For today’s image, I chose a shot I captured in 2021 near Cape Meares, Oregon. I’m returning to Oregon in April to lead a fantastic photo safari itinerary, including the Columbia River Gorge, Newport, and the Oregon coast. Spaces are limited; sign up here.
When I saw that the forecast called for clouds, I made a quick trip to the high country to check out the fall aspens up around 9500′ elevation. I was pleased to find the aspens were nearly at their peak colors, and there was a lot more oranges and reds this year, probably the most I’ve seen in a long time. Photographing fall colors can be tricky… you can hear some advice for how to approach fall shooting on the most recent episode of The Image Doctors podcast.
Colorado isn’t exactly a bird photographer’s paradise, but we do get our fair share of avian visitors. Many mountain and woodland species are small, fast-moving, and up until recently darn hard to capture.
Take, for instance the white-breasted nuthatch. These little birds are often found on tree trunks, or hanging upside down from a tree branch. Just when you think you can get them into the viewfinder, they’ve already moved. Using my traditional DSLR setup, I found them nearly impossible to focus on because they don’t hold still. Worse yet, they frequently turn and bob their heads around, so even when I did get them in the frame, all I got was a wing in focus.
Thankfully, today’s modern mirrorless cameras include AI-based subject detection AF that not only finds a bird in your viewfinder, but automatically shifts the focus point to its head and eye when visible. So even though it’s still a challenge to get one of these little ones framed up, if you can get it in the viewfinder, the camera will do the rest. Your job now becomes that much easier… make sure that exposure and composition are dialed-in, and have at it!
Here’s a shot I captured in Northern Ireland (UK) along the far northern coast in County Antrim.
Located just beyond the western tip of the southern part of Vágar in the Faroe Islands, the sea stack known as Drangarnir rises out of the Atlantic. Reaching this viewpoint isn’t easy, and required a local guide to provide you with access and a short boat trip from the town of Sørvágur, near the airport. A very steep (but short) hike puts you in position, and then it’s just a matter of waiting for the light to get good.
Because days are long in the Faroe Islands, I captured this photo shortly before sunset, at 8:14pm local time. The setting sun was obscured by clouds and the sea stack itself. I used two primary techniques for this capture: long exposure and HDR.
The long exposure (in this case over 30″) creates the smooth water effect and makes the clouds and fog more dream-like. Because I was shooting directly towards the setting sun, I merged two images captured with different exposure settings using Lightroom Classic’s “Merge to HDR” tool. This process allowed me to capture both the shadow detail in the rocks while simultaneously preserving the details in the sky. As a final touch, I applied some enhancements using Nik 7 Color Efex, which is an essential part of my landscape processing toolkit.