Photography–An Art Form

I have been reading a number of blogs recently that have addressed the issue of manipulation in photography.  I am a believer that photography is an art form, and that utilizing post processing to increase "enjoyment" of an image is perfectly acceptable.  Ansell Adams spent a lot of time in the darkroom adjusting his images.  When I photograph would black and white film, after I developed the film in the darkroom and made a contact sheet I would pick out the pictures that I felt I wanted to print and then adjust the image with dodging and burning during the printing process.  Now that we are in the digital phase, we have many more tools to help us adjust our images.
Here is a photograph of a portion of the harbor with a NOAA Stellwagon Boat tied up, that I took at Plymouth Harbor just as the picture came out of the camera. The picture is very flat, without much contrast and in the upper right corner there is an extremely bright area that detracts from the picture.


Here is the same picture that I adjusted in light room, utilizing NIK software, first VIVEZA and then detail extractor in Color Efex Pro.  The picture still had the bright spot in the right upper quadrant, so I opened the picture in Photoshop CS 5 and utilizing a Cloning and Contents Aware preset removed the offending (in my eyes) bright area.  Here is the final finished picture.




So which picture do you like? Just out of the camera or adjusted?  Leave a comment, thanks.

Cape Neddick Light and a Snowy Owl

On the way home, after capturing the photographs of the Northern Hawk Owl, we stopped in York, Maine to visit Cape Neddick Light (otherwise known as Nubble Light).  The lighthouse stands On Nubble Island at around 100 yards off of Cape Neddick Point..  The lighthouse was dedicated in 1879 and is still in use.  It originally had a lighthouse keeper, but it is unmanned at present.  It Is Listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The reason for this visit was twofold, one because the lighthouse is beautiful to photograph and the 2nd reason there is supposed to be a snowy owl there.  Arriving in the parking lot at Sohier Park across from the lighthouse, I noticed off to my left a white blur, but could not identify what it was.
After parking, setting up my camera equipment I walked over to would be edge and saw a couple with a spotting scope.  On discussing the snowy owl with them.  They remark that it just flew from the rocks on the left side behind the lighthouse.  Oh well, I decided to see what else was around to photograph and on the rocks on the left side was a pair of Great Cormorants, which were displaying the white patch on their face.  I walked over and took photographs of the Cormorants. 




Turning around and looking  at the lighthouse, where I noticed on the fence, the Snowy Owl.  Watching and photographing the owl as it put on a display of preening, looking around, turning its back to us, but having its head, looking at us
(owls can rotate the head 270° because of the number of vertebrae's in its neck).  It then flew up to land on the wires, stayed there for a while and then flew and landed on one of the buildings of the lighthouse.  We really wish that landed on the red building.  Because that would've been up pretty a picture than landing where it did.
As it was getting late, going on toward sunset, I went from photographing the owl, to doing scenics of the lighthouse.  I want to the capture lighthouse with its red light showing.

Because, again, the sky was overcast, I ran this photograph through NIK software, Color Efex Pro 4 and VIVEZA.

Northern Hawk Owl

The Northern Hawk Owl (Surnia ulula) normally lives in the boreal forests of the circumpolar regions of the northern hemisphere.  It is usually non-migratory and is not seen in the lower 48 states.  However, occasionally it will extend down south into upper Minnesota and other states in the northern United States.  The winter irruptions is thought to correlate with high reproductive successes and decrease prey availability.  This is the same reasoning that we are having such an irruption of snowy owls into the United States It has been found in New England, in all of  the northern states. 
The Northern Hawk Owl is primarily diurnal and its behavior is different compared to other northern hemisphere owls.  Its behavior resembles more that of the accipiter hawks, and with its long tail, it has been related to the Cooper's Hawk.  It will perch atop prominent trees where it uses its keen hearing and sight to locate prey.

Presently, there is one that has been reported in Maine and another one in Vermont.  Thanks to my good friend Christopher, who gave me directions to where the bird is, I traveled up to Palmyra Maine to find the Northern Hawk Owl.  We left my home in Massachusetts at 4:30 AM and arrived at the site at around 8:30 AM.  At the site, we did meet some other birders/photographers and we combined our resources and searched all around the area.  For over 2 hours, we searched with no sign of the owl.  Suddenly one of the group saw the owl land on a birch tree very near us. That started over an hour of observing and photographing this beautiful bird.  It flew out of the heavier wooded area and landed in the top of a tree.  Great views were had of the bird, the only problem being no sun in the sky was very cloudy, so the photographs were flat, however, utilizing post processing, utilizing NIK software, especially Color Efex Pro 4 and VIVEZA.  We were able to get excellent pictures.

Surrealistic Snowy Owl

I went back to Duxbury Beach yesterday and met my friend Chris to take him down to see if we could find the snowy owl.  It was an interesting morning, we were out to the end of the road just before Gurnet and we observed a red fox running through the marsh.  The light was very dim and therefore no picture was obtained.  We search with our binoculars.  The usual locations where a snowy owl has been found in the past, but no owl was present.  We traveled back down the road slowly, stopping, observing and even moving over to the beach to see if the snowy owl was anywhere in sight.  We finally located at the end of the marsh and did get some photographs of it.  It then flew carrying what appeared to be a duck out to a distant spit of land.  We traveled back up to the top of the road and slowly made our way back down.  The tide was coming in and when we got down to where the snowy owl was the part of of the marsh where it was sitting was almost on the water and the owl flew onto the land closer to us.  It was hidden partially in the marsh grasses.  After a while it started eating and then hopped way slightly clearer area of the marsh.  The photograph that I took of it hunched over its prey, I decided to make sure listed and here is the result. 
The image was post processed utilizing NIK software (Color EFEX 4, VIVEZA) and Topaz software (LENS EFFECT)

Post Processing with NIK Plug-ins

As I promised earlier, in my last blog, I am going to show some of the changes that you can create a post processing, utilizing NIK Color Efex Pro 4.  The first filter that I am going to use is an adjustment developed by Arthur Morris as described in his blog, http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2011/12/18/nik-color-efex-pro-4-tip/.  This is using and adjusted Tonal Contrast filter along with the White Neutralizer filter.  As he described in his blog I created a recipe to do without any difficulty and made it easier to repeat the action
Here is the original image without any processing
This is the image After applying The above filter.
After I utilize the above filter, I applied the Detail Extractor filter to the image.
Finally, I went to VIVEZA and put a control point onto the snowy owl, to brighten its image, since the day was very overcast and it was snowing.
the changes that were applied subtle but did make the image better in my opinion..

Plug-ins, including NIK and TOPAZ, to end up making your post processing life easier and your pictures better.  NIK plug-ins work in both Windows and Macintosh and can be utilize In Photoshop, Aperture, and Light Room...

Sunrise and Post Processing utilizing NIK plug-ins

Each morning that I photograph the sunrise on Buzzards Bay is different.  This is due to the presence of clouds, the amount of moisture in the air, the amount the particulate matter that may be present in the air, and many other factors.
So, returning to the same location can give you a variety of pictures.  What else helps to increase the beauty of the pictures is post processing and the use of plug-in filters I have been utilizing NIK software, especially VIVEZA 2 and Color Efex Pro 4.  These plug-ins are available for Light Room, Photoshop, and Aperture.
Here is a 3 image stack that I processed in NIK HDR EFEX PRO and then utilize VIVEZA and Color Efex Pro 4.  So, which image do you like best.  Let me know by sending me a comment. 
Original

Processed

..