Door County lighthouses, part 2

 

It was our third day in Door County, Wisconsin today. An almost uniform overcast made me pushing the shutter release button on the D300s much less than during the last two days before. However, here is part two of my little series of the Door County lighthouses. None of the pictures is from today's trip.

This is my favorite shot of the Cana Island Lighthouse. I really love how the light "kissed" the tower and the building.

Eagle Bluff Lighthouse was built in 1868 and became automated in 1926. The Door County Historical Society has restored this structure in Peninsula State Park and turned it into a living museum. (source: www.doorcounty.com)

On Thanksgiving Day we arrived just one hour before sunset at this lighthouse and the sun had already disappeared behind a thin layer of clouds. The clouds worked like a big diffuser in front of the sun and made for an even exposure of this wonderful landmark.

Making a photograph of Baileys Harbor Range Lights, two hours earlier than the one before, was a little more of a challenge. The white paint and strong sunlight bear the risk of blowing out the highlights on the white boards. Dialing in too much exposure compensation can make the shadows too dark in this high contrast image. I don't like either one of these effects and tried to find the balance here. It was important to me to include the building in the background, since it is an essential part of this navigation aid and contains the rear light of this system.

The Baileys Harbor Range Lights were built in 1869 and automated in 1972. For one hundred years, these lights were used to gain safe entry into Bailey's Harbor. When the upper and lower lights were lined up, sailors knew they were in safe waters. (source: www.doorcounty.com)

Door County lighthouses, part 1

 

It was a very windy day and much colder today in Door County. We continued exploring the state parks and tried to find more lighthouses. With fast moving clouds the light changed constantly all day long. Most of the time it was all gray but then suddenly a gap opened in the sky and "killer light" would strike the scenery. These moments are often very briefly and it was important to be ready and prepared for the shot. As you can see being patient paid back at almost every lighthouse we visited during the last two days. I hope you enjoy this little series of Door County's lighthouses. A second part may follow soon.

Ocean feeling

 

If you live in the Midwest of the United States chances are pretty good that you may book a flight if you like to spend some time along an ocean shore. A great way to experience the "ocean flair" without spending much time and money for a flight is to go to any of the Great Lakes. The only thing I'm missing here at Lake Michigan is the salty smell in the air that you can experience at the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean. We had great weather today with still mild temperatures, sun, and a stiff breeze that created some good size waves.

The sun is only at an elevation of about 25 degree above the horizon at midday, and in combination with a very thin layer of clouds it creates mostly very nice light conditions. We went on some short hikes today along the coast, enjoyed the landscape and visited three lighthouses. No, we didn't eat a big Thanksgiving turkey dinner today but after a wonderful day outdoors and lots of good photo opportunities we had no regrets of eating a big bowl of chili in our little cottage this evening... ;-) More to come...

Weekend getaway

 

A long weekend is coming and we chose to get away for a few days. We drove up to Door County, the peninsula that sticks out into Lake Michigan in Northeast Wisconsin. We stay in a little cottage in Sturgeon Bay with a nice view over the bay. I missed the sunset (a very beautiful one tonight) but the sky was still good for a click afterwards. It is unusual warm for this time of the year but temperatures will drop during the weekend. I don't mind a crisp and cold day and just look forward to get my mind off the daily things. Weather changes are the photographers friend and I hope to get maybe a few good shots of this lovely landscape. Happy Thanksgiving Day to all friends and family! Thank you for taking the time to stop in my blog.

Talking about clouds

 

One of my favorite subjects to shoot is clouds. Not any ordinary ones, I'm talking about clouds that create some drama or an interesting pattern. Last Saturday I was cutting some wood behind the house when I saw a line of flame-like clouds showing up behind the trees that surround our neck of the woods. I dropped the axe immediately and ran inside to get the camera. We had a nice blue sky but color didn't give me the drama I saw in the shapes the clouds were producing. I knew I was shooting for a final Black & White.

