Snowy North Country

Here are some wintry scenes from an old mill along the Kayaderosseras Creek in Rock City Falls in Saratoga County and Northampton Beach State Park in the southern Adirondacks. 

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/11, 1/90 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 31mm, f/11, 1/45 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 40mm, f/11, 1/180 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 35mm, f/11, 1/90 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 47mm, f/11, 1/90 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 32mm, f/11, 1/90 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 61mm, f/11, 1/90 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/11, 1/250 sec., ISO 200

The End Of January

The past few days have not been particularly productive. I'm looking forward to some warmer, calmer stretches which will allow extended time outdoors.

One thing I'm enjoying about black and white is that the time of day and the degree of cloud cover seems to make much less of a differ than with color. It will be nice to take advantage of this over the course of the spring and summer.

Here are some to wrap up the month from Vischer Ferry Nature Preserve and the Waterford Flight of Locks.

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/11, 1/750 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/11, 1/500 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm, f/4, 1/2000 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 37mm, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

RF 85mm f/2, f/11, 1/250 sec., ISO 100

RF 85mm f/2, f/11, 1/90 sec., ISO 100

Thacher State Park

I'm gradually revisiting locations that have dedicated galleries in order to add some black and white images while I'm in that mode. This morning I visited Thacher State Park south of Albany, NY. 

I added fifteen images to the gallery which is a work in progress. I don't visit Thacher often as it's farther than my other local locations.

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/11, 1/180 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/11, 1/180 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/11, 1/60 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/22, 1/250 sec., ISO 400

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/11, 1/250 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/11, 1/90 sec., ISO 100

Snowy Oakwood

There's currently almost the perfect amount of snow on the ground for my liking. Enough to cover everything but not so much that you can't walk normally of the paths. And there hasn't been thawing and freezing so I haven't even needed my micro spikes the past few weeks.

I was up at Oakwood Cemetery around noon today with the 28-70mm f/2.8 lens. It was a short walk but although there was some interesting cloud texture early on, by the end it was completely overcast.

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 35mm, f/5.6, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 42mm, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 43mm, f/11, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec., ISO 100

Back to the Battlefield

It's been a couple of months since I've been up to the Saratoga National Historical Park and it's my first visit since concentrating on monochrome processing. 

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 39mm, f/8, 1/2000 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/8, 1/4000 sec., ISO 160

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/8, 1/2000 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 200

RF 100-400mm at 123mm, f/11, 1/1000 sec., ISO 200

Mohawk River Bridges

Here are some photos from yesterday and today featuring bridges over the Mohawk River. The first two are of the Northway's twin bridges and the final four of the former railroad bridge over the second branch at the outlet into the Hudson River between Cohoes and Green Island.

The first two are with a Canon RF 15-30mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM lens I had for only one day's use. Right after I received the lens Canon announced a new lens, the RF 16-28mm f/2.8 IS STM which is a companion to the 28-70mm lens I have been using lately. So, the cheaper lens went back to B&H for a refund and when that return is processed I will pre-order the new lens. The new lens is scheduled for release on February 11th. [Update: I cancelled my pre-order as I think the introductory price is too high and I may not use the focal lengths enough to justify it.]

RF 15-30mm at 20mm, f/11, 1/180 sec., ISO 200

RF 15-30mm at 17mm, f/11, 1/180 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/8, 1/3000 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/11, 1/1500 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/11, 1/2000 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm, f/11, 1/750 sec., ISO 200

Same Concept, Different Location

I headed up to Saratoga Spa State Park this morning for a break from my walks around Cohoes and Waterford. I'm sticking with black and white processing, though.

The other day, I switched my cameras to Canon's monochrome "picture style" so that the viewfinder and LCD screen display in black and white rather than color. Changing the viewfinder to monochrome can help with composition by removing the distracting color element.

If I were saving .jpg files in addition to RAW files, those would be in black and white. The RAW files contain all the color information, however, and when processing in the DxO software I use the process is unchanged. If processing in Canon's DPP software you would have to change the picture style in the software to see the file in color.

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 46mm, f/8, 1/2000 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/8, 1/500 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 35mm, f/11, 1/125 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/8, 1/90 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 35mm, f/8, 1/180 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 60mm, f/8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 200

January Weather Continues

Which makes sense since it is January. Daytime temperatures have been in the high twenties, although the sun does make if feel warmer when it is not hidden by clouds.

Yesterday was cloudy with some light snow. There were snow squalls in the forecast for late afternoon and I had planned a sheltered spot along the water at the Waterford Visitor Center but by the time the squalls arrived it was too dark for photographs.

I did walk around the area a couple of hours earlier to gather some more scenes for the B&W project. Here are some. The tracks on the frozen Mohawk River were made by Canada Geese.

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 45mm, f/8, 1/180 sec., ISO 400

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm, f/8, 1/125 sec., ISO 400

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm, f/8, 1/250 sec., ISO 400

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 54mm, f/4, 1/250 sec., ISO 400

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/8, 1/45 sec., ISO 400

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/11, 1/125 sec., ISO 400

January Weather

Yesterday was cold with temperatures in the teens and wind chills in the single digits. But, it was sunny with some clouds and the rivers were partially frozen so it was a good day for the B&W Sprouts project.

In addition to hand warmers, I carried the 28-70mm f/2.8 lens on a couple of short walks from parking spots. Here are some samples.

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 37mm, f/11, 1/750 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 32mm, f/11, 1/1000 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, f/11, 1/750 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 66mm, f/11, 1/1500 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 62mm, f/11, 1/1000 sec., ISO 200

RF 28-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm, f/11, 1/1500 sec., ISO 200