Delta Lake State Park
A Quick Stop at the Beach
Delta Lake State Park
Category Archives: landscape
Evening Light
Kiwanis Park at Geiger Point, Melbourne, FL
A friend of mine retired at the end of 2016. He and his wife are spending February down in Florida. They are near Melbourne and I had hoped to make a quick trip down to visit him. Work kinda got in the way and I do not believe I will make it down.
It would have been cool to spend some time running around Florida together doing nothing in particular. Of course, it would have given me more opportunities for sunrises and sunsets. I’m sure there will be other times…
Going through my images from December I ran across this view from Geiger Point near the 192 Causeway. I loved that evening as it was the first sunset after we arrived. The drive down had been long but I knew the best way to recharge was to get out with my camera. No jaw-dropping pics were captured but there was great light which is always good.
A Walk in the Woods
BREIA, Egypt Road Trail
Field of White
Pasture, Egypt Road, Boonville
Well, I changed my plans yesterday. I was going back to the zoo for more images of the animals but as the morning progressed the conditions improved to the point I had to go North to use the snowshoes. I had mentioned in a previous post the Black River Environmental Improvement Association (BREIA) and the x-country ski/snowshoe trails they have throughout northern Oneida county. Yesterday turned into the perfect day to go for a walk. I’ll have a post of my adventure later.
On my way up to the trail head I came across this view. I had turned onto Egypt Road and the sun was breaking through the clouds. I stopped the car and jumped out with the camera. Luckily, it is a country road with little traffic. I was able to grab this nice view with the mostly frozen creek running through it.
My original image had the sun in the view but I was unable to remove the power lines running through the top portion of the image. Try as I might my Photoshop skills were not up to the task. Once I had the thought the lines needed to go I could not see the image with them in it. I modified the crop to a 16×9 ratio losing the majority of the sky. It did refocus the attention on the creek which is really what I wanted to capture anyway.
End of the Line
Silent Sunday
Old Erie Canal Park, DeWitt
Bellamy Lights
Bellamy Harbor Park, Rome, NY
Wednesday morning as I started my journey to work I was nudged out of my routine by the moon breaking through the clouds. It was a day before the full moon and about forty-five minutes before moon set. For a few miles I was having that old debate in my head…
You should stop and capture some pics of the moon!
But, that will make me late for work.
Late! You are usually forty-five minutes early every day.
But it will feel late to me!
But look at that moon!
I drove past the on-ramp to the highway and headed toward Bellamy Harbor Park at the southern end of Rome. I was hoping to catch the moon reflected off the water of the barge canal and depending on its position in the sky some of the park lights as well.
It almost worked. Tuesday night was the night of the freezing rain. The snow covered ground was one giant ice rink! I also forgot how fast the moon moves through the sky when it is near the horizon. By the time I was able to ‘skate’ my way from the car to a location near the water the moon was almost out of view.
See that one whiter, less star flared light near the left end of the walkway bridge. That is the moon. Yeah, by driving to the park I lowered my elevation so much the moon appeared even lower in the sky. As I continued my drive to work after capturing a few images I thought I could try again on Thursday. No such luck, cloudy and rainy. Maybe on Friday… 😉
Coming Home
Melbourne Beach, Florida
The weather hasn’t truly been bad. Listening to the reports I am happy I do not leave off the Eastern shore of Lake Ontario. They have been hit hard this past week. We did experience some unpleasant weather on Tuesday. There is a warm front coming through my area. Around 3pm the sleet and freezing rain started. I opted to leave work early in hopes of out running the weather East. The ride home had its moments but in the end I only traveled an extra 5 minutes due to the weather.
The drive did have me thinking about the beautiful weather I left in Florida back in December. In particular, the last day where I was at the beach for the sunrise. I had an opportunity to switch out my lens to the telephoto and capture the sandpipers and seagulls. On the way home I kept thinking of this particular image I was able to capture of three gulls heading back toward the beach. I had to finish processing and then post it.
I used quite a few of my compositional tricks to help improve the chances you will like this image. 🙂 I’ll tell on myself and explain what I did…
In my post about the new 52 week challenge I joined I talked about the rule of thirds. That rule is in full force in this image. Can you spot them all?
First, the horizon is on the bottom third horizontal line. Next I placed the three seagulls on the left vertical line. As luck would have it the gulls are also on one of the intersection points. Now, the highlight on the right where the sun will eventually break above the clouds is on the right vertical line. See what I mean by the rule of thirds is in full force.
Now there are few other eye-catching tricks employed in this image. There are three separate layers to the image. The water/waves are in the bottom third of the image and become the foreground. The clouds on the horizon are in the middle third while the gulls and bright yellow/orange sky are the top third. The clouds effectively become the background and the gulls and the hint of the sun are the subtle subject.
One last trick is the odd number of seagulls. This is often referred to as the rule of odds. The brain does not try to ‘pair’ off the odd number and bring a dullness or ‘sameness’ to an image. You can read more about this photographic ‘rule’ at another Digital Photography School article here.
So, did I succeed? Did my tricks influence you at all?
Surf Dreamin’
Cocoa Beach Pier, Florida
Not only should you be looking at your ‘keepers’ but the less than perfect images are learning experiences as well. And sometimes the oops or ah, crap images are avenues for creative outlets. I never throw away an image until after a long consideration and inspection.
This image is the result of me not paying attention! I was focused on getting the shot and neglected to watch as the surf was coming further up the beach. This five second exposure was almost done when a big wave came crashing towards me. I grabbed the tripod and tried to out run the water. One soaked foot later and an image interrupted I learned to keep one eye out on the water.
But the same principal applies to this image as does an image with car lights. The main exposure was almost set (a little underexposed) and the only points tracked during my grab and go are the intense lights. To me it looks as if I tried to do light painting around the pier area. The surf is smooth light I wanted. The clouds are exposed to my liking and the pier stands out as it should.
Because of the movement in the last 20% of the exposure there was a natural softness to the image. I was able to recover most of the detail in the pier but in the end I went with a soft and dreamy look to enhance how I felt about the image. And yes, I am dreaming about my next trip to Florida! LOL
MLCreations Photography 