Found a new spot to photograph

[pwt54]

I've been on that road a few times in the fall and it has good color. I like your waterfalls photos. I've tried a few myself. I've copied your settings and will try them.

[pwt54]

I had only brought my Canon sx10 to the parade in Brattleboro, so when I came across that falls on the Black Mountain Road in Dummerston I couldn't use your settings on it because it only goes to f-8. That will learn me to leave the rebel at home. I'm going through the photos later and hope the photos come out alright.

[pwt54]

It was the first time I had used this camera so I was a little worried. The lighting was tough. But I did get some good ones. I've sent some to ctyanky to post and will send others later. I did give it a good workout yesterday at Dead Creek. The super macro setting is touchy but when I do it right it does great. The super zoom set at the max is a bit touchy also, but it enabled me to nail a great shot of a (I think) Yellow Warbler as it was singing. (It was yellow and it warbled, that's close enough for me.) It also did well with the flowers, damsel flies, butterflies, and birds. Up to the 250 mm range, it will not match the photos taken by the Rebel, but that super macro and 20x zoom are worth it. There is no way that I'm going to carry a one ton 500mm lense on the trails. The showy lady slippers should be coming out pretty soon. I hope to get to the Dog Pond Road in Woodbury to check them out on Sunday. Some folk from the The Nature Conservancy said there are some in the Eshqua Bog Natural Area in Hartland. The Nature Conservancy's Vermont website has a list of refuge areas that I'd like to check out now that I have time.

[autzig]

I thought Odes were only done to dead people! I assure you that I am alive and well. Now that I think about it, Robert Burns wrote some Odes; one to a mouse and one to a louse. Oh dear.

Seriously though, you have nothing to apologize for with these photos. I like the first one a lot...nice silky water. The second is nice too but....the stream leans to the right. It should be overflowing its banks. I always use a hotshoe level when I shoot water, for exactly that reason.

Why don't you see if Andy will let you add a chapter to his little Vermont Photography book. I'd love a chapter on the Streams of Vermont. Now all you have to do is find them all, catalog them and tell us exactly where they are. GPS coordinates would really be nice. I'm sure PWT will be happy to collaborate.

I hope you have many visits to Vermont before the colors turn. Find some perfect streams for me, so I don't have to look for them myself.

Al

[pwt54]

Yesterday I checked the Showy Lady Slippers in Woodbury and they were not ready yet. Then I went to the Cranbury Meadows Road to check out the bog area. I had forgot all about the Waterfall on that road ! The falls are close to the road and are easy to get to. I took a lot of photos at different settings. Then I remembered the falls on the Emslie Road in North Calais. So I scooted down there. These falls are harder to shot because the land is posted. You can get some good shots from the road but there is no parking. The road is lightly traveled however, so I was able to take some photos. Now I have to download them.

[Andy]

They are nice shots. My only "critical" observation (and this may just be my monitor -- its hard to evaluate exposure issues on a web-based, computer screen image, in my view), the whites look a bit blown out to me. I suspect from your comment re: the ND filters, that the light was already a bit to intense at the time you photographed these. I struggle with the pure whites in these kinds of photos. Just the process of "slowing" the water down, makes it more difficult to hold the detail in the whites.

Did you use ANY filtration here? PZ for example?

[Andy]

Again, Carol, it may be my monitor. Its really hard to judge from monitor to monitor unless we are working in "calibrated" environment.

Where I see the blown highlights is where the froth would be -- for example in the lower left and parts of the middle.

Essentially, they look pure white (complete absence of any color -- and therefore, detail). I still see that in the repost. It may not be possible to capture the entire range you want to capture and show detail in the dark areas without this. This may be another area where the HDRI would work (but the constantly moving water as slow SS is going to be a problem there, I would guess).

I would highly recommend you trying the PZ filter on these shots. Since you are trying to slow things down anyway, you won't care about the loss of 2 stops of light -- indeed, it may work in your favor. The PZ will get rid of a lot of unwanted reflections and often allow the lens to "see" down into the water. Not always -- but always should be looked at, IMO.

[Andy]

So, Al: The rumours of your demise are greatly exaggerated???

[GIC]

Andy,
What is a PZ filter?
Thanks

[Andy]

GIC: PZ=polarizing

Carol. Guess I didn't see your post until tonight. In a shot where the water is foaming, there will always be some pure white (the foamy water is white or near white). But my point was that more than just the truly white areas appear to be blown out on your photo.

Again, its really difficult to tell on an over-the-internet shot on a monitor. Unfortunately, even with a color managed workflow, in my experience, the jpegs we view on the net will vary greatly from monitor to monitor.

[GIC]

Thanks Andy. I use PF the Z through me off, which made me think Humm do I need that? I have few of them. They are a must have.

[Andy]

Sometimes our use of abbreviations gets confusing.