lighthouse – Dutch goes the Photo!

Editing Mood (creative approach – part 3)

Dark moods may be useful!

Sometimes on a nice sunny day with an interesting cloud cover, you see a scene in front of you and photograph it. However, in your mind’s eye, you know there’s more to this landscape that you just captured than what you saw on that day.

If this ever happened to you, we have that in common, as it’s occurred numerous times to me. An example is this shot of Nubble Light on Cape Neddick, Maine, back in June of 2013.

This lighthouse has been photographed by many, which had caused me to not ever shoot it until this day; the simple reason was that I hadn’t seen anything different from what I’d seen in all the wonderful photograph created by others of this lighthouse. That day, I felt that there was something a little different, so I got clambered down the rocks to get a lower vantage point and shot several exposure bracketed sequences. Overall, not a bad shot, but nothing especially outstanding.

It really was a nice day, as my mother and sister were visiting us from the Netherlands and we were showing them some of the sights in the area. When we got home that evening, I offloaded the images and took a quick look at them.

Over the next couple of weeks, there were a couple of times that I thought about editing the shots, but every time I started I got stuck, as I didn’t quite ‘feel’ it. Approximately 6 weeks after I took the shot, I finally sat down to create the following end result…

What was different about this editing session? For one, I was in a somewhat darker mood, which allowed me to connect to a heavier cloud cover and the idea of a roiling sea; also, at that point my mind’s view of what the image could hold, had time to articulate itself. The resultant image is one that after almost 10 years, I still enjoy seeing, and I have resisted the temptation to re-edit it to make it ‘better’ (as our skills improve and we learn new software, this temptation is real).

The lesson I learned at that time was to allow myself to recognize when it’s not the right moment and/or mood to edit a certain image, as our creative selves may need some hidden inspiration.

The images were captured using a Canon EOS 5D Mk III and a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens. Back in 2013 I used Photomatix Pro for my HDR processing.

Here Comes Santa Claus!

Happy Holidays!

Yes, kids of all ages, it is that time of year!! Everyone will be watching the flightpath of a certain jolly old elf, as he departs from his workshop on the North Pole to make a trip around this globe of ours…

A little bit of fun with editing to create this image. The base image is a 131 second exposure at 100 ISO that I took back in 2014 with a Canon EOS 5D Mk III and a Canon EF 24-105mm L IS USM lens. The flying Santa background is thanks to Skylum, who provided this for their Luminar customers.

Have a wonderful weekend, and I hope that you’re enjoying the holiday season!

Sunrise at Portland Head

A chilly morning, but worth the effort!

In this second post in the Thursday sunrise/sunset series, we experience quite the contrast over last week’s post. Whereas the weather in Bar Harbor in June was rather pleasant, this morning in March of 2019 was a little colder…

For this photoshoot, a number of us hardy souls met at Portland Head lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. On this early March morning the temperature was about 4F at the time of this capture (6:00 am).

I vividly remember wearing several bulky layers to stay warm and wearing my woolen flip-top mittens, so that I could expose my fingers for the shortest possible amount of time. I was happy that there was barely the lightest breeze, as any significant wind would have been brutal.

At this location, I took my first pre-dawn shots at 5:32 am and the last ones at 6:44 am; for each I took a series of 3 exposure-bracketed shots, so that I could process them for HDR. This series centered at ISO 320 F/10 and 1/60s using a Canon EOS 5D Mark III with a Canon EF 17-40mm F/4L USM lens.

Processing for HDR was done using Skylum’s Luminar Neo; I then made use of a template that I have created for Skylum’s Luminar AI software for color adjustments and structure; after that I used Adobe Photoshop to add a bit of soft light, contrast, final crop and text.

Snæfellsnes Peninsula – part 4

Wrapping up our first day in Snaefellsnes.

As we follow the coastline of Snæfellsnes peninsula toward its westernmost point, we reach Svörtuloft (Black Sky) where we find a 4-kilometer long cliff and a wonderful lighthouse. It’s a slow, bumpy ride over the gravel road to get to this spot, but it’s worth the ride!

