Monthly Archives: March 2009
3/21/2009
Loch View
A little loch on South Uist. The mountain dominated the skyline to the east, and we spent some time looking for a spot to get off the road. (Roads on the Hebrides are one lane with passing pullouts every 1/4 mile or so. Casual stopping is not possible.) We finally found a little dirt road that lead up a hill sharply and pulled in. Scrambling out of the car and up to the brow of the hill there was the loch, totally hidden from the road, and making a wonderful foreground for the mountain.
Now you do need to understand that the road lead to what amounted to an unofficial rubbish tip (as my UK friends would say), and immediately behind and below the flowers in the foreground a landscape of broken furniture and discarded household implements, various car parts, etc. took up the immediate view. I was squatting in a discarded tire to take this shot, kind of balanced on the lip of the tip, so to speak, in a vary precarious and unstable location. I had to work fast. I got off three shots from low down, trying to frame the mountain, get a bit of the loch for effect, maintain sufficient (barely) depth of field, and not get any rubbish in the view. Not easy.
For this shot I used Program Shift on the H50, which allowed me to shift to my smallest aperture (only F8, unfortunately) without losing automation. As I say, the depth of field could have been a bit more, but we do what we can, and it is still a satisfying image. I gave up perfect focus on the mountain to keep the flowers sharp.
Sony DSC H50 at at full wide (31mm equivalent). F8.0 @ 1/160th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto with program shift.
In Lightroom, I used a graduated filter to decrease exposure and add sharpen in the sky and the upper reaches of the mountain. Fill Light pulled up the foreground. Vibrance and Clarity overall, and the global Landscape sharpen preset.
From Scotland.
3/20/2009
Barra from the Erriskay Causeway
Until fairly recently the only way to get from South Uist to Erriskay was by boat across the narrow strait. Now you can drive. The view in either direction is nothing short of spectacular. To the west and south you have the sound of Barra and the island beyond. To the east and north across the blue-green water (more green than blue) you have the apparently unnamed mountains at the south end of South Uist (I am certain they have names, but they are not on any map I could find). I have found since that the color of the water, here and elsewhere it is found, is the result of a white sand bottom reflecting sunlight back.
Sony DSC H50 full wide (31mm equivalent). F6.3 @ 1/1000 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom, some Recovery for the sky, Vibrance and Clarity in the Presence panel, and Sharpen landscape preset. Recently I went back and added a graduated filter from the top, covering down just below the edge of the beach to lower the exposure of the sky…and added a touch of Fill Light to open the shadows.
From Scotland.
And the view in the other direction.
South Uist from the Erriskay Causeway
3/19/9009
Flowers of the Machair
The Machair is the region just behind the dunes on the Hebrides: traditionally the richest farming land, and site of the original permanent settlements in the islands. In season it is an amazing spread of wildflowers.
I cropped this shot in tight, to capture just the mass of the display of sunflowers. You can just see Ben More through them along the skyline. Shot low to the ground, using the swing out LCD on the H50, and close in, using the mid range of the zoom to compress the scene slightly.
Sony DSC H50 at about 80mm equivalent. F5.0 @ 1/250 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom, besides the cropping (necessary both for effect and to eliminate some distracting weeds in the bottom of the frame), I used my standard Presence settings (added Vibrance and Clarity) and Landscape sharpen.
From Scotland.
And one bonus shot. Another Machair flower view.
On the Machair
(You might note the change in venue here: all my sites are migrating to my lightshedder.com address. Your older links will continue to work.)
3/18/2009
Dooryard: the Hebrides
Standing just outside the door of our B&B on North Uist in the Hebrides. Flora MacDonald, in her 80s, runs it, makes yarn and dies it with native plants, knits and weaves, makes paper from lichen, writes books, and teaches Gaelic. Amazing woman. And this is her view, her garden, and her “wee sheddie” (her studio). Ben More on South Uist looms on the horizon, providing, with the sky, contrast to the homey foreground.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide (31mm equivalent). F4.5 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom I used a graduated filter to deepen the sky. Vibrance and Clarity in the Presence panel, and the Landscape sharpen preset. I moved the black point slightly to the right.
From Scotland.
And here is Flora:
Flora MacDonald: B&B keeper, etc.
3/17/2009
Dawn: Hebrides
Back to Scotland for a time. Dawn from the yard at the our B&B on North Uist in the Hebrides.
The sky dominated the landscape, but the landscape itself holds interest, with the lochs in the midground and the tiny flowers in the grass in the foreground.
