The Faces of Brushy Peak

I have taken many pictures of this park and I thought I would show what it looks like different times of year.

June 2011

April 2012

December 2012 (slightly different image POV

June 2013

All washed out

Since upgrading to the D600 I have noticed that many of my landscape shots are super over exposed and washed out. Almost everything involving sky requires me to change the exposure compensation to make strong adjustments to prevent the image from being totally washed out.

Over exposed at f8 in Aperture Priority Mode (unedited raw). Circular Polarizer

Same location but with adjusted exposure at f8. Circular Polarizer (edited)

When using the D5100 I never experienced a single over exposed image. Yes, I am using a totally difference lens but the problem has been pretty crazy.  I do not know if it is because the full frame is more sensitive to different types of light or if something is going on with the D600.  When I have done shooting in low light environments, the exposure has been really great. It's bright light or mixed light that is causing trouble.

I went ahead and ordered a B+W graduated ND filter that will give me a 2 stop difference. Looking forward to seeing if it helps correct the problem. 

Going Full

I made that great leap to a full frame camera this week with the purchase of a Nikon D600. Combining that with a Tokina 17-35mm F/4 has been a great mixture for landscape work.

With the jump from the D5100 to D600 I was a little worried that the larger RAW file sizes would slow down my post processing workflow, but my iMac has handled things really well. I don't think I have noticed any difference in file load times or the time it takes to apply file changes.

Overall I was really impressed with how much faster the camera is and how much more detail comes out of each image I was taking.

I haven't had a lot of time to shoot, but I pulled together a few shots with the Tokina and a Nikon 70-300mm.

One of my fav. images of the day. Love the water reflections

Need some new places to shoot

I feel like I have pretty much exhausted all of the interesting buildings and landscapes in my area (that don't involve really long hikes).  You can only take photos of so many barns and store fronts before you run out of local options.  Although the recent suggestion to visit Fremont was pretty good.

I posted a few photos to 500px this week from my archive and didn't feel very confident with the quality, and just deleted the post.

To help keep my camera busy, I am working to photographing each of the 65 parks in my town. Some of them have some pretty interesting play equipment and some are just very basic and don't excite me.

On Saturday I am taking a road trip to Ione California to visit a haunted house that is supposed to be pretty camera friendly. I will be on the tour. I am hoping it is "self guided" so I can take my time. Otherwise I think the town itself will have a lot of interesting buildings and landscapes.

As a side note, I have started going on walks every day to get myself back into shape. A 3 mile hike used to be no big deal to me, but these days a mile is far from easy.

I also went to the eye doctor today for a checkup. Good news, the eye I use to look through my camera is in good shape for long distances. On the downside I need reading glasses.

What is normal?

I will find a location and shoot maybe 5 to 20 shots of a single item. Sometimes a little more. Mostly due to limited time or access. I then get home and hate every shot. Either my framing sucks or my focus is total crap. It's a horrible feeling. I usually try to fix my mistakes in aperture and hope for the best.

I read some photographers take 2000 shots of a single subject. That makes me feel a lot better. If it takes a pro 2000 shots, then how can I get something great with only 10? Luck maybe?

Then comes the question, is it ok to manufacture the sky? Import it from an unrelated image. Is it ok to remove an electric tower from the landscape? Add a person or two? Maybe. I prefer to share a realistic vision of the subject rather then create "art" that didn't exist.

Brushy Peak Regional Preserve

This photo was the first one I had published. It was featured in the East Bay Regional Park District activity guide a few months back.