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Blogging Bridges Chester County Creeks Nature Photo Journal Streams Water Weather

Fall in White Clay Creek Preserve

Some images taken during a Fall visit to White Clay Creek Preserve in Southeast Chester County, near the Delaware border.

I had a great walk along the Penndel Trail, which is on the Western side of the White Clay Creek (East Branch).

Hope you enjoy!

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Chester County Creeks Glenmoore HDR Long Exposure Photo Journal Photography Streams Tone Mapping Water

Hunting for Fall Colors

On Friday the 18th, I had a chance to drive around again looking for the Fall colors.

Here we are, over halfway through October, and there still is a fair amount of green still in the trees, but in other places, some of the trees are already bare.

All these shoots were taken using my Canon 18-55 IS using both two Tiffen Neutral Density filters (1.2 & 0.9) at f22+ for 15 to 25 seconds.

I gotta find me a ND filter in the 2.1 range. My 3.0 is too much, and I do not like having two layers of glass on the lens…

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Adobe Chester County Creeks HDR Hibernia Park Long Exposure Nik Software Photo Journal Photography Tone Mapping Water

Brandywine Creek – Hibernia Park

Some images taken along Wagontown Rd of the West Branch of the Brandywine Creek in Hibernia Park.

Hope you enjoyed!

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astronomy Blogging Chester County Downingtown Lakes Long Exposure Marsh Creek State Park Photo Journal Photography space Sunsets Tone Mapping Water

Hot Dam Night

I have always enjoying looking up into the night-time sky, and following the rhythms of our solar system is something I follow daily online.

Lately, I have been keeping my eye on the rare alignment of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury in the west-northwest about 30 minutes after sunset. The next time this will happen, is in 2026.

Being Friday night, I had to go out and try to see this!

The whole week has been hotter than normal for this time of year, and I hoped the cover of night would help.

The dam parking lot had two other cars when I arrived, and as I unpacked, a jogger going downhill, turned and entered the park.

MCSP Sunset & Fishing
MCSP Sunset & Fishing

Because of the heat and humidity, I packed my equipped vest into the daypack, and threw it over my shoulder, along with my camera and tripod, and headed into the park.

Heading down the hill, it got darker because of the overhanging trees and leaves, but the light grey colored maintenance road made it easier to follow with the ambient light.

When I got to the opening at the bottom of the dam, and I could see I was a little late in getting there, but I still had time.

I took the steep dirt path through the tall grass to the south-eastern corner area of the lake. The ‘flea and tick season’ phrase kept repeating itself in my head.

I finally reached the dirt road at the top, panting heavily and thinking that I should have brought along a second water bottle, while the jogger I had seen earlier, passed by me, and off into the increasing darkness.

Once setup, I could see that most of the sky was clear, but there was a thin bands of clouds, hovering in the distance, just above the treetops, in the northwest sky, right where my compass was aimed at 300°.

I was a little bummed, but as the 30 minute mark began to approach, I did see a bright spot right where it should be, and not moving. Could this be one of the planets?

I took numerous pictures of the sunset, and rising ‘planet’, and then started to focus my attention on the various fishing boats with lights, motoring silent around the lake.

Light Fishing at MCSP
Light Fishing at MCSP

As one boat crossed in front of me, I heard –

“You can not take his picture. He is in the witness relocation program.”

Followed by chuckles from the boat.

Responding back, with a smiling tone, I said that my camera did not have the resolution, and that they were going to fast.

Little do they know… Tee hee…

I also followed the various airplanes crossing my vision. It did not seem like a very busy night, especially compared to other times I have stood in the boating parking lot, staring up into the night sky on other photography expeditions.

As 9:30 approached, and fending off the mosquitoes was becoming impossible, I packed up, crossing over the rest of the dam, turning sharply to my left, and down the diagonal road.

Jupiter and Venus over Marsh Creek State Park
Jupiter and Venus over Marsh Creek State Park

Walking next to the marshy area, I saw fireflies signaling their presence, and at the bottom, I could see that I was going to need my headlamp, as I started back into the darker section of the road. I had not been here before at night, so I did not know what I might encounter.

When the light flashed on, I was greeted by a thin fog that reflexed back the bright light, making it more difficult to see. I turned the lamp down, be it did not help. Maybe next time, I’ll get the headlamp with multi-colors.

Finally, I reached the brown swinging gate at the top of the trail, and headed into the parking lot, where I threw my gear into the car, and headed home.

Note to Self – Next time, bring two water bottles and bug spray…

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Updates

After processing several series of images, it seems that I might have ‘caught’ Venus and Jupiter in my captures, with Jupiter being just too faint to see with the naked eye.

We’ll try again in 2026!

Categories
Adobe Black & White Chester County clouds Fields Nature Nik Software Pastures Photo Journal Photography Software Water West Chester

Stroud Preserve Springtime in B&W

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.

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.

So, what do you think?

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