by Gregg Obst on September 18, 2009
in Photos
When the furnaces at Hopewell Furnace were in operation, hundreds of charcoal hearths would turn 5,000 to 6,000 cords of wood per year into charcoal for use in the furnace. The charcoal was dumped into an area just above this charcoal house and left to cool. Once the charcoal had cooled, it was shoveled down through windows at the top of the charcoal house and left here for storage until needed. Once needed, teams of men would load wagons and wheelbarrows and haul the charcoal across the way to the bridge house where it was dumped down a hole in the floor that led to the furnace area below.
From my Monday, 9-7-2009 trip to Hopewell National Historic Site.
For more information on visiting Hopewell Furnace, please visit their web site
This was shot as nine bracketed RAW frames then combined into an HDR and tone mapped in Photomatix Pro. Then I created a duplicate layer and used the B & W filter in OnOne Software’s Photo Tools to convert the layer to B & W and finally used the brush out tool in Photo Tools to brush away the B & W on the waghon wheel to reveal the weathered colors in the layer underneath.
Tagged as:
Black-And-White,
HDR,
Hopewell-Furnace,
Photos
by Gregg Obst on September 17, 2009
in Photos
With rain on and off all day today and ominous clouds overhead, I decided to hit Valley Forge National Historic Site on the way back from photography at the Shofuso Japanese House and Gardens. The dreary weather can sometimes set a mood that a bright sunny day can never hope to reach and sometimes a dreary mood best fits the subject matter of war. This is the same canon at the Muhlenburg Brigade encampment that I shot back at the end of may. General Peter Muhlenberg’s Brigade anchored the outer line of defense at the Valley Forge encampment from December 19, 1777 to June 19, 1778. Although no battle was ever fought between Colonial and British forces at Valley Forge, over 1,000 men lost their lives here due to severe winter conditions, dysentery, scurvy and a host of other ailments common to the times.
For more information on visiting Valley Forge National Historical Park, check out their web site.
I created this image as seven RAW bracketed frames, combined into an HDR image and tone mapped in Photomatix Pro then used the Topaz Simplify plugin for Photoshop CS4 to give the trees and clouds a painterly quality before finally applying a texture to give it an antique feel.
Thanks to alicepopkorn for the use of the free texture file Magic Veil.
Tagged as:
HDR,
Photos,
Textured,
Valley-Forge
by Gregg Obst on September 17, 2009
in Photos
The Wehr’s Covered Bridge is located in South Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania. It utilizes a Burr-arch truss design and spans 137 feet over the Jordan Creek. It was built in 1841 and restored in 1965. It’s open to daily traffic and is nestled along “Covered Bridge Park” making this a nice picnic location for Lehigh County families. The WGCB # for this bridge is # 38-39-02.
This was shot as seven bracketed RAW frames using the new Singh-Ray vari-N-Duo filter (thin mount) then combined into an HDR and tone mapped in Photomatix Pro. The filter allowed some longer exposures making some nice effects in the water.
Tagged as:
Covered-Bridges,
HDR,
Photos
by Gregg Obst on September 17, 2009
in Photos
One of the many fawns I witnessed grazing in and around the Valley Forge National Historic Park on Saturday.
For more information on visiting Valley Forge National Historical Park, check out their web site.
Tagged as:
Photos,
Wildlife
by Gregg Obst on September 16, 2009
in Photos
I just picked up a new Singh-Ray vari-N-Duo filter (thin mount) for use with landscape shots and I decided to take it for its maiden voyage by shooting the Kernsville Mill in Lehigh County Pennsylvania. Unfortunately there were a bunch of fishermen fishing right in front of the mill and with my goal of doing some long exposure shots with the water and the mill, that idea was squashed. So I improvised and shot the reflections on the water downstream from the top of the bridge.
