Hummingbirds

For the next two days, we mainly concentrated with multi--flash hummingbirds set ups.  The first day took place at Bosque De Paz and the second day at Catarata Del Toro.  Bosque has a large covered open air platform, where Greg and José set up the multiflash stations.  We all took turns on a rotational basis for a half hour of time each session.  In between we could photograph the landscape or do macro photography.  Except for a break for lunch.  These sessions continued all day.

Violet Saberwing

Green Hermit

Green Hermit

 Purple-throated Mountain-gem

Green Hermit and Green-Crowned Brilliant

Green-Crowned Brilliant and Wasp

Catarata Del Toro is down the road and is noted for its impressive waterfall that drops 300 feet into an old extinct volcanic caldera.  Catarata Del Toro has a large open-air restaurant where we had permission to place our Hummingbird set setups taking over the left side of the restaurant.  Again, we photographed the hummingbirds, including species that do not come to the set ups at Bosque, on rotational basis.  In between we were able to photograph the landscape, and I also spent time photographing hummingbirds at a different feeder catching the hummingbirds sitting on branches four different appearances.  We also experimented with different backgrounds, including black and white.

Green-crowned Brilliant

Silhouette

Green Hermit

Green-crowned Brilliant

Black-bellied Hummingbird

Black-bellied Hummingbird

Black-bellied Hummingbird

Green-Violetear

In between our rotations we ate a great lunch.  During the afternoon, there was a rainstorm which allowed for different landscape photography.

Panorama At the Waterfall

The Waterfall

Finishing the day, we turn to Bosque De Paz for another great supper.  After talking over the day's experiences around the supper table, we returned to our rooms to get ready for another day of landscape and macro photography.

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Running water And the Sea

Water over a Dam with Ice

I normally don't publish to blogs on the same day, but Friday my son who was working in Washington DC flew up to visit, and since he is been for 15 years stationed overseas and hasn't seen the amount the snow we got.  He grew up in Massachusetts and remembers the blizzard of 76.  Anyway, we drove around and visited difference locations.

I photographed two different water scenes.  The first was water coming over a dam and there was ice in different locations.  For these pictures, I decided to use a high shutter speed to show the force of the water.  The second picture was of the tide coming in and receding and did a long exposure, utilizing a polarizing filter, and a sing-ray variable neutral density filter, set at 10 so that I could smooth out the water.

Water over a Dam with Ice

Incoming and Outgoing Tide

My next project is for the upcoming Tuesday after the storm and I am hoping for waves at the beach to photograph them both and shot and long exposures.  I will be using a welding glass which is equivalent to a 10+ neutral density filter.  If you buy the right size, they will fit into a Conkin P filter holder.  I purchased mine on eBay.

Diane's Baths

Diane's Baths

Well, I still have a lot of information to pass on about my trip to the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  Today's blog is about Diana's Baths Waterfalls located in Bartlett New Hampshire.  This is definitely a must-see destination, if you are in the North Conway area.  Diana's Baths lie along Lucy Brook in Bartlett and is feed from big Attitash Mountain.  In the spring, when the water levels are at their peak, the flow down the approximately 75 feet total height of the waterfall gives a spectacular show.  Later on in the year when the water levels are lower, it is safer for people to walk along the rocks and weighed in the pools.  Still, while I was there, people were on the rocks at the upper portion of the falls.

Diane's Baths

Diane's Baths. Shoes left at the base, while people when higher up onto the falls

Diane's Baths

Diane's Baths

Family, climbing on the rocks at Diane's Baths

A little history of the site taken from the Official North Conway, New Hampshire Area Guide: " In the 1860’s, after building a house and barn on the banks of the brook, George Lucy built a water wheel powered sawmill. In the 1890’s George built a 12 room boarding house for tourists to visit the site. In the 1930’s Chester Lucy built a concrete dam with a water feed and turbine system to replace the water wheel used to power the sawmill.
Both the rooming house and sawmill were eventually sold to the US Government and have become part of the national Forrest land. Due to the deterioration, the buildings were eventually removed from the site in the 1960’s. Remnants of the site can still be seen today including the old cellar holes and parts of the dam system, feed tube and turbine gears used to power the sawmill."

Cellar hole

Turbine Gear

Diana's Baths is located at 3405 West Side Rd. and there is a large parking lot, maintained by the U.S. Forest Service.  There is a $3 a day fee to park in the lot.  It is a short 6/10 of a mile hike up a gravel path to Diane's Baths

Water, Water, Everywhere!

