I have now returned from my trips to the Michigan UP and Acadia NP, Maine, and held my firm annual meeting. I am ready for Thanksgiving, and then Christmas. New Galleries up on my website: Maine, Lobster Industry (in the Marine Gallery), and new content in Michigan Upper Peninsula and Fine Art.
Anybody got any new equipment -- photographic, printer, computer on their Christmas list?
I will probably upgrade the the Nikon D300 (not the "s" -- I don't see any use in my workflow for the additional features being offered). I am excited about the low noise aspect of the D300 though.
Just upgraded my laptop and am trying to migrate all my software over. Its like moving. You forget how much stuff there is until you do it.
Hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving -- and hope folks will look in here once in a while and get a good discussion going.
ITS AWFULLY QUIET OUT THERE!
ITS AWFULLY QUIET OUT THERE!
Andy
If it sounds too good to be true, its probably . . . .
If it sounds too good to be true, its probably . . . .
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faxmachineanthem
- Posts: 160
- Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:11 am
Hey Andy,
Yep, it is too quiet around here. I've been thinking of posting a handful of additional shots from my fall Vermont trip. I should get those uploaded. There's always a few that seemed like nothing special at first, but pop out when you get a chance to work on them more closely.
I've been feeling restless due to the limited photo opportunities in the northeast in November. I was down to visit some friends near Assateague, Virginia last weekend. This is supposed to be a great time to photograph the birds that migrate through the Chesapeake Bay, but they got 12 inches of rain in 3 days from a tropical storm and the wildlife refuge was closed! So in the meantime my goal is to try to improve my post-processing skills. I use Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, which is a nice application. Unfortunately there's not a lot of training available for it. I might have to bite the bullet and buy Photoshop if only for the wealth of books, classes, and youtube videos for learning it.
I checked out your gallery and it looks like you had a very productive season despite not making it to Vermont. Not sure if all of these are from Fall 2009, but my favorites in your Maine and Michigan galleries were, Barnard 2009058, Stonington 2009020, Shiawasee River 3, Taquehmenon Falls. The arrangment of the boats and buildings in the Stonington shot is postcard perfect! But my absolute favorite is Porcupine Mtn State park. Great perspective on that shot. Almost looks like you took it from a helicopter.
Yep, it is too quiet around here. I've been thinking of posting a handful of additional shots from my fall Vermont trip. I should get those uploaded. There's always a few that seemed like nothing special at first, but pop out when you get a chance to work on them more closely.
I've been feeling restless due to the limited photo opportunities in the northeast in November. I was down to visit some friends near Assateague, Virginia last weekend. This is supposed to be a great time to photograph the birds that migrate through the Chesapeake Bay, but they got 12 inches of rain in 3 days from a tropical storm and the wildlife refuge was closed! So in the meantime my goal is to try to improve my post-processing skills. I use Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, which is a nice application. Unfortunately there's not a lot of training available for it. I might have to bite the bullet and buy Photoshop if only for the wealth of books, classes, and youtube videos for learning it.
I checked out your gallery and it looks like you had a very productive season despite not making it to Vermont. Not sure if all of these are from Fall 2009, but my favorites in your Maine and Michigan galleries were, Barnard 2009058, Stonington 2009020, Shiawasee River 3, Taquehmenon Falls. The arrangment of the boats and buildings in the Stonington shot is postcard perfect! But my absolute favorite is Porcupine Mtn State park. Great perspective on that shot. Almost looks like you took it from a helicopter.
Nothing new on my Christmas list. I've been comtemplating the Canon 5D Mark II, but....
I have a business trip to south Florida in the middle of December and I plan to take a day of vacation for photography to photograph some cypress swamps.
I've spent a couple of evenings on the phone with Carol, helping her learn how to use layer masks and I think she's understands now.
Fax, bite the bullet and buy Photoshop. If you do any amount of photography, it is an essential tool. As you said, the resources available are almost unlimited.
I have a business trip to south Florida in the middle of December and I plan to take a day of vacation for photography to photograph some cypress swamps.
I've spent a couple of evenings on the phone with Carol, helping her learn how to use layer masks and I think she's understands now.
Fax, bite the bullet and buy Photoshop. If you do any amount of photography, it is an essential tool. As you said, the resources available are almost unlimited.
I too am experiencing the "November doldrums" here in New England. My photo group went out to Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA last weekend and I was able to get a few good shots there. Great views of Boston from the watchtower at the top of the hill.
