First Snow

We had our first real snow of the winter last night and today. There have been a couple of half-hearted attempts previously, one resulting in a dusting that didn't last but this is the first that required clearing the driveway. The forecast was for 8" to a foot but we ended up with only 4" by late afternoon and that was more slush than snow since the precipitation was a mix of snow and rain.

Of course I'm a sucker for snow on trees and two of our apple trees still retain part of the bumper crop of apples from this summer. The combination makes for great subject matter, a contrast of seasons, the color of apples against the monochrome of winter. I was after the overall impression so I added a digital filter to emphasize the pattern and color while reducing unnecessary detail.

I'll be reviewing a couple of books on portrait photographers soon. I have to finish reading the second book so it will be at least a day or so. Stay tuned.

Update 11/28/2013 Thanksgiving Day bonus photo.

Canon 7D, Photoshop and Topaz filters.

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Working in Layers

I've been spending my evening working on some photos that I shot earlier this fall. I have a treatment of layering 2 or more filter effects and altering the blending mode and transparency to emphasize the qualities that attracted me to the subject. I won't go into detail because there are a lot of variables in what I do depending on the image but if you haven't tried working in layers with different filters on each layers I suggest you experiment with it.

If you are a "get it right in the camera purist" please don't comment how I could avoided processing in Photoshop by doing "X". After 56 years of photographic practice I'm well aware of how to do all sorts of things in camera but I happen to enjoy using Photoshop. If you don't that's fine. To each his/her own.

These two images are processed more heavily so that they don't look strictly "photographic". I doubt the full effect will be visible on the small JPGs I am posting here but if you click on the image you'll get a larger version that will give you a better idea of the effect.

The top image was shot on a walk near my home. The second on is at Mountain Pond in the Adirondack Park, one of my favorite places to visit in the Adirondacks.

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A Mini Exploration

I went to Catamount Lodge today to a workshop and arrived early. I had never been there before. There is a very nice small stream flowing through the woods between the highway and the lodge. Because I was early I decided to poke around for a few minutes looking for photo possibilities. I found some in the stream including the photo above. I have made a number of images in this vein of the years, images that look below the surface of water but including surface detail and reflections of the sky above.

Photographed with a Canon 7D and an 18-135mm EFs lens. Please respect my copyright and do not re-post elsewhere. To share refer to the URL of this page.