Lititz,Pa was voted as Americas coolest small town in a travel magazine contest this year and I thought I would share a few fall photos I took while visiting recently. If you get a chance,plan a trip to visit this quaint little town. These images are from the downtown shopping district and the community park.
Symbolism is found all over cemetery stones and this one at mount auburn is an example of that.
This is an image I shot this summer at an Amish roadside stand and I just got to it this week. As I opened the image,I was suddenly reminded of a terrible tragedy that occurred in our county this past week.The flowers,numbering eight bouquets reminded me of seven children and a young wife who are without a father and husband after an accident at an Amish farm. The little sign was posted with the flowers at this stand. Anyone who follows my blog,knows I capture Amish life and this farm is in an area I often shoot,so my heart aches for the family,but I know their faith and close-knit ties will carry them through. A link to the story here.
This 4 shot series may help some grasp the whole light painting thing. The top image is my first basic shot, and then the second shot was me lighting the pumpkins to create an effect of being backlit by the barn lights, and then number three was shot only to light the corn shocks,and I also used that file to darken the lights under the barn,and number four is the result of those files. It does not matter one bit that I am in the shots,because I am only using the highlights from the flash. Key things are using a tripod for registration,wireless remote to fire the camera and the flash and a desire to have fun doing it. The flash shot layers are put on lighten mode in Photoshop and the only thing that shows through are things lighter in the shot,so you need to keep your ambient light below your base shot. good luck
Another farm wagon loaded with seasonal goodies.
I passed this field yesterday as they were harvesting soybeans and asked if I could climb on top of the tractor-trailer as it was being loaded. The machine that off loads to the truck, empties at an incredible rate and then heads to the combine in the field for the next load. The crew is what are referred to as custom harvesters,which are professional hired hands who earn their living helping farmers harvest their fields. This crew is Groffdale custom harvesters and they are the picture of efficiency. The owner of the farm is seen on his little John Deere tractor in the middle of the field as he oversees the operation.
Amish children play on the wagon carrying tobacco lathe sticks,while their parents are busy in the field. As with all children, mischief ensued and before you knew it, the sticks were being wielded as swords. All in good fun.
Fog creates layers in this farm scene as the rising sun begins to illuminate the day. A cold front moving in quickly on this morning eliminated this great fog in a matter of minutes,much to my chagrin.This was shot with a 400mm from across the valley.
A foggy morning in a local cemetery provided an opportunity for me to try some light painting. Shooting my flash through the tree created rays of light in the atmospheric conditions.
Demolition crews pulverize a building in preparation for new construction. Not my standard photo subject for posting here, but figured I would share it anyway.
This was the rising full moon coming up behind a grain facility last night. I used the photographers Ephemeris I have listed under my blogroll here to check the location of the moonrise and despite knowing it would work, I was off slightly when I used my compass to align the shot before the moon appeared. I was tight on the silos and expected the moon to appear between the gap in the two sets of silos,but I forgot the moon moves to the right as it climbs and till it came into view,it was barely in my frame. A quick recompose and I got it,but it was getting to the point of extreme dark and too bright a moon.
Another scene shot in infrared.
This is yet another experiment in light painting. I will elaborate a bit for anyone wanting to add this technique to their bag of tricks. The top image is my end result and your own creativity will dictate what you want in your results. The bottom two images are just two of many frames I shot to create this and you may drag them to your desktop to follow my simple instructions to visually grasp the concept.
In Photoshop start with the dark image and drag the flash added image on top so they are aligned,and then go to the layers palette and put the top layer on lighten mode.When you do that,you will see the lighter sections show up. I always apply a layer mask to hide the lighter version and then I use a brush to paint in only the lighter areas I want to show up,so in this example I might brush the building in but leave the grass dark. I continue on with each additional lighted frame I shot till I am happy with the result.
A wireless flash and camera remote are key to being able to move about the scene as needed and a laptop with software to control shutter speeds insures the camera remains fixed and does not shift while shooting. One important note is to remember you are adding highlights only,so when you light things with your light,you are not using shutter speeds that let ambient light mess you up. In other words if you have flash along with a bright scene,you will have everything lighter showing up when you brush in,so for example the tree trunk is lit against the dark roofline and if I had shot at a shutter speed that showed the roof detail, it would show up as well as a highlight.This is really a simple technique but you need to keep your wits about you while you do it.
Today marks the twelfth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on our country on september eleventh of 2001. For me, like countless others, this day is permanently etched into my mind and like most I remember the exact moment it unfolded. For me it was a crystal clear fall day out in the country photographing blue morning glories on a farm, when the radio began to crackle with hints of something unspeakable. I recall driving as fast as I could to get to a television and being glued to it for days. Take a moment today to think of and pray for those who were lost that day, and especially their families who were left to cope with such heartbreak.
