Beating the Heat with a Six Mile Walk

I got out early this morning with the temperature in the low 70s before a 20 degree warmup forecast by afternoon. The walk through Waterford and Cohoes clocked in at 6.22 miles on Strava. It took two hours which included at pause at lock E2 while the lock filled for west bound boaters.

Here are some of the scenes.

Waterford Harbor
RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

Waterford Harbor
RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

Lock E2
RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

Lock E2
RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

Van Schaick Mansion
RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/1.4, 1/2000 sec., ISO 100

Van Schaick Mansion
RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/1.4, 1/3000 sec., ISO 100

Van Schaick Mansion
RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/1.4, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100

Another Sunrise, Another Show

The 24-105mm focal length range is probably the best single lens solution for sunrises. The last visit to Maine I had a 28-70mm lens and a 24mm lens. The extra length from 70-105mm would have been helpful. With the constant f/4 aperture of the 24-105mm lens, 8 stops of image stabilization and the good higher ISO image quality of the full frame R6 Mark II, I don't have to use a tripod.

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 61mm, f/4, 1/20 sec., ISO 800

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 40mm, f/4, 1/60 sec., ISO 800

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 105mm, f/4, 1/180 sec., ISO 800
cropped

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/4, 1/180 sec., ISO 800

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 50mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec., ISO 800

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/5.6, 1/180 sec., ISO 800

The Skies Have It

Here are some images since my last post, all focusing on the sky.

Oakwood Cemetery
RF 24-105mm f/4L at 40mm, f/11, 1/1500 sec., ISO 100

Lock E5
RF 24-105mm f/4L at 31mm, f/4, 1/15 sec., ISO 1600

Great Sacandaga Lake
RF 24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/9.5, 1/90 sec., ISO 100

Great Sacandaga Lake
RF 24-105mm f/4L at 35mm, f/9.5, 1/125 sec., ISO 100

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 105mm, f/4, 1/90 sec., ISO 800

Lock E4
RF 24-105mm f/4L at 105mm, f/5.6, 1/30 sec., ISO 400

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/8, 1/125 sec., ISO 400

Vermont and Almost Vermont

A Blueberry Festival at The Apple Barn in Bennington, Vermont was the draw for a mini road trip today across the border to the east. The festival was underwhelming but there were some worthy subjects.

RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100

RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/5.6, 1/1500 sec., ISO 100

RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/2, 1/4000 sec., ISO 100

While walking on Main Street in Bennington around noon, I was lining up a shot of the steeple at First Baptist Church when I noticed the cloudbow passing behind the building.

RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100

I have a gallery dedicated to photos from Vermont on the website at https://www.trulandphotography.com/Color/Vermont.

The Bennington Battlefield, a State Historic Site, is located in Walloomsac, New York, right over the border from Vermont. The battle, on August 16, 1777, paved the way for the defeat of the British army invading from Canada at the Battles of Saratoga. I have never visited this site and may try to return on August 16th when they will have informational programming. The park is not generally staffed although there are interpretive signs,

RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec., ISO 100

RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/5.6, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec., ISO 100

RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

More Summer Sprouts

This morning saw another sunrise washout with what could have been good conditions.

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/8, 1/60 sec., ISO 400

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 105mm, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

After processing the files from that outing I took a long walk around Cohoes and Waterford with the 50mm lens.

Mohawk River from Simmons Island, Cohoes
RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/11, 1/500 sec., ISO 100

Mohawk River from Simmons Island, Cohoes
RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/11, 1/250 sec., ISO 100

Yacht Exiting Lock E2, Waterford
RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec., ISO 200

Mohawk River from Waterford Harbor
RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/9.5, 1/1000 sec., ISO 100

Waterford Harbor
RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/9.5, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

Two More Sunrises

I'm still not having the best luck with sunrises at lock E5. The first four are from July 9 and the second 4 are from this morning. Great clouds this morning but almost no color.

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 91mm, f/4, 1/500 sec., ISO 800

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/5.6, 1/150 sec., ISO 200

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/6.7, 1/125 sec., ISO 200

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/22, 1/600 sec., ISO 400

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 105mm, f/4, 1/30 sec., ISO 800

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 105mm, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 200

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 105mm, f/8, 1/500 sec., ISO 200

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 39mm, f/8, 1/750 sec., ISO 200

Settling In

I'm getting used to the concept of limiting myself to the 24-105mm and 50mm lenses with one body. I still want something wider or something longer at times, but one of the reasons I decided to limit myself was to avoid the easy compositions and the "great capture" concept behind extreme wide and tele focal lengths. 

I've made nice sunrise/sunset photos with ultra wide lenses but there's not much of a challenge in simply including the entire scene. Similarly, close in shots of wildlife or insects and flowers are great but it's pretty much just centering the subject and making sure it's in focus and decently exposed. It's craft but not really art.

At this stage, I'm not interested if I'm not making decisions about what to include and what to leave out. 

I've been using the 50mm lens a lot lately, mostly to have images to add to the dedicated gallery at https://www.trulandphotography.com/5-Cent-Images. My current sunrise project, though, definitely benefits from the additional focal lengths of the zoom lens. 

Here are some from yesterday. The ongoing project is located at https://www.trulandphotography.com/Color/Projects/Lock5-Sunrises.

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 42mm, f/4, 1/6 sec., ISO 400

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 24mm, f/8, 1/180 sec., ISO 200

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 93mm, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 200

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 39mm, f/8, 1/250 sec., ISO 100

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 105mm, f/8, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

RF 24-105mm f/4L at 105mm, f/11, 1/45 sec., ISO 100

Colonial Garden

I walked over to the colonial garden at the Van Schaick Mansion in Cohoes this morning. The garden was built by the DAR chapter that is in charge of the mansion property. You can read about the site at http://www.vanschaickmansion.org/. Information about the garden can be found in the archived newsletters beginning with Spring, 2022.

RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/8, 1/250 sec., ISO 100

RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/5.6, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/6.7, 1/500 sec., ISO 100

RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/6.7, 1/350 sec., ISO 100

RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/6.7, 1/750 sec., ISO 100

RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/8, 1/180 sec., ISO 100

RF 50mm f/1.4L, f/8, 1/180 sec., ISO 100