Renato Lopes

Today I went for a walk in the park. The weather wasn’t particularly good…The intention was to get some close up shots of flowers. Critical to flower photography is the wind. And today there was plenty of it!…Not having a tripod in hand does not help much either…Yes, I was traveling very light today…

Anyway, all of these shots were taken handheld with the 60mm f/2.8 AF-S Micro Nikkor. I can tell you one thing…One really sharp lens!!! The colour contrast in pictures taken with this lens is truly stunning! Not really a replacement for my 85mm f/2.8 PC Micro Nikkor, a personal favourite, but convenient at times when you need to focus fast.

The whole week I have been noticing the beautiful sunrise light. Today I made the effort of getting out of bed a bit earlier, at around 4:30. The light was absolutely awesome, and this is the result…Strawberry skies…That’s what it was called…

Photo 1 : Nikon D2X, 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Nikkor, ISO 100, 1/100s at f3.5

This shot was taken sometime last year, an hour or so before sunset.  It was taken at Birling Gap, a location that I have visited a few times. What attracted me to this shot was the contour of the cliff combined with the blue skies and the light.

Photo 1 : Nikon D2X, 17-55mm f/2.8G, ISO 100, 1/250s at f9

This shot is part of the nature pattern series that I am currently working on. It was taken yesterday in the New forest. The weather in the west of England was overcast, which made it really perfect for this kind of photo.

My intention was to spend the whole day exploring the New Forest but later on I ended up by the sea…Long story… But to cut the story short, the nice weather that we experienced yesterday in the South East of England was calling me… : )

Photo 1 : Nikon D2X, 85mm f/2.8D PC Micro-Nikkor, ISO 100, 1/60s at f9

Question: “Why do you keep going back to the same places?”…Well, there’s more than one answer to that question. Sometimes it’s because the place is easily accessible to me, or it’s a place that I like visiting. Other times it’s because the weather conditions were not ideal at the time of my visit or simply because I still haven’t got the photo that makes me go “WOW!”…

In practical terms, nothing illustrates the reason why, better than the following examples. Photos 1 and 4 were shot about a year apart. Photos 2 and 3 were taken on the same day, about 15 minutes apart.

Photo 1 was taken on my last visit to Lisbon, just a week ago. For those of you who’ve yet to experience Lisbon, this is Ponte Vasco da Gama, the second of the two bridges that cross the river Tejo (Tagus) in Lisbon. It’s about 16 or 17 km long or something along that mark…Well, It’s a long bridge…

Photo 1 : Nikon D2Xs, 17-35mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S Nikkor, ISO 100, 1/40 at f16, 3-stop Soft-Step Singh-Ray ND filter

So rather than following the storm, I stopped near the bridge, and never crossed it. Spent some time photographing it instead. After the sun was well above the horizon, I went for a nice breakfast…Will not bore you with what was on the menu, but it was delicious… : )

A 3-stop Soft-Step ND Singh-Ray filter was used to balance the exposure. Why the choice of a Soft-Step filter rather than a Hard-Step? The Hard-Step filter would have given me a more abrupt transition from 0 to 3-stops. The use of this filter would have not been ideal in this situation, as the clouds created and uneven horizon, just where the light is brighter along the top of the cloud formation. The Soft-Step filter, on the other hand, gave me a softer transition as the gradation on the filter changes softly from 0 to 3-stops.

Photos 2 and 3 are simply varitions of the same scene, taken about 15 minutes or so apart. At the time I did not have the Singh-Ray Reverse ND filters, but they would have been my choice for photo 3, as the horizon is considerably brighter than the rest of the scene.

Photo 2 : Nikon D2X, 17-55mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S DX Nikkor, ISO 100, 1/2s at f9, 3-stop Hard-Step Singh-Ray ND filter

Photo 3 : Nikon D2X, 17-55mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S DX Nikkor, ISO 100, 1/10s at f10, 3-stop Hard-Step Singh-Ray ND filte

I think that photo 4 is the most dramatic of all in terms of light. The clouds also add a lot to the drama. At the time, I initially turned my back on this scene as the light was not that exciting. So I walked back to the car. But as I reached my car after a 10 min walk, I looked back and saw the light changing. You can just imagine what happened next…I ran back to the scene!…

Photo 4 : Nikon D2X, 17-55mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S DX Nikkor, ISO 100, 1/50s at f9, 3-stop Hard-Step Singh-Ray ND filter

So…Back to the initial question…Some scenes do offer a lot of potential. I could have easily posted another 2 or 3 other shots of the same scene that look completely different. I will be back for sure, as my work here is not yet complete…

Spent most of today at Sintra’s National Park. Conditions were slightly different from yesterday. The difference being that today, it did not rain as much. Overcast conditions are ideal for photographing this type of subject. The advantage of these types of conditions is that the issues related to exposure are largely eliminated. This is because of the uniform light produced.

Another problem I had with this capture, is that the wet three trunk produced some really nasty reflections. However, I was able to control this to a certain extent with the use of a polarizer.

Photo 1 : Nikon D2X, 85mm f/2.8D PC Micro-Nikkor, ISO 100, 1.6s at f8

As far as location and conditions are concerned, these two shots could have not been more different…Taken about 300km apart, the first one was taken under very heavy rain in Serra de Sintra (Portugal) the second one at Castelejo beach in the south of Portugal.

The only thing that these two shots have in common, is the fact that the weather conditions were so bad that it forced me to change the focus of my attention from photographing a landscape to photographing natural patterns. The important thing, really, is to make the most of whatever conditions you may have.

Photo 1 : Nikon D2X, 85mm f/2.8D PC Micro-Nikkor, ISO 100, 6s at f8

Photo 1 : Nikon D2X, 85mm f/2.8D PC Micro-Nikkor, ISO 100, 1/100 at f8

It was one cold and windy day today…I got to my location about 4 hours before sunset. Spent about 3 hours trying to figure out how the weather conditions would affect the scene at sunset. The strong winds meant that one minute the clouds were there, next minute they were gone…

These two shots were taken about 4 minutes apart.They are the same scene and what attracted me to the second shot was not the light, but the clouds in the sky. Not sure which one I like the most…

Photo 1 : Nikon D2Xs, 17-35mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S Nikkor, ISO 100, 1s at f11, 4-stop Reverse Singh-Ray ND filter

Photo 2 : Nikon D2Xs, 17-35mm f/2.8D ED-IF AF-S Nikkor, ISO 100, 3.6s at f16, 3-stop Reverse Singh-Ray ND filter

Really cold weather, blue skies and beautiful winter sunset light was all I had for most of the week. This image was taken at sunset as the moon is rising.

Photo 1 : Nikon D2Xs, 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Nikkor, ISO 100, 1/125s at 7.1, Nikon circular Polariser

I am currently working on a portfolio that includes photos featuring very simple compositions, clearly defined lines and light. The challenge with this project is really to get the “right” light, which doesn’t always happen. It’s a game of patience and chasing light…

Photo 1 : Nikon D2X, 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Nikkor, ISO 100, 10s at f14, 3-stop Hard-Step Singh-Ray ND filter