Shawn Thompson Photography - Duluth, MN - Lake Superior Photography » Shawn Thompson

Film Elitists, Chill Out…

Shawn Thompson — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:54:38 +0000

It’s funny how EVERY style of film distorts reality.
Some films add high contrast, some over-saturate, some create subdued colors and some even remove all color, GASP!!.
Every image lies to some degree whether it was shot with an 8×10 field camera or a Digital SLR or even an Iphone with a processing app (OMG, not a camera phone!!!!).
Yet, elitist film shooters feel their medium is best, it’s pure, but I have news, it’s not. Not even close. It may be YOUR preferred medium, but it isn’t the best and it isn’t pure.
You still process it to some degree, whether it’s in the darkroom or by scanning the negative and tweaking it in Photoshop, GimP, or whatever program you choose.
So, get off your high horses and relax a bit when your cousin’s father’s mother’s daughter takes a photo with their camera phone and processes it with an app.

The moral to this is that you should use the medium that suits you best. Maybe that’s film, maybe it’s digital or maybe it’s your phone. Hell, maybe it’s all three and a bread truck that was custom made to shoot Massive wet plates, like Ian Ruhter Photography is doing. (http://www.ianruhter.com/)
Whatever you choose, try not to be so snobby about it and open up your eyes to what is happening around you.

Latest Photo – Poseidon’s Molar

Shawn Thompson — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:50:34 +0000

The weather we have had in Northern MN lately has not been conducive to my winter shooting style. We have had 48 degree days in January and while this makes going from the house to the car to work more tolerable, it makes for boring winter photos. I want cold temperatures, I want arctic steam hovering over the lake at sunrise, I want snow, I want ice buildup on Lake Superior’s shoreline. All of these elements are what make interesting photographs for me.
Luckily the warm snap broke, the overcast skies gave up their stronghold and some interesting clouds appeared over Lake Superior this past Friday. I had to take advantage of this situation as I haven’t shot anything that excited me in over a month, maybe closer to two months and I was getting antsy. I took off from Duluth a couple hours before sunset and drove an hour north to a location I had scouted several months earlier but had yet to take any photographs.
I arrived at the location, got out of my car and one of the first things I was was this interesting rock formation approximately 50 yards off shore. I took my camera, 70-200mm lens and 10 stop ND filter out of my bag and set up on my tripod. I found this composition, set my focus on the rock (used live view to zoom in at 10x on my LCD to ensure that the edges of the rock were razor sharp) then I got my base exposure, screwed on the 10 stop filter, plugged in my cable release and exposed the photo for 128 seconds. The sky was much brighter than the foreground so I knew I had to reduce the exposure in the sky while taking this photo.
Most of the time I would use a graduated Neutral Density filter for this, but I do not have a Panel Filter Holder and hand holding a Grad ND for 128 seconds would be very difficult without shaking the camera and lens. I resorted back to a tried and true method that I use often when taking photos that are longer than 30 seconds. I used my hand/black glove to block off the upper portion of the lens for part of the exposure. (this is similar to burning in the darkroom) You can also use a black card ( black carboard) and get the same effect. Place your hand or black card in front of the lens and move it up and down over the area that you wish to reduce the exposure (generally the sky).
In this case, I blocked off the top part of the frame for around 30 seconds during the 128 second exposure. The time you block off will depend on the scene and you might have to try several times before you get a feel for this technique. The big thing is to keep your hand/glove/black card as close to the lens element as possible, without touching it. If you bump the lens during the exposure your image will not be sharp.

Here is the image – I originally called it King’s Crown, but my friend Jeff Swanson suggested Poseidon’s Molar. I thought that sounded much better and I took his suggestion.

Here is a terrible video I made (should have held the iPhone horizontally) while taking this photo that shows how the black glove technique works. This should give you an idea as to what I am talking about.
Notice that my hand never goes down to the bottom of the lens, it only stays toward the very top (the sky portion of the image).
The other trick is to keep your hand moving or else it will show up in the image if it sits still in front of the lens for too long.

How This Shot Was Made – Mixing City Lights With Ambient

Shawn Thompson — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:41:27 +0000

There is a brief window, just before sunrise and just after sunset where city lights and ambient light mix together to make colorful and interesting images.
In the case of this image, I wanted to shoot it after sunset when the huge Bentleyville Christmas display was completely lit up in front of the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge.
I arrived right around sunset and waited for the park lights to turn on. I wanted them to turn on while there was still a little bit of ambient light left so I would still see some definition in the clouds. Luckily on this night, there was a near full moon directly overhead which added an awesome spotlight effect.

