Mossy Trees At Little Long Pond

Time to find some interesting photography subjects outside of Acadia National Park, during the closure. I found this sweet little spot in the woods, while walking around Little Long Pond with Doug, my photography buddy. There are beautiful places on the island outside of park. Below are my post-processing steps, in an effort help others understand how software can improve [put the polish on] a good shot. And yes, taken with the Fuji X100S. Here is the final image:

 

Mossy Trees, Little Long Pond, Seal Harbor, Maine

 

Mossy Trees, Little Long Pond, Seal Harbor, Maine

Straight out of the camera as a RAW image:

 

Mossy Trees, Little Long Pond, Seal Harbor, Maine

The steps in Lightroom:
  - Increased: Saturation, Contrast, Exposure, and Blacks
  - Cropped a smidge of the right, so the right tree is a frame
  - Cloned out the white rock near the right middle edge
 - Added post-crop vignette

 

Mossy Trees, Little Long Pond, Seal Harbor, Maine

Added Tonal Contrast with Nik Color Efex Pro and increased exposure in Lightroom

 

Mossy Trees, Little Long Pond, Seal Harbor, Maine

Ran the image through Nik Sharpener Pro

 

EXIF data: Fujifilm X100S, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/80 sec, ISO 1600, 9/25/13, 5:41 PM

Big Dipper Over Bubbles

At the rate I'm posting photos, you'd think I haven't taken many. I'm going on a blog posting bonanza! I must have at least five interesting photos. I'll start with the one I took last night at Jordan Pond, sshhh don't tell anyone - Acadia National Park is officially closed. Luckily I live about a mile away and could walk there. I noticed early in the evening the skies were clear and we're close to a new moon. I was eager to experiment with the Fuji X100S (that's a surprise ;-). The X100S has a wide angle, fast lens with a low noise sensor, so I thought it might work for night photography. This was the first time I attached the Fuji to a tripod. I tried setting the timer for 15 seconds - hah, goes from 1 second to bulb. So I just counted seconds while holding down the shutter release. Yup, that's right, no shutter release cable either - I'll add it to my never ending list of photo equipment to purchase. I've received feedback that I should post the final image first and then discuss the post processing.  Here's the final image, I really enjoy the reflection of stars in the foreground:

 

Night Sky, Jordan Pond, Acadia National Park, Maine

Here's the raw photo out of the camera. I couldn't find a white balance setting in the menu, so the color looks a tad unnatural.

Night Sky, Jordan Pond, Acadia National Park, Maine

Night Sky, Jordan Pond, Acadia National Park, Maine

In Lightroom:
  - Changed the white balance to tungsten
  - Adjusted the temperature a bit cooler
  - Leveled the horizon

 

Night Sky, Jordan Pond, Acadia National Park, Maine

In Nik Vizeza I pumped up the blue in the sky. 

Night Sky, Jordan Pond, Acadia National Park, Maine

Finally, in Nik Color Efex Pro I added the Tonal Contrast filter to the sky and in Lightroom increased the exposure a half stop for the final image. 

EXIF data: Fujifilm X100S, 23mm, f/2.0, 18 secs, ISO 3200, 10/2/13, 11:51 PM

Clouds Over MDI

We invited the Lawrence family out for an afternoon cruise on the boat.  Vince suggested going around the Cranberry Islands; he's never seen the other side.  Just as we were rounding Baker Island, I looked back and saw these clouds in the sky. I put the boat in neutral, grabbed my shiny new Fujifilm X100S and snapped a couple of shots. As always, I'll share my post-processing. 

 

Clouds Over Mount Desert Island, Acadia National Park, ME

The original RAW image from the Fujifilm X100S. 

Clouds Over Mount Desert Island, Acadia National Park, Maine.

In Nik Viveza I increased the blue in the sky and added structure to the clouds.

Clouds Over Mount Desert Island, Acadia National Park, Maine.

In Nik Color Efex Pro, I applied the Tonal Contrast filter, the Skylight filter and the Detail Extractor filter. I removed the Detail Extractor from the water area. 

For the final image, I leveled the horizon and cloned out a few distracting foreground buoys in Lightroom.  Then I popped the image into Nik Silver Efex Pro and applied the Full Contrast and Structure filter and darken the blues 10%. I'm loving what I can do with the little X100S! 

Clouds Over Mount Desert Island, Acadia National Park, Maine.

Bear Island Bell

I was boating near Bear Island Lighthouse just after sunset and snapped this shot of the bell buoy with my new Fujifilm X100S rangefinder camera. The camera's about a week old and I'm still trying to figure out the buttons and settings. I shot this at f/2.0, which was unintentional - but produced a creamy foreground that I'm enjoying. 

 

Bear Island Bell, Mount Desert Island, Maine

Here's the first JPG (not raw) straight out of the camera. 

Bear Island Bell, Mount Desert Island, Maine

A quick crop in Lightroom.

In Nik - Color Efects Pro I added Tonal Contrast and Skylight filter. Thankfully I didn't have to clone out sensor dust spots, the Fuji X100S is a fixed lens (no dust gets in :-).  This little camera is producing some great results for the first week.

Bear Island Bell, Mount Desert Island, Maine

EXIF data: Fujifilm X100S, 23mm, f/2.0, 1/60 sec, ISO 250, 08/27/13, 7:36 PM

 

Winter Harbor Lighthouse

We decided to cruise (go by boat) over to Schoodic this past weekend. I saw the puffy white clouds and lighthouse and started snapping away, while Brenda was piloting boat. I was saying: Get closer to the island (I really need a 300mm lens). I snapped this image thinking the whole time, "I'll just crop out the boat".  What a happy accident capturing the boat window. I love the reflection on the window. Below are my post-process steps.

 

Winter Harbor Lighthouse,  Schoodic Peninsula, Maine

 

Here's the raw image:

 

Winter Harbor Lighthouse, Schoodic Peninsula, ME

Winter Harbor Lighthouse, Schoodic Peninsula, ME

There were a bunch of steps, probably could have condense a few steps. I'm fighting a cold and my head's a bit fuzzy. Here's the crop in Lightroom, just a smidge off the top. I played with more off the top, but it didn't feel right. 

Winter Harbor Lighthouse, Schoodic Peninsula, ME

In Nik - Viveza, I gave the sky more blue and added some structure to the clouds. 

In Nik - Color Efex Pro, I added Tonal Contrast and a hint of Skylight Filter (4%). 

That 'tonal contrast' setting always makes the sensor dust pop.  You'll notice at least one spot in the upper right corner (take the intersection of the flag pole and where the boat leaves the frame).  So the last step was to clone out the sensor dust stops with Photoshop's content aware cloning tool.