Posts in Category: boat
9/20/2011: Summer’s Gone :(
This is a case where the built in HDR on the Nikon Coolpix actually worked! I took the shot without, and of course, in this lighting, the tree went black and the clouds went featureless white. The built in HDR produced a result that was a bit flat, but toning up in Lightroom produced a good rendering of the range of the scene.
The racks of resting boats at the Lakeside Sailing Club and School testify to the lateness of the season, and the tree and building provide a compositional frame.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 22mm equivalent field of view, f3.4 (nominal) @ 1/1000th (nominal…this is the sum of several exposures), @ ISO 160. Backlight HDR mode.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness, with special attention to the intensity of the scene.
7/8/2011: Summer Evening 1, Kennebunk ME
Kennebunk happens to be where I live…but for some Kennebunk is summer…beaches, boats, the ocean, the taste of salt in your hair, bare feet on wood floors, and the breeze through summer home, or grand hotel, window screens. It is not a world I am part of, but it is one I see all around me. We locals don’t go to the beach during the day, but come evening we are apt to wander down to see if there is any parking along the beach yet, to enjoy, if we can, the late light and see the most hardy of the tourists and summer folk still out, making the absolute most of a day in Kennebunk.
I like the way these girls stand on their shadow/reflections and the quality of the light and the modeling.
Nikon P500 at 215mm equivalent field of view, f5.6 @ 1/500th @ ISO 160. Programmed auto with Active D-Lighting.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness. Cropped top and bottom for composition.
7/4/2011: Tide’s Out. Happy July 4th
Okay…except for its quintessential summerness, this shot has noting to do with July 4th. It is another from my late evening loop down by the ocean Saturday, which happened to be at extreme low tide. You can see, from the anchor cable on the boat on the right, just how deep the water is in this little cove at high tide.
Though deceptively simple, there is actually lots going on in this shot. It is mostly about layers, lines, and light…with the bright yellow of the center boat anchoring it. To really see the textures that form the lines you need to view it lager in the Smugmug lightbox by clicking it.
Nikon Coolpix P500 @ 130mm equivalent field of view, f5 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160. Programmed auto, with Active D-Lighting and Normal Image Optimization.
I experimented with the Nikon’s in camera post processing on this image…applying Quick Retouch…which apparently adds some dynamic range (D-Lighting), sharpens, and adjusts the blackpoint or contrast slightly…before taking it into Lightroom for final processing. I have been surprised to find that on some shots the Nikon’s in camera post processing can improve the result while introducing less noise than achieving the same effects in Lightroom. Not all images…but some.
And I pray that your July 4th (whether it is a holiday for you or not) will be blessed.
5/23/2011: Primary Colors in the Fog, with Loon
We made a quick trip to Machias and Bar Harbor on Friday, chauffeuring a daughter from college to summer job. It was a cold, rainy day, only letting up toward evening, and then the fog persisted over the water. Still, with a few hours in Bar Harbor, while we waited for a second daughter to get out work so we could take them both to dinner, I had to find something to photograph. 🙂
So this shot is primarily about color. I took several versions at different zoom lengths for different framing, but only in this one is graced by a loon.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 215mm equivalent field of view, f5.6 @ 1/500th @ ISO 160. Program with Active D-Lighting and Vivid Image Optimization.
Processed for Clarity and Sharpness in Lightroom.
3/29/2011: Cape Porpoise, ME
If you stand on the fishing pier at Cape Porpoise, Maine and look back down the harbor toward town, this is what you see. Certainly one of the classic Maine fishing village vistas, with the white church steeple and the white clapboard houses, the lobster boats floating on a ultra-blue sea under a spring blue sky. And, in this hard spring light, if you turn right around and look out to sea, you are confronted by the Goat Island Light on the stone ledge that guards the entrance to the harbor and the extensive shallows.
