Monthly Archives: June 2009
6/20/2009
The Bubbles over Jordan Pond
You may recognize this as essentially the same view of the Pond and Bubbles as we saw yesterday. (We will be spending some time around the pond the next few days as I work through the views from this trip.) This image was taken from the same spot as yesterday’s, but this time I zoomed in to about 100mm equivalent to show the detail of the interesting clouds behind the mountains, and to make it essentially a composition in blue and green. This is still a landscape, but more compressed. What it loses in majesty it gains in intensity. Or that’s the theory.
Sony DSC H50 at about 100mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/1000 @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
In Lightroom I applied Recovery for the sky, to bring out cloud detail and increase contrast between the blue and white. Recovery especially helps in cases like this, where you have layered clouds. Clarity and Vibrance also increased the molding of the clouds, and brought out more detail in the trees and the stone of the mountain. (Brought out…that is to say that the information is already there in the digital file. These manipulations do not add anything to the image, they simply adjust relative values to make what you are interested in more visible in the final image.) Landscape sharpen preset.
6/19/2009
Overlooking Jordan Pond from the Pond House Lawn
The Jordan Pond House in Acadia National Park is justly famous for two things: its popovers (gotta be eaten to be believed) and its view. Lunch or dinner on the Jordan Pond House lawn (seating for a hundred or more at tables with individual umbrellas), on any day when it is not actually raining, is, like the popovers, an experience not to be missed. Jordan Pond stretches away below the lawn and the blueberry patch and the Bubbles (two smallish mountains by Acadia standards…big rocks by western standards), rise up behind. Weather comes down the deep valley of Eagle Lake behind the Bubbles and makes for interesting skies. Scenic or what.
I have photographed the Pond and Bubbles in just about every light, at different times of year, but this is actually the first image I have taken from the vantage of the lawn. I was actually sitting on the ground a the edge of the lawn when something about the sky and the bit of weedy grass in the foreground just caught my attention this trip and I took 10 or more exposures at various heights above the ground (between on it, and a foot off it) in an attempt to capture the depth of the view. The low angle was also necessary because there were people continuously walking down a path that runs along the trees on the left, below this near horizon, and people on the path along the lake at the foot of the hill. This shot works for me. You will see some other treatments of this view in coming days.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide. F5.6 @ 1/500th @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
In Lightroom, I used Recovery for the sky, moved the blackpoint to the right slightly, and added both Clarity and Vibrance. I added a bit of contrast, and used the Landscape sharpen preset.
6/18/2009
Asctiou Garden's
Asctiou Gardens is an Azalea and Rhododendron garden, on the Japanese model, in Northeast Harbor, Mount Desert Island, Maine, near Acadia National Park. It was originally planted and landscaped by Charles Savage in the late 50s and has gone through several incarnations since. It is now managed and tended by the Mount Desert Land and Garden Preserve and a staff of volunteers. It is beautiful in any season, but it is stunning when the Azaleas and Rhododendron are in bloom. I have been on MDI three times in season, and each time have come away amazed. The variety of colors, the massed blossoms, the vibrancy of it all against the water features and delicate green lines of the carefully tended trees and landscape…it all just short of too much.
These are all pretty straitforward shots with minimal processing in Lightroom. I used both the macro extremes of the Sony DSC H50. Close in and tel, for contrasting effects. Close in for deep detail, tel for compression. (See Lupine Lessons: Point of View on Point and Shoot Landscape for more on using your zoom and macro to good effect.)
In this array of shots, each thumbnail links back to the lightbox view at Wide Eyed In Wonder (my SmugMug site).
And one final vision, where the bokeh is as vital as the flowers themselves.
6/17/2009
Margret Todd under the Guns of Bar Harbor
Another view of the sloop Margret Todd. End of a day of rain, with the storm just breaking on the horizon behind the islands of Bar Harbor. The guns are in the park above the Harbor.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide. F5.6 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
I had to crop out the guy who walked into the right side of the frame (I did not have time to take another shot as my family was rapidly disappearing around the first bend in the Shore Path), but in the end I think it actually improved composition. Recovery in Lightroom for the sky. Added Clarity and Vibrance (though in the subdued light it barely matters), and Landscape sharpen preset.
6/16/2009
Lupines in Close
Lupines are impressive plants. A little research yesterday turned up the fact that they are grown as a food crop, both for animal and human consumption, in many parts of the world. The beans have to be soaked in salt water for several days to remove toxins, but after soaking they are used in dishes in Germany, in particular, around the Mediterranean Sea and through the near-East. Native Americans in both North and South America harvested and ate the Lupine beans.
This close up shot shows the finer detail of the flower structure, which is often obscured in the view of the massed flowers.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide and macro. F5.0 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
Cropped slightly in Lightroom for composition. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Blackpoint moved right. Landscape sharpen preset.
From Mount Desert Island/Bar Harbor ME 2009.
And, one more shot to show the variety of colors in this patch.
Variety Lupine
6/15/2009
Lupines
Lupines. Perhaps my view is distorted by too much exposure to “The Lupine Lady”, one of my childrens’ favorite picture books, but I am always amazed by the display of lupines in Maine in June. There is one patch near my home that I have photographed just about every year.
This year I got my lupine fix on a trip to Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island near Bar Harbor ME. They were all along the highway on the way up, and I spent most of our only sunny day on MDI looking for the stand I wanted to photograph (among other things of course). They tend to favor waste ground…roadsides and disused fields, and I wanted a proper background. This was it (or at least as close as I got this year).
Sony DSC H50 at full wide. F4.5 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
In Lightroom, just my standard added Clarity and Vibrance and the Landscape sharpen preset. I also nudged the blackpoint over to the right slightly and cropped just a bit at the top.
From Mount Desert Island/Bar Harbor ME 2009
An alternative view
Lupines
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6/14/2009
Marie Todd Emerging
A three masted schooner set up to carry tourists around Frenchman’s Bay, the Mary Todd here emerging from the morning fog.
Sony DSC H50 at about 70mm equivalent. F7.1 @ 1/2000th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
There was a lot of morning light caught in that fog, and it took all the Recovery I had available in Lightroom to pull it back to show the visual effect of the morning. Added Clarity and Vibrance, and Landscape sharpen preset.
From Bar Harbor 08.
6/13/2009
The Bubbles over Jordan Pond
The Bubbles over Jordan Pond is a classic Acadia view. I have taken 30 or more shots from this spot over the years, each one distinctly different.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide. F5.6 @ 1/800th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
In Lightroom, just Recovery for the sky, added Clarity and Vibrance, and Landscape sharpen preset.
From Bar Harbor 08.
6/12/2009
The Bowl, Acadia National Park
I am in Acadia National Park for a few days, very likely without internet access, so I am preparing a few Pic of the Days drawing on my Acadia shots from last year about this time.
The Bowl is a small pond behind the Beehive.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide. F5.6 @ 1/500th @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
In Lightroom, recovery for the sky and just my basic Clarity, Vibrance and Sharpen.
From Bar Harbor 08.
6/11/2009
Prairie Lake with Storm
The North Dakota Prairie sometimes seems as much water as land. There are potholes, ponds, marshes, and fair sized lakes dotting the landscape wherever you look. This small lake is on the edge of Chase Lake NWR, again, on a day full of intermittent rain and glowering skies.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide. F5.6 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100. Programed Auto.
Dual graduated filters in Lightroom. From the top to darken the sky to its natural tone, and from the bottom to increase brightness and contrast. General Vibrance and Clarity and Landscape sharpen preset.