The Pathway

Taken a day or two before Christmas Day, I was fortunate to have the Great Bay Wildlife Refuge in Newington NH USA to myself. The cold and damp weather was punctuated with intermittent drizzle and rain which lent itself greatly to the overall moody feeling of the final image.

Processed from a single RAW image from my Sony A7R with the Sony-Zeiss 16-35mm lens along the shoreline, I liked how the natural lines of the rock formed the pathway leading to the distant point of the shoreline.

Shoreline Sunset

This is just one of those images. Taken last week - I keep coming back to it and trying to make it what I saw - which, I think is finally done...

I walked Adam's Point in Durham and just kept walking the shoreline - waiting for the "right image". And this was it. Just after the sun rays descended below the horizon and only lit the opposite shore. The reflections are what they were as well.

This was my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II with the Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 pro lens. Lightly post-processed in Lightroom. I love the DR of the Olympus silly little MFT sensor. It's good enough for me...

A wonderful Merry Christmas to all my followers - and to DB? Thanks for looking...

Coastal December

Taken today, and someone told me it is December in New Hampshire? I don't believe it - the temperatures are in the 40s (F) or or near 10 (C). It creates wonderful fog coupled with cloudy days - makes for spectacular shooting conditions.

Anyway - this was taken at the Great Bay Wildlife Management Area in Newmarket NH USA earlier today. Given the overcast day - I had the place to myself - eerily quiet and dark with the fog hanging in the air. This was taken with my Sony A7R with the Sony 10-18mm f/4 lens as a full-frame image @ 15mm. Post processing was simple - brought into Lightroom as a RAW file - it was exported into Photoshop for the final edits.  One cautionary note if you are processing images with mist/fog - be really careful of any sharpening,  as it will create artifacts in the final image...  Hmmm - which reminds me - a couple of you have asked for me to tell you my work-flo? I really should do that...

Anyway - thanks for looking!

Fallen Sentinel

Walking the shoreline of Audubon Tract recently on a cold misty morning, I came upon this old fallen oak tree. The reflections helped construct the image, as I'd not seen Great Bay this calm for quite some time. The mist and drizzling rain only added to the impact of the scene.

Taken with an Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II and the 12-40mm f/2.8 lens, this is another high-res image. Shot in RAW, it is a 64 megapixel image that dwarfs the size of my Sony A7R full-frame camera. I also find the resolution of the higher resolution Olympus images simply stunning as there is so much detail and information contained in that single RAW file.

Of Surf and Sea

One from the other day off the coast of Rye Beach New Hampshire, USA. It's a longer exposure from the Hi-Res mode of my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II. In RAW, this is a 64 megapixel image - which is an incredible feat for a Micro-Four Thirds camera. In short, what Olympus engineers do is shift the sensor for a total of eight images, and then combine them with the image processing software with superb results.

This was tripod mounted and taken at 200 ISO with the Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 pro lens. Post-processed in both Lightroom and Photoshop - the conversion was done using channels and curves. Being a film shooter, I'm a bit fussy about how final monochrome images look once converted - and I like this process quite a bit..

Thank for looking!

Coastal Colors

The days are certainly getting quite a bit shorter, and if you live in New England as I do - there are some spectacular sunsets in the offing. This was taken yesterday in the afternoon.

For this image, I used my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mk II and the 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens with an ND filter. As it was just after high-tide, I was able to hop out on the rocks - and the only downside was slipping off the last one and wading into the water - which was surprisingly warm ;)

Post-processed from a single RAW Hi-Res image - the colors appeared to pop in Lightroom, so there wasn't too much to do in the post-processing.

I hope you enjoy!

Erosion

It's interesting to visit one of the areas on Great Bay, and watch how the trees hang-off the shoreline in a desperate attempt to cling to life while sustaining the shoreline. Inevitably though, the water and erosion always win.

This was taken yesterday with my Olympus OM-D e-M5 Mark II with a vintage Olympus-Zuiko 18mm f/3.5 lens - a wonderful combination and a difficult lens to find in the used market. But, if you enjoy the look and feel of images created with lenses designed or film cameras - this lens is as good as it gets.

