Posts in Category: hdr
Fall Fog!
Fernald Brook Pond, Kennebunk ME
Yesterday, after posting my pics, but before breakfast, I looked out the window at the new day to find that the fall colors were muted by fog. Great stuff! I grabbed my camera and drove down to the ponds along Route 9. Of course, by the time I got half way there it was raining hard enough to have to turn the wipers on. I reached the pond during a lull in the rain and did my best to keep the camera under the overhang of my hat. If l leaned forward from the waist and used the flip up LCD, I could keep it fairly dry. I love the muted colors of the trees in the fog and the way it thickens with distance, turning everything indistinct. Add the floating leaves and a few circles from falling rain, and it makes a classic autumn scene.
In-camera HDR. Sony Alpha NEX 5t. 16-50mm at 24mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom.
Sandstone Bluffs Overlook on El Malpais
Sandstone Bluffs overlook at El Malpais National Monument, near Grants NM
It does not seem possible that my daughter Sarah and I experienced the many kinds of beauty we saw yesterday in just one day. We picked up a car at the Albuquerque Sunport at noon…after some negotiation, a nice little Kia Soul…and drove and down across New Mexico into Arizona. Along the way we drove through El Malpais National Monument which consists of amazing stand stone mesas and bluffs and one of the largest (and most recent) lava flow fields in North America. We stopped at La Ventana Natural Arch, then drove the rest of the length of the Malpais, and on out across a volcanic plateau (complete with cinder cones) clothed, in this wet summer, in so much green that it looked like the Yorkshire Downs more than New Mexico. On the plateau we were caught in amazing cloud burst thunderstorms with veils and faucets of rain, were stunned by vast expanses of sunflowers filling low spots and turning the foothills yellow, caught a rainbow, and then drove out across Arizona and down one side of the Salt River Canyon and up the other. Sunset found us on the west rim of the canyon. Amazing day.
This is early in the trip, at Sandstone Bluffs Overlook in El Malpais National Monument. That is Mount Taylor on the horizon to the right, one of the youngest volcanoes in the US, and author of the black lava flows you see to the left. The intricately carved edge of the sandstone mesas dominates the view.
Sony HX90V in-camera HDR at 24mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom.
Somewhere high plains Kansas
Somewhere in southwest Kansas.
My daughter picked me up at the Airport car rental counter in Pittsburgh on Thursday morning. We drove into the City to pack the van, and then headed out across country on her move to Santa Fe NM. She drove the interstates until just after mid-night to just short of Topeka Kansas, then we tried, without much success, to get a couple of hours of sleep at a rest stop. By 4 I was driving, and dawn found us out on the back roads of Kansas cutting down across the southwest corner headed for the narrow slice of Oklahoma and then on into New Mexico to hit the Interstate again about 200 miles from Santa Fe. Since we were on a tight schedule (having to do with the rented van), we did not stop very often, and I developed my technique of rolling down the window and shooting off an in-camera HDR of the passing prairie. It should not have worked, since were generally traveling over 60mph when I did it…but the Sony managed to make sense of the three exposures and, most of the time, pull them together into an acceptable image. Amazing technology.
And the prairie sky put on an irresistible show for us…with huge clouds in the morning and then something of interest all the way across Kansas and Oklahoma. I saw this cluster of trees on the horizon and the plume of cloud above it just in time to get the window down and grab the shot. In Lightroom processing, I cropped out the motion blurred foreground, which left me with, I think, a very satisfying image. (We did stop several times for more studied photography. I will post a link to my trip album when I get home.)
Walker Point
Walker Point, Cape Arundel, Kennebunkport ME
Walker Point is one of the major tourist attractions in Kennebunkport, and has been since the first Bush administration. It is the summer home of the Walker family, including Barbara Walker Bush, and 2 presidents, husband and son, have spent summers there. It has been the site of international meetings of heads of states, and too may Presidential Lobster Boils to count. There is significant security presence at the land end of the point, but the town has built a small parking area, done some landscaping, and installed a plaque in honor of the first President Bush. The thing is, it was already a popular spot, with informal parking along the margin, before George Bush was elected, as it overlooks Blowing Cave…a natural coastal feature that booms and shoots spray high into the air whenever the tide is just right.