Christmas lists already? I'm ashamed to admit I still use Photoshop Elements for my processing. I know there are much better programs, but Elements does everything I need it to right now. I'd like to upgrade to the newest version, 8. I'm currently using version 4. And I'd like a couple of new lens hoods. Let's just hope Santa is good to all of us this year!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Christmas lists already? I'm ashamed to admit I still use Photoshop Elements for my processing. I know there are much better programs, but Elements does everything I need it to right now. I'd like to upgrade to the newest version, 8. I'm currently using version 4. And I'd like a couple of new lens hoods. Let's just hope Santa is good to all of us this year!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hey, now thats better! I wondered if we were all just in hibernation 
Fax: Thanks for your comments. All but one are this year's addition. The Porcupine Mountain shot (the only image I have sold, to date -- a couple times) seems to be a favorite. Interesting (well it is to me--I won't be offended if you doze off ) story behind it. It was taken back around the turn of the century (I think it was actually 2000), with an ancient medium known as film. It was actually the first of many trips back to the U.P. in search of CT's elusive peak color. The location is at the highest (I believe) point in Michigan--the closest thing we could call a "mountain" (actually there may be one higher point further north in the Keewenaw Peninsula, but the view is not as dramatic in my opinion. There is a man-made wall and trail at this natural "cliff" which is referred to as the escarpment. The popular shot is a bit to the left of this shot, where this river widens into a pond which is (aptly, I think) named "Lake Of The Clouds." I have seen spectacular, full foliage shots of this lake and that was my mission.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. The color was sporadic and inconsistent that year. The Lake shot held no real magic. But I did see this composition. It is possible that if the Lake view was as I had anticipated, I might never have seen this shot.
Fax: Thanks for your comments. All but one are this year's addition. The Porcupine Mountain shot (the only image I have sold, to date -- a couple times) seems to be a favorite. Interesting (well it is to me--I won't be offended if you doze off
) story behind it. It was taken back around the turn of the century (I think it was actually 2000), with an ancient medium known as film. It was actually the first of many trips back to the U.P. in search of CT's elusive peak color. The location is at the highest (I believe) point in Michigan--the closest thing we could call a "mountain" (actually there may be one higher point further north in the Keewenaw Peninsula, but the view is not as dramatic in my opinion. There is a man-made wall and trail at this natural "cliff" which is referred to as the escarpment. The popular shot is a bit to the left of this shot, where this river widens into a pond which is (aptly, I think) named "Lake Of The Clouds." I have seen spectacular, full foliage shots of this lake and that was my mission.Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. The color was sporadic and inconsistent that year. The Lake shot held no real magic. But I did see this composition. It is possible that if the Lake view was as I had anticipated, I might never have seen this shot.
Andy
If it sounds too good to be true, its probably . . . .
If it sounds too good to be true, its probably . . . .
Fax: I have to say I tend to agree with Al. Years back, when this all started, I remember a lot of "crowing" about how the digital revolution was going to vastly reduce the cost of our hobby. No more film purchases. No more processing costs. Less need to carry multiple bodies around loaded with different films. Etc. Etc. Etc.
What we probably didn't appreciate was how much $$ is sunk into computing power and software. When I bought my Pentium based laptop, it was as much horsepower as you could buy at the time. Today, it sags and groans under the weight of what I consider routine processing operations. When it came time to process my panoramas, I went for coffee
I am currently using CS3 (maybe like version 9 ish?) and CS4 has been out for some time. It has some things that look pretty enticing to me and I'll probably move "up" to it when I change camera bodies.
Its a MAJOR hit to get there (around $700, unless you can find one of the education base packages). The upgrades are routinely NORTH of $200 and it seems like you need to do that. It is particularlly an issue as you upgrade cameras, because Adobe stops supporting new RAW files in its older version.
There are other programs out there. Paintshop is supposed to be pretty good. Elements is ALMOST what you need, but when you get into some of the more advanced editing--and there are some amazing things you can do, PS really does seem to have a lock. And, since it is the "Industry Standard" there is almost unlimited information and knowledge out there.
Another think you might research, though, is the newest version of Adobe's Lightroom. I have recommended it to two of my colleagues who just don't want to spend the $ on PS, or the significant time involved in the PS "Learning Curve." My own Lightroom is an older version and I use is solely for file managment and cataloging. I "grew up" on PS and its hard to teach the old dog new tricks. But Lightroom seems to be being positioned as Adobe's main "photographers' software."
