Long Level Rays and Reeds

Another from my brief outing last night with the new Canon. I was watching the sky as it turned toward sunset, but could find no appropriate vista. I finally resorted to zooming in and framing a bit of foreground against some of the better color effects. The Canon, with just a bit of help from Lightroom, did well in catching the subtitles.

Canon SX20IS at about 250mm equivalent. F5 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.

Recovery for the highlights in Lightroom. Blackpoint to the right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset.

From First Canon VA.

Ring-necked Ducks

There were many Ring-necked Ducks at Viera Wetlands when I visited last month, but they were mostly at the far range of the PhotoScope. It goes to 1800mm equivalent: 45x, but even that will not make a satisfying image of far ducks. Someday I would like to have enough time a Viera to just get out and sit on the bank long enough for the ducks and waders to get used to me being there. I suspect they would come in very close. As it is, this is my best shot of Ring-necks, taken at the full magnification of the instrument.

Zeiss PhotoScope 85FL at 45x (1800mm equivalent field of view). 1/490th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto (metered at approximately f6).

Added Clarity and Vibrance in Lightroom. Sharpen landscape preset.

From Latest Photoscoped.

President’s Day

A few years ago I spent three hot days in June in downtown Washington DC. The hotel was only a block off the mall, and even though I was in meetings all day, I got out two evenings and one morning for some photography. So, in honor of President’s day: a few from the Capital Mall.

All received the best treatment in Lightroom I could provide, given the persistent haze of a DC June. Nothing extraordinary. Fill Light and Blackpoint adjustments. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen. Some contrast adjustment. I tried adjusting the blue saturation and luminance to kill the haze but it did not work. So…

Heart of Rose

Happy Valentines Day and Happy Sunday! Happy Valentines to my valentine Carol.

From my back stock, going back to this past August, for a Valentines appropriate image. This is truly the heart of the rose. The lens of the H50 was physically inside the spread petals to take this close up of the essential parts. It is more a study in shape and color and detail than an image of a rose…but still a little something for Valentines…dedicated, course, to my valentine Carol.

Sony DSC H50 at 31mm equivalent and super macro. F3.5 @ 1/30th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.

It was a while ago, but as I remember, I had to use Fill Light to bring up the darker parts, Recovery for the highlights. I added Clarity and Vibrance and used the Sharpen landscape preset. This was before I started using the blackpoint adjustment regularly so I probably did not shift the blackpoint.

From Around the Yard: Kennebunk.

Grand Canyon from 30,000 Feet

Flying from Reno to Pheonix last month on a clear cold day, we passed over the Grand Canyon. This is just a Sanyo CG10 shot out the window of the plane, but it catches some of the scale of the canyon in a way you just don’t see from ground level.

Sanyo at about 100mm equivalent. F6 @ 1/560th @ ISO 50. Programmed auto.

In Lightroom I had to adjust both temperature and hue to eliminate the color shift of the plastic window. I shifted the Blackpoint to the right, added Clarity and Vibrance, and applied the Sharpen Landscape preset.

From AZ – In Flight.

Great Blue Tricolor in Late Light

A loop around Black Point Wildlife Drive, at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, at sunset is mandatory for any visit to the Space Coast. The light is fantastic, and the birds are coming in to night roosts, generally in open areas near the road, and are easy to photograph.

This Great Blue Tricolored Heron [got to pay more attention!] was irresistible. The mid range of the PhotoScope’s zoom (1000mm equivalent) was plenty for an intimate portrait.

Zeiss PhotoScope 85FL at 1000mm equivalent. 1/530th @ ISO 100. Metered at about f5. Programmed auto.

Added Clarity and Vibrance in Lightroom. Sharpen landscape preset. I actually needed to tone down the warmth of the light overall by adjusting color temperature, since it looked slightly “unnatural.”

From Latest PhotoScoped.

Hoodies!

Hooded Mergansers are my favorite ducks…hands down…bar none. There are lots of more colorful ducks, but none, to my eye, as elegant. Especially when the males are displaying, with the hood full and back. They are not easy to photograph at the best of times. The contrast range is just beyond most mediums. It certainly strains the limits of your average digital sensor.

This was taken at –.7EV to give the white hood a fighting chance. I then brought the whole image up a bit in Lightroom. Even so,  the white is right at the edge of burn.

Depth of field was just sufficinent for both the foreground male and the female. The background male was out of reach. The PhotoSocpe is essentially fixed aperture. You work with what you have.

Zeiss PhotoScope 85FL at 1600mm equivalent field of view (40x). 1/1400th @ ISO 100. Metered at approximately f5.6.

As mentioned, Fill Light in Lightroom to bring up the darks, added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Landscape preset.

From Latest Photoscoped.

Testing the Wind

Anhingas, like other members of their family, swim underwater, and lack the oils in the feathers that keep other birds dry. They get waterlogged. When they do, they have to dry themselves by sitting out, and, as in this case, stretching their wings to the wind. So this is more of a pose than it is arrested motion.

Zeiss PhotoScope 85 FL at about 1200mm equivalent. 1/750 @ ISO 100. Metered at about f5.2.

Added Clarity and Vibrance in Lightroom. Sharpen landscape preset.

From Latest PhotoScoped.

Rock and Ice

Detail shots like this depend on the impact of the closely observed patterns that are natural in nature. I take it as part of the essential definition of being human…this ability to make meaning of whatever we encounter…to see pattern in the scatter of rocks and ice on a beach. When you add the ability to appreciate the beauty in those patterns, then we approach our divine heritage. Or at least that’s what I think. 🙂

This is another sudo HDR effect, with highly emphasized details, created in LightZone. It is not so much real as hyper-real…an artistic as opposed to a realistic view. It is a subtle distinction, but one that easy to create in LightZone.

Sony DSC H50 at 220mm equivalent. F5 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.

In LightZone, I applied the Crisp look, and then adjusted for detail. I then used Relight and again adjusted for Detail. Sharpen. Local Contrast effect. Added Vibrance. All of this took only moments.

From Around Home, Kennebunk ME.

And here, for comparison, is the Lightroom version with my standard extened range processing using Fill Light, Blackpoint, Vibrance and Clarity.