Nothin’ Like A Cold Dew | New Bern, NC
No, I’m not talking about an ice cold Mountain Dew, although I do feel myself having a bit of a craving now… On this fall morning, downtown New Bern was under a thick, wet, humid fog. I had set out before it was light out in order to capture a sunset, but the before mentioned fog kind of ruined that plan. As the sun came up and it lightened up a bit, I was able to grab a few shots of the fog bathed boats in the marina that I really liked. I then walked over to the North Carolina History Center to try to shoot the waterfront from that angle. After a few not-so-exciting shots there, I was getting my gear packed up when I noticed the tall grass that usually goes overlooked. It was covered in little droplets of water and was bending under the weight of the water drops. It looked so neat to me that I got my gear back up and set up to shoot some macros. I don’t do a whole lot of macro photography, but sometimes it’s nice to change things up a bit! Hope you enjoy the little change-up for today.
The shot: Nikon D90, 18-105mm VR Nikkor lens shot @ 105mm. Tripod held, remote fired. 3 exposures blended in Photomatix Pro, finished in Photoshop CS4 with various layer masks bringing back original exposures.
-Join me on my other social networks:
First Light | Assateague Island, VA
After a few days’ hiatus, I’m finally getting back into the swing of things. I spend a long weekend at Chincoteague Island, VA with my family and wife as we celebrated our wedding anniversary. My family has been going on vacation to Chincoteague since I was too little to walk, so I never miss a chance to meet up with them on the island. This visit wasn’t as ‘eventful’ as last year’s (read the blog post here) and that made it just about perfect.
Before making the short four hour trip up the coast, I made a shot list of the things I wanted to photograph while on Chincoteague. Right up at the top was a sunrise. So, at 5:00am I set out across the island to the adjacent barrier island, Assateague, to get my shots. Much to my surprise, my mom and dad came along with me. It’s always nice to have company when out shooting photos, especially when it’s my parents who I rarely get to see. We shot the sun cresting up over the ocean and then we headed back down the road to this spot. Those of you familiar with the National Wildlife Refuge on the island will recognize this cluster of trees along the Wildlife Loop trail. I don’t know why, but these trees are synonymous with Assateague Island for me. I guess I’ve just seen them so many times that they have buried themselves in my mind.
The Shot: Nikon D90, shot at 18mm. This is a three exposure HDR, shot from a tripod and remote triggered. Merged in Photomatix Pro, finished in Photoshop CS4 with Nik Color efex Pro and Nik Viveza pro plug-ins. In post processing, I added a pretty pronounced blur to the water in the foreground at the very end. The heavy detail in the water seemed to take away from the serenity of the whole scene. Now, it all flows together.
©2011 Zach Frailey
