High Voltage

New London

Niantic River Rocks

Niantic, CT

I think rocks are often rendered pretty well in black and white.

Baylor Trucking

Somewhere Along I-80 in Pennsylvania

First Snow

Somewhere Along I-80 in Pennsylvania

We've had some snow flurries in Connecticut, but no real accumulation of snow yet, at least not in the area where I live.  Pretty soon however I won't have to travel to Pennsylvania to see scenes like this one.  It's only a matter of time.  

Black and White Exercise II

Here's another example of my exercise in trying to visualize scenes in black and white.  Again the first picture is the JPG, straight out of the camera with no post processing done.  Looking at it I thought it had possibilities.

The following is the RAW(NEF) picture with some minor curve adjustments made.  I normally optimize the RAW file to my liking before I convert to black and white. 

Finally, here's the final conversion using Nik Software's Silver Fx Pro.

At this point in my learning curve, I'm still not sure exactly what needs to be done to reach my final image in terms of curve adjustments, etc.  Silver Fx Pro allows one to quickly test a number of 'presets' which have various looks and emulate various films.  I normally cycle through the presets and choose one I like.  There's not a lot of thought involved, although there are times when none of the presets give me an image that I like.

Black and White Exercise

I follow a number of photography blogs, and one of my favorites is "Working Pictures" by Carl Weese.  Carl has done some amazing work and is an expert in the process of Pt/Pd printing.  Recently he blogged about using his camera to take monochrome pictures and gave some instructions on how to do this.  Basically he set his camera to capture both a JPEG and RAW file for each picture, but would only display the JPEG and his EVF  as a black and white picture which would serve as a reminder to him that he was trying to make black and white pictures.  I thought I'd give this a try with my Nikon D90 to see what I could learn about looking at a color picture that would make it a good picture when converted to black and white.  For the D90, this was pretty easy to do.  I always shoot both JPEG(Fine) and RAW.  I selected Monochrome for Picture Control, which would display only the monochrome JPEG on the LCD screen.  I could then import both the RAW and JPEG into Aperture 3.5 as matched pairs.  Since Aperture can't read the all of the NEF instructions, it imports the JPEG as monochrome but the RAW File as the full color capture. This allowed me to directly compare both the color (RAW) version as well as the monochrome (JPEG), side by side.  Here is an example of what I did on a recent photo shoot.   The first picture is the JPEG, straight from the camera without any post processing.  It caught my eye as having some potential as a good Black and White image.

The next image is the color RAW file, with some of my standard adjustments

The final picture is a black and white conversion of the post-processed color version shown above, using Nik Software Silver Fx Pro to produce what I like as a final black and white image.

I think this is a pretty good exercise, and I plan to post a few more examples in the coming week.  I know that some good photographers actually visualize their images in black and white.  I don't know if I'll ever be able to master that.  This exercise might help me though.  

Cider Mill Reflections

Old Mystic, CT

I caught this reflection on a very dreary, cloudy, rainy Wednesday on a trip to Clyde's Cider Mill to pick up a supply of apple cider for my family Thanksgiving Dinner.   I'll be linking this to Weekend Reflections where you can see lots of great reflections from all over the world.  

Photography is all about controlling light.  This is something I struggle with as I continue to learn more about photography.  Recently I've been trying to improve my skills using a flash so I've done a lot of reading on the basics of flash photography.  I wondered what would result if I used a flash for the image above.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was surprised with the image using the flash, shown below.  I'm sure those very knowledgeable about flash photography would not have been surprised with the resulting image, but I was surprised.  I really expected to see some reflection, at least from the flash itself, but it appears that the flash illuminated everything behind the glass providing a clear display with no reflections.  I thought it was interesting.  Have a nice weekend, and thanks for visiting.

Happy Thanksgiving

Niantic, CT

My pies never look as good as the pies I see in pictures.  Nevertheless, I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.  I know I have a lot to be thankful for this year.

Rocky Top Student Center

Hamden, CT

This is the Rocky Top Student Center located on the York Hill Campus of Quinnipiac University.  I thought it had a very unique architecture.  The student center houses a 500 seat dining hall, a fitness center and meeting rooms.  

Wind Turbines

Hamden, CT

These aren't  the  traditional "windmills" one thinks of that generate power.  These wind turbines generate 32,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually.  This is just one of many initiatives of Quinnipiac University that illustrates their commitment to the environment.  I've noticed a number of large three-bladed windmills that have been constructed recently around New England which are more traditional looking.  I'm not sure if the wind turbines pictured here are more efficient or not.  They do look different though.  

The View from York Hill Campus-Quinnipiac University

Hamden, CT

Located in Hamden, CT, the York Hill Campus of Quinnipiac University sits atop a pretty high hill which affords quite a view of the surrounding Connecticut countryside. 

Donkey

Edgecomb, ME

Here's another whimsical sculpture on display at Edgecomb Potters.  

Don Quixote

Edgecomb, ME

I love the whimsical sculptures on display at Edgecomb Potters.  I found this guy standing guard over the other displays.  He looks like Don Quixote to me.

Edgecomb Potters

Edgecomb, ME

The history of Edgecomb Potters can be found here.  It is a great success story which all started in the red school house shown here.  They are famous for their unique glazes and make a whole line of pottery which needs to be seen to be appreciated.  Other artists also display their work here and at their stores in Freeport and Portland, ME.  Although we have purchased some of Edgecomb Potters pieces in the past, this is the first time we visited the place where it all began.  

Lids

Freeport, ME