Monthly Archives: September 2010
9/20/2010: Dew wapa dew
I was there to do some HDR of the sky and beach…but when something like this is on offer, it would be most ungrateful not to take a moment to work it. And gratitude is a central tenet of my photographic method…or maybe philosophy…whatever. I try not to pass up any opportunity.
I like the dew on the spider web, but it is not easy to catch in a way that does justice to its native impression. Here the rose-hips, withered and ripe, are a definite bonus, providing a secondary focus at the strong point of the composition.
Canon SX20IS at 400mm equivalent and macro. F5.0 @ 1/400th @ ISO 80. Programmed auto.
Recovery on Lightroom for the highlights on the web, Blackpoint adjustment, added Clarity and Vibrance, and Sharpen narrow edges preset.
And, of course, when I say work it, I mean more than one exposure and angle.
This shot is cropped just a bit, both by zooming out to 560mm equivalent, and in Lightroom (from the bottom).
Flipping out the lcd for a low angle shot, and zooming to around 500mm, gives an alternative view, again cropped in Lightroom.
Like I said…make the most of any opportunity!
9/19/2010: Walking on Water
Happy Sunday!
I am actually, about now (or at least when this is posted), meeting my group for the first ZEISS/Adorama Workshop in Central Park. This was taken yesterday morning off Parson’s Beach in Kennebunk Maine.
This gentleman was paddle surfing, and his upright posture, and odd garb, really struck me. Of course the story of Peter getting out of the boat and walking to meet Jesus on the water is one of my most favorites. And here is the guy out there beyond the surf, walking on the water. How cool! Of course what fascinates me about the Bible story is the whole faith thing…and the fact that I am convinced that God is always calling us out of whatever boat we are in at the moment to walk on the waves in pure faith. I don’t, of course, do any better than Peter…which is to say I flounder a lot…but then there is always someone there to reach down a hand and pull me back up and get me safe back in the boat.
I am not sure, never having tried it, how much faith it takes to paddle surf. It is not walking on water after all. Still it can’t be easy. I am sure a little faith helps when you are standing on that board facing a big wave head on.
Canon SX20IS at 560mm equivalent @ f5.7 @ 1/640th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.
Processed for Blackpoint, Clarity, Vibrance, and Sharpen in Lightroom.
9/18/2010: No Name Creek HDR
I have taken several shots this year from this spot, where a little creek with no name flows under the old railroad embankment (now the Kennebunk Bridle Trail) on its way to the Mousam River and the sea, generally tempted by a sky like this one. This is a Canon SX20IS and Photomatix HDR, using the auto bracket feature on the Canon for three shots.
The wind was blowing very hard and you can see the disturbance in the grasses of the marsh, but the creek bed is deep enough so that the water, at least back against the sand, is still enough to reflect.
Three shots, separated by 3 EV, auto bracket, with the center point moved down 2/3rd EV using the Exposure Compensation dial. Canon SX20IS @ 28mm equivalent. ISO 160.
Blended in Photomatix using tone mapping and detail enhancement. Final adjustments for Blackpoint, Clarity, Vibrance, and Sharpen in Lightroom.
9/17/2010: Parking Lot Sunset HDR
One of the big advantages of any phone-camera is that you pretty much always have it with you. If it is an iPhone, you also have the option of doing some really fancy stuff: HDR, Panorama, and Postprocessing in any number of creative apps.
This was taken with in the parking lot of our local grocery store on an after-supper milk run using the iPhone 4 and Pro HDR in manual mode (which allows you to pick your own light and dark points). It was processed right on the iPhone in PhotoWizard using Auto Contrast, Unsharpmask, and Auto Color (enhance) filters, and uploaded to SmugMug with SmugShot.
Pretty good for a phone.
I did try cropping out the car and cart rack, and I messed with the Wide Angle distortion filter in PhotoFX, but I decided I actually like the context of the parking lot here, and PhotoFX introduced as much distortion as it cured. Sometimes it is good to leave well enough alone.
9/16/2010: Cape May Dawn HDR
Out on the beach with only my Canon SD4000IS, early in the morning, with the golden light of the sun flooding in under an overcast sky, I could not resist trying a handheld HDR. Two exposures, separated by about 3.5EV using the exposure compensation dial. In hindsight I might have tried 3 exposures with a wider separation…with one exposure dialed all the way down to –2EV, but even then I doubt I could have preserved detail around the sun, and I certainly would have needed a tripod. I especially like the subtle, weathered blue of the tents in contrast to the greens of the beach plants.
Canon SD4000IS at 28mm equivalent. ISO 250.
Exposures blended with tone mapping in Photomatix. Final adjustments for Blackpoint, Clarity, Vibrance and Sharpen in Lightroom. Cropped from the bottom for composition.
From Cape May Fall 2010.
