David Griffin Photography » Environment

February 2012 Wallpaper

Dave — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:39:40 +0000

When did February arrive? Where did January go? Yikes!

Here’s an image taken a couple of weeks ago in the backyard. Not a big departure from January’s I admit but I can’t help stare at water…

If you like the above image you can download it to your computer and use it as your desktop or tablet wallpaper. A few of the common screen sizes are available:

Download the 1024×768 version here. (Perfect for your iPad)

Download the 1280×1024 version here.

Download the 1680×1050 version here.

Technical stuff:

Canon 5D Mark II, 100-400mm f/4.5 at f/9 and 250mm. 0.6 second exposure. ISO 160. (0.9 ND and polarizing filter)

Processed with Lightroom 3: bit of fill light and black point, clarity +43, vibrance +0. (And I just noticed some dust spotting might have been useful… sigh!)

Sudbury River Sunrise

Dave — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:04:49 +0000

Didn’t get out last Wednesday (the weather was pretty awful) and the previous week’s exploration yielded little in the way of images but I did continue my weekly attempt to photograph something new – in this case the Sudbury River in Sudbury (not far off of Route 27). Nothing special here, especially considering what I could have done yesterday with the wonderful fog we had — but unfortunately the business of having a business prevented me from getting anywhere near a camera until long after the sun burned off all of the good stuff… Sigh.

Anyways, in a rush to get out of the house I forgot to bring my graduated neutral density filters (and my hat) so when this scene began to present itself I had to go to “plan B”. Consequently these first two images are HDR composites from 3 separate exposures. I wasn’t sure if I liked the B&W version better so I posted both here. Other than the HDR, which manages to keep the dark ice and the brilliant rising sun all within the exposure range, little was done to the image beyond the usual tonal tweaking.

I’m not what you’d call an expert with the HDR tools, but I’m still trying to figure out if the halo around the trees is an optical illusion or a processing artifact. When I zoom into the image in Lightroom, I don’t see the halo… Something to ponder on a rainy day…

A rising sun doesn’t give you much time to find good photographs. The image below is the first of a few exposures I made trying to capture the warm glow of the sun rising on the ice. Unfortunately by the time I managed to get a better composition lined up the sun was too bright and lacks the warmth and evenness that this, admittedly uninspiring, version does — but it’s always a challenge to race the sun.

Ice Hats

Dave — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:36:26 +0000

A quick study from this morning on the relationship of rock, ice and water…

Just missed it!

Dave — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:21:38 +0000

Taking a break from an editing session I walked into the kitchen to get a drink and saw what is a very rare sight in our neck of the woods: a nice sunset. The only problem was the good part was probably about 5 minutes before I saw it. I grabbed a camera that had a lens attached and a tripod (taking no time to find a jacket, but the weather here is back to unseasonably mild), ran out to the river and grabbed a few exposures.

Oh to have been there a few minutes earlier with another lens or two in hand! There are so many good photographs hiding in these frames…

Anyway, as Dewitt Jones says, celebrate what nature gives you – and I do. So here’s a little “fire on the water” from our little corner of the world.

You might be asking “No sunsets?”. Nope. I live right next to a river and, for all it’s beauty when you are next to a river you are, by definition, at the bottom of a valley. To the west from where we are the land rises up, so the sun drops below the horizon a good 30 minutes before it “sets”. Only when the clouds are in the right configuration do we get anything resembling color in our sunsets — and believe me that doesn’t happen very often (like maybe a couple of times a year at the level that these photos are at). Over the past 8 or 9 years I think I only have one other set of images with similar conditions. And now you know why I wish I was thirsty a few minutes earlier!

Sudbury River – Cold Winter Morning

Dave — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:43:57 +0000

Now that I’ve begun my photography project for 2012, the temperatures suddenly drop to around 10 degrees F… Sigh!

January 2012 Wallpaper

Dave — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 21:22:15 +0000

It is becoming increasingly difficult to find a “typical” photograph of January here in Massachusetts. Today we took our grandson to a nearby playground with temperatures close to 50 degrees (F). Last year we were buried in snow and in 2009 we were in the single digits with the temperatures dropping below zero a few days later…

So here’s a mixture of water and ice of the Assabet River flowing through our backyard, “way back” in 2005. Even with all of that ice, you can see a little green below the water’s surface – a reminder that Spring is coming.

