rf-photography.ca

There’s a discussion going on in my HDR Timelapse group over at Vimeo between another member and I about workflow for HDR timelapse video creation. For many it’s likely the nth degree of esoterica but it got me thinking.

It seems as time goes on the pursuit of perfection in our artistic endeavours becomes increasingly fervent.  We analyse and tweak pixels to within an inch of their lives.  We work to create perfect video output from absolutely imperfect input.  Music is recorded and re-recorded and mixed and remixed till it’s so perfect it hurts.  Why?  Has it always been this way?  Is perfection a good thing?  Once we get it perfect, what else is there?

In the example of the conversation at Vimeo, the discussion surrounds the ideal workflow for creating HDR timelapse video from still photos.   One of the bugaboos people have with this type of work is a think called ‘flicker’.  Flicker is a perceptible change in light levels between frames – brighter, darker, brighter, darker and so on.  Because the process compresses time, in serious instances it can have an almost stroboscopic effect.  The goal, of course, is to create an output video that is flicker free.  There are different methods for doing this.  Some believe the way of capturing the stills plays the biggest part.  There are de-flicker filters you can apply to video to deal with it in editing.  Being new to the world of timelapse and HDR timelapse, I’m still working things out.  The end result, if we’re lucky, is a perfect, flicker free video.  Lucky?  What’s wrong with a little flicker?  Watch old movies and you see all kinds of flicker in them.  Were directors and editors less concerned about it?  Is it a matter that they didn’t understand it?  Is it a matter that they didn’t have the tools to deal with it?

My guess is probably a combination of the first and the last.

Digital music now sounds perfect.  But what’s wrong with a little pop and hiss from a vinyl record?  I used to love dropping  an old Glenn Miller or Artie Shaw 78 on the turntable.  Now even that great old music has been ‘remastered’ to sound, well, perfect.  Why?  Is it really better?

Photography isn’t any different.  We have better tools today to deal with imperfection and help us get to a perfect result.  We sometimes spend inordinate amounts of time with countless layers and filters and plugins.  We end up with image files (when did the word ‘photograph’ go out of fashion) of several hundred megabytes in size.  Perhaps a multiple of 10 or more of the size of the original image file, er, photograph.

In movies we have CG this and CG that.  It’s almost too difficult to tell what’s real and what’s computer generated.  Is that really where the art of making films is going?

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m all for getting the best possible result.  But I’m not sure I’m in favour of perfection.  It sometimes seems that in the strident pursuit of perfection we become far too analytical, cold, calculating.  The process becomes more mathematical than artistic.  I sometimes wonder whether we’re losing the art in pursuit of the math.

So what do you think?  Is perfection a laudable goal?  How far should we go in pursuit of it?  Or is a little imperfection a good thing?

Robert Fisher Commentary art, art vs. math, artistic, perfection

I’ve enjoyed using Lightroom since v1.  With the improvements and new editing tools introduced in v2, it’s vastly improved.   And now with v3 on the horizon, the story should only get better.  Lightroom is now my main editing application and I typically only use PS for things that can’t be done in LR (e.g., perspective correction, more complex layer work).

As good a tool as it is for organising your photography database, I think there are a good number of people using LR who still don’t know how powerful an editing tool it is. Everything I did with the photos below can be done in PS and probably PSE and other editing applications. In most cases I find the result is better with the tools in LR and the workflow is faster and more natural. In addition, to do the same things in PS would require, in most cases, using layers to maintain the integrity of the original image which increases file sizes and chews up hard drive space.  First I’m going to show 4 images in a before and after comparison.  You may not like the photos, you may not like how I approached the editing.  That’s all fine.  I think they do show the power of the tools in LR for editing; however.  In all but one case, the only tools used were the Adjustment Brushes, Spot Removal and the Clarity slider.  In one, a slight Tone Curve adjustment was made and in the last a crop was applied.  I wanted to do a couple things with these.  I wanted to highlight the bits of colour in the surrounding evergreen trees.  Second, I wanted to bring out the texture of the Precambrian rock of the Canadian Shield.  Beyond that, I wanted to enhance contrast by darkening certain parts of the water and existing shadow areas without completely losing texture or detail.  In the last, I also wanted to brighten the waterfall itself which was hidden in fairly deep shadow and crop to create a near perfect mirrored symmetry with the reflection.

Primarily the Brightness adjustment brush was used as a Dodge/Burn tool and the Sharpening brush was used to selectively sharpen or de-sharpen specific areas of the photos.  The Saturation brush was used to ‘pop’ the bits of fall colour from the surrounding evergreens.  The Saturation brush was also used to desaturate some colour in parts of the water and in the last image to reduce saturation of parts of the cloud reflection.  The Brightness brush as a Dodge/Burn tool is superior to any method I’ve tried in PS, including the use of a separate Dodge/Burn layer (which is a very good method).  The ability to selectively sharpen (or de-sharpen) areas with the Sharpening adjustment brush is simpler than doing it in PS – although I still like the High Pass method in PS for global sharpening quite a lot.  The Spot Removal tool (Clone/Heal) is terrific and particularly with respect to healing, is superior to the Healing Brush in Photoshop.  The ability to very finely match the source and destination with both the Clone and Healing features of the Spot Removal tool is terrific.

