Portland Head light house

This one is one of the "Two Lights" lighthouses

I made it a point to use my ultra wide lens when I was out. I'm happy with the results.

What I didn't like about this photo is the fact that Ashley had a tree growing out of her head. With CS4 I could clone it out with time and patience, but with the content-aware feature of CS5 I was able to achieve this in less than 2 minutes ...

The other new feature I played around with for about 15 minutes or so was HDR toning. So I went back into my archives and dug up this photo from almost two years ago.

Always felt that this photo was only so-so. It really doesn't pop and kind of on the boring side of things. So I put it through a HDR treatment. I was shooting for something more dramatic and more interesting to look at. Here is what I ended up with after about 15 minutes or so...

Not 100% happy with the results I achieved, but I think I like this better than the original. I should probably spend some time and try to remove the pile of branches on the left hand side.

I'm still not sold on the HDR functionality. I've been using Photomatrix Pro for some time now for my HDR photos and I've been pleased with the results I get. All in all I've got to say I like CS5 and I'm looking forward to learning more about it.

While heading out the door this morning with Ashley and Kaya for this endeavor, Marc grabbed his sneakers and flashed his puppy eyes look. Who could resist not bringing him along for the adventure.

As you can imagine with a place that has the name chasm in it there are a lot of rocks. It was great for Ashley and her friend as seen below. Not so great for Marc and I and his 10" legs. We did not have the opportunity to see the named formations listed as The Corn Crib, The Coffin, The Pulpit, Lovers' Leap and Fat Man's Misery. Might be a good thing, look at the last title.

I let Ashley and her friend go off on their own for a little bit. They were able to explore a few caves while somewhat staying in my sights. Pictured here is the entrance to the chasm.

Marc and I wandered around the entrance where the terrain was a little more stable. It was here that I saw this stone hut that became my favorite photo of the day. I converted it to a HDR image and added a little drama to it. This is a style of photography that is not for everyone, but I'm starting to like this style more and more.

All in all not the visit I was hoping for, but everybody had fun. This stone hut may even make it on my calendar at the end of the year.

Took advantage of the nice weather this weekend and headed out. With the warm weather we've had lately, blooming is about a month early. Here are some dogwood trees at Doyle Field.

I then made my way through Lunenburg and found myself near Flat Hill Orchards

The apple trees looked amazing as seen below

I've read that there is some concern that because everything is blooming early, there is a chance that crops could be damaged if a heavy frost happens. Lets hope that is not the case.

We eventually made our way to the Nashua River Rail Trail. We usually park in Nashua, but this time I wanted something different and choose to park in Pepperell.

It was a busy day at this section. What I like about this rail trail which happens to be 11 miles long is that it is paved. Knowing this Ashley and I brought our roller blades.

Today was a busy day on the trail with a lot of roller bladers as well as bicylist. Even so I was able to capture a few pictures without any people in them.

As always Ashley is ready to strike a pose

Was driving around some back roads today while I stumbled upon a full field of Canadian Geese.

Don't think these geese got the memo. Psst, your suppose to fly south for the winter.

Choosing my favorites is harder than I thought it would be. I'll start with this one here

The Rose

I bought my wife some rose oh back in January I guess it was. I captured this photo with my old camera which was a Nikon D50. This is not the original picture though. A few months ago I went back through some old photos and applied some knowledge I've gained in CS4. This particular photo I applied a couple of different textures.

Fast forward a few months and I find myself with a new Nikon D90. I've been happy with the D90 but I sometimes wonder if I should of held out for a D300. In any event the D90 saw a lot of use, over 3500 photos for the year. In July we went out to Lake Winnipesaukee for vacation. During this vacation I had a goal of capturing some photo that I liked enough to use for a gallery wrap. This is what I ended up with ....

On The Lake

Had this mounted as a 20x30 gallery wrap, came out pretty good. While on this vacation I also ended up with this photo that became one of my favorites

This photo was a total surprise when I transferred everything over to my PC. Didn't realize I captured something like this.

