Harriman Park #008
Aug, 2016Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in Harriman State Park located in Rockland and Orange counties in New York State. It boasts 31 lakes and reservoirs, 200 miles of hiking trails, miles of streams and scenic roads, and scores of wildlife species, vistas and vantage points. It is, without doubt, one of my favorite places to photograph autumnal nature in all it's glory.Time
Early morning is my favorite time of day for capturing landscapes with it's soft morning light. This image was taken in October at approximately 8:30AM.Lighting
The sky was totally cloudy that day and overcast skies lends itself to what I call, 'smooth lighting' without shadows, which is ideal for photographing landscapes and portraits.Equipment
This image was taken with a Nikon D2x with an auto-focus 70-200 Nikkor lens mounted on a Gitzo tripod. No other equipment was involved.Inspiration
The colors of Autumn are the most inspirational for landscape photography for me and Harriman Park offers up many distinct possibilities for capturing a 'keeper' image. The water in the many lakes are exceptionally calm aiding in capturing a smooth reflection of the trees but what really pulled me into this image were the white tree branches hanging along the shoreline that created a solid focal point.Editing
No post-processing was required as I was extremely satisfied with the SOOC image. The Nikon D2x captures color exceedingly well.In my camera bag
My camera bag always includes a Nikon D2x, (my workhorse!) with an 18-70 mm Nikkor lens, a 70-180 Nikkor macro zoom and an Nikkor AF-S VR 70-200 mm f2.8 and sometimes a Nikkor 500mm mirror lens. I don't often use the 500 as it creates CoC (circles of confusion) that doesn't lend itself to pristine images. Every lens has a UV filter (for protection, mostly) because I remove it before snapping the shutter to get the most out of the superb glass that Nikkor lenses afford. I also use a 10x density filter with an electronic cable release for taking interesting water and cloud shots in bright sunshine. And there's always plenty of Zeiss glass wipes which I apply before every shoot.Feedback
In my photography workshops, I stress the importance of using a tripod for tack sharp images. A tripod gives you the freedom of reviewing the composition in the viewfinder from 'corner to corner' and 'edge to edge' to eliminate unwanted protrusions like branches or bright hotspots and the like. I recall shooting for a poster company when I was visiting Los Angeles, but didn't have my tripod for the shoot, (it was stolen!). My slides were projected to poster size, (this was 1978, in the pre-digital age so all I shot were slides). However, a lack of sharpness was cruelly evident and it killed the deal and no sale was made that day. Lesson learned. Use a tripod.