When you use any Adjustment brush in LR it puts a control point on the image.  The screen captures below show the various control points for these 4 images.

These control points make it very simple to go back and change prior edits without affecting the edit history on the left.  If you hover your cursor over a control point, a mask will be placed in the image to show the area that has been affected by the specific adjustment (image below is an example).

Hover over different control points till you see the mask covering the area you want to go back and work on.  If you then click on that control point, it will become active, the specific adjustment you made (e.g., Brightness, Sharpening, Contrast, etc.) will become active and you can edit the adjustment to your liking – all without having to backtrack in the History.  If you do go back in the History and make a change, you then lose all of the subsequent adjustments (unless you save a Snapshot).  By activating individual control points, the integrity of the History is maintained yet you can still change previous edit adjustments.  It’s somewhat like using the non-linear editing feature in PS (only better and easier).

Using the tools available in Lightroom entails a different workflow than using Photoshop.  But I think taking some time to become comfortable with Lightroom and the editing tools it offers would be time well spent.  Happy editing!

Robert Fisher Commentary, Tools Adjustment brushes, brightness, Canada, Canadian Shield, Chutes Provincial Park, clone, cloning, contrast, editing, heal, healing, Lightroom, Massey, ON, Ontario, photography, Photoshop, Precambrian, rapids, saturation, Spot Removal, waterfall, waterfalls, Whitefish Falls, workflow

…. or a third…. or a fourth… or….

Sometimes we go out to a location that we’ve read about, researched, investigated and are full of hope for a positive experience and bringing back some terrific photographs. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. At least not on the first look.

A couple years ago, in mid-September, I was on a trek up in the Bruce Peninsula working on my lighthouse project. From Tobermory, I took the ferry over to Manitoulin Island and my initial plan was to take the ferry back to Tobermory to make the trip home. While on Manitoulin, I decided I’d drive off the north end of Manitoulin and come around the top of Lake Huron so I could hit Killarney and the lighthouse there. With this change in plan, I spent the next couple nights researching other places I could stop and found Chutes Provincial Park.  It was in the opposite direction I wanted to go but it looked like a great spot for flowing water and waterfall shooting so I decided to make the detour.  The park is located just outside of Massey, ON.  The day started out well.  Fantastic sunrise that allowed me to get some interesting shots of the swing bridge (one of the few remaining in operation and one of the oldest) at Little Current on Manitoulin and some good shots of the lighthouse on Strawberry Island.

As the day went on, it began to cloud over and become more overcast.  When I got to Chutes, it was pretty much completely cloudy and threatening rain.  A bit of blue sky popped out occasionally but not for long.  Flat, uninteresting light.  I decided that I’d try to shoot with as little sky in the shots as possible, concentrating on the river, rapids, waterfalls and autumn colours.  I also decided that I’d shoot with HDR in mind.  Not because of the need for a wider dynamic range but rather because of the detail enhancing capabilities of HDR that might help ‘perk’ up some of the images and better allow me to ‘create’ contrast after the fact.

I spent a few hours in the park, hiking the Twin Bridges Trail which is about 3.5 to 4 miles in length round trip.  Looking at the shots later that night in my hotel on the laptop, I wasn’t thrilled with what I had.  It seemed that I hadn’t captured what I had envisioned as I was setting up the shots.  Even processing some HDRs I wasn’t getting anything that really enthused me.

After coming back home, I worked on some of the images again on my desktop computer.  Better screen, better calibration, more accurate colours and contrast.  Maybe that was the problem.  Nope.  Still wasn’t getting results that I was anywhere close to pleased with.  I didn’t toss the images in the Recycle Bin; however.

Things change over time.  Our perspectives change.  Our skill set changes.  We learn new tricks.  We become more comfortable with things like HDR or more advanced digital darkroom tools as we learn more and use them more.

In the past few days, I decided to have another go with some of these shots from Chutes.  The single images still weren’t doing it for me.  Off to HDR-land we go.  When I first took these photos HDR was new to me and I struggled mightily with tonemapping.  Over time as I’ve used HDR more I’ve become more comfortable with it (although still not overly good) and was able to end up with some tonemapped images that were at least closer to what I had visualized initially and that were something I could work with.

Various other editing tools were used to come up with the final versions.  Masking parts of single images into the tonemapped files, Hue/Saturation adjustment layers, High Pass sharpening layers with parts of the image masked out for selective sharpening, and then in all cases, final tweaking in Lightroom using the Adjustment Brushes to fine tune the images (I really like the Brightness Adjustment Brush as a Dodge/Burn tool).

Now, these are far from perfect and undoubtedly a more talented photographer and more talented user of the digital darkroom could come up with much better results; but each of these is much closer to what I envisioned as I looked at different ways to approach the shot and as I picked my final viewpoint to set up from.  I wanted the water to be the main feature of each shot and I wanted the little pockets of fall colour to ‘pop’ out from the surrounding evergreens.  I also wanted to try to highlight the texture of the Precambrian rock that makes up the Canadian Shield.  Was I successful?  Well, moreso now than a couple years ago for sure.  But the park is on the list for a revisit at some time down the road.