The new filter really brought out some of the setting sun’s “magic light” and the colors just really popped. The damn thing costs as much as my first used car but I think it will pay dividends for waterfall, stream and fall foliage type shots. The unique thing about the filter is that you can “dial in” less and less stops of light for use with long exposure shots so that, for instance, waterfall shots come out even more milky white and dramatic. Instead of having to stack filters for the same result, a single filter can give you the same effect as blocking out up to eight stops of light. The filter also includes a polarizing filter to help block out glare on water surfaces. For more info on the filter, check out their web site.
Combined with multi bracketed HDR techniques, the filter realy provided nice results in my tests so far. This was shot as seven bracketed RAW frames then combined into an HDR and tone mapped in Photomatix Pro.
Tagged as:
HDR,
landscape,
Photos
by Gregg Obst on September 16, 2009
in Photos
Hay stack at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site. During the time that the land was an operating furnace operation, the barn could hold up to thirty six draft horses and up to a year’s worth of feed. Draft horses were used to pull the many wagons the operation used to haul charcoal, limestone and other raw materials for the furnace.
For more information on visiting Hopewell Furnace, please visit their web site
I shot this as a nine RAW bracketed exposures and then combined into an HDR and tone mapped using Photomatix Pro. It’s almost completely dark in this area of the barn so HDR with some long exposure frames are needed to bring out any detail in the wood and hay.
Tagged as:
barns,
HDR,
Historic-Places,
Hopewell-Furnace,
Photos
by Gregg Obst on September 13, 2009
in Photos
Families use rafts and inflatable tubes to lazily navigate the waters of the Pequea Creek as it meanders under the Colemanville Covered Bridge in Lancaster County on 9-6-2009.
Shot as a single RAW frame through a window in the bridge. Topaz Adjust plugin for Photoshop CS4 used in post processing.
Tagged as:
Photos
by Gregg Obst on September 13, 2009
in Photos
My 12 hours on the river paid off late in the afternoon when this adult Bald Eagle came fishing close to the shoreline. The day started off very cloudy and as the sunshine eventually came out, the Eagles were not in the mood to fish until later in the day. Sometimes you just have to be extremely patient and put in your hours being ever vigilant and aware of where all the birds are and what they are doing. Wildlife photography is not for those with a short attention span.
Taken on Sunday afternoon 9-13-2009 over the Susquehanna River in Maryland.
For more information on Bald Eagles, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.
Tagged as:
Eagles,
Photos,
Wildlife
by Gregg Obst on September 13, 2009
in Photos
On this day at the refuge, the Osprey Mom at the last nest was showing her two chicks how to take off and land by repeatedly taking off from the nest, sometimes with a fish, sometime without one, taking a few laps and then landing. A fascinating exercise to be able to watch.
From my trip to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, NJ back on 7-18-2009.
For more information on Ospreys, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.
For more information on the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at www.fws.gov/northeast/forsythe/.
Tagged as:
Forsythe-NWR,
Photos,
Wildlife
by Gregg Obst on September 13, 2009
in Photos
I decided I was going to check out the Shofuso Japanese House and gardens Saturday. I stumbled across a link to their web site in a list of best things to photograph in eastern PA and I had to check them out. I’m very glad I did. The house and gardens were built in 1958 in 16th century style. It is located on the grounds of the Horticultural Center in the West Philadelphia section of Fairmount Park. The perfectly proportioned architecture of the main structure and adjoining tea house is enhanced by an ornamental garden and picturesque pond. Tours of the house are available and periodically there are special events offered including tea ceremonies, bonsai plant showings and more. Finding a cultural nugget like this so close to the city of Philadelphia is very unique and special and definitely needs to be checked out if you are looking for something a little different.
For more information on visiting Shofuso, check out www.shofuso.com/.
I shot this as a single RAW five second exposure frame with Hoyah circular polarizing filter and stacked Cokin Pro-Z filters and enhanced with the Topaz Adjust plugin.
