Neighborhood Icons

 

Finding the Magic Close to Home

Travel is wonderful for expanding my photographic vision, but often my best photographic subjects are the ones I can get to when the light is perfect.  Every photographer should have there own file of treasured local Icons.

A few weeks ago Susan and I returned from a late dinner in Keene.

Galaxy at Home

As she ran into the house to ease our dog Nellie’s dissertation anxiety, I noticed the incredibly clear summer sky and the Milky Way glowing through the gap in the trees along our driveway. I quickly grabbed my tripod and took some deep sky photos against our house, but then my mind switch to full photography mode and I started considering where else I could go to provide an interesting foreground to this great stellar celebration. With the most prominent parts of the Milky Way to the South and Southwest, I immediately I thought of the classic Chesterfield Town Hall.


 





Town Hall Galaxy

Town Hall Spire, Chesterfield

I told Susan where I was going and quickly hit the road. When I got up to Chesterfield Center I found that I could position myself to capture the Milky Way alongside the Town Hall Spire, but the village lights tended to wash out the sky next to the hall itself. I experimented with exposures and took a few additional images stopped down to avoid blowing out the highlights in the spire itself. Back home, I was able to blend the images to get a reasonable balance of the spire and the galaxy. It was well worth the short run up to the center of the village, but it also got me thinking about my treasure trove of local iconic subjects. 

 





Local Icons

It is great to get away from home to photograph the many spectacularly beautiful features of the New England landscape, but live in Chesterfield New Hampshire and that is where I spend most of my time. When the light turns magical around sunset, or a brilliant rainbow suddenly appears, the chances are good that I will be at home and the chances are even better that the light will fade before I can get to the White Mountains or the Seacoast. What I need are easy to reach local points of interest and beauty that I can get to quickly before the moment is lost. Over the years, and without even realizing it, I have acquired a grab bag of nearby locations that I can use when time is short. 

Central Square, Keene, NH

My local Icons share a number of features. First they are all within
10-15 minutes of home and each is a classic representation of some
aspects of traditional New England. I have come to know when each site is best seen, which way it faces, in which directions are the best backgrounds and when it is least likely to be crowded. The light on the pastures of Roads End Farm are usually best in the morning with the sun quickly falling behind the hills in the evening. Keene's Central Square is great anytime, but I think it is best early in the morning, both because of the light and because the car and human traffic is less of a problem. 

Morning Mist, Roads End Farm

I am sure you all have your collection of local Icons. I have spoken previously about many of mine, most notably the Roads End Farm and Keene's Central Square, but a few others deserve recognition and perhaps a visit if you are passing through.

 
Chesterfield Town Hall
Built in 1851, The Chesterfield Town Hall is such a classic old

Peyton Place Series Icon

stone building that its facade was used as the model for the building seen in the opening credits for the 1960's television series Peyton Place. The Hall is primarily a sunset location with the front bathed in warm evening light and the eastern sky providing an uncluttered background. Behind the building is a classic old cemetery which provides other interesting foregrounds. The Town Hall is my frequent "goto" place for sunsets, storms, rainbows and stellar displays. 

Town Hall Rainbow

 

















Route 63 Ridge
The Town Hall is located on route 63, which in this area runs along

The Blue Hour

a high north-south ridge with a lovely view to the west and the Vermont hills. Our friends John and Kathy live along the road with an amazing view across rolling pastures. Sunsets here are frequently amazing with a series of mountain ridges melting away into the crimson sky. It is become expected that at sunset I will disappear from dinner parties at John and Kathy's as I search for new angles and fresh light from their backyard.  I come back hungry, but never disappointed

Empty Chair

Layers of Vermont Mountains

Spofford Lake

Spofford Lake is a little more than six miles around and provides

Favorite Birch

excellent views on all sides, but my iconic location is a 5 minute walk from home at the channel leading to the lake's exit into Partridge Brook. During the summer this is Nellie's favorite location for frog hunting. The spot faces west making it a great sunset location and also a perfect spot to watch the thunder heads approaching, My favorite lake-side birch is across the inlet with a clutch of reeds providing nice foregrounds. 

Nellie, Frog Hunting, Spofford Lake

Always Nellie

When All Else Fails There Is Always Nellie

What can I say.  Regardless of the season, the light or the background, Nell is always the perfect subject.



 









Enough of my local icons. The point here is for you to identify your own local attractions. You probably already know what they are . The idea is to place them in your own mental icon folder ready to be accessed the next time the light suddenly becomes magical. You will know which location will work best with the conditions. You'll grab your bag and get there in time to catch that fleeting opportunity.


Jeffrey Newcomer
Partridgebrookreflections.com

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Lemon Aid for Photographers

 This weekend has been a workshop for bad weather photography

There should be no surprise that we are experiencing miserable weather this holiday weekend. This is New England and terrible weather is the population's curse and photographer's treat, but this weekend has been depressing even for those of us trying to keep the damp from our cameras. Fellow New England Photography Guild member Jim Block is even dealing with snow on the Lilacs. Crummy days are always good for getting caught up in the studio. With a show at Keene's Prime Roast Cafe and the Keene Art Walk all coming up next week, I have plenty to do, but I had to get out to try to see what I could do with, and in spite of, the weather.