Rocky Gorge

Rocky Gorge

Photographers at Lower Falls

Most people travel the Kancamangus in the fall to view the foliage.  I went in the spring, because it is the time of the snow melt and the brooks, streams and rivers will be flowing in the waterfalls will be powerful.  What I had hoped for, were some overcast days, this so that the lighting on the water would be uniform and save me a lot of post-processing to correct the highlights and shadows.  However, I had bright sunny days with only some clouds.  But I survived and had a great time.  I created images with the water smooth and milky by utilizing my polarizing filter or a neutral density filter to give me slow shutter speeds.  I also used by lowest ISO in my cameras.  I also took some pictures with a high shutter speed to freeze the action of the water.  I experimented with sun flares, and zoom blurs.  With the zoom blurs, I utilize two seconds or greater shutter speed and either zoomed from the widest to the narrowest setting of vice versa.  Equipment included both a Nikon D7100 and D800, lenses, ranging from 17 mm to 75 mm, shutter releases, polarizing and neutral density filters, and of course, a tripod.  It was a fun time, and the waterfalls for the next few weeks still should be great to photograph.

Two locations that are easy to photograph and give you great action, plus a right along the road and do not require a lot of hiking are The Rocky Gorge Scenic Area (9.0/21.0 miles, easy) and the Lower Falls (6.8/23.2 miles, easy).  Mileage is from Conway at the Sacco Ranger Station stop sign or from Lincoln at the entrance to Lincoln Woods.

Lower Falls

Lower Falls

Lower Falls with sun flare

Lower Falls

Saco River

Zoom Blur

Freezing the action

Zoom Blur

Saco River

Two Waterfalls in Southwestern Massachusetts

I spent this last weekend visiting and exploring Western Massachusetts.  On the Saturday, we visited and photographed two waterfalls near Great Barrington.  The first waterfall, Bash Bish Falls, located in the Bash Bish Falls State Park, located next to Mount Washington State Forest, contains the highest waterfall in Massachusetts.  It has been described as "the state's most dramatic waterfall".  I had found information about the falls in  Parsons, Greg; Watson, Kate B. (2010-07-05). New England Waterfalls: A Guide to More Than 400 Cascades and Waterfalls.  New England Waterfalls: A Guide to More Than 400 Cascades and Waterfalls (Second Edition) (New England Waterfalls: A Guide to More Than 200 Cascades & Waterfalls) This book describes the falls, when is the best time to visit them, and gives excellent directions to help you locate the falls.

There are two different ways to get to Bash Bish Falls, one is to park in the upper parking lot and traveled down a steep, narrow trail to the falls (the shortest way) or travel down to the lower parking lot, which is in New York, and walk an easier trail, but longer to the falls.  We went down the shortest way to the falls, but returned up the easier way, then my son walked back up to the upper falls brought the car down to pick me up.
Bash Bish  Falls is very popular and there were around good number of people visiting and enjoying the vista.  There was a group of boys which appeared to be college-age that climbed on the rocks and were jumping over from one side to the other and I thought if one of them slipped we would the call in the rescue squad to pick up the body further downstream.
I photograph these beautiful falls from above the falls and down on the rocks at the base of the falls.  Bish Bash Falls the definitely worth a trip.

After, we had a spot of lunch, we traveled to the next falls.  Campbell Falls located in the Campbell Falls State Park in the town of New Marlborough.  To me.  Campbell Falls was just as spectacular as the Bash Bish Falls and we had the whole falls to ourselves.  An interesting fact on on the falls is that they are probably located in Connecticut. 

On the trail down there is a stone marker with 1908, chiseled on one side, and on opposite sides are chiseled MASS and CONN.

So if you are out visiting in the Berkshires around the Great Barrington area, these falls are definitely worth the trip.

My Diary of My Trip to Costa Rica. Episode Four

Black-bellied Hummingbird

After two great days photographing hummingbirds, we traveled to Catarata del Toro for another day of photographing hummingbird species that were not as common as at our lodge.  The species include the green hermit, black-bellied hummingbird, green thorntail and coppery:-headed emerald.  What makes this location so enjoyable is an impressive waterfall, that drops 300 feet into the caldera  of an extinct volcano.  There are lookout stations placed so that you can observe the volcano and take some excellent photographs.  A few of our group hiked down to the bottom, down 300+ stairs and then back again.  In order to accomplish this and so that the participants would miss out on the hummingbird photography, instead of a half-hour at the station photographing, we did an hour in the morning and in the afternoon.

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Black-bellied Hummingbird

Purple-throated Mountain-gem

Green Thorntail

Coppery-headed Emerald

I did a few macro photographs before the mosquitoes and rain drove me back inside.





We were also treated to an excellent lunch.  After finishing and packing all equipment up.  We returned to our lodge for our last evening meal. That evening the leaders present some how-to-do information, and afterwards it was  packing for the trip back to San Jose in the morning.
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