Showing posts with label water. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

A Rare Photo Shoot With a Friend

Sunset Sky and Reflection
Manasquan Reservoir

Collaborating

If there is one thing you have probably noticed about me is that I tend to shoot alone. There are very few times when I get together with another photographer and virtually never a group. It's not that I am particularly anti-social but I value my solitude and, honestly, most of my shoots are last minute events. That is not to say I am always alone, my wife and I enjoy going out to parks and I will shoot. My son has also accompanied me on a couple occasions recently. This past Monday was one of the rare exceptions.

Jim and I grew up in the same town and have known each other forever. I think Monday may have been the first time we have seen each other in more than 40 years.... I've been meaning to get together with Jim for a while and we even had a shoot scheduled once before but I had to cancel. I sent Jim a quick message on Sunday to see if he was available to shoot a sunset, fortunately he was.

Where Should We Go?

I checked Clear Outside¹ to see what kind of conditions we could expect for the sunset; it was calling for 98% high cloud coverage. That isn't good but it's better than low clouds - at least we had a fighting chance of some color. Luck was on our side because the full moon was appearing on Monday, this gave up a second opportunity for images. I decided on Chestnut Point at Manasquan Reservoir because I knew we would be able to come away with some images even if the sunset was a bust. A quick check with MoonCalc¹ showed me that the moon was rising at just about the same time as the sun was setting. I was actually looking forward to the rising moon than the setting sun.

Full Moon Rising #1

So Many Compositions!

This was Jim's first time at the reservoir and I wanted to make sure he came away with some good images so I arrived a little early to look around. I have shot here before (Manasquan Reservoir - A Sunrise & Sunset Weekend) but things change with the water level of the reservoir, dramatically changing the landscape at times. It didn't take long to find this little pool of water, the water was almost mirror smooth making a nice contrast with the small waves in the reservoir. It has a nice foreground, too.

We broke out our tripods, set up the cameras and waited for the show to begin. It was nice catching up after all this time and having someone to pass the time with while waiting. As the sun was setting the reality hit - we weren't going to get the amazing sunset that I was hoping for. The cloud cover was just too thick, although there was a nice red glow around the Environmental Center, just no decent composition to go along with it.

Full Moon Rising #2

This is one reason I don't often invite others - it is one thing to drag myself out and leave empty-handed but it is another thing when you drag someone along with you and they come away with nothing. I think that is one reason why I haven't done any workshops....

It is a beautiful and delightful sight to behold the body of the Moon. – Galileo Galilei

The Silver Lining

As it became clear that sunset was a bust I was desperately looking for something to salvage the excursion. That is when the moon made it's first, faint, appearance over the distant trees. Okay, we are going to witness something special if the moon peeks thru the clouds for us. We stayed where we were but turned the cameras slightly to the north and awaited our chance. I took a couple shots but decided there was too much foreground and that moving closer to the water would make for a better composition. I don't want to brag, but I was right.... 😉

The word of the day was "bracket" and I did. The last time I had the moon in a landscape I ended up with little more than a bright orb in the sky. I knew I wasn't able to get a well-exposed moon and well-exposed landscape so I went to far extremes in exposure; the plan is to use blending in Photoshop to come up with a good composite image. I will do that at a later date and dedicate an entire post to composites and exposure blending. The images shown here are all processed from a single exposure - there was no HDR or exposure blending used.

In the end, I think I walked away with a few reasonably good images and hope that Jim did the same. I haven't seen his work yet but hope to soon.

At The End of The Day

When all is said and done, I'm glad that I invited Jim to join me for a shoot. The intended purpose of the get-together was for me to deliver a calendar to him and we originally were going to meet at my office for the exchange. I had to cancel that somewhat last minute and it turned out for the best.

I may have to re-think some of my planned outings and change them from solo outings to collaborations. Only time will tell.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed the story and images. I would love to hear your stories about plans that go awry but turn out better than expected. Leave me some comments below. Thanks again!

¹ I wrote about Clear Outside and MoonCalc in Manasquan Reservoir - A Sunrise & Sunset Weekend. I will be writing full reviews after I spend more time working with them.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Manasquan Reservoir - A Sunrise & Sunset Weekend

Smartphone Reference Shot

It is officially autumn, my favorite time of year! Last Thursday was a beautiful day (about 65°F) and it got me excited to get back out with my camera. I almost totally hibernated this summer and cannot wait to get back out. I have been looking for a new location for sunrise and sunset so I thought I would give Manasquan Reservoir in Howell Township a try. I checked out a couple apps I use to check the location of the rising and setting sun, then stop at the reservoir on my way home from work on Thursday to scout locations.