Hubbard Brook Falls
Spring rains are always an obvious invitation to shoot our many waterfalls. In a few weeks the summer droughts will dry many of the

Hubbard Brook Falls

best cascades, so my first trip was to falling water. I was trying to decide where to go when I received a call from a photographer in Laconia New Hampshire asking about a image of the falls on Hubbard Brook in Chesterfield, New Hampshire. It is challenging to get to, and not freely open to the public, but it is a lovely spot when the water is high. The call made my decision and Nellie and I headed out. The falls on Hubbard Brook are actually a series of cascades and higher drops. The hike into the ravine involved bushwhacking down steep embankments, made trickier by the soaked ground, but as usual it was worth the terror. As I worked my way down along the brook, two things occurred to me. First the cold weather had swept the black flies from the forest. Second, if slipped, Nellie would be of no practical value in getting help, and I had no cell reception in the depths of the ravine. Through much care and considerable butt bouncing I made it down and out alive.

Sound of Thunder
The light was gone, but I still had one more capture to make. The night was fractured by a series of dramatic thunderstorms and I was able to record about 40 minutes of the action on my Zoom H2n field recorder. I have started to collect natural sounds as background for my slide shows. Check out the pasture melodies on my web site front page and the thunder storm on my Summer slide show. 

To the Dump
On Saturday I was able to excite Nellie with one of the few phrases she actually understands, "Want to go to Dump?" Dump, Walk and

Pasture Corner, Roads End Farm

Dinner, that's about it. The weather remained cold damp and blustery, but we still made our regular circle through Roads End Farm. The horses were way off in the back pasture, but the rain had freshened the spring leaves along the fields. By afternoon I had to get out of the house and went into Keene to plant myself with a cup of coffee at Brewbackers Cafe. Brewbackers is usually bustling, but for some reason I find it the perfect place to write. I settle in with my iPad and my own music selection and can usually get more done in an hour than in an afternoon with the distractions at home. 


Infrared in the Rain

Central Square Gazebo

 
 
As the afternoon progress the sky grew darker, but I had a plan and I had my Infrared camera. The great thing about infrared photography is that the images are not much affected by extremes of weather. Bright, impossibly contrasty, midday light ignites the infrared spectrum. The leaves shine and the sky stays black as ink. At the other end, dull flat light still comes through with good contrast between bright foliage and dark trunks and structures. I ended up spending time shooting around Keene's iconic Central Square. I have photographed the square countless time before, but Infrared provides a whole new perspective. 


Ladies Wildwood

Wildwood Depths

I was loosing light but there was one other place that I thought might do well with the soft light. Ladies Wildwood Park is a surprising treasure in the middle of Keene. In 1890 the park was created to protect a stately grove of trees from development. The original grove was leveled in the 1938 Hurricane, but it has been replace by ranks of tall White and Red Pines.

Infrared Park

The park is small but in the right spots you can feel enveloped by the forest. The challenged is to find the angles to look through the pines without catching glimpses of the surrounding houses and roads. The flat light was great to capture the brooding mood of the pines on a carpet of nearly iridescent green. Infrared also worked well, contrasting the bright ground cover with the towering dark pillars. Light gone. Time to go home. 







Remembering 

Today Nellie and I visited the flag bedecked Spofford Cemetery. Nellie wandered respectfully among the stones and then honored the fallen by doing her business off in the woods. I grabbed a couple of flower images in the soft light, but then disaster struck. The sun actually broke through.

 

Disappointing. Nothing to do but go home, edit images and write this article. My only consolation is that, this is New England, and the good weather can't last forever.

Jeffrey Newcomer
Partridgebrookreflections.com

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Photography Close, Really Close, to Home

Frog Hunting in Spofford Lake

Walks with Nellie (a Photo Album)
This week I have published another article on the New England

Spofford Lake Sunset

Photography Guild web site. I’m pleased to be a member of this great group of dedicated and talented New England Photographers. The guild celebrates the unique qualities of photography in our special corner of the world. Our popular Facebook page has become a showcase for the best New England photography from guild members as well as from nonmembers. Personally, displaying my work next to so many amazing images is a constant inspiration to improve my own hotography. The guild members are strongly committed to education and are always generous with advice and support. A big part of our focus on education has been the regular contributions from members to the NEPG Blog. As members we are all required to post articles on a rotating basis. With so many contributors, the NEPG Blog is a rich and varied resource, with article ranging from technical discussions of photographic technique to more philosophical musings about the nature of photography. The blog is truly “like a box of chocolates”. 

Pine Grove Springs Country Club

Partridge Brook

Local Blooms

It Takes a Village

Winter Cover, Spofford

This week, my confection is about photography within the range of my daily walks with our dog Nellie. My wife has recently been incapacitated following bilateral knee replacement surgery and my photo shoots have been largely limited to strolls around the neighborhood. I live in Spofford, a lovely little village in Chesterfield, New Hampshire. My walking routes have become very familiar, but recently I reviewed the images that I have captured over the years within this easy walking distance of my house.

