One of my favorite photographers, Dewitt Jones, wrote an article in the May issue of Outdoor Photographer. Within the article he challenged the reader to “be like the sunset.” He realized that nature would perform its wonderful visual display at sunset whether or not there was anyone around to notice. Dewitt thought how wonderful it would be if we as photographers could put out our best in our creative expression whether or not there was someone to receive it.

Indeed, that is a mighty challenge. I for one at many times in my life have questioned the reason for continuing with my photography as I felt in quite a few instances it had received little attention. In other words, I moved in fear.

copyright © reserved 2005-2010, Richard Lovison

Then in later years I began to realize that my photography had proven to be a wonderful means of self exploration. Even though some of my nature photography has been taken in areas captured on film or as digital images by others, my images have always been unique. I chose the moment to press the shutter, the subject to frame and the composition. The connection from my eye, to my heart and then to my action were an expression of my true-self and no other. When I am truly in the moment when I press that shutter, I feel it is an expression of love.

The world for many reasons seems to be very efficient at destroying the unique and beautiful qualities of the individual. This process begins shortly after childbirth for many. So I encourage all those who may at one point or another question their reason for continuing to take photographs to embrace their uniqueness. Celebrate the fact that no one will capture images in quite the same way as you. Share your work with those around you in spite of any fears of whether it will be well received and quite possibly, the world will be a better place because of it.

In a previous article I questioned if the computer tech gadgetry found in modern digital SLRs would nudge us down one rung on the evolutionary ladder or at the very least, encourage laziness in our thought processes. To take it further I’m now wondering if new photographers are relying too heavily on the automation and intelligence found in today’s DSLR metering systems. Believe it or not, a good percentage of the time those sophisticated meters are wrong when computing an exposure. It’s just the nature of the beast.

DSLR meters measure luminance — the light reflected from the object you are photographing — not the amount of light falling on it. They calculate the exposure of the scene as an average tone of 18% gray. Thus, if your subject is predominantly black or predominantly white and fills up the composition, in both cases with a reflective type light meter, the subject will be exposed to appear gray. This type of meter only works correctly when your composition is a wide combination of tones and front lit… the situation in most compositions.

But what about the exceptions: the side lit or back lit scenes or the ones with the limited range of tones? This is where, as a photographer, you will need to out think your camera’s automation and where the Sunny F16 rule comes into play.

The Sunny F16 rule was used in the days when cameras didn’t have built-in light meters and a handheld one wasn’t available. The rule is as follows; when photographing a front lit subject of moderate size on a bright sunny day, set the aperture to f/16 and the shutter speed to the ISO (ASA in the past). In other words, if you are shooting at ISO 100, set the shutter speed to 1/100 (1/125 on a film camera). If you need a faster shutter speed, open up your aperture accordingly.

Of course if the subject is back lit, side lit, dark in tone, light in tone or if it is hazy or overcast one would need to compensate. For example, one needs to open up between 1 ½ to 2 stops if shooting in overcast conditions as there is less light.

In years past, most serious photographers understood the nature of light and used their meters as tools rather than as a crutch. So I propose a challenge. Since with digital, experimentation costs nothing but your time, go out and play around with the F16 rule. Try it on a sunny day and prove to yourself that it works. Experiment and discover what exposure compensations need to be made in varying lighting conditions with subjects of varying reflective properties. I guarantee you will walk away with a better understanding of exposure and that DSLR will become a tool under your creative control.

What a difference a couple of months make. The last images taken at Otis falls were captured on February 27th. This image was taken today.

Otis Falls 4 © Copyright Reserved, Richard Lovison, 2008

After the winter ice melted on Otis Reservoir and the high waters flowed downstream, this is all that remained of the rushing water at the falls.

My wife bought me a GPS unit for the car as a gift and I just recently discovered the “points of interest” feature in February. I stumbled upon the entry for Otis Falls while trying to find another water fall located on the Connecticut-Massachusetts border.

“Otis Falls?” I thought to myself. “Where is a water fall located in the town of Otis?”

Since the GPS unit indicated it was only 10 miles from my home I decided I might as well program the GPS for this tourist attraction and take an adventure.

After following the directions of the computer voice and hearing “You’ve arrived at your destination,” I found myself at Otis Reservoir in a strangely familiar place. My wife and I were here last year in exactly the same location though we didn’t come upon a water fall.

So I parked the car and decided to take a look around. Water ran under the road at this point and was controlled by a damn so I figured it was worth a look on the other side of the road from where the reservoir was.

After a bit of exploration I came upon what looked like a path in the snow and followed it into the woods. After walking for a short distance the sound of rushing water became audible. “Ah ha, the falls”, I thought to myself.

Otis Falls 1 © Copyright Reserved, Richard Lovison, 2008

First I explored the top of the falls. The image above was taken with a slow shutter speed of 1/10^th of a second to create the typical ethereal, less busy, water effect.

I was so mesmerized by the powerful flow of the water and the noise that I wasn’t paying very close attention to the treacherous hiking conditions consisting of a great deal of tightly packed snow and ice on the ground. It wasn’t until I arrived close to the edge of the water that I noticed that half of the water flowing to the edge of the falls ran straight into a massive rock wall where it crashed with enormous force and energy. Upon that observation, I immediately backed away from the edge and back up a rather steep embankment of snow and ice. I unknowingly placed myself in a very dangerous position. If I had slipped and fallen into that stream, I would have been easily carried into that wall of rock.

After contemplating another dangerous vantage point on a metal catwalk directly above the falls, my common sense finally kicked in and I decided to venture down to the base of the falls. This also proved to be a bit treacherous as it was a steep decline to the water’s edge though certainly not as dangerous as the exploration at the top.

Otis Falls 2 © Copyright Reserved, Richard Lovison; 2008

This image was taken from a vantage point about 12 feet away from the bank, arrived at by walking across a few large boulders to get to a shallow part of the stream. I shot at a faster shutter speed, 1/80^th of a second. I wanted to capture more of the turbulence and power of the rushing water and also stop some of the motion of the branch in the upper right of the image that was being blown about by the water spray generated by the falls.

Otis Falls 3 © Copyright Reserved, Richard Lovison; 2008

This last image was captured further downstream from the falls and taken at 1/8^th of a second to once again, produce the ethereal effect.

Otis Falls is an amazing place and most likely has many more areas to explore than I came upon that afternoon. All of this came about because of a high tech “toy.” I believe I’m going to come to appreciate this “toy” more and more as I continue to use it.

Until next time…