Monthly Archives: June 2010
6/20/2010
Lupine Love
Happy Sunday! Again this year on my way up to Acadia I could not miss the masses of Lupine growing on banks along the interstate, and again, I determined to find a good stand in Acadia to photograph. The trick is not fining them…they are all over Mount Desert Island…the trick is finding them when they are not obliviously in someone’s yard, where it would be awkward at best to get out of the car to spend any time photographing them. Of course I need a good background too. Last year’s stand, near Southwest Harbor, was pretty sparse (I checked), but I found this field of them just off Route 3, near my motel. Good enough!
Of course, Lupine is not native to New England, or even to the Americas. [Note: further research, prompted by some viewer comments, yields the fact that while the Lupines most common in New England are not native to New England, they are native to North America. The Blue-pod Lupine, which is what you see in these tall mass stands generally, was introduced from the Northwest. Other cultivars have escaped from gardens, and there has been some inevitable cross-breeding. There is also a Wild Lupine, considerably shorter on the average, which is native to New England.] There is a children’s book about the lady who actually, like Johnny Appleseed, is responsible for their proliferation in Maine and adjoining states. IMHO we owe her a debt of gratitude. They are strikingly beautiful in the spring.
Subdued afternoon light on an overcast day. Hence the white sky, but otherwise perfect for photographing the color and the details of this striking plant.
Canon SX20IS. 1) 28mm equivalent @ f5.6 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160, 2) 215 mm @ f5.6 @ 1/250 @ ISO 125, 3) 28mm and Super-macro @ f5.6 @ 1/800 @ ISO 160. I was experimenting with aperture preferred.
Similar treatment for all in Lightroom. Recovery for the sky (though it did not help much), Fill Light and Blackpoint just barely right, added Clarity and a touch of Vibrance. Sharpen narrow edges preset.
From Acadia 2010.
6/19/2010
Margret Todd at Anchor
This is a tourist boat: it makes daily excursions under full sail on Frenchman’s Bay and the surrounding waters for the delight of paying passengers, and does a very popular sunset dinner cruse as well. Always picturesque, this early evening shot sets it against the still waters of Bar Harbor and the backdrop of the Porcupine Islands. The ornamental railing at the foreground adds dimension to the composition. I cropped slightly from the bottom to eliminate the path in front of the railing.
It will repay a larger view.
Canon SX20IS at about 80mm equivalent for framing. F4.0 @ 1/500th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
Recovery for the sky in Lightroom. A bit of Fill Light, Blackpoint just barely right. Added Clarity and more than usual Vibrance to try for a little blue in the water. Sharpen narrow edges preset.
From Acadia 2010.
And a second view. This time with more sky.
6/18/2010
In a Family Way
In my Yearling in Flowers post earlier this week, I told the story of a extraordinarily considerate dump-truck driver who alerted me, last Saturday morning, to three deer feeding just down the road from where I was at the time in Acadia National Park. You have seen the Yearling. Here are the two adults, one clearly pregnant with this year’s fawn. The deer, while aware of my presence at the edge of their field (though I attempted to blend into the bushes at the edge of the road as much as possible) were not overly concerned, and I enjoyed one of those peak moments for a nature photographer, when everything just came together: light, subject, foreground (I love the flowers), and background, to create a memorable experience and memorable images. One of those camera-don’t-fail-me-now moments.
Canon SD1400IS Digital Elph behind the eyepiece of a ZEISS Diascope 65FL spotting scope for an equivalent focal length of 1500mm (top three) and 3500mm (bottom). Exposures ranged from 1/125 at ISO 125 to 1/200th at ISO 200 (last shot). Programmed auto. The combination of the little pocket digital point-and-shoot camera and the spotting scope allows for these intimate portraits from distances that leave the wildlife pretty much undisturbed.
In Lightroom 3, some Fill Light and Blackpoint right (which with this camera and scope combination introduces way too much yellow, so Auto White Balance to restore the tones), added Clarity and a tiny amount of Vibrance, Sharpen narrow edges preset. The last two images are cropped for composition.
From Acadia 2010.
6/17/2010
Pitcher Plant in Bloom
Sieur de Mont Springs, at Acadia National Park features the Wild Gardens of Acadia maintained by local volunteers. In a small corner of the grounds they have recreated all of the major habitats, from the bogs to the peaks, on Mount Desert Island and planted them with representative plants. Few plants are more bazaars than the Pitcher Plant. Bog dweller. Carnivorous. Strange in shape. And with a particularly complex (looking) flower structure. This is the bloom. I got down practically to ground level to shoot low enough to see into the flower head, using Macro and the long end of the zoom on the Canon SX20IS. Generally what you see is more like the image below, also taken from a distance with the tel zoom, this time because they were in a wet area with no direct approach.
