Category Archives: sunrise

Morning on Route 66

Posted by Mike on

Radiator Springs Area, Art of Animation Resort,
Walt Disney World

When I was on vacation in December we spent two days over at Walt Disney World (shocker, I know!). Rather than drive back to the east coast of Florida it was better to get a room on property which would also allow us easier entry into another park. As luck would have it an Annual Passholder discount was available so I quickly booked a room at the Pop Century Resort.

I personally enjoy staying at Pop Century when I can not use my DVC points. Not only is the resort full of photographic opportunities it is just a walk across a bridge to the Art of Animation Resort. One of my favorite areas at this resort is the Radiator Springs area. You can walk Route 66 and see all the characters from the Cars movie.

On the morning of our second day I woke early to capture some sunrise images. I didn’t bring my tripod on this trip to Disney (planned attempt at traveling light). So I knew I would be pushing my ISO rather high to capture the early morning light. For this image I was at ISO 1600 which will leave a little image noise even with the best noise reduction software.

I really liked the sky over the Cozy Cone Motel and the meandering path of Route 66 into the image. I got low to the ground (OK, sitting on it) to enhance the effect of the road leading in.  The Motel sign actually spins so I had to time the capture just right.  Also, due to the rotation I wanted to minimize any motion blur which prompted me to lower the aperture to f/2 in order to get a 1/500s shutter speed.  Overall, I like how this one turned out.

MLCreations Photography: Around WDW &emdash; Morning on Route 66

Morning on Route 66
Olympus OM-D E-M1
M. Zuiko 25mm f/1.8, 1/500s, f/2, ISO 1600

Photo Fix Friday

Posted by Mike on

Photo Fix Friday

The second edition of Photo Fix Friday is here. I don’t believe I can call it a regular feature of my blog yet, but I am working on it. Surprisingly there are quite a few opportunities in my early images.

This Morning Trail image was captured on my way to work back in April 2012. The town had cleared off some land designated for a new town park and offices. It was a cold morning and the frost hung heavy on the ground. I spotted the sun breaking the horizon through the trees.  It was creating some great shadows in the path toward the woods. I pulled the car around and returned to the small entrance. I grabbed the camera with its tripod and quickly captured the scene.

What I remember most about the view was the frost on the grass along with the light and shadows. As you can see in the first image I over-processed the scene by increasing the colors. I’m sure I ran the image through my Topaz Labs Adjust program to create a pseudo HDR effect and in the process destroyed what it was about the scene that made me stop.  If you look in the tops of the trees on the right of the image you can spot the halo effect of using the HDR function too much in Adjust.  Another sure sign for me is the loss of blue in the sky.  The sun was not that over powering, that is all in my post-processing.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Morning Trail

Morning Trail – Original
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/50s, 32mm, f/18, ISO 100

 

The second image is basically straight out of the camera. This is what I initially captured. The horizon is tilted and the image is a little underexposed.  You can also see the true color of the sky as well as the frost on the grass.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; MorningTrail-SooC

Morning Trail – SooC
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/50s, 32mm, f/18, ISO 100

 

Now for the fix. I changed the crop that I used. I know I went with the 16×9 crop in the original because I had to place the horizon using the rule of thirds. I was still working on understanding everything I had been reading and was not focusing on the feel of the image. For this new image I stayed with the original 3×2 image ratio but brought the top right corner in and down.

My tweaks in Lightroom were done to lighten up the shadows and tone down the highlights.  I did not want to over saturate the image again so I only did minor adjusts to the color.  The frost needed to stay visible to me.  You can still see the effects of the sun but it is not overpowering the image.  I also wanted to keep as much of the shadows as possible but did bring back some of the detail hidden in the darker portions of the image.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Morning Trail - New

Morning Trail – New
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/50s, 32mm, f/18, ISO 100

 

My fix on this image is truer to what I remember about the scene. It is not necessarily the way every image needs to be processed. Some images I process with a look in mind and proceed to change the image to achieve that look. For me this image needed to be brought back to what is in my memory.

Boardwalk Glow

Posted by Mike on

Crescent Lake, Walt Disney World

I am going to go with the excuse that I have not been feeling well and that work has been really hectic as the reason for not venturing out with the camera of late. That is my story and I am going to stick with it. So that leaves me looking through my photo library for something interesting to show.

I seem to be stuck on night/pre-dawn/sundown type images recently. I know I can attribute this fixation on the fun I had during my vacation over Christmas. I came away with quite a few great images and it sparked a desire to learn more.

This image is from my October trip to Walt Disney World. An early morning walk around Crescent Lake which ended up having a very foggy sunrise. This is the Yacht Club Lighthouse looking toward the Boardwalk about thirty minutes before the official sunrise. Usually there would be wonderful deep blues in the sky and if there were only a hint of clouds the morning colors would be bouncing off of them. What I captured is the glow of the Boardwalk lights soaking into the clouds and fog.  The colors create a different mood but they work together.

MLCreations Photography: Around WDW &emdash; Boardwalk Glow

Boardwalk Glow
Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 20s, 21mm, f/16, ISO 200

Florida Silhouette

Posted by Mike on

Indian River near Melbourne, FL

I apologize but I am still stuck back in that vacation week at Christmas. It is more the days at work than the weather that keeps bringing me back to that week and the enjoyment I had going out each morning for pictures. My first excursion for sunrise pics not at Disney produced a great many ‘keepers’. There was something about the silhouetted palm trees that just says Florida to me.

