North Creek Lake

f/22, 1/40 sec., 35 mm, ISO-400


f/22, 1/50 sec., 35 mm, ISO-400


f/8, 1/100 sec., 135 mm, ISO-800


f/8, 1/100 sec., 135 mm, ISO-800


f/22, 1/30 sec., 35 mm, ISO-640

Date: 01.07.2008
Time: 9:30 AM (And I just got so lucky with the light.)

Sunset

(Catching up on my backlog.)

This was an early experiment with the 50 mm to see what it did with a sunset, wide open.

I like the result.


f/1.4, 1/50 sec., 50 mm, ISO-800


f/1.4, 1/50 sec., 50 mm, ISO-800


f/1.4, 1/80 sec., 50 mm, ISO-400


f/1.4, 1/8 sec., 50 mm, ISO-800


f/1.4, 1/25 sec., 50 mm, ISO-800

Location: Our Neighborhood
Date: 01.01.2008
Time: 5:30 PM

East Village Pond

Tripod Day!

Yesterday, I took my new tripod out for an extended time. I overslept, so I just went to a little landscape/drainage pond, near the playground.

This was my very first shot, stopped down to f/22. It's nothing spectacular, but I do love the mist on the pond, the sun, the sloping grass, and the clarity! I never would have gotten that shot handheld.



Here are some of my other shots, all with the tripod, except the pine branches, which I shot with the 50mm lens when I got back to the car.

A couple more from the accidental B&W shoot, that are in color, due to using the program settings (landscape). I really, really like this shot of the snowy field and the road it the foreground. What appeals to me is its simplicity, lines, and the gradations in the color of the sky.


f/9, 1/200 SEC, 41 MM, ISO-100 (Landscape Program)
Post-processing: auto levels, contrast



This next shot is something new that I'm trying -- not composing the entire tree, but rather trying to capture some part of it that communicates its character.


f/7.1, 1/125 SEC, 41 MM, ISO-100 (Landscape Program)
Post-processing: auto levels, contrast, ink outlines filter

My absolute adoration of trees is well documented in my daily photoblog. I'm forever trying to capture their essence and their subliminity. In most past attemps, I try to capture the whole tree, thinking its beauty lies in whole form. But, my eye can take in the whole form as well as the intricate detail at the same time. When I look at the shots taken of the whole tree, they often fail to communicate what captivated me at the time.

Sometimes whole tree shots are good, however, because the form and line of an entire tree is wonderful, and like snowflakes, no two the same.

In Camera B&W

I actually did not mean to use the B&W, but I had been playing around with it earlier in the day, and did not realize that the setting stayed on after I turned off the camera.

I took some pictures in the landscape program mode, and those were in color, but when I used the aperuture priority, the b&w was in effect. I post-processed these, using the auto levels and contrast and really like the result. The only one that I did my normal darkening of highlights for is the woods (3rd shot).


f/4, 1/4000 SEC, 41 MM, ISO-400

f/29, 1/60 SEC, 65 MM, ISO-500

f/22, 1/25 SEC, 28 MM, ISO-800

f/22, 1/50 SEC, 28 MM, ISO-400

Landscape vs. Portrait

Fully intending, after meandering and shooting for a while, to go home, I crested a hill and saw this alternate view of Red Barn 108. I passed it, deliberated, and then turned around and went back. I really should have driven the Jeep instead of the Caravan, considering the places that I was pulling over to get these shots. Next time, Jeep.

Unintentionally, I ended up with a landscape and portrait shot of each. I tend to shoot vertically, and I guess I was trying to make sure I tried both compositions.

Do you find you have a preference for horizontal or vertical shooting? I like the vertical composition best for all three of these sets below (not that I dislike the horizontal, it's a close call). which do you prefer?

For the first four shots, I was using the landscape program mode, and for the last two, I was shooting in aperture priority mode, wide open.


f/5.6, 1/100 SEC, 53 MM, ISO-100
Post-processing: None


f/5.6, 1/80 SEC, 56 MM, ISO-100
Post-processing: None

I also grabbed some shots of the cornfields.


f/6.3, 1/100 SEC, 60 MM, ISO-100
Post-processing: auto levels, darken highlights


f/5.6, 1/80 SEC, 60 MM, ISO-100
Post-processing: auto levels, darken highlights, cropped

And, finally, I could not resist shooting up through these grass stalks to see what kind of shot it might create.


f/4.5, 1/1250 SEC, 53 MM, ISO-400
Post-processing: None


f/3.5, 1/1600 SEC, 28 MM, ISO-400
Post-processing: None

I had a dream the other night that I was shooting in this little park, from this exact perspective. Weird that photography has permeated my consciousness like that. I got up early and drove there the next morning. Of course, how could I not?


f/5.6, 1/50 SEC, 20 MM, ISO-100

Post-processing: auto levels, darken highlights, small increase in saturation, poster edges filter (I liked the way the poster edges darkened the lines of the tree branches against the sky.)

I ended up using a different shot on my 365 blog, one that I got after I had packed everything up and was driving out. I passed this other side of the park, saw the two benches and decided it was worth pulling everything back out to see what I could capture. I actually drove past it, and back around, before comitting to it. Now, I'm glad I did.


f/5.6, 1/30 SEC, 31 MM, ISO-200

Post-processing: auto levels, darken highlights, small increase in saturation, dry brush filter (I liked the way the dry brush simplified the lines and softened the foreground.)

I finally got the layering to work, not like the fiasco of this shot, and was able to copy everything but the sky to a new layer and lighten it. Same technique, but with feathering (2 px), and a much better result.


f/6.3, 1/250 SEC, 44 MM, ISO-400

Post-Processing: Sky layer - auto levels, slight boost in midtone contrast and saturation. Grass and trees layer - lighten shadows, slight boost in saturation.

Here's the original.

f/11, 1/250 SEC, 28 MM, ISO-100

Post-processing: this was my first effort at separating the sky from the foreground in photoshop, and giving them separate treatments. The sky was at a good exposure, but the foreground was very dark and you could not see the fence or the stalks of grass. I selected the field and trees with the magic wand and copied it into a new layer. Then, on that layer, I lightened the shadows, dodged the trees, and boosted the saturation. I forgot to feather the selection before copying into a new layer, and as a result it does not look as good as it could.

Here's another one, where the lack of feathering creates an even worse result, not to mention that the lightening looks fake and hazy. Lots to learn about how to do this better.


I do love that sky, though.