Water: Colin Wright Photography

Bud Ice

photography@colin-wright.com (Colin Wright Photography) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:54:47 GMT

After the snow Friday, we were left with a fleeting winter wonderland this morning. At sunrise, I took my Canon 7D and MP-E 65/2.8 macro lens out into the snow to see what I could see.

The gentle constructs of the snow and ice were still just clinging to our forsythia bush, and really attracted my attention. Along the top edge of the thin branches were really cool little ice constructs that were beginning to fall off due to the slight wind and the sun’s peeking from behind the clouds. I knew I didn’t have a lot of time before this ice was gone, so I shot a series of shots — handheld! — with this mammoth lens on the front of the camera.

I had to capture this at f/8 for to widen the insanely tight depth of field on this lens. Unfortunately, that also meant really long shutter speeds, which didn’t work well when magnified like this in a light breeze, so that meant cranking the 7D up to ISO 800, which gave me a handhold-able speed of 1/320th. Still, I had to put the camera in high speed continuous shooting mode to “spray and pray” for a shot where my wobbling, the wind’s blowing and the lens’ depth of field all came together at the right time. I suppose I could’ve put the camera on a tripod, and used something to clamp the branch in place, but where’s the fun in that?

In the digital darkroom, I brought the image into Photoshop CS4E, reducing noise with Nik Dfine, adding a couple of control points with Nik Viveza, and finishing it off with the Glamour Glow filter from Nik Color Efex Pro. I’m really growing to like that soft filter look in some of my nature images, and it really seemed to work for this one.

Ice on the Table

photography@colin-wright.com (Colin Wright Photography) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:50:33 GMT

This morning, I awoke to the remnants of the very small snowfall we had late in the week. My favorite glass table on the deck had ice atop it, which prompted me to pull out my Canon MP-E 65/2.8 lens. The more I shoot with this lens, the more I love it… kinda. I mean, it is definitely a lens that takes a lot of practice to use well.

The biggest challenge I’m having with it is in getting the focal plane broad enough by ensuring that what I’m photographic is parallel to the film plane. Any slight angle yoinks the focal plane down to nothing. I’ve got some ideas about how to fix that… stay tuned!

Footprints

photography@colin-wright.com (Colin Wright Photography) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:46:47 GMT

The snow is beginning to melt in earnest with our daytime temps above 40° now, and I’m reminded of something my darling daughter said this weekend.

As we pulled into the driveway, she exclaimed that a deer had obviously walked through the snow in the front yard. I strained to look out her window, and asked her to point out what she’d seen. She pointed confidently to the tracks you see in this photo. What she hadn’t noticed was that the tracks ended at the base of the tree.

Deer, of course, can’t climb trees.

Sunset at Half Moon Bay

photography@colin-wright.com (Colin Wright Photography) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:31:08 GMT

On a recent roadtrip, I stayed in Half Moon Bay CA. While there, I visited a public beach, and watched the sun set into the Pacific Ocean.

Footprints in the Snow

photography@colin-wright.com (Colin Wright Photography) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:29:43 GMT

After a light snow, a small bird's footprints dot the fresh powder.

Frozen in Time

photography@colin-wright.com (Colin Wright Photography) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 04:14:45 GMT

A copper bowl full of water went through a hard freeze, suspending these air bubbles in ice.

Tracks in the Snow

photography@colin-wright.com (Colin Wright Photography) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:12:28 GMT

A few days after a big snow, I visited the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis MO. The snow had settled between these railroad tracks, making a nicely contrasting scene.

Microcosm

photography@colin-wright.com (Colin Wright Photography) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:57:29 GMT

Using a 5x life size macro lens, I captured this image of the frost and an air bubble in the wall of a glass rain gauge. This otherworldly image shows the perfection of the tiny frost lines on the glass, as well as the imperfection of the air trapped forever in the glass wall.

Drops of Red

photography@colin-wright.com (Colin Wright Photography) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:52:15 GMT

I found these small ice drops on a cable beneath a train at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis. They really refracted the red color of the next train car, and made a striking contrast with the dark cable.

Nails of Ice

photography@colin-wright.com (Colin Wright Photography) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:51:27 GMT

I visited the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis MO after a heavy snow. With a few days of thawing and refreezing, there were structures of ice everywhere. The icicles here were connected at the top, creating something that looked like a string of ice nails.

Web of Ice

photography@colin-wright.com (Colin Wright Photography) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:44:27 GMT

During an ice storm, this tree was coated in layers of ice. With the illumination of the light, the ice glowed, making it look like a spider had spun a web of ice.

Orange Leaf

photography@colin-wright.com (Colin Wright Photography) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:43:06 GMT

Looking down at a glass table one morning, I found this leaf covered in frost. I loved how the tiny fingers of frost found so many edges on the leaf and its veins.

Memories of Fall

photography@colin-wright.com (Colin Wright Photography) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:21:02 GMT

I travelled to Lone Elk State Park in autumn to take a look at the bison and elk herds that roam the hillsides of the park, and found a hill of trees next to the lake, all displaying magnificent fall colors. For some reason, the little grove of trees at lake’s edge grabbed my imagination, and I decided to set them off by taking the color away from the rest of the image. To me, the simple image reminded me of an old black and white image that had been hand-tinted to restore the color to the grove.

Dark Crystal

photography@colin-wright.com (Colin Wright Photography) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:23:26 GMT

Dark Crystal was taken during an ice storm in early 2007. This crystal of ice, perhaps an inch long, was suspended from a gas grill. The color comes from the setting sun as this bold piece of ice grabbed the very last rays of sunlight from that winter day.

Crystal

photography@colin-wright.com (Colin Wright Photography) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:22:53 GMT

Ten hours of icing created a wonderful wonderland of ice on the bushes and trees. Here, a crystal clear droplet of water is frozen in place, revealing surface details and pockets of air.

Arc of Ice

photography@colin-wright.com (Colin Wright Photography) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:59:41 GMT

Another image from our 2007 ice storm, this photo shows a thornbush covered in ice.