I also tried a different way to post-process this image - and used Photoshop, Topaz and NIK almost exclusively. Someday, when I have time, I'll try to write a quick outline if someone is interested

Morning Fog

Today was a moody, foggy and misty start of the day - and I really loved it. The forest was deafeningly silent as a cold mist hung over the estuary. It was beautiful, quite frankly and the type of December morning one thinks about awaiting its arrival.

I have a number of images I really like from earlier today - and this is actually the first frame I composed and shot. It was taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II, and while I always shoot in RAW mode, I played with the JPG version given how flat the light was during the early hours. As well, I used a vintage Olympus/Zuiko 18mm f/3.5 manual lens attached with a Metabones Speedbooster adapter - as I've always appreciated the excellent optics of many of the Olympu-Zuiko lenses. Obviously, you have to slow down and do things manually - but, that's the beauty of this art.

The Lighthouse

Taken today with my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II with the 12-40mm f/2.8. While an overcast day, I wanted to try something I've been playing with on an informal basis - using the Hi-Res mode with a long shutter exposure!

To take this - I used an ND filter to bring my shutter speed to 1/6 of a second - and frankly, I'd be more comfortable with a longer shutter speed? You see, as the sensor shifts to create a 64MP RAW image - the longer the shutter speed - the less chance of artifacts from moving subjects. Or that is my theory.

In fact, even at 1/6th of a second, there were only a few regions with artifacts, and those were resolved using a radial filter in Lightroom and selecting both the Moire and Noise filter.

This is pushing the envelope a bit - but, isn't that what we do on the creative side of our lives?

The Point

The Point at Adams Point, Durham NH, USA.  this was taken yesterday, which obviously was an overcast and moody day. During high-tide, Great Bay washes against the shoreline and given the wind and surf, erodes the shoreline, What struck me was the way that lonely hemlock just seems to stand against the weather - it's roots dug into the granite cliff face - challenging both wind and weather.

Taken with my Sony A7R, I used Sony's APS-C E mount 10-18mm f/4 lens - which actually works quite well between 13mm and 16mm. While there is some magenta cast color shifting in the corners, it is easily rectified in Lightroom. As well, you can use a single ND filter if you are careful about watching for vignette.

The image above was brought into Lightroom for basic adjustments - and into Photoshop and NIK Color EFX Pro 4 - and carefully adding a bit of dynamic contrast, tone and wamth. Then back into Lightroom for the final adjustments

Weathered Coast

I took this this the other day and really wanted to try some ideas with post-processing a bit differently then I usually do. The original was taken with my Sony A7R and 16-35mm f/4 lens at Adams Point, New Hampshire.

Originally, I brought a single image into Lightroom - and made only a couple of very basic adjustments - exposure, highlights, shadows and Whites. I also turned off ALL sharpening - as Lightroom adds a 20% by default on import.  Next, I saved it as a PSD file and brought it into Photoshop.

In Photoshop - a added a new layer and started to pull curves and contrast - making it a bit more color saturated than I normally would, as I knew I'm be converting it to B&W and pulling only the colors I wanted to keep in the final. So, that's when I created yet another Layer - and converted that to B&W using NIK Silver efx.

Now - comes the fun part - in the Blend mode for that layer - choose Darken, and the darker colors will pull through. Next, slide the  opacity down for that layer - which should leave the colors you pulled the channels for originally.

Anyway - I enjoy the final version of this image - and hope you do as well.!

Clearing Clouds

I've been enjoying going out lately and simply exploring areas that others don't typically venture to given the accessibility or the difficulty shooting conditions. The image above is one of those.  Taken in Adam's Point WMA late last week, it is the smaller pond which requires a walk through quite a few brambles and wet marshes.

Taken with the Sony A7R and my Sony/Zeiss 16-35mm f/4 lens, it was processed from a single RAW file - which is becoming my favorite decision given my latest post-processing workflo. I do find that a slightly under-exposed image is the best to work from, as it protects the high-lights while allowing the shadow detail to be pulled without creating any digital noise or artifacts.

As well, I usually shoot only on a tripod and at an ISO not greater than 100 - which, at lower ISOs, the native Dynamic Range allows the exposure detail to be the best the sensor/camera image processor can deliver in the final result.

Beaver Pond and Why I Do Photography

I'm writing this mostly for me - but, if you happen to stumble across it during your travels on the Internet, perhaps you think the same as well? Honestly? I don't know... Photography for me - is a very private journey, but - at the same time - very "public". We take images, and post them up - and wonder how we "Stack Up" to others who also do this thing called "photography".  At the same time, we look at "Masters" who we all love and respect - and wonder. Can "we", as in you and I - "do that"? Create images of the same caliber?

