Category Archives: landscape

Holding Back

Posted by Mike on

Monochrome Winter
Delta Lake Dam

I was asked yesterday about the titles of my images. I generally add a title that conveys a feeling or a thought about the image. Not always, but generally. For some images the title is in my head as I compose and before I activate the shutter. Others come to me as I am processing the image. Today’s image spooked me a little.

After I set the title in Lightroom and exported the image I was asked if I wanted to over-write the existing file. I searched through my blog posts and found the original image titled Holding Back from 2012. When I opened up the post I was surprised by the subject. I guess my mind is still working the same way eight years later.

I’m certain the meaning of the image eight years ago is different than the one I’m posting today. Today’s image sums up a nagging feeling I am a little settled. I’m not a fan of change, although, in the past few years I have experienced some big ones. There are a couple more I want to pursue, changes, that is but I haven’t focused on them yet… I know I’m holding back. I need to figure out why…

 

Holding Back
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/30s, 12mm, f/11, ISO 200

Morning Cold

Posted by Mike on

Bellamy Harbor

I will admit, going out for the sunrise yesterday was a last minute decision. The temperature was only 2 degrees. I was not really excited to experience the cold. I was reading in my big comfy chair when the color of the sky caught my attention. Dang it!

I quickly threw on some warm clothes, switch out the macro lens for my go-to landscape lens and headed to Bellamy Harbor. I didn’t expect as much ice as there was. Normally the flow from the Mohawk River keeps the ice from forming so completely, but I guess at this low temperature it is hard to resist. I grabbed a few images from the water’s edge and then found some interesting views on the snow/ice covered foliage. Once my finger tips started to feel the cold, I knew it was time to get back to the warmth of the car. I quickly drove to the diner for some coffee and breakfast…

Morning Cold
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/20s, 19mm, f/11, ISO 200

Exposed

Posted by Mike on

Wells Falls, Ithaca, NY

I return to Wells Falls to process an image from one of my summer trips to Ithaca. The exposed root of the trees really fascinate me…

 

Exposed
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 2s, 12mm, f/11, ISO 100

Impending Light

Posted by Mike on

Bellamy Harbor Park

If I was worried about time consistency, I would have posted this image before yesterday’s image. The overall view of Bellamy Harbor as it was fifteen minutes before the clouds rolled in. That is the only difference between today’s and yesterday’s images.

 

Impending Light
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 4s, 16mm, f/11, ISO 200

Skipping Stones (again)

Posted by Mike on

Delta Lake State Park

A couple days ago this image popped up as a memory in my FB stream. It brought back quite a few memories. This was captured a little over a year after I started learning about photography. Earlier in 2012 I had purchased my first non point and shoot camera, the Nikon D5100 with the Sigma 17-70mm lens. I was experimenting with everything (I guess I still do as I have never focused on my style of photography).

I remember setting up the tripod at the edge of the water and squatting behind the camera throwing stones past it trying to capture the “perfect” skip. This image is actually the very first attempt. All the remaining tries didn’t create the look and feel of a stone skip. At some point I realized I was tempting fate by hurling stones past my camera and it was only a matter of time before I ended up hitting it. I moved on…

 

Skipping Stones
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/10s, 38mm, f/20, ISO 200

 

This image has generated a lot of interest. I like it but I never thought other people would find it worthy. One person contacted me to see if they could use it as the cover of a short novel they were writing. Another asked if it could be used for a in a blog post they were writing. I had a researching ask if it could be used in paper being written. But my most surprising was when I was contacted by a firm in Canada who wanted to use it in training material. That one took months to sort out as I had to learn about contracts and image rights. In the end I was able to reach an agreement with the firm. Probably more surprising than how much interest this image generated is that it didn’t happen immediately after I posted it online. All these inquiries have happened over the past six or seven years!

So, after the memory on FB brought this image back to me, I decided it was time to re-process. I’ve learned quite a lot in the past eight years (well, I hope I have) and I wanted to give this one a fresh coat of paint. I can see in my older images I hadn’t worked out the balance of highlights and shadows. I didn’t understand light, its quality or tone. The original image feels flat to me and it definitely has a few issues with white balance.

I created a fresh copy in Lightroom and set about processing this one as I would today. I changed the crop from 4×5 to 5×7. I wanted to give the ripples a little more breathing room in the scene. I definitely adjusted the white balance. I was able to de-haze the image and improve details of the subject. Once I was happy with the adjustments in Lightroom I brought the image into Luminar and applied my normal sunset processing, taking care to not overpower the image with an orange cast (which is obvious in the original). I think the new version is an improvement… how about you?

 

Skipping Stones (again)
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/10s, 38mm, f/20, ISO 200