I managed to take a picture of Comet PanStarrs last evening (3/13/13). It was a beautiful evening, but the comet certainly wasn't the spectacle I thought I'd see. The only reason I managed to get a photo was because the sky was clear enough above the low clouds on the far horizon, and I stayed and kept taking photos as the twilight began fading in the western sky - and then continued doing so until the only light left in the sky was the starlight overhead. The best shot I got of the comet was at about 45 minutes after sunset. The sky needed to be dark enough so the comet was visible, as well as clear enough for the comet to show up in a photo. Soon after that it was covered by the clouds.
I never did see actually see the comet while I was there, and didn't notice it then in the photos I shot either. I figured it was too low, or in the clouds, or not in the general area I thought it would be in. It wasn't until I got back home, checked the internet to verify where the comet should have been in the sky relative to the moon, and checked my photos again, that I noticed a soft, fuzzy, bright point in my photo just above the clouds, that was in line with the moon. I zoomed into the photo with the zoom button on the camera, and there it was!
This was my second time out. The first was on Friday March 8. I watched a beautiful sunset, and took photos the whole time, but never did see the comet. The pictures I'd been seeing posted on the web made me think it should be readily visible, but the reality is - at least for our latitude here in the Adirondacks, the comet is still so close to the sun that it's quite difficult to see with the naked eye. As it gets further away from the sun each night this month, it will become a much easier target in the evening sky. It will also be fading ever so slightly each night, but at least it will be higher above the glow of twilight, and easier to see.
For now, it's best to pick a nice clear evening, find a high location with a clear view to the western horizon. Enjoy the beauty of the evening as day fades to dark. Then about 40 minutes after the actual time the sun sets (roughly 7 PM right now - but this gets slightly later each night this month), start scanning the sky just above where the sun set with binoculars and look for a soft, fuzzy point of light within the glow of twilight.
Looking to get photos? The photo of the crescent moon, comet, and clouds was shot with my D300S camera, at 800 ISO, using a 60 mm focal length on my Nikkor 18-300 zoom, for 2 seconds at f /5.6. If I knew that focal length would have worked fine, and also knew that I was actually taking a photo of the comet, I would have used my 50 mm f1.4 lens, with a faster shutter speed, larger aperture, and lower ISO. It's best to use at least an f 2.8 lens. With slower lenses you'll just need to bump up the ISO to as high as 800 so you can set a fast enough shutter speed so there is minimal motion blur on the stars and comet because of the motion issues from the rotating Earth. Try to keep shutter speeds no longer than 2 seconds at that focal length. Be sure to use a good sturdy tripod with a cable or remote release to avoid moving the camera while taking a shot. Happy comet hunting!
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The thaw cycles create more water for the next set of icicles as the water seeps under the snow cover on the ground to the overhangs and outcroppings. As the ice builds up in the cold temperatures, fresh snow decorates the details and creates many different options for photography.
When photographing snow and ice it's important to consider how the camera is reading the light values for each exposure, especially when a photo is composed mostly of these brighter details. The camera's light meter wants to balance the tonal values of a photo to a mid-tone 18% gray value. That's just right for green grass and leaves and deep blue sky. Subjects like fog, snow, and ice though are brighter than 18% gray, and the camera needs to be adjusted so the brighter snow and ice will appear closer to a white value.
The easiest way to make the adjustment is to use a camera's exposure compensation feature while working in Aperture or Shutter Priority, or Program modes. A snow scene should be overexposed by about 1 to 2 stops depending on the proportion of light snow to darker details in the image. The bottom line is, if you take an image and the overall details are too dark - add more overexposure. If image details are too light, dial in some underexposure. 
This shooting process and more tips and techniques for exposure and working with histograms are explained in greater detail in my books - 'Contemporary Landscape Photography' (Amphoto), and 'The Landscape Photography Field Guide' (Focal Press). We also go through these shooting techniques and many others in my photography workshops. Happy shooting!
Open water and zero (F) or below air temperatures create unique photo opportunities with a combination of ice, mist, snow, and light. The extremes in air temperature cause mist to form, and sometimes freeze on all the branches along the shore. Wind blown lakes in these temperatures creates icicles and a buildup of ice all along the shoreline. Once the lake water temperature is cold enough, ice crystals form, as well as ice pans that blow into bays and gently bob up and down on the waves rolling in. As the surrounding air becomes saturated with enough moisture, fog and clouds may form along the length of the open water in the lake.
