Posts in Category: bog
8/15/2010
The Way is Narrow (but the view is wide)
Happy Sunday!
When this posts, I will actually be at London’s Heathrow Airport, waiting to catch an afternoon flight on to Frankfurt (work), and trying to stay awake after an all night transatlantic flight. Not my usual, or favorite, Sunday routine.
No this, from last Sunday, is much more like it. This is another shot from the stop my daughter and I made at Saco Heath (a different heath altogether than Heathrow) on the way back from her musical service at a local church. I told about the heath and my Photomatix HDR technique in the 8/13 post. This is the board walk I mentioned in that post, which more or less floats on the surface of the bog all the way across.
And, of course, being Sunday, there is a parable (a whole commentary really) about life in the Way in the title and the image. All I will say here, is that there are lots of signs at the heath adjuring visitors to say on the boardwalk for the sake of the fragile environment (not to mention their own well being), and though the path is narrow, and, you might think, severely limiting, it takes you through wonders you could not get near any other way, and provides vistas, like this one, that you would never get far enough into the bog to appreciate otherwise. And, to my eye, as in this image, even the path itself has its own beauty. You just have to look with the right eyes.
I will try to remember that at Heathrow!
Canon SD4000IS. Two exposures, by eye using the Exposure Compensation controls. ISO 125 @ f2.8 and 28mm equivalent. Images combined for HDR in Photomatix using the fusion mode. Blackpoint right, added Clarity and Vibrance, and sharpening in Lightroom. Cropped slightly from the left to trim an obtruding tree branch.
From Saco Heath.
8/13/2010
Saco Heath
Happy tridecaphobia day!
The Nature Conservancy has preserved this bit of peat bog in suburban southern Maine. They maintain a boardwalk that bisects it and leads to a stand of Atlantic White Cedar (One of the largest in Maine, and rare this far inland). It is unique habitat. My daughter played piano for worship at a little chapel right on the edge of the Heath last Sunday, so, after, we had to do a quick visit. I only had my Canon SD4000IS with me, but I tired some dual exposures for later treatment in Photomatix for HDR. The expanse of the open Heath dotted with cotton flower and the thin wispy clouds on a blue sky, set off by the tall snag that seems to have actually snagged some clouds…that is what I saw here.
Canon SD4000IS at 28mm equivalent. ISO 125 @ f2.8 with the exposure varied by eye with the Exposure Compensation dial.
I found that with less cloud detail in the sky, I had to try new settings in Photomatix. Tone mapping did not preserve enough of the thin detail in the sky to satisfy me. I was able to use the fusion mode, adjusting the settings by eye, and then take the HDR into Lightroom to move the Blackpoint right, add some additional Clarity and Vibrance, and sharpen.
From Saco Heath.
And just for Andrew, here it is as a B&W with green filter and tweaking in Lr. I will admit to liking it.
6/17/2010
Pitcher Plant in Bloom
Sieur de Mont Springs, at Acadia National Park features the Wild Gardens of Acadia maintained by local volunteers. In a small corner of the grounds they have recreated all of the major habitats, from the bogs to the peaks, on Mount Desert Island and planted them with representative plants. Few plants are more bazaars than the Pitcher Plant. Bog dweller. Carnivorous. Strange in shape. And with a particularly complex (looking) flower structure. This is the bloom. I got down practically to ground level to shoot low enough to see into the flower head, using Macro and the long end of the zoom on the Canon SX20IS. Generally what you see is more like the image below, also taken from a distance with the tel zoom, this time because they were in a wet area with no direct approach.
Canon SX20IS. 1) 425mm equivalent @ f5.0 @ 1/500th @ ISO 200. 2) 560mm equivalent @ f5.7 @ 1/400th @ ISO 400. Programmed auto.
Recovery for the highlights in Lightroom 3, some Fill Light and Blackpoint right to extend apparent tonal range, added Clarity and Vibrance, Sharpen Narrow Edges preset.
From Acadia 2010.