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Florida Silhouette

Florida Silhouette
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 0.8s, 12mm, f/16, ISO 200

Cityglow Sunrise

Posted by Mike on

Barge Canal looking toward Utica, NY

I got my butt out early Saturday! I made a plan and actually followed through with it. Too bad the approaching front didn’t know my plan… 😦

I wanted to catch the sunrise from the Barge Canal. The past few mornings have been wonderful for sunrises (at least as I looked through the shop windows at work). I noticed there was still a thin layer of ice on the barge canal and thought it would add some nice broken reflections for the sunrise.

At least the ice was still in the canal. As you can see from the picture the clouds were rolling in fast and there was very little of the rising sun that made it though to me. The color in the sky is a little sun but mostly the glow from the city lights of Utica.  I grabbed a few images while the time for sunrise approached but when the sun should have been visible there was nothing but clouds.  I did like the thin strip of white that moved through as I captured this thirty second exposure.

I’m listening to the wind race outside this morning as I write this post so I do not think I will have a chance for a sunrise this morning.  I was spoiled that week in Florida with all the sunrise opportunities.  I know there are pictures here for me I just need to find them!

 

MLCreations Photography: Landscapes &emdash; Cityglow Sunrise

Cityglow Sunrise
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 30s, 40mm, f/11, ISO 400

Morning at the Bridge

Posted by Mike on

192 Causeway over the Indian River

We had just spent the last two days at Disney. It was Wednesday morning and I was planning on taking the kids up to Kennedy Space Center. I had time, they were not getting up any time soon. I had just downed the cup of coffee my mother-in-law had made so the caffeine was going to kick in at any time. When I looked out the window I could see the sunrise was going to be beautiful.

The day we arrived in Florida I had taken the kids over to Melbourne Beach.  My Leave Your Cares Behind post was from that little excursion.  It wasn’t a great day then but I didn’t care.  I was in Florida and on a beach.  On our way over to the beach I had spotted a little park right on the edge of the Indian River where the 192 Causeway crosses over.  I had a good feeling the view of the sunrise would be best from that vantage point.

When going out for sunrise pictures it is always best to arrive early.  You want to be there at least thirty minutes if not an hour before the sun is suppose to break the horizon.  The reason for the extra time is two-fold.  One, you want to be able to search out a good location (if you haven’t done so already).  The second is the light before the sun rises is actually the best.  The time just before sunrise and/or just after sunset is known as the blue hour.

During this blue hour the sky takes on an extra deep shade of blue, fading as the sun nears the horizon.  If you are lucky enough to have a few clouds in the sky, the sun will color those shades of red and orange as it rises.  This is what I was hoping to capture this morning.  I got lucky…

MLCreations Photography: Landscapes &emdash; Morning Bridge

Morning Bridge
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 25s, 12mm, f/11, ISO 400

 

MLCreations Photography: Landscapes &emdash; Shoot the Middle

Shoot the Middle
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 30s, 12mm, f/16, ISO 200

 

MLCreations Photography: Landscapes &emdash; Going East

Going East
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 25s, 12mm, f/16, ISO 200

Lonely Path

Posted by Mike on

Two Paths

Saturday morning started out beautifully. It had snowed during the night but it was the fluffy, light snow which I enjoy shoveling. I look at shoveling as the exercise I need during the less active winter months. I’m not above using the snowblower when needed though, I’m not totally crazy.

The ground was covered in a white blanket and the clouds were sparse enough to let the morning sun cast great shadows across the snow. As soon as the sun made its appearance I grabbed the camera and went out walking along the road to see what pictures await me.

I didn’t have to venture far before finding this deer path through my neighbor’s yard. The setting was perfect. Tracks through the fresh snow. The sun just breaking through the clouds. Still an orange glow in the sky. I grabbed a couple images and then as I normally do I turned the camera and grabbed a few more in portrait orientation. It is a practiced I learned from Bryan Peterson’s Understanding Exposure book. You will also hear him repeat this practice if you watch his videos on his website or at Adorama TV.

The reason for the title of this post is I processed this image two separate ways. The first image, which I actually processed second, was done entirely in Lightroom. The second image I did my normal tweaks in Lightroom and then finished the image using OnOne Photo Suite 9. There are really only slight differences in the images.

The first image has not been sharpened as much, there is a slight softness to it. The second image has stronger colors in the sky.  I also lightened up the shadows more in the second image.  The more I look at both the more I favor the first image.  It feels more real to me.  It could also just be my morning coffee talking…  🙂

I would love to hear what you think of the images.  Which do you prefer?

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Lonely Path

Lonely Path
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/160s, 27mm, f/16, ISO 200

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Lonely Path

Lonely Path
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/160s, 27mm, f/16, ISO 200

Sunrise Shadows

Posted by Mike on

Indian River near Melbourne, FL

I went looking for the sunrise the other morning and it did not disappoint. I was at the small park on the Melbourne side of the 192 Causeway over the Indian River. I was like a kid in a candy store. Running all around the area grabbing pictures. I’ll warn everyone now that there will be more pictures on the way… 🙂

This image is a manual blend of three exposures. I used the normal exposure for the water, blended in the under-exposed image for the sky and the over-exposed image for the rocks. After the blending I worked a little of my normal processing with the Topaz Labs plug-ins (Clarity, Adjust and Detail).

MLCreations Photography: Landscapes &emdash; Sunrise Shadows

Sunrise Shadows
Olympus OM-D E-EM1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, {0.6, 1/3 & 1/6s bracket}, 12mm, f/16, ISO 200