Fine Art Gallery - "Pemaquid Point Lighthouse"

 

Back to our trip to the coast of Maine in October. Joan and I were up very early that day. We had scouted the location of Pemaquid Point Lighthouse the evening before and had already some good ideas about how to shoot the lighthouse in the morning. I have posted here before some photos of the lighthouse that were made around sunrise. The fact that there was almost no cloud in the sky forced me to rethink my ideas for some black and white photos. This building has some strong graphic elements, like the conical shape, the window, or the fence, and this is what I was going for in this image. This is my first approach but I have a lot more photos to choose from. I like to try different things before I consider to make a final print on paper. I like it but I don’t think I’m there yet…

Fine Art Gallery - "Sea Pride"

 

I knew immediately when we saw the “Sea Pride” sitting on the beach of Mackerel Cove, a bay on Bailey Island in Maine, that this was maybe a good image for Black & White. I made a few clicks but the clouds didn’t cooperate and were just a gray soup in the background. But the wind moved them around after a while and suddenly they opened up and let the blue sky shine through. This makes for a much more dramatic shot. I love the lines of this lobster boat and the image leaves room for speculation about the story why this boat was on the beach at the end of the bay and not in the water.

This might be my last post for a while. Tomorrow morning I’m flying to Germany for a family event and some business as well. I might be able to make some clicks but I’m not so sure about if there will be time to write a blog post… I’ll try, so please stay tuned! :-)

Fine Art Gallery - "Thunderstorm moves out"

 

I had to make this image in black and white because that's what I really saw when I framed the scene in the viewfinder a few days ago. I love the absence of colors in a photo like this. I think it is a lot more dramatic and tells the story of the moving out thunderstorm a little better. The white on the weathered boards of the old barns doesn't overpower the clouds and the eye will always end up in the back.

One question I debated with myself for a while. Would it help this image to remove the power lines on the left hand side or not? I finally decided to keep them because they do not really cut across, they kind of lead into the picture. I don't like power lines and especially here in rural Iowa it is sometimes difficult to find a spot that isn't "polluted" by their presence. I may change my mind about this. I will make a print and look at it for a while... ;-)

Fine Art Gallery - "When the night comes"

 

This evening a few things came together down at the Mississippi River for a good photo opportunity and finally for my second post in the new segment "Fine Art Gallery". First, a wonderful sailboat was tied to the dock at the boat landing. Second, there was almost no wind blowing, making for a smooth surface on the river and in the marina. And third, big dark clouds moved in front of the sun and made for an early blue hour. It all came together the moment I arrived at Mud Lake Park. All what I had to do was to look for the right composition and make it work for my image. I had the Polarizer attached to the Nikkor 24-120/f4. It helped to get rid of some of the glare on the water. I shot wide open with f/4 in order to separate the boat from the background and dialed in -1EV exposure compensation for darker and more saturated colors. This is just my personal style but it works for this kind of photo very well. Could I get a look like this in post process? Maybe, but my goal is to get it right in camera. I hope you enjoy.

Fine Art Gallery - "Lushness"

 

Time to start something new here in my blog. From now on I will publish once in a while an image under the roof of a Fine Art Gallery. These will be photos that will not fit necessarily into my usual blog posts about nature observations but that have an esthetic appearance that I like to share with you.

As always, I welcome your opinions, critique, and questions about any aspects of photography and nature. I like to share the information about "the making" of an image or about wildlife locations and will continue to do. Please feel free to contact me if you think I can help you with your own photography or wildlife related questions.