Monthly Archives: November 2009
11/10/2009
Gulls in Sun Under Clouds
Sometimes the sun, as it sets, finds the crack between the cloud cover and the horizon (should there be one) and has one last shine. There is nothing that matches that particular light. This late afternoon in question I was shooting winter gulls on a little beach in Kennebunk when it happened, and the way the gulls lined the tide line standing on their own reflections in the wet sand, and the curve of the land out to see, and the lone house…and that subtle blush of sunset along the horizon.
Sony DSC H50 40mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Recovery for the sky in Lightroom (but not much), added Clarity and Vibrance. Blackpoint slightly right. Sharpen Landscape preset.
From Around Home Kennebunk ME.
11/9/2009
Rose Hips at Sunset
I previsualized this shot, walking back to the car from my late day, cloud’s-closing-in visit to the beach…but getting it right was not so easy. There were lots of rose hips, just at their best, and lots of beach, but finding the right combination proved more difficult. And then exposing the thing: that was a challenge.
Still, with a little help in Lightroom, it just about works.
Sony DSC H50 at just under 40mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/500th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
I took two exposures, one metered more for the sky and one more for the rose hips. When I got home, I actually chose the lighter of the two to work with as the hips were just too dark in the sky shot.
Recovery for the sky, Fill Light for the hips. Blackpoint slightly right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscape preset. I pulled a Graduated Filter effect down diagonally from the top left corner, ending just at the hips. I reduced Exposure and Brightness, and increased Contrast under the filter. Finally, I increased overall Exposure slightly and cropped from the top to eliminate some distracting elements on the right and improve overall composition.
From Around Home Kennebunk ME.
11/8/2009
Drawing Water over Parson's Marsh
Happy Sunday!
For full effect you should view this image larger than it is here. Click it and it will open in a new window. There are size controls at the top.
By the time I got out yesterday afternoon, we were rapidly loosing the light. Clouds were coming and we had an early sunset as they built in from the west. I always love the sun drawing water effect, and have caught it several times this fall. Must be something in the air.
Drawing water shots are, however, among the most difficult to expose. It is really a very delicate effect: obvious to the naked eye…but the eye has such a huge range of light sensitivity compared to any capture medium, and certainly compared to a digital sensor. It is just not possible to capture the scene the way it really looks.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 100. Programmed Auto, tipped up to meter the sky.
So you expose, as I did here, for the sun-rays, and everything else goes unnaturally dark. You can recover some of the natural look in post-processing with curves and levels and selective exposure compensation, but you never get quite there. Personally, I generally decide on the dramatic look…dark and intense…and then second think and go back for a more natural treatment, as I did here.
In Lightroom, I used two Graduated Filter effects, one from the bottom to lighten the foreground, and one from the top to darken the clouds and sky. I also applied a good deal of Fill Light to bring out some color in the marsh grasses in the mid-ground. Blackpoint just a touch right for intensity. Added Clarity and Vibrance for the drawing water effect. Sharpen Landscape preset.
From Around Home: Kennebunk ME.
11/7/2009
Flotsom: Oak afloat
Just enough cloud reflections in the water to make the surface interesting…and then the copper gold of the floating leaves and the extended pattern they make on the water. Cropped up from the bottom for composition.
Sony DSC H50 at about 60mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/80th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Very simple Lightroom work. A touch of recovery for the reflections. Blackpoint slightly right. Added Clarity and Vibrance and Sharpen Landscapes preset.
From Rachel Carson NWR Seasons.
11/6/2009
Deep Autumn on the Little River
Another not so easy exposure. I really wanted the wispy clouds in that very blue sky, so the foreground went dark. It took a Graduated Filter effect in Lightroom to bring it back up to where I am happy with it…but, oh, the sky!
I also cropped out some of the river in the foreground as it was too strong an element in the composition.
Sony DSC H50 at full wide (31mm equivalent). F5.6 @ 1/640th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto. I tipped the camera up to meter more of the sky and locked exposure before reframing for composition.
As mentioned above, Graduated Filter and cropped in Lightroom. The GF effect was pulled up from the bottom to cover about 2/3s of the image. Added 60 Exposure, and some Clarity and Contrast. Added Clarity and Vibrance overall, Sharpen Landscape preset.
11/5/2009
Copper and Old Gold
One of the benefits of this Pic of the Day project, for me, has been to force me out in all weathers and all seasons, around my local patch. I can mind a set of images from a trip to a more exotic location for just so long, and then I am out. That makes me take the camera and get outside, even if it means just another turn around the loop trail at Rachel Carson NWR two miles from my front door, or a walk on the beach at the end of our road.
