Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Landscape & Nature Photography => Topic started by: DanPBrown on February 05, 2009, 08:44:41 pm

Title: New found winter passion
Post by: DanPBrown on February 05, 2009, 08:44:41 pm
Frost. Enjoy.
Dan
http://danbrownphotography.com/ (http://danbrownphotography.com/)
(http://www.danbrownphotography.com/galleries/albums/userpics/January_Frost.jpg)
(http://www.danbrownphotography.com/galleries/albums/userpics/February_Frost.jpg)
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: Justan on February 05, 2009, 08:55:43 pm
Quote from: DanPBrown
Frost. Enjoy.

Absolutely Specacular!

What scale are we seeing?

Title: New found winter passion
Post by: DanPBrown on February 05, 2009, 08:58:02 pm
Quote from: Justan
Absolutely Specacular!

What scale are we seeing?
Very small subject, about 1:1 magnification.
Dan
www.danbrownphotography.com
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: Justan on February 05, 2009, 09:04:14 pm
Thanks.

How big are the subjects? Are they 1 inch across or 1/8th inch or ??

The nuance is breathtaking. Does this print as well as it looks on screen?

Title: New found winter passion
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 05, 2009, 09:07:07 pm
Wow!!!
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: DanPBrown on February 05, 2009, 09:11:02 pm
Quote from: Justan
Thanks.

How big are the subjects? Are they 1 inch across or 1/8th inch or ??

The nuance is breathtaking. Does this print as well as it looks on screen?
They are about an inch in size. They should print very well. They were shot with a Canon 1dsmk3, 65mm macro and 180 macro. Multiple shots were taken and the final is focus blended.
Dan
http://www.danbrownphotography.com (http://www.danbrownphotography.com)
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: Peter McLennan on February 05, 2009, 10:11:10 pm
Beautiful!  Are these found formations?  Or did you "encourage" them?
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: John R on February 05, 2009, 10:29:37 pm
Beautiful work!

JMR
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: DanPBrown on February 06, 2009, 07:29:26 am
Quote from: Peter McLennan
Beautiful!  Are these found formations?  Or did you "encourage" them?
Found. I wouldn't know how to encourage them
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: larryg on February 06, 2009, 01:50:38 pm
Quote from: DanPBrown
Frost. Enjoy.
Dan
http://danbrownphotography.com/ (http://danbrownphotography.com/)
(http://www.danbrownphotography.com/galleries/albums/userpics/January_Frost.jpg)
(http://www.danbrownphotography.com/galleries/albums/userpics/February_Frost.jpg)


Great, I might try it for fun.    Any details on how these were captured  (glass, flash, backlight)


Hard to beat designs in nature
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: DanPBrown on February 06, 2009, 05:00:00 pm
Quote from: larryg
Great, I might try it for fun.    Any details on how these were captured  (glass, flash, backlight)


Hard to beat designs in nature
They formed on my shed windows. I used ambient light and placed a piece of mat board behind the glass.
Dan
http://danbrownphotography.com/ (http://danbrownphotography.com/)
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: larryg on February 06, 2009, 06:12:35 pm
Quote from: DanPBrown
They formed on my shed windows. I used ambient light and placed a piece of mat board behind the glass.
Dan
http://danbrownphotography.com/ (http://danbrownphotography.com/)


thanks,
wouldn't you guess the weather is turning nice here and will be in the 50's for a bit.  

Title: New found winter passion
Post by: DanPBrown on February 06, 2009, 06:54:23 pm
Quote from: larryg
thanks,
wouldn't you guess the weather is turning nice here and will be in the 50's for a bit.
Lol, I've been hoping for cold weather here just so I can get some more shots. I should have a chance tomorrow morning, after that I don't know. It seems that temps below 10* Fahrenheit are best.
Dan
http://danbrownphotography.com/ (http://danbrownphotography.com/)
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: Spearmint on February 06, 2009, 07:46:00 pm
Stunning photos...thanks for sharing

