Canon 5D MkIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 70mm, f/8, 1/1000 sec, ISO 200 (Multiple Exposure)
When things are working, keep the ball rolling. I was happy with the multiple exposure showed in my last post, so I thought I would try another as the wind was blowing the branches around. The multiple exposure feature of the 5D MkIII allowed me to see the combined image rather than waiting for post processing.
Canon 5D MkIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 70mm, f/8, 1/1000, ISO 200 (Multiple Exposure)
I was taking images of our flowering Bradford pear. I could not get anything that really caught my eye. Then the wind started blowing, the moving blossoms created a surrealistic image in my mind. How to capture this … why not try a multiple exposure. I took a 5 image multiple exposure slightly moving my camera, the wind took care of the rest.
Lesson Learned: Don’t give up. Work the image. Visualize and try something else.
Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 116mm, f/8.0, 1/220 sec, ISO 1600
Walking around a small pond, I saw this lone iris bloom searching for attention. My camera was ready so I tried to give it a try. A little Topaz Impression added to the image adds a little pizzaz.
Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 41mm, f/6.4, 1/800 sec, ISO 1600
Henry P. Leu Gardens are covered with huge ancient southern wild oaks with Spanish moss hanging loosely from their branches. It was like I imagined an old Southern Garden to be like. High in the trees the moss looked like fluffy cotton balls. Up close the moss is very structured. I took the opportunity to add a little impressionistic water color feeling to the image using Topaz Impression.
Below is a close-up of the Spanish Moss. It looks like it would be rough to the feel, but it is actually very soft. I guess that it was used as bedding in the past.
Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 56mm, f/22, 6 secs, ISO 250
I rounded a corner and saw a massive wall of bamboo. It was just waiting there for someone to take a vertical pan. So I did…
Most of the time I use pans and moving multiple exposures to get my creative juices flowing. They break up moments where I become transfixed just searching for an image to capture rather than waiting for an image to come to me. This time the pan just appeared. I did not even take a normal image.
Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 53 mm, f/10, 1/75 sec, ISO 800
I had just walked this path covered with ice, almost falling several times. I turned around, the sun broke through the clouds and I caught a glimpse of the warm bright grasses and leaves encasing the ice covered path. I thought, “What a beautiful painting”. The sun went back behind the clouds before I could capture the feeling. I tried several times with the sun behind the clouds, but could not get the warm feeling. I was in no hurry, so I just waited until the sun broke through again for a few seconds. I was ready!
When I processed the image, I took my advice from yesterdays post. I had thought of the image as a painting when I saw it. I therefore processed it as a painting using Topaz Impression. This is what my mind saw.
Karen and I had planned a trip up to Hershey, PA to see the Hershey Rose Garden for quite some time. We delayed the trip one day due to an extremely severe rain and lightning storm that passed through the area. We knew that the gardens would be impacted, but went the next day anyway. The day was a beautiful bright summer day in the 80’s. However, the roses had been damaged by the previous day’s storm as expected. It was not the best for photography. It was time to get creative and try some different things.
The image above is an “in-camera” multiple exposure of a group of roses with a water fountain in the background. The first image was taken with a moderate depth of field at normal exposure. The second image was defocused and slightly overexposed. The combined image was adjusted for brightness with NIK Viveza and NIK Color Efex Pro. A painterly look was then added with Topaz Simplify.
No matter what the condition, there always seems to be something worth capturing.
For reference below are the two images that were combined.
