As time [...]]]> My familiarity with the Sandy Hook, NJ portion of Gateway National Recreational Area goes back probably a decade. It started with an interest in lighthouses that my wife and I share and a visit to the Sandy Hook Lighthouse. Originally built in 1764, Sandy Hook is the oldest lighthouse still in existence in America.

As time passed and Barb became more interested in birding and I in bird photography, we would visit Sandy Hook regularly usually between the months of October and April for shorebirds, migratory birds and wintering ducks. We haunt the Jersey shore after the sun worshippers leave and before they return.

The more I visited Sandy Hook and the more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that Sandy Hook would be a great location for one of my “Creativity, Composition and the Camera” photography workshops. But before I made a definitive decision to hold a workshop there, I needed to scout it out for more and different shooting opportunities. That was the purpose of yesterday’s visit to Sandy Hook. Yep no time like the Fourth of July weekend for a trip to the Jersey shore – Barb, me and about a million other folks! Still we had a very productive time on this narrow spit of land.

One of the subjects I want to focus a session on is lighthouses. Notice I said plural – lighthouses. There are two that I definitely want to include, Sandy Hook, of course, and Twin Lights (aka Navesink) in Highlands just outside Sandy Hook. Another session will be devoted to photographing the ruins of Fort Hancock, a decommissioned Army base with some very interesting old mortar batteries and such. And then, of course, there is the beach for sunrise and the back bay for sunset. And yes, even birds and flowers. All in all an excellent location for a workshop with more than enough to keep us busy for three days.

If you think you may be interested in this workshop, drop me a note at ed@itsmynaturephotography.com so I can be sure to keep you up-to-date as plans firm up. I am planning the workshop for sometime in the April/May 2011 timeframe. Exact dates, cost, lodging arrangements, workshop features, etc. will be posted when available but probably not before mid-October of this year. I am just asking for an indication of interest. Neither you nor I are locking in to anything at this time.

As you think, here are a few images from yesterday. And yes, I was working some of the time with my Lensbaby Composer with the fisheye optic. Most of the images are multi-image HDR composites in order to cover the dynamic range from the deep shadows to the blazing summertime sky.

Sandy Hook Lighthouse (as seen from the Mortar Battery; HDR)

Sandy Hook Lighthouse (Fisheye HDR)

Mortar Battery (Fisheye HDR)

Mortar Battery (with 21st Century Hieroglyphics; HDR)

Battery Potter

Hope you enjoyed the images and hope you will think about joining me on this Spring 2011 workshop at Sandy Hook, NJ.

This first sunset image is one that I had been thinking about all week. I knew what I wanted to do or at least try. I wanted to make sunset (and sunrise) images using the Lensbaby with the Fisheye optic. I [...]]]> This is the follow-up to my previous post highlighting the sunrise images from the weekend.

This first sunset image is one that I had been thinking about all week. I knew what I wanted to do or at least try. I wanted to make sunset (and sunrise) images using the Lensbaby with the Fisheye optic. I just thought it would create a very interesting effect. I thought about it on my drives into work in the morning and on my drives home in the evening. I thought about it during the day. I keep trying different things in my mind. What would work? How would it look? Why? Why not? In the next day or two I will post a more detailed description of the process I went through leading up to making this image on my second blog  - “Making the Ordinary Extraordinary!” (see the link in the right-hand column)

Friday was my first chance to get out and put all my thoughts into practice. I didn’t get as much color in the sky as I had hoped but getting the fog on the water was a real bonus. Here is the result.

The next evening, Saturday, I returned to the same location and decided to try another, more traditional approach capturing “The Farm Across the Lake” which is just to the right of the view captured in the fisheye. I particularly like the reflections on the water in this image.

Hope you enjoy viewing these images as much as I enjoyed making them.

Virtually all my photography this weekend involved very short jaunts (it’s about a 20-25 minute drive) to a local lake (Lake Nockamixon in [...]]]> This has been quite the crazy weekend. Nothing really went as planned and yet as I sit here on Sunday evening, everything appears to be ending well. And for that I am thankful.

Virtually all my photography this weekend involved very short jaunts (it’s about a 20-25 minute drive) to a local lake (Lake Nockamixon in Nockamixon State Park, Bucks County, PA) for either sunrise or sunset. I caught sunset Friday and Saturday nights and sunrise this morning. Sunsets were not as dramatic as I would have liked but sunrise this morning was spectacular. So I will start with the sunrise images.

Both sunrise images are 5-image HDRs but that is where the similarity ends. The first image was made with my Canon 5DMk2 and the Lensbaby Composer with the Fisheye Optic. Using the fisheye optic with a full frame camera like the 5DMk2 results in an image surrounded by a wonderful circular vignette. (NOTE: On a crop camera like the 50D, for example, the vignetting will only appear in the corners – not near as dramatic.) Here is the fisheye sunrise over Lake Nockamixon as taken from the marina.

The second sunrise image was made just nine minutes later from precisely the same spot. The tripod did not more. But everything else changed. I swapped out the 5DMk2 and Lensbaby Composer w/ Fisheye Optic for the Canon 50D and 70-200 2.8L IS lens. With the lens at 70mm I was able to focus in on just that part of the sky and water with most color. The result was the following image which I have entitled “Fire in the Sky”.

Two very different views of sunrise shot just minutes apart. I like them both and hope you do as well.

Never forget that “image” forms the root of “imagination”.

Another toy for my bag. Another kind of image to look at. Another opportunity to use our imagination in composing the image, making the image, processing the image and looking at the image.

The fisheye optic for my Lensbaby Composer arrived on Wednesday and I couldn’t wait to [...]]]>

Never forget that “image” forms the root of “imagination”.

Another toy for my bag. Another kind of image to look at. Another opportunity to use our imagination in composing the image, making the image, processing the image and looking at the image.

The fisheye optic for my Lensbaby Composer arrived on Wednesday and I couldn’t wait to get out and give it whirl. So yesterday, despite the cold blustery weather, I headed out on my lunch break to make a few images. I had remembered this stump from previous walks in the park and quickly headed it’s way. As I stood there looking at the stump, I imagined it as the opening to the underworld home of gnomes. I made a few images, my first with the fisheye optic, and hoped that at least one of the gnomes would stick its head out but such was not the case yesterday. Too cold, I guess.

Image made with my Canon 30D, Lensbaby Composer with fisheye optic; handheld.

1/250 sec @ f/4.0; ISO 100; o EV; Sunny WB

Just as a note, I need to work on balancing out the fisheye-induced vignetting in the corners.