Scouting Locations

Sunset - Chestnut Point #1

Sunset - Chestnut Point #2

Georgia Tavern Road

Thursday afternoon I got to the reservoir about an hour or so before sunset with no camera other than my smartphone. I had a couple spots I wanted to check out and wanted to have my compositions ready to go so that when the time came, I pretty much just had to set up my camera. I even brought my compass with me so that I could see exactly where the sun would rise and set. The first, obvious, composition was from the walkway alongside the road where there is a nice rocky slope down to the water and many dead trees coming out of the water. This is to the east so it is an obvious sunrise image but I thought it might make for a good sunset, too. I found a couple interesting compositions, took some reference shots with my phone and headed back to the parking lot.

Sunset - Chestnut Point #3

Chestnut Point

Chestnut Point is parking lot and a trail head on Georgia Tavern Road, not far from the Environmental Center. When I got to my car I noticed the trail going into the woods and caught a glimpse of the water thru the trees. Could there be a shot somewhere? There was only one way to find out. I entered the trail and saw a small trail leading right to the water. It looks as though this part is underwater when the reservoir is full as it is quite muddy and slick. Scattered about the mud are pools of water in various sizes. When I got thru the trees my eyes widened and I immediately thought, "This is it!" I found my sunrise! The smartphone came out, grabbed a few reference shots and had to run because I still had another spot to check out before it started getting dark.

Visitor Center

My last stop was at the Visitor Center on Windeler Road and a small bridge a short walk from the parking lot. I have shot here many times before, always during the day. Honestly, by the time I got here I had already made up my mind to shoot at Chestnut Point so, while I did scout to area I wasn't very thorough. This would be a good spot if the weather conditions are terrific and I will definitely give it a try some day but it wasn't going to be this time.

Sunset on Friday

I consulted Clear Outside (app and website - more at the end of this post) and was disappointed to see very little cloud cover projected but, on the plus side, they were all high clouds. If you have been following me for any length of time you will know that I love clouds in my landscape images, especially sunset. There is a difference in clouds - low, medium and high - and their impact on sunrise and sunset. I will cover that in a different post but, suffice it to say, I like a good amount of high clouds.

I decided to start the evening on Georgia Tavern Road and end at Chestnut Point because I thought that was where the magic was going to happen. While I got some nice images from the road, the best spot was down at water level.

Sunrise - Chestnut Point #1

Sunrise on Saturday

I decided to concentrate on shooting at Chestnut Point for sunrise and knew exactly what the composition was going to be. HA! I ended up with a few shots that weren't even on the radar. This was also an unusual sunrise shoot for me because I had company - I had invited my son to come with me. Typically, landscape photography - for me - is a solo event. I do go out with others occasionally and when I do it is usually other photographers, or my wife. When I am with others I always feel as though I have to be sociable but when shooting landscapes, it is just me, the camera and the landscape. One reason I invited my son, other than I thought it would be nice and he would enjoy it, is that he is perfectly content to silently soak in what nature has to offer. There is no need for "chit chat". I'm glad he came with me because I think the silhouette of him looking out over the reservoir may be the best image of the day.

Sunrise - Chestnut Point #2

The Apps & Websites

I have been using a variety of apps and websites over the years only to delete the majority of them. One that I have kept and rely on is Exsate Golden Hour, an app I reviewed here in 2017 - http://joevalenciaphotography.blogspot.com/2017/05/app-review-exsate-golden-hour.html so I won't get into it here.

Suncalc & Mooncalc

These are two new apps for me and ones that I highly recommend. There are also web-based versions - SunCalc.org and MoonCalc.org. Using SunCalc I was able to determine exactly where the sun will rise and where it will be at any given time, this was invaluable for my planning. I highly recommend checking out their web-based apps and then downloading for your phone.

Clear Outside

Clear Outside is the app I spoke of earlier and one that also has a web-based counterpart. Clear Outside will give you sunrise and sunset times as well as forecasted weather conditions for your location. The part of the app I find particularly helpful is the section on clouds. It gives you "Total Clouds", "Low Clouds", "Medium Clouds" and "High Clouds" as a percentage of the sky covered. Some of the other useful bits of information are precipitation, wind speed/direction, frost chance and fog. This is an excellent tool to consult before planning a sunrise or sunset shoot. The app allows you to set a "Home" location as-well-as other locations you might frequent. You can, at any time, use "Current" to get the conditions and forecast for where you are.

Silhouette

The Images

Smartphone Reference Shot: I was immediately drawn to this clump of overturned trees and roots. I decided this was a "must shoot" for a sunrise and grabbed a quick smartphone reference shot.
Sunset - Chestnut Point #1: This is the same clump of trees from the smartphone shot but I decided to include the rest of the tree as a leading line. This started out as the second of four images for a focus stack but decided to use it as it was.
Sunset - Chestnut Point #2: This is the same basic composition as the "Smartphone Reference Shot". I do like this composition but no longer think it is the strongest to be had at this location.
Sunset - Chestnut Point #3: I like the strong vertical lines of the dead trees standing against the waning light.
Sunrise - Chestnut Point #1: I'm not sure if this is a little too busy. I like the tree with it's roots in the air and think it might be nice with a better sky.
Sunrise - Chestnut Point #2: I started playing around with this image and thought, "What would it look like in black & white?" The image here is a quick black & white using Lightroom on the web. I like the moodiness of it.
Silhouette: My son had been shooting a video while I searched for a composition, when he was done I told him to look out over the water so I could capture this image. I think this might be the best image of the two days.

