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Archive 2009 · Moods of Spring

  
 
Marc Adamus
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p.1 #1 · Moods of Spring


Hi All,

Sorry I've been away for a little while. It's been a fun and busy spring season during which I've lead many successful tours, taken trips to capture spring greenery and blooms all over the West and also taken some time off photography while exploring the Olympic rainforests in depth.

I'd like to share with you a few images which I felt best captured the essence of the spring landscape here in the Northwest, from March to May.

If you have any questions about exposure, processing, etc. feel free to ask.


1. 'Twelve Years'

Finally, after Twelve Years 'the log', at the Oregon classic Punch Bowl Falls has washed away! You can now reach an unobstructed view, shown here. After wading out into the chilly water the first time, I returned to shore and told my tour clients I didn't think it was worth a shot....but that's when light started breaking through the low overcast. After heavy rains the night before and waterfalls coming down in places I'd never even seen before, the falls were already in good shape. We waded back out into the river, about knee deep in 30-something water (this was early march) and didn't even notice the cold because the scene before us was so beautiful.
1Ds III, 30mm, 4-stop solid ND, polarizer, 1 second at f/16.

2. 'Enchanted Forest'

Something I've been working on this year, capturing the effect that mid-day, dappled forest light will have on the right scene. Backlight, diffusion, polarization and careful underexposure were necessary here. I say 'underexposure', because I was exposing this scene in-camera to preserve the highlights and then bringing up the shadow details in RAW. I also blended small portions of the darkest shadows from another exposure as to not try to get too much out of one file, yet make my blending pretty easy at the same time. Cameras these days do such a great job handling dynamic range, I could almost squeeze light like this into a single image, and I'm sure that ability is coming soon.
I also added some diffusion to the scene, to make the highlights 'glow', which I feel makes it easier on the eyes when looking at such a photo. I simply blew a bit of fog onto my lens two thrids of the way through the exposure (a technique I've described before). You can also mimic this effect with certain variations of the 'Orton' diffusion technique.

1Ds III, 22mm, .6 seconds at f/11, polarizer.

3. 'Wildflower Canyon'

We all enjoyed a spectacular bloom out in the eastern Columbia Gorge this year, with hill after hill of pure color. Down in the bottom of this little side canyon, the wind was subdued a bit and allowed us to capture some impressive Balsamroot flowers at sunset.
1Ds III, 16mm, polarizer, 2-stop GND filter moved slightly during exposure, 1.3 seconds at f/20.


4. 'Life in the Trees'

Just some great atmosphere and a great Rhody bloom this year down in the Redwoods. A pretty simple exposure and basic processing with this one. We waited around this spot for over an hour in early afternoon to get the best combination of fog and no wind motion in the flowers above.

1Ds III, 78mm, 1 second at f/13, polarizer.



Edited on Jun 08, 2009 at 11:34 AM · View previous versions



Jun 08, 2009 at 11:14 AM
alichty
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p.1 #2 · Moods of Spring


Incredible set Marc - if I had to pick one it would be the enchanted forest. That's an effect I have been trying to properly capture for quite some time and it's so easy to end up with almost blown out highlights while the shadows are too dark. Nice to see it can be done and done well.

Punchbowl has to be a close second - again very tricky lighting and you have made it look easy. The wildflower canyon and rhododendron shots are both excellent as well.

Thanks for the visual journey.

Alan


Edited on Jun 08, 2009 at 06:40 PM · View previous versions



Jun 08, 2009 at 11:28 AM
mike717
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p.1 #3 · Moods of Spring


Glad you stopped in to share Marc. These have great atmosphere throughout but the last one really does it for me, excellent!
PS I've been waiting for a log to wash away from a particular fall for 4 years, I'm not looking forward to waiting another 8 years just to get the shot.



Jun 08, 2009 at 11:28 AM
Travis Rhoads
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p.1 #4 · Moods of Spring


wow, 1 and 4 are my choices here. 1 has a sense of calm in the water after the tumbling ride of the falls, and 4, the pink highlights are excellent in a fogy forest setting.