My best wishes to you and yours for a great 2012. My goal is to have a lot more photography posted here this year – perhaps not all of it that great, but I need to work on getting out more and so I’ve decided to focus on the Sudbury and Concord Rivers this year (in addition to my usual haunts). Of course the wallpapers will continue.

Happy New Year,

Dave Griffin

If you like the above image you can download it to your computer and use it as your desktop or tablet wallpaper. A few of the common screen sizes are available:

Download the 1024×768 version here. (Perfect for your iPad)

Download the 1280×1024 version here.

Download the 1680×1050 version here.

Technical stuff:

Canon 1D Mark II, 70-200mm f/2.8L at (gulp) f/25 and 90mm. 1 second exposure. ISO 100. (Almost certainly a polarizing filter — just looking at the water.)

Processed with Lightroom 3: bit of fill light and black point to bring out the subsurface details, clarity +30, vibrance +20, masked sharpening, and plenty of dust spotting.

Photowalk at Danforth Brook

Dave — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:55:09 +0000

On Saturday I “led” our local meetup group, the Metrowest Photography Collaborative, on a photo walk in nearby Hudson, at the Danforth Falls conservation area. This is one of my favorite local spots to photograph year-round and I enjoyed sharing it with my fellow photographers. Here are a few selections from my short visit there. (I shot a bit of video as well and may put together something in the next few days.)

October 2011 Wallpaper

Dave — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:06:27 +0000

My favorite season is nearly upon us and I thought this backyard scene from last year would set the mood…

If you like the above image you can download it to your computer and use it as your desktop or tablet wallpaper. A few of the common screen sizes are available:

Download the 1024×768 version here. (Perfect for your iPad)

Download the 1280×1024 version here.

Download the 1680×1050 version here.

Technical stuff:

Canon 7D,500mm f/4L, 1/25 second at f/4.5, ISO 400. (the branch was still but the flying insect under it was not…)
Lightroom processing: Tweaked the black point, bit of clarity, smidge of vibrance, sharpening. That’s it!

September 2011 Wallpaper

Dave — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 02:53:13 +0000

Tropical Storm Irene didn’t bring any good images with it (for me), so here’s one from 2006…

If you like the above image you can download it to your computer and use it as your desktop or tablet wallpaper. A few of the common screen sizes are available:

Download the 1024×768 version here. (Perfect for your iPad)

Download the 1280×1024 version here.

Download the 1680×1050 version here.

Technical stuff:

Canon 1D Mark II, 100mm f/2.8 Macro, 1/160 second at f/8, ISO 640.
Processed with Lightroom 3, WB 5300K, typical contrast/clarity tweaks, sharpening.

Riverfest 2011 Weekend

Dave — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 19:31:12 +0000

Well, I hate to say it, but sometimes Nature has a way of inhibiting its own stewardship… A bunch of dedicated folks work their tails off to bring people to the local rivers and our reward is a cold, soaking rain. Sigh!

On Friday evening the sun was shining on the RiverFest kickoff reception where Lee Steppacher presented the River Stewardship Awards, honoring those who have spent countless hours protecting the rivers and the watersheds that surround them.

On Saturday morning I was out on the Assabet River (along with my son Jay, who was handling the Sudbury River) for the OARS RiverQuest — a scavenger hunt type of events that we have run for families. Those families (sanely) stayed at home while we got drenched setting up the puzzle pieces along the rivers and then retrieving them when nobody showed up. (We did get to eat some of the cookies that were baked for the occasion, so it wasn’t a complete washout…)

However it seemed like a good time to grab a few photographs of Dove Rock.

Sunday morning I ran a workshop on photographing from your canoe/kayak at the Assabet River NWR. It was misting and raining. Combined with the 6am start time I was thrilled that two undeterred participants arrived and we had a nice morning paddle on a mist-shrouded Puffer Pond. I spent most of the time talking and answering questions, but I did manage to find some time to take a few photographs — although my eyeglasses were so heavily coated in mist that it made it difficult to see through the viewfinder. I suspect my lenses were slowly succumbing to the conditions as well.

As always, a bad day on the water beats a good day just about anywhere else…

Technical: All shots were with a Canon 7D. All handheld. Variety of lenses and settings (24-70, 70-200, 500mm). Lightroom 3. Basic exposure and contrast tweaking.