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Next day it's time to take a ride and explore more of Maine that I haven't yet seen.
Here is a nice little state park with a nice beach and hiking trail system.
I take a little mile and a half or 2 mile or so loop trail in here.Very nice little hike.
Next it's a little drive over to explore the town of Jonesport and Beals Island.They're working on the bridge,so I have to get in the massive line of 3 or 4 and wait a whole minute or two to cross.Traffic is just horrible.
These ain't too bad for 3-5 quick hand held/auto setting point and snap style panorama's.This cam just used as a point and shoot is just incredible.I wont be enlarging these ones to hang on the wall or anything but for 10 second shots in total lol,they're amazing.The hood keeps spinning sometimes I forget to re-lock it.Cheap hood.A little dap of black rtv on the top and bottom (cus I never take it off this lens anyway) will keep the thing still for good.
So it's dinner time,we're downeast here and you guys know the drill........
Oh I tricked ya! It's not seafood tonight.Tonight I'm stopping in the Swamp Yankee BBQ for some ribs!
I'm a pretty good size Indian so I was able to put this all away.It was more than enough though lol.Oh my goodness,was this good.If your headed downeast and find yourself passing by,do yourself a favor and stop in.Right on rt1 before you get to Machias,you can't miss it.Apparently (and least at the time) the ribs were just a weekend thing,so.They just peeled effortlessly off the bone.So tender.Great sauces too.Oh man,my mouth waters again just thinking about this meal.
Well the sun is setting.Let's see what kind of pics I can't take with this cam back over at the Jonesport dock and back across the bridge on the island...........
Oh wait,hang on.I forgot there's a nice little park across the road here beside the old school house.I got some Canadian geese out behind it.
So over on the island is a preserve with some hiking trails.I decide to go in a mile and check it out as I wait for dark.I wanted to setup and shoot from Jonesport but too cloudy.
I was just too tired to wait around until midnight or 1am again just in hopes it might clear up plus I had an 45 min drive back to the tent site so I just went back to camp,happy with the shots I got the night before.Anyway though,before heading back,here are some sunset shots to close this weekends adventure.
So I'll have to work on finding a large image hosting site if I want to show the full details of my night shots but anyway,here is my best shot to date guys! I headed out Friday night and took this one.It took me hours to setup,take test shots,setup my camera,dial everything in,move and adjust lights around,focus etc.
Then it took a few more hours processing,stitching them together,followed by more processing but what I came out with was well worth it.
This is taken at Acadia National Park,Schoodic Point.
I used my new tripod head and took 40,yes that's right forty shots at 3200 ISO for 15 seconds full stop of 1.4 (as I almost always do unless a moon is out and it's bright and I'm just taking nightscapes,I'll step down)
A 4 row panorama.Using both of my low level lights.9' stands and setup about 100' apart.
Here you can see the parking lot.I'm the little black car parked to the left.Though it was around midnight to 2 am while I was shooting,someone else showed up in a red suv.Perhaps also shooting,not sure.He stayed a couple hours too so I suspect it was a strong possibility he was up to the same thing.I could of waited to take the snap when I was over his way,until he closed his car doors but I thought it looked cool lit up so I went with it in the pano.
Notice you can see one my light stands I placed up behind my car.I found a nice high point on ledge just into the woods.The other was down in front of the car (and I actively moved that one as I got close to the ocean shot on the first layer to avoid bright spots.)
When done correctly,you can't hardly see them doing anything at night but the lens will pick up the trees,rather than simply shadowed silhouettes of trees.It's very subtle but makes a world of difference in the end.
It's hard to imagine that in person,you can't hardly see your hand in front of your face.
This was a difficult place to shoot due to the parking lot being so sloped.Not the easiest of places to try out a new tripod head.I did shoot some face onto the water when the suv left.I'll do up a smaller pano over there latter.That will have the heart of the Milky Way in it and should look really nice with all the ocean.My main shot,I wanted the whole center of the Milky Way first as seen here.
I'm honing in my skills guys! That new tripod head combined with a bit more study of lightroom processing software has helped me really step it up.....overnight.
Here's another one.A much quicker and smaller ocean front with 2 rows panned.The i7 desktop made light work of this one.Still pretty cool too.This "little" 10 double row panorama took just 5 mins or so to take.It's trying to capture the whole works is what kills ya.
