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...