Next Time

The next time I go, and the will be more than one "next time", I am definitely going to spend more time at Chestnut Point and down at water's edge but I also think Georgia Tavern Road holds more potential - maybe a bit further up from where I was. There is a wildlife blind about a mile and a half (or so) up the trail at the north end of the reservoir. I have never been to that part of the trail, will have to check it out because I think that may afford me some great views.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed the images and that you are encouraged to go out and shoot some of your own.

Monday, July 2, 2018

Maclearie Park - Small Park, Big Sunsets

Panorama with Sailboat

Maclearie Park

Maclearie Park is a small municipal park in Belmar, New Jersey. On one side you have a highway and the other side is the Shark River which leads into the Atlantic Ocean. Just east of the park is a marina where many charter boats dock; the marina is another great spot for sunsets but that is a story for another day. You may have already seen some of my images from Maclearie Park, if not check out Sunset and a Peek-a-Boo Moon where I not only got a sunset but the added bonus of a full moon peeking thru the clouds.

Sunset framed by a tree

My Introduction

I have to admit that I never thought about shooting sunsets at Maclearie Park - I had been there with my kids before and have driven by countless times but, for some reason it never got on my list of places to shoot. It wasn't until Dave Schofield (you remember Dave, he was the subject of one of my most popular interviews - Interview with Sports Photographer Dave Schofield. Read it if you haven't already.) Dave shoots there frequently, as well as the marina, and has set the bar high. It has since become a "go to" spot for sunsets and I am often surprised to find new compositions after I thought I had exhausted possibilities. That is one of the wonderful, and frustrating, things about landscape photography - you never know what awaits you.

"My" Tree

Trees

I think one of the things that makes the park such a special place to shoot are the trees - especially in silhouette. I have a favorite little tree at the far west corner of the park by a bench. This is the tree in the panorama at the top of the page and the shot with the great cloud formations on the right ("My" tree). I found this tree the very first time I went to shoot but I have since found others that I can use, depending on the conditions. It is easy to get caught up in the beauty of the sunset and focus on the colors but adding some foreground interest will really set your images apart from the rest. You can also use the trees to block out uninteresting stuff - the image above left (Sunset framed by a tree) is one that I found on my last excursion. The sky has some incredible cloud formations but there was also a large expanse of flat, gray clouds between the horizon and the interesting formations. I used this tree to hide the ugly clouds.

Shark River Hills Beach Club and Marina (HDR)

Look Away From the Sun

If you concentrate on the sun, you may miss out on some of the best light. The marina sits to the north of where the sun was setting, the image here was shot just a few minutes before the sun disappeared completely. I noticed the lights on the other side of the river and put on a longer lens and stopped down to f/22, knowing I would be able to turn the lights into starbursts. I also wanted the longer exposure so that I could smooth out the water as much as possible. This is one of the few "HDR" shots that I have done - I wanted a darker exposure to capture the warmth of the sky and water but I also wanted some detail in the building and shadows. This image has proven to be quite popular.

Lone Tree as Blue Hour Approaches

My last image for today is an example of a making lemonade when the world gives you lemons. I was at the park for what I thought would be a nice sunset but it wasn't very good. I started looking around and saw this tree with the pastel sky behind it. I was shooting towards the east, away from the setting sun and was initially struck by the muted colors.

In Closing

I hope I have inspired you to get out and shoot a sunset or two, maybe even at Maclearie Park! If you do go to Maclearie Park, I have a few suggestions:

Get there early! This is especially true if it is your first time there. You want to scout the park and look for your composition. I have been there in each of the different seasons and a composition that works in the winter, may not be there in summer. It is also a popular place for people to watch the sunset so you want to stake out your territory.
Bring insect repellent! Obviously, this doesn't apply year-round but definitely during spring and summer. The gnats and mosquitoes can be quite a nuisance and you will spend more time shooing them than shooting. I have been using "Deep Woods Off!" the last couple times I was there and it made a big difference.

These are just a handful of the many images I have of sunset in the park and just a fraction of the compositions available to the photographer willing to look. Have you been to Maclearie Park? If so, let me know what you think. What is YOUR favorite place for sunsets or sunrises? I am also looking for new places to shoot. So, if you find yourself in the Belmar area, looking for something to do - check out a sunset at Maclearie Park, you won't be disappointed. While you're there - if you see me, stop by and say "Hello!", I'll be the guy with the tripod and backpack.

Until next time - get out and enjoy the beauty that is nature!

All photos are copyright Joseph S. Valencia All Rights Reserved They may not be used in any way without express written permission of the photographer. If you wish to use any of the photos you may contact the photographer at valencia32photo@gmail.com

Exploring Photography with Joe Valencia