After photographing the fall colors all day on Saturday we took a breather at home for a few hours. Just before midnight Roger and I headed back out to try photographing the night sky over some cool maple trees that we had found earlier in the day. I was also anxious to attempt some night photos with the new Sony RX100 Mark III camera. When we got to the location of the maples we couldn't believe how warm it was. It was almost midnight and it was 68 degrees! Quite warm for the middle of the night this time of year.
Above: Self-portrait with the Sony RX100 Mark III
I started off making a few images with my Canon 5D Mark II, then pulled out the Sony to give it a whirl. I wasn't sure how to make any shots work, as I had never done a night sky shot with a small point and shoot camera before. Even though the Sony RX100 series is a camera that will fit in your pocket, it does have a full complement of manual controls. Some of the controls are not that intuitive, though. It took me a little while to figure out how to get the aperture set the way I wanted it, but eventually I got it figured out. I also wasn't sure if autofocus would even work, so I just set the camera to manual focus and turned the control ring until the focus was set at infinity. Then, I turned the long-exposure noise reduction on and proceeded to make some images.
Above: Using the Sony with a Joby Gorillapod at a local waterfall - Photo by my wife Jessica Barr!
I was blown away by the results! I took a few 30 second exposures at f/1.8 and ISO 3200, and a few 20 second exposures at f/1.8 and ISO 6400. I really couldn't tell much of a difference between the two. Noise levels seemed to be almost equal between the two settings. Even harder to believe, the shots looked almost as good as those that come off my 5D Mark II, a large SLR camera with a full-frame sensor! I tried not to let my excitement get the best of me, though. I know sometimes the camera's LCD can fool you into thinking a shot is better than it actually is. Getting them on the computer and viewing them at 100% would be the real test. Well, after getting them on the Mac and viewing them at 100% I can tell you that the image quality is UNBELIEVABLE! I thought I would end up with a shot that would be okay with viewing on screen, but not good enough to make a print. Quite the contrary, I am fully comfortable with sending this file in to have a large print made from it! The image quality from this little camera is nothing short of amazing. I never thought I would be able to produce images of the night sky of such quality with such a small camera. Message to Sony: You Rock!
The weather today is cold and dreary, but we sure had a beautiful weekend! Our friend Roger came up to visit us and photograph the fall colors so we spent the entire day Saturday exploring the woods and taking in the unbelievable beauty of the autumn forest. We found a lot of cool things to photograph, not the least of which was this cool old-growth maple surrounded by younger trees. I laid down on the ground and stared up at this magnificent old tree; that was when I saw this composition and decided to photograph it.
I hate to say it, but the best of the maple color has already come and gone (in Grand Portage, at least). The peak maple color this year was extremely short-lived. Seven days ago the trees shown in this photo were still 90% green. This photo was made 4 days ago. Today, only about 25% of the leaves remain on these trees, the rest have fallen. It was the shortest-lived peak maple season that I can remember. There is still a lot of glorious color to be found out there, but the maples are almost done. Now the best color will be in the birch, aspen and tamarack. The best locations for color will be shifting down towards the Lake Superior shoreline. Even though the maple color is almost done, don't let that discourage you as there is still plenty of good color out there in the other trees. So, get out there and take a walk in the woods and enjoy this most colorful of seasons :-)
The fall colors are at their peak right now inland from Lake Superior and one of the best ways to experience them is from the seat of a mountain bike. There are a lot of dirt roads in Cook County that are really nice mountain bike routes that also go through really colorful stands of trees. Get out there now and enjoy the colors while they last!
Boy, the fall colors sure have exploded over the past few days! Here is an image from yesterday morning about an hour after sunrise. We were driving back home after shooting the sunrise from the top of a ridge when we came across this scene. The lighting was amazing. The tree on the right seemed to be glowing from within. We simply had to stop and make some photographs!
Here is another image from yesterday morning's unforgettable sunrise over the north woods of Minnesota. Just moments after the sun came up the valley below us was filled with this incredible light and fog. It was a surreal experience watching and photographing these scenes through my telephoto lens!
This morning's sunrise was INCREDIBLE! We knew it was going to be good as we drove to our planned location, but we had no idea it would be SO good! The clouds, colors and fog all came together to give us an unforgettable morning immersing ourselves in the glorious autumn of the Minnesota north woods. Sure do LOVE this time of year!
