Portrait Of An Iceberg.
gbtmcd
Registered Users Posts: 46 Big grins
These shots were taken in 2008 when a friend of mine, my daughter and myself chartered a small boat (21' speedboat) to go out and photograph this iceberg that was grounded in about 600' of water offshore. At the time I was working on (and still am) a project on Fogo Island in Newfoundland and had been wanting to go out to this iceberg for a while. The weather was mixed, a cold front was coming through which meant that there were a few squall lines in the area, which was a good thing since icebergs are difficult to shoot in full sun. It also makes for some great transitional lighting, my favourite. We left around noon as one squall approached passing between us and the iceberg giving us some great backdrops. Then as the weather slowly cleared we circled, taking our time for about half an hour before heading off to a group of islands called Little Fogo, roughly five miles out.
The pack ice that you may notice in the back ground in the first shoots had, by the time we returned from Little Fogo (two hours) had completely enveloped the iceberg we were shooting (last pic) and had almost reached the shoreline. In fact by the time we did get back to the harbour at Fogo we were pushing ice out of the way with the boat to get in.
One of the reasons I am posting these now is that I have just re-edited these with some new software (for me) that I feel give these images something that I feel they needed, since they seemed a bit flat to me.
All C&C welcome, especially the editing...Thanks
Blair McDougall
#1. Approaching with the squall line in the background.
2#.People seem to see thing in icebergs as they do in clouds. This one reminds me of a Rino head on.
3#. The tallest point of this Iceberg we guesstimated at roughly 125 feet.
#4.
,
#5. As the pack ice enveloped the iceberg and moved ashore seals arrived by the thousands.
Thanks for looking... If you'd like to see more icebergs please visit my galley of icebergs Here
I am always re-editing as I learn more.
Take Care
Blair
The pack ice that you may notice in the back ground in the first shoots had, by the time we returned from Little Fogo (two hours) had completely enveloped the iceberg we were shooting (last pic) and had almost reached the shoreline. In fact by the time we did get back to the harbour at Fogo we were pushing ice out of the way with the boat to get in.
One of the reasons I am posting these now is that I have just re-edited these with some new software (for me) that I feel give these images something that I feel they needed, since they seemed a bit flat to me.
All C&C welcome, especially the editing...Thanks
Blair McDougall
#1. Approaching with the squall line in the background.
2#.People seem to see thing in icebergs as they do in clouds. This one reminds me of a Rino head on.
3#. The tallest point of this Iceberg we guesstimated at roughly 125 feet.
#4.
,#5. As the pack ice enveloped the iceberg and moved ashore seals arrived by the thousands.
Thanks for looking... If you'd like to see more icebergs please visit my galley of icebergs Here
I am always re-editing as I learn more.
Take Care
Blair
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the processing is great. I will surely visit your iceburg gallery.
http://rckimaging.smugmug.com/
Thanks Wicked_Dark...Even though it is classified as Sub-Arctic there is life everywhere up there. Every time I go to the island i feel like I'm stepping into another world.
Thank-you dlplumer....:D
And thank-you for your positive feedback..
Blair
Thanks Joel.. It's not that daring really, but it is exciting. I love taking out people for their first time to see these. Although I have seen a few founder (roll) I was onshore at the time, also you can sometimes hear the larger ones from a mile away.
The software that helped me was DxO Optics Pro v6.2 for my raw editor. I downloaded a trial version. It seemed pretty intuitive once I had also downloaded the modules for my cameras and lenses.
Apart from the lowest iso I always start at -2/3 stop even when it's cloudy and then use a ND or Polarizer when it's brighter and have gone down to -1+ 2/3 stops with filters. Also take your reading off the average of the ice. The theory being that you can recover the shadows more easily than blown out whites. Hope this helps.
Blair
Thank-you everybody for your comments. The one thing about icebergs is that the changes can be dramatic as you circle, not only from the angle you're shooting from, but also over time since most of the larger ones are aground offshore and can stay for weeks breaking apart (calving) and shifting as they get smaller. I'm counting the days until I return in May....
Blair
Thank-you Art..
Nothing like extremes to keep things interesting....Thanks....:D
"Out where the rivers like to run, I stand alone, and take back something worth remembering..."
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