Island Paradise by Rick Sheremeta |
Approximately 1100 miles southeast of Miami, Florida lies the beautiful U.S. Virgin Islands. Photographer Rick Sheremeta spent some time on St. Thomas and St. John during its early spring season, capturing the remarkable landscape that has made these islands a favorite for millions of tourists annually. Sheremeta is well-known for his nature and wildlife photography. “I really like to shoot places and the outdoor environment. I strive to capture the mood and essence of the scene.” For his Virgin Island photos, he used a Canon EOS 1D Mark II and his Tamron 17-35mm lens. He was drawn to the composition of each photo based on a sense of place and mood. “All of these scenes begged for use of a wide angle lens especially due to the 1.3 magnification factor of my camera body,” says Sheremeta. “Tamron’s 17-35mm lens is light, has good quality optics and I find that it provides a good range of wide angle focal lengths." In addition to the 17-35mm, Tamron has just introduced another high performance ultra wide-angle zoom lens, the SP AF10-24mm Di II with unprecedented focal length range. His sunrise shot of the lonely boat waiting for the day to begin was shot on the East end of St Thomas with St. John in the background, using a focal length of 17mm, ISO100 with an aperture of f/16@ 1/15 sec. He captured the shot using just the ambient light. Getting the image offered some challenges.
“Protecting your gear from salt and sand is always something that you need to be aware of in this type environment,” advises Sheremeta. “The morning I was shooting, my camera accidentally fell off the tripod right at the surf line. Luckily, the wave had just ebbed so the camera fell into wet sand and not water. Thankfully the camera landed on its back-side, not on the lens and my EOS 1D Mark II has good weather proof seals otherwise it could have been disastrous.” His photo of the contrasting pebbles leading up to an old shack was taken on St. John. “I liked the saturated colors of the overcast day with the pebbled beach. The little shack tucked into the tropical foliage just made the shot complete and helps pull your eye into the image.”
To create the illusion of a far off getaway, Sheremeta was positioned at the bottom of a hill and shot upward. He used only ambient light with ISO400. The focal length was 28mm with an aperture of f/16@1/125 sec. In order to accommodate for low light, Sheremeta typically uses a tripod. “I use a tripod for early morning and late in the day shooting when lighting conditions limit me to a slow shutter speed or when I purposely want to shoot at a slow shutter speed, such as photographing a flowing stream or water fall. But for most in-the-field work I generally shoot hand-held. I just keep my shutter speed faster than the reciprocal of lens focal length or try to find something close by to steady my camera using it like a makeshift tripod.” The photo of the wooden boat, settled on a pebble beach in St. John, reminded Sheremeta of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. “This shot had all the ear marks of an exotic island hide-a-way. Without the hull this would be like any other photo of a sleepy lagoon, nice but not exceptional – it’s the boat that really makes the shot.”
The shade covering the hull created a challenge, however when lighting the image. "With uneven lighting, one of the problems is the difference in dynamic range between the exposure of the sky and that of the foreground,” says Sheremeta. “I metered on the sky and water - which were pretty much about the same exposure value giving them about a +1/3 compensation - so they would render correctly and not appear blown out.” He used a focal length of 17mm with ISO400, an aperture of f/22 @ 1/80 sec. “Since there was so much exposure difference between the sky and boat, metering on the sky meant that the foreground would be so much darker and that all shadow detail would be lost - so I used a fill flash to lighten the shadows, make the boat pop-out as the main subject, and even out the overall exposure to within the dynamic range of the camera’s image sensor.” Had he metered off the boat, the background would have been grossly overexposed and totally blown-out sky with no cloud detail. His leaning palm was also shot on St. Thomas. The photo is side lit with a focal length of 35mm with ISO100, and an aperture of f/18@1/80 sec.
“I spot metered the sky, the water, a palm leaf and sand in the foreground to check for differences in exposure, then exposed for sand at +1 compensation knowing that the sky and everything else would be exposed correctly.” The first tip for traveling photography is to take a versatile lens that is durable and offers expansive opportunities. Sheremeta’s choice of the Tamron 17-35mm lens provided wide angle capabilities that effectively captured the nuance and character of one of the world’s most sought after vacation spots. One lens that can be used for all shots makes it less likely to change lenses outdoors and introduce blowing debris or sand into the lens and camera body. Tamron offers a wide array of all-in-one lenses to capture any scenario.
SAFETY TIPS for Lens & camera
OTHER NEEDS: Hot moist outside conditions and inside air conditioning pose a problem with condensation. If it’s really hot and humid, Sheremeta keeps his camera and lens in a large size ziplock bag when he first goes outside until camera body and lens have warmed up to ambient conditions – otherwise condensation will form and can pose a real problem with optics and internal electronics especially if any salt residue remains on equipment. |
