How to photograph "light"

In landscape, if you snooze, you lose.

NZDoug wrote in post #5644894
In landscape, if you snooze, you lose.

NZ did you ever hear or read the story of Adams and Moonrise over Hernandez.
http://www.fada.com/ca​talogimages//moonrise.​jpg

He was driving with his son and he had a Pontiac station wagon with a platform built on top for him and his view camera. Well anyway I guess he looked over and saw this scene. He couldn't get the car stopped fast enough and up on top with his camera, tripod and film backs. He got all set up and realized that he didn't have his spot meter. He remember how many ft candles of light the moon put out at 3/4 full and figured his development time from that and based his exposure on experience. He made one exposure and flipped the film holder and was going to expose another sheet but the sun had slipped behind the mountain behind him and the light suddenly fell of the crosses in the graveyard and there was no longer a photograph.

You snooze you loose.

Good story,
I like shooting early morning, as I dog walk, and it has the least amount of people around and the best light.
No one to bug, rob, drunks are passed out etc.
Then the whole world is yours and your dogs!
Combo this with afternoon naps and your ready for sunset.

NZDoug wrote in post #5645090
Good story,
I like shooting early morning, as I dog walk, and it has the least amount of people around and the best light.
No one to bug, rob, drunks are passed out etc.
Then the whole world is yours and your dogs!
Combo this with afternoon naps and your ready for sunset.

The light is so special right before sunrise up until a couple hours after it comes up.

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=513626

Had to link this up if any of you missed it. Off topic, but inspiring nevertheless.

DOF? That usually stands for depth of field, & I'm not sure what you mean.

chauncey wrote in post #5637205
I'm beginning to think that, once you have the technical aspects pretty much nailed down,
being at the right place at the right time, whether by luck or design, is every bit as important.

That what your telling me?

Pretty much...even the best get lucky. Matter of fact, while at the Ansel Adams exhibit in Las Vegas, I learned that his famous Hernandez moonrise picture was complete luck...they were shooting elsewhere and had given up for the day without any good results. On the drive back, Adams came upon the famous scene, skidded the car to a stop, and had to scramble just to unpack his gear and get set up. The rest is history...

Typically, I'll use the "not good" time of the day to explore an area in order to scout shooting locations for a particular shot that I have in mind. On shooting day, I get to the spot early, set up, and wait. The odds of just walking up to the scene and getting a killer shot with one click are pretty small, to say the least.

EDIT: Wow...I didn't read all of the responses before I posted mine. Just now noticed that airfrog related the same story...that's eery.

argyle wrote in post #5648893
Pretty much...even the best get lucky. Matter of fact, while at the Ansel Adams exhibit in Las Vegas, I learned that his famous Hernandez moonrise picture was complete luck...they were shooting elsewhere and had given up for the day without any good results. On the drive back, Adams came upon the famous scene, skidded the car to a stop, and had to scramble just to unpack his gear and get set up. The rest is history...

Typically, I'll use the "not good" time of the day to explore an area in order to scout shooting locations for a particular shot that I have in mind. On shooting day, I get to the spot early, set up, and wait. The odds of just walking up to the scene and getting a killer shot with one click are pretty small, to say the least.

EDIT: Wow...I didn't read all of the responses before I posted mine. Just now noticed that airfrog related the same story...that's eery.

great minds think alike

sfaust wrote in post #5636529
...Read about lighting design and look at the examples. Not just photography, but light design for home interiors, architecture, garden/patio lighting design, etc. Look at the various ways the light is used. It will help you see the variances in various lighting methods and techniques...

This is the most critical part of the process...learning to see light the way the camera does. Timing and logistics are important, but until you understand how the camera sees light, there will often be a huge disconnect between what you see and what you get.

hommedars wrote in post #5648930
This is the most critical part of the process...learning to see light the way the camera does. Timing and logistics are important, but until you understand how the camera sees light, there will often be a huge disconnect between what you see and what you get.

Or learning to manipulate the process to achieve the light that you are seeing.
(zone system and previsualizing)

Frank, your link, https://photography-on-the.net …hp?p=5191658&po​stcount=47 shows different colors for different f-stops. f/13-16 show different colors.

My half dozen best shots have kinda been like Adam's Moonrise, lucky to be in that right place/right time.

"Seeing the light" in the same way the camera does is an area in which I am deficient.
PP zonemapping is a way to partially overcome that problem, but with my stuff, a good shot is a whole lot easier to improve than a poor shot.

chauncey wrote in post #5649046
Frank, your link, https://photography-on-the.net …hp?p=5191658&po​stcount=47 shows different colors for different f-stops. f/13-16 show different colors.

My half dozen best shots have kinda been like Adam's Moonrise, lucky to be in that right place/right time.

"Seeing the light" in the same way the camera does is an area in which I am deficient.
PP zonemapping is a way to partially overcome that problem, but with my stuff, a good shot is a whole lot easier to improve than a poor shot.

In my opinion learning to use the camera and PP to capture the light you are seeing is the real secret.

The point was that the exposures were different. Yes, it appears that the colors change, which is why I said, "Shoot RAW so you have the ability to blend different "exposures" where necessary." You can also do it with 2-3 different images, but it gets a bit more complicated.
Using a selection & a Layer Mask. PS, see post #9; PS Elements in Post # 14
A question about sky and the Airport runway shoot link in my post.

I hope that were not missing the real point about Moonrise.

Luck did play a role by putting Adams in that location at that moment in time but he had to SEE the photograph to be able to capture it. How many others would have just driven on by not really noticing the magic of the light at the moment? He saw the image in his minds eye and was able to capture that image and through manipulation of exposure, negative processing and printing. He was able to realize the image he imagined at the time of exposure. So he used and MANIPULATED the camera, negative processing, and printing to capture the scene he previsualized.

So his ability to see the photograph before he shot it then is ability to use the tools he had to capture that vision is what separated him and still does from most; knowing how to USE his camera to capture his vision.

I have played around with blending and HDR in CS3 Frank, sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't.

I got the point airfrogusmc and I appreciate your followup. BTW, your signature, retired seal?