Wrapping Up Cohoes Falls For The Season

I've been to the soon to close Cohoes Falls overlook park a lot in recent weeks. It's been good conditions, lots of water, sometimes sun and sometimes clouds. Also, it's a good place to test out combinations of gear which I've been doing lately.

This afternoon, I went back, for the last time before this overlook closes, with the 7D Mark II and 17-55mm lens. Today's trip resulted in 20 new images added to my Cohoes Falls gallery at https://trulandphotography.com/cohoesfalls.

Today, I tried to capture images a bit different from previous trips and also tried to include rainbows when possible. Fences, power lines and trees really limit the variety of compositions available.

At this point, the only new things I can bring to these scenes are based on water level, clouds and wind (which creates the rainbows). One thing I haven't done in a few years is get down the river bed. The problem there is you can only do that when there's almost no water coming over the falls. In any case, it's on my list for next summer.

Here are some shots from today which I hope may be a bit different from recent visits to the falls. If you're getting tired of these scenes, never fear, it'll be May before the overlook is open again.

More Evaluation of a move back to APS-C

My last post, just a few days ago, discussed one of the obstacles to exclusively using crop sensor bodies being the lack of quality ultra wide options. Well, I noticed a local Craigslist ad for an EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens. I have owned one of these in the past when I had two 7D bodies but sold it when I obtained my 5D Mark III body.

This lens is a bit optically inferior to the cheap plastic 10-18mm STM lens but I'm willing to give up some image quality for build quality, full time manual focusing and some gravitas. So, I picked up the used 10-22mm lens for less than what a new 10-18mm STM lens retails for. I tried to do some testing today in mid afternoon and here are some results.

10mm (16mm eq.)

10mm (16mm eq.)

10mm (16mm eq.)

10mm (16mm eq.)

10mm (16mm eq.)

10mm (16mm eq.)

18mm (28.8mm eq.)

Some Good Conditions at Cohoes Falls

I'm continuing to expand my use of the crop sensor 7D Mark II. The only reason I don't sell my remaining 5D Mark III body and pick up another 7DII is my lack of a pro level lens which would be ultra wide with the crop sensor. The only Canon option at the level which would equal what I already have with the 5DIII and 17-40mm f/4L lens is the 11-24mm f/4L lens (almost the exact same field of view) which costs $3,000.

So, as the evaluations continue, here are some images from this afternoon at Cohoes Falls with the 7D Mark III and EF 24-105mm f/4L lens.

A Roaring Cohoes Falls

The region saw generally between three and four inches of rainfall yesterday and overnight. As a result, the rivers have been higher than normal for this time of year with a lot of water coming over the falls.

There was a brief period of sunshine around noon today but by the time I got to the falls the sun, which had been in and out, was in. And there were no signs of openings in the clouds. Some sun would have been nice to illuminate the trees and cliffs on the opposite shore. Also, rainbows would have been likely with all the mist.

In any case, here are some photos and a 20 second video. All with the 5D Mark III and 24-105mm lens.

A Short Road Trip Up A Mountain

Nice weather and a day with no obligations gave me an opportunity to make the hour drive to Prospect Mountain in Lake George. A New York State Park, the drive up the mountain has several parking areas with overlooks and then a nice little walk up to the summit from the main parking lot.

I used the 5D Mark III with 24-105mm lens and 7D Mark II with 70-200mm lens. There was a haze in the sky which was both positive and negative. Haze always creates a sense of depth in landscapes but it also makes the more distant features soft and mushy. It also washes out colors. I could have used a little less haze today.

Here are a few samples. Two dozen full size tiff files have been added to my Adirondack Scenics gallery at https://trulandphotography.com/adirondacks.

The End of an Era

I've added some photos to the annual fall foliage page. Sadly, this will be the last year for this project. I've spent almost every day over the past 16 years at this 3 acre location in Latham, NY but before long I will no longer have a connection to the property.

First, here are the photos I added to the foliage comparison page:

The tree to the right of the maple in the photo below is a tulip tree (yellow poplar) which I planted there as a foot high tree 15 years ago. I will miss that tree.

And here is a final shot from under the maples. With rain forecast the next day or two there probably won't be a lot of foliage left over. Here's a link to the annual foliage comparison page.

Sports and Scenics

A quick trip to Oneonta and back today yielded 113 new images to this year's Hartwick Women's Soccer gallery (https://trulandphotography.com/hwsoc2019) and some fall foliage(ish) scenics from the campus. The scenics were made with the 5D Mark III and 24-105mm lens and the sports shots were made with the 7D Mark II and 70-200mm lens.

Cohoes Falls Pre-Peak Foliage

This morning I noticed there was quite a bit of water coming over the Cohoes Falls and planned on checking out the, soon to close, overlook when the sun got around later in the afternoon. I grabbed the 7D Mark II with the 17-55mm lens and the 5D Mark III with the 70-200mm lens. I used both and ended up adding 18 images to my Cohoes Falls gallery (https://trulandphotography.com/cohoesfalls).

Here are some samples with gear information added in the caption.

5D Mark III, EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM at 97mm

5D Mark III, EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM at 106mm

7D Mark II, EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM at 24mm

7D Mark II, EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM at 24mm

5D Mark III, EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM at 200mm

7D Mark II, EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM at 17mm

Men's College Soccer

The EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM lens arrived today just in time for a trip to Hartwick College for a men's soccer match with Alfred University. The lens performed well with the 7D Mark II body.

A 101 image gallery can be viewed at https://trulandphotography.com/hmsoc2019. Here are a few samples.

And here's a shot from the 5D Mark III and EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens made at halftime.