|
|
Post by herron on Sept 16, 2007 23:43:29 GMT -5
![]() www.mamiya35collectors.com/gh pier-01.gif[/img] © Ron Herron 2007Shot this 30-second exposure on the boardwalk in Grand Haven, Michigan. That's the Grand River, right where it empties into Lake Michigan. The Grand Haven Lighthouse is at the end of the pier in the distance. The sun had set about 25 minutes earlier, and this is a shot I've always wanted to try. Everything just came together last week, and I was there in good (if a little chilly, about 48°) weather, had my heavy tripod, my Moleskin notebook to record data (I usually forget the darn thing) and nowhere else to go for a while. My wife even came down to the beach with me to see the sunset. There's a State Park just to the left of the pier, and we walked down from there. I thought it was intriguing when I saw this. There were a couple of boats coming into the river from the lake...but all you can see of them are the trails of their lights! Also, there were two couples on the boardwalk, walking toward the lighthouse. They had stopped to ask if they would be in the way of my picture, and asked about the big, heavy tripod and the camera (they seemed surprised to learn it wasn't digital)! They're in the picture...as those gray ghosts on the boardwalk, farther down on the left! Shot with my NC1000, using Fuji Superia 100, aperture at f/16 for 30 seconds...shutter tripped with a cable release. The blind squirrel got the acorn! I'm proud of this one.  ;D |
|
|
|
Post by herron on Sept 16, 2007 23:51:43 GMT -5
Actually, had a good night all around. This next one was earlier in the evening, shot on the beach, before we walked down to the boardwalk. The sun had not quite set yet, so there's a blast of light from it. I didn't even see the couple by the water until the film was developed! ![]() www.mamiya35collectors.com/gh lighthouse-03.gif[/img] © Ron Herron 2007 |
|
|
|
Post by herron on Sept 16, 2007 23:55:49 GMT -5
And I've always been an advocate of shooting in the vertical for landscapes when you have the opportunity! The sun had finally gone below the horizon here, and this was about a 15-second shot. ![]() www.mamiya35collectors.com/gh lighthouse-02.gif[/img] © Ron Herron 2007 |
|
|
|
Post by herron on Sept 16, 2007 23:59:52 GMT -5
One last decent shot. I took a whole 24-shot roll out there...but, if you don't count the shots that look very much alike, I only got a few good ones. But, if you do things right (or if, like me, you're very lucky) those few good ones make the evening!  ![]() www.mamiya35collectors.com/gh lightlhouse-01.gif[/img] © Ron Herron 2007 |
|
|
|
Post by Randy on Sept 17, 2007 8:13:10 GMT -5
These are very nice Ron, I would be hard pressed to choose a favorite. Freda and I go take sunset shots together also, but we can't match these.
|
|
PeterW
Lifetime Member
Member has Passed
Posts: 3,804
|
Post by PeterW on Sept 17, 2007 9:01:15 GMT -5
Ron: Lady Luck is a very capricious lady. She favours those who do things right, and you certainly did things right here. There used to be saying years ago that if you got six from thirty-six it was a good roll of film. With a 24 exposure roll I guess that equates to four good ones. One of the photo mags here ran a competition about 20 years ago where you had to send in a contact sheet of 36 black and white exposures and enlarge the best six for judging. All 36 had to be taken on the same day within a half- mile radius (or one mile if you started on the coast). Variety and consistency counted, so you were allowed only one shot of each scene. No bracketing to get the best exposure, and no cropping of the picture. A tough assignment! Try it if you think it's easy. First prize, donated by Canon, was very attractive - a Canon A1 plus three lenses - plus, if the pictures were taken with Canon equipment, they offered a good royalty to use the winning pictures in their advertisements. There were lenses for the second and third prizes, and packs of 10 films, donated by the magazine, for the three runners-up. I entered, and so did Valerie, but alas neither of us got in the top six  . The winner's shots, all taken in and around Brighton on the south coast, were superb. I reckon he could have got 12 good ones from his 36. PeterW |
|
|
|
Post by herron on Sept 17, 2007 9:05:37 GMT -5