This is about as classic a view as you can get, whether you count the Walker/Bush connection or not. The house on the point, the rugged rocks in the foreground, the arching sky with decorative cloud wisps overhead, and the three masted schooner passing the point. Romantic!
Sony HX90V in-camera HDR. Nominal exposure: 1/500th @ ISO 80 @ f6.3. Processed in Lightroom.
Introducing The Willing Eye. Happy Sunday!
Batson River at Emmons Preserve, Kennebunkport Land Conservancy, ME
I love the little stretch of the Batson River (more a large brook) that passes through the Kennebunkport Land Conservancy’s Emmons Preserve. The meadows above the river behind the Headquarters building are a good spot for butterflies, dragonflies, and birds, and the shaded rapids and small falls and pools of the river as it passes through the forest are always a delight. This time of year, the Ebony Jewelwings dance over the rapids, and I am always attracted to the water where it tumbles down over a rocky bed between moss-grown banks, singing all the way. I have photographed this little run hundreds of times, but I am compelled to photograph it again on every visit.
This shot is an in-camera HDR with the new Sony HX90V, a camera I a trying out for just such scenic views and macros.
I have been thinking a lot, over the past week or so (inspired by a dream I had one night) about a name for the aspect of my photography that extends beyond the technical stuff and photographic inspiration of Point and Shoot Nature Photography (psnp.lightshedder.com). I am about to embark of a series of tours and workshops…group trips to photogenic locations…where I will attempt to help others to get the most out of their Point and Shoot cameras photographing nature…but there is more to my photography than that…more I have to share. There is a way of seeing…there is the underlying motivation for my photography…the act of seeing, celebrating, and sharing…that is a akin to worship…and that gets recorded often in these Sunday posts.
My smugmug gallery is called WideEyedInWonder, and the name is taken from one of my favorite sayings of Jesus: “The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore if you eye is single, your whole body will be filled with light.” (I should warn you there is a little scripture lesson coming…but persevere!) In my favorite, non-literal, translation it reads “If you go through life wide eyed with wonder and belief, then your whole being will be filled with light.” That actually might come closer to what Jesus meant than the traditional translation. We have what he said already in translation…in Greek (which he certainly did not speak)…and the gospel writer used a word for what your eye needs to be that is translated several different ways in different contemporary texts. It could be “single” as in “single minded…focused on one thing.” (as the King James version has it) or it could be “simple, as in uncomplicated” (as several modern translations have it), or it could be “generous, as in giving and forgiving, open to the needs of others.” (which, oddly, no translator has used). Some modern translations say “if your eye is” “clear”, or “healthy”, or “sound.” I think it is a combination of the literal meanings of the Greek word…single, simple, generous…that inspired the “wide eyed in wonder and belief” translation. And the word translated “body” is definitely the Greek work that implies the whole being, body and soul.
However, Point and Shoot Nature Photography is already a long name for what I do. Wide Eyed In Wonder is another long name. I need something (or so the dream said), short and pithy, but something that still captures what the eye needs to be if we are to be filled with light, and if we are going to have light to share with the world. Single, simple, generous.
That is where “The Willing Eye” comes from. It means to me: willing to see, and to see good in all we see, willing to believe (to see the divine in all we see), willing to celebrate, willing to help, willing to share. It is a active seeing…a willful seeing…a vision that celebrates. The Willing Eye.
So it is with this photograph of the rapids on the Batson River. It is seen with The Willing Eye…and if fills my whole being with light…as I can only hope it does yours. Happy Sunday!
The Land of Enchantment. Happy Sunday!
