Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

Our first full day at Niagara Falls was overcast and rainy. First we ate lunch at the Elements restaurant that overlooks the Horseshoe Falls. It was a nice view, but a bit obscured by the rain. Plus, the wind was blowing the mist from the falls right into the visitors' center and observation deck making it even more wet.

More after the jump.

Next we went on the Niagara Fury's exhibit/movie which was in the visitor's center. It starts with a short cartoon that teaches about the history of the falls. Then you go into a 360 degree cyclorama theater where you stand up, watch full motion video of the falls while the floor tips around and you get rained on and splashed in order to "experience" Niagara's "Fury". They do give you a disposable raincoat to keep you dry. Actually, you get a disposable rain coat for almost everything you do at the falls.

After Niagara's Fury, we went on the Journey Behind the Falls tour. This was pretty neat. There are a couple of tunnels bored into the rock behind the falls. Two tunnels have openings where you can see the water falling over the falls from behind. The main tunnel opens out onto a two-level observation area next to the Horseshoe Falls. You can see a close-up profile of the water cascading over the falls which I thought was interesting. You can also watch the Maid of the Mists boats as the approach the falls to get their passengers soaked by the falling water.

Although the tour and view was interesting, the cloudy skies were not very good for photography. Another issue I had was keeping the lens dry. The wind was blowing the mists from the falls right into us which made it difficult to keep water off the front of the lens. I did have a rain cover for the camera itself though which worked like a charm. The camera still works and is none the worse for the wear of getting so close to Niagara's Fury.

More photographs next week. Have a good weekend.

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Niagara Gorge

Niagara Gorge

We hiked down into the Niagara River Gorge one day. It is a few miles downstream from the falls, but the water is still quite rough. Not too far from this location is the Niagara River Whirlpool. It is just upstream and out of the frame near the upper right corner of the picture.

More after the jump.

This was one of the days that we had nice weather while out and about. The hike down into the Gorge was not that bad. We made sure to take the less steep and less slippery trails. We made it all of the way down to a lagoon on the river's edge. That lagoon must be a popular place as there were a couple of other families down there when we arrived.

The hike back up the Gorge's wall was more strenuous though. Going up is always harder than going down. For some reason our hikes usually end with the going-up part for the end after we have already spent so much energy. On the way up we took a few more breaks than on the way down. Plus, we each had water bottles to keep ourselves hydrated. Luckily, most of the climb was shaded by the forest on the Gorge's walls. Only the very last part was in the direct sun. Still, we all had a fun time and saw a part of the Niagara River a lot of tourists don't get to experience. That is a big plus when you have a local to guide your around.

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Blue Sky, Blue Water

Presque Isle North Pierhead Lighthouse

Another place that we stopped to visit on our way to Niagara Falls was Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania. The day we visited was going to be the shortest day of travel up to Niagara and we had some time to do a bit of sightseeing before our friend got off of work. The night before we looked at our maps and noticed that Presque Isle was very close to our route. We looked it up on the internet as well and decided it would be a good place to spend the free hours in our schedule. Plus, it gave us the change to stretch our legs after being in the car for a day and half, and allowed us to show our son one of the Great Lakes up close.

More after the jump.

There are two lighthouses on Presque Isle. The one in the photograph is the Presque Isle North Pierhead Lighthouse. It sits out on a pier that seems to be a popular fishing spot due to all of the people fishing off of it during our visit. The lighthouse marks the entrance into Presque Isle Bay and the Erie Harbor. We were fortunate to have some nice light and interesting skies, although it was quite windy at the time.

There isn't really anything special with how I took or processed this photograph. It isn't an HDR or other digital magic. I simply used Lightroom 2 to boost the contrast, Vibrance and Clarity/sharpness an touch. I think I did use a polarizing filter to cut the reflections on the water and darken the sky. Another element that I liked was the sailboat. It contrasts well with the lighthouse and gives a bit more context to the lighthouse's function.

