These are the original images before processing in the post below. As can be seen here there is a real lack of detail in the shadows. Both images were exposed for the highlights and processed for the blacks. In traditional film the workflow was expose for the shadows and print for the highlights. When I was shooting both film and digital it would get confusing at times.
Below are two images that I recently captured at Montauk in Camp Hero, the park on the ocean side of the point. I was unable to upload the unedited images due to problems it created in the galleries. In both images the foreground shadows are very deep with what appears tom be little our no detail. Originally shot in color and exposed to preserve the highlights then processed in Lightroom, Photoshop and Nik softwares. Besides the obvious conversion to black and white I was able to extract a great amount of detail in the shadows. These are not a HDR images, (high dynamic range). HDR images are a merge of several different exposures.
For Christmas I posted a photo of the Water Mill windmill, which is a classic English style windmill. While we go through a deep freeze in most of the country, and some friends are missing the weather of golf season, I thought I would post the windmill from the National Golf Links of America. The windmill is a Dutch style windmill and an icon of one of the oldest golf course in America. There are only two Dutch style windmills on Long Island that I am aware of the other is on the campus of Stonybrook Southampton College.
From the fairway on the second hole.
The 16th green which is a blind hole the reason for two flags on the green
More information on my upcoming exhibit at the Jamesport Manor’s Rosalie Dimon Gallery. Below are the proofs for the exhibit postcards they should be in the mail soon.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Getting ready for the holidays I want to take a minute to wish everyone good health and peace for the upcoming year. I don’t have many holiday photos except for this windmill in Water Mill. Water Mill on the south fork of Long Island is the only hamlet in New York State with both a windmill and a water powered gristmill.
Recently a friend asked how do you get the sensation of motion in photos with water. It is very simple a long exposure, but what is long enough? It depends on the situation. Below are three photos that use long exposures to get the feeling of motion. All use shutter speeds over a second. Matter of fact I tend to use long exposures in most of my landscape photos. One reason is stopping down to small f-stops to get the depth of field needed. The second is the older photos are taken with a 4X5 camera which eats up light due to the small f-stops. Most view camera lens are f 9.0 at wide open. Let’s get to the photos.
The first photo was inspired by my good friend Chris Foster a very accomplished photographer. Chris photographs real estate for Real Estate agents in the Hamptons. He has been in some of the most expensive and exclusive homes in the country. We were climbing around the rocks at Montauk the sun was setting, and we were looking to get that last photo of the day. The photo was taken with a Nikon DSLR and a 70mm lens. The exposure was 2.5 seconds. Not having my tripod with me I got down on the rocks rested the camera on a boulder, and held it as still as I could.
The second photo was taken upstate New York in the Catskills with a 4X5 view camera. I was hiking around the area looking for some water falls and lakes. Unfortunately the waterfalls were not interesting, however I came across this stream and grabbed this photo. The lens was a 210mm lens and the exposure was up around 10 seconds. The woods were dark due to the foliage on the trees, and there wasn’t much contrast in the scene. The film was pushed processed to add contrast, and as you can see there was some light flare even with a lens shade.
The last photo was a very long exposure taken with a 4X5 camera with a pin hole lens. Pin hole cameras were invented by Leonardo Da Vinci. He invented the camera obscura and used it to view scenes for paintings. The lens is a piece of metal with a small hole made by a pin. I found a company that made laser cut pin holes for measuring the viscosity of fluids. The advantage is a very sharp image, and the f stop can be calculated. In this case the f stop is around 256. Due to the extremely small f stop it is almost impossible to crop the image in the camera, because the image is too dark. The method is aim, shoot,and hope for the best. The following photo had an exposure of around 45 seconds to 1 minute. Taken along the shore line the constantly moving surf created a cloud or fog like sensation.
As the three examples show the longer the exposure the more wispy and less water like the image looks. It is always best to experiment with the exposure to get the look you want. Using neutral density filters can help get your shutter speed slow and long enough for the effect your looking for.
I recently added several gallery pages to the site. Below are just a few images from these galleries. Please browse through the site and enjoy the photos.
I am pretty excited we just finalized the details for an upcoming exhibit at the Rosalie Dimon Gallery at The Jamesport Manor Inn. The dates for the exhibit are February 6 – May 1, 2014. The exhibit is sponsored by East End Arts. Information about an opening reception to follow shortly. The exhibit will be of large scale landscape photos.
In October we went to Newport for a little fun for a few days. While exploring the coast we came across Castle Hill Lighthouse. The lighthouse is on the beautiful grounds of the Castle Hill Inn. While at the lighthouse I took a few photos with a DSLR and an I-Phone. I used the new pano feature of the phone’s software to get the results shown. I put a photo of the light with the DSLR as a comparison. The phone does a pretty good job, but doesn’t have the detail and losses the highlights some. It was a gray day, but I was able to use Photoshop to make the day look brighter. Still the phone photo is a pretty good quality.
Photo taken with DSLR, and 28mm lens
Photo taken with I-phone pano feature
Montauk Point is one of those magical places for me. I return several times a year with a camera and photograph the lighthouse and local beaches. I never tire of the place. The Point or “The End” as locals call it, is also the surf fishing capital of the world. I rarely take photos of fisherman I would rather have a fishing rod in my hand. On this last trip with a camera a group of surfcasters were under the lighthouse and I captured this image. The light on the East end of the Long Island is special in the afternoon which makes this photo more interesting.