All together classic for Maine. These views make Cape Porpoise, otherwise a sort of sleepy neighbor to far more touristy Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, just about as well visited in the summer. It is still spring here, and I was all but alone out there last Saturday. And look what they all missed!
Canon SX20IS at 1) 125mm equivalent field of view @ f4.5 @ 1/640th @ ISO 80, Landscape Mode, and 2) 150mm equivalent @ f4.5 @ 1/1250 @ ISO 80, Landscape Mode.
Processed for intensity and clarity in Lightroom.
3/6/2011: Sunset, Mission Bay, HDR
Happy Sunday! I have taken this shot many times over the last 8 years on my annual visit to San Diego. I spend most of each day at the Mission Bay Marina Village Conference Center talking optics with prospective ZEISS owners and one of the highlights of the day (no pun intended) is sunset over the marina. This year I have a new tool to apply, since I have begun to actively experiment with HDR. The hard part of a sunset shot is holding any kind of realistic detail in the foreground while capturing the subtle shades and brilliant hues of dominant sky. HDR helps.
Canon SX20IS at about 60mm equivalent field of view, three bracketed exposures centered on –2/3 EV, assembled and tone-mapped in Photomatix pro, processed for intensity and clarity in Lightroom.
And here we take the closer view, which is even more of challenge for the sensor.
And, since it is Sunday: we love sunsets…sunsets and dawns when the sky takes fire move the most self-centered of us to an appreciation, to an apprehension, of the beauty of nature. But there is something deeper there…sunsets stir something in our souls…we feel them, as much as see them…we are moved. There is a longing in the time between times (as the Celts would say), a yearning, an opening to something other and beyond ourselves. I am not a believer in magic, but I can believe more fully in miracles at sunset. The sunset has to witnessed either with silence or with song…with contemplation or with praise…with supplication and with hope. It is in the truest sense, a holy time. Is it any wonder the camera sensor struggles to capture it…
9/6/2010: Bar Harbor from Shore Path
Happy Labor Day!
The Shore Path runs a mile along the outer harbor parallel to the Porcupine Islands in Bar Harbor. It always offers some lovely views in almost any weather, from deep fog to sunny morning. This is the later of course. We were up early to meet daughter #1 when she opened her shop on Maine Street, and took the Shore Path to improve the time we had to wait.
This is just a straight Landscape mode shot from the Canon SX20IS. F4.5 @ 1/640th @ ISO 80. I zoomed in to about 120mm equivalent for framing.
Standard treatment in Lightroom. Some Recovery for the sky, Fill Light for the shadows, added Clarity and Vibrance and Sharpen narrow edges preset.
From Acadia 2010.
7/21/2010
On a Lazy River’s Evening Light
The Mousam, in Kennebunk Maine, at high tide, about 7:30PM on a summer evening after a hot damp day. View this larger on the Wide Eyed In Wonder site by clicking the image above. It has much more impact at larger sizes.
Canon SX20IS at 300mm equivalent field of view, f5 @ 1/160th @ ISO 200. Landscape program.
Cropped for composition in Lightroom. Blackpoint right. Added Clarity and some Vibrance. Sharpen narrow edges preset.
From Around Home 2010.
6/19/2010
Margret Todd at Anchor
This is a tourist boat: it makes daily excursions under full sail on Frenchman’s Bay and the surrounding waters for the delight of paying passengers, and does a very popular sunset dinner cruse as well. Always picturesque, this early evening shot sets it against the still waters of Bar Harbor and the backdrop of the Porcupine Islands. The ornamental railing at the foreground adds dimension to the composition. I cropped slightly from the bottom to eliminate the path in front of the railing.
It will repay a larger view.
Canon SX20IS at about 80mm equivalent for framing. F4.0 @ 1/500th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
Recovery for the sky in Lightroom. A bit of Fill Light, Blackpoint just barely right. Added Clarity and more than usual Vibrance to try for a little blue in the water. Sharpen narrow edges preset.
From Acadia 2010.
And a second view. This time with more sky.
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.