Under The Glass

6Jul/100

Lighthouse Tour

I was up in Maine over the long weekend. Woke up about 5 AM on Saturday and headed out with my camera. Here are a couple of HDR photo's of lighthouses I took.

Portland Head light house

This one is one of the "Two Lights" lighthouses

I made it a point to use my ultra wide lens when I was out. I'm happy with the results.

Tagged as: Cape Elisabeth, Lighthouse, Maine No Comments

30Apr/101

Photoshop CS5 was released today and I downloaded a trial. Didn't spend much time with it but what I saw I liked. I love the content-aware feature. I took this photo I had of Ashley from our visit to the rail trail a few weeks ago ...

What I didn't like about this photo is the fact that Ashley had a tree growing out of her head. With CS4 I could clone it out with time and patience, but with the content-aware feature of CS5 I was able to achieve this in less than 2 minutes ...

The other new feature I played around with for about 15 minutes or so was HDR toning. So I went back into my archives and dug up this photo from almost two years ago.

Always felt that this photo was only so-so. It really doesn't pop and kind of on the boring side of things. So I put it through a HDR treatment. I was shooting for something more dramatic and more interesting to look at. Here is what I ended up with after about 15 minutes or so...

Not 100% happy with the results I achieved, but I think I like this better than the original. I should probably spend some time and try to remove the pile of branches on the left hand side.

I'm still not sold on the HDR functionality. I've been using Photomatrix Pro for some time now for my HDR photos and I've been pleased with the results I get. All in all I've got to say I like CS5 and I'm looking forward to learning more about it.

Tagged as: CS5, Leominster 1 Comment

23Apr/100

Purgatory Chasm

For many years while driving south past Worcester I would come across a sign on route 146 for an exit to Purgatory Chasm. It would aways catch my attention and I'd make note to one day stop for a visit.

While heading out the door this morning with Ashley and Kaya for this endeavor, Marc grabbed his sneakers and flashed his puppy eyes look. Who could resist not bringing him along for the adventure.

As you can imagine with a place that has the name chasm in it there are a lot of rocks. It was great for Ashley and her friend as seen below. Not so great for Marc and I and his 10" legs. We did not have the opportunity to see the named formations listed as The Corn Crib, The Coffin, The Pulpit, Lovers' Leap and Fat Man's Misery. Might be a good thing, look at the last title.

I let Ashley and her friend go off on their own for a little bit. They were able to explore a few caves while somewhat staying in my sights. Pictured here is the entrance to the chasm.

Marc and I wandered around the entrance where the terrain was a little more stable. It was here that I saw this stone hut that became my favorite photo of the day. I converted it to a HDR image and added a little drama to it. This is a style of photography that is not for everyone, but I'm starting to like this style more and more.

All in all not the visit I was hoping for, but everybody had fun. This stone hut may even make it on my calendar at the end of the year.

Tagged as: HDR, Purgatory Chasm, Sutton No Comments

11Apr/100

It’s been awhile

It's been awhile since I've posted. During the winter I tend to get unmotivated with my photography. With no leaves things tend to be on the bland side. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of photo opportunities in the winter if you want to chase them. For me, I just can't seem to get motivated. Hopefully my hiatus is done now.

Took advantage of the nice weather this weekend and headed out. With the warm weather we've had lately, blooming is about a month early. Here are some dogwood trees at Doyle Field.

I then made my way through Lunenburg and found myself near Flat Hill Orchards

The apple trees looked amazing as seen below

I've read that there is some concern that because everything is blooming early, there is a chance that crops could be damaged if a heavy frost happens. Lets hope that is not the case.

We eventually made our way to the Nashua River Rail Trail. We usually park in Nashua, but this time I wanted something different and choose to park in Pepperell.

It was a busy day at this section. What I like about this rail trail which happens to be 11 miles long is that it is paved. Knowing this Ashley and I brought our roller blades.

Today was a busy day on the trail with a lot of roller bladers as well as bicylist. Even so I was able to capture a few pictures without any people in them.