Posts in Category: reflections
7/15/2010
Storm Over Parson’s
Parson’s Beach, that is. This is actually the mouth of Back Creek where it flows into the Mousam. The storm passed just south of us, scattering a few drops on the far end of the beach, but soaking Wells. A shot like this is, of course, all about the drama in the clouds. Here the curve of the creek adds to the composition.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
I tipped the camera up to meter off the clouds, then tipped it back down for composition. I tried Recovery for the clouds in Lightroom, but ended up using a Graduated Filter effect pulled down from the top to the horizon to reduce exposure and add a bit of brightness and contrast. Fill Light for the foreground. Blackpoint just a little right. Added Clarity and a touch of Vibrance. Sharpen narrow edges preset.
From Around Home 2010.
7/12/2010
Evening Light/Tidal Pool
Summer’s late light, going on 8PM with the sun still well above the horizon and seemingly hanging there forever. The slant picks out abundant detail in the sea grass surrounding this tidal pool, here full and reflective with the tide. A bit of mist left from a hot muggy day still floats up-river, thinning toward the coast. Peace. It will repay a larger look on Wide Eyed In Wonder (click the image).
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/320th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
In Lightroom, Recovery for the sky, Blackpoint just right, added Clarity and just a tiny amount of Vibrance. Sharpen narrow edges preset. Finally I pulled a Graduated Filter effect down diagonally from the upper left corner to bring up some blue where the mist catching the light had overexposed the area.
From Around Home 2010.
6/19/2010
Margret Todd at Anchor
This is a tourist boat: it makes daily excursions under full sail on Frenchman’s Bay and the surrounding waters for the delight of paying passengers, and does a very popular sunset dinner cruse as well. Always picturesque, this early evening shot sets it against the still waters of Bar Harbor and the backdrop of the Porcupine Islands. The ornamental railing at the foreground adds dimension to the composition. I cropped slightly from the bottom to eliminate the path in front of the railing.
It will repay a larger view.
Canon SX20IS at about 80mm equivalent for framing. F4.0 @ 1/500th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
Recovery for the sky in Lightroom. A bit of Fill Light, Blackpoint just barely right. Added Clarity and more than usual Vibrance to try for a little blue in the water. Sharpen narrow edges preset.
From Acadia 2010.
And a second view. This time with more sky.
6/16/2010
Frenchman’s Bay Evening Peace
The further north you go in Maine, the longer the summer light lingers. This is past 8pm on the evening of a stormy day. Storms had passed and Frenchman’s Bay (Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor) is smooth as glass and just about as clear. This was taken from the Narrows, near the Trenton bridge where you come on to Mount Desert Island, looking south east down the length of the bay.
This is really about the light, of course, and the exposure had to be intentional to capture enough detail in the sky while showing the water in a natural light. Landscape program and selective metering (biased slightly for the sky buy tipping the camera up) handled it well. Post-processing in Lightroom helped to extend the apparent range to cover both sky and foreground, and bring out detail that would otherwise have been lost.
I work only in jpeg. This kind of image might be easier to do in RAW…but I can’t say for sure. I know that this processed jpeg is very close to what I saw with my naked eye…to what drew me to the scene in the first place. I was after the peace…and here it is. It will repay a look in larger sizes. Click the image and use the size controls on the top of the window.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/60th @ ISO 80. Landscape program. Landscape program on the SX20IS has an interesting feature: it defaults to infinity focus when it can not find focus, which is necessary in a shot like this with little for the sensors to focus on in dim light.
Heavy Recovery for the sky in Lightroom 3, significant Fill Light for the foreground, Blackpoint just barely right, added Clarity and Vibrance, Sharpen narrow edges preset.
From Acadia 2010.
5/26/2010
Brim-full of Sky
I have posted two other shots from this same spot on this same day…when the tide had pushed the Little River to its brink, and the sky was caught in the smooth surface. I have to remind myself to take vertical shots. I am such a landscape guy 🙂
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/640th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
In Lightoom, Recovery for the sky, Fill Light to open the shadows, Blackpoint right for intensity, added Clarity and just a little Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset.
