Water pump

[exif id="22609"]

Our family have been members of the honey brook organic farm CSA for several years. I think it may be over a decade. When the kids were younger, we thought it was a good way to teach them where food really comes from. That it wasn't something that comes wrapped in a cellophane or a cardboard box. We wanted them to learn that farming was difficult hard work. They learned that by being out in the heat and humidity of summer picking berries and tomatoes. And they disliked being buzzed by bees and other insects.

I have photographed the farm for almost as long as we have been members. I have photographed everything including the fields, flowers, the kids picking in the fields, the farm stands, etc. At least so I thought.

I captured this image of the water pump this Sunday. I have seen this water pump many times before but I think this is the first time I have focused on capturing it in some form. There was water dripping from a hose attached to a pump in the back. I took three exposure bracketed images which I combined into and HDR image in Photomatix Pro. I then applied a preset which I created earlier this summer.

The priest is the following.

  • Contrast to 100
  • Highlights to 100
  • Shadows to 100
  • Whites to -39
  • Blacks to 24
  • and Vibrance to 33

I just like what it does to images. I created the preset while people king around in Adobe Lightroom. It really pushes the colours. What do you think?

There's still snow on the ground, Browns Mills, New Jersey

This image was taken at Whitesbog Village in Browns Mills, New Jersey. I was walking with a group of photogs. We walked among a few square miles of cranberry bogs some of which are still functional. There are a few wooden pathways throughout the property at Whitesbogs. Some were still covered in ice and snow from the winter storm from a few two months ago. I was hoping to capture the feeling of cold and damp in this section of Whitesbog.

The image was taken on a tripod with a remote shutter and ND filter. Three exposures were combined into one HDR image. I was attempting to bring out the flow from light to dark and to show how the sun was slowly turning a wintry area into spring.

One challenge was in the placement of the tripod. I had originally placed the tripod on the wooden walkway. However, I soon realized that my colleagues who were walking my way were shaking the tripod ever so slightly. So I placed the tripod into the water just beneath the walkway.

One thing I would have changed would have been the orientation of the camera. I think a portrait orientation would have worked better. I would have captured the part of the sky you see reflected in the water. However, my 18mm (APS-C) was not wide enough to include the snow on the ground in the trees to the right of the water.