Make the Weather

February 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment

We had great weather on our South American Cruising Through Life workshop. Most of the tourists would agree. On the other hand the photographers might not. Only the first day and a half had much weather – fog. That’s when I got a majority of my keepers. The skies were often clear, offering only an undistinguished background of simple blue. When there were clouds they were undistinguished cumulus humilis, no cumulonimbus, no cirrus, with few sheets of stratus. The sunsets and sunrises were pretty but not distinguished. There wasn’t much wind or swell so the seas were calm. Still, I shot. I got a few quiet keepers. And a lot of raw material for composites, which will ultimately yield more dramatic results. Today, you can make the weather. Understanding the new possibilities of digital rendering opens up many new opportunities for making exposures. Once you’ve been exposed to them you’ll start seeing new possibilities.

Find out more about Cruising Through Life here.
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Category: Software, Technique, Travel, Workshops
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I’m just getting back from my Cruising Through Life (run by Sean Perkins and Andrew Tepper) South American workshop with Vincent Versace. (Internet limitations made posting difficult during the trip. Stay tuned for coming highlights.) Sean and Andrew, always ready to help, did a great job organizing the logistics of the trip – facilities, scheduling, locations, guides, etc. We had a really nice group of people who learned a lot. It was a smaller than expected group so Vincent Versace and I made the most of this intimate environment and quickly customized the curricula to their needs. We provided many of our Acme Educational DVDs to supplement our lectures. We did more shooting exercises and reviews than planned, which made the learning even more concrete and practical. The Star Princes was a huge boat and despite the 2600 passengers and 1200 crew, we never felt overwhelmed by people. Still, a private balcony is a must for a trip like this for private quiet moments and for constantly monitoring the weather and quick shooting. There was always so much entertainment – spa, yoga, pilates, dance lessons, music, shows, movies on tv, in the theater, and under the stars – we were only able to sample a small portion of the offerings often choosing to miss the onboard activities to focus on our photography. Boats really reduce travel logistics enabling you to focus more on shooting and processing. All in all, it was an incredibly comfortable way to sample South American ports.

This was our itinerary.

2/2    Valparaiso, Chile
2/3    At Sea
2/4    Puerto Mont, Chile
2/5    At Sea
2/6    Punta Arenas, Chile
2/7    Pio Xio Glackier, Chile
2/8    Ushuaia, Argentina
2/9    Cape Horn, Argentina
2/10    Port Stanley, Falkland Islands
2/11    At Sea
2/12    At Sea
2/13    Montevideo, Uruguay
2/14    Buenos Aires, Argentina

Stay tuned for more thoughts from the trip.

Plans are brewing for future international Cruise workshops.

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Find out more about Cruising Through Life here.
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Vincent Versace, Laurie Excell, and I will be coteaching in a South America cruise February 5-17.

There are some fabulous landings scheduled. Find out more here.

M, February 5   6 PM                 Valparaiso, Chile
T, February 6                             At Sea
W, February 7    7 AM – 6 PM     Puerto Montt, Chile
T, February 8                             At Sea
F, February        7 AM – 8 AM     Pio Xi Glacier, Chile
S, February 10    6 AM – 7 PM     Punta Arenas, Chile
S, February 11    12 PM – 8 PM   Ushuaia, Argentina
M, February 12    8 AM – 9AM    Cape Horn
T, February 13    8 AM – 6 PM    Port Stanley, Falkland Islands
W, February 14                          At Sea
R, February 15                           At Sea
F, February 16    8 AM – 5 PM    Montevideo, Uruguay
S, February 17    6 AM               Buenos Aires, Argentina

What do we do at sea? Seminars. Find out more here.

T February 6
9-11    Excell     Photography Basics
3-5    Excell        Beyond the Basics
R, February 4
9-11    Caponigro    Illuminating Creativity
3-5    Caponigro    6 Simple Steps to Good Color Management
F, February 6
9-11  Caponigro    Creating a Master File
1-2    Caponigro    Essential Camera Tests
4-6    Versace    Lighting on a Laptop Like a Sunbeam
S, February 8
9-11    Caponigro    Creative Sharpening
M, February 9
9-12    Caponigro    The Power of Color
1-3    Caponigro    Black & White Mastery
4-6    Caponigro    The Art of Masking
T, February 11
9-12    Versace    Lighting on a Laptop Like a Sunbeam
1-3    Versace    Seeing Is Believing
4-6    Versace    Image Harvesting
W, February 12
9-12    Versace    Retouching on a Laptop
1-3    Versace    Unleashing the Raw Power of Capture NX
4-6    Versace    Framing Versus Composition

What do you do with the little remaining time? Have a great meal at one of the many onboard restaurants. Get a message at one of the onboard spas. Go swimming in the pools and hot tubs. Or, enjoy retail therapy in the onboard shops. Find out more here.

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Because it offers so many more options, digital imaging may change the way you use your tools.

For instance, I use only 3 filters – a circular polarizer, a neutral density filter, and a infrared filter.

No other filter is as useful to me as a polarizer. Polarizers remove glare making colors more saturated and reflections allowing you to reduce or remove images on the surface of reflective surfaces. No software filter can do this. I use Canon’s circular polarizer. Whenever possible, I prefer to match filters to the manufacturer of the lens,

I’ve been experimenting with long exposures. Singh Ray makes a unique neutral density filter – the Vari-ND filter. Rotate it and you can slow reduce light between 2 and 8 stops. This eliminates the need to carry multiple filters and to stack them during exposure. It’s fantastic. (As an aside, I prefer all graduated filtration to be done with software because you can control both the effect and the graduation precisely.)

For infrared imagery I use an infrared filter. It’s not exactly the same as converting a camera to infrared, but it’s closer than simulating IR effects with software and it’s doesn’t permanently change your camera. I prefer to carry as little equipment as possible, move freely, and take long walks. Because I prefer to keep my options open, many times I will shoot in full color and use software to create an IR effect. If you take both a full color and IR filtered exposure of the same subject you have many more options.

I demonstrate these kinds of techniques in all of my field workshops.

See more of the products I use here.

Check out my full Review on the Singh Ray Vari-ND filter here.

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Read about essential camera tests techniques here.

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