Canon SX20IS. 1) 425mm equivalent @ f5.0 @ 1/500th @ ISO 200. 2) 560mm equivalent @ f5.7 @ 1/400th @ ISO 400. Programmed auto.
Recovery for the highlights in Lightroom 3, some Fill Light and Blackpoint right to extend apparent tonal range, added Clarity and Vibrance, Sharpen Narrow Edges preset.
From Acadia 2010.
6/16/2010
Frenchman’s Bay Evening Peace
The further north you go in Maine, the longer the summer light lingers. This is past 8pm on the evening of a stormy day. Storms had passed and Frenchman’s Bay (Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor) is smooth as glass and just about as clear. This was taken from the Narrows, near the Trenton bridge where you come on to Mount Desert Island, looking south east down the length of the bay.
This is really about the light, of course, and the exposure had to be intentional to capture enough detail in the sky while showing the water in a natural light. Landscape program and selective metering (biased slightly for the sky buy tipping the camera up) handled it well. Post-processing in Lightroom helped to extend the apparent range to cover both sky and foreground, and bring out detail that would otherwise have been lost.
I work only in jpeg. This kind of image might be easier to do in RAW…but I can’t say for sure. I know that this processed jpeg is very close to what I saw with my naked eye…to what drew me to the scene in the first place. I was after the peace…and here it is. It will repay a look in larger sizes. Click the image and use the size controls on the top of the window.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/60th @ ISO 80. Landscape program. Landscape program on the SX20IS has an interesting feature: it defaults to infinity focus when it can not find focus, which is necessary in a shot like this with little for the sensors to focus on in dim light.
Heavy Recovery for the sky in Lightroom 3, significant Fill Light for the foreground, Blackpoint just barely right, added Clarity and Vibrance, Sharpen narrow edges preset.
From Acadia 2010.
6/15/2010
Bar Harbor and the Porcupines: three views (2 with gull)
It was, as I mentioned a few days ago, a blue day on Cadillac Mountain when I visited late in the afternoon last Thursday. It had rained through noon and was just beginning to clear off. This is the view out over Bar Harbor, Frenchman’s Bay, and the Porcupine Islands. You can see the bar extending back toward land from Bar Island (completely above water at low tide) that gives Bar Harbor its name. Taken from the lowest overlook on the Cadillac Mountain road. The gulls work the scenic views as though they bought the concession. This one was quite bold and actually walked up to me and practically stood on my feet when I failed to offer it any tribute. I took its picture. That will have to be enough. 🙂 The Panorama is 8 shots stitched in PhotoShop Element’s Panorama tool: the longest pano I have done to date. The Pano, of course, really needs to be viewed a larger size.
All with the Canon SX20IS. 1) 28mm equivalent @ f4.0 @ 1/800th @ ISO 80, Landscape program, 2) 80mm equivalent @ f4.0 @ 1/640th @ ISO 80, Landscape program, and 3) 8 shots at 70mm equivalent @ f4.0 @ 1/250th @ ISO 80, Panorama mode.
In Lightroom 3, Recovery for the sky, Fill light for the foreground, Blackpoint just slightly right, added Clarity and Vibrance, and Sharpen Narrow Edges preset. The top shot was cropped bottom and top for composition and to remove distracting road surface.
From Acadia 2010.
6/14/2010
Yearling among Flowers
This looks to me to be a late season fawn from last year. It was feeding with two adult female Whitetails, one of which was obviously pregnant.
There is a story behind the images. I was 90 minutes early for a bird walk I was coleading last Saturday at the Acadia Birding Festival in Acadia National Park (misread the schedule), so I shouldered my digiscoping rig and was hiking along the shoulder of the road between the Seawall proper and the Seawall Campground entrance, looking for cooperative birds. A huge, industrial scale, white dump truck approached at speed, and hit is hydraulic breaks hard just as it came parallel with me. It literally skidded to a stop about 100 feet beyond me, and this huge hairy arm dropped from the driver’s window, up there 10 feet in the air in the cab, and snapped its fingers. I could see the driver looking at me in his rear view mirror. He was a dump truck driver: sleeveless tee, a bit tattered and smudged, beard and a fringe of longish hair around a bald plate. Big as his truck and just as tough. He snapped his fingers again, and, getting impatient, jammed his truck into reverse and started back. I hustled over.