Thanks Jim.It was a blast.I'm starting to really surprise myself now lol.I didn't expect these kind of results.
You know,I look around the net at astro photo's and see that so many people are using painting in methods and very unrealistic color schemes in a lot of cases.It's not that those are not cool too I guess but I don't do anything with a brush.I like natural.Just what the camera took.All I adjust is the coloration,contrast,lighting and all the other stuff,just to help things pop and clear up but I don't alter stuff using photoshop with paint brushes or such.I see lightroom does has some brush tools too but to me that would be cheating and just making a painting.I don't want a painting,I want the pic I took.Of course it's all fun so if their happy with photoshopping thier's it's all good,I just think nature stands on it's own.What a cool hobby though.
That bottom one had a lot of green all across the bottom for some reason.I had to turn the green down to get rid of it.It made it a bit black and white towards the bottom,so I suppose if I did know how to use the brush tools,I would be ok with painting back in a slight blue tint to match the upper part but this is as far as I would go with this type of alteration.Just to cheat a touch to make all uniform.I'll figure things like these out as I go hopefully.
Uh oh.Things did not go as planned this weekend guys lol.My first time doing this was an epic fail! Hop on in,lets take a drive and explore.I'll tell ya all about it.
So this weekend I head over to explore a part of Maine I haven't yet visited.Downeast Maine but not coastal.This is inland a bit over to Downeast Lakes Land Trust.
Back to the little point and shoot camera because this is a water adventure,I didn't want the DSLR getting wet.
Few hours drive over here but finally made it.
I decide to put in on Wabassus Lake.For the first time I'm going kayak camping! This sounds like an awesome idea! What could possibly go wrong!
So I pitch my little trail tent as room is limited of course in the kayak.The problem is the bugs are horrible! Plus it's so hot and humid that I can't keep the zipper closed or I start to suffocate! The problem was the little noseeum's!!!! I would unzip to the screen just long enough to get some fresh air to come in but had to zip it back up due to filling up with the little midgets! Then I could breathe again for a few mins while getting eating alive!
At around 2 am it was clear this night was going to be a completely sleepless night.Between rolling,scratching,suffocating, sweating,itching,tossing,turning, unzipping and re-zipping, it was time to call it and do the first thing in my life.........Abort on a camping/fishing trip! It was completely pointless to continue to lay here and just suffocate and get bit.Waiting hours for daylight would have just been further torture.
Not a great camera for this,but I'm packed back up and back on the water around 2:30 am.The moon is out but it's cloudy and very dark.Paddling in the dark relying on my built in sense of direction more than eyesight to paddle back the couple hours (1 hour in daylight) to find the car,load up and head back home to the mid coast on no sleep.
Too bad I didn't have my DSLR,I could of got a nice sunrise pic here.These will have to do.Spoiled now with a nice cam.
A cow moose crossed the road too but she was bashful and not hanging around for pictures.
So this new to me adventure would of been fantastic.I really liked the idea and the seclusion but it was just not in the cards with all the bugs and high humidity.They ate me alive and for the first time ever I had to abort a camping excursion! I couldn't believe it.The reprieve of it all,even though over tired and exhausted by getting back on the water felt so amazing.It was so dark though,it took me a while to find the car.I poured myself in,hit the road,loaded up on coffee and beat feat.Nothing else I could do at this point.
I suppose it was just a matter of time until an adventure failed.You can't win 'em all.........Sometimes nature fights back.
I was going to go fishing today and have a nice relaxing drive back,exploring a few places and whatnot but things just didn't go as planned.
This has been; Welcome to Maine.....The way life shouldn't be.
Hey gang! Welcome back to Maine! This past weekend I'm taking you guys for a ride back down the Blue Hill peninsula,down to the village of Sunset to capture some Milky Way heavens and shoot from Little deer isle causeway too.
Oh yes.First a stop in Bucksport.Are you guys ready for a scary story?
I present you with the legend of Jonathon Buck!
Jonathan Buck was a Puritan to whom witchcraft was anathema.
