Monthly Archives: May 2010
5/21/2010
A Little Reflected Sky
This is the Little River, and the sky is well reflected, hence: A Little Reflected Sky.
If you follow my posts here you might recognize the view, from the observation deck on the back side of the trail loop at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. I have many images captured from this deck and of this view…no two alike. The tide here was full and the river brim. There is a bit of ripple on the water from the wind, but not enough to really disturb the reflection. I tried the shot with more or less reflection, and more or less sky. I like this version, but others might prefer the more sky shot below.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/640th @ ISO 80. Landscape program. This is one of those rare shots that did not require any fancy metering or exposure tricks. The Landscape program gave pretty close to the ideal balance between sky and foreground.
In Lightroom, a bit of Recovery to bring out detail in the reflected clouds and deepen the sky. A touch of Fill Light. Blackpoint to the right. Added Clarity and just a smidge of Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset.
From Rachel Carsons NWR Seasons.
And, as promised, the more sky view.
5/20/2010
Found Still Life
Another shot grabbed in passing during the rush of the World Series of Birding. Grabbed is, of course, an misnomer. There is a state you get too in your photography where a lot can happen in the second it takes to frame and shoot. A whole set of complex decisions are compressed so tightly that it feels like instinct or reflex. See photo, shoot photo. Move on. It can happen in a second, and in the middle of doing something else altogether…like documenting the World Series of Birding. 🙂
I liked the big leaves. I liked the yellow flowers. Then I saw them against the fallen log with the vines. I saw what the light was doing. I stepped off the side of the camp road, zoomed in a bit for framing, and shot.
Canon SX20IS at 112mm equivalent. F4.5 @ 1/13th @ ISO 200. Landscape program.
In Lighroom, a touch of Fill Light and Blackpoint just right. Added Clarity and a very small amount of Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset.
5/19/2010
Early Light: Highpoint
During the chase of Team Zeiss for the World Series of Birding we made stops in some of the most beautiful country in New Jersey, and, though I was focused on documenting the Team’s efforts for the day, I was not totally insensitive to the beauty…and since I was not actually competing, I could turn my camera away from the team for a quick landscape, or even a flower shot, or two.
This is somewhere in the Highpoint/Stokes area in the far north-west of the state. The sun was just glancing across the landscape from the horizon. It does not get better than this.
It was a very demanding exposure problem. I tipped the camera up to meter more of the sky and locked exposure. That left the foreground too dark, but I was able to recover the detail in Lightroom. This image will repay viewing as large as you monitor will take it.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/200th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
In Lightroom, Recovery for the sky. Heavy Fill Light for the foreground. Blackpoint well right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset.
5/18/2010
House Wren with Ambitions
On a scouting day for the World Series of Birding there is time for some digiscoping. This House Wren was attempting to lay claim to a nest box on the trail behind the Hawk Watch at Lighthouse State Park in Cape May, NJ. I watched for 30 minutes or more, as it was petty amusing to see the wren attempt to get those twigs through the small hole in the nest box. Eventually, however, a Tree Swallow preempted the box by the simple tactic of sitting in the hole, completely blocking it.
Canon SD1400IS Digital Elph behind the eyepiece of a Zeiss Diascope 65FL for an equivalent focal length of about 2000mm. Exif reads f3.5 @ 1/100th @ ISO 80. Programed auto. Computed f-stop, based on the camera/scope combination was f5.5.
In Lightroom, Recovery for the bright cheek patch, a bit of Fill Light and Blackpoint to the right, added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset. Cropped slightly form the right. I used a Local Editing Brush in Lightroom to further reduce the brightness of the cheek.
And here is a shot pulled back to see both birds at the box, this one at about 1000mm equivalent. The camera was at the same zoom setting, and I zoomed out using the scope zoom.
And here is a bit of video of the “trials of wren”. 🙂
5/17/2010
Fly-fishing in First Light
We reached the Highpoint/Stokes Recreation Area soon after dawn in our World Series of Birding run on Saturday. One of the advantages of only being there to document the effort is that I had time (and attention) to spare for things without wings…like this angler in a pond in the early light. Zooming in, I as able to catch the arc of the line as he cast. This will repay a view at larger sizes on WideEyedInWonder (click the image for the link, and use the size controls at the top of the window to resize for your monitor).
