It's My Nature » trees

Sunrise at the Jake (Jacobsburg State Park)

Ed — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:20:15 +0000

Those of you who have followed my blog for the past year or longer know that Barb and I will often head to Jacobsburg State Park (PA) since it is close (a 20 minute drive) and a great place for Barb to bird and me to photograph (particularly wildflowers this time of year).

This post is a testament to keeping your eyes and mind open and always looking for other opportunities along the way. And also a reminder to do your research whether you are going to be in your own backyard or a thousand miles away.

A couple of weeks back (on Father’s Day, if memory serves), Barb and I headed to Jacobsburg so she could look for the Yellow-breasted Chat and I could photograph some wildflowers. She came up empty but I did come away with several rather nice wildflower portraits that I really like. But as Barb looked and listened for the Chat, I started to do some nosing around an area of Jacobsburg that we don’t often to visit unless we are just hiking through. The more I looked, the more I liked what I was seeing – meadow up close, rolling hills, farmland, what passes for mountains in this area off on the horizon. It had the makings of a very nice bucolic landscape. What would really set it off though would be a sunrise or sunset.

A quick check of the map showed, much to my delight, that we were looking pretty much east. The sun should rise over the farmland.

So this past weekend we headed to Jacobsburg in search of a sunrise over the rolling hills and meadows. As we left the car at about 0440 you could see the beginnings of sunrise off to our left. As we walked straight into the meadow to the main trail, we turned… a sharp right. The sunrise was now at our back. As we twisted and turned through the meadow and woods, we eventually got turned around in the right direction and when we arrived at the spot we had scoped out before, the sunrise was beginning to unfold… right in front of us.

And a beautiful sunrise, it turned out to be!

5:17 am

5:21 am

5:23 am

5:40 am

Hope you enjoyed the sunrise!

An Inside Look into the Life of a Nature Photographer: The Weekend in Review – Day 2, Sunday

Ed — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:44:42 +0000

Sunday was the day we chose for a return trip to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. I wanted to do some more scouting for the workshops I plan to offer there in 2011. (Keep an eye out this Fall for more details.) This was a trip that we had planned for each of the past three weekends only to have to cancel for one reason or another (weather twice and sick cat once). This Sunday it seemed it would come off without a hitch.

The alarm went off at 0315 and we were up and out of the house by 0400. As I loaded the gear into the hatch, I looked skyward and just smiled at the moon and stars filling the sky. The drive to Hidden Lake (our first stop for sunrise) was uneventful. Traffic was very light at that time of the morning and conditions were fine even though we passed through several short stretches of fog where the road crossed wetlands or streams. We arrived at Hidden Lake a few minutes before 0500 and I set out to set up along the banks of the lake while Barb decided she would stay in the car for now and watch for bears. (NOTE: When I returned to the car, she was sound asleep. So much for bears.) I set up with the Canon 5D Mark II and my 24-70mm f/2.8L lens mounted on my tripod and made my first images (for a 5-image HDR composite) at 0509. The second set of images for another 5-image HDR was made at 0511. That is the image I have posted below. By 0513, that little, itsy bitsy, tiny bit of fog you can see in the middle of the image, completely overtook the entire lake. We were socked in! There was no water. There were no trees. There was no ridge. There was no sky. Only fog… and the solitary fisherman to my immediate right who had settled in a couple of minutes earlier.

So there you go. Up at 0315. Out by 0400. Arrive before 0500. Shoot two HDR sequences. Fog. THE END. So here is the sunrise image I was able to come away with. I think it is a testament to quality over quantity. It’s not about how many images you make; it’s about making sure you’ve made good ones.

Now I’m not going to tell you that I just quietly packed my gear and left. Oh no! I don’t give up that easy. I stood there staring into the fog, hoping against hope that it would lift before sunrise and I could get a few more shots in. I chatted a bit with the fisherman as I waited. It was becoming cleared by the minute that this fog was not going to miraculously lift just because I wanted it to. So without moving the tripod, I pivoted the camera and lens and took aim at the fisherman, the only thing I could really see in the fog. And over the course of the next 10 minutes or so, I would make the occasional image. When I got home and took a closer look, I thought briefly about cropping in on the fisherman to make him the subject of the photograph but quickly gave up on that idea. This image is about the vastness of the fog not about the fisherman. Still as a long-time fly fisherman, I was taken by the intensity portrayed in the posture of this fellow as he seemed to be leaning into the fog. As much as I like the sunrise image above, this is probably my best image of the day.

