Niagara in the Rain - Olympus E-PL1 w/ kit lens

[Robert Watcher]

Anne and I were in Niagara Falls for a few days last week - and on this evening with the rain and extreme fog - - - I decided to walk down to the falls and grab a few shots taken with my Olympus E-PL1 and 14-42 kit lens.

I used bracketed exposures to combine together - in order to not only hold detail in as much of the image as possible - but also to allow for an image that shows virtually no noise in the normally underexposed shadow areas.

My settings were > Manual Focus > Aperture Priority Exposure at f7.3 (changing exposure compensation between shots - mostly -3, -2, -1, 0, +1 compensation) > 100 ISO. For firing on my tripod, I set the camera to the 2 second shutter release. Anne held an umbrella over my setup to keep as much rain off as possible - although heavy sweeping mist was another issue for my gear and lens surface.

I shot with both RAW and SHQ JPG - but with my limited software HDR on my Macbook, I had to use Photoshop CS3 to handle the Jpegs (it can't handle E-PL1 RAW files) - - - at least until I get home. Except for some experimenting years ago, I haven't done this type of shooting before. But it was pretty rewarding for the 4 or 5 shots that I took the time to capture here between 9:00PM and 10:00PM. Fortunately, it wasn't severly cold out.


1 ) Shot using Tungsten WB setting for enhanced blue effect - American Falls at the end of the street, in the background

2 )

3 )

-----

 

[Robert Watcher]

The other 2 Multi Exposure shots that I took (the Horseshoe Falls could not be seen as a result of the rain and mist). The 3'rd shot is a nice Back Shot that a friend of ours who came on the walk with us - took of Anne and me and my setup:


4 ) The Skylon Tower was not visible with the fog - but once in a while we'd see a Flying Saucer in amongst the trees

5 ) From our Balcony

6 ) Working - - - steady does it

------

 

[Robert Watcher]

The reason that we were in the Falls, was for my brothers 25'th wedding anniversary. His wife got a great package at the Holiday Inn and asked my wife and I (I shot their wedding) as well his "best man" along with his wife - to spend the time with them in celebration.

The 4 of us got to the hotel ahead of my brother and got access to their room. Hiding in the bathtub with the curtain closed - this was Tim's surprise when finding us:

Wednesday evening we had a great supper in the revolving Skylon tower. On the walk over, I decided to lay flat on my back on the cold concrete and grab this shot of everyone with the tower in behind - Olympus E-PL1 - f3.4@1/15'th - 1600 ISO:

After supper, we headed up to the observation deck where I stuck my camera through the protective fencing, and gripped the wire on each side for stabilization. I absolutely love this shot that keeps the Horseshoe Falls as secondary and shows the lines and colors of Niagara Falls - Olympus E-PL1 - f3.5@1/8'th - 1600 ISO

On Thursday, we headed over to the American side to do some shopping in a Mall. On the way back we stopped at Goat Island and walked around a bit. It was pretty tough weather and not really too apealing or great access - but my wife and I had never been on that side before - - - so it was cool. Have to head back sometime in prime time. We were there at midday and so I shot at high 1600 ISO to create mood being I didn't have lighting:

------

 

[Asher Kelman]

1 ) Shot using Tungsten WB setting for enhanced blue effect - American Falls at the end of the street, in the background

2 )

3 )

-----

Robert,

I've never been to Niagara, but
I've been awed by the pictures and the exploits of folk who are driven to feats of greatness and stupidity in trying to conquer it. My own reference is to the Victoria falls which separates Zimbabwe in the South from Zambia in the North. Your pictures show a celebratory impression of the city. The Amercan falls are awesome and those lights are impressive. I hope the food is worthy of dining out there.

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

The reason that we were in the Falls, was for my brothers 25'th wedding anniversary. His wife got a great package at the Holiday Inn and asked my wife and I (I shot their wedding) as well his "best man" along with his wife - to spend the time with them in celebration.

The 4 of us got to the hotel ahead of my brother and got access to their room. Hiding in the bathtub with the curtain closed - this was Tim's surprise when finding us:

This is hilarious and classic. This is a wonderful result of a quack plan and executed perfectly. Not bad for a kit lens! I think that the Olympus E-Pl1 is one of the best mirror less compact cameras around. The in body image stabilization means any lens can be used. Most impressive. Now if it were weatherproof too that would be the killer.

Asher