Just after sunset and you can see the light was pretty flat and boring. This is where you might pack it up and head home. But, sometimes it pays to wait.

5-10 minutes later and the color is getting a little better. The city lights are starting to come on and are adding some
interesting elements, but the overall scene is still fairly boring.

5 minutes more and the color is getting better and more city lights are coming on.

Another 5 minutes passes and everything is starting to jive, the city lights are looking great and mixing well
with the ambient light.

Another few minutes pass and everything is getting dialed in, the city lights are looking pretty awesome with the
glow of the remaining ambient light. You can still see some detail in the sky. Now if only they would they would light
up the park before the last bit of ambient light is gone…

Then a couple minutes later, the park lights up, there is still a bit of ambient light allowing a faint view of the clouds
on the horizon and the 3/4 full moon shines down like a spotlight on the Aerial Lift Bridge Bridge and Lake Superior
adding a bit of drama to the scene.

If I had packed it up and went home just after sunset I would have missed the best light of the day. Something to
think about next time you are out shooting. Even if you aren’t anywhere near city lights, the afterglow can leave you
with some amazing light to shoot with. When you see other photographers packing it up after seeing a nice sunset,
stick around for another 30 minutes, you might be surprised at what you see.

A Tripod, Cable Release and a 70-200mm Lens were used to make this shot.
Tech details are embedded for all images.
The last image was captured with the following settings – F/11 – 13 seconds – ISO160

2011 – A Photographic Year in Review

Shawn Thompson — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:37:38 +0000

2011 was an amazing year for me. I had three trip opportunities arise and rather than worry that I didn’t have the money or that I could use the money for other things, like paying off bills sooner, I seized the opportunities. This year “tomorrow isn’t promised” really hit home when several people I knew passed away and my father had a heart attack (he is doing great now). I decided that I wasn’t going to make excuses anymore and I was going to make the effort to actually go on a trip when the opportunity comes up in the future.
In March, I traveled to The Southwest with fellow outdoor photographers Jeff Swanson and Lonnie Shull. We visited Zion national Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Upper Antelope Slot Canyon and Horseshoe Bend.
Several months later, Jeff Swanson invited me along on an epic trip he had planned. I packed my suitcase with some clothes, a sleeping bag, a tent and I caught a plane to Oakland, CA. We drove from Oakland to as far north as Mt. St. Helens in Washington. We spent the majority of our time in the Columbia River Gorge, but also made overnight stops at Crater Lake, Sparks Lake, Proxy Falls, and a few others. All in all we put on approximately 2400 miles.
My last trip brought me to Rhode Island in the fall for NewSchoolOfPhotography.com‘s NSOPgiving annual party. I spend a fair amount of time on NSOP’s online photo forum and have come to know many of the people on that site pretty well. I stayed with Ben Jacobsen (the owner of NSOP) and his family. I got an awesome tour of Rhode Island, was able to photograph a couple sunrises on the Atlantic ocean with Ben Jacobsen, Jeff Swanson, David Simms, Will Strauss, and Josh Sweeney. I ate amazing food and drank some terrific beers while meeting and talking to a lot of talented photographers and Ken Gilbert (he’s a real hack…
All in all, this year was pretty epic photographically for me. I managed to get photos all over the U.S. and I even captured some of my best work on lake Superior.
Here are a bunch of my favorite photos from this past year.

I hope you all have a wonderful year in 2012, take lots of photos and seize the moment whenever you get a chance.

Thanks for reading this post, looking at my photos and your overall support,
- Shawn

Bentleyville Sale

Shawn Thompson — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:54:16 +0000

I am running a sale on 12×18 prints of these three Bentleyville photos from now until Christmas.
Regular price is $75 but you can get them for $35 each (including shipping).

December’s FREE Desktop Calendar is Ready. Grab it!

Shawn Thompson — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:45:16 +0000

Please click on the pic below to go to the download page.
Thanks and enjoy!

