Minister Creek

We've been seeing some beautiful fall foliage as we go along, but I haven't been finding those ideal photographic compositions. We chose to go through the Allegheny National Forest as we crossed Pennsylvania.  It beautiful, but a little past the peak of color. I was so glad to find Minister Creek, I could hardly wait for the car to stop to hop out, grab the camera, and rush over to the creek.  At first glance, I was concerned, because I could tell it was going to be challenging to get a good camera angle. My first try was looking down on the creek:

I didn't like this camera angle, so I started looking for a way to get down to the creek level.  After finding a spot where I could sit on one rock and work my way down, I found that I had an old grapevine hanging down into my composition as well as a leaning tree.  Luckily I was wearing my river sandals and the water was shallow. I waded in and removed the offending, unattached, dead grapevine and put it on the bank. Taking my next shot, I still wasn't happy with that leaning tree:

 

The water was shallow enough that I could wade in  a little more. My feet and the bottom of my jeans were definitely wet, and my toes started getting cold quickly.  But I wasn't about to rush out of the water until I had done my best to capture this lovely place.

 

Creativity and Photography

There are so many ways to be creative with photography in the digital age. I am a firm believer that it is important to capture an image as well as you can to begin with - I don't shoot with the thought "I can fix it in Photoshop." But I also enjoy exploring the creative things you can do both "in camera" and in Photoshop that take an ordinary scene and make it something beautiful.
As I work through the images I took on our fall trip, I ran across this one. Taken at the beginning of our drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway, this beautiful fall tree drew my attention, called to me.



The sun was cooperating by hiding behind a clouding, so that if I waited patiently I could get soft lighting. The rocks seemed an interesting foreground. The catch: the wind was blowing just enough to cause some motion blur of the leaves in places at my preferred ISO 100 for landscapes. I played a little in photoshop to get the rocks nicely exposed and then did a little bit of dodging and burning to make the tree look "good."

I found that it seemed pretty, but perhaps ordinary.

I purchased Topaz Adjust and Topaz Vivacity during the summer. After playing around with the Adjust filter, I went over to Vivacity and came up with this version:



I went back to the original and played around with the Photoshop artistic filters to try to find an artistic effect that would work with this shot. Then I went back to Topaz Vivacity to get the finished look I wanted.



After posting this, I added even more saturation to bring out more of the reds.



I think I like this last version the best, because it keeps the deep reds in the tree, but still gives this a more painted look.
Which one do you like best?

To get the full effect of these photos, you can click on each one and get a larger view.

Creative Images

When I'm shooting for these creative images, I take a lot of images that just don't work. I get just enough intriguing ones that it keeps me trying this technique.

This one came from the New River Gorge National Scenic River area. To me this one came out looking a lot like my sister-in law, Mary Solomon's pastel imagery.

Autumn Impressions

I don't have time to do much of a blog tonight - I've got to get up early to do sunrise at a cypress swamp in the morning. But . . . here is another of my "creative" images. I have not figured out a catchy name for them, yet. Hope you enjoy!

Michigan's Fall Colors

We spent several days driving around the Upper Peninsula looking for fall colors. We were lucky to catch them so close to their peak. I love the bright, deep reds, the brilliant yellows . . .

Lost Maples - Day Two

While the morning started out cloudy, I was quite pleased because I have learned that the filtered light provides more even lighting for foliage. You have to frame your shot without the sky, but with the magic of photoshop the colors come out much better without the sun washing them out or creating deep shadows.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be posting some of my shots from this trip on my website:
Lost Maples Photos

For several reasons, I've been doing a lot of self-portraits lately. For one thing, I am trying to explore the income possibilities of stock photography. I need to improve my skills in photographing people. Things I learn in taking my portraits and the post processing will help me with other projects. For another, I am the one model who is always available (ha! ha!) Since I have lost so much weight, the Curves people have been asking for a photo - and I wanted a good one for them. Getting back to the stock photography - they seem to want "real" people - so since I am a "real" person - some of the shots I am doing will get sent to Alamy Images. We'll see if any of them sell.

Lost Maples

Living in the Austin area, I miss some of the brilliant colors that I remember from fall in Amarillo. In the Austin area, the fall colors are muted. There is yellow-brown, red-brown, brown . . . . . . My tallow trees (not native) have a pretty yellow and pink color. And the china-berry trees also are yellow.

While I had visited Lost Maples before, we had never gone in the fall. The color comes and goes quickly. While the kids were in school, there were too many activities going on to take off to see the maples here. But this year was my opportunity. I had been told that around Halloween is the peak time. When I first called to get reservations (November 1st), the park told me that the trees were still green - next week would be better. When I called the state office to make reservations, they said the 7th and 8th was too early - it would be another week (and no there were no available reservations THAT week). So I decided to go ahead and come this week. The reports said there was color in the canyons. I was planning to take the long hikes - so surely I would find some nice locations for fall photographs.

As we drove into the park, the first things I saw were the young maples around the visitor center in full color. Ahhh - fall color. I was able to extend our initial reservation through Thursday - so we were set.