How many of us post images hoping that the most recent image is better than the last simply based on the number of "Likes" (on Facebook) or the number of "+1"s we get on Google +? Well - for me?  I was doing that as well - up until about three months ago. As for me - today?

I shoot for "me". What you see in my posts, my images, what I post lately in the past few weeks/months - is "me". I think I'm all done trying to "compete" - and when I do stop trying to please a mythical audience and chasing "likes" or "+1" votes?  - The "my images" come out.

In my cohort in The Arcanum - headed up by a wonderful person and which has so many talented photographers - I have been challenged to put into words what I want or "need" to move my images forward. For that - I think what I "need" is to have the confidence to believe in myself and refine and work towards who I want to be as a photographer.

It really is that simple - and at the same time - that challenging.

I love my new cohort and The Arcanum - for, if you are in the right place both - you will shoot for "you" - and not compared to the other nearly 250,000 Professional Photographers in the USA alone.

In short?

I think I just want to "shoot for me".

In that? That is all there is.

Adams Point

Today was cold, blustery winds gusting to 30 mph and clouds that frequently dropped rain at the most inopportune times - most noticeably EXACTLY when I was trying to hold on to the camera bag while changing lenses... In other words - a perfect day for shooting!

While I've been called a "moody photographer" (referring to my images - I hope?) I do enjoy less than perfect blue skies and billowy clouds. The image above is one of those images. While it breaks several "rules" in composition, I rather liked the final look - and it is nearly the full frame as shot and composed in camera. The image is from the -2EV exposed image - brought into Lightroom for basic exposure adjustments, and then exported into Photoshop for my next stage of my workflo. While in PS, I usually touch the dynamic contrast, and sharpen using the High-Pass filter. Then it's back into LR for the final HSL tweaks and export.

The camera was my Sony A7R with the Sony/Zeiss 16-35mm f/4 - mounted on a tripod.

I have several other images I'm working on from today - including a remote Beaver Pond I've been meaning to get to.. I'll try to post those over the next few days...

My thanks for looking!

Looking Back

Sometimes, it takes me a while to settle on a final image. This image is one of those images...

I took this a few weeks ago as the autumn leaves were falling and the colors becoming more subtle. What struck me was both the composition and the bright red bush on the right. I also liked the line of the shore.

Technically - this was taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II - on a tripod, and post-processed in both LightRoom and Photoshop from a single image.

It's just "one of those images". Nothing special in and of itself, but rather, a bookmark of a certain time and place.

Abandoned Shack On the Marsh

A good friend of mine keeps asking "..how come you don't shoot landscapes with any objects in them?.." Well - that's a good question!  So, I took this yesterday, just to see if I could compose a landscape with something aside from trees, water, sky and/or swamp grass.. ;)

As well - here is how I converted this to monochrome:

Open in the original in LR - again, I'm sort of stuck on the -2 EV image lately, but, well..??

Next, adjust ONLY the exposure, highlights, shadows, whites, and black - and keep the blacks just above the left of the histogram, rather then well inside...

Still in LR - we are setting up for the conversion - and I needed to separate the middle ground (shack) from the background - which was a case of finding the right color channels to pull..  As the shack was weather plywood (grey) and the background was green and brown - I pulled the sat channels of green/red down a bit..  I also amped the Yellow a bit (the foreground marsh grass). Next - I used the luminosity sliders to separate them a bit more...

Now into PS - and I used NIK Silver EFX.  Do the conversion - and pay particular attention to the color sliders to drive the final image.

Save and back into LR for final adjustments to taste...

Old Dog - New Tricks

Over the past month, as some know, I've been working on my post-processing. Mostly with a small handful of folks. Actually, less than a handful to be exact. So - well, OK - about three other folks exactly.. ;)

Anyway - as many know, I've been into wildlife images since buying my first digital camera. I don't show many of them - it's just the "flip side" of what I do in landscapes, I guess?

So, here is one that I reprocessed today. Perhaps I'll post others in the future rather than my landscapes images. Just every now and then.. The image above is a single image from my Nikon D600 with the 80-200mm ED-IF f/2.8 at the J.N. Ding Darling in Sanibel FL USA.

