Eruption

[Doug Brown]

On my recent Costa Rica workshop, we spent several nights getting up close and personal with the Arenal Volcano. To say that it's an absolutely incredible experience is an big understatement! It rained as we approached the lodge on our first evening, and the volcano disappeared from sight (a common issue). At dinner that night the volcano reappeared and gave us a little taste of what it had in store for us. By the time we got back to our rooms to start photographing, it had disappeared again. We set up our gear on our private porches and began the waiting game. Within an hour or two the clouds started to dissipate. We were rewarded with clear skies and great volcano activity all night long! We'll be going back there on next year's workshop, which is in the final stages of planning as I post this image. BTW it's quite challenging to get quality images of a volcano in the dark.

http://birdwhisperer.smugmug.com/Animals/Birds/BPN/20100421-V5C8559-Arenal/852308040_tn9tw-O.jpg

Canon 1D Mark IV, 70-200mm f/4 @ 85mm, f/11, 8 min, ISO 400, tripod

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Doug,
Very cool! One subject I have yet to photograph! I know how difficult this is to photograph but will offer you something to possibly try next time out......cover the lens on the flow part for part of the exposure time.....this may allow you to bump up the ISO a touch or even lower the DOF a hair to get a bit more seperation of the volcano and the sky. Make sense? Another possible thing to try....Jack the iso to 6400....and do shorter exposure times....using the hand technique.....lower ISO to where you want.....do math. Hope I made this clear enough.
As presented, just see if you can get a touch of seperation on the mountain top.....but otherwise very cool and nicely done!

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Doug,
Photographing a volcano in a bird photography tour sounds way cool. I am sure you had a fantastic time. Nice image.

Some more sky would have been nice as well. I like Roman's suggestion. I used to use that for recording forest fires. Thanks for sharing. Look forward to more.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Robert Amoruso]

Very cool Doug and great idea by Roman

[Doug Brown]

Thanks for the great tips Roman. I'm assuming you're giving me ways to lighten the sky. Once the moon set, I had no idea of how to deal with the separation between volcano and sky. I've got other cool volcano shots with better separation thanks either to the moon or to the sunrise.

[Colin Knight]

Thanks for sharing Doug. And some great ideas from Roman!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Thanks for the great tips Roman. I'm assuming you're giving me ways to lighten the sky. Once the moon set, I had no idea of how to deal with the separation between volcano and sky. I've got other cool volcano shots with better separation thanks either to the moon or to the sunrise.
Hey Doug,
You are correct. let's just use your settings in the OP....f11, 8 minutes and ISO 400. this was dead on for the lava flow....but the sky and mountain ridge is dark....so now go to ISO 800.....cover the lava flow with your hand for 4 minutes.....moving it slightly around.....this should allow more of the glow/natural light to illuminate a bit more of the sky and give more seperation...this is in camera burning!

[Jay Gould]

Hey Doug,
You are correct. let's just use your settings in the OP....f11, 8 minutes and ISO 400. this was dead on for the lava flow....but the sky and mountain ridge is dark....so now go to ISO 800.....cover the lava flow with your hand for 4 minutes.....moving it slightly around.....this should allow more of the glow/natural light to illuminate a bit more of the sky and give more seperation...this is in camera burning!

Doug, most cool.

Roman, your suggestions certainly underscore why a week with you is on my near-future bucket list. :D

[Dave Mills]

Hi Doug, As noted great advice by Roman. Obviously some trial and error in figuring out the best combo of hand shading etc but really works once you get it down...

[Katie Rupp]

Very dramatic, Doug, and interesting tip from Roman to try next year!

[Harshad Barve]

this is terrific image Doug
TFS

[Morkel Erasmus]

what a dramatic image!! I must say the suggestions by Roman give me much food for thought! :)

[arash_hazeghi]

very dramatic image Doug, well done!!!

[susanschermer]

Doug, I am envious. Arenal was enshrouded for the two nights of our visit. I had great plans for my long exposures. Since I have no images I will resort to being a critic.

I agree with Roman about separation of sky and mountain-top. Also I would have liked to have seen either longer star-trails or maybe just some stars. This might involve making several different exposures - one for the sky and one for the lava-flow and them putting them together in Photoshop. Is this allowed in landscape forum?

[Dennis "Curly" Buchner]

Great capture Doug