Shooting the Shooter Part Two - Brice Creek

Ann and I went to Brice Creek on December 1st last year.  It was a fortunate weekend in several respects.  First, it reconfirmed in my mind that it’s more important to get only a few quality images than a few mediocre ones (it was a very good day in that respect).  Second, it was the first weekend we went out photographing this fall that was heavily overcast and Ann finally learned why I think cloudy skies are great for photography.  An third, we took our time for Ann to take several photographs of mushrooms on the hike into the falls - fortunate because the following week we had snow that lasted for several days that finished off the mushrooms until next year. This is a photograph of me taking what is probably my best photograph of the day.

Brice Creek is one of the most beautiful creeks we know of in Oregon (though probably surpassed by Opal Creek, which we visited twice last week).  Still, it’s accessible and incredibly beautiful.  That day we took the long hike into the falls which, as I mentioned above, gave Ann the opportunity to explore the wonders of macrophotography.  By the time I got to the main falls, I wasn’t sure whether I’d have a productive day or not.

After one productive image of falls, and another disappointing image of whitewater, I started studying water patterns in a calm section between one set of falls and another.  Realizing there was a lot of potential there, I waited for Ann to finish her shot and then grabbed the tripod.

I have a very interesting series of images from this spot for a number of reasons.  At first I wanted to capture the patterns that were forming on the surface of the water as it passed over the rocks before.  I used a fairly fast shutter speed to capture those images.  But then I realized that the water was so clear I could see the rocks below, but I had to figure out a way to remove the surface glare.  To do that, I tried using a polarizing filter to remove the surface glare (which had allowed me to record the water textures in the first place, and sure enough the rocks were visible.

However, I wasn’t done yet.  Now that I could see the images of rocks through the water, I wasn’t too happy with the fairly realistic white water that I was capturing.  I realized that I could use the birthday present that Ann gave me this year - a Lee “Big Stopper.”  The Big Stopper is a neutral density filter that blocks the amount of light that enters the lens.  A lot.  It’s a 10-stop filter which means, if you do the math, it only lets in 1/2048 the amount of light that would normally hit the sensor.  Using the Big Stopper meant that I had to have very long exposure times - in the range of 50 seconds.

I had a little problem though.  Genius me decided to buy a “slim” polarizing filter when I bought my camera because “I would never ‘stack’ filters [for optical reasons] and even if I did, the polarizer would always be the outside.”  Consequently, slim filters do not have filter threads on the front of the filter.  That was before I’d thought I’d ever use Lee filters with this camera.  You see, they are rectangular filters that slide into a frame that attaches to the front of the lens by screwing into the filter threads.  And I couldn’t remove the polarizing filter because if I did (or should I say “when I did” because I tried) the surface reflection on the water would be visible and would hinder seeing the rocks.

So what you see here is me hand holding my Lee Big Stopper in front of my camera for a 50+ second exposure.  I had to make sure I didn’t allow any gap between the polarizer and the Big Stopper, and I had to make sure I didn’t create any camera movement.  In other words, stand perfectly still for nearly a minute for each exposure.

Here’s the image I made when Ann took the picture above:

Now, you should know that the Big Stopper causes a distinct bluish color shift.  It’s fairly easy to color correct for, but I’ve only partially corrected it.  Both Ann and I agree that leaving the cool cast better reflects the feeling of that overcast day and adds to the unreal atmosphere created by the rocks in the water.  Add to that the vibrant colors of the moss on the rocks and you can begin to feel just how magical Brice Creek was that day was for Ann and me.