Canon SX20IS at about 280mm equivalent. F5.0 @ 1/400th @ 1SO 80. Landscape program.
In Lightroom, a touch of Recovery for the glittering water, some Fill Light and Blackpoint right, added Clarity and Vibrance. Cropped from the bottom and top for composition.
5/15/2010
Cape May Sunset
Happy Sunday! Just a quick post of a pic from yesterday’s World Series of Birding effort. Sunset after 36 plus hours awake :) And still a glory. Cape May Lighthouse from Sunset Beach in Cape May.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F4 @ 1/160th @ ISO 80. Landscape program. Exposure biased by tipping the camera up, locking exposure, and reframing.
In Lightroom, Recovery for the sky, Fill Light for the foreground, Blackpoint slightly right, added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset.
Not in a gallery yet.
5/14 – 5/15/2010
I will be doing a chase car for Team Zeiss at the World Series of Birding, beginning at midnight tonight and going trough midnight on Saturday, so…this post will most likely have to cover two days. (You can follow my adventures, and the adventures of Team Zeiss, on Twitter, @singraham or @zeissbirding_us, or see both twitters and blog posts at zeisssports.wordpress.com.)
That said, these are Pink Lady Slipper Orchids from Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in Wells, ME, taken last Sunday. The top shots are from a sunny patch facing the river, right at the edge of the forest, which bloomed early…most of the flowers at Rachel Carson looked like the bottom shot last Sunday. I was there early, and the low sun was in and out behind clouds, so the light on the full blooms is quite different than the light on the unopened buds.
All were taken with the Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent and Super-macro. Exposure varied with the light but was mostly at ISO 80 and ISO 125. The top three at F2.8, and the bottom one at f5.
For the sunny shots, a bit of Recovery in Lightroom. A touch of Fill Light, Blackpoint to the right, added Clarity and Vibrance, Sharpen landscape preset. For the bottom shot, similar but, clearly, different amounts, plus cropping for composition.
5/13/2010
Painted Trillium
These spring beauties bloom only briefly, around the same time as Lady Slipper Orchid, and in the same locations. I could find only two at Rachel Carson NWR last Sunday, but it might be a bit early.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm and Super-macro. F2.8 @ 1/60th @ ISO 125. Programmed auto.
In Lightroom, a touch of Recovery for the petals, not much Fill Light, Blackpoint right slightly, added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset. Cropped slightly for composition.
5/12/2010
The Long and the Short of Fiddleheads
Same fern. Same fiddlehead. The top shot is taken at the wide end of the zoom, 28mm equivalent, and Super-Macro from centimeters away. The second shot is taken at the tel end of the zoom, 560mm equivalent, and Macro, from 3.5 feet away. Clearly they are very different images of exactly the same subject. The angle on the first one is slightly different as well. I used the flip out LCD to get down a bit lower to put the background elements exactly where I wanted them as part of the composition. In the second, I shot from higher up to increase the separation between the subject and the background, and to make sure there were no recognizable objects to distract. Both were carefully framed for effect.
I am not sure which I like better…and I am not sure that is even the question to ask. Both are strong images (in my opinion 🙂 ). They are just very different images. Same fern. The long and the short of it, so to speak.
Both are with the Canon SX20IS on Programmed auto.
1) F2.8 @ 1/500th @ ISO 160.
2) F5.7 @ 1/320th @ ISO 400.
Similar processing in Lighroom involving Recovery for high-lights, Fill Light for shadows. Blackpoint to the right, added Clarity and Vibrance and Sharpen landscape preset. Reduced exposure values #2 to match the tones better to #1.
5/11/2010
Unfolding Season
I have taken a shot (several actually) like this almost every spring. Compare to 4/15/2009 which are actually images taken on 5/19/2008. It does not matter. I find the emerging forms and the coiled potential irresistible.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent and Super-macro. The fiddlehead was actually inside my lens hood. F2.8 @ 1/160th @ ISO 160. Programmed auto.
In Lightroom, Recovery for the background. Fill Light for the fern. Blackpoint just slightly right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen landscape preset. Cropped for composition.