Thanks, Randy. I took some advice from my photographer son (instead of trying to dispense it).  I waited (except for the one obvious one) for the sun to disappear below the horizon...and then used very long exposures with the lens stopped all the way down, to maximize my depth of field. The shortest exposure, the one with the sun blasting from behind the building at the end of the pier, was about two seconds, maybe a little less. I used my "B" setting and did a "one-thousand-one" count in my head (and the sun was so bright I literally didn't see the couple walking on the beach at all... not before, during or after the shot...they were a happy accident!) The vertical was about four seconds, and the one where you can see the whole pier was about 10-15. My wife didn't think I would get anything worthwhile at all...and she was dead set against the boardwalk shot. She was cold (it was about 48°) and we had already been outside for about an hour. She waited in the car, up the hill to the left, with the motor running and the heat blasting, while I went down and set up my tripod right next to the breakwall. It seemed dark out (the sun had been down about 1/2 hour), and I wasn't sure I would get anything but the lights. But my son had assured me there was light out there, even if it didn't seem so to my eyes. He said the film would capture the different color temperature of the light near the horizon as a reddish glow...and he was right! I emailed the boardwalk shot to him to thank him for the advice (he lives in Florida). I also tried some "indoor" shots Sunday, of an old tractor inside the barn, with the tripod and long exposures. I'm hoping they come out as well as these did. I'll post them, if they do. Of course, if they don't, I never mentioned them, right?! |
|
|
|
Post by herron on Sept 17, 2007 9:13:52 GMT -5
Peter: I know the capricious lady very well...if only from brief glimpses.  No bracketing and no cropping would most certainly be a tough assignment...and 6 of 36 (or 4 of 24) would be what I would consider a good roll, too! It's why I kid with GeneW. He displays so many nice shots, that he must be shooting hundreds and hundreds! (Sorry, Gene, I couldn't resist). |
|
chrisy
Senior Member
Not another camera! Sorry dear....
Posts: 66
|
Post by chrisy on Sept 17, 2007 13:10:53 GMT -5
Hi Ron I think all those pictures are superb.How fortunate that you live in such a photogenic part of the world
regards Chris
|
|
mickeyobe
Lifetime Member
Resident President
Posts: 7,280
|
Post by mickeyobe on Sept 17, 2007 13:22:24 GMT -5
Ron,
Great shots.
So peacefull and serene.
Mickey
|
|
|
|
Post by herron on Sept 17, 2007 16:00:36 GMT -5
Thanks everyone. As I mentioned, every so often even a blind squirrel finds an acorn...and I found several last week! ----- Chris: I really think there is something photogenic about nearly everywhere in the world. Sometimes the trick is finding it. ----- Krazee Ronee: You don't live that far from Grand Haven! And the main downtown street ends at the river. Left (west) is the pier and lighthouse...right (east) is...well, more river! |
|
|
|
Post by Rachel on Sept 18, 2007 3:13:09 GMT -5
--------------------- Oh when the sun beats down And burns the tar on the roof And your shoes get so hot You wish your tired feet were fireproof Under the Boardwalk Down by the sea On a blanket with my boyfriends where I'll be Under the Boardwalk, out of the sun Under the Boardwalk, we'll be having some fun Under the Boardwalk, people walking above Under the Boardwalk, we'll be making love Under the Boardwalk, Boardwalk --------------------- Beachboys, Drifters .... who else sang that ...... Anyway lovely pictures Ron |
|
|
|
Post by Just Plain Curt on Sept 18, 2007 6:07:32 GMT -5
I believe the first or one of the first to sing that was Sam Cook. I know, I'm old.
|
|
|
|
Post by herron on Sept 18, 2007 9:11:52 GMT -5
We must be about the same age, Curt. I remember Sam Cook's version, too. It seems to me there was an "edited" version, too, to appease the censors on AM radio. The line "..we'll be making love..." was replaced with "...we'll be fallin' in love...." |
|
|
|
Post by camerastoomany on Sept 18, 2007 11:41:13 GMT -5
Rachel
The Rolling Stones recorded it in the sixties.
I am an announcer on a community radio station and do two 3 hour programs each week between 9pm and midnight (hard rock and metal on Friday, slower stuff on Tuesday. A couple of hours ago I played Jo Stafford singing "Make Love to Me". I guess the censors were less active in the 1950's.
|
|
;D
. The winner's shots, all taken in and around Brighton on the south coast, were superb. I reckon he could have got 12 good ones from his 36.
