Posts in Category: ocean
4/21/2010
Coquina at Washington Oaks
According to the Wiki on the subject, Coquina is a relatively rare rock made up of masses of ancient shells and shell fragments loosely cemented together, some still largely intact. It is found in isolated outcrops along the Atlantic coast, from St. Augustine to Palm Beach, FL, and in one spot in North Carolina. There is also an outcrop in New Zealand. It is soft, so soft that it can only be used for building after air drying or curing for up to 3 years. The Fort in St. Augustine is built from it…which was a considerable advantage, since the soft walls absorbed (literally) canon ball fire better than harder stone would have.
It is the softness that, in large part, also gives Coquina its photographic interest. The waves shape it into an incredible variety of forms as they wash over it. Close in, the structure of the stone itself is of interest, as a study in shape and texture; especially as the density of the surface and its structure, as well as the color, varies greatly from stone to stone.
All with the Canon SX20IS. 1) 28mm @ F4.0 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 80, 2) 28mm @ F4.5 @ 1/250th @ ISO 80, 3) 250mm macro @ F5.0 @ 1/640th @ ISO 80, 4) 200mm macro @ F5.0 @ 1/1000 @ ISO 80.
The first two got my standard landscape treatment in Lightroom. Recovery for the sky, a touch of Fill Light for the foreground, Blackpoint right, added Clarity and just a bit of Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset. The close ups received similar treatment but with very little Recovery and less Fill Light. Less of everything actually, except sharpen.
4/13/2010
Parsons Rays
Parson’s Beach is only 2 miles from my front door, so we visit it often, and it never fails to show a new face. This is late in an iffy day weather-wise. I was after the rays here and the dramatics in the sky. I took a fairly straight forward Landscape program shot, biased a little for the sky by tipping the camera up and locking exposure, and then brought up the foreground in Lightroom.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
In Lightroom, heavy Recovery for the sky (even biased as the exposure was). Added Clarity and Vibrance. Blackpoint right. A good deal of Fill Light for the foreground, but even then, to restore it to something like what my eye saw, without removing the dark areas of the clouds, it required a Graduated Filter Effect from the bottom to lighten exposure on the sand.
From Around Home 2010.
A photo friend with whom I trade comments suggested that this might look good in B&W. We often have this discussion as he likes B&W better than I do. So, without further ado, a B&W version.
3/30/2010
Laudholm Beach
So you walk through the Laudholm meadows, the old apple orchard, the woods, and out across the marsh on the old road bed, through the summer cottages, up the stairs and across the boardwalk and this is what you see. Laudholm Beach, stretching past the mouth of the Little River, connecting to Crecent Beach and Parsons before coming to the mouth of the Mousam, Great Head, Lords Point, St. Anne’s and Walker’s Point. And it is all there in this picture, plus sky!
Canon SX20IS at 40mm equivalent. F4 @ 1/250th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
Cropped a little at the bottom in Lightroom. Recovery for the sky. Blackpoint right. Added Clarity and a bit of Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset.
From Around Home 2010.
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.
3/22/2010
Walker’s Point, Kennebunkport ME
(This is going to be a story of second thoughts, so do read all the way to bottom.)
For those in the know this shot will be instantly recognizable. It is the summer home of George W. Bush senior in Kennebunkport ME. We were out enjoying some after-supper sun, which, of course, we have not seen in many months in Maine. The sea was still running heavy from last week’s storms. The light was just this side of golden. This looks like a 28mm shot, but it actually cropped from top and bottom from a shot taken at closer to 35mm.
It was a particularly difficult exposure problem, since the foreground, which had already fallen partially into shadow in the late sun, was so dark and the midground and sky so very bright. Exposing for the foreground would have given me a white sky. I struck the best balance I could in-camera, and hoped to recover some of the range in Lightroom.
This is another shot that improves as you enlarge it. I really recommend clicking to open it a larger size.
Canon SX20IS at about 35mm equivalent. F4 @ 1/320th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
Some Recovery in Lightroom for the sky. Quite a bit of Fill Light to open the deep foreground shadows. Blackpoint to the right. Added Clarity and just a touch of Vibrance. Sharpen landscapes preset. Cropped from the bottom to eliminate deeper shadow, and then from the top for composition.
And that is good as far as it goes.
Of course…as I looked at this image all set for posting, it occurred to me that it might be improved. Surprising how often that happens. I suddenly saw that dueling Graduated Filter effects might scrub some exposure from the sky and point, while picking up some more detail in the foreground. So I opened Lightroom once more, made a virtual copy of the image so I didn’t mess up the original edits, and took that into the Develop module. I rolled back the Tone edits I did on the original so I could work from something more like the file as it came from the camera. Then I opened the Graduated Filter Effects panel and pulled down a GFE from the top of the image all the way to the bottom. I used that to reduce Exposure quite a bit and Brightness just a bit. Then I added Clarity and Sharpness to that filter. Next I pulled up a GFE from the bottom to mid image. I used this one to increase Exposure and Brightness and add considerable Clarity and Sharpness, plus a bit of Saturation and Contrast. Finally, I exited the GFE panel, used a touch of Recovery on the whole image to darken the sky even more and some Fill Light for the foreground shadows. The Fill Light was mostly so that I could slide the Blackpoint slightly right to increase overall intensity. And this is what I got.