As always - thanks for looking.

Morning Mist Over the Swamp

Sometimes, it just pays to be lucky rather than good - and given that I'm not very good, I depend a lot on "luck'.  So yesterday, on the way out of the National Wildlife Refuge in Newmarket, NH USA, the rain started to let up and it fell into a easy drizzle. Looking over a sharp bank, I noticed this swamp that appeared to be sitting still in time - as if waiting for the "decisive moment" to compose an image and shoot this frame.

Taken with a Sony A7R and the Sony/Zeiss 16-25mm f/4 lens - again, this final print was pulled from the -2EV exposure in Lightroom. From there, it took a quick trip into Photoshop for color balancing, dynamic tonal contrast and High-Pass filter sharpening.

While muted, as the heavy rain clouds were still overhead, I liked the composition and eerie feeling of the final image. I hope you do as well..

Thanks for looking!

Hurry Sundown on Beaver Creek

Taken yesterday at Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Newington NH, USA and processed this morning while waiting for the rain to subside long enough to head down an abandoned forest trail I've been meaning to follow. Not that I mind terribly shooting in the rain and cold weather, but it's raining too hard to see any detail in the clouds - so, I'll wait a bit..

Anyway, the image above was processed from a single RAW image from my Sony A7R. The trick to this is only gently pulling the shadows so not to induce any noise in the shore across the way. Fortunately, there was enough light coming through the tress on the right-hand shore to provide enough backlight so it was possible. What struck me in the image was the duality of dark vs. light of the single tree and marsh on the left vs. very subtle shadow detail of the forest/treeline on the right. That was countered with the actual light - the last of the sun in the top right versus the evening sky starting to appear on the left.

The Road Less Traveled

The Day After Thanksgiving - and it seems everyone is out shopping those "Black Friday Deals". Not me so much. I hate shopping as much as I loath crowds - so it was a wonderful day to pack-up and just walk for several miles through some of the area woods.

The image above is from today - processed from a single Sony A7R image using a technique that a couple of friends and I are exploring. In short, we are selecting a slightly underexposed image, doing our initial calibrations and color tweaks in LR, then out to PS as either a DNG or PSD file (depending on what we are processing to in the image. Then imported back into LR after applying specific layers and calibrations.

We aren't finding these taught in the Arcanum, nor is that an issue, as this small private group of photographers keeps on pushing while others are shopping those Black Friday Deals ;)

I guess I really do like taking the Road Less Traveled..

The Hydro Plant from 1913

Generator Number 1 - 1913

A few weeks ago, I was rambling about the area - and took a road that lead nowhere - or so I thought. It was in South Berwick Maine, and I was following down Leigh's Mill Pond to where it joined Great Works River. It is well off the beaten path - and certainly long forgotten from any "tourist map".

So I followed the road for a while - which had junction with a small road - with barricades warning to STAY OUT - BRIDGE CLOSED.

So - of course - I kept going...  What I came upon ultimately was an old sluice gate - well used and in a decrepit state.  And while photographing that, and old gentleman walked up behind me, and asked what I was doing. I explained that I usually follow the unbeaten path - and was photographing the sluice.

The Sluice From Leigh's Mill Pond to Great Works River

That gentleman's name is Ian - and he's been caring for the twin hydro generators since the mid 1970's when he arrived from The Hebrides in the UK. Turning 72 years next year - about 20 of these privately owned generator are under his care from the Canadian Border in Maine to Northern VA.

Anyway, Ian is a wonderful gentleman who rarely encounters visitors, so - of course he asked me if I'd like to see the interior, the old hydro-generators and what made them work... I couldn't believe my good fortune.

So - the first image is of one of the old generators. Put in place in 1913 - it has been rebuilt four times since. It generates about 25000 KwH when the pond is full and the sluice is wide open. But - today - the flow is but a trickle - but, it still feeds into the Maine Electric Power grid.

I'll try to share more images from this unique experience over the next few days. But - in the meantime?

My Thanks Ian. It was a rare opportunity to photograph and document part of our forgotten local past.

Focus Stacking and Other Silly Tricks

I guess I'm a bit of a nerd, as I enjoy tinkering with images and trying out new things. A while back, someone mentioned "Focus Stacking", and it took me a while to get my head around the concept - but, once I did - I was hooked. In short - it's taking a number of images with various parts of the subject in focus, and then combining them in software.

