[/caption] Even an overcast day can offer some great photo opportunities. This is especially true when you have calm waters and the foliage is starting to turn there golden fall colors. Even though the morning was completely overcast and the winds were starting to pick up, I was fortunate to take advantage of the many other things that help make taking pictures priceless. It helps when you have a fast moving river that’s completely calm which helped create a nice reflection from the buildings and it’s also helpful when the trees along the waterfront are starting to show their fall colors. Even though the scene could have been better, I was actually pretty happy with how some of my photos turned out. Especially since I was able to get some great shots that have eluded me before. I was using my Sigma 17-70mm lens and set the focal length at 38mm in order to frame this particular shot. I set the ISO at 100 and kept the white balance at 0. I had the camera made at Program so the aperture was at F-4 and the shutter speed at 1/60 seconds since I did attach my CIR-PL and warming filter in order to saturate the sky. I also made sure to use my tripod, remote switch and bubble level to ensure that I wouldn’t have any blur or camera shake due to the low light.
Tag Archives: Fall colors in Portland
Portland view on the waterfront, OR
[/caption] Fall weather can be hit or miss when trying to photograph the changing of the vegetation along the riverfront near downtown Portland. Either the vegetation hasn’t started to peak yet or the trees are just starting to change. The weather is the culprit when missing the best opportunities since I normally find myself standing in a rain storm as the trees reach their peak color. This photo shows a storm moving in from the west and the vegetation is just about to peak. Unfortunately, the rain stayed for several days and the trees peaked and then started losing their leaves before the skies cleared. This is a classic scenario that repeats itself almost every year. However, this particular day wasn’t at a total loss since the clouds were pretty cool and I was able to saturate the city and the trees as well as separate the clouds from each other in order to create a really cool contrast in the sky. Since I was riding my mt. bike, I didn’t have a tripod to steady any of my shots but the sky was pretty well lit and I just made sure to keep a steady hand. However, it was pretty difficult since it was really cold and I made the mistake of wearing short. My day was also cut short since my saddle was coming lose and I forgot to bring my wrench to tighten it. I was using my Canon T1i and my Sigma 17-70mm lens. I set the focal length at 42mm and attached my CIR-PL and warming filter. I had the ISO at 100 and the white balance at -0.7 and the camera mode in Program/Normal. This made the aperture set at F-5.7 and the shutter speed at 1/128 second. The photo was taken at about 11:30mm so the sun was at about a 90 degree angle with little light due to the cloudy skies. However, the clouds did create a very bright light and overexposed setting.