The general rules for exposure apply. When working in Aperture or Shutter Priority, if the scene is mostly white, add some overexposure compensation to brighten up the snow in the photos. Most important, bracket the exposure (shooting additional over and under exposures) to be sure you get a good enough exposure of the composition you have set up, and have enough highlight and shadow details in the exposures to do any needed HDR (high dynamic range) compositing work. I shoot in RAW with the white balance on Auto so I have the greatest amount of image information to work with - and can easily make any slight white balance adjustments needed in post processing. If shooting jpeg, it's best to get white balance right while you're shooting.
Dress warm! In sub-zero temperatures I wear synthetic long johns and a Primaloft insulated jacket and pants under my wind / waterproof parka and pants, as well as extra layers of fleece if needed. Nice warm Outdoor Research Primaloft mitts keep my hands toasty once the camera is set up, and I use windstopper fleece gloves as needed when making detailed camera adjustments. If you're interested in learning more about how to take these types of shots, sign up for one of the many one day to several day photography workshops I do each year (full list on my website), or check out my landscape photography techniques books. 'The Landscape Photography Field Guide' is packed full of information and tips in a book that easily fits in most camera packs.
By the time I reached the fire tower, there was already a beautiful warm glow on the horizon, and a deep red glow to the clouds in the northeast. I wasted no time in taking off my snowshoes, and climbed the tower stairs for the broad open view from the cabin above the snow covered spruce and balsam. Stars were disappearing quickly as I set up my tripod and Nikon D300S camera. Since I was going for the broad view of the clouds and landscape, I exchanged my 18-200 for the 11-16 mm zoom, mounted the camera on the offset center head, attached the cable release and started shooting. 
As the light began changing quickly, I also pulled out my Nikon Coolpix P7700 and shot a variety of handheld images of the dawn light, checking as many as needed after I shot them to be sure they were as sharp and detailed as I expected them to be. There wasn't much wind until about the time the sun started to rise above the horizon. It's always a balance in the winter between having a thick enough glove to keep the hands warm, and having enough dexterity with gloves on to work with the camera. My hands are usually pretty chilly by the time I put the cameras away. The glow of a beautiful sunrise generally keeps me thinking more about the photography than how cold the fingers are.
A spectacular sunrise always passes by far too quickly. The warm red and yellow tones of dawn soon brighten to white, blue, green and gray not long after the sun rises fully above the horizon. But there are still plenty of great angles to shoot in the low angle 'magic hour' light, and it was another hour or more before I snowshoed back down to the car and headed home to the office to check through the images from the morning shoot.
I've been following advances in point and shoot technology for some years, looking for certain shooting and image quality features. With the recent jump in sensor technology, I started looking pretty seriously this year at a number of point and shoot cameras and finally settled on Nikon's Coolpix P7700. With a 28-200 mm full frame equiv., it's a little short on the focal length range I'd like - and it doesn't have a Bulb setting, multiple exposure, and image overlay creative effects, but otherwise the camera has all the features I'm used to using with my Nikon D300S. The camera will do a 60 second exposure and 12 megapixel RAW files (slow writing to memory), plus 1080p video, panoramic mode, and HDR.
I've had a few days to play around with the features, and really enjoy how easy it is to access settings through buttons and dials on the camera, as well as with a customizable My Menu feature accessed via one of the knobs. And, as fun as it is to be able to have full control, or play with the special effects, it's also nice when the grandkids are running around to set it to fully automatic and get some great photos that are at least as good as I shoot with the D300S, without thinking about the settings. And the whole unit is a fraction of the size and weight of my D300S w/ 18-200 mm zoom!
The accompanying photos were all shot with the Coolpix P7700. All shot RAW, with the Christmas lights converted to jpeg from RAW in the camera, and the moon photos with Photoshop. Of the two of Christmas lights, one was a pan on led lights, and the other an in camera zoom effect.
