Covered Bridge & Vineyard in Autumn Colors

Equipment Used: Nikon D750, 24-120mm f4 lense, 35mm f1.8 lense, SB-700 Speedlight & Vanguard Abeo Plus tripod

This fall I had a request from a client to gather images of a covered bridge and vineyard to finish out their order. When I thought the fall leaves were in prime color, I traveled down to Madison County to their well known covered bridges and stopped at the closest one. I arrived at Hogback covered bridge when it was just starting to get light which allowed me to get the glow of the sun as it peaked over the nearby hills.

I figured the creek below the bridge would be a great angle so I put on my waders and traveled down to the middle of the creek. There I put my D750 on the tripod and waited for the sun’s glow on the bridge and nearby trees. I had the camera in manual mode at f9 and a shutter speed ranging from 1/20 to 1/40 sec. VR and autofocus were shut off on the lense and ISO was at 100. I put the camera in self timer mode to reduce camera shake from pushing the shutter button.

When I started to shoot, I noticed the leaves below in the water so decided to include them in the image and was able to improve their look with a bit of light from the SB-700.

I than traveled to a vineyard, asked permission to go take pictures and started shooting. I changed the ISO to 200 and shot in aperture priority handheld.

Processing started in Capture NX-D by changing the white balance to shade and picture control to nature-landscape. Adjustments to the exposure compensation, contrast and saturation sliders were made to create a better colored image. Because there was a wide range of tones in the images, I decided to create HDR images as well on some of them. I copied the original file and then adjusted the exposure compensation. EasyHDR was used to create the HDR images.

Once in PSE 11, I first cloned out unwanted objects such as a broken tree limb in the water that looked out of place. I straightened and cropped the image after that. The final step involved the high pass filter to sharpen the image.

The trip was a success as the client loved the images I provided them and I was very pleased as well with how the Hogback covered bridge turned out underneath the glow of the fall sunshine.

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Summertime Hay Bales

Equipment Used: Nikon D750, 24-120mm f4 lense & 70-300mm lense

Farmers of rural Guthrie County were busy baling hay this summer and I happened to drive by when one farmer was about finished. The next day, nice clouds dotted the bright blue sky so I drove back to the location and got out my camera.

On the D750, I used both the above lenses to get different scenes of the rolling hillside that was dotted with hay bales. I shot in aperture priority mode at f9 or f11 with ISO at 400 or 800. The format was RAW and I dialed in -.3 EV.

In Capture NX-D, I adjusted the white balance to direct sunlight and changed the picture control to landscape or my custom nature/landscape setting. Slide increases to saturation, contrast and shadow sliders were also made.

The images were finalized in PSE 11 by first cloning out unwanted objects such as tops of trees that were on the top ridge of the hill that could barely be seen. I liked the cleaner look of nothing on the ridge so got rid of them in most of the images. Level layer adjustments were used to fine tune the color of the image. Lastly, the high pass sharpening was completed to end the post processing on this series of images. 

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Panorama Days Fireworks Show 2016

Equipment Used: Nikon D750, 24-120mm f4 lense, SB-700 Speedlight, Viltrox Wireless Remote & Vanguard Abeo Plus 363CT tripod

Panorama days were held the first weekend of August with the fireworks being shot off on the main basin of Lake Panorama on Friday night.  Last year I wasn’t able to take any pictures so this year I made sure I would be able to and was set up before they started to light them. I walked out on the jetty so I could get the lighthouse in the images as well.

The D750 had my 24-120mm f4 lense on it mounted on the Vanguard tripod. With being on the tripod, VR was turned off along with autofocus. Shooting in manual mode, aperture ranged from f4 to f11 while the bulb set for the shutter speed allowed me to use the remote to vary the length of exposure. Most of them were in the 10-20 second time frame. ISO ranged from 400 to 6400 for this collection of images. While holding the remote to activate my camera, I used the SB-700 in my other hand to throw bursts of light at the lighthouse to expose that area of the image.

Adjustments to the images started in Capture NX-D, with changes to exposure compensation to help increase the exposure of the boats on the water. White balance was adjusted to direct sunlight. Instead of using a picture control, I adjusted the saturation/contrast slider. The shadow slider was also adjusted if need be.

Final adjustments were made in PSE 11, I first cloned out unwanted objects in the sky, water or on the jetty. Next I decided that the jetty grass was exposed too much so I used a brightness/contrast layer with brush tools to darken that area of the image up. Next I sharpened certain areas of the image followed by straightening and cropping them. After those steps were completed, I was happy with how the fireworks turned out over the main basin. 

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Milky Way over Lake Panorama National G.C. - Edition II

Equipment Used:  Nikon D750, 24-120 f4 lense, SB-700 Speedlight & Vanguard Abeo Plus 363 CT Tripod

After capturing the Panorama Days fireworks on the main basin of Lake Panorama, I could tell the Milky Way was starting to show itself in the clear sky so I traveled over to the golf course at 11 PM. I got in a golf cart and drove to #5 and #7 to capture the Milky Way over those golf holes.

The D750 was fitted with the 24-120mm f4 lense with VR and auto focus shut off since I shot everything from the Vanguard tripod. Aperture was at f4 in manual mode with 10 or 15 seconds being the shutter speed. ISO ranged from 3200-6400. Instead of using a remote to trigger the camera, I set the camera to 3 second self timer mode.

I used a single SB-700 Speedlight to throw light on the golf hole using manual power and rotated the Speedlight has I trigged the flash. This allowed me to expose the width of the golf hole. To help light up the flag stick on #5, I even stuck a small LED flashlight into the cup and pointed it up to the sky.

Processing these starry images started in Capture NX-D by adjusting the white balance to direct sunlight or leaving it alone. The picture control was changed to landscape or vivid and the astro noise reduction feature was selected. Adjustments to exposure compensation and contrast/saturation sliders were also made to help bring out the stars.

In PSE 11, I first cloned out unwanted objects such as water hazard and yardage stakes. If needed, I combined the sky with a different exposure of the hole using layer masks and the brush tool. Additional adjustments using levels and brightness/contrast layers were also used to help bring out the stars. The unsharp mask filter was used to sharpen the image after cropping and straightening once all adjustments were done.

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