Nobody wants to see their house on fire but I thought it looked quite dramatic. The clouds were moving fast and after ten minutes the sky was completely covered with a thin layer of clouds, which of course didn't hold any drama anymore.

A few words about the post processing. As always the RAW files get imported into Adobe Lightroom, where I usually do just the RAW sharpening and some noise removal if necessary. From there I kick out a tif-file and move over to NIK's Silver Efex Pro 2. Since I had done some other B&W images with clouds recently I created a preset that I can now use as a starting point. The next step is to open a copy of the file in Photoshop where I use pre-recorded action sets that do the downsizing and final sharpening for the web. Presets and action sets can be a big time saver sometimes if you go for the same effect. However, I never just apply them and walk away. I always do some fine tuning and tweaking of a particular slider if it improves the image.

Keeping the memories alive

 

It is hard to believe that this image was made  already 24 days ago. The colorful leaves are history now and most of them decay in the timber behind the house. What remains are the memories of a wonderful fall and this photograph, created just minutes before sunset, may keep them alive for awhile....

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Fall colors, simple clicks

The fall colors have already passed their peak since a couple weeks here in Eastern Iowa. Most leaves are on the ground or dried up and don't look as pretty anymore. However, a few trees still hold on to their colors and the nice weather last weekend held still plenty of opportunities to make a few clicks.  

The Mines of Spain is a nice recreation area just south of Dubuque, Iowa. It contains 1380 acres of wooded and prairie land, wetlands, and creeks. From its bluffs you have a wonderful view over the Mississippi River. The prairie is already bare of any significant colors but this solitary tree with its colorful leaves stood out and made us aware of the transition from autumn to winter.

The second image is from yesterday's walk with our little dog. The setting sun stroke this, what I believe is an American Elm and made its yellow leaves stand out. I hope you enjoy!

Playing with water

 

We had a good amount of much needed rain this weekend. I used the time for several photography related projects (see my post from yesterday) and finally thought it is a good time to post some "water pictures" from our recent trip to the Rocky Mountains.

The first shot was taken above the Copeland Falls in the Southeast corner of the National Park. I made quite a few clicks, knowing that each picture would look differently by using a variety of different exposures from 1/20 to 1 second . The creek was in the shade of trees and the absence of bold colors made me process the image in B&W. It was the pattern, created by air bubbles in the flowing water and revealed by the long exposure, that I was after and 0.7s at f/16 created a desirable result for me. As always, NIK Silver Efex Pro2 is my software of choice for processing a B&W image.

The second image was taken after a hike higher up to Ouzel Falls. Despite a heavy overcast and even some rain sprinkles some light was left and revealed the colors of the surrounding rocks. I liked this one better than a B&W version I made and I want to share with you.

I wish all of you a great week.

New Portfolio, now HTML

 

I'm sure you know the feeling when you have postponed something for a long time and after you got it done finally you get into a great state of mind. That's how I feel today. It bothered me since quite some time that my photography portfolio could not be opened on an iPhone or iPad, because the portfolio was created with flash galleries and those don't work on Apple's devices.

Beside updating my portfolio and creating a new design I made finally the switch to html-galleries which will work on Apple's mobile devices as well.

Please feel free to have a look at my new LANDSCAPE and WILDLIFE portfolio by clicking on the tab PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO on the left side bar. I hope you enjoy! :-)

Felt like three seasons

 

Before the first snow hits the ground here in the Midwest and before you are all tired of seeing images of fall colors I like to post another photo of the colorful aspens in the Rocky Mountains. There were plenty of opportunities but not every image works the same way. It was the pattern of the trees that made me choose this one over others.

Just a little bit higher in elevation at Guanella Pass the rain that we got the night before coated the mountain peaks with a thin layer of snow. This was a month ago and it felt like three seasons were present at the same time. The temperature felt still like summer, the leaves told the story of autumn, and the snow, of course, gave a taste for the upcoming winter.