Posts in Category: rock
6/20/2011: Wet Wood with Stream
On the way back from a very wet hike up South Bubble in Acadia National Park, we stopped at the Bubble Pond parking because I wanted a picture of a brook. This is Bubble Brook as it leaves the pond begins its run down to Eagle Lake. I love the wet woodland, the colors of the decaying leaves and the green foliage, and textures of bark and stone, and the curve of the stream, the parallel placement of the diagonal downed tree, the bow of the pine on the right, the roughness of the birch bark on the left, etc. etc. There is a lot going on in this image, but I think it is held firmly together by the sweep of the water, and well anchored by the base of wet stone and last years oak leaves. It is another image I could see printed, framed, and hanging on my wall.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 23mm equivalent field of view, f3.4 @ 1/30th @ ISO 200. Program with Active D-Lighting and Vivid Image Optimization.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
By the way. My morning posts are offset in time this week as I am on the west coast 
6/4/2011: Upper Pool at Emmon’s Preserve
I have posted quite a few shots over the past two and a half years from Emmon’s Preserve, a little Kennebunkport Land Trust property on the Batson River. The Batson, despite its name, is actually something between a brook and a river. In August it might only be a trickle between moss covered stones, but other times its pools are full and its falls and rapids are wild, it is never, however, what I would call a river, even at its fullest.
This, in particular, is a shot I have taken often…I like the sculpted wood of the fallen tree…but I particularly like the quality of the light in this one. The Nikon’s Active D-Lighting renders scenes like this in a strikingly natural way, and the 22.5mm equivalent lens opens the view wonderfully. I love the depth. This is an image that draws me in. I could look at it for a long time.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 22.5mm equivalent field of view, f3.4 @ 1/400th @ ISO 160. Program with Active-D Lighting (to extend dynamic range) and Vivid Image Optimization.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
4/7/2011: Saco Bay
I was feeling the old theme was a bit too busy, and it seemed to have some display problems at certain page widths on certain browsers, so…something new for today. 🙂
And this is Saco Bay, taken from East Point in Biddeford Pool, Maine, looking back along the course of the Saco River northeast of the pool itself, between the point and Wood Island. A classic early spring Maine scape featuring some interesting clouds.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent field of view, f4.0 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 80. Landscape Mode. Tipped up for metering to bias for the sky.
Processed for intensity and clarity in Lightroom. (see page link above for processing details.)
3/12/2011: Point Loma, Cabrillo National Monument
Looking back north along the Pacific shore of Point Loma from the area above the Tide Pools at Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego California under a layered sky. A little scenery for Saturday! I always enjoy this area, and try to get out here at least once on each yearly trip to San Diego.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent field of view, f5 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 125, Landscape mode.
Processed for intensity and clarity in Lightroom. Slight distortion adjustment for the horizon.
9/5/2010: Jordan Pond and the Bubbles
Happy Sunday!
The three mile loop around Jordan Pond is one of my favorite hikes (walks?) in Acadia National Park, and that is saying quite a bit as there are a lot of hikes in Acadia that I really like. Of course, the fact that we have had a daughter (or two) working at the Jordan Pond House the past 6 summers only adds to the attraction. It does not matter how many times I walk this walk…there is always something new to see, even if it only the angle of the light, or the pattern of the ripples in the sun, or the way fog drapes the cedars on the south shore. Always something new. But then new is a gift we receive from the author all things new, inside, before we can see it outside. Or at least that is the way I see it.
This is another experiment in HDR using two SX20IS exposures 3EV apart and Photomatix to blend them. Final adjustments for Blackpoint, Clarity, Vibrance and Sharpness in Lightroom, plus some distortion correction for the challenging perspective.
From Acadia 2010.
9/3/2010: Cadillac Mountain
On the way back from dropping daughter #3 off at College, we stopped for the afternoon and night in Bar Harbor…mostly to see daughter #1 and #2. Daughter #1 lives there, and daughter #2 is working there in Acadia National Park for the summer. No visit to Acadia, of course, is complete without a drive to the top of Mt. Cadillac. Even though we only had a few hours there, after a hike around Jordan Pond (also a must as far as I am concerned), we drove to the summit on the way back to Bar Harbor and dinner. It was not a pristine day…there was a good deal of haze over the ocean, but the late afternoon/early evening light was interesting on the stone of the peak.
This is an HDR using two exposures and Photomatix Lite. In realty I am not sure I gained much through the two exposures. I am pretty sure I could have adjusted a single exposure in Lightroom for close to this effect. Still, the tone-mapping for detail in Photomatix certainly brought up all the character in the foreground rocks, and I am certain I could not have pulled up the greens in the trees to this level. The greens have always frustrated me in shots from Cadillac, since exposing for rock and sky always leaves the greens running toward black. Keeping the greens vibrant gives this shot three strong layers instead of two. This is good.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. Two shots separated by 3 EV using the Exposure Compensation dial.
Photomatix as above. Adjusted for Blackpoint, Clarity, Vibrance, and Sharpness in Lightroom.
From Acadia 2010.
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.