Posts in Category: ocean
12/9/2008
Nubble Light: Cape Neddick ME
Nubble Light is one of the most popular tourist attractions in southern Maine. On a sunny day in the summer, you often have to circle the small parking lot for 30 minutes or more to catch a space open, and you have to work really hard to get a shot of the light, on its own little island off-shore, without people in the foreground.
That is why I worked my way down to the very edge of the channel that separated Cape Neddick from the Nubble.
It was an all but perfect day. A few big white puffy clouds behind the light would have been nice, but I was happy with the really amazing waves chasing each other up the channel and crashing against the rocks with huge gouts of spray.
I took 100s of shots, trying to capture a wave at it’s most photogenic, against the lighthouse and its rock as backdrop. Persistence almost always pays off. It did here.
Sony DSC H9. F5.6 @ 1/800 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto. Full wide angle (31mm equiv.) on the zoom.
In Lightroom, I applied some Recovery to bring out detail in the white mass of the wave, and to darken the sky. Added Clarity and Vibrance (which made the blue sky deeper and the red building really pop), and used the Sharpen Landscape preset.
With a subject like this, and such a day, it is then just a matter of timing (and a willingness to scramble around on exposed rock that trembles with every smashing wave).
It is from the Around Home Gallery.
12/4/2008
Bamburg Castle, Nothumbia UK
My 4 day trip to Scotland and back through Northumbia was one of the most amazing photographic journeys I have ever taken. A friend and I drove (he drove, I rode) 1400 miles in what amounted to 3 days, as we spent one full day on the islands of North Uist, Benbecula, and South Uist in the Hebrides. The last day, on the way back to Manchester and my flight home, we came down the coast of the North Sea, past a series of amazing castles. The was the last one of the day, and by far the largest. Bamburg Castle. We drove up a side road along the tops of the dunes to get this view back at the Castle. There was some sea mist, mixed with intermittent rain, but we caught the castle in a rare moment of English sun.
The mist provides a soft and distant look to the castle, while the grasses in the foreground are sharp and clear. I like the contrast. We spent maybe 15 minutes at this spot, and I tried a variety of angles, most without the immediate foreground.
Sony H50. F5.6 @ 1/500 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom, I used Recovery to pull detail out of the clouds. You can see that the whitest of the clouds is still a bit burned out as the sensor reached the clipping point. Still, a darker exposure would have been hard on the foreground. Added Clarity and Vibrance, and used the Sharpen Landscape preset. For this shot, I also adjusted the contrast slightly, trying to cope with the haze.
This is from the Scotland Gallery.
11/16/2008
Cadillac Mountain on a perfect sky day
I saw this day happening as we came back into Bar Harbor from a morning Puffin and Whale cruise, waited out the light, and then drove to the top of Cadillac just in time to catch an amazing series of shots. It is more and more rare to have days this clear on the coast of Maine.
I liked the way the fense lead out toward the horizon and added another texture to the rock, lichen, and sky. It is all but impossible to eliminate all people from a Cadillac summit shot as it is one of the most popular spots in one of the most popular National Parks. I don’t even try anymore. People are part of the Acadia experience now, unavoidably. I just try to catch them in interesting spots in the composition.
Sony DSC H50. 32mm equiv. F5.6 @ 1/800 @ ISO 100 (Auto). Auto Program. Auto WB.
Post processed in Lightroom. Recovery for the cloud detail. Added Clarity, Vibrance, and Landscape Sharpen preset.