- Shawn

Pacific Northwest Trip 7/30/11 – 8/04/11

Shawn Thompson — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:47:43 +0000

I have been putting off processing and sharing my images from my trip to the Pacific northwest with Jeff Swanson of http://interfacingnature.com but finally decided to process some and share them.
This is a location that I have been dreaming of visiting for many, many years. The opportunity finally came when Jeff asked if I’d like to meet up at his place near Oakland and head North on a week long road trip. I said yes, bought plane tickets, put my tent and sleeping bag in my luggage and I was gone.
When we finally arrived at our first location, Proxy Falls, I was in awe. I continued to be in awe at every location we went to.
Having been there once, I now have a better idea of what I want next time I go and I will go again, soon.
Here are the images. Feel free to leave feedback if you want or just enjoy them for what they are.

My Photography Equipment List

Shawn Thompson — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 17:27:48 +0000

Often I am asked “What gear do you use?”
I thought I would compile a list with links here on my blog for others to use as a reference.

If you have any questions, please let me know!

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 17-40mm F/4 Ultra Wide Angle Lens

Canon 70-200mm F/4 Telephoto Lens

Canon 85mm F/1.8 EF USM Prime lens

Bogen/Manfrotto 190xprob Tripod Legs

Bogen/Manfrotto 488rc4 Ballhead

Converted to Arca Swiss Mount to accommodate a Kirk L Bracket

Follow this LINK to read up and see examples of the filters listed below.

HiTech 3 stop 4×5 Hard Edge Graduated Neutral Density Filter

HiTech 3 stop 4×5 Soft Edge Graduated Neutral Density Filter

HiTech 2 stop 4×5 Hard Edge graduated Neutral Density Filter

HiTech 2 Stop 4×5 Soft Edge Graduated Neutral Density Filter

B+W #110 77mm 10 Stop Solid Neutral Density Filter

Adorama Slinger 4×5 Filter Pouch

Hoya 77mm 3 stop Solid Neutral Density Filter

Sigma 77mm EX DG Slim Multi-Coated Circular Polarizing Filter

Canon Shutter Release Cable

Lowepro Flipside 300 Backpack

ThinkTank Streetwalker Backpack

3M Micro Fiber Towels for Lens Cleaning

Small LED Flashlight

Sandisk Compact Flash Cards

Transcend Flash Cards

Sunrise/Set App for iPhone

**disclaimer – I do have an affiliate program setup and will receive a small percentage of any purchase made through these links. All links point to the TOP, Most reliable retailers in the industry. All of the gear listed above is the gear that I use on a daily basis. If you choose to click through and make your purchase, I thank you. If you would rather not, I completely understand and want to thank you for looking at my list.

Fall Hiking in My Backyard

Shawn Thompson — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 15:14:54 +0000

The other day I took a short hike behind my house up Kingsbury Creek to I-35 and back down. The water flow was really low so I decided to look for some detail shots and abstract images. Here are a couple shots I came home with.

Embracing Bad Weather

Shawn Thompson — Mon, 23 May 2011 17:17:11 +0000

Often times we see a bad weather system moving in, get bummed and sit inside wishing for better photographic conditions. More often than not, bad weather actually translates into great photo opportunities.

This image was captured on a cloudy day. A 9 stop filter and polarizing filter were used to get a long exposure. The long exposure helped give the image an ominous feel by adding motion to the clouds.

Here is the same island with a wider view on a different day. On this afternoon, a storm was developing near sunset at Ellison Island in Split Rock State Park, along Lake Superior’s North Shore.

Looming storm clouds can add a sense of drama, adding extra interest to your outdoor photography, like this image of an old fishing shack on Lake Superior’s North Shore. A storm had just started moving in near sunset.

Overcast, cloudy days can be terrific weather for shooting waterfalls, streams and reflections. The reason for this is the light becomes soft, diffused and the overcast skies allow you to get slower shutter speeds for soft, silky looking water.

This image was captured on an overcast day in Zion National Park. I used a polarizer to enhance the reflection and definition in the sky.

Foggy days make for great, moody imagery. Walk into the forest on a foggy day and you will notice an ethereal effect that can really add some depth and interest.

Or, head out to some urban areas.

Sub-zero temperatures can add many different elements such as steam, sundogs, ice patterns, frost, etc.. which add depth and drama to make extremely dynamic imagery.

Storms that are clearing out near sunrise or sunset often make for the best light shows. As the sun is rising or setting it is low, near the horizon. The light is bouncing and reflecting through small particles and molecules which change the direction of the light rays, resulting in different colors. Add to this, some nice clearing storm clouds and you get an amazing light show. If you are lucky and there is a break in the clouds, you might see some nice sun bursts blasting through.