So, trying it out - we had a frost the other morning - and I took a series of shots (using a tripod) and started focusing on the middle bunch of flowers and working my way back. All in all - there were a total of 30 images. To combine them - I download a trial of a product Helicon Focus 6, as the results I was getting from Photoshop I really didn't like.

As well - one tip if you are going to try this - buy a focusing rail (some are inexpensive, too!) and don't forget that you probably want to use a higher f/stop, to be certain your Depth Of Field (DOF) and what is in critical focus overlaps image-to-image.

Finally - give it a try and don't be afraid to take more images than you think you might need! The cost of taking one digital image - or 30 - is the same ;)  

Fall On the Coast

I've always enjoyed shooting in the fall - especially on the coast when the surf is high, a light mist along with heavy clouds. Usually, in weather like that, I'll have the visible coastline to myself without any folks making their way along the shore. This is one of those shots.

Taken two weeks ago, this is a 4 second exposure using an ND 1.2 filter. I used my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II and processed this image from a single RAW file.

Audubon Tract

Over the past few weeks, I've been fortunate enough to go out almost every day and just "shoot for me". It's given me a lot of time to explore different ways to compose, shoot - and as importantly - post-process my images. Quietly and in private - I've also been pushed by a great Internet friend, Richard Adams, a member of the same cohort in The Arcanum  - as he has the same "lust" for pushing the envelope as I do.

Anyway, during the same last couple of weeks - I'm beginning to post process from a single image. Given the Dynamic Range of my Sony A7R (14.1 @ 100 ISO) , I've found it a much more complex workflo, but, at the same time - achieve wonderful results in images that have been carefully exposed originally. the image above is one such image.

This was taken yesterday at the Audubon Tract in New Hampshire. I was taken with the clouds, the soft warm hues of the marsh grass as framed by the forest and the play of light and shadows in that same grass.

Transforming An Image

I processed this image previously, and it was good, not great - mind you, but I liked it well enough to share with my friends in my cohort of the Arcanum.They are a group of photographers who all share "the passion". Anyway, one of the photographers - Robert Waltman - made the simple suggestion to take the post-processing even a step further. Funny enough - I hadn't considered it as an option?

But, I gave it a try - and let the "Artsy" side come out a bit - and the image above is the final iteration. Frankly - I like it  lot better! And, it appears I'm not alone.. On 500px, the original pulsed at just under "50". The updated version however - is in the mid-80s...

Thanks Robert!

The Path

Out this morning, and as it's a grey day, went for a long walk through the Urban Forestry Center. It was strangely quiet, but without any real color. Coming from along the shore, I came upon this path, which lent itself to a B&W image.

Taken with my Sony A7R and Sony/Zeiss 16-35mm f/4, it was post processed in Lightroom, then brought into Photoshop, where I did the conversion using channels, saturation ans curves into the ProPhoto Colorspace.

First Frost

It was bound to happen - our first hard frost last evening. This morning - is was "brisk", but it gave me the opportunity to work on a different aspect to my photography - Macro Photography. I'm the first to admit, I have a lot of learning to do in the specialized area of photography - but, I find it fascinating nonetheless.

The image above was taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II of my wife's mums - covered at first light with a hefty coating of frost. this was focus stacked and post-processed in Photoshop and Lightroom.

Serenity - For Mom

This one is for my Mom - Joan Dunkle, who is an extremely well known and respected professional watercolor/oil artist in her own right. When processing this image, I tried to bring out the calm and serene colors of November, which are quite earthy and dull - but no less spectacular.  To add a warm hue, I used a gradient layer over the sky - and dialed it back until there was a hint of what you see above in the final image.

Taken this weekend with my Sony A7R and my Sony/Zeiss 24-70mm f/4 lens.

Fall's Forgotten Places

There are times I just feel like I have to get out and shoot - and yesterday was one of them.. This was taken at Odiorne Point State Park, New Hampshire on a day that started out overcast, but tried clearing out late morning, giving the sky some wonderful detail and colors.

This was taken with my Sony A7R and post-processed from a single RAW image in Lightroom and Photoshop. You have to really appreciate the the information contained in a single RAW file..

