Delta Lake State Park
Delta Lake State Park
It was another beautiful evening at Delta Lake. A little crowded for my liking, but it isn’t like I can kick them out, right? I can’t kick them out? No, I know, I can’t. It would have been a perfect sunset to capture the trees on the point in the corner of the beach area but it looked like a family had taken up residence there so I searched for a different view.
The extremely low water level has exposed quite a lot of the shoreline. Normally, the big rock in this image is barely visible in the water. The water in the lake will not be back to normal until next Spring. I’m hoping for another good sunset today and maybe if I’m lucky there will not be anyone out on the point. I would love another capture of those trees backlit by the sunset.
Bellamy Harbor, Rome, NY
As I was driving through Rome on my way to work yesterday morning I felt a constant pull of the rising sun. Officially, sun rise had not occurred but the colors in the Eastern sky were calling me. It didn’t surprise me when the car turned right and I drove to Bellamy Harbor.
It is a favorite destination of mine, especially when there are a few low hanging clouds to catch the changing colors. There is a small parking area on the Western side of the park and an area near the canal gates that lets you see the whole park. I setup the tripod and grab a familiar view.
Once I stop and actually look around I notice the moon and Venus in the morning sky. Well, I couldn’t let this opportunity slip away from me. I try a capture in portrait orientation which allows me to zoom in a little and get the celestial objects in the frame. This highlights the colors in the sky and water but the focus feels too narrow to me. I switch back to a landscape orientation and grab another capture. Although this puts the moon a lot smaller in the frame the scale feels better to me.
The last thought I have is to do a panoramic view of the entire harbor. I’ve done this a number of times from this spot at the harbor. I can’t help myself, I set the camera back to portrait orientation and adjust the tripod so the head stays level while I rotate it. To get the sequence right it is best to switch to manual mode on your camera. Find the mid-point of the dynamic range and adjust your exposure. It takes seven images to capture the whole of the harbor.
I like how the pano will turn out. I can see it already, even before I process everything. There will be a transition from left to right from a darker, almost night image to a colorful sunrise image. The change from night to day in one view. I wasn’t disappointed once I created the panoramic…
Delta Lake State Park
Yesterday we received the rain we needed, actually the rain is continuing this morning and probably will for most of the day. In the morning I spent my time getting the normal weekend chores completed, i.e., laundry and groceries. By mid-morning the sun fought its way through the clouds and it appeared we would need to deal with another hot & humid day. It self corrected as the clouds rolled back in after dinner and the sky darkened with the coming rain.
I didn’t think I would see a sunset but I drove up to Delta Lake on the chance a bit of sun would poke through before dropping below the horizon. Due to the weather the park was basically empty. I probably saw two different families enjoying the calm before the rain.
I got lucky as one of the umbrellas for the life guard chairs was not put away. The contrast of the red and white umbrella against the completely blue scene was quite noticeable. I walked straight to the water’s edge and this is the first image I captured. Looking at it this morning I wish I had composed the scene a little differently but overall it conveys the mood of last evening.