Tag: Early Fall

Covered Bridges of Indiana – October, 2019 – Cornstalk Covered Bridge

Prior to visiting Indiana in October, 2019, I had never realized that Indiana had so many covered bridges.  I have seen numerous covered bridges in the New England states, which seem to get lots of attention, but I had never heard much about covered bridges anywhere else.

Part of the reason for our trip to Indiana was to attend a number of the Covered Bridge Festivals in an area west of Indianapolis.  These are very popular events, drawing many locals and others from far away.  Local organizers of these festivals provide maps with suggested routes to bridges nearby the festival sites.

I’ve always been intrigued by old covered, wood bridges, most of which were built in the 1800s to early 1900s, so I knew I wanted to try photographing as many as my time would allow.  I was not at all sure about how or when to best photograph the local bridges, having never visited any of them and having no idea of the setting, nor the lighting at various times of the day.

So one afternoon, with one of the maps to a few bridges, I headed to the northern most bridge on the map, planning to work my way south from there, visiting as many bridges as possible before dark.

My first stop was Cornstalk Bridge in Putnam County.

Cornstalk covered bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, Multiple Exposures, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Cornstalk covered bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 500, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

Th first image is an HDR made from multiple exposures, while the second is a single exposure.  The exterior is brightly lit by the sunlight, but the interior is in shadow, so no single exposure will capture details in both the interior and exterior.  If the vegetation looks a bit blurred in the HDR, it is because it was a very windy day and anything moving between images complicates merging multiple exposures.  I’ve tried to minimize this “ghosting” effect, but I’m sure some remains.  These image look similar, but note that the interior is brighter in the HDR with more detail visible and the sky is not over exposed as it is in the single image.  The colors are also a little different between the images and maybe I should have paid more attention to the HDR color editing.  I think the single exposure colors are more accurate.

Cornstalk Interior HDR B&W. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 44mm, f/11, Multiple Exposures, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

Shooting the dark interior with bright light coming through the top, side vents and from the opposite end of the bridge, also required resorting to HDR.  Even so, the exterior is over exposed.

Cornstalk covered bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 15mm, f/11, 1/13s, ISO 500, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

In the second interior image, I minimized the effect of the exterior overexposure problem by shooting at a different angle, which allowed for a more effective use of a graduated neutral density filter; but the shutter speed is slow, so the vegetation seen through the vents and at the end of the bridge is blurry due to motion.  An HDR might have been a better choice for this type image, but I wasn’t keen on shooting the interior and I had more ground to cover this afternoon, so I did not take a lot of time inside the bridge.

Cornstalk covered bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 2500, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

There was so much motion of the vegetation caused by the wind, that I had to use high ISO to get sufficiently fast shutter speed to freeze the motion.  The high ISO resulted in more noise, which I’ve tried to minimize in post processing.

Cornstalk covered bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/500s, ISO 2000, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

The exterior of Cornstalk was not easy to shoot.  I found a way down into the dry portion of the creek channel, but I could not get to a good view point, without wading through water and mud and I was not prepared to do that.  So my side shots here are limited to views from the creek shore.

Cornstalk covered bridge, Putnam County, Indiana. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/200s, ISO 500, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

The image above is from the opposite end of the bridge from the first image.  The lighting on this end was different than on the other end, making the colors darker.  Even though it was cloudy, the sky was still bright, so I used a graduated neutral density filter to help balance the exposure across the entire image.  There is no distinct line between the sky and the rest of the image, so I put the dark portion of the filter over the entire image, with the darkest portion over the upper part.  This increases the color saturation of the entire image.

More on Indiana’s covered bridges to come,

Ken

 

 

Indiana Covered Bridges – October 2019 – Bakers Camp

The third bridge that I photographed in the afternoon of my first day of seeking covered bridges in Indiana was the Bakers Camp Bridge.

Bakers Camp Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 1250, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I made use of a fairly new looking fence in a grassy area on one side of the bridge as a leading line to the bridge.

At the end of the fence line, near the bridge, I found a way down to the edge of the creek from which I made several photographs with reflections of the bridge in the creek, after removing some distracting litter along the near shore line.  It is not always possible to physically remove distracting objects, but whenever it is, I like to do so, since that is far easier than having to remove the objects later in post processing.

Bakers Camp Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 22mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 1600, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

Walking back up to the front of the bridge, I made the usual frontal close up to get the bridge name and date into a photograph.

Bakers Camp Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 1600, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I then walked onto the bridge to attempt shooting inside.  I stood on one side in case of traffic, which is not usually heavy across these country bridges, but not unusual either.  In fact, one friendly lady, driving an SUV, stopped momentarily to ask if I was getting good photographs.

Bakers Camp Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, multiple exposures, ISO 2500, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

Since it is dark inside these bridges, I used a high ISO and, due to the bright light at the end and from the top side vents, I made multiple exposures, combining them into an HDR image in post processing.