On Sunday we took a short ride to the historic Bow Bridge and railroad trestle over the Sacandaga River in Hadley. With the water release over the weekend for those tubing or kayaking the river, there was plenty of water flowing under the bridges when the train went over - on time - just after 5 PM, heading south. While I compose mostly to create a dynamic balance between contrasts of light and dark areas, and color within an image, the railroad / bridges photo also exhibits a good balance of 'thirds'. The rule (guideline) of thirds suggests placing horizon or detail lines at approximate 'thirds' in an image, and placing main subjects at intersecting lines of thirds. The main 'energy' of the train engine on the bridge is at an intersection of 'thirds', the Bow Bridge near the bottom third. The edge of the trees on the left and bridge abuttment on the right are almost a 'third' in from either side. 
If looking at the composition by 'contrast evaluation', the train engine has a lot of energy and attracts the eye. The amount of lighter sky balances out the heavier energy of the darker trees. The lines of the bridges catch your eye and lead you from side to side, and there is enough energy in the water and lines there to pull your eye down - plus having the lighter color and detail contrast in the stone bridge abuttment. This creates a pleasing dyanamic balance between all the lighter and darker areas and lines that lead your eye throughout the image. My books, 'Contemporary Landscape Photography', and 'The Landscape Photography Field Guide' both discuss composition in greater length and with much more detail. I'll be doing a 2 day workshop at the Folk School later this month (Aug. 2012), as well as workshops at View in Old Forge.
I was in Old Forge to do 2 enjoyable and informative comprehensive one day photography workshops at View. While Saturday had a full blown snowstorm for weather, Sunday was bright and clear, but we found some great opportunities both days to play with the cameras and practice techniques after going through the classroom segment. Since I was in town overnight, I headed ourt early Sunday morning to scout new locations, and do some shooting in the crisp, clear morning light with the fresh snowfall coating everything with about 10 inches of new snow.
I headed to the Green Bridge first and took a few photos in the dawn light, then headed west from Thendara along 28, to a location I had never been to at a bend in the Moose River. The sun still hadn't crested above the horizon when I first started shooting, allowing the use of longer shutter speeds to add some motion blur to the water, which gives a softer effect to the look of the river. 
Mist was rising from the water in the near zero degree cold, adding a mystical effect to the river and snow covered trees along the shore. The sun came up in a location where the first rays highlighted the mist along the river bend just beyond where I had set up. While I had been lamenting the fact that the brighter conditions were making the shooting speeds faster than I preferred for getting a nice soft blur in the water, I quickly realized the magic hour light playing on the mist was simply extraordinary, and I quickly stopped worrying about motion blur.
After getting the images I wanted of the river and mist with the filter on, I started looking around for more angles on the landscape and river, and found some great reflections on the water around the ice formations as the frazil ice floated by on the surface of the river. 
Depth of field is often a critical issue when taking a photo. This is true when working with any focal length. The shorter the focal length the greater the depth of field potential. What's most important though is to understand where to put the actual point of focus in order to maximize the depth of field. I have charts to work with as handouts that detail the range of depth of field at different aperture settings for a variety of focal lengths (this is also in my photo techniques books as well). The actual point of focus (the hyperfocus point) is twice as far away as the closest subject that can be in focus at the given focal length / aperture opening. While this sounds complicated, it's easier to understand when you see it in practice, and then work with it for a bit.
All the stops we made for photos along the trail slowed our progress a bit, so when we reached the junction for Snow Mountain, I decided it was best just to head for the top of Rooster Comb. The timing worked out well! Clouds were breaking up, and we had some really nice light over the mountains. The clouds were still hanging over the summits, making for some really dramatic images. We hiked on over to the Valley View lookout before heading on to the actual summit. 
The light was great when we first got to the top, but another bank of really dark clouds was pushing in from the west. After a half hour or so the view with the sunlight on Giant was replaced with a dramatic sky that had a rather ominous look. The dark clouds added a whole different character, but unfortunately blocked any view of the moon rising over the ridge to the north of Giant. The wind picked up as the sky started spitting little snowballs at us, making it feel much more like winter on the exposed ridge. 
Patience paid off though. The low, fast moving clouds were not a completely solid layer, and as they began to break up, some of the deep blue twilight sky was peeking through. The moon finally made an appearance through one of the openings, and for the next half hour or more we all photographed the landscape with the full moon showing through breaks in the passing clouds. One of the favorite photos I shot that evening was a 30 second exposure that showed the motion of the clouds, but the moon also made a brief appearance during the exposure and put the moon within the exposure range of the rest of the photograph. While the overall weather wasn't exactly what I had hoped for, in many ways it exceeded my expectations, and gave opportunities for a variety of unique images!