“Hay,” he said, “There’s deer in the field about 200 yards down the road on the left, right out in the open. Great shot!” And he grinned and nodded. “Well thank you,” I said, and he jammed into first and rumbled on.
Humm? Deer? Whitetails would be nice, but, honestly, what were chances of 1) their still being visible when I got there, and 2) their not running off as soon as they saw me?
Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. So I hurried down the road, trying to remember where the first open meadow was, and wondering if I would be able to see the same deer from road level he could see from 10 feet up in his cab? Turned out to be closer to 400 yards, but eventually I came up to an obvious meadow opening on the left. I could not see any deer from the angle I had. I crossed the road and edged up to the last blocking shrub and peaked around into the meadow.
And, of course, as you can guess from the images above, there they were: the two adults and this obvious yearling, the two adults together and this guy ranging ahead of them further into the back of the meadow.
So, down tripod, up scope, focus, camera in, camera on, zoom to eliminate vignetting and take the first shot. (Not one of the ones above 🙂 ) I was able to work the three deer for 20-30 minutes, taking hundreds of exposures. The light was great: gentle under light cloud cover. When I had enough to think I might have some keepers (my rule is 10 exposures for every keeper you hope for) I backed away and left them to their feeding. When I passed in the car 30 minutes later they were gone.
So, I want, right here, to thank that dump truck driver for the extraordinary kindness of stopping his rig to tell me about the deer he had just seen. I never would have known.
Canon SD1400IS behind the zoom eyepiece of a Zeiss Diascope 65FL for an equivalent focal length of about 2200mm (first two) and 3400mm (last one). Exif f5.9 @ 1/200th @ ISO 160 and 200. Real f-stop closer to f12 (based on the scope).
In Lightroom 3, Fill Light and Blackpoint considerably right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Narrow Edges preset. Auto White-balance to remove yellow cast.
And, once more time. Thank you.
6/13/2010
St. Anne’s in Evening Sun
Happy Sunday!
St. Anne’s Church in Kennebunkport is perhaps the best example of the stone churches of Southern Maine. There are many, all built around the same time, by the same denomination, as “summer churches” for the colony of summer residents that was developing along the coast in those days. St. Anne’s sits of a point of land at the mouth of the Kennebunk River, overlooking the stretch of coast to the south. As you can imagine, it has been the backdrop of some pretty high profile weddings over the years. Here, the summer evening sun of Maine, past 7PM, warms the old stone and picks out detail, while the shadows of the trees dapple the already richly textured surface. I across the street, shooting into the church grounds form a good distance. Hence the long focal length…but in hindsight it provided an interesting perspective.
Canon SX20IS at about 200mm equivalent. F5.0 @ 1/250th @ ISO 200. Landscape program.
In Lightroom 3, a touch of Fill Light and Blackpoint just barely right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. Sharpen Narrow Edges preset.
From Around Home 2010.
6/12/2010
Cadillac / Cranberry Isles Blue Day
Every visit to Acadia National Park is satisfying on so many levels. This is the tail end of a day of rain and storm, with clearing weather coming in from the south, looking off the shoulder of Cadillac Mountain over the Cranberry Isles and out to sea. There is still a lot of moisture in the air and no direct sun on the summit. A blue day. But with a beauty of its own.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent. F4.0 @ 1/1000 @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
In Lightroom 3, some recovery for the sky, Fill Light for the foreground, Blackpoint just barely right, added Clarity and Vibrance, Sharpen Narrow Edges preset.
From Acadia 2010.
And another view. One of my risky tripod-less panos. View as large as you monitor will take. Click the image, and use the size controls at the top of the page.
6/11/2010
Passion Well Weathered but still in Bloom
Along Parson’s Way in Kennbunkport, headed out along Cape Able, across from St. Anne’s Church, there is a Passion Vine that spills out of the dark corner of a yard and overhangs the sidewalk. After several days of rain and wind these blooms are looking a bit ragged, but still brave. There is a parable in there somewhere.
Canon SX20IS at about 160mm equivalent and macro for framing. F4.5 @ 1/100th @ ISO 320. Programmed auto.
In Lightroom 3, a touch of Fill Light and barely any Blackpoint right, added Clarity and Vibrance, Sharpen narrow edges preset. Auto White Balance was needed to warm this deep shadow shot.
From Around Home 2010.