5/22/2010
Little River Panorama
I tried a pano of this view earlier this spring. The Full Bend in the Little. Since then I have started using PhotoShop Elements Panorama feature, in conjunction with the Easy Panorama mode of the Canon SX20IS. As noted in a previous post, Elements’ pano engine is considerably smarter than the one in the Photo Stitch software Canon provides with the camera.
This shot is 5 shots taken at about 50mm equivalent. Exposure was determined by the camera in Panorama mode, but averaged about F4 at 1/640th @ ISO 80.
Of course I never have a tripod with me. I have started carrying a light-weight monopod, which, for panoramas, is not as much help as I had hoped it would be. I tried this shot three times and every time the last shot was considerably off horizontal. I had to straighten and crop to get a level horizon and lost from every edge to do so. This is the best of the lot. Third try lucky.
Do try it at as large as your monitor will take by clicking the image above and using the size controls at the top of the window that appears.
After processing the shots in Elements for pano, I took the whole thing into Lightroom as a PhotoShop file for final processing. Recovery for the sky, a bit of Fill Light for the foreground, Blackpoint to the right, added Clarity and just a little Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset. Finally, the left most exposure was just a bit dark, even with Element’s intelligent blending, so I applied a Lightroom graduated filter effect from the left to brighten it slightly.
5/21/2010
A Little Reflected Sky
This is the Little River, and the sky is well reflected, hence: A Little Reflected Sky.
If you follow my posts here you might recognize the view, from the observation deck on the back side of the trail loop at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. I have many images captured from this deck and of this view…no two alike. The tide here was full and the river brim. There is a bit of ripple on the water from the wind, but not enough to really disturb the reflection. I tried the shot with more or less reflection, and more or less sky. I like this version, but others might prefer the more sky shot below.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/640th @ ISO 80. Landscape program. This is one of those rare shots that did not require any fancy metering or exposure tricks. The Landscape program gave pretty close to the ideal balance between sky and foreground.
In Lightroom, a bit of Recovery to bring out detail in the reflected clouds and deepen the sky. A touch of Fill Light. Blackpoint to the right. Added Clarity and just a smidge of Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset.
From Rachel Carsons NWR Seasons.
And, as promised, the more sky view.
5/17/2010
Fly-fishing in First Light
We reached the Highpoint/Stokes Recreation Area soon after dawn in our World Series of Birding run on Saturday. One of the advantages of only being there to document the effort is that I had time (and attention) to spare for things without wings…like this angler in a pond in the early light. Zooming in, I as able to catch the arc of the line as he cast. This will repay a view at larger sizes on WideEyedInWonder (click the image for the link, and use the size controls at the top of the window to resize for your monitor).
Canon SX20IS at about 280mm equivalent. F5.0 @ 1/400th @ 1SO 80. Landscape program.
In Lightroom, a touch of Recovery for the glittering water, some Fill Light and Blackpoint right, added Clarity and Vibrance. Cropped from the bottom and top for composition.
5/2/2010
Sunday Sunrise: St Augustine Beach
Happy Sunday! This was exactly a week ago, give or take an hour, on St. Augustine Beach, right across form our hotel. I got down low at the edge of the tide (using the flip out lcd and staying dry). The random stranger wading gives scale and dimension the shot would lack without her…I know because I too that shot too 🙂 .
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F2.8 @ 1/1250 @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
Recovery for the sky and Fill Light for the foreground in Lightroom. Added Clarity and just a touch of Vibrance. Blackpoint just barely right. Sharpen landscape preset.
From St. Augustine FL 2010.
And turning 90 degrees south, this is the view down the beach, again with a lone Sunday morning tourist.
4/16/2010
NYC Reflections
The city that lives in glass houses! Still at Bryant Park but looking the other direction…up as opposed to down. I am always fascinated by the abstractions caused by buildings reflecting in the glass facade of other buildings. Don’t know why, but there it is. I have some shots closer in, of the reflections themselves, but this wider shot has a lot of interest for me.
Canon SX20IS at about 38mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/250th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
In Lightroom, a bit of recovery for the sky, Blackpoint just right, added Clarity and Vibrance, and Sharpen landscape preset.
From NYC 2010.