The next couple of photos that made it to my favorite of the year list were taken at Sturbridge Village. I'll tell you visiting Sturbridge Village is a photographers dream. Every time you turn around a new composition pops into view.

Daily Ritual

This is probably one of my favorites. I took this around the time that I started shooting in full manual. This photo was taken indoors using natural light. What you see is pretty much straight out of the camera. The tray is a little blown but overall I'm happy with the results.

I almost didn't include this photo. The original had three turkeys in it. I loved the detail on the turkey pictured, but the other turkeys were out of focus and did the photo no justice. I went to work in Photoshop and added a background. I haven't done much with layers and masks but I was happy with the results I've achieved in this photo.

On my commute to work I pass this barn most mornings. I'd been thinking about this photo and going back and forth on how to frame it best. The problem was directly in front of the barn was a fairly new car garage. It just didn't fit in well with the barn as well as also preventing a straight on capture of the barn. I finally made it out and here are the end results...

This fall I had fun with colors. I was in a creative mood and had my camera with me almost anywhere that I traveled. This here is one of my favorites from that time period captured at rail trail in West Boylston.

We now find ourselves at my last favorite photo of the year.

This is my childhood school. I've been exploring HDR techniques and was very pleased with the results I ended up with here. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and is a process where you take multiple photos changing the exposure in each to capture. By doing this you have photos that are properly exposed for the shadows, midtones and highlights. Using Photomatrix I created a tonal map and merged three photos to get these results. Looking back at this photo if I were to do it again I would spend time removing the telephone wires.

Well that's what I have from 2009. I hope to explore HDR more in 2010. I hope to also explore flash photography some. I say I like to shoot in natural light the best. But the truth is I really don't know how to use strobes well. So I may venture into that area.

Happy New Year everyone!!! Hope you and your families have a healthy and prosperous year!!!

Went out for a ride this afternoon needing to get out of the house. Only went about 1/4 mile down the street and saw this Red Tail Hawk. After seeing him/her I was able to go back home and grab my camera.

At first the hawk did not notice that I was there until another car came down the street. At this point the hawk took a look around to see what was going on.

After noticing us the hawk placed himself so he was standing over his meal. At the same time he puffed up his chest trying to make himself look bigger.
I say he but it could of been a female since male or female both look the same.

I've been living in leominster for over 40 years and I can say that this is not a common site in this area. I can remember as a kid there was a Red Tail Hawk in the French Hill neighborhood that we followed for a few days. I've seen them circling around especially around the Nashua river, but never seen them after capturing supper.

I need to start carring my camera with me more often, almost missed this chance.

Went to a photoshop seminar taught by Scott Kelby. I learned how much I don't know about photoshop. Anyways went through some old pictures that for whatever reason I chose not to post in the past. With some of my newly acquired skills I was able to save a few. This one here was taken at Castle in the Clouds in the lakes region of New Hampshire. I think it makes a nice monochrome.

This photo is part of the monochrome weekly theme. Click here to see more monochromes from around the
world.

This past weekend we ventured out to the rail trail again. This time around I brought my family with me. The Mass Central Rail Trail consists of what once was a 104-mile route of the railroad that runs from Northampton to Boston. The area I walked is part of what is known as the Wachusett Greenways rail trail. This is a 30 mile stretch found in the towns of Sterling, West Boylston, Holden, Rutland, and Oakham. This section I'm talking about today is the West Boylston/Holden section going from Oakdale to River Street along the Quinapoxet River which totals 3 miles in length.

Right from the start the area is very scenic. This wall with the ivy growing on it is found on the right side at the Oakdale entrance. On the left side you have the which is either the Quinapoxet River or the Stillwater River (not sure which). The Quinapoxet and Stillwater Rivers are the two major tributaries to the Wachusett Reservoir.

Once of the nice features if you have children is the storybook walk found at the beginning of the trail. Every 100 feet or so you can find a sign post. Each one of these posts contain a page from a children's book. For this visit the title of the book was Danny and the Dinosaur. I haven't walked this trail enough to know if the book changes at all. In any event, Ashley loved this feature.

