Monthly Archives: May 2009
5/11/2009
Abstract Tree
The wet and the rainy day light deepened the saturation of all colors, especially the greens, making this tree bard into a living abstract. Underexposed slightly (-1.3 EV exposure compensation) for effect, and then brought back up selectively in Lightroom. Cropped slightly in the right to improve composition.
Sony DSC H50 at about 80mm equivalent. F3.2 @ 1/100 @ ISO 200. Programed Auto, -1.3 EV exposure compensation.
As above in Lightroom. Added Clarity and Vibrance in Presence panel. Landscape sharpen preset.
From Central Park.
5/10/2009
Along by the Boathouse, Central Park
Another shot from my brief photo time in Central Park, NYC, on a rainy morning. Just shapes really, and light, emphasized by the tight crop.
Sony DSC H50 at about 150 mm equivalent. F3.5 @ 1/125 @ ISO 200. Programed Auto.
Minimal processing in Lr beyond the crop. Vibrance, Clarity, Sharpen.
From Central Park.
Bonus shot:
A slightly different view, using the telephoto end of the zoom to crop in tighter.
Tighter on the Boats
5/8/2009
Bench with Petals
Yes, I missed yesterday due to travel (really quite as bad as it sounds). But I am back.
Yesterday started with a rainy cab ride across Manhattan to the Central Park Boathouse where I was involved in an event for work. The rain persisted as a general gray dampness, dreary morning kind of thing, but during the event I was able to slip away for a few moments to explore the area around the lakes and the Ramble. And wouldn’t you know, Central Park has its charms, even on a rainy morning.
I am thinking these are flowering plum petals, which had fallen in drifts in the rain. These few had found a resting spot on a well tended park bench for a pleasing composition. The light was pretty dim and the H50 was pushed to ISO 400…but the amount of detain in the image does a good job of masking high ISO noise.
Sony DSC H50 at about 325mm equivalent (for framing). F4.0 @ 1/100th @ ISO 400. Programed Auto, -1.3 EV exposure compensation to hold detail in the petals against the dark wood.
In Lightroom, I applied just a little Recovery for highlights in the petals and raindrops. Clarity and Vibrance in the Presence panel. Landscape sharpen preset. I cropped down from the top of the image slightly to improve composition.
From Central Park.
5/6/2009
The Other Prickly Pear
Prickly Pear comes in at least 2 colors in Texas, yesterday’s yellow and today’s red. The exposure problem is the same: keeping the predominant color from burning out. Same solution. -1.3 EV exposure compensation, and restore exposure in Lightroom to desired effect.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide and macro. F4.5 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto with -1.3 EV.
Cropped from the right. Added Clarity and Vibrance in Lightroom. Landscape sharpen preset.
From Corpus Christi ABA.
5/5/2009
Prickly Pear
Prickly Pear cactus in bloom, near Kingsville TX. The challenge with PPC is always keeping the yellow from over saturating the sensor and clipping, so that you lose all detail in the highlights. For this quick shot while birding, I used -1.3 EV exposure compensation and then pulled exposure back up in Lr to get the effect I wanted, and maintain the full rich detail in the flower petals.
Also in Lr I cropped in from the left to improve comp0sition.
Sony DSC H50 full wide and macro. F5.6 @ 1/1000 @ ISO 100. Programed Auto with -1.3 EV compensation.
Added Exposure in Lightroom, Vibrance and Clarity. Landscape sharpen preset.
From Corpus Christi ABA.
5/4/2009
Night Carnaval Corpus Christi
They put me on the 17th floor of the Omni Hotel on the waterfront in Corpus Christi for the ABA Convention. This is the view from the balcony. This is apparently a permanent carnival.
Image Stabilization and ISO 400. I used negative exposure compensation to save the bright lights. Cropped and pumped up the Saturation and Vibrance in Lr.
Sony DSC H50 at about 120mm equivalent. F3.5 @ 1/30th @ ISO 400. Programed Auto. -1.3 EV exposure compensation.
From Corpus Christi ABA.
5/3/2009
Short Story without Words
Sony DSC N1 through the eyepiece of a Zeiss Diascope 85FL. Minimal processing beyond crop and assembly.
From St. Augustine FL.
5/2/2009
Shell Brook
South of St. Augustine, the white Florida sand is mixed with crushed shells. The Atlantic is a much more vigorous shell crusher than the Gulf of Mexico. Where rock outcroppings occur, as here, the shells heap up and form interesting patterns. Streams. Brooks. Little oceans of shell.
Taken from beach level using the fold out LCD panel on the H50.
Sony DSC H50 at about 36mm equivalent. F8.0 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
Because of the range of light and dark here, I used a considerable amount of Fill Light in Lr. Standard Clarity and Vibrance for the H50, Landscape sharpen preset.
From St. Augustine FL.
5/1/2009
Wood Stork Chicks
Wood Storks are beautiful in flight, and from a distance. The are majestic at all times. But there is only one time in their life, a very brief window, when they can be said to be cute. Between really ugly chicks, and ungainly ugly fledglings they have a few weeks as downy juveniles when they are actually attractive…as this portrait attests. At least to my eye. Cute.
Sony DSC N1 through the eyepiece of a Zeiss Diascope 85FL spotting scope for an equivalent focal length of about 3000mm. 1/200th @ ISO 64. Programed Auto. F-stop determined by scope, probably in the F12 range.
Minimal Lr processing (just Clarity, Vibrance, and Sharpen).
From St. Augustine FL.