I made this image last Thursday evening. I went out there with another image in mind but a very stiff north wind blew that one. I found a sheltered spot and made this image. This jetty was built to keep a narrow pass open where the tidal currents are wicked strong. The rocks are encased in massive wood beams and concrete pilings, otherwise the rocks would just float away. This is a conversion from a Velvia 100F color slide and is a six-minute exposure. The color one came out perfect but I think the B&W has more impact. I'm very pleased that I am able to nail these exposures now in rapidly changing evening light. The original exposure measured 4-minutes. I kept measuring during the exposure and adjusted it to six minutes to compensate for the dwindling light and reciprocity failure. Can't do that with a built in meter on an SLR!
The detail and multi-tones are gorgeous on this, Jose. Indeed you really nailed the
exposure. I love how the parallel cloud bands mimic the logs. Beautiful.
Hello Jose', I'm not sure about rocks floating, but I am sure the long exposure smoothed water makes an excellent contrast to the textures and details in the foreground. Good work
alichty wrote:
Very nice tones and textures throughout. I would be curious to see the color just to see what the water and skies look like but this works very well.
Alan
Thanks Alan. I've attached the color one here. Pretty much as it was scanned. I did clone a very small thing in the B&W that is not cloned out in this one. Can you spot it?
Al B wrote:
The detail and multi-tones are gorgeous on this, Jose. Indeed you really nailed the
exposure. I love how the parallel cloud bands mimic the logs. Beautiful.
Al B
I agree, the detail is phenomenal. Thanks for sharing this one!
your stuff is amazing i look forward to seeing your work when i come to view this site. I was wondering are you using a handheld meter or a dslr as your primary meter, and any advice on a good place to start learning how to calculate exposure for 4x5 photography?
~William
bshamilton wrote:
Simply....superb!
(I see the cloned spot. Bright spot just above the rail, just left of center.)
Oh, definitely prefer the b&w! Wonderful image, Jose!
Barry
You sure have a keen eye Barry! I've always known that . You spotted it right away. Thanks for the comments!!
wmaburnett wrote:
your stuff is amazing i look forward to seeing your work when i come to view this site. I was wondering are you using a handheld meter or a dslr as your primary meter, and any advice on a good place to start learning how to calculate exposure for 4x5 photography?
~William
Thanks so much for the kind comments William. I do use a handheld meter - a Sekonic 758 - cost about as much as a consumer DSLR! I even used it while I was still shooting with my DSLRs. Calculating exposures is all a trial and error learning experience. I think the best way to do it is with a digital camera, lots of shots at different exposures to see how it all works, paying very close attention to the technical data. After a while you build an intuitiveness for what you want. The dwindling light images are the hardest. Light is changing by the second and you must adjust the exposure while the image is being made. For that the only way to go is with a handheld meter, no matter what camera you're using. Intimate knowledge of how your particular system works is of critical importance and that again comes only through trial and error. I'm sorry I can't direct you to a website that instantly makes this work for you, God knows I looked for one myself. You have to shoot and figure it out .
jsuro wrote:
Thanks Alan. I've attached the color one here. Pretty much as it was scanned. I did clone a very small thing in the B&W that is not cloned out in this one. Can you spot it?
I had to look for quite a while to spot it to be honest and Barry's comments helped. The bright spot isn't really that notable in the color image but would be almost problematic in the BW so once I saw it I know why you cloned it out for the BW.
I do have to agree with your own call for taking this one to BW - the textures and contrasts with the foreground rocks and wood bracing is far more interesting once you toss away the realities of color.
This is simply stunning - Great foreground matter, great exposure, etc, etc, etc... Awesome capture! I think when I commented on one of your other super long exposure BW's I said something like, "It doesn't get any better than this!" Well... Maybe it does.
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