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.

Breakwater

Breakwater. The image struck me as I was shooting, simply watching the waves and wind strike one side of the jetty while the ocean was perfectly calm on the opposite side. I could draw numerous analogies to life, people and social norms - but, I'll spare all those quotes.

Sony A7RII with the Sony-Zeiss 16-35mm f/4 taken February 25, 2016.  Long exposure with an ND 3 stop filter. Post-processed in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Thank you for looking!

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?

Frozen In Time

The pond at Bellamy Wildlife Management Area, Dover NH USA. Taken last week with a Sony Ar7 and the 16-35mm f/4, only a few days previously, this small isolated pond was unfrozen and was the waterhole for the areas wildlife. But, after a quick hard freeze, even the surface was dappled to where it appeared that the ripples on the surface were "frozen in time".

This was processed from the following workflo:

1) Imported into Lightroom for a few basic adjustments including exposure, highlights and shadows;

2) Imported as a DNG file with LR adjustments into Photoshop;

3) NIK Color Efx Pro 4  and added several filters including Pro Contrast, Bleach Bypass and Brilliance/Warmth;

4) Copied a new layer and pulled several color curves to pull down several key tones;

5) Copy a new layer and added a high-pass filter using the "Overlay" blend mode for final sharpening; and finally

6) Back into Lightroom for final adjustments and export to the web 

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!

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!

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 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.

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..

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.

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.