Photographically, I've always enjoyed sunrise/sunset photography. Sunset is always easier since you don't have to get up at some ridiculous hour in the middle of the night to drive somewhere before the sun comes up to photograph the sunrise, but I sometimes do it anyway. One of the type of photos that I like to experiment with are very high contrast images shot essentially into the sun.
CAUTIONIf you try to take photos like some of those I'll post using long telephoto lenses, extreme care must be taken not to look through the lens when the sun is in visible in the viewfinder. Very long lenses are just like telescopes and the magnification of the intensity of the sun through them can cause serious and irreparable damage to the retina!!!
This sort of photography can also cause serious damage to your camera. There are instances reported where long telephotos have generated enough heat to MELT metal shutter curtains in camera bodies!!!!
CAUTIONOK, that warning said, here are a couple of shots looking across the ship canal from the Friday morning dawn photo expedition. The first shot was very early on at 300 mm when the sun was substantially attenuated by the mists out over the lake it was rising up through.
After the sun was up out of the mists, the light on the surface of the lake was dazzlingly brilliant. This next photo was taken at 600 mm (300 mm f4 AFS Nikkor lens + Nikkor TC20-E-AFS-II teleconverter giving 600 mm f8). The photo was shot on Fuji Provia 400F film that I periodically use for this type of images. I was pretty happy with the almost graphic arts nature of this photo when I got the slides back.
Hope everyone enjoys these early posts from the Wackos in Wisconsin road trip. Let's see some of the images from all the rest of you who were there in Door County with cameras in abundance!!!!
Gary
aka lighthouse_photo
[This message has been edited by Gary Martin (edited 07-07-2002).]