After the Rain

I love McKinney Falls State Park. Anytime there’s a serious rain, the upper and lower falls become wonderful photographic subjects and they’re never the same two days in a row. That’s why McKinney Falls is always a stop during the Texas Landscape Safari.

After the Rain – Austin, Texas
Copyright © 2010 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on manual (M) using an EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 75mm, f/29 for 1/5th of a second at ISO 50. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

How to Get this Type of Shot (without a neutral density filter):

• Cloudy, overcast days are your best choice for this type of shot. Set your ISO to the absolute lowest number. On the Canon 5D2 this means enabling ISO Expansion using C.Fn 1-3 and setting it to “L” (ISO 50).

• Set your camera to manual (M) and adjust your aperture to somewhere around f/22 or smaller until you achieve a shutter speed of greater than 1/8th of a second. The longer the better! And don’t worry about diffraction softening your image unless you plan to print it larger than 24 x 36.

• Manually focus your lens about 1/3rd of the way into the image (hyper-focal distance) for best results. You want everything in perfect focus so check your depth of field often.

• A good sturdy tripod is a must in a situation like this. I recommend a carbon-fiber tripod for shooting waterfalls since any camera shake will ruin your long exposure shots.

• Be Careful. Wet rocks are about the most dangerous surface to walk on. I recommend buying a good pair of hiking boot or shoes with Vibram soles. I shop at REI and the folks there will help you pick the right pair for your feet.

Those Texas Hills

Garner State Park is on of the busiest state parks in Texas. Folks come from across Texas and the other 49 states to swim and fish in the Frio river and hike the steep limestone cliffs surrounding the park. From the top you can see the Texas Hill Country in all its glory!

Those Texas Hills – Concan, Texas
Copyright © 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 28mm, f/13 for 1/13th of a second at ISO 100 using a Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Wide Open Spaces

Wide Open Spaces – Fredericksburg, Texas
Copyright © 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 24mm, f/11 for 1/80th of a second at ISO 100 using a Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

I live in Sugar Land, a bustling suburb about 20 miles southwest of Houston. I’ve put down roots here and raised four beautiful daughters that are the pride and joy of my wife and I. I live here, work here and worship here in Sugar Land. The community is clean, the people are good and life is pleasant.

But the Texas Hill Country calls to me. There’s just no other way to describe it. In all my travels I’ve never visited a place that felt more like home than the Hill Country. It’s a region like no other on the planet, stretching from La Grange, Smithville and Rockdale in the east to Uvalde, Rock Springs and Junction in the west.; from New Braunfels and San Antonio in the south to Temple and Lampasas in the north. A region of placid rivers in the summer like the Frio, Sabinal and Guadalupe to raging torrents like the Llano, Pedernales and Colorado in the springtime. A region of rolling hills, rocky uplifts and valleys full of deep rich soil.

The Texas Hill Country is region of distinct character, as independent as the folks that settled here and as beautiful as any place on Earth.

Gorman Falls in the Spring

I’ve made several trips to Gorman Falls in the past few years and always found the beauty to be quite spectacular. Colorado Bend State Park is our first stop during the Texas Landscape Safari and the folks that attend the workshop are always stunned by the quiet beauty in this remote valley.

I’ll never forget my first solitary visit to Gorman Falls last year before the draught set in. I arrived at the park before dawn and hiked about 2 miles to the falls, following the trail staked out with orange markers. The sun was just rising over the hills to the east and I knew I had to hurry to catch that perfect light that comes only in the early morning hours. I arrived at the end of the trail at first light to find the steep, rocky descent down to the base of the falls. The climb down always looks treacherous with few well defined steps carved into the rock face to guide you. About half way down, there are a some steel poles and cables cemented into place and I used those to guide my descent, carrying my tripod in one hand and my camera slung over my shoulder. This is not a hike I usually take alone and at my age, a slip and fall could spell disaster, so I double-checked to make sure that my cell phone had reception.

At the bottom of the ravine I stood in wonder at the magnificent spectacle before me. Gorman Falls is one of our state’s most pristine natural environments and it seemed as if no one had been down here for years. The falls before me was surrounded by trees with the early morning sunlight filtering through the leaves. The green moss covered rocks and the cool spray of the falls was a refreshing sight after my long hike. Excited at the prospect of capturing this beauty I quickly setup my tripod and camera and selected a medium zoom lens for my first exposures. As I sighted through my viewfinder I knew the long hike and difficult climb had been worth it. I’d found a perfect spot to spend a few wonderful hours doing what I love the most.

