Low Tide, Down River. April 6, 2012
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature.Tags: Daryl Benson Reverse Grad filters, Deerfield river. sunset, Elliot, graduated filters, hip boots, river cobbles, serpentinite, Singh-Ray filters, tilt-shift photography, up to my nads in it
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So I got out through the swift current with hip boots, ski poles and a good deal of patience and concentration; after waiting for visual low water, I was still amazed at the power of what looked shallow from the road.
Once I was at the gravel bar, the Deerfield was glowing in the rising blush of the setting sun, its cobbles showing their serpentinite-green roots through the silvery, slithering water.
I set up low, glad to have the hip waders on as I knelt in the shallows and contorted myself to get a working view of my camera’s LCD screen at 10X. That part is necessary to get the best out of Elliot; the interplay of tilt and focus and exposure, coupled with the complication of arranging hand-held graduated filters, requires a view of the process beyond what appears through the view-finder.
The results were predictably mixed, and most of my haul went directly into the Round File (that’s trash, for those of you who remember waste baskets.)
Here’s what emerged as the keeper from this effort:
Courtesy of Elliot, with about six degrees of tilt, and a pair of stacked/staggered hand-held graduated filters for a total of six stops of cooling that sun.
Once again, my hat’s off to the right gear producing the desired results.
Well, that and a little elbow grease.
Little Bang Theory 
Wow, that photo is awesome cool! I really love the effort you put into the photos you take, so much color and detail. I am not around nature enough these days, except for flowers in gardens in the city. It’s not the same.
This is my website so far – I have not settled on the format or the content.
Punch as hard as you can. “I’m not angry, I’m from Philly.”
I’m amazed by just how many different [elements] make up this beautiful scene.
I hope things are moving along for you to have some for sale. I’d very much like to be able to pick and choose even just a few i could afford.
Thanks, Susan. I’m working on a website with galleries of what I consider my better work, and will “crow” about it when I get it up and running (how does Crow feel about having his name used to describe loud proclamations?) It will likely be a while, though, as nice sites cost $$$ and I’m scraping pretty hard right now.