Emery Park Alley in Winter In some past posts I have talked about revisiting locations in different conditions; different weather, different time of day, different light, etc. One of the most significant changes comes from the change of seasons. Western New York certainly goes through some marvelous changes as the year goes round.

Here's one example from Emery Park. This tree alley first caught my attention in summer, but here, I am going backwards starting with a photo from this morning. Friday's ice and snow storm coated everything in white. While the drivers certainly did not enjoy that, it worked wonderfully  for those who enjoy winter landscapes.

A day later, roads were cleared and one could get from place to place safely, yet, trees retained their frosty white coat from the day before. I just had to go back to this alley at Emery Park and eye witness this seasonal transformation number 2, transformation from the colorful blast of autumn to the mostly white look of winter. And I am glad I did, it looked so different, yet, wonderful as always (an alternate take on the Emery Park alley in winter).

Yellow Alley at Emery Park For comparison, I am heading backwards in time here. That's one great thing about photographs - they allow you to travel in time no matter what the physicists say. I know, I did not find my autumn tripod leg prints, they were buried under half a foot of snow. I still like the reversed S-curve from this fall shot the most of the whole sequence And the colorful dried leaves lining the curves really nicely highlighted the shape.

Maybe for the next winter shot I need to put my skis on and redirect the cross-cuntry ski trail a bit to mark a nicer more pronounced S on the snowed-in road. Or maybe I need to mark my old tracks better. Or maybe it's just as well that they're a bit different in other ways too, not just the colors.

For the final backward transformation, I will take you back to summer when I first got captivated by this alley, so simple in many ways, yet so eye-catching.

Emery Park Alley in Summer

So there you have it, the three seasons from one place. Now the question is, can I catch spring there and show it in a way that screams spring?!? We will see, only one way to find out.

Have fun going back, there's always something new waiting!

Equipment used:

• Nikon D600
• Nikon 24-85mm Nikkor Lens
• Manfrotto tripod (055MF3) and head (496RC2)
• Exposure delay mode of 2 seconds, no remote release
• Nikon Capture NX2

Using my links to buy your equipment keeps me going and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything not mentioned here. Thank you!

Aligned Sunset at Gallagher Pier This was another, second in the row, photo op planned with The Photographer's Ephemeris (see my previous post Single Exposure HDR at Niagara Falls for notes on planning for a moon rise). This time the plan was to capture the sunset perfectly aligned in the direction of the Gallagher Pier.

Monday was supposed to be the perfect time, however, weather and other plans interfered. Tuesday did not work out either so Wednesday had to be it. I was hoping for fewer clouds allowing to capture the sun higher up in the sky thus negating the two day delay. That was not meant to be though. To the very last moment it was not even clear if there was going to be a photo taken or not.

In the end the sun peeked out and filled a thin opening in the clouds just above the horizon. For couple minutes its intense glare filled the scene with warm light. And then, as quickly as it came it was gone. The intense sky colors 15 - 30 minutes after sunset did not happen on this night either.

Another thing I did enjoy this evening was the frozen wind-swept surface of Lake Erie. When the lake freezes it usually gets covered with a layer of snow too. Not too often are patches of open ice visible as much as here. These ice spots were nicely picking up the orange colors of the setting sun and reflecting them back towards the camera. Another unique part of this experience.

All in all, a successful mission though. The software worked right and sun showed up where predicted. Next time this should be possible is going to be late fall. Let's see if I remember to be there and capture a comparative photo, possibly from a little different perspective.

Have fun chasing celestial bodies!

Equipment used:

• Nikon D600
• Nikon 24-85mm Nikkor Lens
• Manfrotto tripod (055MF3) and head (496RC2)
• Exposure delay mode of 2 seconds, no remote release
• Exposure bracketing, 3 shots +/- 2 stops
• The Photographer's Ephemeris
• Nikon Capture NX2
• Nik Software HDR Efex Pro 2 (For this night I decided to leave my graduated ND filters behind and go with HDR)

Using my links to buy your equipment keeps me going and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything not mentioned here. Thank you!