The bottom line is, sometimes it pays to go back and take a look at things we’ve done in the past with a fresh viewpoint and maybe some fresh skills.

Robert Fisher Commentary, Travel Bruce Peninsula, Canada, Canadian Shield, Chi Cheemaun, Chutes Provincial Park, HDR, hdri, Killarney, Little Current, Manitoulin Island, ON, Ontario, Precambrian, rapids, swing bridge, Tobermory, tonemapping, waterfalls

I recently decided to try using HDR for some, what might be considered, less conventional applications. I was doing some shooting for a local café before Christmas. In one session, I was actually working in the café while it was open. This was kind of cool; customers could see what was going on, people were asking questions and it was a nice interactive environment. In the other session I was shooting in the kitchen in the back of the shop. In both cases space was quite limited and bringing in accessory lighting wasn’t on. What do I do? How do I work around this? How do I get more control of the lighting? HDR? Maybe.  I also thought the detail enhancing aspects of HDR would be beneficial too.

I decided to try shooting the project using HDR. My rationale was that by shooting in HDR and tonemapping with a very light hand I could generate fairly flat, low contrast starting point images that would then allow me to have a bit more control of shadows and light/dark contrast via the digital darkroom.

The bracketed sequences were 7 shots at 1 stop intervals for a -3 to +3 bracket. RAW files were imported into Lightroom. I use Photomatix and the Lightroom plugin for most of my HDR work. I like most of what PM offers and how it works.  One thing I’d like to see the folks at HDRSoft do is add the ability to tag multi-shot, tonemapped HDRs with a colour space.  (They allow it for single-shot, pseudo-HDR conversions but not multi-shot.  Depending on how you have your preferences set up in Lightroom/Photoshop you may end up with your tonemapped TIFFs tagged with a colour space you don’t want.)  Photomatix works faster if you create your 32 bit files from TIFFs rather than RAW files.  The conversion to RAW, particularly out of the LR plugin just takes a little longer.  So after importing my RAW files, the only thing I might adjust is the white balance – nothing else.  The RAW files then get batch exported to 16 bit TIFF files and these TIFF files are what get exported to Photomatix.  You can also use the PM batch function to import the files and process them to 32 bit files or to fully tonemapped LDR files.  Since we’re discussing an HDR workflow I’m not going to go into a discussion of backing up your RAW files right after loading them onto your computer.  But you do back up your RAW files right after loading them onto your computer, right?  Don’t you?  30 lashes with a wet noodle if you don’t.

[Some HDR applications work better/faster with RAW files.  HDR PhotoStudio is one of those.  So if you're using something other than PM, find out what file types work best and adjust your workflow accordingly.]

Once the tonemapping is done, the files get imported back into LR where additional work is done as needed.  If more complex work is needed such as perspective correction, I’ll right-click and choose the Edit In>Photoshop, Edit a Copy and Render using LR to open the image in PS for additional editing that can’t be done in LR.  This way I still have my original TIFF file if I want to go back to it for some reason.  This approach does chew up hard drive space but storage is pretty inexpensive these days so leaving that added flexibility is, I think,  a positive.  Once the work in PS is done, the file gets saved and LR updates the image automatically.

Once all the editing is done, I’ll output for specific purposes.  In most cases this is going to be smaller JPEG files for web use or full rez JPEG files for printing.

How’d the HDR experiment work out?  Well, not badly I think.  The owner of the café is happy with the results, which is the most important thing.

Now, I’m no food stylist (yeah, I know, some would say I’m no photographer either) but I think the end results weren’t too bad.  These small JPEGs don’t show the full detail that is captured in the full size files, unfortunately.  Higher quality versions can be seen on my Facebook Page or my Flickr portfolio.

Robert Fisher Commentary, Tools food, food photography, HDR, HDR Photostudio, hdri, high dynamic range, high dynamic range imaging, Lightroom, LR, photography, Photomatix, PM, product, product photography, Unified Color

Ripping of Shakespeare again for a lead in line. But hey, he might have ripped off another writer too so why not.

The debate around which is a better option – backpack, sling bag, shoulder bag, holster, etc. – is almost as fervent as which camera manufacturer is better. I am firmly in the backpack camp. Having done a fair bit of hiking and camping when I was younger I like backpacks and am a strong believer that for the photographer on the go; nature, landscape, wildlife, trail walking, hill climbing and the rest of it, backpacks are the preferred option. Backpacks distribute weight evenly, unlike single strap bags which can put undue stress on one side of the body. Good packs will have a waist belt to position the majority of the weight on the hips which are the strongest bones in the body (you DO NOT want to carry the weight of a pack on your shoulders – this is a surefire path to fatigue and potential long term injury). Properly made backpacks will be light but strong, have compartments for separating gear and have a good number of external pockets for holding things like water bottles or other small items we want to have easy access to. The downside with backpacks is they’re not as speedy as some other options. With but a few exceptions, you have to take them off to get at your gear and I’m not convinced that the ones with the spin around compartment are all that good anyway.

