Create Stunning with Textures

Textures are so much fun!  You can make your own or buy them.  I've done both and now I have a library of textures to last a very long time.  I have to stop myself from buying more!  There are many tutorials on the web to show you how to use them.  I started with Hazel Meredith who did a webinar for Topaz.  Find her at Meredith Images Blog.  She creates fantastic images of grungy old cars!
I looked through my landscape images and found some potential!

I started with this:

Added two textures to get this:

The textures gave the image movement and cohesiveness as well as color!  I got rave reviews from friends and the public so I decided to continue.  

I looked for an image with a lot of negative space.  This one is a perfect subject but it needed more:

Textures added depth and interest:

I have this image printed on canvas in a show now at the Newburyport Art Association in Massachusetts.  I won an award for it!

Textures, like composites, are cutting edge for photography.  I'm not going to abandon my love of capturing gorgeous landscapes, I can assure you.  But I am also going to expand my abilities to play and be creative in my digital darkroom.  Try it!

Fall Colors in Acadia Nat'l Park - Creating a mood with color and contrast

Today I was analyzing each photograph from my 4 days in Acadia National Park for composition and sharpness.  I chose a few images to play around with.  I balanced the color, the contrast, the highlights and the shadows.
Then I started to enhance the overall feeling of the images. I  began to play with color and contrast.  I began to break some rules.  It was fun and I was in the "zone".  I felt tuned in to the mood of each photograph.  I enhanced that mood in my digital darkroom.  
                                  

Thomas Bay - The Narrows

"I am sure the next step will be the electronic image, and I hope I shall live to see it.  I trust that the creative eye will continue to function, whatever technological innovations may develop."  
~Ansel Adams

I feel very happy with the photographs I have created today.  That creation began outdoors with my camera on a tripod in one of the most beautiful places on earth.  I finished the creative process today with my computer much as Ansel Adams did in his darkroom.

"The negative is the equivalent of the composer's score, and the print the performance."  ~Ansel Adams

Eagle Lake - sunset

                   

Ferns near the Park Loop Road.

Birches - Acadia Wild Garden.

Photography is an art form.  It is not only the faithful rendering of what we see in the world - we can leave that to the photo-journalists.  It is the creative expression of what we have recorded with our cameras.  As such it is unique to each photographer.

Please leave a comment if you like my work and visit my website at kmilsteinphotography.com.

Hunter's Beach - Hidden Gem of Acadia

The trail to Hunter's Beach is easy.  The footing is tricky.  Wet roots provide the biggest challenge.  It follows a lovely little brook through dense forest to a cobble beach opening directly onto the Gulf of Maine.  The beach is a great place to catch the sunrise and see smooth cobbles, chunks of bedrock polished by the tireless waves.
You cannot get there on the Loop Road.  Instead, take Rt. 3 south from Bar Harbor towards Seal Harbor.  Turn left onto a small road angling towards the ocean which later reconnects to Rt. 3.  Look sharp as you are liable to miss the tiny parking lot at the trail head.  Down the road a bit you can find the trail head to the cliff trails or you can start up from the beach and climb the cliff trail.

Hunter's Head will be to your left.

Hunter's Cliff trails to the right offer exciting views of the beach and the ocean.

Hardly anyone knows about this peaceful little corner of Acadia.  Finding it feels like wonderful discovery all your own.
The cliffs are not for faint of heart.  One can walk out onto to rocky ledges for a wonderful view.

View of Hunter's Head

Close up of the lichen and moss on the cliffs.

Destination Workshops - Why do it?

Acadia Nat'l Park - shooting beavers

This past winter I saw a brochure at one of Scott Kelby's Photoshop for Photographers live seminars in Boston for a workshop in Acadia National Park in May.  I had never been to Acadia despite 20 years of living in Massachusetts.  I was dying to go!  I was dying to photograph it all!  And I have learned that it is generally hit or miss when you visit an area like that for the first time - it takes years to know where the good shots are!
The brochure advertised 4 days of expert guidance and instruction in Acadia with a small group.  It looked good and wasn't too expensive - several hundred dollars- transportation, hotel and food not included.  I can drive the distance in 4 hours and I talked my husband into coming along for the fishing.

I am not kidding - this was the best decision I ever made!  After 2 days of shooting every sunset and sunrise I found my groove.  I became used to my tripod, which I used all the time.  I was becoming more adept at choosing which lens for which shot.  My composition improved and I was having a great time with nice people!  Our guide, John Slonina, was knowledgable and we felt like we were on the grand tour of Acadia.  I told John I had definitely gotten over a hump!

I learned about light, composition and setting up your shot correctly instead of depending on PhotoShop to rescue you later.
John encouraged us to keep shooting as long as the light is good.  He said that when you think you are done shooting, keep on looking for a new perspective.  There is always more to shoot.  He is right.

These shots are two perspectives of the same place shot minutes apart:

Schoodic Point - Acadia Nat'l Park May 2013

I learned to crop as you shoot by moving your body and your camera first and zooming second.






By following John around I learned a lot about composition.  I am happy to say that most of my shots are completely my own.  Many are compositions he pointed out to me as is this one of the birches:

Wild Garden - Acadia Nat'l Park 2013

I love this shot at sunrise on our 4th day near Oyster Bay.  I turned around and there it was!  I entered it into a show this summer at the Newburyport Art Association and it won an Honorable Mention.

Acadia Sunrise - 2013 by Kathleen Milstein

I have signed up for another workshop in October.  This one is fall in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  Who knows?  Next year it might be Tuscany or Provence!  Try it!

Cadillac Mountain Sunrise Club

4:31AM June1, 2013

There are times when it is worth it to get up at 3:45 to join other sunrise enthusiasts on the top of a mountain.  This was one!
Between early October and early March Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park is the place to go to be the first to see the sun rise in the United States! True and undisputed!  But you'll have to do it before the snow falls and the road closes.
Then you can buy yourself a bumper sticker that reads, "Cadillac Mountain Sunrise Club!

You won't be alone.  Contemplators and camera buffs alike will line the ridge overlooking the ocean and islands.
Alone I might never have done this but I signed up for a four day workshop at Acadia led by John Slonina of Slonina Nature Photography.  Six of us dragged our tripods and cameras out of the van at 4:15am and hoped for brilliance.  We were not disappointed.
I am a workshop fan now!  What a great way to learn, meet people and have fun!