Acadia National Park: Thunder Hole HDR 16/52

Last one from Acadia National Park (I promise Sandy). Thunder Hole, an area carved out by water, is supposed to make a loud thundering sound at mid-tide.

I just installed Photomatix and I've been fiddling around with some of it's settings for making HDR images. This image was made from 3 images -2EV, 0EV and +2EV using Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB) which can be set on most DSLR cameras. There are some halo areas that I'd like to avoid and I've read that you can blend the HDR image with one of the original images, but I haven't tried that yet.

Thunder Hole (F-10, ISO100, 1/100, 1/25, 1/6 second exposure in order below)

Acadia National Park: Jordan Pond 15/52

I took a quick trip up to Acadia National Park during Columbus Day long weekend to catch some fall foliage. Jordan Pond is a small lake inside the park with a trail that runs around it, parts of it where you can see the Bubble Mountains in the background. A storm had passed through the area couple days before, so there was a large amount of leaf drop in the area.

Waterfalls 14/52

It's a small waterfall, but I've been wanting to try this smooth silky effect on the water. Took these shots with a polarized filter to minimize reflections.

F-10, 3.2 sec exposure, ISO 100

The High Line 13/52

Earlier last month, I had gone to NYC to watch the US Open and have been meaning to post this series. The High Line is elevated above the streets of New York and runs from Gansevoort St to 20th St. It used to be a railroad elevated above ground and was designed to avoid all the accidents that used to occur on the streets below. Since 1980, the High Line has not been used for anything and was marked for demolition; however, a group of individuals known as the Friends of the High Line decided to save it from demolition. They convinced the city of New York to reuse it for a park and in June 2009, the High Line park opened to the public. An extension to 30th street is planned for 2011. (All pictures, F-4, 1/4000 s, ISO 400)

Macro: Bee Drinking Nectar 12/52

F/4.5, 1/500 s exposure, ISO 200

This past week I dusted off my macro lens after a few months of semi-retirement and decided to shoot something other than teeth. With the fall weather having arrived, I was hoping that there would be some flowers still in bloom. Luckily there were still some blooming in Boston Common and even better, some bees still hovering around drinking nectar. Having bees around or any other insects around just makes the macro shot more interesting and alive. The other option without any bugs is to have a spray bottle handy to spray the flower, giving it the morning dew appearance. Anyway, this shot took me a while to get because of the combination of the bee not staying still and the fear of getting stung. I think I probably could use a better depth of field to get more of the central flower in focus which I'll try next time.

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

Motion Blurrr 11/52

Ferrari 360 (one of my favorite cars) (*ok apparently this is not the 360, its the 430 [courtesy of Stephen Lam] and obviously I don't know Ferraris lol)

Recently, I figured out how to add motion blur to a non-moving object. There are a few ways to do it. One way is a little harder but will be more realistic and won't create a halo around the car or object. The alternate way is to simply duplicate the image, add Motion Blur to the duplicate and then layer it on top of the original. After that, you can erase the blurred car to reveal the original car. To add motion to the wheels, use the Elliptical Marquee tool to select the rims and tire and then add Radial Blur. You can take any picture and add a whole new dynamic.

Tiles for America 10/52

Tiles for America: F-11, 1/250 s, ISO 400

F-11, 1/640 exp, ISO 400

While exploring part of Greenwich village looking for some food, we stumbled upon a small memorial for 9/11. In keeping with the recent 9/11 anniversary, I thought it would be appropriate timing for these photos and to remember all those who perished in the twin towers. I remember hearing the tragedy from the loud radio of a garbage truck that morning then turning on the TV and seeing it on every channel. What's your memory?