Category Archives: reflection

A Morning along the Canal

Posted by Mike on

I decided today would be the day I get up early and search out a sunrise over the Utica Marsh.  My plan was a little short sighted since the walk to the marsh was definitely longer than I anticipated.  It did give me plenty of opportunities along the barge canal for pictures though so the day was not a total washout (even considering all the rain!).  I’ll know better next time to set my alarm about an hour earlier.

Calm Water Morning
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/25s, 17mm, f8, ISO 400

Around half way to the marsh the trail has to cross a canal gate.  The gate isn’t related to a lock but more of a control point into a harbor of sorts off the canal.  I captured a few pictures leading up to the gate but the reverse view, into the sunrise, was definitely the keeper.  It was a little weird crossing the gate even though there was a walkway installed on top.  I was impressed with the construction.  It went for simplicity with large concrete counter weights to reduce the work any motor needed to perform.

Weighted Gate
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/50s, 17mm, f8, ISO 400

At one point along the path there are three bridges that cross above, the north and south lanes of Routes 8 & 12, and the off ramp bridge to I790.  When I reached the point between the bridges the sun was finally above the horizon and once again I had a great show to capture.  This image ‘breaks’ all the ‘rules’, horizon is in the middle, subject is in the middle, etc., but as soon as I capture the first frame I knew this was the way the picture needed to be.  I generally don’t second guess my initial response, when I think about it, I tend to ruin the scene.

Reflected Light(pole)
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/125s, 17mm, f8, ISO 400

All three pictures where processed using Lightroom 4.  Minor tweaks to tone, a little noise reduction and some sharpening.  I’m still learning all the possibilities with Lightroom 4 but it sure does make post processing images simple and straight forward.

Bending Reality

Posted by Mike on
From Landscapes

Bending Reality
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/160s, 17mm, f5.6, ISO 400

While I was at the canal park last night I decided to try for another panoramic image.  I had watched a video by Gavin Hoey on Adorama TV on creating panoramic images and I was hoping the view of the canal would allow me to create what I wanted.  This image is a stitch of 9 portrait pictures taken from East to West between Mill St. and Erie Blvd East in Rome, NY.  I think next time I’ll back away just a little more to get the metal railing in the entire image.

Calm Water Falling

Posted by Mike on
From Landscapes

Calm Water Falling
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/50s, 17mm, f16, ISO 400

I returned to one of my favorite spots tonight, the park along the NY State Barge Canal in south Rome, NY.  It is located were the Black River enters the canal.  I decided to look for different compositions and made an effort to not duplicate pictures I had captured before.

This image is from the pedestrian bridge over the spillway just as the river enters the canal.  I was lucky there was no wind so the river was like a mirror.  I loved the contrast between the calm and falling water.  Plus the reflection is pretty sweet too!

Yesterday’s Path

Posted by Mike on
From Landscapes

Delta Lake Reservoir Dam
View from the bridge
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/30s, 17mm, f5.6, ISO 100

Day 87

Posted by Mike on

It was another beautiful day here in Upstate New York.  Even though my office is in the basement without any windows it was hard to work until quitting time knowing what a nice day was passing me by outside.  As soon as the day was done I grabbed my stuff and headed for some pictures.  I wanted to try capturing the water flowing over the small dam on the Oriskany Creek.  The light wasn’t the best but I took multiple exposures to try to compensate.

I used Photomatix to combine the three exposures using the tone mapping process.  I few small tweaks to enhance the color and then a pass through DeNoise 5 to clean everything up.  The picture turned out better than I expected, still not as good as I have seen online but I’m learning…

Day 83

Posted by Mike on
There is a new theme on The Hobby Photographer’s Photo-Theme Page for reflections.  I’ve taken quite a few pictures where the reflection is the subject or the picture involves a reflection so this will be an easy theme for contributions.  Also, Monday’s are usually the day I get to contribute the most pictures to the daily photography themes on G+ with Mirror Monday being one I have no trouble finding subjects to photograph.
The barge canal is an easy subject for me because I have to cross over on my way home.  Making my choice to stop even easier is the location of a parking area and nature trail right off the road I travel.  Today was no exception since I noticed the warm weather had melted some of the ice and snow on the canal providing a fairly nice surface for reflections.  I knew as I walked up to the overpass that I would be processing the picture as a monochrome image due to the overcast sky and lack of foliage to provide any color.

I first tweaked the picture in Lightroom to get the best color picture I could.  I then passed the picture through Topaz Labs B&W Effects to help bring out the details in the picture.  The results are a little more pronounced than I usually produce but I think it works well for this picture.