Posts in Category: water
12/13/2010: wading deer (mammals on Monday)
Deer in the water wading among the ducks is a slightly incongruous sight. As usual at Bosque del Apache, at least during the Festival of the Cranes in November, someone was already stopped and taking pictures of this group of Mule Deer crossing one of the irrigation channels. I pulled up behind and grabbed these shots with the Canon SX20IS out the window. As the deer came up on the dyke between enpondments, they showed so little concern for the gathering crowd on the road (for, of course, two stopped cars attracts a third, and three a forth, etc.) that I got out and digiscoped them (see Mule Deer).
Canon SX20IS at 560mm equivalent, f5.7 @ 1/200th and 1/400th @ ISO 200. Programmed auto.
Processed for intensity and clarity in Lightroom (see page link above). Both are cropped form the full frame.
10/26/2010: Down the Mousam to the sea
This is another autumn HDR, looking down the Mousam from the Route 9 bridge toward Great Hill and the sea beyond. The sky is interesting, but for me, it is the light on and in the water that makes the shot, especially balanced against the fall foliage behind the marsh. I like the way wind and current draw patterns in the water. The two posts redeem what would otherwise be a rather ugly patch of mud and stone, and, for me, draw the eye to the transparency of the water along the shore.
Canon SX20IS. Three exposures, auto bracketed over 2EV with the center moved down 2/3rds EV. ISO 160.
Exposures blended and tone-mapped in Photomatix. A touch of Fill Light and Blackpoint just right in Lightroom. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen narrow edges preset.
10/24/2010: reflections of fall
Happy Sunday!
My daughter was accompanist for a young lady in a voice competition at Bates College yesterday, and I was chauffer. I had my laptop with me to do some video processing, but first, of course, I took a walk around the campus to see what I could see. There is a decorative pond right next to the Olin Arts Center, and between the morning light, the lingering fall colors, and just enough wind to fracture the surface of the water, the reflections were irresistible. Here they are set off by the foreground cattails.
Canon SX20IS zoomed in to about 160mm equivalent for framing, f4.5 @ 1/200 @ ISO 200. Landscape program.
Some Fill Light for the foreground in Lightroom, Blackpoint right, added Clarity and some Vibrance, Sharpen narrow edges preset.
And here is a shot, similar processing, zoomed out to a little over 300mm to isolate just the reflections.
Which leads me to my Sunday reflection: I like both the bold splash of color across the wind fractured water, abstract because there is no particular resting place for the eye, a subject in itself, but hard to hold on to…and the way the mundane cattails in the foreground capture your eye and instantly put that glory firmly in the background. It is the way of life, isn’t it? Always confronted by the fractured reflection of the glory of eternity, our eyes are caught by the detail right in front of us…which should still, if we are seeing right, be displayed against that backdrop of glory.
10/10/2010: old falls pond fall Hdr
Happy Sunday!
Old Falls Pond in West Kennebunk Maine is one of my favorite autumn color spots. It is across the road from Old Falls itself, which is my other most favorite autumn color spot. My most visited, most awarded, highest rated photo on flickr is a shot of this pond from several autumns ago. That was before I started working with HDR, and, though the leaves were not yet at peak, I took a run out last Sunday to see how it looked. (I am writing this from Jekyll Island GA, where I have spent every Columbus Day weekend for the past 8 years (work), so I never do see the traditional peak foliage in Maine.) Still, Old Falls Pond was looking pretty good, and with a sky that just begged for HDR treatment.
The low angle (camera almost touching the water), the floating leaves, the way the light runs on the ripples on the water, the glimpse of the bottom through the foreground, the foliage itself, and the sky overall with its strong diagonal slant…this image has enough going on to overcome the otherwise rather static composition. I did experiment with cropping out part of the sky to “improve” composition, but I like the full shot better.
Three shots with the Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent, auto bracketed, with the –2/3s EV exposure compensation. Exposure was blended and tonemapped in Photomatix, and the resulting image was processed in Lightroom using Fill Light, Blackpoint, Clarity and Vibrance, and the Sharpen narrow edges preset. Finally I applied a Graduated Filter Effect to the lower third of the image, reducing brightness slightly, which had the effect of making the water more transparent, for that hint of bottom.
Which goes to show you, I think, that if you are at your peak, in tune with the creative spirit inside, the foliage does not have to be!
8/7/2010
Across the Harbor Mouth
iPhone HDR. Kennebunkport Harbor where the Kennebunk River reaches the sea, taken from Parson’s Way. The low sun of evening in the summer with the foreground rocks already in shade. This shot breaks the compositional rule of horizon placement (rule of thirds), but I think, with the mass of clouds and flash in the sky, and enough interest in the foreground, it just might work. I could crop it, but however I did it, I would lose. IMHO.
Captured, processed, and posted on the iPhone 4. Pro HDR and PhotoGene used for processing. SmugShot for posting. Auto blend in Pro HDR, with no adjustments. Slight tweaking of levels and sharpening in PhotoGene. Horizon straightened.
From iPhone4 HDR and Pano.
7/23/2010
Fountain
A fountain detail from the MacArthur Plaza in Santa Ana. Late evening light in Southern California.
Canon SD4000IS Digital Elph at about 46mm equivalent field of view @ f3.5 @ 1/800th @ ISO 125. Programmed auto.
Some Recovery in Lightroom. A touch of Fill Light, Blackpoint just right, added Clarity and just a bit of Vibrance. Sharpen narrow edges preset.