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks, NM
We are back in Maine, “The Pine Tree State”, from New Mexico, “The Land Of Enchantment.” On the whole I have to say that whoever came up with the New Mexico nickname did a better job of capturing the essence of the state than whoever came up with Maine’s. I mean, you can market “enchantment”…”pine trees” just does not have the same effect. Don’t get me wrong, Maine is home and I am happy to be home…but New Mexico was home for 12 years, and I can still appreciate the enchantment of the landscape, the culture, and the history. This is certainly an enchanted landscape from an enchanted place. We are back at Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument and here we see two of the three land forms that meet at the Monument. The eroded tuff cliffs in the foreground, and ancient volcanic mountains in the back. The third would be the open valley of the Rio Grande River which is out of the frame well to the left. And storm clouds…life-givers…moving in over all. Enchantment!
Sony WX220 at 25mm equivalent field of view. In-camera HDR. Nominal exposure: 1/320th @ ISO 100 @ f8. Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Of course, enchantment is a state of mind. All around you in New Mexico is the evidence of how fragile and wonderful life can be. For thousands of years…from pit dwellers to pueblos, to Navajo and Apache hunters, to the Spanish invaders, to the hunters turned shepherds and silversmiths, to the trading post merchants, cowboys, miners, farmers, and outlaws, to the atom chasers at Los Alamos and the artists of Santa Fe…humans have tried to make a life in this fantastic, wonderfully weathered, landscape…always poised on the edge…boom followed by bust…never quite waking from the dream. And the landscape weathers on, patient, ever changing and yet unchanged, rolling over and engulfing every change made by man. It is much the same everywhere, if you look behind the current facade, but some landscapes have almost been tamed. New Mexico, despite every effort of humanity, has not. The struggle and delicate balance…and the beauty of life on the edge…of the waking dream…is still very evident. Enchantment.
My spiritual forefathers lived in just such a landscape. The tribes of Israel herded sheep between the farming towns along the rivers. Jesus was born and lived his life among us in a place that shares this particular enchantment. For me, part of the magic of New Mexico is that I can feel something of the mindset that shaped the scriptures, that gave the words and images in which my spiritual reality was first expressed. Being there, in places like Tent Rocks, puts me into a spiritual perspective, and makes it easier to believe. This is good. Happy Sunday!
When life gives you lemons…
Philadelphia Airport
Yesterday was scheduled to be a fairly long travel day…on my way to the San Diego Birding Festival. This shot was taken during my 3 hour lay-over in Philadelphia, before I knew just how long a day it was going to be. We were 2 hours late leaving Phili, due to machanical problems and a long line for de-icing, and then strong headwinds forced us down for an unscheduled fueling stop in Phoenix. The car rental center closed at mid-night and we did not make it, so I had to taxi to the hotel and did not get to bed until 1:45 Pacific Time…or just about when I would be waking up at home. I know, “poor me!” 🙁
I was thinking of you all on the way…and decided that with 3 hours in Philadelphia I should be able to find a photo for today’s Pic. I kept a low profile (cameras are suspect in today’s Orange Threat Level world) but I figured I could pass for a tourist 🙂 I like this shot for the color, and the contrast between action and repose.
It is an in-camera HDR with my “pocket” camera. I discovered, while in Honduras, that for people shots, I like a small pocket camera that I can always have with me. It is much less intimidating than my normal, almost DSLR sized, Point and Shoot. When I got back I ordered a Sony WX-220 and I am liking it a lot. Way more camera than a phone…but not much bigger…and certainly no more intimidating 🙂 This shot is at 25mm equivalent field of view.
Processed in Lightroom on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Birch Boundary
Birches at the edge of Laudholm Farm, Wells ME
In summer, walking the lower fields of Laudholm Farm, you would think you were on the edge of a deep forest. In winter it becomes apparent just how thin the boarder of trees between fields and marsh is. Really just a few birches and pines and some underbrush is all that separates the two. As I have said before, birches have always been among my favorite trees, and I find this “hedge” of birches and pines irresistible.
