Posts in Category: autumn
9/23/2010: HDR Marsh Pool Panorama
This is another experiment in HDR Panorama…and this time I had a tripod with me! It does make it easier, and, despite the lack of a true panoramic head, I am pleased with the results. I especially like the rendering of the sun on the pines at either side, which would have been quite impossible without the HDR treatment.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. 9 exposures in bracketed sets of 3. All at ISO 80 and Programmed Auto. Bracketed 2 stops, with the center exposure moved down 2/3EV via exposure compensation.
Each set of 3 was blended in Photomatix, using tone mapping. In this case the smoothing had to be adjusted to a minimize the light sky band along the tree line. The 3 HDRs were then taken in to PhotoShop Elements 7’s Panorama engine, where they were automatically combined. I also a darken brush along the tree line to smooth the sky line a bit more. Finally, the image was saved as a PhotoShop file and taken into Lightroom, where some Recovery was applied for the sky, added Clarity and just a bit of Vibrance, and the Sharpen narrow edges preset. I also used the selective luminance tool to intensify the little bit of fall color in the tree line and bushes on the left. This is a LOT more processing than I generally apply to any image, but perhaps, if you view the Pano at larger sizes on my SmugMug site it was worth it (click the image above, or here, and use the size controls at the top of the window…though it should auto size to your monitor).
9/21/2010: September Beach
Lots of beach and surf and a bit of interest in the sky over Mt. Agamentacus on the horizon. The house on the point is balanced by the people and the dog on the left. Short tel for framing.
Canon SX20IS at 70mm equivalent @ f4.0 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
Recovery for the sky in Lightroom. Blackpoint adjustment, added Clarity and Vibrance, and Sharpen narrow edges preset.
Pic of the Day 11/14/2009
Road into Autumn Sunset
Today marks the one year anniversary of Pic of the Day, and I will have more to say on that…only…I am due on the bus for the Valley Salt Lakes fieldtrip at Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in way too few moments. I promise a pic and a full post by evening! It has been great. I look forward to a second year.
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So, evening in Harlengen Texas, after a day of fieldtripping and optics talk at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, on the 1st anniversary of my Pic of the Day blog. What started as a casual series of posts on Twitter and FaceBook, morphed into a full fledged WordPress blog within the first month, and took on it’s current form after about 3 months.
What has kept me at it, as I have mentioned before, is that I am learning with every day’s pic. The process has made me much more aware of what I am doing in the field, while capturing images, and at the computer when processing images…and, maybe most importantly, how the two: camera work and computer work interconnect, cooperate, to produce the images that are important to me. Neither dominates. Both are important. Increasingly my knowledge of what I can do at the computer influences what I do with the camera. Of course, both camera and computer are used to capture and reproduce some semblance of what I see in nature…with the emphasis on the I. Because, of course, I am creating an image…not capturing reality. Images play with different rules than reality…if you know what I mean. Different elements, different effects, matter. In the end we judge images by image standards, and similarity to reality is only one of them…and often not the most important among them.
Anyway. I have learned. I hope you have too. I intend to learn a lot more in the coming year. And I hope you will go along with me.
This image, by the way, was taken at the end of a sunset session at the beach. I had actually visualized the image on the way in. I simply drove till it looked right. Stopped in the middle of the road. Head the camera out the window one handed. And took the image.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F4.5 @ 1/40th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
In Lightroom, I added Vibrance and Clarity, moved the Blackpoint right, and used Sharpen Landscapes preset. I also increased exposure just slightly, and warmed the image slightly by adjusting color temperature.
From Around Home Kennebunk ME.
11/9/2009
Rose Hips at Sunset
I previsualized this shot, walking back to the car from my late day, cloud’s-closing-in visit to the beach…but getting it right was not so easy. There were lots of rose hips, just at their best, and lots of beach, but finding the right combination proved more difficult. And then exposing the thing: that was a challenge.
Still, with a little help in Lightroom, it just about works.
Sony DSC H50 at just under 40mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/500th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
I took two exposures, one metered more for the sky and one more for the rose hips. When I got home, I actually chose the lighter of the two to work with as the hips were just too dark in the sky shot.
Recovery for the sky, Fill Light for the hips. Blackpoint slightly right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscape preset. I pulled a Graduated Filter effect down diagonally from the top left corner, ending just at the hips. I reduced Exposure and Brightness, and increased Contrast under the filter. Finally, I increased overall Exposure slightly and cropped from the top to eliminate some distracting elements on the right and improve overall composition.