The Stillness of Fall

This time of year is simply amazing for a photographer, as the colors becomes more muted and the daylight hours not quite as severe as during the summer months. Yesterday, I was out in rather cold and dreary weather - but, without a breath of wind, it was an opportunity to work on longer exposures and reflections cast in a small pond. What got me was the dead tree stumps on the right in the image - with only a bright spot of red from a small tree further down the shoreline.

This was taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II with the 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro Series lens.

Storm Over Odiorne Point

Odiorne Point is a State Park in New Hampshire that is well known for it's abandoned Fort as well as the place the first settlers of New Hampshire landed on the rocky shore in 1623.

The image above was taken today - a cold, dark and dank day - with exceptionally high surf in the morning. In my world - a perfect day for taking moody, long-exposure images.

Looking Back

In the muck trying to work on color, composition and color.  Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II with the 12-40mm F/2.8 Pro series lens.  This is the first post of this image, taken this week.

Reflections of the week...

This week has been a a huge step in my photographic journey, so - I thought it deserved a little reflection. When the week started, I had little idea what might be in store. As it turns out - and as with many things in life - the satisfaction isn't in arriving at the destination, but in traveling through the journey itself. Yes, that's exactly what this week has been like. Improving at post-processing images - and pushing and being pushed hard has made this week an incredible adventure. My thanks to all those involved in my cohort, especially the Mentor/Master.

The image above was taken this week in one of the Wildlife Management areas in NH with my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II. I haven't posted it to any other site as of yet - but, I thought it represented what this blog entry is all about - "Reflections".

Adventures in Post Processing - Thanks to....

Only a few days ago - I wondered about my future in The Arcanum, and whether I'd continue that journey. But, a few days ago, I was "adopted" by a new Master and a new cohort. In that group, there are a lot of posts - and if I could harness the enthusiasm as rocket fuel, I'd sell it and be a millionaire. So...

Today, for the first time - I showed some of the new post-processing techniques I've been working on for conversion to monochrome images to members of my cohort and my new Master - all of whom are awesome! Most of what I'm working on comes from a book "Oz to Kansas..." - by Vincent Versace - and it's not for the feint of heart.

Anyway - this is the first public image I've shared from my "new beginning". It was taken this morning and processed this afternoon.

By the way - I am thrilled by my journey in The Arcanum. Each day is a new challenge and a new learning experience - and it's truly a brotherhood/sisterhood of fellow photographers at any level.

Walking Down the Crimson Path

This time of year must be perhaps one of the most beautifully picturesque times of the year. Walks in the woods, or along the streams and marshes reveal small pockets of color, that during other times - just aren't as dramatic. Anyway, this taken last week with my Sony A7R - post-processed from a single RAW file, as the overall scenes dynamic range just wasn't that great - and could be easily captured in the DR (14.1+) of the A7Rs sensor and image processor. The image was brought into LR for the initial adjustments, and then exported to PS CC, where I added a bit of structure (NIK Viveza) to localized areas of the image. From there - back into LR for final touches, NR and masked sharpening. I hope you enjoy this image as much as I do...

Another Day - Another Image

I guess I'm a firm believer when one door closes - another opens. As a member of The Arcanum, I left my cohort yesterday, and had an invite to join another cohort in a few hours from a wonderful new Mentor/Master. Anyway - this was shot yesterday - a single image from my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II rather than my Sony A7R, which I typically shoot. I call it "Reflections Of Fall" - which was taken yesterday, November 1, 2015. Post Processing was done in Lightroom then brought into Photoshop to add structure - then back into LR.

A Long Day....

It was a long day today for sure. I logged into my cohort at The Arcanum, and it took a long while to reach a decision to change my photography direction. I really like the images I've been working on lately, and trying to shoot each day - and the past couple of weeks has been epic. Anyway - the image above was shot with my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II in High-Res mode, and post processed in Lightroom. It was taken at the Audubon Tract in Dover NH USA. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did in making it.

Storm at the Tree Line

Lately, I've been experimenting with a couple of things. First, using my Olympus Micro-four thirds cameras and Pro Series lenses to see what they deliver for IQ as compared to my Sony A7r. I have to say - I'm not disappointed. The second thing I've been attempting to do, is to get away from HDR by merging multiple exposure frames (-2/0/+2 EV). Rather, using a single RAW image to achieve the results I'm after. The image above is a 3 single RAW image pano stitch from my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II - and I'm pleased with the results. I hope you are as well..  Thanks for looking!