I look forward to viewing some more
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: DanPBrown on February 06, 2009, 08:47:33 pm
Quote from: Spearmint
Stunning photos...thanks for sharing

I look forward to viewing some more
Here you  go, from this morning, 25.6 megapixels.
Dan
www.danbrownphotography.com
(http://www.danbrownphotography.com/galleries/albums/userpics/Fiddle_Heads_of_Frost.jpg)
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: DanPBrown on February 08, 2009, 01:34:59 pm
Here is a different lighting arrangement. Do you prefer the black background or this more high key image?
Dan
http://danbrownphotography.com/ (http://danbrownphotography.com/)
(http://www.danbrownphotography.com/galleries/albums/userpics/Frost_Staircase.jpg)
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: Peter McLennan on February 08, 2009, 02:37:52 pm
Quote from: DanPBrown
Here is a different lighting arrangement. Do you prefer the black background or this more high key image?

Tough call.  Do we have to choose?  : )  

The black background has tremendous first-view impact.  The high key reveals more translucency.  Maybe you can rig a graduated setup?

"Ambient light", you say.  Sheez. Mother nature is the best Art Director.  

Title: New found winter passion
Post by: DanPBrown on February 10, 2009, 10:08:21 pm
Quote from: Majik_Imaje
Stunning & spectacular vision of using your imagination to create something that 99% of  people pass by & miss !

GOOD SHOW, I can only wonder what these would like 'posterized' using different colors in gradient forms of blending !!

25 mega pixels ? what camera are you using ?  medium format ?

That has to be the most original composition & subject I have seen yet on the entire internet for 'creativity" !

Bravo !! standing, clapping & cheering !!
Wow, thanks for the encouragement Majik. I'm using a 1dsmk3. The 25 mp image was framed with the subject filling the image to the corners. The final image was rotated and placed on a larger canvas, hence the slightly larger image size.
Here is another that I just finished, it took me four hours to focus blend. When I saw it first it reminded me of Woody Woodpecker. That wouldn't make a good title so I went with Demon Grin.
Dan
http://danbrownphotography.com/ (http://danbrownphotography.com/)
(http://www.danbrownphotography.com/galleries/albums/userpics/Frost,_Demon_Grin.jpg)
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: JohnKoerner on March 01, 2009, 10:06:06 am
I second (third? fourth?) the WOW factor! Beautiful.

Regarding the "which do we prefer?" question, I myself prefer the ambient white-lit background because to me it makes the subject look more like "ice" and so gives the entire project more of a winter feel. Yet I still enjoy the patterns of the black-ground pieces, just for their patterns and display, thus I find the whole project to be sensational.

Your creative ideas just go to show the nearly limitless possibilities for macro work, even when snowed-in in winter  

Jack



.
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: Rob C on March 01, 2009, 10:27:28 am
Yes, I´d choose the second, lighter version of background too. I think this from the feeling that when it comes to print, too much black paper tends to kill things a bit.

Rob C
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: DanPBrown on March 01, 2009, 04:21:32 pm
Thanks for the input Jack and Ron. Here is another but in color.
Dan
www.danbrownphotography.com
(http://www.danbrownphotography.com/galleries/albums/userpics/Frost,_Sirens.jpg)
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: Mitchell Baum on March 02, 2009, 07:37:57 pm
Dan,

These are great. I like all three, black, white and color, but I get a greater feeling of detail which really takes me into the image with the black background. I wonder if there's a middle ground, or some soft light from the side.

I'm curious about the focus blending. Is this for dof? I would have thought this was flat 2 dimensions. What am I missing?

Great job.

Best,

Mitchell
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: Peter McLennan on March 02, 2009, 08:38:47 pm
I vote Woody Woodpecker.  
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: DanPBrown on March 02, 2009, 08:54:29 pm
Quote from: Mitchell Baum
Dan,

These are great. I like all three, black, white and color, but I get a greater feeling of detail which really takes me into the image with the black background. I wonder if there's a middle ground, or some soft light from the side.

I'm curious about the focus blending. Is this for dof? I would have thought this was flat 2 dimensions. What am I missing?