We weren't the only ones climbing on Sunday, but there were only a couple of other groups out on the trail over The Brothers to Big Slide. While we had crampons along, we were able to make it OK over the icy sections. We noted some others did wear extra traction cleats - most likely a big help on some of the steeper sections!
We took our time at the views on the way up and on the summit, taking photos and enjoying each view, before heading down the trail to Johns Brook Lodge and back out to the Garden parking lot. I carried two lenses along with my D300S - an 18-200, and an 11-16, to give me lots of flexibilty on different angles and compositions. I also shot a few panoramic sequences that still need to be stitched together.
The sun was getting low as we started our descent. Debris, ice, and bridge washouts from Irene made the trail to JBL interesting. Twilight faded into night and the stars flickered among the treetops as we hiked out. Since we both enjoy walking at night we waited as long as we could before turning on our headlamps. After I slipped a couple of times on ice that I thought was dirt, we decided a bit of light would make the last mile or so both easier and safer. After we put our gear in the car, we hung out in the parking lot a few minutes gazing at the stars and Milky Way with the sky so absolutely clear you felt you could reach out and touch them....
Larch are the only coniferous trees that anually lose all of their needles. This happens each year about a full 6 weeks after white pines have shed the previous year's layer of needles. One of the great things for photography is that the the larch turns at a time of year when there is a good likelihood for heavy morning frost to add a silver edge onto each golden needle of the tree. With the abundance of moisture found in a wetland, the icing can build into a frosting that almost completely covers all the needles. As the sun rises above the horizon and slowly burns away the mist, the ice coated needles shine with a vivid golden glow in the first warm light of the day.
There are a number of public accesses to the lake around Lake George Village - Million Dollar Beach, Shepard Park, Lake George Battlefield Park, and Usher Park. There's also Rogers Memorial Park in Bolton, plus the overlook on 9 at Sabbath Day Point, and the great views of the lake from Hague, Ticonderoga, and Hullets Landing. There are parks in each of these towns as well. While Rogers Rock and Hearthstone State Campgrounds are closed, I believe there may be limited access to the shorelines. 
A wonderful way to see the lake is from one of the boat cruises which are still operating through this coming weekend. There are also kayak rentals and tours based in Bolton Landing. Weather is looking good, so have a last fling before the leaves drop and winter starts to set in!!
We headed north of Wells first and checked out East Jimmy Creek, hiked a bit around Griffin Gorge on the East Sacandaga, and then did the short hike back to Hope Falls, which is south of Wells. There was lots of water going over any falls and cascades! 
The day was mostly overcast and showery, with a couple of pretty good rains around mid afternoon. The light was perrfect for working in the woods and along the streams. The soft, diffused light filled in shadows so textures were more apparent, and the low light allowed for longer exposure times to help soften the effects of water motion.
Even on cloudy days there's still often a 'glow' in the light that comes around the time the sun sets. We were walking back from Hope Falls, and had set up to photograph Tenant Creek with a forest of beech trees as a backdrop. We hadn't been there long, when the light began to build, and the recently turned beech leaves glowed a wonderful golden color. It sure was a wonderful end to a great day with a fun group of photographers!
In addition, the long range weather forecast for this Columbus Day weekend is looking pretty good. All major roads have been repaired after the flooding from Irene, and most trails are open as well. It's been pretty wet this fall, so most streams and rivers are flowing at a higher level. That makes for some real nice water coming over waterfalls and cascades!
For photography, colors tend to 'pop' the best in the glow of early morning and evening light. Morning is especially nice when there is some mist and moisture to add a dreamy effect to the images. The moisture also helps accentuate some of the colors. A polarizing filter can enhance the fall colors as well as sky contrasts when it's used at angles of about 90 degrees to the direction the light is coming from. However, I find I can enhance the colors and sky with little difficulty in post processing techniques to compare with the colors I expected from film, and rarely use filters for my digital photography.
With all the colors around it may seem like pictures would be everywhere, but take time to compose your photos so they have a nice balance of contrasts and details. Hone the composition to just the details that tell the story. It's often the simplest compositions that have the greatest impact.