Milkweed

I spent many hours this morning going through the Bellamy River Wildlife Management Area in Dover NH - and while I have a few shots I like, this one particularly fit the B&W Conversion process I'm now using (my thanks to Richard, Chris and Svein in my cohort in The Arcanum for bringing the conversion technique into view. Anyway, I control the grey-scale through the primary color curves, and depending on the image, it is wildly effective. As I still shoot B&W Film - I think the techniques I'm learning rival the results from film

Abandoned Life Saving Station, Portsmouth Harbor, NH

Life Saving Station

Taken this morning - Sony A7R, Sony 70-200mm f/4.  this life saving station has been abandoned since the 1950s. While in total disrepair today, there is a grassroots movement to save it for future generations. According to http://www.savewoodisland.com/ - it has served since 1902 in a variety of capacities: 

"In 1908, the current Life Saving Station and a tool shed were built by Sugden Brothers of Portsmouth, N.H. It's a Duluth-style station designed by architect George R. Tolman and it replaced the original Jerry's Point Station #12 across the harbor in New Castle, N.H. which had been requisitioned by the U.S. Navy. Jurisdiction over Wood Island passed to the U.S. Life Saving Service which became the U.S. Coast Guard in 1915. Subsequently, many lives were saved by the heroic rescue attempts by those at that terminal.


World War Two required Wood Island to protect submarine manufacturing at the Portsmouth Navel Shipyard. In 1941, the U.S. Navy resumed jurisdiction and Wood Island was integrated into the coastal defense system. As a strategic observation post, the property was also utilized for securing anti-submarine nets, which were strung across the harbor to thwart German U-Boat infiltration. At the end of the war, authority was reverted back to the U.S. Coast Guard. In the early 1950's U.S.C.G. subsequently moved to their present day facility, across the harbor again, to New Castle, N.H. , rendering the Original Life Station Building abandoned, as it still is today."

Portsmouth NH, USA - Pre-dawn

If you are familiar with Portsmouth at the height of the tourist season, you know how difficult it is to get a good shot of downtown.  Typically, it is swarming with people, cars and unworldly traffic - which destroy any good photo opportunities.

So, the other day, I was shooting the outside of a commercial building for a client who wanted the "lights on" in the interior of their store - and after that shoot, decided to grab this shot a short way up the street.

The details are Sony A7R, Sony/Zeiss 16-35mm f/4 - taken on a tripod at about 04:30. It's a single image from a composite of three (-2/0/+2) merged in Lightroom 6 and reworked in Photoshop with NIK for rendering in B&W.

A River Runs Through It - The Journey of a Single Image...

Every once in a while - you just have a "do-over", and this is one of those images "done over".  It was originally taken in Western Mass, USA about a year ago.  When I first processed it it looked entirely different than what you see above and it was "OK" - not "great", but - just "OK"..

Then a funny thing happened - I was selected to join The Arcanum -  a rather mind-blowing experience. It's not unlike Julliard School of Music, but rather - for photographers. Check it out - you won't regret it..  Anyway, I popped the previous version of this image into my group ("cohort") - and out came a huge number of suggestions and opinions that really helped shape this final image. At that point, I included it as part of my critique with my Master/Mentor (Glenn Guy), and he had a few more superb observations and "How To" suggestions - which really put the finishing touches on it.

The moral of the story behind all this?  Just when you think your images are just "OK", don't be afraid to take a second look and them them on their own journey to improve them. In my world, photography is all about the journey - and less about "arriving there" - and the journey with this image has been a terrific learning experience.   

Shooting Stained Glass Windows

Tiffany Stained Glass Window c:1902 - Chapel, NY

This past week, I had the opportunity to shoot several stained glass windows made at the turn of the century. The challenge was, retaining the brilliant colors while giving them context within the stone arch frames - a huge disparity between "light and dark" for sure, and typically well beyond the dynamic range in even the best of sensor technology. So - here are a few tips, that seemed to work well for me:

- Shoot in manual mode so you can over-ride the camera's "what you should shoot" mode;

- Spot meter the highlights - and remember what they are;

- Spot meter the shadows in the darkest area of the frame;

- Next - you are going to set to the average of the two readings - and then, set your EV to -1. This protects the highlight detail and presumes you can bring out the shadows in post-processing. As the shadows are in the final vignette (see the above image), I wasn't too worried about inducing any noticeable noise in the shadows.