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I'm back

New River Gorge Bridge (Black & White)

Hi folks. I'm back from vacation. We spent a week up in Niagara Falls, Ontario visiting with a friend. The weather was touch and go most of the time with either rain or gray skies. However, I did manage to shoot some 1400 photographs that I am sorting through. I have gotten through the first two days of the trip which is when we were on the road up to Ontario. During the drive up we did manage a little impromptu sightseeing. Those two days only added up to about 100 photos though, thus it did not take long to sort through them. I've got much more to go though.

More after the jump.

The image above is the New River Gorge Bridge in the mountains of West Virginia. It is the longest single arch span in the Western Hemisphere and is one of the tallest in the world. It stands the height of the Washington Monument plus two Statues of Liberty on top of it above the river to the bottom of the arch. Driving over the bridge, it just seems like any other concrete highway bridge. What caught our attention were the signs for a "Bridge Overlook". We wondered why there would be an overlook for a bridge and stopped to see what it was all about. I'm glad that we did. It is an impressive feat of engineering.

This image is a black and white conversion of an HDR (High Dynamic Range) image I made with Photomatix Pro. It was made from three photographs that were two stops apart. I am new to HDR in general and Photomatix specifically. I did not really like the original color version that I got from the processing. I did however like the increased tonal range and thought that it might work as a black and white image. One thing that has always confused me about the HDR wave that is happening now is why people don't try black and white conversions with the resulting images. A great many of the HDR images you see are of the stylized, almost fantastical saturated color variety. This is especially true of people just starting to learn how to make HDR images. It seems to me that the increased dynamic range and tones between the shadows and the highlights from HDR techniques would be advantageous for black and white images as well. You could push the tonal ranges farther without the overly saturated colors becoming a problem. Anyway, this is my first attempt at an HDR black and white conversion. Not the best, but I see some potential with it.

More images from the vacation to come.

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Another Link

Another photographer's site that I subscribe to is Ree Drummond's Pioneer Woman Photography. Check it out. She has a lot of good stuff there.



And here is the rest of it.

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Link of the Day

I'm out on the road, so can't post longer posts or photographs. However, there are a few links that I would like to share. Today's link is to photographer Jim Richardson's website and blog. He is a National Geographic photographer so you know that his images are amazing. However, he also gives an insider's view of how National Geographic's stories and photography are put together for each issue. Give his site a visit. You won't be sorry.

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To the moon!

Lunar Eclipse (Feb. 2008)

Forty years ago today, the three astronauts of Apollo 11 blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center. Their destination was the Moon. Their mission to land on, walk on, collect samples from and finally to return safely home. NASA has a commemorative website that I recommend.

Keep shooting. Keep reaching. Keep dreaming.

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Spooked

Get Away From Me!

I managed to capture this heron as it flew away from us. We had been "stalking" it to try to get close enough to fill the frame with it. The heron obliged use my taking off to get away from us. It flew to the other side of the pond where we wouldn't be able to follow it, but that put it's flight path close enough to get this one shot. Although I was using continuous mode, my camera isn't fast enough to track something this quick. This was the only shot from the sequence that was in focus and framed well enough for me.

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Another Heron

Framed

This is another photograph from our visit to the Milliken ponds last week. The heron in the shot had been sitting on the edge of the roof watching us. It took off when a couple of other herons flew by and I managed to get the photograph you see here. You don't always need to go on safari to photograph wild animals. There might be some in your backyard, or that have found a home in your community.

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Milliken Ponds

Wingspan

Yesterday afternoon I took my son out to the ponds at the Milliken Research Center and corporate headquarters. Milliken is a large local textile company. On the property of their headquarters they have a handful of artificial ponds as well as open and semi-wooded land that is open to the public. People go out there for picnics, walks, or to see the variety of birds that congregate around the ponds.

More after the jump.

I like to head out to the Milliken ponds occasionally to practice photographing the birds. The ducks and geese are not generally afraid of people since families will often bring bread to feed to the fowl. The small fish in the ponds enjoy the bread as well.

