"This sunset view of the Yosemite Valley was a challenging exposure to say the least! I took a guess at seven to nine stops of light difference between the bright overhead sky and the shaded trees in the foreground. I was primarily concerned about properly exposing the lovely light on the 3,000-foot granite face of El Capitan seen on the left."Although I worked this scene continuously for over 45 minutes, in the end I only had 3 images that had the light evenly balanced across the entire frame as needed. Most of the the exposure challenges were addressed by combining four Singh-Ray filters. First a 4-stop hard-step Graduated ND helped subdue the very bright sky exposure, but I still needed to further subdue the light on the valley areas beyond the ridges. Next was the addition of a 3-stop Reverse ND Grad to further reduce the exposure of the highlighted El Capitian on the left of the frame. This unique filter is designed with its heaviest gradient density close to the filter's center, which was just what was needed here. Because I wanted to reveal even more detail in the foreground shadows, I added a 2-stop soft-step ND Grad which increased the exposure by 2 more f-stops, giving me enough exposure to record the deep foreground of the forest floor. Finally, the overall color was helped along by the use of the LB Color Intensifier. Yes, it was a long way to go, but I think the result was well worth the additional time and effort.
"This image also deserved a lot of help -- in terms of both its composition and exposure technique. The sky was nearly as white as the snow cover on the mountain. The reflected image in the foreground was the main feature in this image and I chose to adjust my LB Warming Polarizer to cut through the reflection just enough to reveal the pine needles under the water's surface. Without any detail to speak of in the sky, the foreground had to carry the composition. Working with the subdued skylight that I refer to as 'nature's soft box,' the challenge as I saw it was to keep the reflected image of the mountains dominant and compensate for the lost detail in the sky by finding an exposure that would convey the feeling of the approaching storm. That was achieved by metering directly off the sky. In short, I needed to create a feeling that I could sense but not see. The sky and snow cover were held back with a 4-stop soft-step Graduated ND filter which gave a much brighter view of the row of trees in the middle ground. I experimented with both the Gold-N-Blue Polarizer as well as the ColorCombo with some success as well, and I have good frames taken with each. It was clear, however, that the LB Warming Polarizer produced the best results by saturating the earth tones while providing the desired effect in the reflection.
"White snow... blue sky. It was an age-old challenge made even tougher by the direct light of the rising sun reflecting off the granite cliffs above. A heart-stopping scene to be sure, but a perplexing one as well. I thought a composition without the highlighted granite would be too confining and would not give the eye a place to land. To maximize the effect of this dramatic composition, I realized the exposure would be the real challenge. The solution began with applying the old rule of overexposing snow two-plus stops for a nice white tone. (If you don't over-ride the meter, the camera will see white as 18% gray and that's exactly what it will be in the image... gray!) Next was the choice of a 4-stop hard-step ND Grad and then -- after looking at my histogram -- adding a 2-stop, soft-step ND Grad. I like the effect I get by stacking hard-step and soft-step filters which slightly softens the gradient line. To compensate for the filters, I then opened up 2 more stops. In the image shown here, I added the LB ColorCombo to enrich the glow of the granite. Although the Warming Polarizer was also used in different frames, I liked the heightened earth tones and thought the reflected blue of the sky gave presence to the chill of this cold winter day.
"As the face of upper Yosemite Falls in the background became bathed in the golden glow of morning light, the shadowed areas -- which in this composition are dominant -- took on a huge, blue color cast due to the reflective light of the Sierra blue sky. A warming filter was an obvious choice, but with the Singh-Ray Warming Polarizer, I could also control the amount of reflection and still reveal the texture of the river bed in the foreground. The use of a 3-stop, soft-step ND Grad helped raise the exposure in the shadows to more accurately render the snow covered trees as well. The real key here was the sky -- although they are a seemingly small part of the image, the wispy cloud streaks were there like arrows pointing directly to the trees. If it were just about the falls this would have been a completely different composition. With the light changing very fast I went through the ND Grad possibilities to pick the best balanced image to work with in post processing. In the image shown here, I decided that an almost balanced exposure between the falls and its reflection gave the best rendering of the shadowed trees. In most cases, this would have provided an unnatural effect -- something not possible in nature. Here it worked!
"Here's a favorite trick of mine. Coming across a scene I've photographed many times before -- such as this one -- only to discover that the river now was moving so fast that I could not see the mirror-like reflection I was expecting. What there was of the reflection was muted and dull. The Vari-N-Duo to the rescue! I've learned that, by slowing the exposure time considerably, I can smooth out the movement of the current and create a much calmer mood, or at least different look. This image is a 30-second exposure using the Vari-N-Duo which produced a pronounced muted glow. The polarizer built into this filter is a great help in eliminating the stacking of filters. The reflecting glare has been cut back and the shadows warmed. A 3-stop hard-step ND Grad allowed the river's reflection to be increased by 2 stops."If you'd like to learn more about joining the fun at one of Steve's upcoming workshops in Glacier National Park this July, or the Yosemite High Country in August, be sure to stop by his website for complete details.
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