Hocking Hills, Part 3

Part 3 of my vacation to Hocking Hills takes us to Ash Cave and Cantwell Cliffs.

Cantwell Cliffs

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)

Ash Cave

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)

Ash Cave

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)

Hocking Hills, Part 2

Part two of my vacation to Hocking Hills takes us to Old Man's Cave.

A very nice spot, with lots of good photographic opportunities.

Looks to me like The Lord of the Rings could have been filmed here!

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)   

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(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)   

 (5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)   

 

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)   

Thanks!

Brian

Hocking Hills, Part 1

My Dad, Brother, and I took a nice vacation this year to Hocking Hills, Ohio.

Very interesting, because I grew up only about an hour from here, but never really understood how wonderful this area was until now.  We always spent time up at Mohican whenever we went camping, hiking, etc.

But I gotta say - Hocking Hills is much much better than Mohican.  There's some pretty amazing scenery and photography opportunities there.  I wish that we had frequented this place a long time ago.

Expect to see a few more blog posts on Hocking Hills, as I was able to get lots of great shots!

Below are two photos of Lake Rose, which was a very small hike from our campground.  Absolutely beautiful, but not so fruitful when it comes to fishing!  We had no luck, but still enjoyed the amazing view and unseasonably warm weather.

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)    

 

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)   

Below is a shot that I got along a trail when we were just leaving Lake Rose.  We didn't bring our trail map, not thinking that we would need it, being only 10 minutes from camp.  Well, we received some bad directions from a lady who was hanging out at the lake.  We thought that we had about 15 minutes to get back to the campsite following this lady's "alternate" trail, and ended up taking about an hour and a half.  It was only about an hour from getting dark, so we were honestly a little worried.  I'm not sure that this shot is really that amazing.  I just think that I'm including it as a memento of nearly spending the night in the woods!

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)   

More Hocking Hills photos to come!

Brian

Huron Lighthouse from Nickleplate Beach....

Things have been pretty busy with work, so photography has taken a little bit of a backseat lately.

But did manage to get away for a little bit on a weekend not too long ago and took the picture below of the Huron Lighthouse from Nickleplate Beach....

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 85mm)   

Thanks for looking!

Brian

Lake Erie from Mitiwanga

For the 4th of July fireworks, we visited my wife's Uncle, who lives right on Lake Erie in a small village called Mitiwanga.

A couple of hours before the fireworks started, a pretty big storm came through.

The storm left some great clouds right at sunset, and cleared away just in time for the fireworks!

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)  

Thanks!

Brian

4th of July!

My wife's uncle lives in a really neat village called Mitiwanga right on Lake Erie.

Every year the residents put on one heck of a fireworks show.  We had some bad weather come through, but it all cleared up just as it got dark, giving me great fireworks to photograph!

All of these at F11, ISO 100, and the shutterspeed is varying from 3 seconds to 40+ seconds.

Fireworks are always fun to photograph!

Thanks for looking!

Brian

Cedar Point in Color....

With my most recent blog post being Cedar Point in Black and White, it's time to present Cedar Point in Color!

First up is the Top Thrill Dragster.  I can only imagine what it would be like to go 0 to 120mph in less then 4 seconds, and then straight up 420 feet.  The reason that I can only imagine is that I don't have the cojones to find out!

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 24mm)   

 

Now here is one of my favorite rides that I will get on...the Gemini.  Apparently God also likes it, as it appears he's blessing it with some sun-rays! 

 (5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 40mm)  

And this one presented a nice challenge.  I found this great vantage point which showed many rides all at one point.  I really wanted to find a way to show all the rides with their cars at an interesting point.  So this shot is made up of about nine composite shots.  I used 5 exposures to create a nice HDR sky, and then I would snap a shot when each ride had it's cars at the apex, or at an interesting point.  Then I layered the cars into the final shot, along with the people.

(9 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 30mm) 

Thanks!

Brian

Cedar Point in Black and White....

We recently had a nice trip to Cedar Point.

When processing my shots, I realized that a lot of them really lended themselves to Black and White, so I went ahead with it.

The Power Tower, with same awfully dramatic clouds....

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)  

A rather menacing T Rex....

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)  

...and the Windseeker....

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)  

Stay tuned, as the next blog entry will be Cedar Point in COLOR!

Thanks!

Brian

Arizona Vacation, Part Three

My third blog post regarding my vacation will keep us in Sedona.  After all, it's difficult to not take a good photo at this little part of the globe!

I was in awe of this chapel that we saw.  It's called The Chapel of the Holy Cross.

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 36mm)  

And then we found a store along the side of the road that had everything!  I was really attracted to their pottery....

 (5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)  

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm) 

And then I don't remember the name of this formation, but this was on the way to the Chapel mentioned above...