The lighthouse at Svörtuloft strikes a strong figure as its 12.8m height towers over the cliffs and its yellow-orange hue stands against the blue of the sky. The lighthouse was brought into use in 1931, as sailing by this western tip of Iceland has always been rather daunting. Over the centuries many ships have stranded here, which usually resulted in the ship’s hull being broken into piece on the sharp, black lava cliffs.

The cliffs upon which the lighthouse is built present their origin in the black foundation: lava. Grasses and mosses find fertile ground here and are not easily discouraged by the stormy weather and fearsome seasons, which gives a much softer feeling to the landscape. Do not be fooled, as the edges of the lava are sharp and hard, which also makes for rather uneven footing.

Luckily, Iceland provides a welcoming feeling to all tourists and easy trails and even a picnic area are available to get around the lighthouse here at Svörtuloft. Thanks to this German traveler for posing in this image.

Construction of any lighthouse puts a premium on sturdiness, as the elements will wreak havoc with any point of weakness. For this reason, the windows in Svörtuloftaviti lighthouse are small and set strong in their concrete surroundings.

In all, it was wonderful to visit this location, and it definitely made me look back as we were getting ready to leave. That allowed me to capture the Sun at just the appropriate location to light up this tower of strength, which, in turn, lights up to warn travelers of the dangers that are on its shores.

After this, our fourth stop of this day of arriving on the Snæfellsnes peninsula from Reykjavik, it was time to go in the direction of Hellissandur to find our lodging and a chance of dinner. Not a bad way to start our tour!

The images in this post are taken with my iPhone 13 Pro Max and Canon EOS EOS R5 using a Canon RF24-105mm F4 L IS USM lens. First level processing of the images was done using Skylum’s Luminar AI software; for these images, I created a template based on the Backlit Clouds template that is part of the Overcast collection of templates. Touch up processing was done in Photoshop.

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Coast

Along a coast filled with moments…

Welcome to week 184 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge! For those looking for last weeks’ round up, I have started working on it, but, as I’m traveling, will be a day late getting all your great posts rounded up.

After a week of magnificent sunsets, I thought that I’d continue with a theme that was allied to last week’s theme in terms of location. When I looked for possible themes, I was surprised that it was available… So this week, your challenge is to find a Coast and share your impressions of it, or simply Coast along in your automobile and enjoy the countryside floating by.

Yes, Coast is one of those words that can be taken into several directions, so feel free to follow any of these directions and let your creative thoughts explore what lies ahead! More than anything, have some fun with the theme! Can’t wait to see your ideas!

Here’s a coastal evening…

This came from a nighttime excursion to Cape Neddick, Maine, where the lighthouse is decorated for the holiday season every year. Using a long exposure, we get a sense of peace across the scene, as the water calms down…

The full rules of this challenge are in TPC Guidelines, but here’s the tl;dr:

Write a post with an image for this week’s topic
Please tag your post with fpj-photo-challenge (if you’re not sure about how tags work, please check out this WordPress article about tagging posts)
Create a pingback link to this post, so that I can create a post showing all of the submissions over the week (note: pingbacks may not appear immediately, as my site is set up to require approval for linking to it; helps against previous bad experiences with spamming)
Have fun creating something new (or sharing something old)!!

So, coast along and find your coast moment!

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Sunrise

A chill in the air!

Welcome to week 151 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge.

This week’s theme is another instance of surprised that I haven’t used this theme before! While Morning has been a theme, Sunrise has not been used yet. As I always look for the themes to be accessible to everyone, I figured that the Sun is available to most of us, Earthlings. Of course, it does happen early in the day, so night owls might be disadvantaged, but I’m sure their creative minds can come up with a workaround for rising early!

Most of all, have a lot of fun with this theme!!