I walked on through and made other images from the opposite end.

Bakers Camp Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 2500, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

More on Indiana covered bridges later,

Ken

 

 

Cumberland Falls State Park, Kentucky – September 2019

Rain had prevented an afternoon shoot with the DSLR the previous day and the rain chances were to go away overnight, so I got up before sunrise this morning to photograph the falls and portions of the Cumberland River in early morning light.

Cumberland Falls in Cumberland Falls State Park, Kentucky. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 10.0s, ISO 400, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

It was still overcast in the very early portion of the morning with a mist around the river area.  Condensation fell upon me from the tree canopy at my first shooting area.  I was the only one there and this is usually the case, when one gets out before daybreak.  Most typical tourist are late risers and/or have breakfast before venturing out and about.  We photography enthusiasts usually shoot first and eat later.

Initially, long shutter speeds were required due to the dim, very early, morning light; but this is exactly what I wanted, in order to get the silky look in the flowing water, creating the sense of motion.

Going back up to the walkway/trail along the river after my first stop, I noted that there were other view points that I had not explored the day before, so I continued to those other areas, checking views from the trail as I walked along.

Cumberland Falls in Cumberland Falls State Park, Kentucky. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 38mm, f/16, 2.0s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

Eventually, the overcast began to burn away and there was some good early morning sunlight, which as expected fell on the opposite side of the river.  The waterfall was mostly in shadow in the very early morning; but I think I got good images anyway and the low light intensity made it easy to get the slower shutter speeds that I wanted to use.

I continued to drag the shutter (use longer than required shutter speed) a little, even though as the light brightened, I could have adjusted the aperture and/or the ISO to freeze the water motion.  I prefer the silky look in the flowing water;  although, there are some who object to this as creating an unreal (not as our eyes see it) image.

Cumberland Falls in Cumberland Falls State Park, Kentucky. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 35mm, f/16, 1.3s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Cumberland Falls in Cumberland Falls State Park, Kentucky. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 31mm, f/16, 1/3s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Cumberland Falls in Cumberland Falls State Park, Kentucky. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 56mm, f/16, 0.8s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

As the light advanced and I was satisfied that I had acquired the images that I wanted of the falls, I walked down by the river just below the parking lot, shooting several photographs of the river above the falls.  By this time a few scattered visitors began to show up.

Cumberland River and Reflections. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 50mm, f/16, 0.4s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Cumberland River and Reflections. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 38mm, f/16, 1/3s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.
Cumberland River. Nikon D850, Nikon 24-70mm @ 48mm, f/16, 1/3s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

As a reminder, clicking upon an image will open it in Flickr, where the image will look better than in this post.

Thanks for following and I hope you enjoy the photographs,

Ken

Cumberland Falls, September 2019 – Scouting Photos

At the end of our stay in the Liberty, Kentucky area, we decided to modify our plans and make a stop over at Cumberland Falls State Resort, Kentucky.  We were only a couple of hours away and the online literature made this look like an interesting place to see.

It was much too early in the fall for the best fall color here, but our schedule dictated that we be here now.  I went out late in the day of our arrival, primarily to scout, but I put my camera in our vehicle trunk just in case I decided conditions merited DSLR photographs.

Scouting along the river just above the falls,  I noted a sign that prohibited one from going any further along the river above the falls, much to my dismay.  I knew I could safely get closer to the top of the falls, but I heeded the sign.  The top edge of falls are frequently not very interesting to photograph anyway.

Cumberland Falls. iPhone photograph with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

This is a tourist attraction and there are railings set up at various view points with warnings not to cross the rails, which of course I really wanted to do, since I was sure I could get better compositions beyond the rails, exercising caution not to fall off of a cliff in the process.  Nevertheless, I heeded the prohibitions.

Cumberland Falls. iPhone photograph with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

As usual in the afternoon hours, there were numerous visitors out and about, with one group being escorted by a young park ranger.  This time of the year there were not large crowds of visitors, as there are in the summer months.  In fact most of the visitors were older people with no children.  There were a few younger people, who either had no kids or only pre-school kids.

Cumberland Falls. iPhone photograph with edits in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

It was an overcast afternoon and, even though earlier than I would normally shoot at sunset, it was obvious that there would be no sunset light this day.  So I decided to go back to my vehicle, get my camera gear and shoot anyway.  As I began to get out the camera gear, rain began.  I initially sat in the vehicle for a while, then decided to give up for the day.  Of course, by the time I drove back to our cottage, the rain had stopped.  At least I got a few iPhone images, just in case something happened to prevent me from returning in the morning, when the rain was predicted to have passed by.

Tomorrow I will try to get some long exposures of the waterfall for that silky flowing water effect.

Until then,

Ken