9/15/2010: Mousam Marsh HDR Panorama
So, what would happen if you combined HDR with Panorama? This is 12 exposures, 4 sets of 3. I processed each set of 3 exposures in Photomatix for tone-mapped HDR, then the 4 HDRs were stitched in PhotoShop Elements, using its excellent Panorama tool. The pano was then taken into Lightroom for final adjustments (straighten, levels, sharpen, etc). If you look at it large enough (which I recommend anyway as the little image here does it no justice) you will see that the fence posts on the left center are not perfectly aligned (the wind was blowing so hard I had trouble holding the camera still), but, in general, for such a complex process (and no tripod), I am happy with the results, especially for a first experiment. This is a sweep of about 180 degrees, from Great Hill, past the mouth of the Mousam River, and all the way around to the Route 9 bridge…the equivalent of 4 28mm fields of view.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent field of view. Exposure sets separated by 3EV, auto bracket with the center point adjusted to –2/3rds EV using Exposure Compensation. Processed as detailed above.
To view the image in larger sizes, click the image above and use the size controls across the top of the window on the SmugMug site that opens.
9/14/2010: Blue House
Blue house, blue sky, steel blue sea, and the racing clouds behind the hurricane. It is actually the few warm rocks in the sun in the foreground and the massive clouds that make the image….without them the blues would not be nearly so dominant. (And I just noticed, when I uploaded this to Flickr, the sun-drawing-water effects along the horizon!)
This is another Photomatix HDR, based on three wide angle exposures (auto bracketed) in the Canon SX20IS. Besides blending and tone mapping in Photomatix, the final image was tweaked in Lightroom: a bit of Recovery for the sky, added Clarity and Vibrance, Blackpoint slightly right, Sharpen narrow edges preset, and some distortion control for both wide angle lens distortion and vertical perspective distortion to restore the horizon and straighten the flagpole. Since being able to correct it easily in Lightroom, I find I am becoming more intolerant of obvious camera distortions.
The critical step in post-processing, however, was getting the color temperature right…in the original, the rocks were too blue as well, and the image looked a bit filtered. Just the way the sensor saw it I guess. I added some warmth, but if the rocks looked natural, then the blue of the house, in particular, went too light…this is a compromise which preserves the blue house and balances the rocks. The steel blue of the sea, while not as intense as the original image, is more true to life on a day of storm seas. Or that’s the way I see it anyway.
9/13/2010: Marsh Mirror Sky
Taken on Labor Day, when all the parking anywhere near the beach was full of tourists. I wanted this sky, so I hiked out on the Kennebunk Bridle Path, through the marsh along the Mousam River near its mouth. The wind was blowing so hard I had trouble holding myself still, let alone the camera, but I still tried a series of HDRs. A tripod would certainly have helped.
Even though the horizon here is placed in the middle of the image, where I try to avoid putting it, I think it still works because of the power of the sky, and the reflections in the pools. Then too you have the strong leading line of the receding pools and the solid anchors of the posts in the foreground. I particularly like the open shadow at the left along the ridge between the pools and the play of light on the trees. All together there is a lot going on here. Printed large and hung, it would be, I think, one of those images that would catch the eye every time you glanced at it, and that would reward repeated study. I think.
Canon SX20IS. Three exposures using the auto bracket feature on the Canon SX20IS, adjusted to place the dark exposure 1 and 2/3rds EV below center. Assembled in Photomatix Light, using the tone-mapped mode. Final adjustments (Blackpoint, Clarity, Vibrance, and Sharpen) in Lightroom.
9/12/2010: Self Portrait in the Shadow of Earl
Happy Sunday!
The morning after Hurricane Earl passed by Southern Maine was still showery and very windy, with lots of moisture hanging in the air and some high clouds building where a cold front pushed the storm further out to sea. I was out early to see what could be seen. The whole marsh behind Parson’s Beach, where Back Creek, here still full with the flood tide, flows to the Mousam, looked, in the early morning light, like it had been tousled by the retreating waves (see 9/9/2010)…producing interesting textures and patterns in the wet grasses. Here I attempted to set off the marsh patterns with a touch of vivid color from the rose-hips.
In doing so, I inadvertently created a self portrait. I try to keep my shadow out of landscapes, but for this shot I intentionally left it in. Can you see me in the rose bush? I will give you a clue…I am wearing a Tilley hat with a wide brim.
And, of course, every image I capture and publish is a self-portrait, whether I caught my shadow or not. I can not avoid intruding on the landscape I photograph…and there you go: “avoid” and “intrude” are already casting the matter in the wrong light.
Myself, the way I see and respond, is what I bring to the image…my gift…my contribution to creation…to the creation. All any photograph says is “I saw this and it moved me…I wanted to show it to you too.” And the only honest response to any photograph is “I see it. I see what you were looking at, and why it moved you.” When the photograph is truly great, we can also say “It moved me too!”
Of course, what is moved in us is not shadow, but light…which is, I guess, why I try to keep my shadow off the landscape.
Canon SX20IS at 28mm equivalent @ f4.0 @ 1/640th @ ISO 80. Landscape program.
Recovery in Lightroom for the sky and clouds, Blackpoint right, added Clarity and Vibrance, Sharpen narrow edges, and slight crop from the bottom for composition.
9/11/2010: Earl Passes By: panorama
This is an iPhone 4 panorama made up of 10 exposures…five across and two deep…stitched in AutoStitch on the phone itself. You should attempt to view it as large as your monitor will allow. Click the image above and use the size controls across the top of the window that opens to set the size.
For comparison, here is a one of the 10 frames.
iPhone 4, Camera app, AutoStitch, and final processing in Picture Perfect. Uploaded to Smugmug with SmugShot.