Category Archives: landscapes

Calendar Contest Update

Posted by Mike on

I received some good news today via email. One of my pictures entered in the photo contest for the Mohawk Valley 2013 calendar was selected by the readers. The picture below will be for the month of February. The calendar comes out on January 1st in the Observer-Dispatch paper.

This particular image was taken during lunch back on March 1st for an event on Google+. I ended up not using this image for the event and tried some not normal processing on it. I was very happy with the result because I felt it had a post card feel to it and I was able to keep the falling snow visible.

It is not my most favorite image but I thought it represented the Mohawk Valley which is what I thought the intent of the contest was.  Based on the other images in the competition it was more for photographers from the Mohawk Valley.  Anyway, I was happy to have two images selected for the competition and I’m thrilled to have one actually be in the calendar.

Canal Lock 20

Canal Lock 20

Rock Beach

Posted by Mike on

We interrupt the regularly scheduled snowfall to bring you this alien landscape from one week ago…

Rock Beach
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/3, 1/13, 1/50s bracket), 17mm, f/18, ISO 200

Beachcomber

Posted by Mike on

Sitting on the edge of the beach waiting for the sun to set I spied this lone rock disturbing the sand. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a close-up. Luckily, I had done my research before I bought my tripod earlier this year. I made sure the legs reverse folded allowing me to get the camera very low to the ground. The wide angle lens gave me the close-up of the rock I wanted, and it still provided a nice view of the beach and sky. I knew I would be taking this one into Photomatix for a little HDR help so I used a 3 image exposure bracket to capture the scene.

Beachcomber
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/40, 1/10, 0.4s bracket), 17mm, f/16, ISO 200

Skipping Stones

Posted by Mike on

Another weekend started off with me having to work Saturday morning. At least the whole day was not lost as I was able to leave around 11am. The afternoon was setting itself up for a nice sunset but my hopes for exploring with the camera were postponed as we decided to head out for a movie. I can’t complain, Skyfall was quite good and I still had one more day in the weekend.

Sunday managed to be an even better day than Saturday, so around 3pm I headed over to Delta Lake state park. I planned on getting in a little exploring while I waited for the sunset to settle in. The lake is still quite low and you are able to walk along the edge in places not accessible when the level is normal. As I was capturing some images of the rocks against the water a couple walked past trying to skip some stones.

It was one of those ‘ah ha’ moments for me. After they left my area I set up the tripod near the water, searched for some good skipping stones and started to create the image I envisioned of a stone skipping across the water. Funny thing is, my first attempt was the best. I did manage to get a few others but this one is the one I like the best.

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

Wrong Blue Hour

Posted by Mike on

The week had been very hectic and long with having to deal with issues at work. I was definitely looking forward to the weekend. I had only been able to venture out with my camera during lunch and was thinking if the weather cooperated I would take a drive up to Sylvan Beach on Oneida Lake.

Saturday afternoon approached with everything lining up as I had hoped. There were some nice clouds in the sky, a slight haze to soften the light and my afternoon was free. I grabbed my daughter and we made the 40 minute drive to the lake. The conditions were a little worse at the lake and I only had a few minutes with the sun before it dove behind the incoming clouds.

This image was after it disappeared but still an hour before the official sunset. Technically it wasn’t in what would be called the blue hour but I do like the tone provided by the cloud cover. This is a portion of the break wall which separates the entrance to the barge canal and the beach area. I would have loved to get an image from the wall looking out into the lake but I couldn’t get around the fence. Don’t they trust us? 🙂

Wrong Blue Hour
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/3s, 70mm, f/22, ISO 200

Thoughts on a Sunday

Posted by Mike on

If you are a landscape photographer or generally only capture images of landscapes, how far do you go while processing your image? How much do you enhance the image? Do you attempt to create an image that is the best you can make? Or, do you try for as much realism as possible? Is your processing based on the scene or do you have a general ‘look’ to your images?

I was driving home from work the other day and the sun was breaking through a dark cloud cover. I was amazed by the clarity of the sunlight shining through the holes in the clouds. It was a very intense light that was begging me to pick up my camera. I knew in my head what I wanted in the foreground to help create a more interesting image. There was a tree in the field close to home that had the brightest yellow leaves. They would just ‘pop’ out of the picture against the clouds. I couldn’t drive fast enough.

My problem became a race against the wind. The clouds were moving too fast and I was losing my image. When I did arrive at the field I quickly pulled over, grabbed the camera and tried to make a picture as nice as the one I envisioned in my head. It didn’t quite work out as I had hoped. There was a second tree in the field next to my yellowed leaf beauty that was just empty branches. The clouds had already started to fill in the holes and the beams of sunlight were not as intense as I saw when I started this race. I clicked away for a few minutes and then the scene was gone.

The image below is the straight out of camera image…

Shine Down on Me – SOOC
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 1/160s, 62mm, f/11, ISO 400


I have stared at the images from that day for a while now. I wasn’t happy with how they turned out and I almost deleted them more than once. I decided I should try to see what I could create and set about processing the best of the group. I know the original thought in my head was to create a ‘landscape’ image which I have always associated with trying to make it look as ‘real’ as it was when the shutter clicked. That just wasn’t happening.

I ended up using Lightroom to do all my basic adjustments. Warm up the image slightly to help bring out the colors. Reduce the noise in the image. Tweak the highlights and shadows. Sharpen the image as I was just slightly out of focus. When I finally had everything set I threw the image in Topaz Labs Adjust and went to the HDR presets. I selected the ‘Dynamic Brightness’ preset and went to work tweaking the settings. The image below is the final result.

Shine Down on Me
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 1/160s, 62mm, f/11, ISO 400


You can definitely see the beams of sunlight and the autumn colors look good against the dark clouds but the image looks unreal to me. It is somewhat close to the image I had in my head when I first caught sight of the sky but it is far from what was really before me when I captured the scene. Now don’t get me wrong, I use all the tools at my disposal while processing my images. I’m not sure what my issue is with this particular image but if feels fake to me. I think I ‘pushed’ it too far while processing in my attempt to highlight the beams of sunlight. I know I have created other images that are far removed from reality so I’m struggling with what it is about this image that bothers me.

I would definitely be interested in any thoughts on this image or processing in general. Thanks…