And that, folks, if memory serves, is much closer to the scene as it appeared to the naked eye on the evening I took it. It is certainly much closer to my mind’s-eye-view of what it ought to look like.
3/18/2010
Higher Up and Around the Bend
The new section of trail at the Cabrillo Tide Pools takes you up across the face of the steep slope via log steps and some actual stairs to new overlooks further north. This a view I had not seen before.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F4 @ 1/500th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
Recovery for the sky and Fill Light for the foreground. Blackpoint right. Added Clarity and just a bit of Vibrance. Landscape sharpen preset.
From San Diego 2010.
3/15/2010
Past Pools and Rock to Strom
Another image from the rainy day visit to Cabrillo National Monument’s Tide Pool area. The storm moving over the coast certainly provided drama in the sky, and the wet rock and surly ocean echoed the mood. This is definitely a “from under the umbrella” shot.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F4 @ 1/500th @ ISO 80. Landscape Program mode.
Recovery for the sky and Fill Light for the foreground. Blackpoint right slightly. Added Clarity and just a touch of Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset.
From San Diego 2010.
3/13/2010
Tide Pools Area: Cabrillo National Monument
Cabrillo National Monument sits at the point of Point Loma, overlooking San Diego Harbor on one side, and the Pacific on the other. There is a lighthouse there, and little pocket park, with some of the best views of the coast you are likely to see. You have to drive through a section of the Naval Base and the National Cemetery to get there, so access is limited to 9 to 5 (when the military gates are open these days) but it is always worth a visit, in any season and any weather.
The day I had available dawned, as promised, with rain, and I debated going at all. I did get out, and had about 3 hours there, shooting from under my umbrella and in brief intervals in the drizzle, before a steady driving rain drove me off the point and back to the hotel.
This is the Tide Pool area, which is reached by a well paved and graded road that serves both the modern lighthouse and a water treatment plant. They have been working here in the last year, making improvements on the short trail system, and I enjoyed exploring further from the parking lot than I have ventured in the past.
The challenge in this weather is, of course, to capture the authentic drama of the rainy coast, cliffs and ocean. The contrast and exposure (EV) range is surprisingly broad on such a day, dull as we might think it, as the lighter sky tends to dominate the dark, rain soaked, landscape. More on that in a Point & Shoot Landscape post (coming soon).
I took a couple of different shots of this view before I got the balanced rocks where they needed to go. This image required some creative work in Lightroom…or maybe I should say, a bit more work than my usual 1 minute adjustments.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F4 @ 1/250th @ ISO 80. Landscape Program. (For more on Landscape Program see the P&S piece mentioned above.)
In Lightroom, Recovery for the sky, Fill Light for the foreground. Blackpoint right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Reduced Brightness overall. Reduced Contrast. Graduated Filter effect pulled down diagonally from the top right corner across the top half of the image to reduce exposure even more for the bright area of clouds. Sharpen landscape preset.
From San Diego 2010.
3/2/2010
Storm Coming Up the Coast
Another of those amazing sky days along the coast. I have taken this view of Parson’s Beach 100s of times, and, as the cliché has it, being the ocean, it is never the same twice. This day, a major storm had passed through the day before, and there was still plenty of drama in the sky. I composed this both ways, with the beach as 2/3s and with the sky as 2/3s and like this one marginally better.
Exposure was weighted toward the sky by using Exposure Lock…but I am finding that I need to do less of that with the SX20IS, since the built in iContrast mode does a good job of balancing the earth and sky in this kind of shot: Especially when the earth is well lighted.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F4 @ 1/640th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto, biased for the sky by tipping up and locking exposure.
Recovery in Lightroom for the sky. Fill Light for the foreground and to pick up detail in house on the point. Blackpoint quite a ways right. Overall exposure adjustment toward the bright side for the snow. Added Clarity and just a touch of Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset.
From Around Home 2010.
2/24/2010
Seaweed Black
These black seaweed bladders are all over the rocky beaches of southern Maine. I am not certain whether they are black in life or if they turn black as they dry…but they are fascinating anyway. This is an extreme closeup using the Super Macro mode on the Canon SX20IS. The lens hood is practically touching the rock.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent and Super Macro. F4 @ 1/640th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Recovery in Lightroom for the sunny rock and the reflected highlights on the seaweed. A touch of Fill Light. Blackpoint just right. Added Clarity and just a tiny amount of Vibrance. Sharpen landscapes preset. Cropped slightly at the bottom to remove the worst of the out of focus weed.
From Around Home 2010.