And one of the results of this local exploration has been to make me much more aware of the unique New England light. I suppose the fact that I spend a lot of time, generally at least one trip a month, much further south adds to my awareness. The sun in southern Maine is always low in the sky. As winter comes on, the shadows never get short…and the light never cools.
This shot was taken just before 3PM, and already the light has that late day look. Which only adds to the cooper and gold display of the oak leaves. This is a pretty simple portrait of the colors. I simply looked for a cluster of sun-lit leaves that formed an interesting pattern and had an acceptably uncluttered background. This tree was growing down a steep bank at a deep bend in the Little River so I was at eye-level with the lower big branches and the best of the foliage…and the the bend opened out and curved back behind the tree so the nearest background was 200 yards away and in deeper shadow. That makes the sun-lit leaves stand out even more.
Sony DCS H50 at 300mm equivalent for framing and to put the background out of focus. F4.0 @ 1/60th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto. It is in shots like this that I am thankful for the H50s image stabilization.
Pretty basic processing in Lightroom. Blackpoint right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscape preset.
From Rachel Carson NWR Seasons.
11/4/2009
Oaks Turn to Shine
We really have two fall foliage shows here in Southern Maine. First the maples turn in all their firey glory…and then, weeks later, when the last of the maple leaves are just clinging on, the oaks turn their rich copper brown and the forest and roadsides are filled with color again.
This is one of my two favorite vistas at Rachel Carson NWR, overlooking a bend in the Little River. This is higher than I generally frame it, but the oak leaves are as much the subject of the shot as the river and reflections. To me it all works together.
Sony DSC H50 at about 55mm equivalent for framing. F4.5 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
In Lightroom, slight recovery for the reflections in the water. Fill Light for the foliage in the foreground. Blackpoint just slightly right. Added Clarity and Vibrance and Sharpen Landscapes preset.
From Rachel Carson NWR Seasons.
11/3/2009
Cape May Lighthouse over Water
This is, I am pretty sure, the last Pic of the Day from this year’s visit to Cape May…and, fittingly it would seem, it is another image of Cape May Lighthouse. This time I am far down the beach, just inside the dunes, looking back over one of the small ponds that from there. I found the sky interesting and exposed to keep all the detail in the clouds.
Sony DSC H50 at about 90mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/800th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Recovery for the sky in Lightroom. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Blackpoint just slightly right. Sharpen Landscapes preset.
The last from Cape May 10/09.
11/2/2009
Morning Marsh, Mackerel Sky, Drawing Water Sun
A very difficult image to expose and process. But who could resist the morning light, the pond, the sky, the reflections? One of the best parts of birding, as far as I am concerned is that it gets me out to places like this at times like this.
I am still not totally happy with the exposure on this image. I needed to catch the drawing water rays, so the foreground was way too dark. You can only do so much manipulation in software. This is a case where multiple exposures processed for HDR might have produced better results.
Still…it is what it is, and I think it catches the mood.
Sony DSC H50 at about 60mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto. Exposure read favoring the sky by tipping the camera up and locking exposure.
Heavy Recovery and Fill Light in Lightroom. Blackpoint slightly right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscape preset.
From Cape May 10/09.
Okay…had some time this am so I opened LightZone (for the first time in months) just to see what I could do with this difficult image with the tools there. This is maybe a bit over the top…processed for maximum drama. But it certainly is an alternative view.
As above: but with drama! LightZone treatment.
11/1/2009
Facing the Day
Happy Sunday! and Happy November! Can you believe it?
After 1) birds, and 2) Lighthouse, and 3) Gingerbread houses, the thing I imaged most often in Cape May on this last trip was the dawn. I was staying right across from the beach, and it was easy to crack my curtains to check the progress of daylight and get caught by the dawn. There were two wonderful sunrises while I was there and both of them pulled me out of the room early.
Of course, I was not alone. There were always a number of dawn walkers ahead of me on the beach…or maybe beach walkers caught by the dawn as I was.
This couple were clearly caught: I suspect by the little flock of Sanderlings along the tide line. I zoomed in to 240mm equivalent to frame the shot, knowing I could crop slightly in software to finish the composition.
Sony DSC H50, as above, at 240mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/30th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto. The image stabilization of the H50 made this easy, even without a tripod…or perhaps just gave me the confidence to shoot it.
In Lightroom I applied a slight color temperature adjustment, Recovery for the sky, along with added Clarity and Vibrance. Very slight Fill Light for the foreground. Sharpen Landscapes preset. I experimented with graduated filter effects but ended up not using them on this shot.
From Cape May 10/09.