Here’s the problem: I have yet to find a really good backpack for photographers. All the big makers have packs – Tamrac, Lowepro, Kata, Domke, Tenba and the rest. I currently have a Tamrac Adventure 7 and an Adventure 9. The Adventure 9 isn’t bad. It fits more like a backpack (when I don’t have my laptop in it), has a good waist belt, the compartments are decently sized and is reasonably comfortable for day hiking. But it’s still not optimal by a long way. The Adventure 7 is a nice, small pack that I can sling over one shoulder when I’m just going in the car or when I’m walking around in an urban setting but it’s not a good trail pack.

I’m looking for help. What have you found is a good camera pack? One that’s designed with both photographers AND hikers in mind. A couple I’ve recently found that might fit the bill are from ClikElite and NaneuPro.  Any others?  Anybody using either of these who can give feedback?  My favourite local outdoor outfitter, Mountain Equipment Coop, has some great packs at reasonable prices under their own banner and they’ve started stocking some camera bags from other manufacturers but I’d love to see them develop a good camera bag under their own brand.  Most camera packs I’ve seen are ‘upside down’.  That is, the heavier camera gear is at the bottom.  When you load a pack, you want your heaviest items toward the top (not above your shoulders) and closest to your back.   The Naneu Pro K5 actually comes very close to this.  It’s got a slip in bag that fits in the middle of the pack which makes getting camera gear in and out a little more awkward and time consuming since you have to open two compartments.  But it’s the best I’ve seen so far.

Robert Fisher Commentary, Gear, Tools backpacks, camera bags, camera packs, ClikElite, K5, mec, mountain equipment coop, Naneu, Naneu Pro, Naneu Pro K5

The latest version of the popular Firefox web browser has taken browser colour management to the next level.

There are only two web browsers that offer colour management capability. The two are Safari from Apple and Mozilla’s Firefox. What does that mean? It means that the browsers have the ability to recognise ICC profiles and render colour accurately according to those profiles. With Firefox up to v3.5.x the feature was available in Firefox but the user had to enable it manually. Starting with v3.5 (current version is 3.5.3 at the time of writing) the feature is enabled automatically and the user has to turn it off if it’s not desired.

In other browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Chrome) in order for colours to appear accurate, images had to be converted to the sRGB colour space. In a non-colour managed browser if you place an image tagged with sRGB next to the same image tagged with ProPhotoRGB, the colours in the one tagged with ProPhoto will appear desaturated, dull or washed out. The browser doesn’t have the capability of recognising the wider colour gamut of the ProPhoto image and is unable to properly display the colours. In a colour managed browser, the browser has the ability to recognise the profile in the ProPhoto image and properly compress the colours for web display. In a colour managed browser the ProPhoto image and the sRGB image will look the same.

The colour management functions of Firefox are accessed in the configuration setup of the browser.

In the address bar type about:config and hit Enter. This will bring up all the configuration options. Type ‘color’ into the Filter bar and you’ll be presented with the setup options that relate to colour. The line that relates to the colour management is gfx.color_management.mode.  The possible option values are 0, 1 or 2.  A value of 2 is the default.  A value of 2 means that all images with an embedded ICC profile will be colour managed but images with no embedded profile won’t.  A value of 1 means that all images; with or without, an embedded profile will be colour managed.  A value of 0 turns off colour management entirely and allows you to see the differences between images with different colour profiles.  A value of 0 is how I have my browser set.  This way, when someone says an image they’ve posted on the web looks ‘flat’ or ‘blah’ or ‘desaturated’ I can see it too and can help them get to the root of the problem since it’s most likely a profile issue.

The enhanced colour management in v3.5.x is a good thing but it’s not perfect.  Firefox still doesn’t have the ability to recognise v4 ICC profiles.  Since many aren’t yet using v4 profiles it’s not a huge issue but it may become more important as time goes on and v4 ICC profiles become more the norm.

Robert Fisher Commentary browser color management, browser colour management, color management, colour management, Firefox, Firefox 3.5, Firefox 3.5.x, gfx.color_management.mode

The Finger Lakes area of New York State is a treasure trove for photographers. The many state parks and forests that sit in what is the heart of New York wine country are definitely underrated gems, particularly so for those interested in waterfalls.  In the fall of 2008, I visited the area for a week, hiking in 5 state parks and checking out numerous local wineries.

The main towns in the area are Watkins Glen, Corning and Ithaca.  Watkins Glen may be better known for its world famous road racing coarse, Corning of course is the home of Corning Glass and Ithaca is where the Ivy League’s Cornell University is located.  The drive from Toronto to Watkins Glen is about 5 hours and from New York City it’s about the same.  The town of Watkins Glen sits at the south end of Seneca Lake.  Corning and Ithaca are both roughly 40 to 50 minute drives from Watkin’s Glen.   I’m referencing other points to Watkins Glen because that’s where I stayed.

