A Gorgeous Start….
Not a bad way to start the day….too bad it wasn’t today.
Hope everyone enjoys this holiday weekend!
365: Routine…. Or So We Thought
My daughter and I had just commented this morning how our routine was getting a little too routine. Well that changed a few hours later when I got an emergency call at work that my oldest daughter was being sent to the hospital in an ambulance because she felt lightheaded and dizzy while at school. Funny how things can change so quickly!
I called my wife who was in route to the school to be with my daughter while she rode in the ambulance. She says the nurse took my daughters blood pressure and pulse and her heart rate was 230 bpm. Needless to say I flew to the hospital and actually beat the ambulance there. After several attempts to manually reduce her pulse rate, the doctors decide to give her meds that will actually stop the heart and quickly reset it. They tell us that there will be quite a bit of pain and burning in her chest and if all goes well the heart will almost immediately return to normal. A little nerve racking to say the least.
They inject the medicine and all eyes point to the monitor….. it’s quiet and tense…..sure enough within 5 to 10 seconds the heart rate slowly begins to lower to normal rates….. relief fills the room.
A few tests later reveal no structural or chemical problems and we’re allowed to go home. She’ll be fine and after a few trips to a pediatric cardiologist in the next few weeks, things will hopefully return back to a normal, boring routine. I guess that’s not so bad after all.
Oh, the picture, it represents me hopefully getting back to my normal routine of posting beautiful landscapes.
365: Dusk…
The Manasquan Reservoir is a great place for dawn or dusk shots and yesterday was no exception. The sun set not too long after this shot and I ended up walking back to my car in the dark. No, I’m not scared of the dark!
New Filter with Lowe Row…
A few weeks back I purchased a soft edged, split neutral density filter for my landscape shots and finally, last night, had a chance to give it a whirl. I have to say it’s not quite as easy to use as it looks. Just planting it over the lens and snapping away will not get the job done. My first 40 shots I used my Sigma 10-20mm and well, the results were less than perfect:( Lots of vignetting and unappealing results to say the least.
This particular shot I coupled my split with a 6 stop neutral density filter and my Tamron 17-50mm lens and ended up with a 10 second exposure which smoothed out the water pretty nicely. The sky, as you can see, was pretty bland in this direction, adding nothing to the shot.
Well, looks like lots of work is needed to make these filters work so stay tuned!
Captured with my Canon XTI, B+W 6 stop ND filter, Galen Roswell 3 stop split ND filter on a Tamron 17-50 mm lens.
Early Morning Mood…
On this particular morning the presence of fog at the Manasquan Reservoir certainly sets the mood for this shot. As you can see the visibility was very low. It didn’t last very long, within an hour it was a completely different scene…..blue skies and not a single cloud.
He was Trying to Say Something to Me…
As I was taking shots of this little guy he keep shuffling back and forth on the perch and I could faintly hear him trying to say something to me:) At first I thought he was trying to tell me not to get any closer or else I would lose him as a subject. I didn’t stop moving closer and as I got up close I could hear him say something to the effect of “That Aussie guy…….Where’s that Aussie guy?” Now I only know 1 or 2 Aussies and only one through photography so I can only assume………….I don’t know Ron…you’ve got a reputation everywhere!
Surface Details….
A few months back I was talking about the need for me to pay more attention to details in my shots and I believe this was one of the first attempts to do just that. That obviously didn’t last long because Gisele noticed the N in my vineyard shot and I didn’t. I guess I need to work further on this aspect of my skill. Thanks for reminding me Gisele!
Fence…
During the summer months this ramp is quite busy with wannabe boaters embarking onto the Manasquan Reservoir. This is also the area of the reservoir where I took my #1 viewed shot of 2010 and that can be seen here.
Shot settings and processing:
3 shot HDR processed in photomatix then finished in Lightroom with adjustments in clarity, saturation, adding a graduated filter for the sky, decreased color temp. to cooler tone and finally added a slight vignette.
Top 10 of 2010…#8
I really like this one as well. Some comments suggested that a more prominent foreground subject was needed but my intent here was to use color as the main subject and certainly there’s plenty of that in the foreground.
This is also a shot that was made possible with my Sigma 10-20mm lens. I’m real impressed with this lens, the more and more I use it the more I love the expansiveness and contrast it produces. This Siggy does take some time and concentration to keep distortion to a minimum but it’s well worth it.
Not SOOC…
Quite a bit of processing with this one, basically blended the sky of one exposure with the exposure of the trees and water, brightened the shadows and darks in the tone curve panel and then saturated the colors of the trees with the adjustment brush. Cropped and sharpened for posting.
I know it’s hard to see here but click here for full version..
SOOC….
One of the advantages of bracketing your shots is that you get to see what the scene looks like at various exposures. This bracket resulted in such a good exposure that the only processing I did to it was the removal of 2 spots, cropping the sky slightly and a preset for landscape sharpening. There is no color correcting, color enhancing, or tone curve corrections. Below you will find concrete evidence of the history for this shot……
So maybe taking the approach of utilizing multiple exposures of any given scene may help your creativity and further your understanding of the importance of using different exposures to enhance your photos. What I also like about it is that it can decrease the amount of time spent in post and allow more time for my honey-do list:)
Orange…
Standing in 5-6 feet of water is what I should be doing but due to the drought we’ve had in NJ this year I’m able to stand here and take this shot. Water levels at the Manasquan Reservoir, as you can see, are extremely low. I’m not quite sure why the authorities never declared a water emergency but I guess I shouldn’t complain because I was able to get this shot as a result. I do hope we do get some precipitation this winter (hopefully not of the frozen type) to give some relief to this drought.
