Sun Low

Delta Lake State Park

The other night, after a day of almost record high temperature, I knew I had to go wander around Delta Lake State Park. I have been waiting for the green to arrive and wash away the over abundance of the color brown.  I did find some of my sought after color but I also could not ignore the color of the sunset.  I’ll manage to show some of that green in another post.

This image is taken right at the edge of the water looking through some of the grow that populates the northern end of the beach.  There was just enough of a breeze to give me a little movement on the surface of the water.  Before I headed out I changed the center column on my tripod to use the shorter version which allowed me to get the camera down within a few inches of the surface.  I really liked the low point of view.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Sun Low

Sun Low
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/100s, 15mm, f/16, ISO 200

Old Erie Canal Park

Butternut Creek, Dewitt, NY

I found out that my work is only two minutes away from the Old Erie Canal Park. I have made a few trips over to the park during lunch but with a nice forecast yesterday I knew I would be going during lunch.  I finally remembered to bring my filters for my lenses. I really wanted/needed my variable ND filter to block as much sunlight as possible which would allow me to smooth out the water in the creek.

I am sure over the course of this summer I will be making numerous visits to this park. There is a lot to explore and I found quite a few unmarked trails along Butternut Creek that I want to see where they go. I did manage to get a few interesting images.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Aquaduct

Aquaduct
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/3s, 12mm, f/16, ISO 200

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Stonework

Stonework
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 0.5s, 12mm, f/16, ISO 200

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Detours

Detours
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/4s, 17mm, f/16, ISO 200

Twisted Rooster

Chesterfield, MI

Spending a couple of days in Chesterfield, Michigan visiting a supplier of my company.  Decided to try a new place (at least new to me) for dinner, the Twisted Rooster.  A local to Michigan chain the boasts Michigan micro brewery beers on tap and the best mac & cheese.  Well at the suggestion of the waitress I tried the Bellaire Brown and got a side of the mac & cheese with my Reuben.  Both were great!  I grabbed this image on my way back to the hotel…

image

Twisted Rooster

Living on the Edge

Lake Haines, FL

I think I am suppose to live close to water. I have always been drawn to it. I played in the creek as a kid and even today I wander the various waterways looking for interesting images. When I discovered what a longer exposure can do to moving water I was fascinated. When I need to unwind, going to a place where I can hear the sound of the water is always relaxing.

 

MLCreations Photography: Monochrome &emdash; Living on the Edge

Living on the Edge
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 2s, 12mm, f/18, ISO 200

Riverside Sunset

Riverside Park, Indialantic, FL

My recent quick trip back to Florida to pick up my Mom and Grandpa has me jonesing for a photography excursion in Florida.  To help satiate that feeling I thought I would process an image from my trip in March.  This is yet another view of the dock/pier at Riverside Park in Indialantic.  The clouds were rolling in quick and there was some rain approaching but I was able to capture the glow from the setting sun. This isn’t a very long exposure but it was enough to highlight the movement of the grass at the water’s edge.  Can I really wait until October for the next trip?

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Riverside Sunset

Riverside Sunset
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 0.6s, 25mm, f/16, ISO 200

The Light & Dark of It

Onondaga Lake Park

I have driven by the top end of Onondaga Lake Park for as long as I have lived in Central New York. Since I have been doing this photography thing I have been thinking to myself that I need to stop and explore this park. Well, it only took four years for me to make it there…

On Saturday my daughter had the Biology GRE test at Onondaga Community College. Although she has been enjoying her independence with the car I wasn’t sure even I could find my way to the college without some help from the GPS and who wants to fight a drive to an unknown location before a big test? I took the opportunity to go exploring after I dropped her off at the college. I had about four hours to myself, so the expansive park was all mine to explore.  I started at the main entrance off Route 370 just North of Destiny USA.

This image is one of the first views that caught my eye.  I loved the varying shades of blue and the reflection of the trees.  It didn’t hurt to have the stone wall leading toward my subject trees either.  Typically I would have stayed with a landscape orientation but by flipping to portrait I was able to focus in more on the trees and their reflection while using the wall as a contrasting angle and leading line.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; The Light & Dark of It

The Light & Dark of It
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/200s, 14mm, f/11, ISO 200

Castaway Point Park Revisit

Castaway Point Park, Palm Bay, FL

Today we return to Castaway Point Park in Palm Bay, FL. I probably have mentioned this park is practically across US 1 from my Mother-in-law’s place. I had been looking at the docks as I drove by and finally decided to visit on Easter morning. Other than the early morning sermon and a few fishermen I had the place almost to myself. There are a lot of areas to explore in this little park and I think I managed to get to them all.

This first image is from the end of the dock you can see in the Incoming image below.  I was looking back at the beach area and the second dock.  You can see another view of the dock in this in my original post for Castaway Point.  I really liked the way the lights in the park illuminated the trees from within and the way you can see the lights on the 192 Causeway on the horizon above the dock.

 

MLCreations Photography: Landscapes &emdash; Castaway Point

Castaway Point
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm F/2.8, 13s, 22mm, f/8, ISO 800

 

This second image is from a little beach area that is between the two docks. There was a lot to explore and some really nice photo opportunities. I wanted to try and capture the rocks in this area as they appear to be made up of layers of sand but covered with various life from the river.  Off on the horizon you can see the taller building in Indialantic and Melbourne Beach.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Beach Break

Beach Break
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm F/2.8, 3.2s, 12mm, f/16, ISO 200

 

I found a small deck over-looking the Turkey Creek inlet and was able to get down to the shore in front of it.  This allowed me to capture some of the water’s motion as it was coming ashore.  Again it is always a balance of how much I want to blur the water versus showing the energy associated with its movement.  Any slower than 1/3 of a second and I lost the sense of movement.  For some images, like my Simplicity image, you might want to completely blur the water and capture an almost surreal look.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Incoming

Incoming
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm F/2.8, 1/3s, 14mm, f/16, ISO 200

 

For this last image I wanted to capture the cool erosion patterns the water has cut into the rocks.  It looks like a combination of sand and sediment which has been eaten away by the tides in the river. I also wanted to capture the group of people on the dock to add a little ‘life’ to the image but they kept moving around on me.  LOL

I used three different exposures in creating this image.  Rather than use an HDR program I manually blended the images together using luminosity masks.  I attempted to explain this methodology in my Creating an Image post back in December.  I think the results I was able to achieve on this image turned out better than the one I used to explain the technique.  I realize now that the better the exposures you capture the better the resulting image will be.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Erosion Layers

Erosion Layers
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm F/2.8, {1/6, 0.5 & 1s bracket}, 14mm, f/8, ISO 200