Fall Tour Scouting Trips
I've made two trips to the Henderson / Breaux Bridge area to check out conditions for the Fall Tours. While it is very early for any fall color, I was able to make several beautiful images. I also photographed using the camera converted to photograph infrared and experimented with using perspective blending to enhance my landscape images. Finally, I went on a tour conducted by my friends at "The Atchafalaya Experience" on their new boat, shown here.
A New Boat - “The Atchafalaya Experience”
Fall is arriving late here as temperatures remaining in the upper 80's and 90's well into October. Temperatures have moderated during the past week, but we're still expecting higher than average temperatures over the next several weeks.
I photographed at Lake Martin for most of the time. During the second trip, I shot both at sunrise and sunset. At sunset, there wasn't enough cloud cover for a spectacular image; I did get a period where there was a lovely yellow glow.
Sunset at Lake Martin–October 9th, 2019
For the Sunrise shoot, I experimented with perspective blending, where I shot with the camera pointed down where the background was near the top of the frame and then tilted the camera up and took a second shot. Later in Photoshop, I cloned the sky into the bottom image and cropped to the regular camera format. Doing this had the effect of making the trees in the background appear larger.
Image 1–Camera Pointed Down
Image 2–Camera Pointed Up
Image 3–Composite Image with Tone and Color Adjustments
Another way to achieve the same effect is to use a tilt-shift lens pointed down and then using the lens rise to compose the image in the frame. I used this technique in the final image shown here.
Image 4–Final HDR Image shot with Tilt Shift lens
For this image, I also took 3 photographs bracketed by two stops and used Photoshop's HDR feature to combine them with better tonal values. Also note the sun had risen to the point it was illuminating the trees.
I created two Infrared images as well. One photographed at Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site in St Martinville of a large Live Oaktree. Another a panoramic shot at Lake Martin.
Live Oaktree Longfellow_Evangeline Historic Site
IR Panoramic Image October 9th, 2019
Black and White Spider Award
My Black and White image of St Eloi Church in the fog at Bayou Dularge received a honorable mention in the Professional Architecture Category.
St Eloi Church–Bayou Dularge Louisiana
Tours
Lake Martin Fall Landscape–November 2018
Space remains in the Fall Photo Tours, Houma Lousiana Photo Tour, and Spring Birding Photography Tours.
The fall tour features landscape photography in the swamps of Louisiana. I am combining photographing onshore with photographing from a boat. Fall is a mystical time in the wetlands with orange and rust leaves, Cypress trunks and knees in the water, and Spanish Moss draped over the branches. With a little luck, we'll get fog or mist backlit by the sun.
November 17–20, 2019 tour Details.
December 2–5, 2019 Tour Details
The Houma Tour, added by request, centers around my home in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. This tour combines photo opportunities near my house with time in my office processing images. More time will be available for working on both photo techniques in the field and post-processing images than in the Fall and Spring Tours. While there will be ample opportunities to create beautiful images, the focus will be on learning and exploring new techniques. This tour would also be an excellent time to explore Infrared Photography as well. Details are here.
Roseate Spoonbill Collecting Sticks for the Nest
The Spring Bird Photography tours feature photographing nesting Wading Birds in Southern Louisiana. Southwestern Louisiana is a fantastic place for Photographing Wading birds. Featured are Roseate Spoonbills, Great, Cattle, and Snowy Egrets, Little Blue, Great Blue, and Little Green Herons and White Faced, Glossy and White Ibis. Frequently photographed are also Least and American Bitterns. We also will be photographing Osprey in Flight going to and from the nest.