Photographing birds, or any kind of action really, takes a lot of practice and is something I still need a lot of work to perfect. Birds are quite fast and it can be difficult to anticipate what they will do without knowing their behaviors. I'm not really very knowledgeable about animal behaviors, thus getting good photographs of animals in the wild has not been a strong point of mine. For example, there are a handful of great blue herons that hang out at the Milliken ponds. These are large birds that are still not acclimated to people. They don't eat bread, thus have no reason to get closer to the people that come out to feed the ducks. They notice right away when someone starts walking toward them, and will fly away the moment they think they are being threatened. Hence, I have not been able to get very many good, frame filling photographs of the large birds. They always stay as far away as they can. Even with my 70-300mm lens, they stay far enough way so that they are relatively small features inside the frame.

Previously, I had been trying to get closer to them by creeping slowly around the edge of the pond. I had some successes in the past at getting photographs of them standing by the pond. One thing that I had not been been successful with was capturing an image of one in flight.

Yesterday, I had decided to try moving even slower around the pond and to pay attention to their expressions and movements as I got closer. Of course, having my son with me added to the perceived threat factor, but it also added to the fun. I kind of made it a game with Connor to see how close we could get before the herons took to flight. The limit seemed to be about 20 to 30 yards. Closer than that and the herons flew away. By paying attention to how the birds' were watching us and their body motions, I could almost get to the point where I could anticipate when they would flew away. That seems to be most of the battle with shooting wild animals. Knowing their behaviors and working within them to get your photographs.

During most of the day we were watching one particular great blue heron near one of the ponds. We had noticed another one that was either up in a tree or on top of the nearest building. That second one always seemed to stay about 100 yards or more away from people. Then later two more great blue herons flew in and the other two herons joined them in the air. It was an exciting five minutes or so of trying to get my camera on them, get them framed, and get some shots off. The photograph at the top is my favorite from that period of hectic flying. The herons seemed to be socializing amongst each other and became less threatened by our presence. That allowed the bird in the photograph to get close enough to fill the frame. I was quite happy when I saw this frame on my computer monitor after I got home. It was only one shot, but it made the afternoon really worth it. Plus, my son really got into the spirit of the bird watching and had a good time as well. That was the best thing of all. I guess it was a bit of father/son bonding.

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Buds

Buds

More flowers from Hatcher Gardens. It really is a nice place to spend an hour or two during the day. I'm glad to have a place like it so close to the house.

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Lines

Lines

This is another photograph I took at Hatcher Gardens the other day while testing my extension tubes. It was taken with my longest zoom lens and I was standing about six feet away. That should be quite helpful when we are at the butterfly garden as I wouldn't scare the little guys by putting my camera right in their face.

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Testing

Daisies

I wanted to test my extension tubes with a couple of my lenses before we go on vacation later this month. So, we headed to Hatcher Gardens again for a few minutes. One of the places we plan on visiting has a butterfly garden. That means that I would need a macro lens of some kind. However, all I have are a set of extension tubes that fit between the lens and camera. I haven't used them in a while, and realized that I needed to use them again to refamiliarize myself with the extension tubes. Hatcher Gardens is a great place for me to try new stuff out and to practice. It is close to the house and always has something to photograph. Due to an approaching thunderstorm, we only had about thirty minutes at the park. It was enough time to test a couple of lenses with the extension tubes though. Now I have a better idea how they will affect the lenses that I will have with me on the trip.

The moral of the story: Never use new equipment for the first time when you are photographing something important. Always try it out first to give yourself some time to understand the equipment.

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Happy July 4th

Old Glory Backlit

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July when we celebrate the USA's birthday and independence. I hope you have a fun and safe weekend. Enjoy a cookout with family and friends and some fireworks.

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Blue and Red

Roof Line
While at the birthday party last weekend, I noticed this roof line outside at the venue. I liked the blues and reds and took a shot of it.

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Cupcakes

It is another slow week photographically around here. We had to pick my son up from my parents one day. Take him to a birthday party the next day. Then take him to visit my sister's family the next day. I took some shots at the birthday party. Nothing special to be honest. Just snapshots I'll give to the family. Oddly enough, I was the only one taking pictures. The birthday boy decided that he wanted a cupcake tower instead of a big birthday cake. Frankly, that made it quite easy for his mom. His one wrinkle ... he wanted crunchy frosting. His mother winged it, but he seemed pleased with it. The kids all had a fun time together and that is what really matters, isn't it?

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