In the Field

A Scene Seldom Seen. Burnaby Island, Gwaii Haanas National Park and Marine Reserve, Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), BC, Canada. July 7, 2011.

For me photography is a very personal thing. Even though I regularly run photo tours, when it comes to my own shooting I almost always prefer to work alone. This is particularly true when I'm shooting "landscapes" or "scenics" (which I do shoot!!) - I need to get in the right "headspace" and totally focus on the visual environment without any thought of what others are up to (or shooting, or thinking). I also like "finding" scenes that are way off the beaten path and may never have been photographed before. So, when I got a chance to visit some of the more remote nooks and crannies of the already remote Gwaii Haanas National Park off the west coast of British Columbia, I jumped at the chance! And, when our guide agreed to drop me off on an island alone for a few hours I was in seventh heaven! To me, wandering in the woods searching for images is the purest expression of freedom...

I make no secret about not liking many modern landscape images that employ heavy colour saturation and excessive HDR (high dynamic range) processing. So what gives with me shooting (and showing) this shot? Well...that's the beauty of Gwaii Haanas - the vegetation in the rainforest and the muted lighting provides SPECTACULAR colour. The vast majority of the colour and pop in this image are a function of exposure adjustments made to the single exposure and the use of a circular polarizing filter. I DID bump the saturation of the water surface (both the rocky foreground rapids and the calm pool) by 5% in Photoshop (in an effort to return the scene to what I witnessed in the field, but all other colours are as captured in the field.

For the techno-geeks out there (and that normally includes me too!): this image was captured at 27mm using Nikon's excellent 24-70mm f2.8 FX lens. I was also carrying Nikon's newer 16-35mm f4 VR wide angle lens with me when I was shooting this and I shot the same scene with that lens as well (at 27mm of course) - purely for comparison purposes. Both images were shot at f16. Besides showing a very minor perspective difference (which I'm still trying to figure out!!), the full-res versions of the images are virtually indistinguishable in quality (both being tack sharp from closest foreground to most distant background). I have always found my 24-70mm f2.8 to be of EXCELLENT quality and I was really pleased that the 16-35mm f4 stacked up so well against it (I AM really liking the versatility of that 16-35mm f4 VR!).

I plan to return to Gwaii Haanas in the summer of 2012 on a non-instructional photo tour (i.e, with a small group of photographers wishing simply to shoot, not receive formal photography instruction). So if you're the type that likes getting off the beaten path and see - and photograph - some spectacular scenes (including landscapes AND wildlife) you might want to contact me (at seminars@naturalart.ca).

Behind the Camera

A Scene Seldom Seen. Burnaby Island, Gwaii Haanas National Park and Marine Reserve, Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), BC, Canada. July 7, 2011.

Digital Capture; RAW 14-bit format; ISO 200.

Nikon D3s with Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8 lens at 27mm with B&W circular polarizing filter. Supported on carbon fibre Gitzo GT2541EX tripod and AcraTech Ultimate ballhead. Cable release and mirror-up release mode used.

3 second exposure @ f16; -0.33 stop exposure compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.

At the Computer

A Scene Seldom Seen. Burnaby Island, Gwaii Haanas National Park and Marine Reserve, Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), BC, Canada. July 7, 2011.

RAW Conversion to 16-bit TIFF, including first-pass/capture sharpening using Phase One's Capture One Pro 6. Five raw conversions varying in exposure settings over a 1.5 stop range - from -0.75 stops from base exposure thru to +0.75 stops from base exposure.

Further digital corrections on 16-bit TIFF file using Adobe's Photoshop CS5. Photoshop adjustments including blending of 5 exposure versions, selective tone curve adjustment, selective colour saturation and desaturation, and final sharpening for web output.

Conservation

A Scene Seldom Seen. Burnaby Island, Gwaii Haanas National Park and Marine Reserve, Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), BC, Canada. July 7, 2011.

Not Applicable. Happily, Gwaii Haanas National Park and National Marine Reserve is one of the few island groups in the world that receives protection from ocean bottom to mountain peak! Hurrah!