Right in Watkin’s Glen on Rt 14 is Watkins Glen State Park.  Unquestionably the best maintained of all the parks I visited, WGSP offers a cornucopia of possibilities for landscape/nature photographers.  The Gorge Trail is roughly 2 miles long, has over 800 stairs and rises 500 vertical feet.  The trail is extremely well maintained.  There are garbage cans along the trail (most of the parks are carry in/carry out).  The hike is not difficult except for the climbing and you will do a lot of climbing.  Particularly at the end of the hike up the trail, the stairway out of the gorge is going to hurt a little.  The footing is sound due to the stairs and maintenance of the trail.  You’ll cross over the gorge a few times on the hike.  There are rest stops at both top and bottom, a gift shop at the bottom and vending machines to get a cold drink at both ends.  There are a few places along the trail you can rest as well.  At some points during the year, shuttles are available to take you from top to bottom or vice versa so you can choose to hike in just one direction if you choose.  The shuttles mainly operate during the summer season and on weekends in the spring and fall.  Check with the park for more information on the shuttles.

With nearly 20 individual falls along the trail, plan to spend a couple hours going each way.  The trail and the falls look very different going down than going up and you’ll get some different and interesting framing in both directions.  The trail map shows the main sections of the route.

Spiral Gorge is particularly interesting and there are plenty of different opportunities within this section of the trail.

The Rainbow Falls area is also one where there are lots of opportunities both from above and below.

In this photo below, you can see how the glacial erosion over thousands of years has cut and carved through the bedrock.

The park is open year round but the Gorge Trail is closed in winter.  The colours in autumn are spectacular.  If you want greater volumes of water then going soon after the trail opens in May would be the best bet.

Robert H. Treman State Park is another in the area with some terrific views and waterfalls.  A little southwest of Ithaca, Treman SP is about a 40 to 45 minute drive from Watkins Glen.  The best attraction in Treman is Lucifer Falls which is at the top of the Gorge Trail.  The Gorge Trail runs for a little over 2 miles and rises 600 feet vertically.  The hike would be classed as moderate to difficult.  Difficult because some areas of the trail aren’t well maintained.  Stairs are heaved in some places making climbing on them more difficult.  If you want to forego the walk up from the bottom entrance, you can enter at the top end and make the short walk down the trail, perhaps half a mile, to the falls then walk back out.  Whichever way you go, make sure you take note of sunset and plan your time accordingly.  Trying to walk down the trail in darkness isn’t overly easy (don’t ask me how I know that).  Timex Indiglo watches do provide a surprising amount of light; however.

Just a little above Lucifer Falls is Upper Falls.  It’s difficult to get a good shot of this one unless you’re willing to climb down into the gorge and walk along the riverbed.  This isn’t, I don’t believe, generally permitted so do so at your own risk.

If you’re walking down from the top, as you make your way down into the gorge and begin walking the trail, the light may be right to get some good shots from the top of Upper Falls as well.

At the top of the trail you’ll find an old mill that’s been preserved.  Inside this building are public washrooms.  To the river side of the mill is another small cascade that zigzags down the rocks and you can get some interesting interplay between light and shadow depending on the time of day.

For a change of pace and a much easier walk, Taughannock Falls State Park is the desired destination.  The Gorge Trail here is flat and only 3/4 of a mile long.  The easy walk along a wide, well groomed trail brings you to Taughannock Falls.  Walking into this waterfall is like walking into a giant amphitheatre made out of rock.  Taughannock Falls itself is over 200 feet high.  The rock walls leading out from the falls rise over 400 feet from the river’s bed.  The flow of water over the cliff will vary greatly depending on time of year and amount of rainfall.  It had been a fairly dry late summer when I visited so there was little more than a tiny ribbon of water flowing over the edge.  In spring after the melt or in rainier times, the flow of water is much greater.

Further up river, there is another falls – Upper Falls.  You can’t get to it from the Gorge Trail but can from either the North Rim or South Rim trails.  Unfortunately, the Gorge Trail doesn’t meet up with either of these so you’ll need to walk back out and back in again if you want to get to Upper Falls.  Or you can drive out and park at the upper end of the trail and walk back the short distance to Upper Falls.

Buttermilk Falls State Park is about 2 miles from Treman SP and both could be visited on the same day if you wanted.  Of the five parks I visited, Buttermilk was the most disappointing and if one had to be left out, this would be the one.  Buttermilk Falls itself is a long, sloping cascade that almost looks like it’d make a decent toboggan hill.  It’s accessible from the parking lot at the lower entrance to the park and there isn’t a lot of reason to go much further except for the walk, unfortunately.  The vertical drop overall from top to bottom is about 400 to 500 feet.  The Gorge Trail is a little under a mile but it is steep, climbing 500 feet in that distance.  You can cross Buttermilk Creek near the top of the Gorge Trail at Pinnacle Rock or right at the top of the trail and connect back with the Rim Trail for a different route back down.  The trail is steep in places with little to no stairs to help the climb.  In other places, there are stairs.  A good, sturdy walking staff will help and you’ll be grabbing onto trees and roots in places to help pull yourself up. Due to the steep climbs and lack of stairs in places, I’d rate this trail as moderate to difficult.

There are some potentially interesting shots of some other falls on the way up the trail but sadly, these are largely obscured by trees.