In the actual execution of the shot - try to shoot late afternoon (golden hour) or very early morning without the sun directly coming through the window. A soft light is your best bet. In the inside of the building, ask for the interior lights to be dimmed or extinguished altogether, for optimum white balance and to induce a natural vignette around the bright window casement. As well, try to shoot in  RAW mode.

I'll try to continue to add some images from last weeks shoot as I can, but, in the meantime, I hope this helps!

  

The Grandeur of it All...

From yesterday and still processing over 300 other images?  Yikes!

Anyway...   In this image, I thought I knew what I wanted when I pressed the shutter on my A7R. These are organ pipes in a small chapel - a tripod setup just underneath.  I took three exposures at +3/0/-3 and joined them in Photomatix Pro. From there - into Lightroom, and finally edited in Photoshop where the monochrome was applies through Nik. Played with the opacity in that new level, just to leave a hint" of color. I put this up on The Arcanum in my cohort run by Glenn Guy.

If you are not a member of The Arcanum - you can check it out here: http://www.thearcanum.com/

Just home...

Sunrise Awakening - Reflecting Pool at The Vanderbilt Mansion

A terrific three days of shooting in the Hudson Valley Region of New York. I had the opportunity to get access to a number of properties and buildings that are simply outstanding. I'll try to post more images over the next few days.

For the image above, it was taken sunrise in the gardens at Vanderbilt Mansion. I liked the steam rising from the pond at the first sun's rays hit its surface. This was taken with my Sony A7R and the Sony/Zeiss 16-35mm lens. While the ISO was a bit higher then I usually shoot, it was needed to capture the a slighter smaller f/stop for the DOF I was looking for at the time. Also, I took a slightly higher point-of-view to center the reflection of Aphrodite in the dark pond water.  This was post-processed in Lightroom, then finished off in Photoshop.

On the Road Again....

Sometimes, it feels like I just get unpacked long enough to re-pack..  Headed to the Hudson Valley Region of New York for a shoot - and I'm really looking forward to it! I'll try to post a couple of images while "on-the-road"...  Now - for the last minute check list:

• Sony A7R? - check
• Back-up body (Olympus OM-D E-M1)? - check
• Full range of zoom lenses? - check
• Prime lenses? - check
• Tripods? - check
• Extra batteries and memory cards? - check
• Chargers and stuff? - check
• Surface Tablet? - check
• External 1TB drive? - check

Hmmm - I think I have enough room in the car for the DJI P2 V+ - so, here we go ;)  BTW - I usually remember all the stuff I've forgotten once I've left? Funny how that works!

Finally getting serious about my professional photo website....  It's been a long road from "there to here"?  I never know what to post in the galleries/portfolios, but - I guess we will figure all that out as we go along...

So far, I have examples from my Landscape, Residential Real Estate and Portsmouth specific galleries tagged..  Next, maybe aerial, wildlife and macro images.....

This is a neat adventure, though!!

My New Website

Fireworks Over Portsmouth

I was told that if I started writing a blog - I would be instantly catapulted into incredible fame and instant notoriety..  Nawww - I don't believe it either ;)  What I do believe rather - is that I would like to share some of my images from in and around Portsmouth NH - and related a bit about how they were taken and processed - and a bit about my personal choices in post-processing.  So a blog seemed like a terrific platform..

The first image - of course with the July Holiday season - is an image of fireworks over Portsmouth. The exposure data is 13 seconds @ f/11, taken on a tripod - and manually focused before hand.  I wanted to show enough detail in the buildings (and spotlight behind North Church), while at the same time - capturing the fireworks themselves and smokey sky. The trade-off in doing this, is that the core of the fireworks loses some detail in the highlights, but, at the same time - what we really remember are the colorful lights from the explosion as they shoot out anyway - so, a great trade-off to be able to actually see the city of Portsmouth with fireworks overhead.

To get a better vantage point - I also shot this from the Sarah Long bridge using an 80mm telephoto lens. I found the focal length just about right, as some fireworks displays go higher than others - and 80mm seemed just about perfect - allowing enough detail is I needed to crop a little closer during post-processing.