A Short Walk to Whaleback Lighthouse

This was taken mid-morning this morning at Ordione Point, Rye NH USA- low tide on the coast of New Hampshire. While I have a few I'm working on - this one allowed me to play with various things I've learned in only the past week or so in The Arcanum.

And yes - the weather really is this dark and grey today - and the fog is real, as there is a 10 degree temp difference only yards from the shoreline... I left the house with only a light shirt - and was in a coat while shooting for three hours this AM... You have to love New England when "Spring has almost Sprung"...

Sony A7R2 - Sony/Zeiss 16-35mm.

Shoreline Storm

Taken several days ago over the coast of Rye, this fast moving storm kicked up both the surf and the wind. The image above is a four image panoramic - each frame shot with my Olympus OMD E-M5 Mark II. The trick in doing a panoramic in weather with fast moving clouds and surf - is pay particular attention to shutter speed (1/500th of a second in this case) and pre-plan your panning motion with a level pan head.

While I'm still processing several other images from that session, I enjoyed the way this turned out, especially with the frenzied detail in both the clouds and surf.

This image was processed in both Lightroom and Photoshop.

The Harbor in Portmouth

Portsmouth Harbor, Portsmouth NH USA - Taken earlier today with a Sony A7RII and the Sony-Zeiss 16-35mm f/4 and an ND10 filter. Early morning in the harbor, as the light was a still soft and warm. I thought it complemented the bricks used in so many of the early building along the historic waterfront. As well, this morning, the harbor was a bedlam of activity, as one of the Irving Tankers was escorted out by two of the tug tenders. After passing, another freighter was pulled away from the wharf at Granite State Minerals by two other tugs and escorted to the open ocean.

Welcome to my blog and my hometown!

Outgoing

Very strange weather this morning - the temperatures rose overnight by 15 degrees Fahrenheit and rain was coming down "sideways" as a blustery wind whipped against everything in sight. I thought the surf might be interesting, so I grabbed my camera, wet weather gear and headed out to the coast of Rye NH USA.

As I slowly made my way out onto the rocks and through the seaweed,  the rain started to magically let up - and intent on shooting large waves in front of me, barely noticed what was coming up from behind from the seashore. It was a huge line of clouds that hung low and formed a nearly perfect line.

Above is just one of the many images I took, and I'll be post processing more as I get the chance over the next day or two.

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II with the Olympus 12-40mm F/2.8 Pro lens, taken this morning on the coast of Rye NH USA.  

Shoreline Storm

Taken yesterday during wonderfully high-surf off the coast in Rye NH USA. The cause of this seasonal storm was a rise in temperatures by over 20 degrees Fahrenheit overnight, bring on terrific winds, rain and even a random February Thunderstorm.

This is a long-exposure taken with my Sony A7R II and the Sony-Zeiss 16-35mm f/4 using a three stop ND filter. Postprocessing from a single RAW file was accomplished in Lightroom, and then brought into Photoshop for some work in various layers.

I'll be posting a few more images from yesterday over this weekend, but, I hope you enjoy this one. Thanks for looking!

Mist, Snow and Fog

We awoke early this morning to new snow, with a quick changeover to sleet and freezing rain - all of which created a wonderful fog over the coast. As the tide was coming in, and expected to peak in the next few hours, I packed up my gear and headed to the coast. While the wind was brisk on the beaches and inlets (to say the least,  I was thankful that I brought my cold weather gear.

There are a few challenges in shooting in weather like this with the first - staying warm while it is blowing cold rain and mist into your face. The second is trying to keep the fron element of the lens dry enough during a long exposure (such as above) to not blur the image. As a lens hood won't fit (and probably isn't long enough) - I sacrificed my warmth to use the visor of my cap to shield the ND filter long enough to finish the long exposure.

I'll try to post more from this mornings shoot in the next few days, but for now, this was taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II, the Olympus 12-40mm f/2,.8 Pro lens and a 10-stop ND filter. Post processed in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Sunrise

I've always viewed photography as an art form -but, I've always constrained the post-processing by what was contained in the original image. Yesterday, however - I began to be pushed in a mind-bending exercise to try something new. And the image above is the result.

I always liked both of my two images - one of the lighthouse and the other of a sunrise in Haiti. And learning some new techniques from the library at The Arcanum - thought I'd try to creatively join the two images.  I can say, as this is "new to me" - it took a long time to explore, learn, fail - and then try again...

I have to add - while this style isn't something I'm hooked on - it's interesting to explore areas of photography we don't know - until we give it a try.  Is it for everyone? I don't know - but taking an "artistic approach" is a road that perhaps teaches us how to do our "in camera" images perhaps that much better?

Just Hanging Out

I've always been fascinated with how nature works it's magic... Walking along the shoreline this past Sunday during low-tide (the only time the shoreline can be walked), I came upon this weathered tree - magically clinging the the granite cliff face. As I stared in awe, I could only image the strength of the the roots were dug in to keeps its precarious position for so many years and through so many storms.

This was taken with my Sony A7R Mark II  and Sony-Zeiss 16-35mm f/4 and post processed in Photoshop using numerous layers and masks. While I tried it in monochrome, a good friend and fellow photographer (Richard Adams) and I concluded that the color version works best.

First Snow

I was fortunate to have run across a You Tube video by Sam Abell - a recently retired staff photographer for National Geographic. The video was both wonderfully presented and he stressed several concepts. Those included compose the main elements so that they are separated and distinct. As well, composed from the back plane (above, that is the snow wooded shore in the background), and then compose from back to front, again, leaving the lines of each element separate and distinct. 

The image above was further post-processed using curves and layers in Photoshop - credit to that work-flo is the artist/photographer I mentioned yesterday - Peter Eastway.

Sony A7R II with the Sony-Zeiss 16-35mm , Durham, New Hampshire USA taken yesterday.

The Calming

An image from a couple of weeks ago that I finally liked the processing on. Taken in Rye NH, USA with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II and the Olympus-Zioke 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens - it was a challenge to place the lighthouse correctly, wait for the wave to crash onto the larger rock - and smooth the water with a longer exposure.

I want to thank a few folks in my cohort in the Arcanum who suggested removing some sea grass on the left most edge - as that's exactly what the image wanted while retaining the overall feel.

This image was processed from a single Olympus RAW image in High-Resolution mode, yielding a 64 megapixel file. Post processed in both Lightroom and Photoshop, I liked the final results. I hope you do as well...

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.

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!

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

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.

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.