Every anniversary of this event, I find myself watching the documentaries on television and each and every time I am instantly taken back to that moment and overcome with a sense of deep despair, and I can’t begin to imagine the heartache for those who never got the chance to hold their loved ones again. I have never been to the twin towers memorial, but I have been to the Shanksville crash site in Pennsylvania and while it is not an over the top memorial, I can definitely say it is a place of quiet reflection that really hits you. I felt this Angel statue from a cemetery in New York was a fitting image for today. It is among my favorite infrared images that I have shot. If you have a moment and care to hear Michael W. Smiths tribute song to 9-11 called ”There she stands”, I posted a link here.
This might be the last pair of images from this subject unless I come up with something more imaginative. To be honest,I was somewhat disappointed with my burning steel wool result and perhaps that’s because the rusty subject gets lost in the burning embers? I only tried about five steel wool spins due the fact that I was right by a busy highway and I didn’t want the cops harassing me. The bottom image is the same as the top except for sparks,and that was light painted using my flash.
For those not familiar with burning steel wool, you need fine grade steel wool,which burns better than coarse,and a device to spin it. I took a steel kitchen whisk, which holds the steel wool inside and then I took a wooden handle and mounted a pulley with a screw that allows the pulley to freely spin and then attached a steel cable to the pulley and whisk. I simply load the whisk with steel wool,light it and then start spinning the thing rapidly. As the air hits the wool,it becomes a raging flame thrower, so wear protective clothes,eye protection etc. Always have a fire extinguisher handy and do it when its damp outside at your own risk. One steel wool pad burns about 30 seconds or so and you should also keep your camera out of the ember zone.One guy on the net had a Nikon 14-24mm lens get messed up when an ember fused on his front element.
Clouds rise higher and higher on a hot summer day.
This bi-plane was among my favorite subjects at the air show, but it was not very accessible,so these three shots were all I could muster. After I had gotten permission to return later in the evening, I noticed many of the planes were getting put into the hangers and I figured this one would be away all night. Much to my surprise it was out all night but it had covers placed on its engine,cockpit etc,which made it less than desirable to shoot in that state,so I had to dream of what might have been if I had gotten to light paint this classic. I used other planes parked on the field to frame the bi-plane and add a touch of interest to the shot. I am not sure what the CAP on the wing stands for but it might be civil air patrol?
Really I have no clue what kind of missiles are hanging from the wing of this plane but they look intimidating nonetheless. This was the last light painting session I tried at the airshow. For some reason my laptop went haywire at the start of this shoot,so I did not have enough time to do this one to the degree I wanted.
Can anyone guess what I absolutely hate about this image? It is the obnoxious reflective vests that were given out to Amish children recently after some Penn State extension agent decided they needed to wear these to be safe. As far as I am concerned, if you cannot see a person at the side of the road in the daytime without one of these vests on,then maybe you should not be driving. What used to make wonderful images of local culture, has now become an eyesore in neon yellow. I wish some people would keep their noses out of other people’s business and stop trying to fix problems that never existed. It surprises me a little that a culture that likes to stay low-key actually accepted the idea of wearing these things. Certainly I want them to be safe, but I truly can’t remember any problems before the vests were introduced.
Fighting flies on a summer day can be a full-time job,so finding a good friend to team up with in the battle can be a good idea. These two were helping each other out with the flick of a tail.
I recently spotted this crazy machine as I traversed the countryside and I just had to stop and shoot it. At this point I cannot determine if it was originally a real machine, or more likely the creation of some futuristic artist? My title as crazy as it is,refers to the movie starring Denzel Washington that takes place in a post apocalyptic world,and as soon as I saw this thing, it reminded me that it would have fit in this movie perfectly. I hope to return to it and try some light painting to see what I can do with it and hopefully find out more about it as well. If you get a chance, rent the movie and see if you agree. All it needs is a flame thrower shooting out the front and I could name it scorched earth. Might be a good subject to try my burning steel wool on?
No matter how many times I travel the back roads in Amish country, I am constantly amazed how many strange things I come across. This teen had jury rigged a wagon and small engine to make his own motorized transportation. He drove this thing several miles across the country while cars passed him left and right. He probably has a plow for it in the winter.
Run for the hills if you see this contraption bearing down on you. It slices,it dices,it juliennes.
Captured this Amish youth heading down the road on a tractor and upon closer examination,you can see he is hauling his transportation with him on the back. The two-wheeled scooter is the transportation of choice for Amish youth,as bikes are frowned upon. Last year I spoke to an Amish guy who I noticed coming up a hill at a rather fast pace,and it puzzled me how he was doing it? Turns out he had an electric motor added and it was all hidden on the frame. It intrigued me enough to think about buying one since he said it ran about $400 for everything. Well in the year since he got his,price went up to near a $1000 so I will stick with the bike for now.
An Amish garden includes these patches of sunflowers,which brighten an otherwise gloomy day. Cool days currently make it feel like fall but I will savor every moment of coolness I can get.
This rooster might think he is the boss of this barnyard but it wont be long till this pint-sized donkey grows up and kicks him to the curb. The rooster looks like he is ready for a fight the way he is strutting. If only he would have hopped on his back for a ride.
Donald Reese Photography 