This was the 3rd day this week I went to this spot to get just the right picture to show the beauty of this place. I was struggling to get an interesting enough foreground to compliment the awesome foliage of the trees. I think this works…… Ron might be pleased anyway and that’s worth the effort:)
I decided to post my adjustments in Lightroom for you to see, don’t know if it will help but let me know.
The history on the left are the adjustments I made to the image prior to sending it to Topaz Adjust for some detail enhancements. The right history panel represents adjustments made after Topaz plug-in use.
Perspective…The Sequel…
I have been reading quite a bit lately on the concept of scene recognition and taking the time to properly plan out the shot that is in front of you. I need to do more of this. Case in point, you may remember this photo that generated over 10000 hits to my blog, well, the above photo was taken just minutes after that one and one in which I should have waited just a few minutes for the fishing boat to exit the scene. I was so jacked up about the lighting that I overlooked all of the elements seen through the viewfinder and although this shot is not bad, I think it could be even better had I been more aware of the fishing boat and waited for it to clear.
Do you find yourself doing the same thing? How do you approach planning a shot you might already have in your head? Do you survey the whole viewfinder or just fire away? Something to thing about during your next outing.
It’s All About the Light…
I’m kind of digg’in the relationship between the fall off of the size of the light source to the reduction of the size of the boats. The pattern, from right to left, really makes this shot worthy of posting. You know the Manasquan Reservoir is a fantastic place for photography but I’ve been there so many times that I wonder what else am I going to take pictures of…one know that “been there done that” thing. This is one of those scenes that I’ve seen hundreds of times and honestly have gotten tired of, well, I decided to walk over anyway and much to my surprise was presented with this great source of light. It actually gave the rather mundane scene a totally different look. I guess you can always count on mother nature for something unique and spectacular if your patient and persistent.
Shot settings: f3.5, 1/8 sec, and iso 200 at 17mm
Foreground…
I was just reading a photoshop techniques magazine and in one lesson they stressed the importance of a dominant foreground element in landscape shots. I guess this represents that thought.
I tonemapped this from 3 exposures and then cropped, adjusted color temp, added 2 graduated filters for brightness, a few tone curve adjustments and some spot removal(my sensor is awfully dirty) and finally added a vignette.
Shot settings from base are f16, 1/45sec, iso 100 at 17mm
Strange…
I was perplexed by this scene the second I came upon it. I don’t know if it was their body language, the precise distancing between each person or the absence of any kind of communication. But these five people, even with an apparent common interest for fishing, within close proximity to one other, seemed totally isolated from each other. I decided to sit for a few minutes to see what, if anything, would transpire. Well, that lasted about 10-15 minutes for boredom had set in. Not one bit of interaction between any of them. I don’t know, seemed kind of strange. Maybe they were all “in the zone” 
Shot at f7.1, 1/250 sec, iso 100 at 17mm
Rough…
As my daughter was getting a sailing lesson with the girl scouts I was scouring the banks of the Manasquan Reservoir. As water levels continue to recede new treasures can be found around the perimeter of the reservoir. What I find interesting is that the metal is almost completely corroded but the tire looks like it could be remounted and driven on with no problem.
Shot at f5.6, 1/125 sec, 91mm, iso 100 and Hoya CP.
Sunrise in NJ…
Just a quick shot from this mornings sunrise….see a flickr friends versions of the same scene here
f27, 1/15 ss, iso 100, and 23mm
Passage of Time Final
Passage of Time 5, originally uploaded by boomer3297.
My last shot of the morning is a 5 shot HDR. Processed in Photomatix, sorry I can’t remember the settings, except that it was on the max setting.
A nice ending to a great sunrise!
Passage of Time 3
Passage of Time 3, originally uploaded by boomer3297.
Quite a few things different in this shot, taken 10 minutes later.
f/4
1/125 exposure
ISO 100
17mm
Different perspective
No ND filter
Without the filter there are more ripples of the water and certainly no blurred sky on this one. I also like how the details are still evident in the bushes on the right. You may have to enlarge to see them.
Passage of Time 2
Passage of Time 2, originally uploaded by boomer3297.
This shot, although a slightly different perspective, was taken a few minutes later. Coloring and exposure is generally the same, cloud formation is different and slightly blurred due to the 8 sec. exposure.
Iso 100
f/16
8 second exp.
17mm
Passage of Time
Passage of Time, originally uploaded by boomer3297.
My first post in a series for the theme “The Passage of Time” This is a 10 second exposure, taken at 5:55am this morning, utilizing my new B+W ND filter. I took several shots over the next 45 minutes or so experimenting with exposure times. I really like the look of these shots with the filter especially in the water, silky smooth. I think I’ll keep it!
