Posts in Category: water
1/21/2009
Mangrove Marsh
Taken from the platform in yesterday’s Pic of the Day. The elevated position, 12 feet off the waterline, provides an interesting perspective for this traditionally composed landscape. Traditional because the horizon at the upper Rule of Thirds horizon line. The strong diagonal of the mangroves along the dike at the left, and the gentler, less geometric land mass at the right, lead the eye toward the horizon. Weedy growth in the foreground adds interest, without masking the cloud reflections, which add a feeling of just how big the landscape is. And the clouds themselves recede to the true horizon beyond the mangroves making the landscape huge!
Now, if you think I thought all that while taking the pic, then you give me credit for a level of cognition that I just don’t possess. I was conscious enough to place the horizon where I wanted it, and I suppose I must have seen the bold diagonal on the left…other than that I just knew I liked what I was seeing in the viewfinder.
But I like the image more than its content might warrant, so I have to think about why…and that first paragraph is me analyzing why.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide (31mm equiv.) F5.6 @ 1/320th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom, the image required some Recovery for the sky to recapture cloud detail, a bit of Vibrance and Clarity for overall effect, and the Sharpen Landscape preset. The image really came alive though when I applied a bit of Fill Light to open the shadows under the mangrove hedge on the left and to pick up the intensity of the dark green mangrove leaves on the right.
A word on the Sharpen landscape preset. I use it all the time, not because I am lazy, but because it works really well, and because it is a combination of the Sharpen sliders (Amount, Radius, Detail, and Masking) that I would never have hit on if left to my own devices. (And maybe I am a tad lazy. When it works I don’t feel the need to fix it.)
The image is from the Space Coast Birding Gallery.
1/20/2009
Blind
Fresh from Florida and not orange juice. This is a blind (or hide as our British friends call it) at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. I was attracted to the color of the wood, the geometry of the structure, and the contrast with the amazing vista behind it. The wide angle end of the Sony’s zoom framed the corner nicely and by the second shot, I was seeing well enough to carefully place the horizon in the viewing ports.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide angle (31mm equiv.). F5.6 @ 1/500th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom I applied a bit of recovery for the texture in the wood and to darken the sky from its exposed value. I moved the black point up a bit for contrast. Added Clarity and Vibrance, and used the Landscape sharpen preset. Since the stark geometric shapes of the wood are set off against the background, I blew up the image and checked for Chromatic Aberration and Purple Fringing (two common artifacts in digital cameras. The first a lens flaw, and the second a sensor flaw). There was no CA, but there was some Purple Fringing in the corners of the image. Lightroom’s CA sliders took it out.
The image is from the Space Coast Birding Gallery.
1/17/2009
River of Ice
A cold, cold day at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. The Little is still heavily tidal at this point, so it rarely freezes. The image is, of course, about the contrast of the rich brown water, the white snow/ice, the green of the trees and the blue of sky…all very intense. Composition is important in a shot like this, because it determines the balance of the elements and their importance to the visual effect. This is a classic 2/3rds, 1/3rd landscape, with the trees on the horizon placed at the upper Rule of Thirds horizon.
Sony DSC H9 at wide angle (31mm equiv.). F5.6 @ 1/800th @ ISO 80. Programed Auto.
Recovery in Lightroom to reclaim some color in the sky and bring out the white wispy clouds. Clairity and Vibrance to enhance the colors and slight sharpening.
The image is from the Rachel Carson Seasons Gallery.
1/10/2009
Triple
The birds are the excuse of this image, but it is, of course, the light that makes it. The reflections in the water are magical.
Reddish Egret posing. Semipalmated Plover in the foreground. Pied-billed Grebe in the background. I took 4 or 5 exposures here and eventually the caught the birds in approximately the right positions.
Cropped to place the birds more prominently in the frame.
Sony DSC H50 at full tele (465mm equiv). F5.6 @ 1/640 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto. -1EV.
The image is from the Sanibel and Everglades Gallery.