A Day (or Evening) at the Beach

Last night after dinner I headed over to Delta Lake State Park just north of Rome, NY.  This park is around the corner from my house (in the country around the corner is less than 10 miles) and although we visited more when the kids were younger it had been quite a few years since I was inside the park.  I can contribute my renewed fascination to my new obsession in photography.  This spring I went to the park to explore with my camera and and old friend has become new again.

I watched the afternoon clear skies become ripe for pictures as the clouds rolled in and I just knew the sunset was going to be worth photographing.  Everything worked out as I was able to get dinner cooked, gobbled down and my hiking boots on to make it to the park with a little over an hour until sunset.

As I topped the knoll between the parking area and the beach this scene stopped me in my tracks.  I quickly made my adjustments to the camera settings before clicking away.  I needed to get a little closer to remove some unwanted elements in the picture but luckily the wide angle lens still allowed for a nice picture.

Delta Lake State Park, beach area
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/50sec, 32mm f/8, ISO 200

I think I have fallen into a routine every time I visit the park but it has given me some really nice pictures in the past.  There is a path that starts to the right of the beach area and mostly follows the lake's shoreline.  This next picture is right at the start of this path and the view is looking toward the dam which created the lake.  I think on my next visit I'll use the telephoto to show the dam more clearly.

Delta Lake State Park, view toward the dam
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/40sec, 17mm f/8, ISO 200

My normal route through the path didn't yield as many photo opportunities as I had hoped and with a limited time frame before sunset I stopped short to circle back toward the beach.  The advantage of living close and being able to get to the park so late is I generally have it to myself.  The few families or groups left are just finishing up their stay so I'm able to setup practically anywhere.

During the summer you are only allowed to swim during scheduled hours when there are life guards on duty. They even rope off different sections of the beach for the varying abilities (or heights) of the swimmers.  I really liked how the buoyed line appears to go on toward the horizon.

Delta Lake State Park, beach looking west
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/100sec, 19mm f/16, ISO 200

In the first picture of this post, the tree filled area is a small overlook which you can get to in numerous ways but over the years small paths from the beach up the hill have been made despite the best efforts of the park to created stair paths.  I always like following the man made paths as you generally find better picture spots along the way.  Once you get to the top there is a area looking west which allows for a nice view of the lake and the setting sun.

Delta Lake State Park, east overlook looking west
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/8sec, 19mm f/22, ISO 100

The last two pictures are back down on the beach and are my attempt at capturing the sunset using three exposure brackets.  I used Lightroom 4 to correct for lens distortion and exported the pictures to Photomatix.  I used the normal exposure image for the water to remove any effects of ghosting and then tone mapped the three exposures with detail enhancing plus a few adjustments.  I brought the finished image back into Lightroom for a crop and some minor tweaks.

Delta Lake State Park, beach looking west
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/15s, 1/60s, 1/4s, 24mm f/22, ISO 100

Delta Lake State Park, beach looking west
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.0, 1/4s, 1/15s, 1s, 17mm f/22, ISO 100  

I ended up not staying until the full sunset.  I had neglected to bring bug spray with me and was starting to get eaten alive.  I had captured enough pictures to keep me processing for a few hours.  I'm not sure the sunset and the time just after would have provided any better views of the lake.  But then, considering how close I am, there will always be another day.

Better or Worse?

A couple of days ago I posted a picture of some ice in the creek.  At the time I really liked the picture and used it as my 365 project picture for the day.  This picture was another of my attempts at HDR processing using the Photomatix software.  I basically let the software do its thing and added a few small tweaks in Elements when it was done.

After staring at this picture for a day or two I feel that I went too far with the processing and ruined the actual look of the ice.  I checked out a few online guides/tutorials to basic HDR processing and didn't see where I might have gone wrong on that end other than a tendency for the HDR software to produce grey looking whites.  Which is basically what I felt happened to this picture.  I found where most HDR processing brings the finished picture into Photoshop or Elements to 'correct' the problem areas.  Some of those problems being the grey whites, the addition of noise, etc.

I couldn't help trying to improve my original picture so I opened Elements, brought the first picture back in as well as the 0 EV exposure picture.  I added the 0 EV picture as another layer in the original HDR picture.  I set the blending to Hard Light and the Opacity to 75%.  I think this dramatically changed the picture and for me brought it back to what I saw in the creek the day I took the picture.  This picture is the non-cropped version.

I would appreciate any constructive criticism on how to better process the picture.  I realize a lot of the choices we make as we process are to achieve a picture that matches either our memory of the scene or a vision we had when we captured the picture.  Still, any tips for processing multiple exposures would be appreciated.  Thanks.

Day 89

Today was another nice day but a little lacking in sun.  The clouds would not give up any of the sky.  I was going to have to spend some time tonight working on real work stuff so I cut out of work about thirty minutes early.  In the long run work wins because I generally lose track of time when working from home.

My plan was to head back down to the creek for more ice and water pictures before heading to the gym.  I remembered to take my little ten inch bendable tripod with me because I was thinking with the overcast sky I was going to get shutter speeds below my ability to hold the camera steady.  I also thought that with the white ice/snow against the darker stream bed I might need to use multiple exposures to achieve what I wanted.

I have about ten to fifteen different views to process but the one I really liked was of a huge ice sheet against shallow water with visible rocks.  I had the advantage of being able to setup about 4 feet above the ice on a large boulder.  I am really happy with the picture I created.

I captured a three bracket set at -1/0/+1 EV which luckily for me my camera can do by itself.  I brought the three images into Photomatix and used the Enhancer - Painterly option.  I left the sliders as set by this options but brought the final image into PS Elements to tweak slightly.  I adjusted the levels a little and added a high pass filter layer for just the ice.  I used the soft light blending mode for the filter layer.

The resulting image is a little more 'enhanced' than I typically work toward but I think it works by highlighting the structure within the ice.  The painterly option for the enhancer mode in Photomatix helped bring the stones on the creek bed into view and I think they contrast with the ice nicely.

Time to go see if I can create anything else with the other pictures I captured today...

Please feel free to leave comments, suggestions or critiques.  Thanks.