Posts in Category: marsh
12/13/2009
So Winter!
Happy Sunday!
Another from the Winter Archives. I hope to get out today for photography. We shall see.
This is the Back Creek marsh where Rt. 9 passes over it, south of Kennebunkport and kind of behind Parson’s Beach on a very winterly day. I remember getting out to take the pic, braving really bad roads and driving conditions, but drawn out to see what I could see. Fog closes the horizon and actually adds to the impression of cold.
Sony DSC H9 at about 180mm equivalent. F5.0 @ 1/500th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Recovery for the fog and highlights in Lightroom. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscapes preset.
12/12/2009
Winter Flows
Digging back into the archives from last winter for today’s image. Taken last Februray behind Parson’s Beach, on a cold morning…the ice flowing and the shapes of the caught grasses and leaves makes a true still life. One of what amounts to my signature shots…using the flip out LCD on the H50 to get right down at ground level for an interesting view.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/500th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Added Clarity and Vibrance in Lightroom. A bit of Recovery for the highlights. Blackpoint slightly right.
12/10/2009
Tidal Snow: Early Light
Last pic for the First Snow set. This bend in the tidal mouth of Back Creek where it flows into the Mousam River behind Parson’s Beach in Kennebunk ME becomes a graphic element in the composition, drawing the eye past the curve back to the snow covered trees on the far side of the marsh. The low light just after sunrise just skims the marsh.
Sony DSC H50 at about 70mm equivalent for framing. F4.0 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Added Clarity and Vibrance in Lightroom. Blackpoint slightly right. Sharpen Landscape preset.
From First Snow 12/09.
12/8/2009
Breath of Snow
This has a look of frost to me, but it actually quite a heavy layer of snow, molded around every branch and twig. One good breath of wind and it is all gone! The low dawn light, just half behind picks out the detail.
Sony DSC H50 at about 400mm equivalent. F6.3 @ 1/200 @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Added Clarity and Vibrance in Lightroom. Blackpoint to the right. Sharpen landscape preset.
From First Snow 12/09.
12/6/2009
First Snow: Early Light
Happy Sunday!
This is really the first snow of December 2009, early this morning, just as the sun cleared the cloud line along the horizon to the east. It was a long slow night snow with little wind, even along the coast here, so it clung and weighed. This beauty will be gone in a very few hours.
Sony DSC H50 at about 180mm equivalent. F5.0 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto. Framing shots this morning, I was again thankful for the flexibility of my superzoom, articulated LCD, Sony H50. Nothing like it really.
Added Clarity and Vibrance in Lightroom. Blackpoint slightly right. Sharpen Landscape preset. Auto white balance.
From First Snow 12/09.
11/8/2009
Drawing Water over Parson's Marsh
Happy Sunday!
For full effect you should view this image larger than it is here. Click it and it will open in a new window. There are size controls at the top.
By the time I got out yesterday afternoon, we were rapidly loosing the light. Clouds were coming and we had an early sunset as they built in from the west. I always love the sun drawing water effect, and have caught it several times this fall. Must be something in the air.
Drawing water shots are, however, among the most difficult to expose. It is really a very delicate effect: obvious to the naked eye…but the eye has such a huge range of light sensitivity compared to any capture medium, and certainly compared to a digital sensor. It is just not possible to capture the scene the way it really looks.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 100. Programmed Auto, tipped up to meter the sky.
So you expose, as I did here, for the sun-rays, and everything else goes unnaturally dark. You can recover some of the natural look in post-processing with curves and levels and selective exposure compensation, but you never get quite there. Personally, I generally decide on the dramatic look…dark and intense…and then second think and go back for a more natural treatment, as I did here.
In Lightroom, I used two Graduated Filter effects, one from the bottom to lighten the foreground, and one from the top to darken the clouds and sky. I also applied a good deal of Fill Light to bring out some color in the marsh grasses in the mid-ground. Blackpoint just a touch right for intensity. Added Clarity and Vibrance for the drawing water effect. Sharpen Landscape preset.
From Around Home: Kennebunk ME.
11/6/2009
Deep Autumn on the Little River
Another not so easy exposure. I really wanted the wispy clouds in that very blue sky, so the foreground went dark. It took a Graduated Filter effect in Lightroom to bring it back up to where I am happy with it…but, oh, the sky!
I also cropped out some of the river in the foreground as it was too strong an element in the composition.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide (31mm equivalent). F5.6 @ 1/640th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto. I tipped the camera up to meter more of the sky and locked exposure before reframing for composition.
As mentioned above, Graduated Filter and cropped in Lightroom. The GF effect was pulled up from the bottom to cover about 2/3s of the image. Added 60 Exposure, and some Clarity and Contrast. Added Clarity and Vibrance overall, Sharpen Landscape preset.
11/4/2009
Oaks Turn to Shine
We really have two fall foliage shows here in Southern Maine. First the maples turn in all their firey glory…and then, weeks later, when the last of the maple leaves are just clinging on, the oaks turn their rich copper brown and the forest and roadsides are filled with color again.
This is one of my two favorite vistas at Rachel Carson NWR, overlooking a bend in the Little River. This is higher than I generally frame it, but the oak leaves are as much the subject of the shot as the river and reflections. To me it all works together.
Sony DSC H50 at about 55mm equivalent for framing. F4.5 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
In Lightroom, slight recovery for the reflections in the water. Fill Light for the foliage in the foreground. Blackpoint just slightly right. Added Clarity and Vibrance and Sharpen Landscapes preset.
From Rachel Carson NWR Seasons.
11/2/2009
Morning Marsh, Mackerel Sky, Drawing Water Sun
A very difficult image to expose and process. But who could resist the morning light, the pond, the sky, the reflections? One of the best parts of birding, as far as I am concerned is that it gets me out to places like this at times like this.
I am still not totally happy with the exposure on this image. I needed to catch the drawing water rays, so the foreground was way too dark. You can only do so much manipulation in software. This is a case where multiple exposures processed for HDR might have produced better results.
Still…it is what it is, and I think it catches the mood.
Sony DSC H50 at about 60mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto. Exposure read favoring the sky by tipping the camera up and locking exposure.
Heavy Recovery and Fill Light in Lightroom. Blackpoint slightly right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscape preset.
From Cape May 10/09.
Okay…had some time this am so I opened LightZone (for the first time in months) just to see what I could do with this difficult image with the tools there. This is maybe a bit over the top…processed for maximum drama. But it certainly is an alternative view.
As above: but with drama! LightZone treatment.
10/29/2009
Cape May Light over Cattails
Yes, it is another view of Cape May Lighthouse. Another. But honestly, it is a photogenic light and this year there were simply lots of good views.
For this shot, I used the flip out LCD on the Sony again to get down lower, placing the cattail heads and foreground grass as a strong element in the composition. The Light holds it own on the horizon (carefully placed according to the rule of thirds), and the heavy clouds add drama. I used Program Shift to select the smallest available f-stop for greatest depth of field to keep both foreground and Lighthouse in focus.
Sony DSC H50 at about 60mm equivalent (zoomed up for framing). F8 @ 1/125th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto with program shift.
In Lightroom I did my usual Clarity, Vibrance, blackpoint to the right, Sharpen Landscape stuff…but then I drew a Graduated Filter effect down from the top to darken the sky for drama, and one up from the bottom to increase both clarity and contrast for that chiseled by light look. This is as close to HDR as I get.
From Cape May 10/09.