Scenes of Vermont Forums

Abby: your pictures are stunning, they gave me the chills! The reflective shots are just beautiful and my favorite is the Barnet barn scene. I was fortunate to spend a few days in the Peacham, Danville and Barnet areas in 2003, a most glorious fall season. I love Peacham and it will always remain a special place for me. You are a very talented photographer and your love of Vermont shines through these photos.

I am all packed and ready for my trip at the crack of dawn on Friday to Rochester. I have all my loops highlighted, posts from the forum printed, and things to do from morning till night. I just can't wait. Your photos got me very excited to begin my journey. The weather is going to be chilly too and I am hoping the foliage is brilliant in central Vermont, esp. as we are doing three lower gaps. Hoping the colors hold out as well, for my trip the following weekend to Southern Vermont with my guests.

Thanks again for sharing your wonderful shots and narratives!!!!!!!!!!!!

Abby - what setting did you use for the Shadow Lake photo? I'm guessing you use a digital camera and wonder how you got the colors on the hillside to show up well between the reflected light off the water and the backlight from the sky. I'm using digital for foliage for the first time and haven't quite figured out how to do it.

Hope it's not too techie a question. Liked your photos.

Abby: I think you should enter Shadow Lake Photo into a contest or submit to a magazine. It is very unique, the lighting variants are lovely, and the foliage canopy is gorgeous. What a picturesque shot! I think this is one of the best I have seen. Please show more!

Abby: I agree with everyone. Your pictures are great!

I just got back from my first Vermont trip and it was absolutely wonderful! We traveled all over the state but stayed in the areas of Bridport, Moretown, and Woodstock. Just gorgeous! I hope to post pictures and a full report soon.

Re Exposure: Looks to me like she had rather even lighting overall, with just a sliver of sunlight poking through clouds, which lit the background trees. Its the kind of day I like to shoot in because it can produce rather dramatic results. But the overall cloud cover (and perhaps time of day and time of year -- lower light angles) all contribute to even lighting conditions. I don't see any evidence of backlighting in the photo.

As far as controlling the lighting conditions, the digital camera shouldn't be much different from a film camera. Digital, in ways, acts more like slide film than like color print film (i.e., you have to watch you highlights carefully). But in some ways, it is better than slide film because it has more latitude for exposure between the shadows and highlights than most slide films.

dfpvt: Did you shoot slide or prints before? Did you use an SLR? I moved from SLR -- 100% slides to DSLR a few years back. I am still on the learning curve re: exposure techniques for digital, but over time, the curve has flattened out some. Perhaps it would be a good discussion over on the photographers forum.

Abby (Carol) - thanks for the feedback. Maybe it was the polarizing filter and, I'm guessing, the sun was behind you early on a not-too-bright day.

I've been trying to take a similar images, but into the sun late in the day.
Guess I'll just have to try a different time of day for that photo.

Andy - mostly used slide film (Kodachrome, then Fuji Velvia), although I started with b&w and a darkroom. Finally switched to digital this year and this is the first time I've taken foliage photos with it. Getting similar color saturation with digital is taking time to figure out, and I'm curious how others are doing it.

dfpvt: See my additional reply over in the photography forum if you are interested. Just thought the thread made more sense over there.