I've planned this photo op a few weeks ahead. Using The Photographer's Ephemeris I checked out the upcoming full moon to see where over the Niagara Falls it would be and how its rise would be timed compared to sunset. Everything seemed to line up nicely with the moonrise shortly after sunset but not too late with blue hour still providing light to the surroundings. And that was important since I wanted to sneak winter into the photograph too.

No, it was not a sure bet at all. I felt the moonrise was a bit too much to the north possibly escaping from the frame. But it was close enough to give it a shot. Also the mist at the falls is unpredictable. Just a slight change in wind direction or strength can make or break a photo shoot.

As far as equipment goes, I considered bringing my split ND filters but decided against them. I was reluctant to deal with another layer of glass in the misty location in winter. I also felt that the rising mist would get strangely darkened and make the photo look unnatural. I also ruled out multi-exposure HDR ahead of time. First, I have enough unprocessed photos awaiting attention so I did not want to pile on even more. Second, I felt that the moving mist, water, and sky during the extended exposure would introduce challenges I did not want to deal with. I decided I would shoot RAW and either process a single photo and get enough shadow detail out or try a single exposure HDR, which I had some good experience with in the past.

Upon arrival the mist was very dense and not much was visible over the falls on the United States side. Things did not look too promising. However, that is the good thing about making it somewhere. Since you're there you might as well stick around. There was good news too though! There was almost no wind and the mist was slowly rising up and drifting in the direction of the Niagara River, away from my shooting location. And as always, its density seemed to vary .

After capturing some establishing shots at sunset and rolling into that night's blue hour, there it was! The Full Wolf Moon (see my The Moon, The Full Moon, The Harvest Moon, The Blue Moon, ... The Moon for full moon names throughout the year) rose just enough to the right (south) of the casino in Niagara Falls, NY, to provide some framing separation. Yet it was enough to the left (north) of the Horseshoe Falls to avoid the heaviest mist. As the mist direction and density varied so did the visibility of the moon. However, there was plenty of opportunity to see, enjoy, and photograph the natural phenomenon along with a natural wonder in one photograph. Yes, the human element also stepped in as the illumination of the falls started with dusk too, providing more color to the scene. It's a great feeling when things click and things work out!

The first photo above is a RAW file I have processed in my usual, somewhat simplistic way. I do not do any masking and time consuming things like that. I prefer subtle shadow and highlight adjustments, a bit of curves to tweak contrast, a little saturation touch up, and some cloning to remove blobs resulting from dust on my sensor that has been driving me crazy for weeks!

The second photo below is an HDR made from a single RAW exposure. I opened up the NEF file in Nikon Capture NX2 and saved two 16-bit TIFF files. For the first one, I selected -1 exposure compensation, and for the second one, I selected +2 exposure compensation. I brought both TIFF files into Nik Software's HDR Efex Pro 2 and tweaked the settings to get a realistic non-HDR-like photo. It was a bit more challenging here since the normal landscape subtlety does not apply here. The man-made illumination is really not subtle at all and saturation rules and I wanted that to come across in the photo. As such, my hand had to be a bit heavier on the saturation settings compared to my standard.

Full Wolf Moonrise over Horseshoe Falls

Single exposure HDR processing of a RAW file of illuminated Horseshoe (Canadian) Falls, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

Have fun experimenting with various techniques!

Equipment used:

• Nikon D600
• Tokina 11-16mm DX lens (yes, a DX lens on an FX camera - at 16mm, it is just fine with no vignetting)
• Manfrotto tripod (055MF3) and head (496RC2)
• Exposure delay mode of 2 seconds, no remote release
• The Photographer's Ephemeris
• Nikon Capture NX2
• Nik Software HDR Efex Pro 2

Using my links to buy your equipment keeps me going and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything not mentioned here. Thank you!