Tag Archives: landscape

Winter Wonderland

Posted by Mike on

I had promised my daughter we would go see The Hobbit yesterday so I convinced her to go to the first show of the day. Getting the near 3 hour movie in early was important because it was looking like the sun was going to be out and I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to get outside with the camera. A little selfish, I know, but with the snow we have been receiving I had an image in my mind I wanted to capture and the possibility it would present itself yesterday was great. Luckily, she understands my photography insanity and manages to accommodate me. 🙂

We arrived back home with an hour to spare before sunset.  I didn’t even take off my coat, just gabbed the camera and tripod and headed down the road. I have been watching the snow accumulate on this lone pine tree in the corner of a fenced in field and thought it would look best in the setting sun. I used my telephoto lens to bring the barn across the fields closer and compress the whole scene.

I had to wait 10 – 15 minutes while the sun played peek-a-boo with the clouds but eventually it lit my scene as I wanted. I’m not sure if the cars passing me while I stood on the side of the road knew what I was doing as some of the drivers gave me some interesting looks. Any of my neighbors are use to the crazy guy walking the roads and fields with his camera but the casual visitor to my neck of the woods always wonders what I’m up to.

My Winter Wonderland scene was exactly what I wanted to capture. I made a few adjustments in Lightroom 4 then processed the image with Topaz Labs’ Adjust 5. I used the plugin to bring out some additional detail in the snow and grass.  I tried not to over-process the image but I did want just a little extra punch in it.

Winter WonderlandNikon D5100, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 1/25s, 55mm, f/18, ISO 200

Winter Wonderland
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 1/25s, 55mm, f/18, ISO 200

Thoughts on a Sunday

Posted by Mike on

If you are a landscape photographer or generally only capture images of landscapes, how far do you go while processing your image? How much do you enhance the image? Do you attempt to create an image that is the best you can make? Or, do you try for as much realism as possible? Is your processing based on the scene or do you have a general ‘look’ to your images?

I was driving home from work the other day and the sun was breaking through a dark cloud cover. I was amazed by the clarity of the sunlight shining through the holes in the clouds. It was a very intense light that was begging me to pick up my camera. I knew in my head what I wanted in the foreground to help create a more interesting image. There was a tree in the field close to home that had the brightest yellow leaves. They would just ‘pop’ out of the picture against the clouds. I couldn’t drive fast enough.

My problem became a race against the wind. The clouds were moving too fast and I was losing my image. When I did arrive at the field I quickly pulled over, grabbed the camera and tried to make a picture as nice as the one I envisioned in my head. It didn’t quite work out as I had hoped. There was a second tree in the field next to my yellowed leaf beauty that was just empty branches. The clouds had already started to fill in the holes and the beams of sunlight were not as intense as I saw when I started this race. I clicked away for a few minutes and then the scene was gone.

The image below is the straight out of camera image…

Shine Down on Me – SOOC
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 1/160s, 62mm, f/11, ISO 400


I have stared at the images from that day for a while now. I wasn’t happy with how they turned out and I almost deleted them more than once. I decided I should try to see what I could create and set about processing the best of the group. I know the original thought in my head was to create a ‘landscape’ image which I have always associated with trying to make it look as ‘real’ as it was when the shutter clicked. That just wasn’t happening.

I ended up using Lightroom to do all my basic adjustments. Warm up the image slightly to help bring out the colors. Reduce the noise in the image. Tweak the highlights and shadows. Sharpen the image as I was just slightly out of focus. When I finally had everything set I threw the image in Topaz Labs Adjust and went to the HDR presets. I selected the ‘Dynamic Brightness’ preset and went to work tweaking the settings. The image below is the final result.

Shine Down on Me
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6, 1/160s, 62mm, f/11, ISO 400


You can definitely see the beams of sunlight and the autumn colors look good against the dark clouds but the image looks unreal to me. It is somewhat close to the image I had in my head when I first caught sight of the sky but it is far from what was really before me when I captured the scene. Now don’t get me wrong, I use all the tools at my disposal while processing my images. I’m not sure what my issue is with this particular image but if feels fake to me. I think I ‘pushed’ it too far while processing in my attempt to highlight the beams of sunlight. I know I have created other images that are far removed from reality so I’m struggling with what it is about this image that bothers me.

I would definitely be interested in any thoughts on this image or processing in general. Thanks…

Color Lines

Posted by Mike on

Whenever I have to go to the high school I end up passing this view on one of the back roads. I always want to stop to capture a picture but usually it is not worth pulling over. The other day everything seemed to line up for me. The dark clouds hanging over the valley with the sun shining down closer to me. I really like the way the lines were illuminated…

Color Lines
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/320s, 120mm, f/11, ISO 400

Just Past Prime

Posted by Mike on

My original plan was to get up early and try to catch the morning light at Chittenango Falls State Park but the below freezing temps convinced me to stay inside sipping my coffee. The cold weather wouldn’t have bothered me but I didn’t want to try to navigate the trail down into the gorge with any frost on the ground. It is suppose to be warmer tomorrow morning so if the rain holds off I’ll make another attempt then.

I decided to try processing this picture from last weekends excursion to Pixley Falls. I was a little late to capture the leaves on the trees but the color on the ground and in the water worked for me. I watched a webinar earlier in the week by Ali Elhajj for Topaz Labs on using the Denoise filter, beyond just the presets and I wanted to see if I could put what I learned into practice. It really did make a difference in my processing and I think it produced a better image.

Just Past Prime
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/4, 1/15, 1/60s bracket), 21mm, f/16, ISO 200