Dams

Posted by Mike on May 31, 2014

Weekly Photo Theme – Dams and Locks

What a beautiful week! I don’t know if everyone had nice weather this week but I think Mother Nature was throwing us a little present for putting up with all her crap over the winter. Whatever her reasons, I liked the result. So much sun and warm temps had me jumping in the car to go exploring with the camera almost every evening. It also allowed me to get in some good field trips for this week’s them of dams and locks. I ended up with plenty of images of a few of the local dams that I didn’t even need to resort to following the Barge Canal or the old Erie Canal for locks. Although, that is still a great theme I will have to pursue this summer. 😉

The first dam I visited is at Hinckley Reservoir. The reservoir was initially created to supply water to the Erie Canal and since 2003 is the source of water for most of Utica, NY. The ‘Ethereal‘ image I posted a few days ago was also taken at Hinckley. The sun was almost below the horizon when I setup for this image so I needed to get a good bracket of images in order to capture the whole dynamic range in the scene. I brought all six images into Photomatix to create the HDR image and finished it of with a few tweaks in Lightroom.

Just a Little Over the Left
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, {1/5, 1/8, 1/10, 1/15, 1/20 & 1/30s bracket}, 21mm, f/16, ISO 100

The next two images are from one of my favorite playgrounds, Delta Lake State Park. It was another great sunset evening and the light on the dam was irresistible. Of course I forgot that the other residents of the area, mosquitoes, would also be out and I was driven away after a short visit. The grand view of the dam is another HDR image processed through Photomatix. I only needed three exposures to capture the light. I didn’t want lose the great clouds above the dam while trying to get all the shadow detail.

No Trespassing
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, {1/30, 1/60 & 1/125s bracket}, 17mm, f/16, ISO 100

As you can see in the first Delta Lake dam image the lake level was sufficient to allow water over the spillway but not in the great torrents I usually see in the Spring. The patterns of the falling water were mesmerizing and I was hoping to capture that with a close-up of the spillway itself. I was also going for a non-traditional image for this series as I knew the first two where kind of classical landscape views of dams. 😉

Patterns
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/15s, 50mm, f/20, ISO 100

Delta Lake Dam

Posted by Mike on July 14, 2012

I finally made the time to finish processing my pictures from the two days of exploration at the Delta Lake Dam. I posted two images previously but wanted to put together a single post with all the pictures I captured. I had a great time searching around the foot of the dam and I really hope we get some rain so the water will flow over the top of the spillway. I will definitely be heading back to the dam when that occurs.

The construction of the dam began in 1908 and was eventually completed in 1912. New York State constructed the dam as a water reservoir for the expanded barge canal system being built to replace the original Erie Canal. Unfortunately for the village of Delta, NY, the construction of the dam required the relocation of the residents and the eventual flooding of the village. You can see pictures and more info about Delta, NY at http://www.nlford.com/history/delta/.

Delta Lake Dam – Overview
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/80s, 17mm, f11, ISO 200

Delta Lake Dam – Spillway
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/160s, 50mm, f11, ISO 200

Delta Lake Dam – Old Bridge
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/60s, 17mm, f11, ISO 200

Delta Lake Dam – Rock Patterns
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/80s, 17mm, f7.1, ISO 200

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

The next two images I created using a 3 bracketed set for each image. I used Photomatix Pro to tone map the three images and then finished processing the result in Lightroom 4. I like the ability of the HDR (High Dynamic Range) technique to ‘bring out’ more of the image. I try not to ‘over do’ the processing so the image (especially landscapes) still looks somewhat natural.

Delta Lake Dam – Spillway
3 bracket exposure (-2 / 0 /+2 EV) HDR
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/13s. 17mm, f11, ISO 200

Delta Lake Dam – Spillway
3 bracket exposure (-2 / 0 /+2 EV) HDR
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/5s. 19mm, f16, ISO 200

I’m trying to avoid too many trips back to this area until there is some change. Like I mentioned above, if the water starts flowing over the spillway, I’ll be there. When the autumn brings some nice color to the leaves, I’ll be back. It is a little sad to me that this great area is roughly 10 minutes from my house but I have visited it more in the past week then I had in the past 20+ years of living in Central NY. I dream of taking trips to those wonderful areas of the US that I see pictures of everyday online, but then I find areas so close to home that I know I need to discover in my own back yard too!

If anyone has suggestions for photographic trips here in Central NY, leave a comment. I’m always looking for new areas to explore and things to photograph.