Reflections on Ice
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 1/1250s, 82mm, f/16, ISO 200
Wordless Wednesday: Reflections on Ice
Category Archives: ice
River Ice
Monochrome Winter
River Ice
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 1/3s, 175mm, f/20, ISO 100
Nature’s Ice Sculpture
I went looking for the bald eagles over by the dam outlet at Delta Lake on Saturday. I had a good walk but was not fortunate enough to spot any eagles. I did manage to get some images of the ice that forms on branches hanging into the river. This stuff always fascinates me.
Nature’s Ice Sculptre
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 1/500s, 200mm, f/5.6, ISO 800
River Ice
While my daughter was getting ready for the FTC Robotics competition at Pace University I went exploring around Sleepy Hollow, NY. I did some pre-visit research but apparently not enough. As I was waiting for the gates to the Kingsland Point County Park to open I parked at the Philipse Manor Railroad Station and captured a few pictures of the partially frozen Hudson River. I really liked the ice and the view of the Tappan Zee bridge.
If I had just done a 180 from where these two pictures were taken I could have captured the historic railroad station which is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. I had such a list of places to see in a short period of time but now I feel I really missed out on some great images. I managed to capture the views on my list (still to be processed) but now I want to make the 4 hour drive again to finish my exploring.
As Cold As Ice
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/250s, 26mm, f/8, ISO 200
Philipse Manor Marina Breakwall
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/250s, 70mm, f/8, ISO 200
Better or Worse?
A couple of days ago I posted a picture of some ice in the creek. At the time I really liked the picture and used it as my 365 project picture for the day. This picture was another of my attempts at HDR processing using the Photomatix software. I basically let the software do its thing and added a few small tweaks in Elements when it was done.
After staring at this picture for a day or two I feel that I went too far with the processing and ruined the actual look of the ice. I checked out a few online guides/tutorials to basic HDR processing and didn’t see where I might have gone wrong on that end other than a tendency for the HDR software to produce grey looking whites. Which is basically what I felt happened to this picture. I found where most HDR processing brings the finished picture into Photoshop or Elements to ‘correct’ the problem areas. Some of those problems being the grey whites, the addition of noise, etc.
I couldn’t help trying to improve my original picture so I opened Elements, brought the first picture back in as well as the 0 EV exposure picture. I added the 0 EV picture as another layer in the original HDR picture. I set the blending to Hard Light and the Opacity to 75%. I think this dramatically changed the picture and for me brought it back to what I saw in the creek the day I took the picture. This picture is the non-cropped version.
I would appreciate any constructive criticism on how to better process the picture. I realize a lot of the choices we make as we process are to achieve a picture that matches either our memory of the scene or a vision we had when we captured the picture. Still, any tips for processing multiple exposures would be appreciated. Thanks.
Day 89
Today was another nice day but a little lacking in sun. The clouds would not give up any of the sky. I was going to have to spend some time tonight working on real work stuff so I cut out of work about thirty minutes early. In the long run work wins because I generally lose track of time when working from home.
My plan was to head back down to the creek for more ice and water pictures before heading to the gym. I remembered to take my little ten inch bendable tripod with me because I was thinking with the overcast sky I was going to get shutter speeds below my ability to hold the camera steady. I also thought that with the white ice/snow against the darker stream bed I might need to use multiple exposures to achieve what I wanted.
I have about ten to fifteen different views to process but the one I really liked was of a huge ice sheet against shallow water with visible rocks. I had the advantage of being able to setup about 4 feet above the ice on a large boulder. I am really happy with the picture I created.
I captured a three bracket set at -1/0/+1 EV which luckily for me my camera can do by itself. I brought the three images into Photomatix and used the Enhancer – Painterly option. I left the sliders as set by this options but brought the final image into PS Elements to tweak slightly. I adjusted the levels a little and added a high pass filter layer for just the ice. I used the soft light blending mode for the filter layer.
The resulting image is a little more ‘enhanced’ than I typically work toward but I think it works by highlighting the structure within the ice. The painterly option for the enhancer mode in Photomatix helped bring the stones on the creek bed into view and I think they contrast with the ice nicely.
Time to go see if I can create anything else with the other pictures I captured today…
Please feel free to leave comments, suggestions or critiques. Thanks.
Day 86
It was a quick trip weekend. We ended up leaving our house around 11:30am to make the 2.5 hour trip to my mother-in-law’s house. We spent time with my brother-in-law and his family which was half the purpose for our trip. My wife’s older sister also came over to visit with us and brought the 4 month old black lab we gave her around Thanksgiving. Love that dog! That was the other reason for our trip this weekend. It all worked out well and was a nice weekend to do some driving.
We returned home by 3pm which left me with some time to go out playing with my camera. I made a fast grocery run to get our supplies for the week and still was in the woods by 4pm. The Daily Shoot assignment for today was about liquids and I read a blog post about photographing water and ice. This all pointed me in the direction of the stream in the woods just down the road from my house. The sun was out providing just enough light to make this a challenge but luckily for me the stream is down in a ravine which blocked any direct sunlight.
I had a great time exploring the stream looking for interesting combinations of ice and water flow. I was hoping I could slow my shutter speed enough to get the water to look smooth. I wasn’t able to get that glass look that I have seen in some pictures but I’m happy with the effect I did manage to capture. There was a huge assortment of ice formations which made selecting just one picture a little tough for me. The one I selected had some nice colors in the rocks just below the water.
I stayed away from a lot of heavy processing with this picture and tried a few new techniques I learned recently. I edited the picture in PS Elements 10 which I am learning more about every day. I cropped the picture to the 2×3 ratio which removed some unwanted areas in the top of the original. Due to my camera only saving in the JPEG format I ran the picture through DeNoise 5 to clean it up. I then adjusted the levels and increased the saturation slightly. The last enhancement I made to the picture was to create a layer mask for the ice and a high pass filter to just the ice portion of the picture. I learned this technique from Nick Gatens yesterday and not only did I discover more about Elements it allowed me to enhance the detail of the ice formation.
I have a couple of dozen more pictures involving the stream and the water/ice theme I need to process. I had a great time trying to capture these pictures. I’m almost hoping we get a little more winter so I can try this again.
MLCreations Photography 