What we probably didn't appreciate was how much $$ is sunk into computing power and software. When I bought my Pentium based laptop, it was as much horsepower as you could buy at the time. Today, it sags and groans under the weight of what I consider routine processing operations. When it came time to process my panoramas, I went for coffee
I am currently using CS3 (maybe like version 9 ish?) and CS4 has been out for some time. It has some things that look pretty enticing to me and I'll probably move "up" to it when I change camera bodies.
Its a MAJOR hit to get there (around $700, unless you can find one of the education base packages). The upgrades are routinely NORTH of $200 and it seems like you need to do that. It is particularlly an issue as you upgrade cameras, because Adobe stops supporting new RAW files in its older version.
There are other programs out there. Paintshop is supposed to be pretty good. Elements is ALMOST what you need, but when you get into some of the more advanced editing--and there are some amazing things you can do, PS really does seem to have a lock. And, since it is the "Industry Standard" there is almost unlimited information and knowledge out there.
Another think you might research, though, is the newest version of Adobe's Lightroom. I have recommended it to two of my colleagues who just don't want to spend the $ on PS, or the significant time involved in the PS "Learning Curve." My own Lightroom is an older version and I use is solely for file managment and cataloging. I "grew up" on PS and its hard to teach the old dog new tricks. But Lightroom seems to be being positioned as Adobe's main "photographers' software."
Andy
If it sounds too good to be true, its probably . . . .
If it sounds too good to be true, its probably . . . .
Hmnn, Carol. I am surprised you put a photo of yourself working in the kitchen up on the board!! 
Laura: Nice images of Boston. I like citiscapes and hope to do more of them over time. Sure would be nice to have a nice blue sky with cotton candy clouds, huh? In my website, there is a shot of the NBC Building in Chicago. I didn't like the grey sky, so I put my own nice blue sky in. The light was good enough that it doesn't look (to me) contrived. Isn't digital great?
Laura: Nice images of Boston. I like citiscapes and hope to do more of them over time. Sure would be nice to have a nice blue sky with cotton candy clouds, huh? In my website, there is a shot of the NBC Building in Chicago. I didn't like the grey sky, so I put my own nice blue sky in. The light was good enough that it doesn't look (to me) contrived. Isn't digital great?
Andy
If it sounds too good to be true, its probably . . . .
If it sounds too good to be true, its probably . . . .
Ding (a nickname for J.N. Darling) National Wildlife Refuge. http://www.fws.gov/dingdarling/
If you are in Naples, you will be near there. It is on Sanibel Island, which is West of Ft. Myers. Looks like Ft. Myers is about 25 miles N of Naples on the infamous Hwy 41. Then about another 20 mile to the southwest on out to Sanibel and eventually Captiva.
From what I have read, the birds are so people acclimated that they basically allow you to get very close on the boardwalks. I don't think there is really any admission -- just using the phrase in its colloquial sense. Maybe the drive is the price
If you are in Naples, you will be near there. It is on Sanibel Island, which is West of Ft. Myers. Looks like Ft. Myers is about 25 miles N of Naples on the infamous Hwy 41. Then about another 20 mile to the southwest on out to Sanibel and eventually Captiva.
From what I have read, the birds are so people acclimated that they basically allow you to get very close on the boardwalks. I don't think there is really any admission -- just using the phrase in its colloquial sense. Maybe the drive is the price
Andy
If it sounds too good to be true, its probably . . . .
If it sounds too good to be true, its probably . . . .
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faxmachineanthem
- Posts: 160
- Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:11 am
Alright, here are my Grade B shots from foliage season. 
Some of them I really like but have something detracting from them. Mostly lighting.
This first one was just south of Manchester. I recently learned how to blend multiple exposures in post processing using layers and masks (not HDR). This scene was very high contrast so I took two shots about two stops apart and blended them together. Maybe it could use a bit more contrast.
This is another blended exposure. 95% of it is from one exposure. But I had to blend in a dark exposure right around the sun as that was blown out in the normal shot. I actually like this one a lot, not sure why I overlooked it at first.
This one is from Kirby Mountain Road in South Kirby. Beautiful Road! This shot could use better light. I think a late afternoon shot would be ideal (this shot is facing southeast).
I think this barn shot was from Rt 232 north of the Groton State Forest. I thought it was kind of bland at first but after some curves adjustments I like it.