The rest of morning in the Water Gap was spent scouting out locations for the workshops under the brightest blue skies I have seen in a long time. Absolutely cloudless.

What’s that saying… when God gives you lemons, make lemonade. Or as Jimmy Buffett is wont to say… and if God gives you limes, make margaritas!!

It’s not about quantity; it’s about quality!

We left the Water Gap before noon. As all the traffic was heading in, we were heading out. We got home in time for lunch and I was able to do some image processing before heading out to do a bit of grocery shopping in preparation for having our son and his soon-to-be fiance along with my mother over for cookout dinner.

And thus ended Day 2. Stay tuned tomorrow for Day 3, Monday, Memorial Day.

Riverblur

Ed — Wed, 05 May 2010 09:10:35 +0000

This series, well it’s only two images, is from an evening walk along the Delaware Canal towpath (Delaware Canal State Park, PA) which, for much of its length, runs along a narrow spit of land between the canal and the Delaware River. I have often joked that it is a state park that is nearly 60 miles long and about 10 feet wide. It is also a state park that was absolutely devastated by two 100-year floods several years back when two hurricanes (Ivan and another) flooded the river and destroyed much of the towpath. Slowly, it is being rebuilt.

The images are obviously both blurs. The first is the result of a horizontal blur with a 0.6 sec exposure. The second is the result of a vertical blur also with a 0.6 sec exposure. Both were made with my Canon 50D and 24-70 2.8L lens.

“Riverblur 1.0″

“Riverblur 2.0″

Hope you enjoy! While I enjoy creating all types of nature images (see the sunrises, sunsets, flowers, water images and others below and in my website galleries); these blurs and other images like them say more about me as an artist that almost any other type of image I create.

“Last Light”

Ed — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:32:32 +0000

I’m a morning person. Always have been and at this point in my life always will be. So it is no surprise that I have a strong preference for early starts and sunrises. If I want to see a sunrise, walk into a sunrise, or photograph a sunrise, I have many places where I can go.

Sunsets have been a little different. No, I’m not going to bed at 6:00 PM. And yes, I am up and often out with camera in the evening in search of wildflowers or whatever. But I never seemed to get it going for sunsets. Maybe it’s an east coast problem. If I was on the west coast, I might favor sunsets. I just don’t know.

Anyway, recently I decided to make a concerted effort to find some good sunset compositions around here. And you know what? It hasn’t been easy. Everywhere I go I am distracted by manmade elements (buildings, power lines and those cell towers that pop up everywhere) or the sun isn’t in the right place relative to the landscape or whatever. The other night I was on my way back home from another fruitless effort when I decided to stop by a small pond… Green Pond.

Fortunately, most of the elements came together even though I had to zoom in with my 70-200 to eliminate many/most of the manmade elements. I made a couple of 5-image HDR sequences just as the sun was dropping below the horizon. This is the result of one of them.

IR Ed…

Ed — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:53:07 +0000

Who R U?

Yep, I feel like IR (Infrared) Ed this week. I’ve been bringing my IR-converted Canon Rebel XT along with my Canon 50mm f/1.8 ($99 special) lens with me to work each day this week. The IR camera is a particularly good choice for my lunchtime walks because IR can tend to look better with harsh midday sunlight.

Heck, today I even brought along the Lensbaby so I could try some selective focus infrared photography. I am always looking to try new things. Sometimes they don’t quite work out the first time but I learn from my trials and errors and things look much better the second time around.

These images are representative of just such a case. I went out Monday at Noon and made a series of images which all, how shall I say this, STUNK!! But I did realize what I did wrong and went back out Tuesday, again at Noon, to correct my mistake and re-shoot the images. Here are two examples of the images from that shoot. Each was processed slightly differently to give the overall effect that I wanted.

The first image is simply entitled “Willows”.

And the second is “Untitled IR – 040610″.

Today, I shot IR with the Lensbaby. The images were OK, even good but not exactly what I was hoping for. So tomorrow I will head out and try, try again!

