friendly, and the weather absolutely SUCKED. I firmly believe that bad weather, generally, makes great photography, but this really challenged me to find interesting subjects and ways to shoot without getting my camera and myself completely soaked.

Cape Porpoise. Maine

We arrive in Kennebunkport late Friday afternoon and checked in to the Maine Stay Inn, which is a lovely B&B, with charming friendly owners. It hadn't begun to rain so we ran over to Cape Porpoise before it got dark. The Cape provides a nice contrast to the touristy bustle of Kennebunkport. It is a picturesque, working lobstering village with boats nestled in a protected cove and Goat Island Light marking the entrance. The condition were still cold, dark, and blustery so I concentrated on shooting the details of the traps and wharf. On the way back to town I noticed a lovely tree seen across a pasture with a base of wildflowers. I couldn't resist. Susan was very patient, almost as patient as Nellie. Thank god for crossword puzzles.

The next day the rain came down in a heavy drizzle only during the brief interludes between the prolonged assaults of gale blown deluge. We decided to head north along the coast, but

Paddy Creek Rain

 with the exception of a quick shot of Paddy Creek, it was just not possible to escape the car. I'm a firm believer in shooting in the rain, check out my blog article "Surviving the Wet", but this was crazy. With elaborate protection, I was able to keep most of the water off the camera, but there was no way to keep the lens dry in the swirling sheets of rain. We eventually ended up in Portland, where we had lunch with good friends, and where Susan could do some much deserved shopping. The evening turned out much better. Still pouring, but we had the chance to have dinner with Bob and Margie Dennis at Joshua's, a marvelous natural food restaurant in Wells. Bob is a great photographer who has become the go-to guy for images of the Kennebunkport area. He has a beautiful house on the water in Cape Porpoise and takes full advantage of his prime location. I got to know Bob through his work on Flickr, but his work is seen in many local stores, and in his books and calendars. It was great fun to pick Bob's brain about his region. He is well connected, but he still couldn't get me an invitation for tea with George and Barbara on Walker Point. My only frustration from the evening was my total failure to convince Bob to shoot in Raw!

Walker Point Surf

Sunday morning the rain had softened but the winds remained
strong. I just couldn't leave the coast without trying to get at least a few ocean pictures, and I knew that the surf would be impressive after all that wind.

St. Ann's Chapel and Rectory

We cruised along the shore from Kennebunkport to just past Walker Point. I got out several times in full rain gear and my camera in my Opt/Tech Rainsleeve.  Thank goodness for Gortex!  The wind was still howling, but I found that I could protect my lens, at least for a few shots, as long as I kept my back to the gale. I shot off bursts of exposures as the waves came crashing in and caught a few nice images. I have never been able to predict which waves are likely to produce the best show. Thankfully, with digital, I could waste tons of images to catch the occasional prize. 

 



North Branch River Rush

On the way home I had to check out the flowing water in a couple of my favorite locations, including North Branch River in Antrim and the Stone Arch Bridge in Surry. I even got a couple of shots of kayakers enjoying the rush on the North Branch.  This is considered some of the most challlenging white water in New Hampshire


 

Surry Stone Arch Bridge

All-in-all it was not the best weekend to be on the coast, but we still had a lovely time away. If we were home in the rain, I'm sure Susan would have proposed a long list of worthy indoor projects, so Maine was just fine!