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Olympus E-P3, Olympus 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6, 1/200s, 28mm, f/8, ISO 800
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Category Archives: clouds
Sculptures
This week we are exploring sculptures. It was probably a bit of a cheat for me as there is a sculpture garden on the old Griffiss Air Force base (Griffiss Sculpture Garden). Although I will say the wind was brutal for a beautiful Saturday afternoon and was cutting right through my jacket. I also was unable to narrow my images down to just three, so hopefully my cohorts won’t mind. 😉
This first image is of a fairly new addition to the sculpture park and is titled ‘Freya’. I took many close-up images of this sculpture, filling the whole frame and trying to capture different angles of the light. As I was walking along the path to the next sculpture this view seemed more appropriate. It places the sculpture in the context of the park.
Freya
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/1250s, 46mm, f/8, ISO 200
This second image is of a sculpture that I knew was going to be included in my images. It is one of three light columns in the park and a more fitting image would be when it is lit up at night. Since I didn’t think I would make it back for an evening walk, I settled on back light from the sun. I also pushed the processing a little more toward the heavy-handed side to accentuate the illumination.
Blue Light Column
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/2500s, 17mm, f/8, ISO 200
This sculpture is titled ‘Chimney’ and I just love the way the polished metal catches the sunlight. This is another sculpture I walked around numerous times trying different angles. In the end, a low point-of-view with the trees and the clouds in the background to help enhance the size of the sculpture was the way to go.
Chimney
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/320s, 17mm, f/16, ISO 200
This last image was another I had panned on capturing when we decided on sculptures. It is titled ‘Argonaut’ but I just know it as the snail. The background around the snail is not the greatest so I chose to capture this one almost in silhouette and show off the intricate wire work in the shell portion of the sculpture.
Argonaut
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/1000s, 21mm, f/8, ISO 200
Looking over these images as I write this post I do notice I was not very imaginative with my captures. Most have the same low angle POV. Next week I’ll have to experiment more…
Sky Bowl
Sky Bowl
Nikon D5100, Rokinon 8mm f/3.5, 1/60s, f/8, ISO 400
Morning Glow
The colors of the sunrise were too good to pass up, so another image from my early morning at Hinkley Reservoir makes it into my stream. This is a 3 exposure bracket HDR image. It was the best way to capture the most light. The sunrise wouldn’t be as interesting if the rocks in the foreground were silhouetted.
Morning Glow
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, {1/4, 1, 4s bracket), 17mm, f/16, ISO 100
Reservoir Sunrise
I finally make it to the weekend and the forecast is for rain. I’m sure I’ll still enjoy the time off from work but I was looking forward to a few events this weekend. The Trenton Falls trails are open again this weekend (as well as next) and there is the Trenton Falls Art Festival. Hopefully Sunday will not be a total washout and I can get some exploring in along the trail and at the art festival.
When I awoke the moon was still shining brightly through the windows so I knew the clouds would have to be rolling in if we are going to get the rain predicted. I packed up the camera and headed to Hinkley Reservoir to capture the sunrise. It was a good plan. The clouds hadn’t completely obscured the sky and the pre-dawn light was incredible.
Pointing the camera into the morning light was going to cause the foreground to almost completely black out. This was the perfect scene for some bracketed images. I properly exposed for the sky and water and tried a few images to ensure I was balancing the histogram. Switched the camera into exposure bracketing, selected +/-2 and let the camera do its thing. This gave me three images, one underexposed by 2 stops, one exposed for the sky and one overexposed by 2 stops. This would give me enough detail in both the highlights and shadows to work with.
I used the ‘Merge to 32-bit HDR’ option in the Photomatix plugin for Lightroom to blend all three exposures together, producing an image with a wider dynamic range. A few adjustments to brighten up the shadows and lighten the highlights produced the image below. The clouds were moving fairly quickly but I let the merge process use all the information which smeared the clouds slightly but I like the results.
Although I am only 20 minutes away from the reservoir this was my first trip up and after the beautiful morning I will be making a more trips in the future. There is quite a few locations along the shore to explore…
Reservoir Sunrise
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (0.5, 2, 8s bracket), 17mm, f/16, ISO 100
Rollin’ In
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 30s, 17mm, f/16, ISO 100
Sunset Over the Canal
Sunset Over the Canal
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, {1/40, 1/10, 0.4s bracket), 46mm, f/18, ISO 100
Light Farewell
Light Farewell
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/25, 1/10, 1/400s bracket), 21mm, f/9, ISO 100
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