While it’s called the Gorge Trail, and while the gorge is visible on many parts of the trail, unlike the other parks, you’re not often very close to the gorge or the creek.  In many places, the trail really is more of a rim trail, taking you along the top of the gorge.  The roughness of the ground make setting up a tripod very difficult in places and the placement of a chest high fence along the trail impedes camera angles.

Pinnacle Rock, near the top of the trail is an interesting natural formation.  It’s a lone outcropping of rock that has been created by the erosion of water between it and the wall of the gorge.  Getting a good photo of it is difficult.  On the day I visited, the light wasn’t great and any direction I tried to shoot from I was getting a lot of flare.  You have to be fairly close to the formation to frame it as well which makes apparent perspective distortion an unpleasant side effect.

In the upper half of the Gorge Trail, you begin to get closer to the water, walking right beside the creek bed at points.  It’s in this area that some better photo opportunities are available.  Stupidly, I left my spare batteries in the motel room on this morning so didn’t get some of the better shots at the upper end of the trail.

Allow an hour to 75 minutes for the hike up and a similar time for the walk back down.  There’s not a lot of difference in time to get back down whether you come back down the Gorge Trail or cross over the creek to the Rim Trail.

There’s also the Larch Meadow Trail which is across the creek from the lower parking area and beyond the baseball fields which are visible upon crossing the creek on the roadway.  This trail is supposed to be very good for wildlife and birds.  I didn’t hike it myself but am relating what was told to me by locals.  Locals know.

The last park I visited on the trek was Letchworth State Park.  I only had a day to visit this one but if you can spend a few days, it’s well worth it.  Nicknamed “The Grand Canyon of the East”, the reason for the moniker becomes readily apparent when you start walking the trails.  Deep, wide canyons have been cut by the water and wind through the park.  Letchworth SP is about 60 miles from Watkins Glen and it takes 90 minutes to 2 hours to drive there depending on traffic, route taken and construction.  You can enter from the north or south end.  If you want to hike the Gorge Trail, entering from the south, at the Portageville entrance and parking in the small lot near the railroad trestle would be optimal because this is also near the head of the Gorge Trail.  This lot is pretty close to the south end of the park.  If you drive in from the north, it’s about a 10 mile drive through the park to this lot at the south.

The Gorge Trail is roughly 7 miles long.  There are three main waterfalls on this trail with numerous others that can be seen as well.  The three main ones are Upper, Middle and Lower Falls.  Lower Falls is roughly half way along the trail.  I’m not certain of the exact vertical but it is several hundred feet from the head of the trail to Lower Falls.  The trail is fairly well marked.  It’s well maintained in some places but not so well maintained in others.  There are some steep climbs.  In places, stairs have heaved or are missing entirely.  Some steep climbs don’t have stairs at all and in some places, the height of the individual stairs is significant.  Overall, I’d rate this trail as moderate and difficult in places.  At times during the year, the part of the trail that leads to Lower Falls may be impassable due to wet conditions.  When I visited, despite it having been a fairly dry autumn, this part of the trail was quite wet which made walking difficult in places.  The climb in and out of the gorge to and from the Lower Falls is long and steady with little break from the slope.  Be prepared.  The trail does pass through some forested areas which provide shade and a respite from the climbs.  At Lower Falls, there’s a bridge over the river which allows you to connect to the Portage or Footbridge trails.

One of the most popular spots to view Middle Falls is from Inspiration Point.  If you get the right angle, you can get Upper Falls in the shot as well.

Where to Stay:  There are numerous hotels, motels and inns in the area.  I stayed at the Golden Knight Inn on Rt 14 just outside of Watkins Glen.  It was clean and the owners were very friendly and helpful.  The decor is dated but that’s fine.  The water gets hot in the shower very quickly and you don’t get scalded or frozen when someone in another unit turns on their water nor does the pressure change markedly (something a lot of high end hotels can’t even say).  Wireless internet access is available.  When I was there you needed to be close to the office to use it so if you need it, make sure to ask for a room within the range of their router.

Where to Eat:  Montage Restaurant – Avoid.  The carpet is dirty and grungy.  The food is awful.  Rooster Fish Brewing/Wildflower Cafe – Excellent brewpub.  Very nice selection of beers brewed on site.  Food is good.  Comes to the table hot.  Bread is home made and very tasty.  Hours are bit odd.  I went to eat at about 9:00 on a Saturday night (admittedly not in high tourist season) and was told they were closing the dining room but I could get food in  the pub.  Closing at 9:00 on a Saturday?  Still, good food and friendly staff.  Jerlando’s Pizza – decent food.  Probably a 3 to 3 1/2 stars out of 5.  The food is hot.  My pasta was cooked a little past al dente but it wasn’t mush.  The meatballs had good flavour.  The pizza is OK.  It’s hard to find good pizza though.  On another trip to the area, I’d eat there again.  Seneca Harbor Station – not a pleasant experience.  Waited at the entrance for 10 minutes before anyone asked if I wanted a table.  Maybe they figured I was waiting for someone else but they should have asked.  It was busy the night I was there.  Maybe that says something, maybe not.  It’s passable seafood but that’s about all.  Not spectacular, not even really good.  The service is very fast.  Too fast.  Courses followed on each other before the previous course was finished.  If you’re looking for a somewhat leisurely dining experience, this isn’t it.  Overpriced for what you get.  I wouldn’t go back.  On the upside, their bread is quite good is served hot and has nice flavour.  The staff were very indifferent.  It felt as though my being there was an inconvenience and that they were doing me a favour by serving me.  Not a pleasant experience.  Savard’s Family Restaurant – good place for breakfast.  Typical diner type fare.  Served hot.  Lots of food.  Good prices.

