Rain drops in the grass, Allagash Maine

This is another image taken while vacationing in the Allagash Wilderness in Maine. No matter what month in the summer you go there is always a good chance you will end up with some rain and often quite big storms as well. This shot was taken on a walk I frequently take in the Allagash to some abandoned steam trains that were left there in 1939. Its about a half mile walk each way with a mostly muddy trail with trees either side. Occasionally there are small meadows of tall grasses close by and this shot was taken at the edge of such a meadow after a rain shower.

What drew my attention was the way the rain drops were laying on the grass and I decided to see if I could get a shot that captured the mood of what I was seeing. The shot was taken very low to the ground with a 17-40mm lens placed close to the grasses. I wanted to get a pretty intimate view of the grasses and decided the wide angle lens would give me what I was looking for while also maintaining a good depth of field. I was happy with the result but in full color it was an average shot. I decided to see what a monochrome view would look like and did a black & white conversion that I then warmed up with a little brown tint. This enabled the rain drops to jump out more prominently which is what I was really looking for.

The Zakim Bridge and downtown Boston

This is an aerial view taken when the plane is over Chelsea. My plan was to show the new bridge within the context of the rest of Boston. I decided to make this a black and white shot as the bridge really sines out against the rest of the darker buildings. There is some Lightroom processing here to get this very graphic black and white effect.

Usually in Lightroom you will use curves or levels to create contrast. A curve is normally S shaped  with a well exposed image. To get the look of this image I wanted to really have blacks and whites but not many intermediate grays so rather than have an S shape the curve is more r shaped. This means having strong blacks and whites but bringing the mid tones up to make them brighter. This can take a little experimentation as it is easy to blow out the highlights this way but modifying the white point as you go can help a lot with this.

Boston’s beautiful Custom’s House tower

Most people are familiar with Boston’s Customs House tower and the clock with it’s blue night lighting but I bet you had no idea how amazing the top  of the tower is. That’s probably because, as Boston’s 17th tallest building its not so easy to see the top of the tower. It is indeed a beautiful construction with its scroll detail, windows and its shiny riveted topper. This view was taken fro the top floor of the parking lot adjacent to the Fanieul Hall area. Even so, it still took a rather long lens to get this close of a view. It’s difficult to believe that many years ago, ships used to actually be able to pull right up to this building for cargo inspection and that its foundations are 3000 wooden piles driven into the bedrock. It is probably one of Bostons most recognized landmarks and well worth closer inspection.