Tag Archives: landscape

Currents

Posted by Mike on

Lock 20, Barge Canal

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post my adventure for a sunrise began at Lock 20 on the Barge Canal. The morning light combined with the clouds was creating some beautiful colors. On the downstream side of the lock the canal was no longer frozen although there were ice floaties… yes, that is a technical term. LOL

Due to the ice layer further down the canal an upper level current was swirling the floating ice pieces. My trick was to get the right amount of time on the exposure to show this current (like a star trail in a night sky photograph) without blowing the highlights near the horizon.  The moments just prior to sunrise and the cloud cover allowed a 15 second exposure.  As you can see in the bottom of the image, there is a very cool dynamic with the current.

 

MLCreations Photography: Landscapes &emdash; Currents

Currents
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 15s, 20mm, f/16, ISO 200

Waiting on the Arrival

Posted by Mike on

Union Station, Utica, New York

Saturday morning was a mad dash around the county for me. I wanted to get out early and find a nice sunrise image. I then was going to move some furniture I no longer needed and maybe find some time to go out for the sunset. The dashing part came in mostly in the morning.

I headed down to Lock 20 of the Barge Canal since I knew there would be open water in the canal below the lock. I could use that water to ‘catch’ the morning colors. That was successful and I am happy with what I captured. Next, I hopped over to North Utica for some gas.

As I was coming into Utica on my way to pick up the van I was borrowing, the sun just started to break the city skyline. It was a spontaneous decision to swing down to the train station and grab some images along the tracks. That worked out well for me!

I picked up the van, moved the furniture, had a great burger for lunch and went home to relax before the sunset. Just as my daughter headed to work I gathered up the camera and headed to Delta Lake for the sunset. Another good decision as the sun was reflecting off the clear portions of ice that had formed on top of the frozen lake. The recent warm weather created nice conditions for sunsets at the beach.

Selecting the image for today was tough with so many good choices. I went with the train station as it is a little different from my normal landscapes. I also really liked how it turned out with the sunburst at the end of the tracks and all the sight lines leading right to it.  I wasn’t going to complain about that sky either!

 

MLCreations Photography: Landscapes &emdash; Waiting on the Arrival

Waiting on the Arrival
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1s, 12mm, f/16, ISO 200

 

There was another reason for me to choose this image. I successfully used a technique I learned about from Jimmy McIntyre from Shutter Evolve. This technique can be used when capturing images that have strong light sources in the view. Typically the lens will reflect the light internally and create spots in the image. Previously I had to decide if I wanted to move my camera position to minimize or remove those spots. Sometimes that would change the composition to something less desirable.

The technique I learned, which really could be called a hack, is to capture your image then capture a second image using your thumb to cover up the light source. This will remove the spots from the image and then you can use an image editor to paint out the spots using the second image.

Here are my original two images…

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Waiting-One

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Waiting-Two

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.

Nine Dragons

Posted by Mike on

China Pavilion, World Showcase, Epcot, Walt Disney World

There are a few locations in Epcot that I always spend extra time exploring. The China Pavilion is one of those places. Visually, there is a lot happening in the pavilion. I love the architecture, colors and layout of the entire area. Normally, I am photographing the Temple of Heaven but honestly there is not a bad direction to point your camera.

This image is captured near the stairs into the Temple looking back across the lily pond toward the Nine Dragons restaurant. The bold primary colors with the building, sky and shrubbery make everything jump out at me. I love the reflection in the water and the lines formed by the lily pads pointing toward the building.

This is actually two images blended together, not as an HDR image but to remove a few distractions.  Normally I would have been using a tripod but the two images were captured handheld  so combining them involved a few extra steps.  If anyone is interested in the process, leave a comment and I’ll create a post of how I created this image.

MLCreations Photography: Epcot &emdash; Nine Dragons


Nine Dragons
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/125s, 12mm, f/11, ISO 200

September Falls

Posted by Mike on

Pixley Falls State Park

We interrupt this fine winter day to jump back to September for a little color. I haven’t had a chance to venture out much with the camera even though there has been some beautiful sunsets. I’m hoping the weekend will provide me a few good picture opportunities. I thought it would be nice to look back at a colorful September day at Pixley Falls State Park.

MLCreations Photography: Landscapes &emdash; September Falls

September Falls
Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 0.6s, 17mm, f/20, ISO 100

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