A shot of my wife and daughter. Love this one. Near Owl's Head looking down at Kettle Pond.
This was from a scenic pulloff in Crawford Notch. I just about blew the highlights in the sky here. I was able to bring up the shaded mountain. I should have blended two exposures here but I thought this was more of a snapshot so I only took one shot.
This was near Warren. Perhaps Warren Mountain Road. I like the way the light is hitting the foreground.
Some of them I really like but have something detracting from them. Mostly lighting.This first one was just south of Manchester. I recently learned how to blend multiple exposures in post processing using layers and masks (not HDR). This scene was very high contrast so I took two shots about two stops apart and blended them together. Maybe it could use a bit more contrast.
This is another blended exposure. 95% of it is from one exposure. But I had to blend in a dark exposure right around the sun as that was blown out in the normal shot. I actually like this one a lot, not sure why I overlooked it at first.
This one is from Kirby Mountain Road in South Kirby. Beautiful Road! This shot could use better light. I think a late afternoon shot would be ideal (this shot is facing southeast).
I think this barn shot was from Rt 232 north of the Groton State Forest. I thought it was kind of bland at first but after some curves adjustments I like it.
A shot of my wife and daughter. Love this one.
Near Owl's Head looking down at Kettle Pond.This was from a scenic pulloff in Crawford Notch. I just about blew the highlights in the sky here. I was able to bring up the shaded mountain. I should have blended two exposures here but I thought this was more of a snapshot so I only took one shot.
This was near Warren. Perhaps Warren Mountain Road. I like the way the light is hitting the foreground.
FAX: I enjoyed your photos. Especially the one of your wife and baby. That's a keeper! That is Warren Mountain Road. It's a wonderful drive. Did you take it into Warren or out of Warren. The name changes I think to the Roxbury Mountain Road at some point. I am taking Carol there next fall.
Also, the Kirby Mountain Road is also a great ride. Apparently, you were on the more "pleasant" portion of the drive. I took the Kirby Mtn. Road out of Victory Bog where it starts at Victory Hill. Let me tell you it was rocks, ruts, large branches in the road (narrow dirt road all the way - only one car width), barely passable in some parts, etc. It was my idea to drive it and it was not a road for a van. So you must have been on the part that is closer to Ridge Road near East Burke. The part I was on has dashed lines on my Jimapco!
I sure would like to go to Owl's Head next fall. I'll try to make it happen. It looks beautiful.
Really enjoyed your photos.
Also, the Kirby Mountain Road is also a great ride. Apparently, you were on the more "pleasant" portion of the drive. I took the Kirby Mtn. Road out of Victory Bog where it starts at Victory Hill. Let me tell you it was rocks, ruts, large branches in the road (narrow dirt road all the way - only one car width), barely passable in some parts, etc. It was my idea to drive it and it was not a road for a van. So you must have been on the part that is closer to Ridge Road near East Burke. The part I was on has dashed lines on my Jimapco!
I sure would like to go to Owl's Head next fall. I'll try to make it happen. It looks beautiful.
Really enjoyed your photos.
CT - Board Admin and Moderator for Scenes of Vermont
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Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~George Eliot
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Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~George Eliot
Nice work on the blended exposures, FAX.
CT: Owl's Head is worth the trip. You have been so close every time you have been in VT. The state forest highway, itself is worth the drive. Its a short, but steep climb to the top -- but worth the exertion for the view.
CT: Owl's Head is worth the trip. You have been so close every time you have been in VT. The state forest highway, itself is worth the drive. Its a short, but steep climb to the top -- but worth the exertion for the view.
Andy
If it sounds too good to be true, its probably . . . .
If it sounds too good to be true, its probably . . . .
FAX, if these photos qualify as B photos, you are much too hard on yourself. They were all very nice.
I agree with Andy about Owl's Head. I think I've gone there every year that I've visited Vermont. There are many nice photo opportunities near by. From Rickker Pond to Owl's head itself. I've frozen my little fingers off shooting the steam rising from the pond and at other times, it has been very warm. Cold or hot, this is an area that must be seen during foliage season.
I agree with Andy about Owl's Head. I think I've gone there every year that I've visited Vermont. There are many nice photo opportunities near by. From Rickker Pond to Owl's head itself. I've frozen my little fingers off shooting the steam rising from the pond and at other times, it has been very warm. Cold or hot, this is an area that must be seen during foliage season.