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)  

More to come!

Brian

Arizona Vacation, Part Two

Day Two of our Arizona vacation takes us to Sedona.  It's hard to not find good photo opportunities in this area.  My only regret is that there were not too many clouds in the sky, but guess I'll just have to make do!

Bell Rock

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 40mm) 

We took a really neat Jeep tour.  We essentially gear up in a Jeep outfitted with some pretty amazing suspension so we can get to places that we would never be able to get with normal vehicles.  Photos during the tour is not easy, as you are being constantly bounced around.

But we did stop the Jeep and took a small walk to a cabin that was originally built in 1908.  I can only imagine how it would have been to live in an area this remote in a cabin such as this, even when it was in good shape....

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm) 

This is a formation that made a great photo, but I never got the name of it....

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 40mm) 

More Sedona photos will follow in my next post!

Thanks.

Brian

Arizona Vacation, Part One

My family recently arrived in Arizona for a nice vacation.

I'll keep the updates coming on a regular basis, as there will be plenty of photos from this vacation.

To start, I got a couple of decent shots around the Cleveland Hopkins Airport prior to our leaving....

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm) 

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)

When we arrived at the condo, there was a nice view of the pool.  We will be spending a lot of time here!

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 19mm)

The next update will be Sedona, so stay tuned!

Brian

Downtown Milan Ohio

Milan is a neat little town.  We moved here about 6 years ago, and we couldn't be happier.  There's only one stoplight, a small town square, but there's character spilling into the city streets.

The town square consists of some antique shops, bed and breakfasts, a quaint little inn, and some other neat spots.  There is a greasy spoon diner that is complete with padded spinning stools, waitresses that will call you "hon" or "sugar", and some of the best breakfast food that I've had.

Our only claim to fame is that Thomas Edison was born here.  He stayed here until he was merely seven, but that's enough for us to claim him as our local hero!

Below is a statue that was put up in his honor at one end of the town square.

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 40mm) 

The Gazebo at the other end of the town square....

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm) 

And a really neat building within the Milan Historical Society...

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm) 

There are a just couple of good shots of this area.  There will certainly be more!

Thanks!

Brian

Great Clouds!

Not too long ago, I went out during the day because the clouds were just spectacular!

A lot of times, I'll want to wait for sunset for shots like this, but I couldn't resist.  Besides, the weather map was saying that these clouds would clear by the time sunset came around, so I ran around trying to get some great landscape shots while these big puffy clouds were around.

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 24mm) 

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)

I liked the one below so much that I made it my banner at the top of the page....

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm) 

Thanks!

Brian

Sewel H. Richards

I recently took part in a small photography competition.  The theme that I was assigned was "weathered".

I only had a few days to get something together, and I didn't want to do a typical old barn, an abandoned house, or old farm equipment.

So I started thinking about subjects around my town that have been in existence the longest.  Milan has a rich history, going back to the very early 1800's with the Milan Canal System prior to railroads coming through.  After the war of 1812 and the Battle of Lake Erie, peaceful times led to more and more settlers in this area which led to the Village of Milan's incorporation in 1833.

History lesson aside, my mind immediately went to the cemetery knowing that gravestones have been there quite a long time.  So I went there around sunset and I found the grave of Mr. Sewel H. Richards, born 1811, died 1880.

If you look closely, you can see that the original "Richards" inscription towards the bottom is barely still legible, while the main inscription above it seems a lot more crisp, leading me to believe that the inscription has been reworked over the years.

Regardless, I was real happy with how this turned out and I won the competition!

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 22mm)

Thanks

Brian

The Huron River....

Not too long ago, I took a hike along (and in) the Huron River.

It was a beautiful day with the sun peeking out in various places along the hike.  It was a little hot, so getting my feet wet felt good.  And in my area, the bugs are not really in full force...so the evening hike was perfect.

These were shot in multiple exposures for HDR (high dynamic range).  I've always had trouble with dense forests and HDR.  Real dense foliage just is not enhanced at all with Photomatix.  Photomatix hurts more than it helps dense forests.  My solution has always been to either (1) compose the photo so that a dense forest is not real prominent, (2) convert it to black and white, or many times the solution is to (3) simply not process the photo with Photomatix.

In the case with the photos below, I did something between solution #1 and solution #3.  I chose compositions where the dense forest portions are not prominent.  I did, however, process these photos with Photomatix.  This hurt the look of the forests, but it really enhanced the look of the sunsets, rivers, and riverbeds.  So afterwards, I went into Photoshop and brought back non-tonemapped versions of the forest with layers, but kept the effect on the sun, river, and riverbeds.

Enjoy!

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 26mm)

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 17mm)

(5 Exposures at F11, ISO 100, 33mm) 

Thanks!

Brian