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Venus Transit, the Wide Angle Approach (and a huge dynamic range)
For the 2012 Venus Transit I did not even bother bringing my long lens. Not sure whether that was smart or not but since my camera does not have Live View, I was a it afraid I might stare at the sun through a 400 mm glass along with a 1.4x telephoto converter. And since there was a good chance that might go on for more than an hour, I have opted for a wide angle approach.
I wanted to get some foreground in the photo to make my Venus Transit a little unique and give it sense of place, to show where in the world it was taken. I read couple articles before the event and thought that might be the way to go.
Quickly did I realize how futile that effort was with a single exposure. Exposing for the foreground rendered the sun glare so powerful that Venus was obliterated and invisible. Exposing for the sun, the foreground was nothing but a world of black. A composite may be the only solution but I am not sure that is my cup of tea, we will see. About 30 minutes before sunset, the exposure for sun was f/22 and 1/8000 sec via a 6-stop ND filter! With the filter in place, the foreground exposure was f/22 and 2 seconds! That is 14 stops apart, right?
Just before the sunset, the difference was significantly smaller and I could expose the sun at 1/250 sec @ f/16 via the 6-stop ND filter, but still way short of getting even a silhouette of the foreground. Again, over a few months, maybe I will find a way to process my heavily bracketed shots into a presentable result. For now, I just wanted to share this experience so that you can learn from it and shoot the next one better (in 2117).
Ok, so this may not be of much use for the next Venus Transit but it does show what the trick is to get the sun properly exposed. It does not have to be an overexposed ball of fire. Just before sunset, it can be done with a fast shutter speed and a small aperture. If it is 30 minutes or more before sunset, a dark ND filter can help to still get it done.
I've added the third photo just to show the sun more up close, with the proper exposure for the sun, rendering even the strong reflection off of Lake Erie almost invisible. The was with the sun starting to dip below the horizon and with clouds rolling in. You can clearly see Venus in this photo in top right of the sun, just above the clouds.
Have fun and be careful, as this post shows, the sun's rather bright and it's not just the visible light that reaches your eyes!
Morning on Murder Creek - Going for the Details Again
Here's another photo I took during my most recent visit to the Akron Falls Park in Akron, NY. After photographing the waterfalls at sunrise I really enjoyed walking down the creek and looking for close up opportunities to complement the wider view of the falls.
With some tiny water cascades flowing over beautiful moss covered rocks there was plenty to look at. I especially watched for my shutter speed during this visit trying to find one that was long enough to nicely show the flow but short enough to leave plenty of texture in the stream. I really did not want to obliterate it to a fog-like substance on this particular occasion.
If you come early, for example for the sunrise, note that the lower parking lot by the creek is closed. The road is blocked by a movable guardrail making it look like the steep road down is closed permanently. However, you can park right there by the guardrail and head down on foot or park on the upper parking lot and head down to the waterfalls first. However, it is less intuitive then to follow the creek down then and enjoy its little wonders.
What a romantic name this place has, right? Based on a legend, the name may go back to the early 1800s with another murder tragedy in 1890.
New York Waterfalls - Google Books and a Great Online Page
Ok, now that I have talked about crowds and wondered whether it is a good thing or not so much, why not do something to support them? Here are couple books available for free on Google Books, one covering the state of New York, and one focusing on the Central and Western New York:
- New York Waterfalls: A Guide for Hikers & Photographers (Paperback version of the book from Amazon.com, Kindle Edition)
- 200 Waterfalls in Central & Western New York: A Finder's Guide (Paperback version of the book from Amazon.com)
And to round things off, this is a really great web site dedicated to New York waterfalls.
I find waterfalls amazing creations of Mother Nature and must admit that I am luckier than I often realize because New York State is very rich on them. There are just so many from the better known ones like this Taughannock Falls, Niagara Falls, Lower, Middle, and Upper Falls of the Letchworth State Park, and Watkins Glen, but also many, many smaller ones most people don't even know about. They all offer great views and can serve as a great excuse to leave the couch and head out!
Have fun waterfalling!
Of Nature and Men (Case Study: Eternal Flame Falls, Orchard Park, NY)
On Friday (May 25, 2012), I visited the Eternal Flame Falls again after about a year. It's a natural wonder right in the Chestnut Ridge Park in Orchard Park, NY. It's a relatively small waterfall (30 feet in two sections) on Shale Creek with a strong flow in Spring but a trickle in Summer. What makes it special and a wonder in my opinion is that a flame keeps burning in a small cave-like pocket right in it's middle. There's enough natural gas escaping the ground to keep it burning despite the rather wet environment. Yes, it can get extinguished but people are fast to re-light it when needed. And there are actually several secondary spots that one can get going here and there.
When I first visited the place about 10 years ago after being told about it by a friend, there was nobody else there, and I stayed for a while. It was not in any books as far as I knew, it was not even possible to find any information about it on the Internet. Yes, even Google came up short - wait a minute, was it Google back then? :-)
Then, over the years, the on-street parking was becoming busier and busier to a point that parking was occassionally difficult. On my last vist, I found a new parking lot built at an alternate trail head! (right off of 277 on the right before going down the hill and turning into Seufert Rd., coming from the north). Despite heading out in the morning, well, before noon, there were quite a few people on the trail. And by the waterfall itself, there must have been around 20 people there. Aside for couple family photos, this was the first time I left with no new additions to my Eternal Flame gallery! Seriously, it just was not worth it.
They tell you that tourism helps with protection, that it can provide funding, that if people can't see it than why have it? But I am not sure crowds are a good thing. The places are just not what the would be with just a few people around. And don't take me wrong, I am all for people living healthy and going hiking, but can you really call it a hike and a healthy style if you're carrying a half-gallon coffee cup from Tim Horton's? But then again, maybe why not, as long as that cup makes it back out instead of being dumped.
Have fun and good luck finding crowd-free wonders!
PS: Additional information on Eternal Flame Falls and many other waterfalls (great location information, trail guides, and some great photos as well!)
