Monthly Archives: May 2009
5/21/2009
House of the rising sun!
So, woke up this morning without a picture to my name. No. Not really. But I was inspired to get out before my shower to see what was happening, photographically speaking, in the yard. The early sun caught in the dandelion was irresistible. I tried a bunch of angles: high, low, with the sun, against the sun, etc. For this shot I came in almost as close as possible. 1/2 inch or so. Any closer and the forward reach of the globe went totally out of focus. Maneuvering the sun right behind the center mass of the seed globe and still catching the light in the umbrellas took a bit of trial and error, but this one works, I think.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide and macro. F5.6 @ 1/320th @ ISO 100. Programed auto. -.7 EV exposure compensation.
In Lightroom, lots of fill light for the stem and center, added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen. Some Recovery and blackpoint, and moved the exposure slider to the right slightly.
5/20/2009
Strawberry at the Path Edge
Strawberry likes waste ground…poor soil…gravel…the edges of paths and roads, sand. And, of course, sun and heat, which is often associated with such spots. Not surprising then to find it along the edge of the trail at Rachel Carson NWR. Brave and fresh, these blossoms are in their prime. The articulated LCD on the H50 gets me right down to eye level with the blooms, the macro setting gets me in to 1/2 inch, and the image stabalization saves the exposure at 1/40th of a second.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide and macro. F6.3 @ 1/40th @ ISO 100. Programed auto, -.7 EV exposure compensation.
Cropped from the top in Lightroom. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpened.
5/19/2009
Blue-bead Lily, from above
An alternative view of what I now know to be Blue-bead Lily (Clintonia borealis) at Rachel Carson NWR. I like the way the flower floats above the smooth curves of the leaves.
On the last two shots, I have gotten some advice over at one of the digital photography listserves I frequent. Some feel that the backgrounds are still too much in focus and detract from the flowers. Part of it is, they assert, the limitations of my equipment. The Sony DSC H50 is an advanced Point and Shoot and the assumption is that the small (tiny) sensor in these cameras makes for smaller lenses and smaller physical apertures which makes it difficult to produce a shallow enough depth of field.
Undoubtedly they will say the same of this. Of course, I am not trying for the traditional flower shot, with the flower isolated against a dark or completely blurry background. These are more enviornmental shots, intended to capture some of the context of the flower, with the background making a real contribution to the overall image. Not portrait of a flower, but flower in forest or flower in meadow, or flower in the world.
Whether or not they work for you that way, or meet your expectations of flower photography, is, of course, another question…and one I can not answer.
Sony DSC H50 at about 465mm equivalent. Macro. F6.3 @ 1/40th @ ISO 100. (The H50s image stabalization makes this kind of shot possible without a tripod.) Programed auto. -.7EV exposure compensation.
Cropped slightly for effect. Added Vibrance (very little, since it would have over amped the yellow), Clarity, and sharpen in Lightroom.
5/18/2009
Trout Lily (at least what they call Trout Lily in Maine)
This may, or may not, be Trout Lily. That is what I have always called it, but google turns up several different plants by that common name, and none of them are this one?? [ed. note: it is more commonly Blue-bead Lily (Clintonia borealis)] Anyway, it always blooms between the Trillium and Lady Slipper here in southern Maine, overlapping both. Because of the unique greenish yellow color, it is a difficult flower to photograph. The sensor wants to render it either too green or too yellow, and the subdued light of the overcast morning did not help. It took more than usual color adjustment in Lightroom to bring it back to reality.
Because of the down drooping flowers, it is an ideal candidate for the flip out LCD on the H50. You have to get really low to see it to full advantage. That low, care must be taken with the background, so that it does not overpower or overwhelm the flower itself.
I used Program Shift to select a smaller aperture for depth of field on the flower itself.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide and macro (taken from about 1/4 inch). F8.0 @ 1/40th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto. -.7 EV Exposure Compensation.
Besides the color adjustment (both temperature and tint), I added Clarity and Vibrance (very little vibrance to avoid bringing out the yellow too much), and sharpened in Lightroom. I used a graduated filter effect from the top to darken the background, and cropped a bit for composition.
From Rachel Carson NWR Seasons.
Trout Lily and Trillium
5/17/2009
Trillium (Bloodroot)
I atempted to get into the woods to look for Trillium on Friday morning in the sunshine, but the blackflies (state bird of Maine in May) drove me out. On Saturday morning, despite the general overcast, I armored myself in DEET and penetrated deep into Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge’s headquarters trails in search of early spring wildflowers. (May is early spring in Maine, as far as wildflowers go. And deep is a relative term…the whole trail system is just over a mile long, but it is a very good trail, from a photographic standpoint. I have a whole gallery of images taken there at various times of the year.)
