Monthly Archives: June 2011
6/20/2011: Wet Wood with Stream
On the way back from a very wet hike up South Bubble in Acadia National Park, we stopped at the Bubble Pond parking because I wanted a picture of a brook. This is Bubble Brook as it leaves the pond begins its run down to Eagle Lake. I love the wet woodland, the colors of the decaying leaves and the green foliage, and textures of bark and stone, and the curve of the stream, the parallel placement of the diagonal downed tree, the bow of the pine on the right, the roughness of the birch bark on the left, etc. etc. There is a lot going on in this image, but I think it is held firmly together by the sweep of the water, and well anchored by the base of wet stone and last years oak leaves. It is another image I could see printed, framed, and hanging on my wall.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 23mm equivalent field of view, f3.4 @ 1/30th @ ISO 200. Program with Active D-Lighting and Vivid Image Optimization.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
By the way. My morning posts are offset in time this week as I am on the west coast 
6/19/2011: Lichen Flowers: Happy Sunday!
Happy Sunday.
As I mentioned in my extended essay on shooting in the rain (Acadia from under an umbrella…), one of the advantages of prevailing mist and falling water is that you tend (or at least I tend) to look at what is close to hand more carefully…and, of course, the water on everything adds a glisten that catches the eye. I have always been fascinated by moss and lichen, though I know next to nothing about it. I like the forms it takes, the colors (or lack thereof) and the textures. The northern coast of Maine has both moss and lichen in abundance.
This whitish, antlered lichen forms large dense beads from the seaside path to the tops of the mountains of Acadia. It generally hosts a variety of other plants, but only a few hardy individuals, well spaced, as below.
I had, however, never seen the flowers, if that is the proper word for these reproductive parts of this particular lichen, until my day of photographing in the rain.
Nikon Coolpix P500 in 1) Close Up Scene mode, 32mm equivalent field of view, f3.7 @ 1/60th @ ISO 160. 2) 100mm equivalent, f4.6 @ 1/60th @ ISO 160 Program.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
And, of the Sunday thought, that matter of looking close come to mind. Though we Christians don’t give “paying attention” as much attention as some other religions, I certainly find that a sense of reverence has to be grounded in attention…in looking closely at life…in seeing and celebrating all the works of creation, from the most grand landscape to the smallest lichen on the forest floor. And when you do pay attention, you see the most amazing things. I mean, how unlikely are those flowers, or whatever lichen have, and how unlikely is the lichen itself…a fungus and an alga living entwined, supporting and feeding each other? The infinite forms of creation is enough to keep me reverent…and entertained…even on a rainy day. Even on a Sunday. Especially on a Sunday!
6/18/2011: The Bubbles with Merganser
If you are reading this soon after it posts and appears on Twitter and Facebook, I am somewhere in the air on my way to Chicago, and eventually to Orange County in Southern California.
The image, on the other hand, is a threatening rain day afternoon in Acadia National Park at one of my most favorite spots, Jordan Pond. For many years we had a special connection to Jordan Pond as we had daughters working at the Pond House, which overlooks the pond. The trail that circles Jordan is still one of our favorite walks in the park, and I have probably taken more shots of this view than of any other…in all kinds of weather, from bright sun to heavy fog. This one is somewhere in between. From the low angle the water is steel gray. This is a 23mm equivalent field of view shot, which makes it my widest shot of the pond to date (not counting multi-shot panoramas).
If you look closely at the rock just below the notch between the two bubbles, you will see a little pointy head sticking up. I didn’t see until I stood after this shot…but it was more obvious at naked eye scale than at extra wide angle. The head belongs to a female Common Merganser. The shot that follows was taken from about 4 feet in front of where I was squatting to take the wide angle, and gives you a good sense of the range of a super zoom Point and Shoot…23mm to 810mm…quick as thought.
The Merganser is cropped slightly from the full frame.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 1) 23mm equivalent field of view, f5.6 @ 1/400th @ ISO 160. 2) 810mm equivalent, f6.3 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160. Program, with Active D-Lighting and Vivid Image Optimization.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
6/17/2011: Ringed Song Sparrow, Feathers on Friday
For the birders in the house, no “Ringed Song Sparrow” is not a new species on the AOU list…just your standard Song Sparrow (of which there are slightly less then the leaves on the trees in southern Maine) with a band, or, as the British say, a ring. The band is probably from the banding station at Laudholm farm (where the image was taken). This bird was obliging enough to pose in an old apple tree while I got the digiscoping rig grounded and shot off two bursts of images. The light was less than ideal, well overcast and threatening rain, which is were the Back-illuminated CMOS sensor in my current digiscoping camera comes into its own.
Canon SD4000IS behind the eyepiece of a ZEISS DiaScope 85FL spotting scope for the equivalent field of view of an 1800mm lens on a full frame DSLR, 1/80th second @ ISO 400, f5 effective (set by the camera in this case).
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
6/16/2011: The Bowl, Acadia National Park
We got a late start on our first hike in Acadia National Park this last visit, and by the time I got to The Bowl, a little pond on the trail from Gorham Mountain to Champlain, the light was rapidly going. I am not as fast on the trail, up over Gorham, down into the divide between, and up behind the Beehive to The Bowl, as I once was. Clouds had rolled in and rain was predicted by night-fall. Still, The Bowl never fails to satisfy. The subtle light, while it posed real exposure problems…a matter of somehow maintaining detail in both sky and landscape…gave a wonderful texture to the water.
For the image above I used all the help the camera provides: Active D-Lighting to extend the dynamic range when taking the image, and then in-camera post-processing using D-Lighting after the fact to bring up greens of the foliage even more. I finished it in Lightroom with some Fill Light and Blackpoint adjustment.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 23mm equivalent field of view, f4.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 160.
