On The Road Again

Today's image is one of the "gallery prints" available at The Kayview Gallery. It depicts a working harbor at daybreak. It's overcast and the sun is peeking through some breaks in the clouds. We're heading out to do some shooting at the end of the week to an area we frequent a lot. So much so that I just made a book at My Publisher for the better half and about half of the images came from sojourns to this general (by general I mean state) area. One of the things to note about this image is that the bright area where the sun is isn't blown out. There not a lot of detail there, in fact if Ansel Adams were to look at it he'd say the area is totally in "zone" nine plus. When I ran the cursor over the spot it registered about 245, 245, 246. That's close enough so you and I can't see the information there, but if I were to split the picture for an HDR (High Dynamic Range) version there would be detail available to work with. I'd think it would wind up with some sort of hybrid combination of exposures. With HDR, most of the representations I've seen have been even splits of exposure. Typical might be -2, 0, +2 for a three exposure run or a -3, -1, 0, +1, +3 track. With today's image I'd think we'd end up with something closer to -1, 0, +3 in order not to block up the shadows and to give some life to that sun area. If you're interested in finding out where we're going this weekend, hit the "read more".

This weekend we're headed for the coast of Maine. The fall foliage maps say that's where the good color is. We'll be working the mid-coast area from Freeport to Hancock. If you've never explored the Maine coast, I'll tell you, it's a hoot. You drive down to someplace like the "Lands End" gift shop on Bailey's Island and look across to a lovely area just to the east. Other than icy cold water that's probably forty feet deep, it would be a five minute walk. The way it works on the coast of Maine is that you drive twenty miles north, a half mile east and twenty miles south to get to that "lovely" spot to take a couple of shots. There's a reason Mainer's are known to be laidback. If they developed a frenetic pace like the people of New York City, they'd all go nuts. Every once in awhile you'll see a cartoon showing someone asking directions of a Maine farm. The farmer says "ya kaint get thare from heya" (translation - you can't get there from here). The trick is, it's not a joke. If you were to plot your route, visiting each finger pointing to the sea, you'd think you were designing the world's most fiendish rollercoaster.

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This "is" the weekend for foliage along the Maine coast. The lake and ponds at on Mount Desert Island should be at their peak. But, if they're not, there's always lighthouses.