Stormy Weather

Stormy Weather – LaGrange, Texas
Copyright © 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on manual (M) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 28mm, f/13 for 1/8th of a second at ISO 100 using a Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer and 4-stop (soft) graduated neutral density filter. Post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

How to Get this Type of Shot: A landscape image of a storm rolling across the land.

• The key to this shot is (obviously) the weather conditions. You’ll need to shoot on a day when a storm is moving in. I raced this storm over sixty miles before pulling ahead enough to setup and shoot.

• A good sturdy tripod is a must in a situation like this, since any camera shake will ruin the effect. Another very important accessory is a bubble level. The human brain is very sensitive to horizontal lines and if your image is not perfectly level, people will notice. I used a bubble level for this shot but still had to do some final corrections in Lightroom.

• Correct exposure and contrast are critical in an image like this, which is why you’ll need both a circular polarizer and a three or four-stop graduated ND filter to balance the foreground and background exposure levels. Though the storm clouds look dark, most of the sky will be much brighter than the ground and without a ND grad filter, your camera’s metering system can easily be fooled.

• The final keys to this getting type of image are patience and safety. In Texas, a severe thunderstorm can blow in with only a few moments notice, or it may take hours to develop as conditions gradually change. Learning to wait for the right moment takes both patience and perseverance. However, safety should always be your first concern. Thunderstorms are dangerous and standing on a hillside carrying a camera and tripod makes you a definite target for lightning. Be careful and safe when shooting in bad weather. Even the best shot in the world is worth little if you’re not around to enjoy it.

Gear Friday – Let’s Talk Filters

Reposted from last May by popular demand.

If there’s one topic in photography that’s bound to stir up a heated debate it’s the selection and use of filters. No other accessory that I can think of does more to raise the blood pressure of otherwise sedate amateur and professional photographers.

For as long as I can remember there has been an ongoing debate over the use of UV filters for lens protection. The proponents say that UV filters offer good protection for the front lens element while their opponents say that a lens hood provides all the protection needed and that any piece of glass placed in front of the lens will degrade image quality.

In my opinion both sides are right and both sides are wrong. While I agree completely that any filter placed in front of the lens will degrade the image somewhat, I believe the amount of degradation depends upon the type and quality of the filter used. And there is no doubt that the UV filter does, in fact, add extra protection for the front lens element. So the question is, what kind of UV filter will provide the least possible image degradation and how much will it cost?

You can find many different brands of filters today but in my opinion, the quality and performance of B+W MRC and Heliopan SH-PMC filters make them my number one choice. Both companies use anodized brass rings to reduce thread binding and special multi-layer coatings to prevents light from being reflected off the surface of the filter.

Another favorite of mine is Singh-Ray, possibly the best filter manufacturer in the world. Singh-Ray filters are almost legendary among professional landscape photographers, with superb quality and innovative designs. Having used their filters for years all I can say is wow!

My final thoughts on filters are about cost. No matter which type of filter you decide you need (UV, Circular Polarizer, Neutral Density, ND Grad, etc.), you’re gonna lay down over $100 (USD) for a good quality filter. The very best can run you anywhere from $150 – $300 (USD) depending upon the size. You’ve already spent several thousand dollars on a camera body and a few lenses (or perhaps more than a few). Why place a $40 el-cheapo filter in front of that investment in top-notch gear and ruin your chances at capturing a great image? The man who taught me this craft over 30 years ago you to put it this way “buy the very best gear you can afford and buy it only once!”.

Sound advice in any day and age!

Water Power

I love waterfalls. There is something so innately powerful and yet so serenely beautiful about water cutting through the rock and flowing over the falls. It take thousands of years for the flow of water to erode away the rock and create a beautiful falls and perhaps it’s that unrelenting “persistence” that attracts me.

Whatever it is, waterfalls call to me and I love photographing them time and time again. It’s become somewhat of an obsession with me and I do plan to shoot as many waterfalls in Texas as possible before the Good Lord calls me home. I honestly can’t think of a better photographic project to keep the creative juices flowing, especially during the winter months.

So if you’re a native Texan and know the secret location of any waterfalls near you, drop me a line. I’ll promise you a word of sincere thanks and credit in my next book.

