Kenneth Reynolds

I promised my precious daughter that I would take her to the lake this afternoon to feed bread crumbs to the ducks and swing at Bowman Springs Park. After surviving the frenzied swarm of hungry ducks, my wife took my daughter over to the playground to swing and slide while I snuck off with my camera and tripod to explore the east side of the park, which overlooks the eastern half of Lake Arlington. My main objective was to try to find at least one suitable location from which to shoot sunrises, since I have found the best sunset shooting location. I did find a couple of good spots, but I also discovered a killer location, seen in the capture above, from which to shoot water skiers and other aquatic activity on the lake. And, of course, I happened to get a few other shot ideas while exploring.

The photo above was a pleasant surprise. The sky was just cloudy enough to add visual interest, and the shooting location was nicely shaded from the late afternoon sun, both huge bonuses when shooting in less than desirable daytime light. Post was somewhat extensive for this photo. I began by compositing two separate exposures, then adding an exposure adjustment layer to the lighter layer (the foreground, in this case) to darken it slightly as well as adjust the gamma to match the darker layer consisting of the properly exposed sky. In effect, this created a photo similar to what I would have achieved had I used a graduated neutral density filter, which is a piece of equipment I badly need to purchase in the near future. After that, I added a gradient adjustment layer to darken the sky just a tad further and really make it pop. I topped it all off with curves and levels adjustment layers and, finally, applied sharpening.

I simply could not resist heading out to Lake Arlington again this evening for another sunset shoot, especially with the knowledge that the evening sky would be hazy. Hazy sunsets can be quite beautiful in Texas, as you can see in the photo. While I was leaving my favorite sunset photo spot near the west end of Lake Arlington last night, I just happened to spy the perfect spot to shoot from. It was down near a very rocky shoreline that I had never noticed before. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be the perfect location to set up for sunset photography. Plus, it has the added benefit of being away from the rather large crowds that normally gather in the busy parking lot above. Needless to say, I have found my new go-to spot for sunset photography at Lake Arlington.

As for the image itself, I shot it using the Canon EF 17-40 f/4L mounted to my Canon EOS 40D body, with an exposure of f/22, ISO 100, 30 second shutter speed. Post production was minimal, with the customary curves adjustment layers and sharpening. One important thing to note about the process of creating this image is the importance of having the right kind of tripod. The tripod I use is the Manfrotto 055 XPROB with an inexpensive, but sturdy Manfrotto ball-head. The reason I chose this tripod is simply because the legs spread out, almost flat, and the tripod column can be moved into a horizontal configuration, allowing for camera placement that is practically at ground level.

Having the ability to get my camera down to ground level on my tripod is essential to foreground composition. It is precisely what makes the composition in the image above so dynamic. Next time you’re out shooting landscapes, keep this in mind and, if you’re tripod does not have this capability, look around for a way to make your shot compositions more dynamic. You might even consider carrying a bean bag along as part of your kit so you can plant it on the ground, and nestle the camera into it. The possibilities are endless!

I got a major itch to do some sunset and nighttime long exposure photography in Arlington again this evening, so of course I packed all the photo gear into the car and headed west. I didn’t know what to expect since the sky had been overcast the entire day due to the passage of a cold front earlier in the morning. Thankfully, right at magic hour, the clouds broke up enough to allow for a gorgeous scene to unfold.

I took advantage of this blessing and managed to capture one of my favorite sunset photos to date. Post was a little more involved with this photo, as I created a fake graduated neutral density effect and utilized a few different curves adjustment layers for tonal contrast, an overall curves adjustment layer for color balancing, and finally, a little bit of dodging on the trees and houses.

I decided, at the last minute, to go out to a “somewhat” dark sky spot I know about near Venus, TX, to see if I could capture a Perseid meteor or two with my camera. To my surprise, I could see the constellation Perseus with my naked eye quite clearly. I did see three meteors over a roughly 1.5 hour period, one of which was a very nice, bright fireball, but I was unable to capture any of them with my camera, mainly due to heavy light pollution issues in the northeastern part of the sky, which is exactly where the Perseids could be viewed. At least now I know for sure that I will have to plan to make the drive out to Caprock Canyons for any future meteor showers.

The night was not a total bust, however, as I finally decided to give up on shooting the Perseids and play around with a few starscape frames. To my delight, after processing the images on the MacBook Pro at home, a few of them turned out better than I had hoped. Of course, I now have hatched a few ideas for shooting some starscapes with the horizon and a farm or two in the foreground out near my shooting location last night, but that will be down the road a bit, after summer has passed and the night sky is not so hazy from the extreme heat.

The image above is my favorite starscape capture from last night. I still have a ton to learn about shooting starscapes, and the night sky in general, but I feel this image is quite successful, considering the fact that I had no cable release for my 40D and I was shooting with a lens that was barely too slow for proper astrophotography. Still, I have a lot of ideas now and I’m super excited about trying them out over the next few months. For starters, I’d like to rent a fisheye lens and cable release and see if I can capture some nice, super-wide, 180 degree field-of-view star-trail images. And, of course, there is always the Milky Way!

Shortly after I moved to Minnesota, way back in the good ol’ summer of 2001, one of the first jobs I got was a very short contract doing commercial air-conditioning ductwork demolition inside a very old monastery for a small independent contractor. I hated that job, but it paid decently and was great exercise. There were a couple of great things about that job, though, that I did enjoy. For one, the monks and nuns were super-friendly and that old monastery was quiet, and if you listened intently enough, you could almost hear the whispers of God. The other cool thing was this absolutely amazing photograph hanging in one of the administrative offices. It was, in my eyes at that time in my life, the most perfect photograph ever captured. I could hardly take my eyes off of it, so compelling was the image to me. It was just a simple photograph, too, but it spoke volumes into my heart and spirit. It was an image of a grove of aspens in the middle of winter. Everything was covered in snow and there was fog weaving in and out of the aspens. In the distance, standing just close enough to not be obscured by dense fog, was a huge buck. He was just a small object in the frame, though, so that the aspens towered over and around him. I’ll never forget that photograph as long as I live. It affected me that greatly.

Of course, once I began seriously pursuing my own photographic ambitions, one of my biggest desires has been to capture my own interpretation of that scene. The photograph above is the closest I have come to capturing what I’ve seen in my imagination for so long. The biggest challenge I keep facing in capturing the image I see in my head is the fact that we simply do not get the heavy, blanketing snows that are to be had in the North. This past February offered a small, two-day glimmer of hope, however, as Dallas became the recipient of a record-shattering 12″ (1 foot) snowfall event, and I was blessed enough to be off work for the entire event. Try as hard as I may, however, I simply could not find the scene that I have for so long pictured in my mind. In the end, it does not matter. I am happy with the image I was able to capture. Better still, the chase lives on. One day I will get to photograph Minnesota in all of its winter glory. Perhaps even Wyoming and Montana, as well. Maybe then I will recapture some small semblance of that spark that lit my imagination so many years ago, or perhaps the coals will smolder, keeping things warm until the spark does return.