What Else to Do:  There are many wineries in the area and maps are available at most accommodations with information on the routes.  Corning has the Corning Glass Museum which includes glass blowing demonstrations.  There are numerous other state parks and nature areas in the region including Finger Lakes National Forest, Cayuga Nature Centre and on the campus at Cornell University are Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary and the Cornell Plantations.

Robert Fisher Travel Buttermilk Falls, Finger Lakes, hiking, landscape, landscape photography, Letchworth, nature, New York, New York State, new york state parks, NY, NY Wine Country, photography, Robert H. Treman, state parks, Taughannock Falls, waterfalls, Watkins Glen

As a long time Canon customer I think I’m very fortunate that I’ve never had to send any of my cameras in for repair – until recently.

I’m an owner of a 5D. The issue of the mirror detaching is fairly well known. It seems as though it’s been isolated to certain areas with hot, humid climates. I don’t live in that type of climate and mine detached a couple weeks ago. Canon’s repairing them at no cost so no problem, right?

Rather than deal with a mail delay, I decided to take the camera to Canon myself. I live about 45 minutes from their head office in Mississauga. Upon taking the camera in, I was given no receipt or any documentation to verify they had my camera, no repair tracking number, nothing. That seemed a bit odd, but so be it. I was also told it would take 15 to 21 ‘working days’ for the repair. That means 3 to 4 weeks in calendar days. What? 3 to 4 WEEKS? That’s absurd. If Canon’s backlog of repairs is that large, then something is either seriously wrong with their products or they don’t have a large enough staff to do the work. According to a post on Rob Galbraith’s site Canon closed its Montreal and Calgary facilities earlier this year, consolidated everything in Mississauga and hired more staff than they had at the three facilities combined previously. And it’s still going to take 3 to 4 weeks? I have other cameras so I’m not stuck but that’s not really the point.

As a working photographer, I thought that it might also be beneficial to apply for membership in the Canon Professional Services program. There’s no information about CPS on Canon Canada’s site. A call to customer service elicited an email address. But only after some prodding on my part and the person on the phone didn’t really seem to care what she was doing.  Other phone interactions with Canon Canada staff have been similar in that regard.  Two weeks, two emails to the CPS email address and no response. A simple request for information on the program and Canon can’t deal with it.  The post on Galbraith’s site also indicated Canon Canada was to expand its CPS program.  And they still can’t respond to email inquiries?

At the same time, I decided to register with Canon Canada’s online repair service. Nice feature. You can submit repair requests, get repair price quotes, track repair progress, etc. I’m already registered with Canon Canada’s website generally. Why the one registration doesn’t permit access to both is a mystery; but it doesn’t. Canon Canada’s repair registration system won’t accept email addresses that are hyphenated. You have to be kidding me. According to Canon, this is something that’s being worked on but there’s no timeframe for when it may be addressed. Their only suggestion was to use a different email address. Interestingly, the registration on their main website accepts hyphenated email addresses without issue.  I’ve got an email address that I use for the photography business and one for personal.  My preference is to keep things separate.  While I have another email address I could use, once again that’s not really the point.

This is basic, basic stuff. Registration databases that work and are consistent. Responding to email inquiries about available programs. Repairing gear in a timely manner.

If Canon can’t get this basic stuff figured out and working properly is it any wonder they’re putting out products with major flaws – the 5D, 1D MkIII, 1Ds MkIII, 5D MkII. Yes, this is Canon Canada that I’m talking about and it’s Canon in Japan that is responsible for the manufacturing but it’s all part of the same company and it’s all symptomatic of systemic problems within Canon. I personally know of a few people who’ve jumped off the Canon ship and moved to Nikon. I know of some others who were looking to move to Nikon or Canon from another DSLR maker and chose Nikon because of the problems Canon has had lately and Nikon’s improved technology.  Nikon has, in many ways, surpassed Canon in terms of technology. Nikon’s customer service can’t really be any worse, can it?

Has Canon lost its way?

Robert Fisher Commentary 1D MkIII, 1Ds MkIII, 5D, 5D MkII, Canon, Canon Canada, CPS, customer service, repairs

Collaboration is something a lot of people talk about but I don’t think many have the good fortune to be a part of a true collaborative effort. I have recently been that fortunate.