When a woman was accused of witchcraft, he sentenced her to be executed. Then according to
the Haverhill Gazette, "the hangmen was about to perform his gruesome duty when the woman
turned to Col. Buck and raising one hand to heaven, as if to direct her last words on earth,
pronounced this astounding prophecy: ‘Jonathan Buck, listen to these words, the last my tongue
will utter. It is the spirit of the only true and living God which bids me speak them to you. You
will soon die. Over your grave they will erect a stone that all may know where your bones are
crumbling into dust. But listen, upon that stone the imprint of my feet will appear, and for all
time, long after you and you accursed race have perished from the earth, will the people from far
and wide know that you murdered a woman. Remember well, Jonathan Buck, remember well."
Attempts to have the witches leg removed from the stone have failed to this day! Visit if you dare,the cursed gravestone of Jonathon buck.Just be very careful the witch doesn't put a curse on you too!
Welcome to the village of Sunset,Maine (Edit: This is Brooksville,Maine.My bad).I'm scouting out tonight's shot of the Milky Way! Got to find a nice spot.According to Google maps there's a nice beach here facing right down due south.Let's go take a look in person guys.
Check this out.What a great place to build a little camp.Right on their own little island.
Oh yeah.Check this out.Can you guys imagine the Milky Way just draping down overhead right here? This should be really good for tonight's shot!
Well,it's a long time until 11:30pm.Time for a hike! I've never been here before.Let's go in a take a look around.
Oh what a nice park this is hey guys? Beautiful piece of Maine right here.
OK so I grab a park brochure and see all kinds of nice hikes.I choose the "summit trail" hoping for nice views up top but so as not to get ya too excited,there wasn't unfortunately lol but it's still a very pretty trail.Let's take a stroll into the Maine coastal woods........
Yeah,ok so there's a little peak of the ocean,nothing overly impressive but that's ok.It's a very nice trail and made for a nice mile hike just the same.
Very nice little coastal park.I've got to revisit and explore all the trails in here.Very nice and relaxing place to be.
Well now it's time to set the kayak in over in Brooksville at Walker pond.
Here's the overlook and the bridge on Little deer isle.
I have so much fun I forgot all about you guys though sorry! lol.I didn't take any pics of my fish! I guess it's nothing but a big old fish story now. Well let's see here then.....Oh man you guys should of seen that nice 7lb large mouth I hooked! Just about took my kayak clear over to the other side of the pond! hahaha.Well nothing that exciting I'm afraid.I hooked around a half dozen fish.Ranging from 1/2 to 1 lb small mouth bass in here.Some of 'em good fighters! I released everything.Great fun waiting for the night sky's.
Play time upon mother earth is over.Now it's time to focus on father sky.Oh yeah.These should be good.I'll be a bit (if you happen to be on while I'm uploading this weekends adventure) as I have to post process and stitch my pano's.I'll have them posted below in an hour or so from now if all goes well.
Edit; I take that back.These are multi row pano's.I may not have these up until tomorrow.
OK here is the one from the beach down in the village of Sunset.......edit: Brooksville.
I'm experimenting with gradient filter in lightroom.I successfully toned down a large ball of light pollution.......Let me check google maps.....yeah ok,what must be Rockland? I dunno it was pretty dang bright and big.Maybe it was even Portland.Probably being so massive.I don't think Rockland would glow that bad.Well anyway,so I have a lot to learn with that to make it more of a smooth transition.I dunno how yet so there's a very distinctive darker line across the bottom from where I toned down the brightness and yellow/orange colors.Beats a huge glowing ball like sunset from the dirty city anyway.With some practice I'll learn how to kill light pollution better.It's gunna look a bit skewed too.I had to do a weird boundary warp to the crop or else it was going to crop out the ocean.Perhaps I could remove one of my top layers of the pano and it wouldn't happen.
Well,after some practice in a few more months,I'll likely revisit and revise this one as I'll likely improve on these couple skills.It's cool though.Check it out............
Yeah this is definatly not this images full potential.Look at that Milky Way though.Awesomeness.I didn't mess up the Galaxy with my gradient filter though.That's really the end there.The heart of her really is up above the horizon this time of year.I started my filter down below it,just to null down the light pollution.That's way too close to be Portland isn't it? That's got to be Rockland.Dang that city is bright! I should upload the one without the filter.Looks like a dirty sunset.It's nasty.