Jun 08, 2009 at 11:29 AM
Marc Adamus
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p.1 #5 · Moods of Spring


mike717 wrote:
Glad you stopped in to share Marc. These have great atmosphere throughout but the last one really does it for me, excellent!
PS I've been waiting for a log to wash away from a particular fall for 4 years, I'm not looking forward to waiting another 8 years just to get the shot.



Well Mike, I knew a lot of NW photogs, myself included, that didn't think that log would wash out for thirty years and when it did, we were pretty surprised. It survived a few floods in the past decade, and then just fell over one day. You never know.



Jun 08, 2009 at 11:30 AM
Marc Adamus
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p.1 #6 · Moods of Spring


Sorry, number 2 and 3 changed spots in the lineup. Carry on......


Jun 08, 2009 at 11:34 AM
SRRoberts
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p.1 #7 · Moods of Spring


Insanely awesome. Love #3.

Steve



Jun 08, 2009 at 11:56 AM
ScaryFox
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p.1 #8 · Moods of Spring


A feast.
Thanks for showing these. Wonderful and soulful work as usual. I love your work.

Ute



Jun 08, 2009 at 12:01 PM
Milan Hutera
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p.1 #9 · Moods of Spring


2, 4, 3, 1... I don't think I can add anything to what's already been said but my personal preference.


Jun 08, 2009 at 12:02 PM
dswiger
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p.1 #10 · Moods of Spring


Mark,
This certainly is more than a counterbalance to my looking forward to Fall again!

Like them all.

#1 for the mood
#2, I generally don't get that jazzed about falls stuff, but this is sweet.
The lighting in the foliage is the perfect balance.

#3, The Flowers for the foreground and the spray of color in the sky

#4, Then of course the majesty of the redwoods & the delicateness of the flowers

Thanks for posting

Dan



Jun 08, 2009 at 12:02 PM
Zeph
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p.1 #11 · Moods of Spring


Great series Marc, 3 and 4 being my favorite! My interest in the first goes to the right side of the image with the mini falls and the light reflected there. The bubble trials and the empty FG detract a bit from the image. I realize that most here will celebrate the missing log...
The second is beautiful with it's overwhelming cascade of water, but my eyes wander without much direction.
The Balsamroot flower shot is perfect, plenty of drama, wonderful lines and exceptional color!
The Rhody shot is pretty sweet! Is the Rhody growing right out of the Redwood? Did you fog up your filter on the one?
Thanks for sharing these.



Jun 08, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Marc Adamus
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p.1 #12 · Moods of Spring


Zeph wrote:
The Rhody shot is pretty sweet! Is the Rhody growing right out of the Redwood? Did you fog up your filter on the one?
Thanks for sharing these.



Thanks. No, I did not. No fogging or diffusion with this one. Just a telephoto length through already foggy conditions.



Jun 08, 2009 at 12:11 PM
Henry W
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p.1 #13 · Moods of Spring


Dazzling series!


Jun 08, 2009 at 12:14 PM
Guest

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p.1 #14 · Moods of Spring


excellent series as usual, #1 & #3 for me.
awesome work,

simon



Jun 08, 2009 at 12:24 PM
davidbogdan
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p.1 #15 · Moods of Spring


Awesome!.... each and every one.

-david



Jun 08, 2009 at 12:37 PM
ifernau
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p.1 #16 · Moods of Spring


Awesome series. Masterly processed as well.


Jun 08, 2009 at 01:03 PM
Callisto
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p.1 #17 · Moods of Spring


You make my heart glad that I had the chance to see through your eyes - Thanks!


Jun 08, 2009 at 01:17 PM
Hougaard Malan
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p.1 #18 · Moods of Spring


Stunning stuff Marc and as always you know the tech whores appreciate detailed explanations

On the 3rd image, did you use something similar to TK's luminosity masks to blend the detail into the tree against the bright sky?



Jun 08, 2009 at 01:17 PM
Randy Walton
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p.1 #19 · Moods of Spring


View your images is always a pleasure. These are splendid Mark!
Randy



Jun 08, 2009 at 01:18 PM
Bart Carrig
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p.1 #20 · Moods of Spring


In every detail, and as a whole they are top notch images. I just love the triangular pattern of the foreground flowers in #3. And there's plenty to enjoy in each of the images.

Great work.

Bart



Jun 08, 2009 at 01:46 PM
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