Last year I missed the Trilliums altogether as the season was about 2 weeks advanced. This year I hit it just right, with the Trilliums newly bloomed and fresh, and the Trout Lily just coming on.
The light was still pretty dim in the forest, even at 9am, and the damp of the night’s rain had still not gone off, so the images are atmospheric and appropriate to the day.
For the trillium I used some exposure compensation on the H50 to keep the pure white of the petals from burning out against the dark leaves.
Once more, I am reminded how much I like the flip out LCD of the H50 for wildflower (and general macro) work. I am also reminded how much I have come to rely on the image stabalization. I simply don’t worry about show shutter speeds in situations like this where the subject is still. Without stabilization shots like this would require a tripod.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide and macro (taken at about 1/2 inch). F4.0 @1/80th @ ISO 100.
Just the basic added Vibrance and Clarity in Presence panel, and sharpen, in Lightroom. I moved the backpoint to the right to increase the intensity. Cropped slightly at the left to improve composition.
From Rachel Carson NWR Seasons.
Bonas shot: Pulled back to get the context and shot at the tel end of the zoom (about 300mm equivalent).
Trilliums
5/16/2009
Hard Flowers and Deep Bokeh
The husks of last year’s milkweed (I think) make a flower like presentation all through the marshy areas of Cape May. This cluster, isolated with the long end of the zoom, floating against the variegated green bokeh backdrop, makes for an interesting image.
Sony DSC H50 at 465mm equivalent. F4.5 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom, a bit of recovery for the highlights, added Clarity and Vibrance, and the Sharpen landscapes preset. Bumped up the contrast slightly as well.
From Cape May 2009.
5/15/2009
Lowdown on the Lighthouse
Where are the clouds when you need them? Of course this would be more dramatic with some detail in the sky…but it is what it is. Gotta love a Lighthouse. To compensate I chose the super low angle, actually dangling my camera below the level of the boardwalk and framing with the flip out LCD. I like the way the tree/grass line frames the lighthouse in an off center notch. Cropped at the top for better composition.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide. F5.6 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom I used a graduated filter effect to darken the sky and a second filter up from the bottom to increase foreground contrast for a more chiseled look. Added Clarity and Vibrance in the Presence panel. Landscape sharpen preset.
From Cape May 2009.
And here is what you have to do to get the shot if you do not have a flip out LCD. My friend Paul Hackett make the sacrifice for art.
Paul Hackett going the extra mile for art...
5/14/2009
Pond with Pollen
Lighthouse Pond on Cape May Point. Swirls of weed below the water and pollen on the surface provide foreground interest in this low angle shot of the pond. Sky reflections give the water further out an interesting texture. And I like the sculpted shapes of the trees along the far shore. Though this is clearly an suburban pond (no way to hid the houses all along the back side) it still has a wild feel (at least to me).
Sony DSC H50 at about 42mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/600 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom, I used a graduated filter effect from the top to darken the sky, increase contrast in the houses slightly, and bring out the wispy clouds…and then another gfe from the bottom to adjust exposure slightly and add Clarity and Contrast. My usual added Vibrance and Clarity in the Presence panel, and the Landscape sharpen preset.
From Cape May 2009.
5/13/2009
Hands Off!
While scouting for the World Series of Birding, driving the back streets of Cape May Point, along Lilly Pond, we came upon this fellow attempting to cross the road. Found a place to park the car and of course took some shots. We did try to encourage him out of the street, but he was not having our help (or interference). It was a quiet street had he was pretty safe, but the next day we found a crushed carcass along side a more traveled road, just to prove the danger of being a very large snapping turtle in the spring wander season.
Straightforward tel portrait. Minimal processing in Lightroom: Clarity, Vibrance, and Sharpen. A bit of added contrast.
Sony DSC H50 at about 400mm equivalent. F4.5 @ 1/400 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto. -.7 EV exposure compensation.
From Cape May 2009.
And for context, the video (taken with the Sanyo TH1, HD camcorder).
5/12/2009
Central Park Boathouse (with rock)
One last shot from my rainy morning stroll in Central Park. This might be a study in contrast…the massive rock ledge, the pillared upright architecture of the boathouse, and the ephemeral reflections in the morning still water…or it might be a study of shape and texture, again drawing out the varied surfaces and the geometry of the different components. Or it might be a study in the way light reacts in a wet world with the things it illuminates. In the end it is nothing more (or less) than a second of time, a particular angle, a juxtaposition of elements that caught my eye, and still catches it.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide. F4.0 @ 1/125 @ ISO 100. Programed auto. -.7 EV.
Minimal processing in Lightroom. Vibrance, Clarity, and Sharpen.
From Central Park.