Having fun with Singh-Ray filters can often become a very serious matter...

California landscape photographer Wendell DeLano sends these examples of the fun he's having with his Singh-Ray filters in a variety of outdoor lighting situations. "On shoots when I have carried my Graduated Neutral Density filters in my shirt pocket all day," says Wendell, "I know it's been a good day. For my landscape and wide-angle photography, I've found my ND Grads to be invaluable. I especially like the variety of graduated filters that Singh Ray offers -- both soft-step and hard-step transitions, regular and reverse graduation patterns, and all of them available in various densities rated in f-stops -- and every one of them serves its specific purpose so well.

"My one most-used and favorite filter, by far, is the LB Warming Polarizer. My favorite ND Grad is Singh-Ray's 'Galen Rowell' 2-stop hard-step. I find the hard-step gradient transition is generally more effective for balancing difficult lighting situations in a landscape. Whenever the light gets extreme -- like shooting directly into a sunrise or sunset or for high-contrast scenics -- the hard-step filters are not enough. That's when the 'Daryl Benson' 3-stop Reverse Graduated ND filter can often do the trick. I have caught myself saying, 'Daryl, you are the Man,' at those exciting moments when the Reverse ND Grad comes to my rescue.

"The Graduated Neutral Density filter can give me a better balanced exposure by holding back some of the overly bright light falling from the sky in a landscape. I can also use my graduated neutral density filters to produce less expected results, like making clouds look more threatening than they actually are, or by making additional shadows in a cloudy environment. Because I love the transitional light that occurs between storms and clearing weather, I often have fun using my ND Grads to add my own dramatic touch.

"I also get creative by stacking filters. Frequently I will simply combine the Warming Polarizer with a 2-stop hard-step Graduated ND Filter. This combination is used in a scene where I want to improve the color saturation in the foreground while I am also balancing the light from a bright sky. When I stack an ND Grad with a polarizer, I often find that the ND Grad will not need to be as strong as if I were using the ND Grad by itself.

"A favorite interest of mine is wide-angle photography because of the excellent depth of field it provides the viewer. To have an effective wide-angle image you need at least two elements: first, you need a close and interesting foreground subject, and second you need an interesting 'middle-ground' environment and or interaction. For this reason, I consider wide-angle images to be interactive images, often associated with journalistic type subjects and presentations. My approach with wide-angle landscape photography is to use the foreground image to draw the viewer into the image and then complement the scene with a wonderful environment. The foreground makes viewers feel as if they where on location and it often provides comforting elements that provide scale and perspective. Invariably when I add an environment to a wide-angle image, I need to use filters to manage the range of light from all parts of the scene. When it is done right, it is well worth it.

"I also believe the wider the lens the more effective the filter will be. When I mount a graduated neutral density filter to a lens with a 12mm focal length and compare the image to that of a 100mm lens, I find the effect of the filter appears stronger when used with the wider lens. This might explain why I find it's so much fun to use my ND Grads for all my wide-angle photography."

To get a more complete idea of just how much fun Wendell is having with his photography, visit his website at www.explorerphoto.com

After a very wet welcome to his new home in the Pacific Northwest -- he's learned to like it

"Before my wife and I packed up everything we owned and moved to Washington State," says freelance photographer Jay Goodrich, "They all warned me -- and I did listen, even though my mind really didn’t want to believe them. We made the move, anyway. It’s a little different here in La Conner compared to where we moved from in Colorado. We lived in the high alpine desert where wet weather, for the most part, was pretty scarce.

"Sure enough, the Pacific Northwest welcomed us in a way only a mother duck could love. It rained for 6 straight weeks. The meteorologists said moisture levels were 68% above normal. I felt like I was swimming whenever I left the house. Normally, so much moisture at this time of year would be awesome because I live to ski, and the skiing was awesome -- until even the snow up high turned to rain.

"When I finally realized the rain was not going to stop, I began to accept the idea that I would have to change my perspective. In fact I had no other choice, because I had a private workshop to teach. When a client is paying, you don’t complain -- you tell yourself it's going to be great -- even though I really wanted to remain in my nice warm bed dreaming about warm sunny beaches. As soon as my student and I got in the car, I headed toward the Mount Baker Ski Area in search of rain forest locations -- a fitting choice since it was pouring out. This is when the real lesson finally began to 'soak in.' When it's raining in the rain forest, the photography is actually really, really good, if not awesome.

"I soon spotted a tree-and-river scene on the side of the road so I immediately found a pullout and grabbed my gear. I set up a composition (above) and had my student take a look. A beautiful big leaf maple with the Nooksack River directly behind it. The rain does two very amazing things for photography, it saturates colors and creates very even lighting conditions that make forest images just sing. The key to creating an image like this is to polarize the light. For this image I used my Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer, which hid all the water that was collecting and reflecting on the foliage and warmed up the scene to make the greens really jump out.

"After working on several more compositions at the first location, we moved on down the road where I spotted this creek which presented an array of potential shots. There was a stand of alder and moss covered boulders lining one side, and the creek split down the middle and then rejoined itself. Without putting a ton of thought into the composition and without putting the LB Polarizer on the lens, I quickly took this first shot as we walked up to the scene. Notice all the glare on of the wet rocks.

"Following some additional thought, I placed my LB Warming Polarizer on the lens and recomposed this next image to help guide the viewer’s eye to follow the creek, boulders, and alders right to the top of the scene. This created a much stronger composition. It was at this point in the workshop that I realized the teacher was learning, too. I had discovered that going out in the rain to photograph is not such a bad idea after all -- especially, when it allows me to capture images like these on a regular basis. Whenever the next system comes in and stalls for another six weeks, you can bet that I will be back out there to put my LB Warming Polarizer 'rain filter' to the test once again.

"Last week, the rain we have been engulfed in for over six weeks just decided to give up and clear out. I was so shocked that I almost forgot to grab my camera and head out the door. This time I decided to head out to Deception Pass State Park in Anacortes, Washington, about 13 miles from my house.

"When I reached Deception Pass, I decided to search for a nice sunset image and I was ultimately greeted by this spectacular view. There are two bridges that travel between the water passages and you can walk across both of them -- and underneath them for that matter. I hit it just right, the tide was on its way out and I was able to capture these spiraling whirlpools that were being created by the moving water. The fact that the sunset was amazing didn’t hurt either. This image was created with a 16-35mm f2.8 II lens on a Canon 1D Mark III, using a Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer and 3-stop Reverse Graduated ND Filter."

We're certain you'll hear more from Jay about photographing in the Pacific Northwest. You'll also find his new website and blog frequently feature images created with Singh-Ray filters as well as news on his future workshops and various special projects.