It is not uncommon to find fisherman along the rail trail. Seasonal fishing is permitted. I happened to notice a few signs warning fisherman that water levels can change at a moments notice. I imaging that this dam and the spillway beside pictured below have something to do with it.

My first visit, this spillway did not have any water flowing through it. I was surprised to see how much water was flowing this past weekend.

A little over 1 mile in you reach the I-190 overpass. Here is where the Sprindale Mill River Walk starts. An interesting thing I noticed is that dogs are not allowed past this point. It seems that a lot of people go up to this point and turn around to head back. Not sure if it has anything to do with the dogs not allowed or just the fact that it makes a roughly 2 mile round trip.

1\2 mile past the I-190 overpass you find the Springdale Mill. This is a historic site dating back to 1865. By 1879, the mill manufactured 250,000 yards of fancy cassimeres (closely woven twill wool, usually used for men's suits), and employed over 35 people, a large percentage of the adult population of Springdale.

Not much left of the mill, mostly empty cellars and a lot of rubble.

Pictured here is not the original turbine used at the mill, but it is the same model.

This site has two locations if you will. Along side the river and on the west side of the rail trail is where the mill was. If you head east and walk up the trail leading up the hill you will find where the village was. An important part of the mill being successful was having able workers to work the mill. This village was owned by the mill owner and had multifamily tenant buildings. In all roughly 35 adults lived here.

About all that is left of the village is these stone foundations. You will find 5 or 6 of these at the top of the hill. Mill operation ceased its operations in 1906. This was around the time that the Wachusett Reservoir was created and there was fear that the river feeding it would get polluted by this mill as well as others.

I'd have to say, I just love the reflections I see here each time I visit.

* Information I gathered came from the following web sites http://www.springdalemill.org/ and http://www.wachusettgreenways.org/. Feel free to visit them to learn more about this area.

Got up before the crack of dawn this morning. Decided to take advantage of it and took off with my camera. I first headed out to Sky View Middle School hoping to capture the last of the fall foliage. I'd have to say that we are now on the down side of peak. That rusty orange is starting to dominate the area. Unfortunately, I found that it was too early for Sky View and the light was not there yet.

I continued on turning on Lancaster Ave driving into Lunenburg. I've been framing this shot in my mind for quite some time now. Funny how things happen like that. The problem I found with this location was a garage that is directly in front of the barn. I had to take the photo from an angle and I was not sure how it would come out. I have to say that I'm happy with the results.

I continued on through Lunenburg to another spot that I've been framing in my mind. Wasn't going to happen though since someone was out mowing the lawn. Imagine that, mowing the lawn at 7:15 in the morning. Hate to be his neighbor.

Heading back to Leominster I figured that I'd take Day Street and go by Cherry Hill Farm. Got this photo for my troubles which needed some post process work. There was a lot of contrast in the original with the sun washing out the barn and the grass in the shade being very much under exposed. Luckily or on purpose I should say I shoot in raw format. Doing so allowed me to change the exposure on this photo and generate a single image HDR photo. I sort of like HDR but find some people over do it some.

I now found myself heading to I-190 to exit 5. From here I took a left and ended up in Oakdale at the rail trail. This trail has been closed since the spring due to part of the trail being washed out. It seems some beavers built a dam which caused this damage. They re-opened on September 26th. At the entrance you find this beautiful row of trees.

Sitting underneath them was almost magical. The sun lighting the leaves was impressive.

I hiked the trail all the way to Holden reaching the Springdale Mill site. The Springdale Mill was built in 1867 and operated until 1905 when the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board took over the property. This was part of the plan when they created the Wachusett Reservoir. Someday I'll have to blog about Wachusett Reservoir, lots of history when it was built.

I found the rail trail to be very relaxing following the Quinapoxet River. After a roughly 4 mile walk I was rewarded with this view below.

I'm not much of a birding person, but I believe these are Blue Heron's. Made me wish I still had my 200mm - 400mm lenses. This was about as close as I could get with my 18mm-200mm lenses.