Category Archives: water

Water

Posted by Mike on

Growing up I always played in the creek. If I wasn’t in the house and you couldn’t see me in the yard, you could count on me being in the creek. I would build small dams and play with stones in the water. I loved how the water flowed. During storms when the creeks would fill it was fascinating to see the power of water. Even today I am amazed at how quickly moving water can transform an area.

I guess that is why I gravitate toward photographing water. A quick look through any of my albums will show a majority of images with water as a component. I love the reflections it can produce. I am intrigued by the patterns and apparent randomness of the flow. Being able to slow down the shutter on the camera and capture an image of water that is truly the some of its parts is the best way to end a hectic work week.

Last evening after work I headed to the West Canada Creek just below Trenton Falls. It is an accessible area with a lot of character to the water. I spent an hour climbing over the rocks capturing the nuances of the creek. It was a great way to end the day.

Torrent Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/4s, 70mm, f/18, ISO 100

Torrent
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/4s, 70mm, f/18, ISO 100

Passing By Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 8s, 70mm, f/22, ISO 100

Passing By
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 8s, 70mm, f/22, ISO 100

Calm Rapids Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 2s, 24mm, f/20, ISO 100

Calm Rapids
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 2s, 24mm, f/20, ISO 100

Morning Glow

Posted by Mike on

The colors of the sunrise were too good to pass up, so another image from my early morning at Hinkley Reservoir makes it into my stream. This is a 3 exposure bracket HDR image. It was the best way to capture the most light. The sunrise wouldn’t be as interesting if the rocks in the foreground were silhouetted.

Morning Glow Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, {1/4, 1, 4s bracket), 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Morning Glow
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, {1/4, 1, 4s bracket), 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Reservoir Sunrise

Posted by Mike on

I finally make it to the weekend and the forecast is for rain. I’m sure I’ll still enjoy the time off from work but I was looking forward to a few events this weekend. The Trenton Falls trails are open again this weekend (as well as next) and there is the Trenton Falls Art Festival. Hopefully Sunday will not be a total washout and I can get some exploring in along the trail and at the art festival.

When I awoke the moon was still shining brightly through the windows so I knew the clouds would have to be rolling in if we are going to get the rain predicted. I packed up the camera and headed to Hinkley Reservoir to capture the sunrise. It was a good plan. The clouds hadn’t completely obscured the sky and the pre-dawn light was incredible.

Pointing the camera into the morning light was going to cause the foreground to almost completely black out. This was the perfect scene for some bracketed images. I properly exposed for the sky and water and tried a few images to ensure I was balancing the histogram. Switched the camera into exposure bracketing, selected +/-2 and let the camera do its thing. This gave me three images, one underexposed by 2 stops, one exposed for the sky and one overexposed by 2 stops. This would give me enough detail in both the highlights and shadows to work with.

I used the ‘Merge to 32-bit HDR’ option in the Photomatix plugin for Lightroom to blend all three exposures together, producing an image with a wider dynamic range. A few adjustments to brighten up the shadows and lighten the highlights produced the image below. The clouds were moving fairly quickly but I let the merge process use all the information which smeared the clouds slightly but I like the results.

Although I am only 20 minutes away from the reservoir this was my first trip up and after the beautiful morning I will be making a more trips in the future. There is quite a few locations along the shore to explore…

Reservoir Sunrise Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (0.5, 2, 8s bracket), 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Reservoir Sunrise
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (0.5, 2, 8s bracket), 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Rainbow Falls

Posted by Mike on

There is training for work I will be attending in Buffalo, NY on Monday and Tuesday this week so I took the opportunity to visit my parents. It also allowed me to stop at Watkins Glen State Park for a little exploring. I have seen images from this park and knew it was going to be a good time. I was not disappointed.

The gorge trail along Glen Creek is absolutely amazing. As I am sure readers of this blog are aware I love to photograph water. I definitely have a thing for it. It took me a little over three hours to walk the 1.5 mile trail through the gorge. I know I would have stayed longer but as I was returning from the west end of the trail the park was starting to get crowded. The trail is not very wide in a lot of places and setting up a tripod when it is busy just didn’t seem right. I didn’t want to hold people up or be in the way.

This is the view from the stone bridge at Rainbow Falls. I have the more classic view also but I really liked the detail in the gorge walls in this view.

Rainbow Falls From Above Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 8s, 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

Rainbow Falls From Above
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 8s, 17mm, f/16, ISO 100