Oh this beach isn't down in Sunset.What am I thinking anyway lol.This is in Brooksville.It's a beach in Brooksville down on the weir rd.I had my head in the maps so much while scouting before heading out,I got all mixed up.Yeah,that glow has got to be coming from Rockland.
Here we go.Just as I thought,I had to remove my top row and it flattened out nicely.Took time to process it correctly too.I didn't use the gradient filter,instead I used the brush with 100 feather and tweaked out the big ball of orange/yellow light pollution that way.Much better results! It can't beat pure dark skies but it's about the best ya can do when you have a city in view.
What a difference proper time spent on an image can make.It can make or break your shot.I'm really starting to get in the zone with this now.
I know what I did wrong shooting this one too.I didn't pan wide enough for the amount of rows up I went.I should of went a shot more left and a shot more to the right.This one is now 20 images too.5 shots wide x 4 rows up.I had it 5x5 which perhaps would of worked if I went 7 shots wide on my 5th row...Hmm.I'll have to experiment with wider upper rows.Anyway much better! My low level light on my stand that I put down the beach there now properly glows the trees a touch like intended too.Hope ya like.
Last edited by FORDF250HDXLT; 07-11-2018 at 10:55 PM.
Reason: updated pic.
Here's a real quickly done up one from the causeway.You can really see the glow of Rockland without any work to tone it down.
This is I think a 4 layer pano but this is a quicky so it's just a little double row pano and not much time spent in lightroom on it.This is the one where I was a bit out of focus but it's not anywhere near as off as I thought.The lights will trail down in the reflection of course but I should of taken just a few more secs to dial in focus.This one needs about 20-30 mins worth of tuning and tweaking but I wont do that until I stitch in the top layers too.
So what I'm learning here is due to the earth's curvature,I need to start my pano's down much lower from where I want the image to be in the end,wider as well.Especially wider as I go up in my rows.This way once lightroom has all the images it can crop much easier and I wont get a weird boundary warp curve going on.Then if need be,I can re-crop to get the full image I'm after.
Ok so now with proper ram in my pc it's much easier to stitch these panorama's together.So here is the full multi layer.....let me see just what this is.....4 across....5 rows up...20 images.........but anyway,here is Little Deer Isle causeway beach again.This time complete and some time spent on it.A good 20 mins tweaking before and after the stitch.
I intentionally left the light pollution alone here.There were some pretty multi colored lights (and these were easily seen in person with the naked eye too) which are pretty cool,then the red beacon light (on something,a tower or lighthouse,I dunno what that is exactly it appears to be pretty low but so far away,it's probably just a tower).
The problem here is of course that bright sunlight glow that looks a dirty and gloomy yellow/orange sunset.This is light pollution from the city of Rockland.Now I can pretty much get rid of this using the color sliders,just turn down the yellow and or oranges.The problem with this though,is I don't want to lose those natural colors in my Milky Way so I must force myself to learn the gradient filter and tone this down/out in much more proper and localized manner.I'll re-post the same image with this done (it might take me a few hours,which could mean days to learn this lol.I only have so much free time so don't expect an update too soon.)
Oh wait a minute.I do to know what that is.That red light is probably the lighthouse on the Rockland breakwater.Far out! (I'll have to look it up to see if it has a red light lol.Wild guess but I do think a good one.)
Here we go.Well I got the light pollution down using the filter but it made my water look a bit silver and took out that nice dark glow to it.This is tricky.Dang cities! Hopefully over time we learn the importance of darker skies and hopefully new lights are developed that don't glow up the skies while still illuminating the towns and cities for safety.
These are still pretty dang good Milky Way shots though.I gotta work on that Brooksville beach one and make that one proper now too.I didn't do that one justice.
Last edited by FORDF250HDXLT; 07-11-2018 at 07:47 PM.
Reason: updated pic.
Just got back from seeing ZZ Top at the Maine State Pier!
I've been visiting some more of my ancestral homelands over in Canada so I haven't been active in Maine lately.
Rocking with ZZ Top tonight here in Maine!
It's autumn in vacationland.By the time I found some spare time to go snap some pics with my DSLR,peak has past us here just slightly around the mid coast.I got a couple in though!
I guess I shouldn't say peak coloration has past,so much as we've gotten some rain and we're already losing many leaves.
Too bad this wouldn't last as long as winter hey guys?
06-18-2018, 11:54 AM