Great job.

Best,

Mitchell
Well it's a bit more complicated than that. First these patches of frost are very small, from 1 to 4 centimeters. At that size dof is very thin. Couple that with me shooting at f/5.6 and the dof is very very thin. Now you don't have to shoot at 5.6 but you need to realize that I'm a bit obsessive when it comes image quality. The effective aperture at 1:1 magnification when shot at 5.6 is f/11. At f/11 my ability to resolve fine detail is already diffraction limited. Any wider than 5.6 on my 65mpe and optical shortcomings reduce image quality. I'm trying to extract as much image quality from these shots as possible in order to make large prints.
Second, it's very difficult for me, when freezing my butt off, to get the camera perfectly square with the glass pane.  
Third, the plane of focus projected by the lens is not perfectly flat.
And last, the frost is actually somewhat 3d. There are crystals that grow away from the glass and require many shots to fully capture.
Here is a photo that shows some crystals growing away from the glass.
Dan
www.danbrownphotography.com
(http://www.danbrownphotography.com/galleries/albums/userpics/Frost_Trillium.jpg)
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: DanPBrown on March 02, 2009, 09:06:08 pm
Quote from: Peter McLennan
I vote Woody Woodpecker.  
Lol, here is one that looks just like an angler fish. In case you don't know what an angler fish looks like look here,
http://www.dangerouswildlife.com/images/anglerfish.jpg (http://www.dangerouswildlife.com/images/anglerfish.jpg)
Dan
www.danbrownphotography.com
(http://www.danbrownphotography.com/galleries/albums/userpics/Frost_Angler_Fish.jpg)
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: Mitchell Baum on March 03, 2009, 11:27:09 am
Dan,

Thanks for the explanation. I didn't realize how small the crystals were! Everything makes sense to me now that I have the size right. Living in Maine, I hear you about the cold.

A lot of effort, but a very worthwhile result.

Best,

Mitchell
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: DanPBrown on March 08, 2009, 09:48:22 am
I got lucky a few days ago when the temperature dipped below 10 fahrenheit. I was able to capture this patch of frost.
(http://www.danbrownphotography.com/galleries/albums/userpics/Frost,_Fireworks.jpg)
The frost patch is about the size of a half dollar. This photo is stitched and focus blended, it took me 5 hours to complete yesterday. The final image is 44 megapixels.
Dan
http://www.danbrownphotography.com (http://www.danbrownphotography.com)
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: Peter McLennan on March 08, 2009, 02:19:26 pm
Gorgeous, Dan.  I had no idea you had such DOF problems to contend with. Worth you freezing your butt off.  At least from here it is.    

Title: New found winter passion
Post by: stephent on March 10, 2009, 11:07:29 pm
These are spectacular - the black background is the most impactful for me. Funny you should mention the anglerfish look-a-like - just before I read that I was thinking that the images reminded me of some marine organisms like diatoms. Great stuff!

Stephen
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: tsjanik on March 11, 2009, 09:33:59 pm
Hi Dan:

I just read this thread.  Great photos and by coincidence, I have been admiring the frost patterns on my porch.  I have added one of my own and I note with interest that the structure of the ice is similar to that in yours. I was wondering if the particular nature of the surface of my windows led to the patterns – apparently not.

Tom  
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: DanPBrown on March 12, 2009, 07:33:25 am
Quote from: tsjanik
Hi Dan:

I just read this thread.  Great photos and by coincidence, I have been admiring the frost patterns on my porch.  I have added one of my own and I note with interest that the structure of the ice is similar to that in yours. I was wondering if the particular nature of the surface of my windows led to the patterns – apparently not.

Tom
Nice shot and very similar. My car had some great frost on the outside of the windows yesterday, unfortunately I didn't have time to take any shots.
Dan
http://www.danbrownphtography.com (http://www.danbrownphtography.com)
Title: New found winter passion
Post by: Jerry Basierbe on April 01, 2009, 08:14:32 am
Dan,
I like them all. Great job!

Jerry