I don’t normally consider the remnants of old corn particularly beautiful, but I was attracted by the shape and texture of this one that I happened upon one day during a short walk in the Yankauer Nature Preserve in Berkeley County.
Bank Street Beach, Cape Cod
•June 14, 2013 • Comments Off on Bank Street Beach, Cape Cod
“No Lifeguard”
Clear air, bright sunlight, and moderate temperatures add up to a walk on a Cape Cod beach in March. The bright sun created sharp shadows and provided me an ideal scene for a black and white treatment.
Stage Harbor Light
•June 8, 2013 • Comments Off on Stage Harbor Light
One of my favorite places in the whole world is this isolated lighthouse on Cape Cod. I made a quick trip in March to visit my aunt and cousin and had a great afternoon to photograph. I had not been out to the lighthouse in several years so I decided to give it a shot. It was a bit of a tedious walk for about a mile of sand on my bum legs but well worth it.
Shepherdstown Library (Infrared) Re-processed
•June 4, 2013 • Comments Off on Shepherdstown Library (Infrared) Re-processed
Shepherdstown Library in Digital Infrared – Re-processed (Modified Nikon D200)
After looking at a print of this I decided that it was still not right. I wanted it to be a little brighter and the wires bothered me. I recently downloaded the public beta version of Lightroom 5, which had as a new feature an advanced editing or “healing” brush. So I thought I would give it a try. It is a truly impressive tool. That will be worth the price of the upgrade when it the final version is released.
Shepherdstown Library and Tree (Infrared)
•June 2, 2013 • 1 CommentThe Shepherdstown, West Virginia Library is housed in a small free-standing building that literally sits in the middle of a street. In front of the building there is an amazing tree. I’ve often thought I should photograph it but it was not a few days ago that I motivated myself out the door with a camera. I decided that I would try it in infrared with my converted Nikon D200.
Shepherdstown, WV Library; Digital Infrared (Modified Nikon D200)
To get this angle I had to stand in the middle of the street and at one point I became aware of a car stopped behind me … waiting for me to get out of the way. I turned and there was a Shepherdstown police cruiser. I sheepishly jumped out of the way and he gave me a “knowing smile” and went on. I guess they are used to it.
Adam Stephen House Photos move to Library
•May 31, 2013 • Comments Off on Adam Stephen House Photos move to LibraryThe exhibit of photographs of the Adam Stephen House has been moved from the Triple Brick Museum to the Martinsburg Public Library at King and Queen Streets in Martinsburg.
Twenty framed prints of images selected from my book about the Adam Stephen House are on display through the end of June.
The book is available for viewing in the library and is available for purchase at the Adam Stephen House during their weekend hours. The book, which retails for $19.95, is also available at the Convention and Visitors Bureau Visitors’ Center and at the George Washington Trail visitors’ center at the Caperton train station. Or if you can’t get into town and you would like a copy it can be ordered online here.
Harper’s Ferry from the Hilltop House
•May 26, 2013 • Comments Off on Harper’s Ferry from the Hilltop House
Last summer I discovered the view from the old Hilltop House Inn one day and planned to return when the fall colors were at their peak. I might have been a little early here but the day was glorious and the view was spectactular.
Foggy Morning – One More Time
•May 22, 2013 • Comments Off on Foggy Morning – One More Time
Like the cows in the earlier post, these horses were chowing down without any concern for the weather or the photographer who was pointing a camera over the fence in their direction.
Foggy Morning Again
•May 20, 2013 • Comments Off on Foggy Morning Again
I continue to be amazed that this little shack has continued to manage to stay more or less upright through all kinds of storms and blizzards. Perhaps the tree provides some support.
Raw Processing and Sensor Dynamic Range
•May 18, 2013 • Comments Off on Raw Processing and Sensor Dynamic RangeThe Olympus OM-D EM-5 mirrorless camera that I have had now for about a year is at the high end of the Olympus Micro 4/3 line and sports an excellent 16 megapixel sensor. But the megapixel count is not what makes this camera special. It is the excellent dynamic range and low noise. Here’s an example of what I am talking about. It’s a scene with very high contrast. The sky is much brighter than the foreground rocks. If you expose for the sky the rocks go completely dark and if you expose for the rocks the sky gets blown out.
Olympus EM-5 Raw file converted directly from the camera using Adobe Lightroom.
The image was exposed for somewhere in the middle of the sky and the foreground rocks. The sky lacks detail and the foreground is dull. But starting with a raw file it is possible use Adobe Lightroom (or Adobe Camera Raw) to tame the highlights and pull better detail and tonal quality of the dark areas.
Here is a screenshot of the basic adjustments I applied in Lightroom.
The “Highlights” slider is pulled all the way down to tame the sky and the “Shadows” slider is pushed all the way up. This yields a rather flat image so far, but the detail in the sky and the foreground are retained. Then I push up the “Whites” slider a bit, which brightens it up without pushing the highlights too far. Lowering the “Blacks” slider adds a little more contrast.
Finally, the “Clarity” and “Vibrance” adjustments give the local contrast and color a boost. Here is the result:
Edited image converted out of Lightroom.
Note that even though I’ve pushed the darker areas up a great deal and then added local contrast boost, there still is very little noise, even looking at the full size image on my monitor.
Now this image still can use some tweaking. I can do some additional fine-tuning in Photoshop. But I have a much better image to work with than trying to go straight into Photoshop/Elements (or even Lightroom) with an out of the camera .jpg file.
Of course, these adjustments need to be done with care to meet the needs of every specific image. It might be argued that my clarity setting is too high. The thing to remember is that if you don’t like the result, you can always go back and adjust.
Lightroom is a great tool but equally important is the “material” you are going to use the tool on. In this case, starting with a raw file allows you to get the most out of the camera’s sensor. For me, this allows me to use the smaller Micro 4/3 cameras, which are so much lighter than the full-sized DSLR, and still get excellent image quality.
Light, Shadow, Form, and Texture 