Some images taken during a late Fall walk in the Natural Lands Trust’s Peacedale Preserve in Chester County, PA.
There was a weather front moving through while I was there, which allowed for some very interesting cloud and lighting conditions, and several times, I was able to see some Crepuscular rays.
Weather Clouds 024 – Peacedale Preserve
Weather Clouds hdr 01 – Peacedale Preserve
Weather Clouds 169 – Peacedale Preserve
At one point during my walk, I encountered a real old-timer.
In the middle of the Preserve, there is a huge beech tree, at is 3-4 feet in diameter, and easily several hundreds of years old!
I don’t think I have ever seen a monster like this!
Today, I got out for a GPS drive, to see what had happen after our quick little rain storm that passed through yesterday.
During the height of the storm, the larger than normal black walnuts in our back yard, where falling like small little cluster bombs, hitting the back deck with great thuds, while colorful leaves swirled in the air.
A gourd collection
Corn field power
Road through the Woods – East
Barn in the Corn fields
Road through the Woods – West
Wild Grass in the Field
Barn view of the hills
Corn, Corn, Corn
I did have concern that I would miss the fall colors because of this storm, but as I drove around, I did find that many areas in northern Chester County still had a fair amount of green leaves, but not for long.
This is my favorite time of the year for colors, and the GPS drives are just starting!
Some images taken during a recent spring time walk around Stroud Preserve.
All images were shot in ‘traditional’ HDR bracket fashion, and processed into a ‘raw’ combined HDR file.
Normally, I use Adobe Photoshop to do my B&W conversion, but since the Google/Nik Software upgrade, I now had a chance to play with Silver Efex Pro 2.
Trails 03
Fields & Clouds
Trails 02
Hay pillows
Trails 01
A pond waterfall
Which way?
Photoshop is great for doing a straight conversion via the native B&W menu, but to explore other options, quickly, and then build on them, Silver Efex Pro is the answer.
I still used Photoshop to tweak the final files, but I ended up in a different place than I originally envisioned.
and I was also hoping, that this being the third time, it was going to be a charm for the Chester County PA Photography group…
A hardy group gathered on this Sunday night (4/21)… the temps in the low 40s, with a slight breeze… to bear witness to the fable Lyrid meteor showers…
Shannon Chambers McMahon
Margaret Smith Reif
Daniel Potter
Brian Arters
Andrew Seymour
Around 20:30 PM, we setup our camp of tripods, near the middle of the parking lot, on the Boat Launch side of Marsh Creek State Park, and started to peer North-East, looking for the elusive light trails in the night sky.
We knew that the constellation Lyra would be rising around 22:00 PM, and the darkest hours where hours away, at 03:37 AM Monday (4/22), just before the moonset…
A potentially long ‘school’ night for the Parents…
Group Picture of Light Painting
Light Painting
During the general chatter of a meet-up, someone mentioned that they had sparklers with them… knowing, that I have been wanting to do a Light Painting session!
With giddy delight, we lit some of the sparklers, and started to trace words and shapes in the night air.
With a little further guidance, the apprentices took over, and the light ‘markers’ began to dance in the darkness.
Lightning Signature
And we experimented!
Sparklers – A tried and true favorite of every celebration!
LED Head Lamp into Glass Jar – Please Post the “Heart Beat”
LED Flood Light – The magic marker of the night
Many ideas and jokes were tossed about as folks tried different things in an effort to capture something new and different.
Finally, as the Phillies baseball game ended, the last of the group backed up and headed home!
Light Logo
Once again, no new discoveries in the skies of Chester County, but Light Painting maybe the next big thing!