Water Power – Lower McKinney Falls in Austin, Texas
Copyright © 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on manual (M) using an EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 81mm, f/18 for 0.3 seconds at ISO 100. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Alone at the Lake

Here’s an image I took a few months back at Buescher State Park near Smithville, Texas. This is another of those locations that I return to month after month but not for the reasons you might think. Park Road 1 runs between Buescher and Bastrop State Parks for 15 miles of up-hill and down-hill S-curves, through some of the most beautiful pine forest you’d never expect to see in central Texas. In the spring and fall it’s the prettiest Texas drive this side of the Pecos river.

Alone at the Lake – Buescher State Park, Texas
Copyright © 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II set on manual (M) using an EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 24mm, f/16 for 1/10th of a second at ISO 100 using a Singh-Ray warming polarizer. All post capture processing was done in Adobe’s Lightroom 3 Beta. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Gear Friday (The Late Edition) – On a Roll

Yes, I missed a few posts last week but in my defense, its been a buzy crazy January so far! So to make up for it, here’s a Gear Friday (the late edition) post on camera bags.

At some point in your photographic career (or hobby) you’ll have more gear than you can easily carry in a traditional “over the shoulder” bag like the Domke F-2 (my personal favorite for over 30 years). And if you’re like most of us, this will leave you in a serious quandary over what size, style, material and brand bag to buy next.

There are literally hundreds of camera bags on the market today to choose from and thousands of online reviews to sort through before you can make an intelligent decision. The choices available are simply staggering and finding the “perfect” bag can become an obsession.

On a Roll
After laying out all my gear (including camera bodies, lenses, small strobes, battery packs, batteries, Pocket Wizards,  filters, gels, memory cards, snoots, gobos, umbrellas, tripods, and various cleaning stuff) in my office, it became clear that my aching back was never going to be able to lift and carry even half of this stuff without sending me back to the hospital.

So I turned to one of the best camera bag design teams in the world, the folks from Think Tank Photo. Even though I don’t fly much these days, their Airport Security V 2.0 Roller looked like just the thing to hold my gear and help me transport it without breaking my back.

It’s pretty amazing just how much gear this bag will hold and how well balanced it feels when rolling. I’ve been able to pack all my on-location product photography gear (strobes, battery packs, batteries, Pocket Wizards, cords, umbrellas, snoots, etc.) or my usual Texas Landscape Safari kit (two bodies, four lenses, 1.4x extender, 8 different Singh-Ray filters, geo-tagging GPS, 2-way radios, first-aid kit, etc.), all in one very mobile roller.

Rolling Along
Best of all, the Think Tank Airport Security V 2.0 Roller fits perfectly in the rear of my other new roller, the 2010 Subaru Forester.

The Forester is my first AWD (all-wheel drive) vehicle and the handling is unlike any other car or truck I’ve ever driven. It corners like a sports car with very stiff suspension but rides as smooth as can be. In fact, it rides better than my previous car, a 2003 Honda Accord.

But what makes the Forester really special is the rear cargo area and fold down rear seats. Unlike most SUV’s the Forester’s rear seat fold down completely flat, extending the space in the cargo area another 2-1/2 feet. For a “Strobist” this means you can store large light stands or even C-stands, booms, reflectors, soft boxes, flash heads and seamless backgrounds (53″) along with all your other photo gear, in a vehicle that gets 25 miles per gallon.

For a landscape photographer this means you can carry all your photo gear as well as a tent, sleeping bag, backpacks and supplies in an all-wheel drive vehicle with excellent ground clearance for those all-out adventures in far west Texas!

Texas Landscape Safari – Spring 2010

We still have a few spots open for our Texas Landscape Safari workshop scheduled for April 24th – 27th, 2010 in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. Now that the winter rains have returned and refilled the aquifers, the rivers and streams should be running beautifully by April and provide some wonderful shots for our attendees. Each attendee will also receive an autographed copy of my Hill Country Landscapes book with detailed information on how each shot was taken.

Here’s a quick look at what we’ve scheduled for this workshop. You can click on this image to be taken directly to our Google Map for the workshop.

We’ll be shooting at the following locations and the conditions look favorable for getting some great landscape shots in the Hill Country this spring.

• Colorado Bend State Park – Bend, Texas
• Inks Lake State Park – Burnet, Texas
• Scenic Overlook – Kingsland, Texas
• Enchanted Rock State Natural Area – Fredericksburg, Texas
• Pedernales Falls State Park – Johnson City, Texas
• McKinney Falls State Park – Austin, Texas

To register or for more information, please contact me via email using my Contact Me page.