seascape – Dutch goes the Photo!

My Creative Approach – part 1

A view of the beach stretches back

For me, photography is about more than capturing the scene that we find in front of ourselves. Granted that there is a lot to be said for great photography technique, so that the capture truly represents said scene and highlights the subject(s) in the best way possible. I enjoy that part of photography and particularly like a good lighting challenge. The aspect of photography that keeps me challenged mentally is the creative process. In this series of blog posts, I’ll try to share a bit of this process.

In this first post, let’s take a look at an image that I captured yesterday while exploring a beach in southern Connecticut with great friends of mine.

As we came upon this section of beach by Meigs Point, I thought that the piece of driftwood across the seashells made for a great bit of counterpoint to the rocks in front of the sky. Overall, I was happy with this view of a bit of beach life, but there was something more that could be done with this.

A bit of creative exploration brought the idea of taking this image back to the golden age of Dutch seascape masters. As part of their Seaside Artistic Collection for Luminar AI, Skylum provides the sensibility of various seascape painters in a series of templates. Testing some of the treatments, I selected the Rotterdam template, setting it to approximately 1/3 opacity to allow for a blend of captured scene and Dutch seascape that my mind’s eye perceived.

Next steps were very much about bring the age of seascapes in with subtle adjustments, such as film grain, details, contrast aiming to get a sense of the present of the driftwood reaching back to the 17th century of the sky. Taking a bit of a meandering walk through creative options enables me to connect to the points that resonate with what I’m feeling about the scene.

I love to hear what creative approaches you take to your photography. Please let me know in your comments.

Surreal Moments

Nubble brooding

The WordPress Daily Prompt gives us the theme of Surreal. There are definitely some surreal moments among my collection of images!

I enjoy the process of creating something more than what is visible to the eye in my photography. Whether it is a straightforward (or not so) HDR image or combining many layers to create something otherworldly, there is something special about putting together an image that existed in my mind rather than the view through my lens.

This image comes from a beautiful, sunny June day…

cn-20130612-Cape-Neddick-Brooding_57A1833_4_5-12x18 — *Nubble Brooding*

As there was a bit of cloud cover, I thought it might be interesting to use it in a much darker fashion. Taking a series of shots across a range of exposures, I got the clouds dark enough to become menacing, while leaving a hint of brightness around their edges. It took a bit of manipulation, but I got it to a point that I like.

Have a wonderful day!

Brooding Ambience

Water, sky, a safe haven

The Weekly Photo Challenges posted byWordPress’ Daily Post are always well thought out; despite that I find that this week’s challenge of Ambience really stands out, as it requires a bit of introspection on the part of the photographer. Of course, the ambience of a scene can go into many directions, as it really is all about the character and atmosphere that you are trying to capture or portray.

After a bit of thought, I figured that I’d share this image for its ambience…

The lighthouse on Cape Neddick, Maine, aka Nubble Light, has been photographed millions of times, as people flock to it for its picturesque setting. As a photographer who likes to create a one-of-a-kind connection between image and viewer, I had been loathe to photograph this scene during my previous visits; just another image of a pretty scene just didn’t speak to me.

However, on this gorgeous June day, I felt something a little different speaking to me from across this little expanse of ocean water. It was a hint of recognition of a story being presented to me that urged me to clamber down the rocks to water level and set up for a series of shots that resulted in this image.

After some careful processing, I arrived at the scene that is presented here, which is very much the story that was being told to me on that beautiful day…

Wednesday Wonderment – pt 9

The tide is out

My apologies for having been a bit sporadic in my posts over the past couple of days, as I was on the road for a new job. This Wednesday, we’re back to one of the regular features.

Bay-of-Fundy_P2P8943_tonemapped-16x20 — *Bay of Fundy*

Natural forces can come together to create some amazing effects, which is what happens with the tidal forces in the Bay of Fundy. The difference between high and low tide can average as much as 14.5 meters (47.5 feet) in locations. As you can see from this image taken at low tide, the high water line on the wooden dock is well above these little boats that have settled in the sand.

This shot was taken in 2007 in the town of Digby (if memory serves me), Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia is a province that is just filled with natural wonder, where I certainly hope to get back at some point for some additional photography.

Technical Details

This shot was taken with a Canon EOS 1D Mk III using an EF 24-105mm f/4L lens. Exposure settings were 1/125 second at f/11 at 640 ISO. This is a shot that never really did much for me, until I decided to use Photomatix Pro and give it a bit of single-shot HDR treatment to get the clouds more dramatic and a couple of other minor enhancements.

Creating a bit of magic

Technology and mood combine into photography

The combination of technology and photography have allowed for some rather interesting advances in what we can capture and the ease, with which images can be created. As a result, we have created a generation of ‘mad snappers’, who, at times, appear to be more intent on photographing or recording an event than experiencing it.

As a photographic dinosaur, I tend to be somewhat careful in my shooting, as if there is still film involved. Mind you, that doesn’t mean that I won’t make use of the immediate feedback that the LCD panel provides on the back of my camera; it’s nice to get some fast feedback on image composition and to use the histogram for exposure details. However, I tend not to photograph everything that I see.

Standing against the approaching weather, Nubble Light provides a beacon of hope and safety.

Nubble Light on Cape Neddick, Maine, is one of the subjects that I had avoided photographing for a long time; I have seen so many photographs of this lighthouse, many of which are very good, that I found it hard to imagine that I could do something to contribute to the Nubble Light oeuvre. Maybe it’s a little pretentious, but I like for my images to have an impact and emotion to them.

Until this fine June afternoon, when my mother and sister were visiting from the Netherlands. Something clicked in my mind, when I saw the interplay of sea, clouds and light, which urged me to take several series of varying exposures from this lower angle.

About six weeks later, when my mood was dark enough, I created this image from those exposures, infused with sufficient drama and dark emotion to make me happy with the end product.

Hopefully, you find something that strikes a chord in you within this image!