Posts in Category: reflections
8/15/2009
Deep in the Green
Emmon’s Preserve, managed by the Kennebunk Land Trust, is one of my favorite places to photograph. It is also one of the most difficult. A river runs through it 😉 under a solid canopy of maples and pines, and depending on the weather can be anything from a trickle down over rocks and through pools to a raging torrent. The light is very tricky. Lots of shadow, from open to deep, and shafts of full sun illumination random patches of vegetation, a rock here and there, and select passages in the stream…often a single curl of water around a stone. It is any exposure system’s worst nightmare. Then too, the light is green in the shadows which gives most white balance automation fits.
And it is beautiful with an almost mystical beauty.
So I go back again and again to try again and again to capture what I see and feel there…with never any more than limited success.
This shot comes from an area of the Preserve I only discovered on my last visit. I don’t know how I missed it all these years, but a side trail loops up over a small ridge and comes back down to the river above the rapids and pools I know so well. This section is quieter, but with its own beauty.
Sony DCS H50 at full wide (31mm equivalent). F3.2 @ 1/60th @ ISO 100. Programed auto with -.7EV exposure compensation to tame the highlights.
Even with the exposure compensation, an image like this requires post-processing. Heavy Recovery was needed to bring out any detail in the brighter areas back among the trees, and Fill Light was needed to open the shadows. Added Clarity and Vibrance and Landscape sharpen.
I have mentioned before that post-processing in situations like this is not used to save an incorrectly exposed image. In the field you expose the image knowing what you can and will do to it in Lightroom. You expose it differently than you might if Lightroom were not available. -.7 EV is not enough to bring out detail in the highlights, and yet it makes the shadows too dark, obscuring detail there. -.7EV is, however, the correct place to begin expanding the dynamic range with the tools available in Lightroom. All but the brightest highlights can be brought back in range by Recovery, and the Fill Light tool does a good job of selectively opening the shadows. You have to know this when making the exposure in the field. In a sense you see the image as it will be after post-processing, and expose for that.
It is easier than it sounds, since, with the EV adjustment, the Programed auto on the H50 produces an excellent, well balanced, beginning exposure. If I ever switch cameras (realistically when I switch cameras) I am going to have to learn to do this all over again.
And Emmon’s Preserve is there, always willing to teach me.
[An expanded version of this post, with more on learning to expose for post, will appear on Point and Shoot Landscape in the next few days.]
8/5/2009
Flood Tide!
Tides continue unusually full along our coast. These pools are rarely this brim full, and rarely so still. It was that kind of morning, and, as you can see, evn the mist had not burned or blown off yet, though the sky promised (and delivered) a clear hot day.
The textures of the grass, brought out by a using a graduated filter up from the bottom to increase Clarity (local contrast) and overall contrast, is as much the subject of this image as the pools.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide. F5.6 @ 1/320th @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
As above, I used graduated filter effects from the top (darken) and the bottom (lighten and increased Clarity and Contrast). Also my standard added global Clarity and Vibrance, and the Landscape sharpen preset.
Something similar:
The Long and Thin of Reflections
Cropped for effect, with similar treatment in Lightroom, except for some added work with the Local Effects Brush to bring up the trees a bit. Again the texture of the grasses in the foreground are important to the image.
7/31/2009
Flood Tide and Fog
A different mood at Rachel Carson NWR. The east coast is seeing inexplicably high tides this summer and this flood tide was the highest I have seen at Rachel Carson. Subdued light, reflections, misty distance with interesting play of light, and the gentle curve of the stream…that’s what I see in this image.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide. F5.0 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
Cropped slightly from the bottom for composition. Recovery for the sky and mist. Blackpoint moderately well to the right, a touch of fill light for the trees, added Clarity and Vibrance.
From Around Home Kennebunk ME.
7/28/2009
Little River Marsh
Another classic Rachel Carson NWR view, and another touched by the magical light of that afternoon. The reflected light in the river, the highlights in the foreground foliage…along with amazing sky make this another view of this spot that I will be a long time equaling.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide. F5.6 @ 1/500th @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
Recovery for the sky in Lightroom, a touch of Fill Light for the shadows. Blackpoint to the right slightly, added Clarity and Vibrance and Landscape sharpen.
From Around Home Kennebunk ME.
7/25/2009
Storm Surf
Taking a break from out coverage of the Coastal Main Botanical Gardens…
Last night my wife and I and youngest daughter went for a walk on the beach. It was the end of close to 24 hours of petty steady rain from a classic noreaster gale, and the ocean was muddy brown in the late light and the clouds still impressive. And, of course, this being Maine, the surfers were out. To be a surfer in Maine means you haunt the edges of storms and surf in a wet-suit even in July and August.
I did not take my H50. I have a new little HD camcorder with a 10mp CMOS sensor that also takes stills. It has a 16×9 wide screen mode at 7.5mp, and I am still experimenting with it as a pocket, all purpose, always on me, camera.
I have taken a few shots with it in better light than the evening offered which have showed promise…so…
If you blow the image above up to full size so you can peek at the pixels it begins to break down. It is, in fact, more like a painting of the scene than it is a photo. That is undoubtedly the result of over-agressive noise reduction which kicked in to compensate for the light levels. Even though the exif data says ISO 50, the sensor was clearly starved for light, and the camera did its best to overcome its limits.
Still, at normal screen resolution, and even in a 5×7 or possibly 8×10 print, it is a dramatic image. I could have gotten better with my H50, but the only camera that counts is the one you have with you.
Sanyo VPC CG10 at about 190mm equivalent. F4.2 @ 1/400th @ ISO 50. Auto.
Recovery for the clouds in Lightroom. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Blackpoint to the right, and added Contrast. Landscape sharpen preset.