Partridgee Brook and My Backyard

The range of images was surprising. Spofford has several special attractions, but I'm sure that this is true for most New England communities. The keys to shooting close to home include; being on the lookout for interesting perspectives, being aware of how our ever-changing New England weather and seasons can refresh even the most familiar scenes, and most importantly, remembering to bring a camera along for the walks. It is amazing how having a camera I your pocket can excite your eyes to see the photographic opportunities all around you. Without your camera the eyes primarily become threat avoidance tools. Don't trip on that curb! 

Partridge Brook, Seasons Change

Spofford Autumn

My New England Photography Blog this week is a superficially claustrophobic, but surprisingly varied,  travelogue of the attractions of my small village. My goal is to encourage you to get out and engage in a deeper exploration of your own immediate environment. What is special about your community will, very likely, be different from my own, but that's what makes it exciting. Sue is getting around much better now and my photographic leash is significantly longer, but Nellie will still require walking and I will continue to bring my camera along for the ride. 

 

Storm Building

Lake at Peace

So check out my article about my walks with Nellie and then go find your own treasures. And don't forget to bring the camera. 

Nestled
I just found this view this week.

As always the number of images I can show on the NEPG Blog is strictly limited. My pictures are my children and picking 3-4 favorites is impossible. Included here are a few more images which, I hope will flesh out the character of my little corner of New England.

Backyard Autumn

•  New England Photography Guild Article 

"Spofford the Moose"

Jeff Newcomer
partridgebrookreflections.com

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Chromatic Aberration

Foiling the Fringe in the Camera and in the Digital Darkroom

The Fringe

You know the old saying, "There is nothing that is certain except death, taxes and Chromatic Aberration". Chromatic Aberration (CA) is a physical property of light when focused by a lens and the result is varying degrees of color fringing which you may have noticed, especially on the edges of your images. 





From Wikipedia

The Physics
Ever since Newton passed sunlight through a prism, we have known that different wave lengths of light are bent to different angles as they pass through a lens. This is called dispersion and because a simple lens cannot focus all colors of light on the same plane (your camera's sensor), colored halos or fringing is created. This effect is seen most prominently on the edges of images and in areas of high contrast. Red and green bands are most common, but blue, yellow and purple may also be seen. This is all called Chromatic Aberration and although saying "Chromatic Aberration" may make you sound intelligent at the photo club meeting, the color banding can contaminate your images. Fortunately there is much that can be done to minimize or eliminate the fringe, both in the camera and in post processing.


In the Camera
Throw Money

As expected, more expensive lens typically do better with CA. 

From Wikipedia

special coatings and combinations of multiple lens elements can reduce and compensate for light dispersion. Achromatic and apochromatic lens also use special materials, such as fluorite, that have properties of low dispersion. Think of this when you are pondering how a lens could cost several thousand dollars. 


 

Avoid High Contrast Situations.
Creatively it is not always possible or desirable to limit high contrast in your images, but, especially on the edges, contrast control can make a big difference.

Stop Down
CA is more apparent at the widest apertures. Stopping down just a step or two from wide open may limit your beautiful bokeh, but it can reduce the CA contamination dramatically .

Avoid the Extremes of Zoom Lens
It is hard to engineer zoom lens that can offset dispersion across the full range of the zoom. You will usually get the best results somewhere in the middle of the range. Extreme wide angle lens may be especially susceptible to this effect.

Get Ready for the Digital Darkroom
There are a couple of things that can be done to get the image in the camera ready for the work that can be done in the digital darkroom. First, this another situation where shooting in RAW can make a big difference. The great flexibility of RAW images makes it easier to correct for CA in post processing programs such as Camera RAW. Also, one simple approach is to frame images with extra room around the edges which will then allow cropping of the worst areas of CA without sacrificing the composition.

In the Digital Darkroom 
 

Fading Crimson

You've done what you could in the field, but you still notice ugly fringing at the edges of your images. Fortunately, with every new version of Photoshop, the tools to control CA have become more effective and easier to use. Here I will be speaking specifically of Photoshop and the newest version of Camera RAW, although Lightroom approaches the problem in a similar manner. Other image editing software, such as Paintshop, have their own solutions to this problem. 

Lens Correction in Camera Raw

Fringed

In newer versions of Photoshop's Camera RAW correction of CA is largely automatic. Within the Lens Correction menu, the "Color" tab features a simple radio button for Chromatic Aberration control. It is almost magic. The program can reads the image meta data to determine the camera and lens used and in most circumstances applies the correct adjustment without further input. This is much easier than in earlier version in

Aberration Control

which individual red/green and blue/yellow sliders required careful manual adjustment. After the automatic adjustment, some fringing may still remain, especially the more difficult axial CA in the purple/green range. Below the automatic button, purple and green sliders allow fine tuning of the adjustment. In addition to controlling the amount of adjustment, the Hue slider can precisely target the color affected. 

Facing the Dawn, Rockport, Maine

Fringed Rungs

De-Fringed

Dealing with Chromatic Aberration can be frustrating, but, with awareness of the problem, adjustments in the camera and in the digital darkroom can be effective in foiling the fringe.
 

Solstice, Spofford, NH

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