Monthly Archives: January 2010
1/21/2010
Fog in the Valley, Snow on the Mountains, Sunrise, Vegas
A Twitter friend was apparently watching the weather channel and saw the report of a rare fog in Las Vegas and twittered me to ask if I was photographing it. I had not yet opened the drapes of my 18th floor room overlooking Vegas and a corner of the strip. When I did, the sun was just rising…the mountains behind Treasure Island were covered with snow and the valley was indeed filled with fog. I took many shots.
This one required a good deal of perspective and distortion correction in PhotoShop Elements using the Camera Distortion filter…after my normal processing in Lightroom: Blackpoint right, Fill Light, Clarity and Vibrance, and Sharpen Landscape.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F2.7 @ 1/20th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Not your usual view of Vegas.
From Las Vegas 2010.
1/20/2010
Palazzo Air Art
These balloony things are all over Vegas this season. I am not sure of the occasion, but they are certainly interesting eye-candy. This is the view out over the entrance foyer coming from the Venetian to the Palazzo from the second floor.
Below is the Registration foyer from the second floor looking out.
Interesting.
1st: Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F2.7 @ 1/40th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
2nd: Sony DSC H50 at about 90mm equivalent. F3.2 @ 1/100th @ ISO 320. Auto. (Auto was an accident on this shot. Sometimes I jog the dial when taking the camera from its case or putting it back in.).
Similar processing in Lightroom. Blackpoint right to taste. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscape preset.
From Las Vegas 2010.
1/19/2010
Eiffel Tower Vegas
There are few places in the world where you can walk from Venice and Rome, through Paris, to London, and then on to NY NY, all in the space of just a few blocks. Canals and gondolas, the Eiffel Tower, the Coliseum, the London Bridge and Coney Island, all packed cheek to jowl…and I am probably forgetting somewhere along the way in this kingdom of the imagination run while. Vegas is nothing if not the pillar of excess.
Interesting clouds and the framing trees in front of the Billiago make this a classic shot of the Vegas Eiffel Tower.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Blackpoint to the right, along with some Fill Light to extend the range of tones in both directions. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscapes preset.
From Las Vegas 2010.
1/18/2010
Trump
I am in Vegas for business (the Shooting Hunting Outdoors Sports Show). I had a few hours this afternoon between meetings so I went out looking for images. Vegas is just not my kind of place, but I found that if you kind of turn your mind sideways and shut off a few moral sensors there is a kind of beauty here. This was taken from my window on the 18th floor of the Pilazzo near sunset yesterday.
I have tweaked it somewhat with rotation tools to get the Trump Tower to look upright. What I like about the shot is the contrast between the gold caught in the windows of the tower and the blue tones of the sky.
Sanyo VPC GG10 at 62mm equivalent. F3.6 @ 1/100th @ ISO 100.
Blackpoint to the right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscape preset.
From Las Vegas 2010.
1/17/2010
Merriland River Massh
Looking out over the Merriland River marsh to the sea from on of my favorite vistas at Rachel Carson NWR. I have lots of shots from here but I have generally called it the Little River Marsh. I just found out that the river in the foreground is the Merriland…it joins the Little near the point of trees jutting out o the left.
This was a very difficult shot to expose. I ended up with just a straight Programmed Auto exposure and some heavy work in Lightroom.
Fill Light for the trees, which otherwise were dark going on black, Recovery for the snow field and sky, added Clarity and Vibrance, and Sharpen Landscape preset. Pretty much standard processing. but more of everything, beginning with Fill Light.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100.
From Rachel Carson Seasons.
1/16/2010
Sunny Icy River
There is a great range of tones here, from the brilliant white of the snow in the sun to the dark, almost black, shadows under the trees. Just the range of blues alone is daunting. Still it is an image worth working for, and that tonal range is, of course, part of the attraction…not as a technical matter but as an esthetic.
We are at the junction of the Merriland and Little Rivers in Rachel Carson NWR. This is another vista that I shoot a lot, in all seasons. I really like how the heavier ice on the Merriland (less salt mixed with the fresh water) is pushing its way out toward the sea.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F4.5 @ 1/2500 @ ISO 100. Programmed auto with –.7EV exposure compensation.
Recovery in Lightroom for the snow highlights. Fill Light for the shdows and colors. Blackpoint to the right for intensity. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscape preset.
1/15/2010
Winter on the Tidal Marsh (Little River)
Another shot of the Little River Marsh at Rachel Carson NWR, this one catching the curve of the stream headed out toward the sea in the distance. The foreground is what happens when a mix of sea water and fresh covers marsh which is already covered in snow. The textures there, and the mix of browns against the snowy background, adds interest to the foreground and balances the curve of the river and the weight of that big blue winter sky.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F4.5 @ 1/2000 @ ISO 100. Programmed auto with –.7EV exposure compensation.
Recovery in Lightroom for the snow highlights. Blackpoint to the right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscape preset.
1/14/2010
Thin Ice…
The sea ice (salt water ice, or ice that forms as a thin layer over salt water where salt and fresh mix) always interests me. At Rachel Carson NWR, along the Little River, which is tidal, you see it in all its variety. Add that to our high tide fluctuations and you get some interesting effects. Here a very fragile, very thin layer of ice dropped over this tiny headland as the river fell, then broke open to reveal the grasses beneath. The contast between the white and texture of the snow and the brown water, with its own very thin layer of ice, adds to the image. Finally, I just had to frame what I liked for composition.
Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent. F4.5 @ 1/1000 @ ISO 100. Programmed auto with –.7EV exposure compensation.
Recovery in Lightroom for the snow. Fill Light for the water. Blackpoint to the right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscape preset.
1/13/2010
Little River in Winter Sun
We switch now from the series taken while it was snowing to pics taken several days later when we got our first real sun. Sun on snow is a whole other story. For more on the exposure and post-processing challenges, you might want to visit Shooting Snow on Point & Shoot Landscape.
The Little River flows through the Headquarters section of Rachel Carson NWR. This is one of those classic views of the river that I have taken in all weathers and in all lights, and that I will, I am sure, continue to photograph as along as I live in Kennebunk. Winter light across the snow. Winter light and color caught in the water. The green of the evergreens showing at its best. Classic. Zoomed in a bit for effective framing.
Sony DSC H50 at about 60mm equivalent. F5.0 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto with –.7 EV exposure compensation.
I was experimenting with EV compensation for the snow. This shot was underexposed .7EV. Some Recovery in Lightroom for the snow. Fill light for the colors. Blackpoint to the right. Added Clarity and Vibrance (Vibrance really brought up the color in the water). Sharpen Landscape preset.
1/12/2010
Winter Mosuam
Roger’s Pond Park in Kennebunk is just a little patch beside the river Mousam where there is a town owned skating pond, but it provides about the only easy, public access to the river in a 20 mile stretch. It is a favorite fishing spot too. This day there was a casting derby going on up at the north end of the park. I take a lot of pictures there. It had just about stopped snowing for the moment (another squall came as I was about to leave). I love the silvery color of the water in winter…and in this shot there is just enough color in the evergreens and the few leaves clinging on from fall to offset the blanket of clinging snow.
Sony DCS H50 at about 100mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/320th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Blackpoint right in Lightroom. Added Fill Light to bring up the color. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscapes preset.