And I had to try a panorama. This is four 23mm frames stitched in PhotoMerge in PhotoShop Elements 9, and processed for Clarity, Sharpness, and lighting in Lightroom. It is about 270° so the right most shot was behind my right shoulder when I took the left most shot. It looks better at larger sizes. Click the image to open it to the width of your monitor.
6/15/2011: Cars as Art
One of our rainy day activities in Acadia National Park this week was a visit to the Seal Cove Auto Museum. I am not a car guy in the normal sense of the word. I notice fancy cars but I don’t lust after them (or not much anyway :). Still, I can’t imagine anyone with an eye for shape and color and texture and light not finding a lot to interest them in a world class collection of antique automobiles. What men made right there at the moment when the hand crafted carriage era and the beginnings of the industrial revolution overlapped are nothing less than works of art. At Seal Cove you can see examples of some of the most ornate restored to original glory. They even have bicycles and motorcycles too. What a feast of color and form and function!
Of course, to do any of these machines justice, you would have to get them out of the museum to a place with better light and space to frame them. These are just snapshots…using the ambient lighting, no flash…where something caught my eye as we toured the collection. Just to give you a flavor of the place.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at various settings from 23mm wide angle equivalent field of view to moderate tele at 76mm. Program with Active D-Lighting and Vivid Image Optimization. Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
6/14/2011: High-Bush Blueberry Blossoms in the Rain
I spent the morning yesterday shooting Acadia National Park from under an umbrella in the rain. Different. I plan an extended post on the experience on Point and Shoot 4 Landscape one of these days soon.
These high-bush blueberry blooms were at the Wild Gardens of Acadia at Sieur de Mont Springs in the Park. I was shooting from under the branch, looking up at a sharp angle, and the dark background is the peak of the roof of the Nature Center at Sieur de Mont. I love the way the rain has beaded the flowers. A close look (click the image and use the size controls at the top of the window that opens) will show lens effects of several kinds…there are drops where the bush and what is behind it are imaged…you see shots like that often…but there are also drops that are acting as close up lenses, showing the fine texture of the petal they are on.
Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close Up scene mode (assisted macro) at 32mm equivalent field of view, f3.7 @ 1/200 @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
6/13/2011: Lupines in the Rain
Though it rained all day yesterday, we did take an afternoon drive around the Park Loop at Acadia National Park, and, when we came on this amazing stand of Lupines between Great Meadow and the road, I could not resist stopping (despite my comments of yesterday). It meant working from under an umbrella and getting my feet wet, but the contrast of the flowers and the aspen saplings in the subdued light was just too good to miss.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 100mm equivalent field of view, f4.6 @ 1/60th @ ISO 160. Program with Active D-Lighting and Vibrant Image Optimization.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
6/12/2011: Lupine Love
Happy Sunday. It is the season of the Lupine in Maine. Some of the best stands are along verge the length of Interstate 95, particularly north of Freeport. Of course, those will never be photographed, at least by me, as I am not about to merge back onto the highway without a running start. Not even for the love of Lupines.
This stand is in Kennebunkport, and has been there every year for longer than the memories of the locals. This year the mix of buttercup made the blues even more intense.
I debated with myself about leaving the out of focus Lupine on the right in the frame or cropping it out. In the end I decided, obviously, to leave it in, as I think it increases the impression of depth.
Of course it is impossible to take just one shot (or two or three shots) of a stand of Lupines like this, so here is a little slideshow. Lupine Love. (It is available up to full 1080i HD.)
I am writing this, this rainy Sunday morning, from a motel room near Bar Harbor Maine. With the best laid plans we came up this weekend to visit a daughter who lives here, and one who is working here for the summer…and to photograph, among other things, the Lupines of Mt. Desert Island. Of course we did not figure on the rain, which looks set to keep us doing indoors kind of things most of the trip.
So it is a particular blessing that a casual conversation with my daughter (yet another) reminded me of this field of Lupines closer to home, and I ran out on Friday morning while doing some field testing of a new tripod to take this series. While the Lupines of Mt. Desert Island have more allure, the Lupines of home are still wonderful.
And, for Sunday, there is of course, a spiritual truth there. As Americans we do a lot of running around after something special, and this seems particularly true of my generation of Christians. But of course, if you don’t take time to see what is special right at home, then there is little hope the something special you find elsewhere will change anything of significance in your life. In fact, isn’t that exactly the change that would have the most effect…an opening of the eyes to what is special where ever you are.
Still, I might have missed this field of Lupines in full bloom, though I know full well it is there every June, if not for that passing word from my daughter. I am thankful that there are greater forces at work, when it comes to what is truly special in the world around us, than you or I 🙂
6/11/2011: Laudholm Farm Panorama
Laudholm Farm, as you know if you have been following my posts any amount of time, is home to the Wells National Estuarine Research Center. There is a cooperation between the Federal Government and the Laudholm Trust to manage the land and maintain the buildings and trails, while actively hosting research each year. Laudholm farm is one of few remaining undeveloped salt marsh farms along the coast. This is the vista from the little rise between the Farm proper and the drop to the marsh and the beach. This time of year, I go out this trail to look for courting Bobolinks, and it is one of my favorite photo walks any time of year. What you see in the sky is the back edge of the front that brought severe thunder storms through the night before, knocking out power to the farm and most of the area around it.
This is four hand-held 32mm equivalent exposures, using Program set to Active D-Lighting and Vivid Image Optimization on the Nikon Coolpix P500, overlapped and stitched in PhotoMerge in PhotoShop Elements 9, and processed for Clarity and Sharpness in Lightroom. Nominal exposure was in the f4 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 160 range.
If you click on the image it should open to the full width of your monitor.