Leaf Peeping, the Kancamagus and Franconia Notch

Foliage against the Dark Sky

I have done a little research online on the New Hampshire tourist page and it seems that the foliage is still decent.  Despite being after Columbus Day.  So yesterday morning, the kids and I left our house at 4 AM so that we could be able to photograph the sunrise on the Kancamagus highway.  We have made it with time to spare, and the colors were gorgeous prior to to the sunrise.

Sunrise on the Kancamagus

Because of the thickness of the clouds once the sun rose, the sky had dark clouds and when you photographed so the foreground was exposed right, the sky was blown out.  To compensate for this, I took two photographs.  One to correctly exposed for the sky and the other ducks correctly exposing for the foreground.  In Lightroom I utilized the photo merge-HDR key and created a DNG image and then I adjusted the image to my taste.

There Is Even Color on the Ground

Color from an Overlook

At the very highest levels on the Kancamagus the the color peak of the leaves had passed, however, at the lower levels they were at peak or even just coming into peak.  We traveled the Kancamagus at stopped at scenic areas and at the number of waterfalls to photograph the beauty of the area.

Rocky Gorge

Sabbaday Falls

Sabbaday Falls

Falls Pond

Swift River Lower Falls

After we photographed the Albany covered bridge, the plan originally was to travel to Jackson New Hampshire and photograph the covered bridge and waterfall in that area.

Albany Covered Bridge

Looking up the Swift River from inside the Albany Covered Bridge

The Kids Photographing the Swift River

 But, Conway stopped us.  Why!  The traffic was backed up due to construction and was moving extremely slow.  We turned around and went back to the Kancamagus and went partly onto the Bear Notch Road, where we stopped.  Had lunch did some more photography, including zooms of the birches and foliage.

Foliage and Birch Zoom Blur

We traveled back down to the Kancamagus and returned back to I 93 and traveled up and to Franconia Notch State Park.  We were not able to visit the flume since the road was closed due to being repaired.  We stopped at the Basin and photographed in the area.

The Basin

Pemigewasset River

The Basin Viewed from the Handicap Area

Pemigewasset River Flowing down to the Basin

Sunburst Through the Foliage

There was still some good color.  Finishing up.  We then turned our attention back to home and as we were coming down.  I 93.  The lower we got New Hampshire, the better the color.  If you have an been up to photograph oft he foliage you still have a chance to do it.

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Rain forest Macros and Landscapes

The rest of our time at Evergreen Lodge in Tortuguero, we spent photographing macro subjects with off-camera flash and utilizing a led flashlight to help illuminate the subjects.  We also went down the boardwalk into the rainforest to photograph landscapes.  Besides standard landscapes, we experimented with blurs and zooms.  It was a great time even with a drizzle.  Practicing different techniques help create interesting photographs for our portfolio.

Spider on Leaf Illuminated from beneath

Spider and Web

Tree Crab

Lizard Illuminated from below

Tree Crab Peeling a Leaf to Eat

Treefrog

Grasshopper

Landscape in the Rainforest

Rainforest with Blurry Water

Zoom Blur

The Rainforest

Rainforests Abstract Blur

Meetup at Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge

Civil Dawn

Today, Saturday, May 30, Mike Milica put together another great Meetup at Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Concord, Massachusetts.  The main item we will going to hopefully photograph was the Marsh Wren along with the red-winged blackbirds and what else we could find to photograph.

We met at the refuge parking lot at 5 AM, so we could be ready and out photographing at first light.  On my drive up from the home, there was moderate to thick fog present up on till Parkway on Route 128 N. at the refuge there was some fog over the water and over us some of the trees.  With the color in the sky from civil dawn and sunrise.  It allowed some nice landscapes.

Sunrise

In "Don's Early Light" a marsh wren was on the cattails singing.  Photographing marsh wrens takes patience as they will pop up onto reads and cattails and then drop down into the underbrush, so you just have to wait for the wrens to reappear.  Red-winged blackbirds were flying and singing all around us and were able to photograph them as they landed on bushes.

Marsh Wren

Marsh Wren

Red-Winged Blackbird Singing

Red-winged Blackbird Flying at You

I also photographed swamp sparrows and song sparrows, as they were singing and preening.  Also around were Canada geese, and great blue herons flying by.

Song Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

The group started breaking up around 8 o'clock to 9 o'clock.  As a group of us was leaving, one photographer had located a marsh Wren nest, partly hidden behind new cattail leaves and the nest was attached to last year's cattails.  I spent around the half-hour watching the nest and was able to get a few pictures of the marsh wren leaving and entering into the nest.  The only reason I quit was that I had a set up on the boardwalk and the number of people needing to pass by me increased and when a person pass by.  I had a move my tripod and then reset up to find the nest again.

Marsh Wren on the Cattail Leaves with the Nest. Behind It, and the Hole of the Net Visible

Finally, as I was walking out the path back to the car, I came across a white admiral butterfly, which gave gave me some good photographs.

White Admiral Picking up Minerals from the Soil

White Admiral

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Plum Island to Rye New Hampshire

Sunrise at Plum Island

This weekend I joined my friend John Slonina on his one day photo tour, where we started at sunrise at Plum Island and the day finished at sunset at Salisbury Beach. John knows the area very well and works with the photographers to get them thinking out of the box. He helps everybody with composition, settings, and given freely of his knowledge. I also will help them with the participants.

After sunrise, we traveled down through Parker River National Wildlife Sanctuary all the way to the very end, which is Sandy Point State Reservation. We stopped at different locations for landscape photography. We did see a Snowy Owl and Bald Eagles in flight.

Boardwalk at Parker River

Sand Abstracts on the Dunes

Landscape

Colored Rock at Sandy Point

Next stop was Salisbury Beach State Reservation, where we searched for birds and stopped and photographed at one location along the Merrimack River, which gave a number of subjects for close-ups and landscapes. Ice floating in the river had some interesting shapes.

Ice Flow

We continued into New Hampshire, where it was lunch time so we stopped at the Castaways and had a good lunch, plus a lot of interesting discussion about photography, equipment, settings and post processing.

Continuing along route 1A, we searched Hampton State Park, looking for snowy owls, but there were none so we continued up to Rye State Park. At Rye there was a snowy owl present on a log that was on the rocks and was very comfortable with people in front of it and behind it. After photographing it for around the half-hour or more, the snowy owl defecated and then flew off into the wind right at us, my problem was that I lost focus in the flight shots were blurry. Going back to the parking lot, the snowy owl was perched on an electric pole and allowed a lot more photography.

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl Preparing to Fly

Snowy Owl on Electric Post

The group went back to Salisbury to photograph the sunset, however, I stayed and worked the snowy owl for a a while.

John has two more plum island-right New Hampshire tours scheduled for January 17 and January 31. You can contact John at http://www.sphotography.com/new-england-one-day-photo-tours-and-workshops/

Also, he has a number of other day trips scheduled plus a number of longer workshops, including one to Downeast Maine that I co-lead with John.