From Zeiss Trip CA 2010.
6/9/2010
Cape Arundel Pano
I have quite a few pictures of this house. It was featured as the exterior in a well-known movie. The light of a summer evening in Maine, after 7PM, and the remnants of a stormy day moving off-shore and north, add some drama, and some warmth. This is 4 shots at about 40mm equivalent stitched in PhotoShop Elements Panorama tool to cover an angle of about 120 degrees. I am finding that using a zoom setting near normal focal lengths, rather than a the wide-angle end, gives a very natural looking perspective…so that the result, though super-wide, does not look like a conventional panorama. Ocean panos are always difficult because of tendency of the water to move 🙂 but except for one little glitch (which you might be able to find if you look hard enough), this is pretty good. Especially good as, yet again, I was without a tripod.
Clearly, to appreciate this image you will need to view it as big as your monitor will allow. Click the image to go to Wide Eyed in Wonder and use the size controls at the top of the window.
Canon SX20IS at 40mm equivalent. F3.2 @ 1/400th @ ISO 80. Panorama mode.
Stitched, as above, in PhotoShop Elements Panorama tool using the auto setting. Processed in Lightroom 3 after stitching: Recovery for the sky, Fill Light and Blackpoint right, added Clarity and Vibrance, Sharpen edges preset (used to be Sharpen landscapes). Applied the distortion profile from a Canon Powershot G series (which works until I get my set made for the SX20IS). Lightroom 3 is brand new, and I am going to have to learn the controls again, as everything is subtly (and not so subtly) changed.
From Around Home 2010.
3/29/2010
Laudholm Pond Panorama
I have a detailed explanation of why and how this shot was taken at Playing With Panoramas: sort of… on Point & Shoot Landscape. I was not really after the panorama effect, but I wanted a wider shot than my 28mm equivalent could provide, in order to frame the pond and sky with the white birch stands. Three shots using the Panorama mode on the SX20IS with the zoom at about 40mms, PhotoShop Elements’ PhotoMerge tool, plus final processing in Lightroom, yields this. Of course, to see it to true advantage you need to click the image and open it in the largest size you monitor will show. For comparison, here is the shot with the unaided 28mm on the Canon SX20IS.
From Around Home 2010.
3/24/2010
Tender Color (or not)
Off a lobster boat in Cape Porpoise harbor, Cape Porpoise ME. Lobster buoys are traditionally colorful, but lobster boats are just as traditionally white with black trim. This lobsterman clearly things differently, from the slogan/name on the back of the boat to the brilliant color scheme. This is a case where having the reach of a super-zoom Point and Shoot makes the day, as I was able to isolate the boat against the water. Cropping top and bottom finished the presentation.
Canon SX20IS at 560mm equivalent. F5.7 @ 1/640th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
In Lightroom, cropping as above. A touch of Recovery. A tiny amount of Fill Light. Blackpoint to the right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset.
From Around Home 2010.
3/23/2010
Balson River, Emmons Preserve, Kennebunkport ME
I have attempted to photograph this stream in every season over the past 12 years. It is on a little pocket preserve tucked in between the homes on two back roads…gifted to the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust some years ago, and developed just enough for easy access…once you know it is there. The stream, or river, depending, goes from a trickle at mid summer to a full raging torrent during the storms of spring and fall. Or it can be an icy cascade in winter, with every willow wand along the bank hung with ice bells. I have seen it in every light.
And it is always a bear to photograph. The range of light, from deep shadow to bright sun on the foaming water of the falls, from the incredible dark green of the moss in the shade, to the pure silver light reflected off leaves, is just way beyond any sensor’s ability. I even wrote a whole Point and Shoot Landscape piece on exposing for post-processing based on my trials here: the only way to come close to capturing the range is to expose so that both shadow and highlight detail can be restored in post-processing. Of course, that means that the images, out of camera, can look pretty strange.
So…with a new camera and all, I had to try again…or at least make a beginning in the process of learning how to use this camera to capture an image in Emmon’s Preserve…since no two cameras have the same range of possibility when it comes to that (or anything else).
All the shots taken that day were experiments. I found that with previous cameras you could not use exposure compensation to save the highlights. That left the shadows too dark, and post-processing added to much noise. Still, I know that photographically, exposure compensation is the right solution here, so I was trying what the Canon could do. This exposure was at –1 EV, and, with processing in Lightrroom, it is one of the most successful shots of the Balson that I have ever taken. The highlights and sunny bank areas are just within range (having applied some Recovery in Lightroom), and the shadows opened up well with just enough Fill Light not to produce much noise. Granted, it will get worse when the leaves come out and the shadows deepen…but for now, I am really liking this rendering. The dynamic range is very natural…both shadows and highlights are much as the eye would see them in real time: and that, ultimately, is my goal.
(By the way, I am not an advocate of the silky water school of stream photography. I have another P&S Landscape piece on that. I prefer to let the shutter freeze some of the water motion…since, in real time, I see something closer to the detail of frozen water, than I do to the silky blur. I find the patterns of swirl and bubble infinitely fascinating.)
Canon SX20IS at just under 60mm equivalent. F4 @ 1/200 @ ISO 80. Landscape preset. (Landscape preset, by the way, does better, somehow, for color balance than regular Program does on auto. It handled the open shade here just fine.)
In Lightroom, as mentioned, Recovery for highlights, Fill Light for shadows (but not much). Blackpoint just slightly right. Added Clarity and just a tiny amount of Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset.
From Around Home 2010.