The top panel is another accidental panorama…or rather it is two sweep panoramas, taken with the camera in vertical orientation, neither of which caught quite the full sweep I was after. At home it occurred to me to try stitching them for that last bit of sweep. Photoshop Elements PhotoMerge tool to the rescue! The bottom panel is the same birch boundary at 24mm equivalent in an in-camera HDR from further out in the field. Sony HX400V. Processed in Lightroom, panorama stitched in Photoshop Elements, and collage assembled in Phototastic on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
Winter Trees. Happy Sunday!
Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farm, ME
Yesterday the temperature got up into the high teens so we threw our snowshoes in the trunk of the car and drove down to Laudholm Farm (The Wells National Estuarine Research Center) for a couple of hours. The Friends group there rents snowshoes so the trails are, by now, well packed and pretty easy going. We climbed the snowbank around the parking lot and headed out parallel to the woods that line the drive coming in. I was immediately struck by the shapes of the winter trees against the snow…certainly not skeletal, and not quite nude…but something very like both. The birch is one of my favorite trees at Laudholm…birches in general, and this particular majestic birch that lives along the boardwalk trail. I have photographed it now in every season. The birch shot is a vertical sweep panorama, sweeping the camera from fully over my head pointed straight up, down the trunk of the tree to the base…pretty tricky while standing on 5 feet of snow in snowshoes. 🙂
Sony HX400V, sweep panorama as above, and in-camera HDR for the other shots. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Phototastic on my Surface Pro 3 tablet.
As I surmised after my first slog around the yard with them, I am really enjoying being able to get out into the snow covered landscape on my snowshoes. I have not gotten out as often as I might like, since the temperatures, often with significant wind chill, have not been inviting, but each experience has been both rewarding and refreshing. I am not very adventurous on them. I stick pretty much to the established trails and don’t do a lot of trail-breaking, but even so, they take me to places I just could not get to without them, and it has (again as I surmised) made a difference in my attitude toward this winter. The temperature might keep me housebound but the snow does not. This is good.
Because of course there is a stark, is might be so bold as to say, a spiritual, beauty to the winter landscape. Skeletal is wrong word for the trees exposed in winter because the trunks and branches are so obviously still alive, waiting, biding their time, resting even…and we don’t see skeletons until after death. There is nothing dead about winter trees. Naked comes close…since, at a stretch, they have shed their summer clothing of leaves…but that is not quite right either because the leaves are way more than clothing for the tree…they are way too alive…way too much the tree itself to be considered merely clothing. It is perhaps, as though we are seeing the spirit of the tree…the strong solid core that will burst out, in weeks, with new life. And we are seeing the spirit trees against the backdrop of landscape transformed and simplified by its blanket of snow…again as though the clean clear spirit of the land itself is exposed. We might have to bundle up in layers and strap snowshoes to our feet to get out, but if we bring our winter eyes we see the beauty…and is so alive! We see through to the spirit, and have reason to give thanks and praise to the creator, in this winter landscape. Happy Sunday!
The Physics of Ice?
Ice covered cobble at the beach.
I have been trying to get my head around the physics of this ice covered cobble, found on our local beach, yesterday. If you look closely you will see that the whole cobble, which was about the size of a grapefruit, is coated in a smooth shell of ice about 3/8 of an inch thick…very uniform…very tight. Though it appears clear at first glance, as though the stone had been dipped in poly-carbonate or liquid glass, looking even closer shows that the shell is made up of a lacework of tiny ice bubbles fused into the tight shell. This was not the only one. The stone had to be within a certain size range…not much bigger or smaller than this…and it had to be pretty much perfectly round and relatively smooth itself. As you see from the photo, other stones near this one were not effected the same way. I still can not imagine the mechanics of the process. It was very cold the night before…but, still, how did the receding tide produce this effect? (If you know the answer, feel free to post it in the comments.)
Sony HX400V at 45mm equivalent field of view and macro. In-camera HDR. Nominal exposure (Program shifted for greater depth of field) ISO 80 @ 1/1000th @ f6.3. For scale, the snow drift at the edge of the sand is at least 5.5 feet tall. 🙂