The first afternoon, I took part of the Maple Trail. This trail follows the creek and comes back through the maple grove. I chose to stay along the creek both directions looking for reflective shots in the afternoon sunlight.

Vermont

While it seems a little strange to be in New England struggling with weather issues from a hurricane in Florida, such is life. I will be trying to find fall color until Thursday when I will fly back to Texas to attend a friend's wedding. Naturally the weather forecast all week is rain, snow, clouds, more rain. I am used to this. After all, while only the STRONGEST winter storms bring rain to Death Valley, it has rained on me every time I've been there!

I got up this morning to a gray sky. I took the time to rearrange my baggage so that each night I would only carry in small needed items - NOT the big bulky suitcase. I got all my camera gear out in easy reach in the car and cleaned the sensor and the lens I use most frequently. I had picked up some information yesterday at the Vermont Visitor's Center. After checking out the routes that still had color as of October 20, I headed north up highway 5 following the Connecticutt River.


I saw a side road marked "Old Connecticutt River Road" and took it. There was some lovely foliage with reflections on the smoothly moving water.











Closer to Windsor, I found a waterfall just begging me to photograph it. While I shot it from a couple of angles, looking at the shots closer tonight, I wish I HAD stood in the middle of the road . . . . On the other hand, from the middle of the road, you did not see the bottom of the waterfall. I DID want the fall foliage as part of the shot, but my nit with my favorite shot is that one of the branches crosses the waterfall. I have some new techniques to try on some of these shots, but for now I am posting my initial processing.

I followed the route listed in the brochure most of the day. After turning on Highway 4, I plotted the route again. The recommended route turned south on 100A. I had no need to make a loop and staying on 4/100 seemed to follow the river. I took another turn on some side roads and was rewarded with some shots that may work out. I had seen Texas falls on the map. I could not remember if Henry and I had been there, so I headed in that direction. Highway 125 is marked as scenic. I definitely agree, a narrow curving road through the mountains. While I got to Texas Falls while there was still light, I chose to enjoy them and not fight the fading light. But I also chose to spend the night nearby in hopes that the sky will be brighter in the morning.

I found my motel and my dinner at the next town. I've caught up with my blog and I'm hoping for clouds with only a little rain (I CAN hope, can't I?). I'm going to study the map a little more to choose a general route for tomorrow.

After the Convention - Heading for Adventure

After the Alamy meeting on Saturday, I walked around the Time Square area. Every other trip to New York, I have attended a Broadway show. I walked the theater district, but I did not find anything that jumped out at me. While I would like to see Brooke Shields, she is appearing in the musical "Chicago." I have seen the Broadway play once as well as the movie. Since I really don't like the premise, I was not tempted. I chose to eat at a French restaurant I had passed. Then I headed back to the hotel to finish the Photography blogs.

I tried to find a way to rent a car from the city to start my explorations. When the first car rental place said no to dropping the car off elsewhere, I was tired enough that the train ride to Connecticutt sounded like the best option. Sunday morning was the dreaded "moving day." I repacked my belongings - how did it get so heavy . . . . . . I must be more tired than I thought. Fortunately, Penn Station was one block away - two blocks to get to the entrance I thought was the right one. Stairs . . . . . I made it up stairs with those same belongings several days ago. As I stood there pondering whether to walk around to another entrance, a kind gentleman said, "May I help you?" With a sigh, I said yes and watched him walk those heavy bags down the steps. I got my ticket purchased and did not have long to wait. Down the escalators with those big bulky bags . . . . .Finally, on the train - one bag stored by the door, the other two in the overhead shelf. AHHHHHH. I pulled out the items I thought I would use - my Bible, my journal, my computer, my ipod . . . . About an hour down later, I realized that all I really needed was the IPOD. The station stops were short - so I loaded everything else back - so I could get off fairly quickly.

After the stop where they switched to a diesel engine (from the electric one I presume), I decided that lunch might be a good idea. I negotiated my way to the dining car (which was at the back of train.) While it was just a simple heated chicken sandwich, it tasted mighty good. At last we got to Hartford, where to my dismay it was down the stairs with the big suitcase to get off the train. The conductor was offering to help people . . . .sigh . . . . the big bag DID get off the train with me. From there it was not difficult to get to the taxi and then off to Bradley to get a rental car. My taxi driver was one of the most talkative ones I've ever had. He was from Africa and loves being in the States because we are free. He dropped me off at Budget. I asked for four wheel drive - they gave me a Trailblazer much like my trailblazer at home - complete with a Texas tag! Later in the afternoon, I realized that while it is a SUV, it is NOT four wheel drive. There is snow on the ground at the higher elevations in Vermont. But at least I have the ground clearance and the confidence to take this vehicle on dirt roads that I would not have wanted to take a car on.

I drove north through Massachusetts, enjoying the fall colors around me. I headed west in Vermont on highway 9. I immediately head out on those little dirt roads hoping for some little streams. All I found the first day was some very pretty foliage next to the road. I kept taking little roads - and finding myself looping. As it got dark, I headed back to Brattleboro for supper and a Motel 6.