I’d had an idea for several years for a studio shoot I wanted to do with a wardrobe made of film. A fair number of photographers have done things like wrap a model in film but I’d never seen an actual piece of clothing made of film. Not being a designer or tailor I couldn’t make the outfit myself and hadn’t been successful in finding someone else to make it for me – until this past February. I was headed to Trinidad to visit a good friend (and photographer) and to attend Carnival. My friend asked if there was anything in particular I wanted to shoot while I was there. Brendan Bhagan is well connected in the studio/fashion market in Trinidad so I asked if he knew of anyone who could do the film wardrobe idea. He made some inquiries and after a few days told me to ship some film down. He’d lined up a local designer to make the piece, had a studio location to shoot it, an MUA to do the makeup and a model to wear the piece. All of these folks are established professionals in the industry in Trinidad and the Caribbean but all generously gave of their time and skills freely for this project. After talking concepts with Brendan we decided he’d shoot the stills and I’d do a ‘behind the scenes’ style video. The wardrobe turned out amazingly. Jewel Lewis, the designer took my concept, made it her own and made it reality. ReneeLiza Seeramlal came up with a very creative makeup style, echoing the idea of frames of film. Serala Ramlogan, the model, put up with the edges of the film scratching and cutting her legs for over two hours and made the piece look fantastic. Brendan’s stills are, as usual, excellent. And James at TriniPulse has a great space to shoot in.

On getting back to Canada, I set to work cutting the video together and decided to sync it to Def Leppard’s “Photograph”. Seems logical, right? Unfortunately, even though the video wasn’t for commercial purposes, we couldn’t use the song because we didn’t have a sync license. I play a bit of guitar so thought I might write a song myself. I might have something workable a year or two from now. Then in early summer an old friend from Calgary contacted me out of the blue after we hadn’t talked for a few years. Aside from it being great to reconnect with an old friend, Gerry’s an extremely good guitar player, has a blues/RnB band of his own called Borderline and knows many others in the industry. He put me in touch with some friends of his in Chicago from the band Finneus who have just released a new CD and they were willing to let us use one of the songs off their new disc in our video. How cool is THAT?!? They’ve got a very cool sound and I highly recommend checking them out.

Toronto and Calgary, Canada, Port of Spain and Arima, T&T and Chicago USA. Four countries, 5 cities, 11 people. In some cases people who’ve only met once and in some cases people who’ve never actually met except via email. If that’s not collaboration I don’t know what is. We’re all professionals and while we obviously want to be paid for our efforts, sometimes there’s more to the game than money.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the people who were involved in this project and helped turn nothing but a concept into reality. I hope none of them regret being involved.

There’s one other person who needs to be mentioned as well. That’s a very talented woman named Orchid Alli. Jewel made two pieces with the film; the dress in the video and a swimsuit. We did a shoot with the film swimsuit at one of the beaches in Trinidad. Just as Serala did in the studio, Orchid put up with the edges of the film scratching and cutting her. I did the stills on that shoot and did not come close to doing Orchid justice so those won’t see the light of day. Thanks Orchid for your patience and professionalism.

A 720p version of the video can be seen on Vimeo and a standard def version is below.

Robert Fisher Commentary, Video fashion, music, photography, studio, Video

…. that is the question (with a nod to Mr. Shakespeare for the phrasing).

I’ve been asked from time to time about my thoughts on editioning prints. There are staunch voices on both sides of the question.

My basic thought is ‘why would I’?

When does editioning make sense and who does it make sense for?

For the vast majority of working photographers, my feeling is editioning serves little purpose other than to puff up egos. Unless someone is a very well known photographer whose prints command prices in the thousands of dollars and who can basically guarantee that an edition will sell out and for whom a limited edition series will increase initial sale prices, I don’t see how it makes sense. For the great many of us who aren’t very well known and whose prints don’t command thousands of dollars, how does editioning benefit them (us)? It’s not likely to increase initial selling prices so there’s no benefit there. It may increase secondary market prices at some point in the future but that still doesn’t benefit the photographer who sold the print initially. Unless an edition can be virtually guaranteed to sell out, editioning may actually do more harm than good. If an edition of, say, 200 prints is announced, but only 100 sell; the market thinks there are 200 in circulation but there are only 100. Maybe, if the edition had been limited to 100, initial selling prices could have been higher.

How much, for the non-well known photographer, might editioning increase initial selling prices, if at all? Let’s assume a 25% bump in sale price can result from editioning. So a $400 print now sells for $500. If the edition is 200 and it sells out that’s an extra $20,000 to the photographer. Great! Right? Well maybe.  It’s $20,000 in revenue but something less to the photographer after costs. But, what if the photographer could have sold 400 prints at $400? So $80,000 in revenue (an extra 200 prints at $400 each) is lost for the potential of gaining $20,000.  Oooops. What if a particular print is very popular and could keep selling after the edition is closed? Why would, or should, I (or anyone else) forgo that extra income? How much motivation is there to try and come up with some way to keep selling prints of that photo? Am I really prepared to destroy the neg/slide/RAW file after the edition sells out? Because that’s really what should be done if we’re going to be completely ethical about it. No unsigned, unnumbered, lower priced, printed on different paper or in different sizes offerings which would really only serve to dilute the market and possibly drive down the price of the editioned series.  And potentially tick off the buyers of the editioned series.

To edition or not to edition?  If that is the question then the answer is not to edition for all but a very few.

Robert Fisher Commentary editioning, limited edition, print, printing, prints