Exposure was particularly difficult as all the light was in the sky, and exposing for the sky left the foreground very dark. This is a shot that requires previsualization of the what can be done in postprocessing (and what can not). Only recently, months after my first attempts, have I leaned the tricks in Lightroom that get me close to what I saw while standing there.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide (31mm equivalent). F4.0 @ 1/60th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom I used three graduated filters. One down from the top to darken and intesify the sky. One up from the bottom to lighten the foreground and increase both global and local contrast. One in the center to intensify the dawn colors. Plus some Fill light to bring the foreground up even more and global adjustments for Vibrance and Clarity. Sharpen landscape preset.
From Scotland.
3/16/2009
On Deck
You can always see larger versions of the image by clicking anywhere in it to go to the Smugmug page.
On the waterfront in downtown San Diego at sunset. Planes on the deck of the Midway in the foreground, the SD skyline in the back. The light is, of course, the subject here as much as the buildings, but it is also about the shapes and the way they fill the frame. This is where the long zoom range of the Super-zoom cameras shows its real worth. From where I stood at the end of the Fish Market point, near the bow of the Midway, I had an all but infinite range of perspectives to choose for the shot, just by pressing the zoom button.
This shot (Sony DSC H50) was taken at just about 100mm equivalent, to catch some of the color of the planes on deck and put the buildings up fairly large against the sky. F4.0 @ 1/400 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom I applied a little Recovery for the sky, some Vibrance and Clarity in the Presence panel, and the Landscape sharpen preset. I also added some Fill Light to show detail in the shadows under the deck.
I considered cropping it tighter, removing the all but the top of what appears to be a parking garage and the hull of the boat below the deck, but, I decided that when viewed large, the delicate tracings of the tree against the building in the lower left are worth keeping.
From San Diego 2009.
3/15/2009
Three (click image for different sizes)
Interesting light, interesting patterns in the water and an interesting arrangement of birds. The zoom on the H50 reaches out to frame it.
Taken at the mouth of the San Diego River (flood control channel), an excellent place to see a wide variety of water birds in San Diego.
Exposing for the water meant that the backs of the birds, in full sun, is slightly blown, but since it is the pattern that is of interest, I can live with that.
Sony DSC H50 at 400mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/640th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
Recovery in Lightroom, which adds transparency to the water almost as a polarizer would, and some fill light to lighten the shadows on the birds. Normal Presence settings (added Clarity and Vibrance). Sharpen landscape preset.
From San Diego 2009.
3/14/2009
Into the Sun (click image for other size views)
Shooting directly into the sun near sunset often produces interesting effects. In this case the golden look over the stark shapes at the edge of the Marina in Mission Bay California. It looks as though I toned the image, but I did not. It is simply an effect of the lighting and the tight cropping of the fairly long zoom setting.
What caught my eye was the repeating shapes of the catwalks leading down to the docks and the way the sun was catching them.
Sony DSC H50 at about 250mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/2000 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
From San Diego 2009
3/13/2009
Pepper Tree
Pepper trees, though a non-native, are a prominent feature of the landscape in and around San Diego in the spring. They grow tall and the spectacular display of bright red flowers in February and March is something to see. It certainly adds to the semi-tropical look. Pepper trees above and Bird of Paradise plants (of all sizes) below.
This cluster of late blooms hung just in reach of the longest zoom setting on my H50. Because of the long zoom, however, the bokeh is almost as interesting as the flowers themselves: certainly it sets off the massed red well.
In Lightroom, I used my normal Vibrance and Clarity boost, but also some fill light (the flowers were on the shaded side of the tree). Portrait sharpen preset. I also cropped in a bit tighter, eliminating most of a distracting branch on the left.
Sony DSC H50 at full tel (465mm equivalent). F4.5 @ 1/320th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
From San Diego 2009.
3/12/2009
Redtailed Hawk on Cabrillo Mounment
This is a resident Redtail at Cabrillo National Monument. I see it there most trips. It must have a nest at the point, though I have not yet found it. This is the first time, however, that I have seen it perched on the actual monument. It landed there in full view of a dozen tourists (me among them) and sat there long enough for me to travel several hundred yards to reach the base of the mounment, and then at least 10 minutes more while I took shots from every angle. (Along with the rest of the tourists.)
Sony DSC H50 at full tel (465mm equivalent). F5.6 @ 1/500 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom I added some fill light to bring up the eyes. Normal Vibrance and Clarity and Portrait sharpen preset.
From San Diego 2009.
And here is another view to give you the context.
Like Patience on her monument...