Reflections

Ed — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:06:21 +0000

I had a great weekend of shooting all within one hour of home. Friday was the day to visit Lake Galena in Peace Valley Park (Bucks County, PA) for sunrise. Saturday, my wife and I headed for the Delaware Water Gap NRA for sunrise and a morning of shooting and hiking. Sunday, being Easter, was spent close to home where I did an early morning walk along my local creek.

As I looked back over the images from the weekend, I realized that I spent quite a bit of time focusing on reflections in the water. So I thought I would share a few of them with you.

This first image was shot shortly after sunrise on Hidden Lake in the Delaware Water Gap NRA.

The second image was shot at the Pocono Environmental Education Center also located in the Delaware Water Gap.

And the third was shot along my local creek early on Easter morning.

What can I say? I love reflections and hope you do too.

Who knows what lies around the bend?

Ed — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 19:41:00 +0000

(1/320 sec @ f/5.6; ISO 400; 0 EV)

None of us REALLY do? Oh we plan… and we think we know what’s next but do we really? There is a sense of anticipation just around every corner.

That was the feeling that overtook me as Barb and I were walking down this trail in Jacobsburg State Park this morning. The trail went on with tall, stick-like trees on both sides and then suddenly we are dealt a left turn. What lies around it? We don’t really know until we get there.

The processing of the photo above came to me even before I lifted the camera to my eye. I knew exactly what I wanted to do in post-processing and what I wanted the finished product to look like. Fortunately for me, everything worked out.

The image was made with my Canon 5D Mark II and 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens, handheld.

Processed with Nik Viveza 2 and Silver Efex Pro starting with one of the old photo presets and making adjustments from there.

Branching Out

Ed — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 02:14:57 +0000

This is another 10-image multiple exposure image that I made recently.

I have been giving multiple exposures, pans, digital sandwiches, etc. a lot of thought lately, particularly after reading about some different techniques in a book entitled Photo Impressionism and the Subjective Image by Freeman Patterson and Andre Gallant. I would highly recommend the book if you have any interest at all in impressionistic photography. It really got my creative juices flowing and I am looking forward to “branching out” (thus the title of this post) into other types of multiple exposures and impressionistic photography now that spring is upon us. I like images like the one above but am even more excited about the prospects of introducing a lot more color into my multiple exposures and pans.

Keep an eye out for some (hopefully) exciting new stuff from “It’s My Nature”.

Into the Fog

Ed — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:10:25 +0000

(1/100 sec @ f/5.6; ISO 200; 0 EV; FL 70mm)

I mentioned in my “Birches” post that I originally found my way to the top of South Mountain and Lehigh University’s Mountaintop Campus by follow the shroud of fog that enveloped the very top of the mountain. While I devoted most of my attention to the birches here as well as later at Trexler Park, I did stop and shoot a few “fogscapes”. This is one that I kinda like. Nothing super-fancy. Just three trees nicely placed and, of course, some fog.

Image made with my Canon 5D Mark II and 24-70mm f/2.8L lens, handheld.

Birches

Ed — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:01:39 +0000

(Vertical Pan; 1.0 sec @ f/14; ISO 100; 0 EV; FL 70mm w/ Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L and my 5D Mark II)

There was a short break in the rains this morning so we headed out in search of something to photograph. I followed the fog to the top of South Mountain and Lehigh University’s Mountaintop Campus. I made a few fog images which I may post a little later but then I came across a pair of birches just off the side of the road. I pulled off the road and on to the shoulder, got out and started to work the pair of birches. I made images from several different perspectives but ended up liking the one above the best. It is a very busy image and it is that busy-ness that really appeals to me here.

With birches on my mind, I decided to return to Trexler Park in Allentown, PA where I had spotted a couple of real nice birches a couple of weeks back. The light wasn’t what I wanted that day so I filed these trees away in the back of my brain with a promise to return at a later date when the light would be more diffuse. That was today. Again my objective was to work the trees with both motion blur and multiple exposures. The first example below is a 10-image multiple exposure made with my Canon 5D Mark II and the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens, tripod-mounted.

(10-image Multiple Exposure; 1/125 sec @ f/4.0; ISO 400; 0EV; FL 140mm)

As I was working the multiple exposures, the rains started up again. So I finished up by taking the 5DMk2 and 70-200mm f/2.8 off the tripod, stopping down to f/22 and dropping the ISO to 100 in order to lengthen the shutter speed to 1.0 sec allowing me to make some images with the vertical pan technique. Same trees, same perspective, different technique and different look.