From Around Home Kennebunk ME.
11/7/2009
Flotsom: Oak afloat
Just enough cloud reflections in the water to make the surface interesting…and then the copper gold of the floating leaves and the extended pattern they make on the water. Cropped up from the bottom for composition.
Sony DSC H50 at about 60mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/80th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Very simple Lightroom work. A touch of recovery for the reflections. Blackpoint slightly right. Added Clarity and Vibrance and Sharpen Landscapes preset.
From Rachel Carson NWR Seasons.
11/6/2009
Deep Autumn on the Little River
Another not so easy exposure. I really wanted the wispy clouds in that very blue sky, so the foreground went dark. It took a Graduated Filter effect in Lightroom to bring it back up to where I am happy with it…but, oh, the sky!
I also cropped out some of the river in the foreground as it was too strong an element in the composition.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide (31mm equivalent). F5.6 @ 1/640th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto. I tipped the camera up to meter more of the sky and locked exposure before reframing for composition.
As mentioned above, Graduated Filter and cropped in Lightroom. The GF effect was pulled up from the bottom to cover about 2/3s of the image. Added 60 Exposure, and some Clarity and Contrast. Added Clarity and Vibrance overall, Sharpen Landscape preset.
11/4/2009
Oaks Turn to Shine
We really have two fall foliage shows here in Southern Maine. First the maples turn in all their firey glory…and then, weeks later, when the last of the maple leaves are just clinging on, the oaks turn their rich copper brown and the forest and roadsides are filled with color again.
This is one of my two favorite vistas at Rachel Carson NWR, overlooking a bend in the Little River. This is higher than I generally frame it, but the oak leaves are as much the subject of the shot as the river and reflections. To me it all works together.
Sony DSC H50 at about 55mm equivalent for framing. F4.5 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
In Lightroom, slight recovery for the reflections in the water. Fill Light for the foliage in the foreground. Blackpoint just slightly right. Added Clarity and Vibrance and Sharpen Landscapes preset.
From Rachel Carson NWR Seasons.
11/1/2009
Facing the Day
Happy Sunday! and Happy November! Can you believe it?
After 1) birds, and 2) Lighthouse, and 3) Gingerbread houses, the thing I imaged most often in Cape May on this last trip was the dawn. I was staying right across from the beach, and it was easy to crack my curtains to check the progress of daylight and get caught by the dawn. There were two wonderful sunrises while I was there and both of them pulled me out of the room early.
Of course, I was not alone. There were always a number of dawn walkers ahead of me on the beach…or maybe beach walkers caught by the dawn as I was.
This couple were clearly caught: I suspect by the little flock of Sanderlings along the tide line. I zoomed in to 240mm equivalent to frame the shot, knowing I could crop slightly in software to finish the composition.
Sony DSC H50, as above, at 240mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/30th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto. The image stabilization of the H50 made this easy, even without a tripod…or perhaps just gave me the confidence to shoot it.
In Lightroom I applied a slight color temperature adjustment, Recovery for the sky, along with added Clarity and Vibrance. Very slight Fill Light for the foreground. Sharpen Landscapes preset. I experimented with graduated filter effects but ended up not using them on this shot.
From Cape May 10/09.
10/31/2009
Red Light (house) framed in Red
So, are we tired of this Lighthouse yet? Cape May Light. This time framed in red sumac leaves and twisted sumac branches. I knew this shot would need cropping in software once I got it home and planned it that way.
Sony DSC H50 at about 70mm equivalent for framing. F4 @ 1/125th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Cropped in Lightroom from the bottom. Recovery for the sky behind the light. Blackpoint to the right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscape preset.
From Cape May 10/09.
10/30/2009
Autumn Pond Full of Cloud
I photographed this pond at Lighthouse State Park in Cape May NJ two days before with moody cloud cover. This day there were still clouds, but the autumn sun transformed the scene. The reflected sky…with pond weed showing through…as well as the band of fall color separating the clouds from their reflections…there is a lot to look at in this image.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
A touch of Recovery in Lightroom for the clouds and reflections. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Blackpoint to the right. Sharpen Landscape preset. I used the selective HSL tool to increase the Luminance of the red-orange of the fall leaves to make them stand out more.
From Cape May 10/09.