Tagged as:
Photos,
Shofuso
by Gregg Obst on September 12, 2009
in Photos
This bridge spans the Conestoga Creek at a length of 180 feet making it the longest Covered Bridge in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
The bridge has a single span, wooden, double Burr arch trusses design. The original bridge was built in 1848 by John Russell at a cost of $1,988. It has been swept away in flooding numerous times, most recently in 1972 after Hurricane Agnes. Waters lifted the original structure off its abutments and carried it downstream. In 1973, it was rebuilt. It is located 1/4 mile north of Hwy. 23 and Mondale Road and 1/4 mile west on Hunsecker Road in Upper Leacock Township. It’s one of the few existing Covered Bridges in Lancaster County not sporting the red outside paint scheme. The WGCB # for this bridge is 38-36-06. It is in excellent condition and open to daily vehicular traffic.
One of nine covered bridges I photographed on 9-6-2009. I shot this as seven bracketed RAW frames and then combined them into an HDR with Photomatix Pro and finally, tone mapped that image to create the final color image. Black and White conversion via NIK Silver-FX Pro.
Tagged as:
Black-And-White,
Covered-Bridges,
HDR,
Photos
by Gregg Obst on September 11, 2009
in Photos
In a farm field near the remote town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania stands a memorial to some very brave souls. This is the “temporary” flight 93 memorial which honors the 40 passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 who took it upon themselves to over power the terrorist who had taken over the flight with goals of crashing it into an unknown target in Washington D.C. The temporary memorial includes traditional marble memorial stones along with plaques, flags and a collection of hand made memorials, many of them made by common citizens and some by school children. There are also trinkets of remembrance scattered among the stones and plaques. Things like hand written notes to God telling him to take care of the people who lost their lives on the flight. It’s incredibly moving just standing there and trying to take it all in.
Over 150,000 people a year visit the memorial but on this early morning of 11-8-2008 when I arrived, I was the only person there. It was a warn Fall day and a slight wind blew over the hill side and I don’t think I ever felt so alone in my life and yet lucky to be alone with time to think and remember.
They are going to build a very large, elaborate memorial in place of this temporary one but I can only imagine it will never have the impact that this one has on the common U.S. Citizen who visits here.
I had posted this last year but with the anniversary of the attacks upon us, I felt the need to go back and rework this image a bit with some of the newer tools I have and do it the justice it deserves.
by Gregg Obst on September 11, 2009
in Photos
An old Alice Chalmers tractor sits in tall grass at the end of a field across from the Anderson Farm Covered Bridge near Lake Meade in Adams County Pennsylvania. It looked like it had broke down years ago and the farmer just left it at that spot to be consumed by weeds and the ravishes of time. You have to feel sorry for a neglected tractor like this.
If you want information on antique Alice Chalmers Tractors (and who doesn’t) you can find that here. God bless the Interenet. :–)
I shot this handheld as seven bracketed RAW frames and then combined them into an HDR with Photomatix Pro and then, tone mapped that image before taking that into Photoshop CS4 and working on it a bit with the Topaz Adjust plugin to make this more “tractoriffic”.
Tagged as:
Farm,
HDR,
Photos
by Gregg Obst on September 10, 2009
in Photos
During the Fall and Winter months at work, my co-workers will often ask on a Friday what I am doing for the weekend. I’ll answer “I’m going to see the Eagles“. I sometimes get a response of “Oh, going to the game eh ? How good are your seats ?” To which I can only respond, “the best seats in the house !” with a knowing smile.
Taken on Saturday 9-5-2009 over the Susquehanna River in Maryland.
For more information on Bald Eagles, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.
Tagged as:
Eagles,
Wildlife
by Gregg Obst on September 10, 2009
in Photos
While out shooting covered bridges and various Lancaster County landscapes with my friend Kathleen on Sunday, I spotted these cows grazing against a perfect sky and knew I had to stop and put the super wide angle lens to work doing what I bought it for…taking photos of giant cow noses and little Cow bodies. LOL. You can see me in action on Kathleen’s photostream
Tagged as:
Farm,
Photos