This sunrise is from last week…

I had the fun of spending a day with fellow photographers, braving the cold of the Maine coast! The temperature at this time was only 3F(-16C), but the sunrise was spectacular, and putting it behind the Portland Head lighthouse made for a dramatic image…

The full rules of this challenge are in TPC Guidelines, but here’s the tl;dr:

Write a post with an image for this week’s topic
Please tag your post with fpj-photo-challenge (if you’re not sure about how tags work, please check out this WordPress article about tagging posts)
Create a pingback link to this post, so that I can create a post showing all of the submissions over the week (note: pingbacks may not appear immediately, as my site is set up to require approval for linking to it; helps against previous bad experiences with spamming)
Have fun creating something new (or sharing something old)!!

Looking forward to see what comes round the bend this week!

Three Line Tales – Solitary Hope

To guide you home…

Welcome to Week Thirty-Eight of Three Line Tales.

photo by William Bout – here’s a bigger version

****

The path wends forward,
Light beckons ‘bove horizon.
Solitary hope.

****

Thank you to Sonya of Only 100 Words for coming up with Three Line Tales.

You’ll find full guidelines on the TLT page

Write three lines inspired by the photo prompt (& give them a title if possible).
Link back to this post.
Tag your post with 3LineTales (so everyone can find you in the Reader).
Read and comment on other TLT participants’ lines.
NEW: If you want your post to be included in the round-up, you have until Sunday evening to publish it.
Have fun.

Happy three-lining!

Friday Mystery Place – vol 25

Holiday lighting at its best!

Last week’s Friday Mystery Place elicited a number of excellent guesses, as among the readers there were some who recognized that this location had to be in the Inner Hebrides in Scotland. The exact location was pinpointed by Justbluedutch, who identified the specific lighthouse location to be on Eileen Musdile an islet southwest of Lismore in the Inner Hebrides. I captured the image while on the ferry from Cragnure to Oban, while returning from the island of Mull.

This week is pretty much a shoe-in for everybody…

mystery-lighthouse_57A0318 — Holiday Lighthouse

This lighthouse is oft photographed, but not too much in the middle of the night… Where is this location?

As always, extra credit for any additional detail you can provide! Best of luck!

Technical Details

This image was captured with a Canon EOS 5D Mk III and an EF 17-40mm f/4L lens. The exposure settings were at 131 seconds at f/18 and 100 ISO.

Friday Mystery Place – Vol 24

Light at the end of the isthmus

Last week’s Friday Mystery Place was recognized with great accuracy by Justbluedutch, which should not be surprising given that the location is in the Netherlands. Specifically, it is a view across the Maas river in the port city of Rotterdam. We’re looking toward the Erasmus bridge and the Kop van Zuid (Head of South) with its high-rises. And, yes, that is a water taxi coming in our direction.

I’m confident that this week’s mystery place will find an answer…

When I saw this lighthouse, I found it to be very exotic. Where is this location?

As always, extra credit for any additional detail you can provide! Best of luck!

Technical Details

This image was captured with a Canon EOS 5D Mk III and an EF 24-105mm f/4L lens. The exposure settings were at 1/125 second at f/8 and 400 ISO.

Friday Mystery Place – vol 20

A beacon of light

My expectation that last week’s mystery location was pretty straightforward was found to be incorrect. The location is the monument for the Irish Brigade on the battlefield of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. The hint about the dog could have helped, as the dog sleeping in front of the monument is an Irish Wolfhound.

The Irish Brigade was an infantry brigade, consisting predominantly of Irish Americans, that served in the Union Army in the American Civil War. The designation of the first regiment in the brigade, the 69th New York Infantry, or the “Fighting 69th”, continued in later wars. The Irish Brigade was known in part for its famous war cry, the “vaugh a ballaugh”, which is an anglicization of the Irish phrase, fág an bealach, meaning “clear the way”. According to Fox’s Regimental Losses, of all Union army brigades, only the 1st Vermont Brigade and Iron Brigade suffered more combat dead than the Irish Brigade during America’s Civil War.

Let’s see, if I correctly picked an easier image to identify this week…

Mystery-Location_P2P9106 — *Standing Proud!*

Where does this lighthouse stand and what makes it unusual?

Technical Details

This image dates from 2008 and was taken with a Canon EOS 1D Mk II and EF 24-105mm f/4L lens.

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