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Iceland This Saturday

I’m not sure why, but every time I prepare to go to Iceland I get excited.  I have been to Iceland dozens of times.  Photographed just about every location there is and watched the country change over the last 14 years.  It used to be you could go anywhere in Iceland and not see a soul.  You could be the only photographer on a beach or at a waterfall.  Well, these days there are tour buses and lots of Asian tourists that have no regard for anyone else or even the landscape they are fortunate enough to see.  And, there are other photographers too who will walk right into your shot with no regard for anyone else.  Yes, this happens everywhere and not just Iceland.  Kind of a sign of the time.  So, I have decided that this year is the last year I will go to Iceland for a while.  It’s time to explore other areas and there are plenty of them.  I plan to have a good time this trip and then again this summer.  We have god groups put together for each trip, I am going to try to do a lot of long exposure work and hopefully catch some northern lights night like we had in Norway.  So, stay tuned and I’ll share images as I go.

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Bringing Home Breakfast

I have been in Naples, FL the last few days.  It’s been a fun time and a chance to relax a bit (sort of).  Today the family went for a boat ride.  We came across an Osprey nest on a channel marker.  We got as close as we could and as we did so dad came home with a fish for his baby as mom looked on.  Kind of cool to see.  This was shot with a Sony a6500 which I was testing with a 70-200mm G-master zoom.

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I Love Iceland In The Winter

As you read from my previous post I’m heading to Iceland next weekend.  It’s a great time of year to visit.  It’s the end of winter and days are getting longer but it is still cold and should have snow.  And, most important is it a time where a lot less tourists visit.  I have a small group this year and we will travel around the whole Island shooting all the best locations.  I can’t wait.  I’ll have a lot to share on my return.  Hope you like today’s image.

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Lofoten Sunrise

Ok, I’m not one for the iconic image of a place but I must confess I shot it.  It was crazy when taking this photo.  It was made from a bridge just a short walk from the hotel – cabins we were staying in.  The bridge must have had 50 photographers on it all shooting the same things.  I absolutely hate that.  i don’t like being where there are other photographers.  It disturbs to no end.  Seems everyone wants the same shot and here I was just as bad as them.  So, enjoy the photo but know I feel bad about putting up an image so many other have done.

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Lofoten Beach and Surf

As you can probably tell I really enjoyed Lofoten except for the fact that there were too many other photographers there.  Everyone that I encountered were trying to make iconic images as they must have seen on websites.  except for a few instances, I wanted to see things differently.  Thus I tried a lot of long exposure and I looked for patterns and things in the landscape.  This image was made to show depth of field in the foreground with small details and to then allow the rocks and surf to become part of the image too.  I used a new filter system by Wine Country to handle the ND filters I used.  I’ll be doing a review on this system in the next few weeks.  Hope you enjoy this image.

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Northern Lights In Lofoten, Norway 1

One of the things every photographer hopes for when visiting the northern latitudes is the opportunity to see the Northern Lights.  I was fortunate enough to have a few great opportunities on my recent Lofoten Norway trip.  These lights are tricky to shoot.  If you are a photographer you’ll find that first, you need to set your lens to infinity. This is not easy with most of today’s lenses.  I use a 14mm Rokinon lens that has an infinity stop.  I know just how far to back off the infinity mark to get a sharp image. If you are using a lens that doesn’t have an infinity stop you’ll need to manually focus it on infinity then tape the lens down so the focus ring doesn’t move.   You’ll set the camera’s ISO to 3200 and the widest f-stop.  No depth of field needed when shooting something at infinity.  I start my first exposure at 8 seconds and I turn on noise reduction.  This adds an additional 8 seconds after the exposure is made but assures a cleaner image.  You can’t use a histogram so you’ll have to make a judgment call from the screen on the back of the camera to determine if you need more or less exposure.  If is too dark raise your ISO.  Don’t shoot over 8 seconds if you can help it.  I find an exposure of 4-8 seconds to be great for most lights.  You’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly.  Then all you do do is shoot away as the sky puts on a show that will amaze you.