From Around Home Kennebunk ME.
And just for fun…the video:
7/8/2009
Reflect on This
I am always struck by this stand of trees, and on a day like this, when the reflection is at least as interesting as the trees themselves, it makes a powerful, but peaceful image.
Sony DSC H50 at about 60mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/500 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
Cropped heavily from the bottom and, mostly, top in Lightroom for composition. Recovery for the sky. Much Fill Light to bring up detail in the shadows of the trees. Blackpoint to the right more than usual. Added Clarity and Vibrance and Landscape sharpen preset.
7/2/2009
Sky and Trees Paint Tea-Brown Water
If nothing else this latestes series of Pics should illustrate my often repeated principal of shoot all around the subject. (Why take just one… and Lupine Lessons from Point and Shoot Landscape). All of these shots were taken from one spot. I did not move, but the camera did, and so did the zoom (for framing).
In this shot, what caught my eye was the strong reflections of the trees against the sky in the water…as well what the sun was doing with the water color and the sand on the bottom of the brook.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide. F4.0 @ 1/20th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto with program shift (to slow the shutter speed for the best reflection effect).
In Lightroom, heavy recovery for the highlights on the foliage and to cut some of the glare from the water. Added Clarity and Vibrance and the blackpoint moved just slightly to the right. Landscape sharpen preset. I also used the Local Adjustment brush to tone down the brightest highlights on the ferns and skunkcabbage leaves along the stream.
7/1/2009
Abstracts in Water and Light
Looking more closely at the brook from yesterday, playing with what the sun and shadow was doing in and on that tea brown water. Patterns.
I played with the exposure on these, attempting to catch the way it really looked, but since part of the look was the gentle motion of the water, any slice of time image misses something. I used Program Shift to choose a slow shutter speed on this one to slightly blur the reflected sky highlights on the moving water.
Sony DSC H50 at about 110mm equivalent. F7.1 @ 1/30th @ ISO 400. Programed Auto and Program Shift.
Note the high ISO. I had the camera on Auto ISO (I rarely take it off auto), and I did not fully realize just how dark it was under the forest canopy. I was paying more attention to framing. Still, the Sony held detail and color very well at ISO 400, with a good contrast range.
This is another abstract shot from the series.
Abstract Two
In this one I did not use Program Shift, and, with fewer shadows, the camera chose a higher ISO. I also dialed back the zoom for a wider framing.
Sony DSC H50 at about 50mm equivalent. F2.8 @ 1/60th @ ISO 250. Programed Auto.
For both in Lightroom, just my basic boost in Clarity and Vibrance, with a touch of blackpoint to the right (limited in these shots because I did not want the shadows to pack up). Landscape sharpen preset. The second shot was cropped to remove distractions along the right edge and emphasize the abstract nature of the patterns.
6/30/2009
Stained Glass Water: Fernald Brook, Kennebunk ME
Getting out of the house for the first time in a week with camera in hand and sun in the sky is always a treat. This day, having limited time, I decided to explore a tiny section of woodlands between our home and the railroad tracks. I knew Fernald brook crossed under the tracks a 1/4 mile from the underpass right down the road from the house, and found a way down the embankment and into the woods well short, where I could still get down the bank safely. Much to my surprise there was a well beaten path right inside the woods. Turns out some boys, some summer long past, had dragged lumber and poles out and built a major tree fort near the brook. There was even a bridge worthy of Teribithia.
The stream itself, when I continued past the fort, was a maze of loops, cutting back and forth through lush forest, running pure and clean, but a deep tannin brown. The sun slanting through the trees and reflecting off the sandy bottom of the stream caught all the color and created almost a stained glass effect. I took many shots, attempting to capture the effect.
This is the stream as I first walked up on it, a simple framing of one straight section of loop across the stream’s wider bed among the ferns and skunkcabbage. Indeed a magical place.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide. F2.7 @ 1/50th @ ISO 100. Programed auto. I was able to hand hold the shot at ISO 50 because of the Sony’s built in sensor image stabilization, and I was able to shoot straight Programed auto because I knew I could draw the green, sun on the ferns and leaves, highlights back in Lightroom with the Recovery tool when I got home. I did try a few shots with Program Shift, attempting a better overall exposure, but I could tell even on the camera’s lcd that I was loosing too much of the effect of the sun in the water. The result is a compromise, with some of the green highlights reaching saturation, but the stream bed standing out as it did while actually there.
Recovery in Lightroom, then, for the highlights. A touch of Fill Light and the blackpoint to the right just slightly. Added Clarity and Vibrance, and Landscape sharpen preset. I was still not happy with the highlights so I went in with Lightrooms Local Adjustment Brush and painted adjustment masks, heavily feathered, over most distracting highlights. Reducing exposure in those areas, and adding some saturation to retain the color, made, I think, for a more pleasing rendering (and one closer to the actual visual impact of the scene).
6/24/2009
The Length of Jordan Pond
Jordan Pond is reputed to have the clearest, cleanest water in the east, and images like this tend to bear out the claim. This was taken from the small check damn at the southeast corner of the pond where, this day, water was flowing into the pond from the marshy area behind the dam. (I always assumed it was an outlet, but I guess not). It shows the full length of the pond, though the Bubbles are somewhat hidden behind the east shoreline. This is another low angle shot, taken squatting close the flowing water from the middle of the dam.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide. F5.6 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
Recovery in Lightroom effects the clouds and sky, as we were mentioning yesterday, but it also does a really good job of clearing a layer of surface reflections from water…making the water look more transparent. Added Vibrance and Clarity, and Landscape sharpen. Cropped at bit a the top for better horizon placement.