Portland, ME – Portland Head Light (HDR)

The Portland Head Light is one of the most photographed Lighthouses in the US.   A wonderful sight to see.  This is the lesser known photographed side of the lighthouse.  The other side has great cliffs and cascading water.  Check my old posts for this view.  The Lighthouse is located in Fort Williams Park.  Here is some info from the web:   Fort Williams is one of the most treasured sites of Cape Elizabeth. Home to the oldest lighthouse in Maine,Portland Head Light, Fort Williams has become a place of tourism, recreation, and leisure time enjoyment. Welcoming nearly a million visitors a year, it is not surprising to see people on any given day of the year enjoying the playing fields, tennis courts, beach, or simply walking around the park. During the winter months many find Fort Williams an ideal place to cross-country ski, sled, or even ice skate on the pond. Special events such as Family Fun Day, the Labor Day Art Show, the People’s Beach to Beacon 10K Road Race and performances by the Portland Symphony Orchestra happen yearly, but it is the daily peacefulness of Maine’s coastline that has made Fort Williams such a special place for so many generations to enjoy.

Talke Photography Settings:

• Camera:  Nikon D300
• Lens: Nikon 12-24 f/4.0
• Setting: Aperture  Mode
• Focal Length: 13.0mm
• ISO: 200
• Exposure:  HDR 5 exposures (+2 to -2)
• Aperture:  f/22.0
• Gear:  Tripod, Cable Release
• Post Process: Adobe CS4, Photomatix, Viveza

Portland, Maine – Portland Head Light (Infrared-HDR)

NIKON D70S (Modified by LifePixel), Nikon 18-200 VR, HDR in Photomatix

I was traveling in the North East this past week and had a evening to stay near Boston.  I had never been to Maine, so why not spend the nite in Portland!  What is in Portland you may ask?  One of the most photographed lighthouses in North America…the Portland Head Light.  I wanted to see it for my own eyes.

It is quite beautiful!  I arrived early this morning at sunrise to get this photo.  It was a little chilly with the ocean breezes about.   While it was still dark out, I was setting up my tripod and just about 500 yards away I could see 2 lobster boats heading out for a mornings work.  The waves were a little choppy and the boats were lit up beautifully.   With nobody around and the sound of the waves crashing into the rocks…it was one of those moments that you don’t forget…special and very sureal.

The sunrise started and I primarily took HDR photos for an hour+  The morning was cloudy and it was raining a bit when I arrived, but had stopped luckily for my photo session.  I took shots from every angle.  So I will post standard HDR shots later this week!  But after I had completed my HDR’ing with my Nikon D300.  I decided to try a few Infrared-HDR’s with my Nikon D70S.

I have been growing in my knowledge of IR shots in the past few months.  But one area I was eager to try was and IR-HDR!   The week before I tried one in Austin…it was sunny and it just did not come out correctly.  The Nikon D70S only can take 3 brackets…  -1, 0,+1    What I saw was that during bright sunny days, the +1 was just too bright and blown out!  So an IR-HDR failure.   This morning, it was cloudy…so I wanted to see how an IR-HDR goes with this weather condition.  And here you have it!   Success!!!   Post processed in Photomatix and used Silver Efex Pro for the B&W conversion.  A very different HDR!

I’ll post a color HDR later this week and give you details on the lighthouse.  Then another post another time, details on Portland.  I very nice place to visit and a fun Place 2 Explore!