Monthly Archives: September 2009
9/10/2009
Deep Forest Green
Sometimes it is mostly about color…color enhanced by contrast in this case. The green of forest moss is always intense enough to almost provide a subject in itself, but here, in contrast to the exposed rust of the broken log and the more subtle browns of the fallen leaves, it really catches the eye. Add the rock in the foreground for accent, and put the log across the frame as a strong diagonal (connecting rule of third horizons) and you have, to my eye, an interesting image. To frame it this way, I used the flip-out LCD of the H50 and held the camera about at knee level.
Sony DSC H50 at about 45mm equivalent. F2.8 @ 1/50th @ ISO 200. Programed auto. -1EV exposure compensation to hold the highlights in the forest background.
Even so, Recovery in Lightroom for those same highlights. A touch of Fill Light and Blackpoint to the right for intensity. Added Vibrance and Clarity in the Presence panel. Sharpen landscape preset.
From Rachel Carson Seasons.
9/9/2009
Garter Snake
One of the most common snakes in the northeast, everywhere from forests to front lawns. This one was not very cooperative…slithering through the underbrush with always something between my lens and its eye. I took maybe 10 exposures in the two minutes it was visible at all, and this is the only keeper. The exif data tell the whole story. Max f-stop for the focal length. ISO 400 already, and only 1/15th second. What did I expect? Still, for a grab shot “quick, before he gets away”, it is not so bad.
Sony DSC H50 at full tele: 465mm equivalent. F4.5 @ 1/15th @ ISO 400. Programed auto.
Cropped (from bottom and top to place the snake on the rule of thirds line) and sharpened in Lightroom. Added Clarity and Vibrance.
From Rachel Carson Seasons.
9/8/2009
Curve of Living Water
I have photographed this curve of the Little River hundreds of times. There is a little observation deck there built out over the edge of the marsh at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. Of course it is never the same twice. The light, the sky and clouds, the exact colors of the marsh grasses day to day, the reflective quality of the river water…not to mention the state of the tide…it all changes constantly. So every image is different.
What does not change is the classic “s” curve of the river through the marsh.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide (31mm equivalent). F5.6 @ 1/800th @ ISO 100. Programed auto. -1EV exposure compensation.
Recovery for the sky in Lightroom. Added Vibrance and Clarity in the Presence panel. Blackpoint slightly to the right. Sharpen landscape preset.
From Rachel Carson Seasons.
9/7/2009
Green
Happy Labor Day!
Do you ever get the feeling “it is time to make an image”? No particular reason, and you don’t really feel like going anywhere photogenic, but it is time to find something to take a picture of? That feeling?
It hit the other day. So I took a walk around the yard to see what I could find.
Thinking about it, it is not really your shutter finger that is itchy…it is your eye…you photographic eye…the eye that sees images. If you don’t exercise it it regularly you begin to feel the need. It was not that I went out looking for an image: I went out to look for an image. It is the looking that matters…or at least, that matters as much as the image itself.
So, there were these tomatoes…green tomatoes…and the light was doing good things with them. I took a series of shots. I like this one.
The whole process took about 15 minutes. I went out. Didn’t go anywhere really. Just the yard. Exercised my eye. Came back feeling a whole lot better.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide and macro. F2.7 @ 1/60th @ ISO 100. Programed auto. -.7EV exposure compensation.
Even with the -.7EV I used Recovery in Lightroom for the highlights. Moved the blackpoint right. Added Clarity and Vibrance in the Presence panel. Sharpen landscapes preset.
From The Yard.
9/6/2009
Tree Abstraction
Happy Sunday!
I have been back from England for a week more or less…but this is the first image from home. Rachel Carson NWR and the little 1 mile trail there never fails. It was late in the day and it is getting late in the season. I was surprised, when processing these images, to see how low the light levels really were. I guess summer really is over here in Maine.
This is just light on bark and lichen, but it builds an interesting image: a found abstraction. Lots of texture and detail, and yet a strong simple form.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F2.7 @ 1/60th @ ISO 100. Programed auto. -1EV exposure compensation.
Simple added Clarity and Vibrance in Lightroom. Blackpoint to the right. A bit of Fill Light. Sharpen landscape preset.
From Rachel Carson Seasons.
9/5/2009
Late Light Across Rutland Water
Being limited to the early evening all my shots of Rutland Water (Leichestershire UK) share a similar light. This was not taken on the same day as the sheep shots, and you can see it was a bit later. Could not resist the view though. This is a mild telephoto shot, and the perspective is flattened by the lens setting, and you can see the effects of the atmosphere (never completely free of moisture in England) between me and the lake.
Sony DSC H50 at about 120mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/500 @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
From Rutland Water.
9/4/2009
Rutland Water with Sky!
A brooding sky over Rutland Water. This one is all about atmosphere. Raining on and off. Dark earth, dark water, dark sky.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
Recovery in Lightroom for the sky. Punch and Sharpen Landscape presets. Blackpoint to the right.
From Rutand Water.
9/3/2009
Late Light and Sheep along Rutland Water
We leave the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, and 2005 for that matter, but we stay in England. While at the British Birding Fair this year, I had precious little time for anything non-work related, but I did get out for an hour or so between the close of the fair and gathering for dinner each day…when the English light is liquid and flows over the landscape like honey.
Okay, a bit much…but it is special light, and when, as on this early evening, the sheep are out on the shore and the clouds are piled over the hills, and the water is blue in the mid-ground it is irresistible. I took way too many pics.
Sony DSC H50 at about 60mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/320th @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
Punch and Sharpen landscape presets in Lightroom. Blackpoint just to the right.
From Rutland Water.
9/2/2009
Morning Walk: Carol at the Farmhouse B&B on our last morning.
Our last morning above Kendal at the farmhouse B&B. We moved that day down to Rutland Water in Leicestershire, and the Barnsdale Hall Resort, for a few days at the British Birding Fair (where I was on-duty at the Zeiss booth).
I like the colors and textures and angles of this shot.
Minolta A1 at about 32mm equivalent. F3.5 @ 1/60 @ ISO 100. Programed auto.
Punch and Sharpen landscape presets in Lightroom.
And that is, for now, the last of the shots from our 2005 trip to the Lakes and Dales.
9/1/2009
Carol in Dent
Dent is known for the “Terrible Knitters of Dent” who, back in the early 1800s turned out terrible quantities of hand knit socks, underwear, and other knit wool garments. The vision is of the whole population of Dent sitting out in chairs, young and old, up and down streets, dawn to dusk, with baskets of wool at their feet, and knit, knit, knit.
Today it is a sleepy tourist town, well off the beaten path (see yesterday’s pic), deep in the Dales. It caters to fishermen and trekkers. The streets are so narrow I have no idea how two cars meet. We made it through town to the parking on the far side without meeting anyone…and back out in the evening as well. That kind of town. It sets up on a ledge overlooking one of the most beautiful valleys in England, so picturesque it makes your shutter finger itch. Public paths extend out from the village in all directions. We hiked a half a day loop up river and down and back to the town. We did not see a single person the whole time we hiked. Peaceful isn’t even in it, as they might say in Dent.
This is the main street between the Church yard and the Post Office. The Church now doubles as a kind of local museum where you can find out all about the Terrible Knitters.
Minolta A1 at 28mm equivalent. F8.0 @ 1/640 @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Just Punch and Sharpen landscape in Lightroom. Blackpoint to the right slightly.
And to round out the experience, here is a bit of the Church Yard.
Church Yard and Bell Tower Museum