New Hampshire - White Mountains Fall Color!

Leaves, glorious, leaves!  For landscape photography you can't beat the fall!  The White Mountains National Forest of New Hampshire has it all: lakes, ponds, waterfalls, tiny picturesque villages and colorful foliage!

Again, I opted to join a few other photographers on another Slonina Photography tour.  I did not know the area well and after 4 days of driving the highways and byways of the White Mountains I mapped out a few of my favorite places to return next fall.  I purchased a map of the area and each day I highlighted our route with a different color highlighter.  This helps me do 2 things.  First, when I want to know exactly where I made an image, I just consult my map and easily remember the name of the lake, waterfall or town.  Second, I can re-create my route at another time for other great images.

Eaton, NH

Albany Covered Bridge

For this trip I upgraded to two essential pieces of gear.  First, I bought myself a bigger backpack with enough dividers and pockets to really organize my stuff.  I did a lot of shopping online and read many reviews before I ordered.  I was not disappointed!  I still used my little fanny pack for quick access to small essentials.  

Secondly, I upgraded my tripod with a quick release and an L bracket.  These two items allow me to take my camera easily on and off my tripod and to easily switch my shot from horizontal to vertical while maintaining the same viewing angle.  So easy and it saves my arms from stress!  Check out this online company: Really Right Stuff.

Silver Cascade Falls

Chocorua Lake 

Twilight north of Gorham

Next fall, I'll continue to explore the beautiful scenery of the White Mountains Nat'l Forest.

Fall into Winter in New England- our Little Pond

Winter and a new year coming! The glowing warm colors of fall are gone now - my favorite time of year to photograph is over. But not without a last trip down to the Little Pond in my neighborhood with my camera. What is going on everyday in the beautiful places in your neighborhood? Look very close and you might find stunning color or step back and see faces in the landscape. Look sideways and you will see a foxy face in the reflection of the pond. It can depend on whether you hold the camera for a vertical view or a horizontal view. It can depend on whether you angle up or angle down or even get down on the ground.

One trick is to immediately turn around 180 degrees and check out the possibilities of a good shot behind you.

New years always bring energy and possibility - that one stunning photograph is always out there to be captured! Here's to the beautiful images of 2010!

Waiting for Spring - snow - black & white - portraits

We wait for spring for a very long time here in New England. It will be cold, snowy, muddy and grey until April!

But wait, it's a good time to learn how to photograph snow, think in black and white or take your camera indoors for some natural light portrait photos or set up a mini studio with crushed black velvet draped behind your subject.

If you take your photography indoors find out about the white balance settings on your camera. Don't forget to change the settings to match the light source you are dealing with or you'll have color correction to take care of later. Another thing to keep in mind is the ISO setting. I don't advise setting the ISO to higher than 400 unless you want grain. Sunny - 100ISO, Medium light - 200ISO, Low light - 400ISO Use your tripod!

Setting up a small studio indoors is really easy with just a few basics. For a backdrop you can purchase a length of crushed velvet (no creases will be visible) or polar fleece to hang on the wall. Use available light from a window or one or two well placed lamps will provide side lighting along with ceiling lighting and get a hot shoe and a cord to connect your flash unit to your camera with a bracket or hold the flash off to the side. Use a diffuser with the flash unit. Use your tripod!

Snow reflects a lot of light to your camera and the lens shuts down to compensate. When that happens the snow looks grey and the whole scene is underexposed. You can over ride this by adjusting your exposure compensation to allow in more light. There is a scale that looks something like this: -3...-2...-1...0...+1...+2...+3 on your camera. Choose a setting on the plus side and keep changing it until you have the exposure you want. Don't forget the old saying, "Expose for the highlights and let the shadows fall where they may."

There are many opportunities for black and white photography in the winter: play with light and shadows, fill the frame with shapes,angles and objects, architecture, machines, basements and attics to name a few.

My other favorite thing to do after the holidays is to really examine all those images that keep piling up in my computer. You might find a great image with a fresh eye and a new crop!

Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse, Maine

I have a friend who lives just south of Portland, Maine. Mary knows all the picturesque places to go for a day on the coast of Maine and enjoy a lobster lunch. We decided to drive to Two Lights State Park which features Cape Elizabeth Light and The Lobster Shack!

After lunch we set off on foot to explore the unusual geological formations of the coastline. Rock ledges rise steeply from the ocean in a jumble of huge broken boulders and slabs. What a playground! The ledges are metamorphic rock, which is deep sea sediment (sand and mud) hardened through pressure and heat into layers of rock. These layers have an interesting wood grain quality. Minerals in the rock recrystallized into mica, chlorite, phyllite and quartzite. What powerful stresses caused the fractures and threw it all up into a jumbled mass! This is a great place to scramble and climb and, of course, to photograph. The four of us enjoyed the unusual landscape and each other's company.