Monday, February 20, 2006

Watson Mill Bridge VI

This is the entrance to the bridge. Nothing spectacular about this picture...and I was even a little upset that I didn't capture it more clearly. It wasn't hard to take...just stand in the middle of the road and shoot.

Anyway, this is the bridge. Built in 1885. The longest original covered bridge in the state of Georgia.

Although this is the last picture I'm posting on my blog from my trip to the park, this one will be at the top...so, if you're reading, the next 15 or so pictures below this one are from the park.

I get really nervous about driving across this thing. As you can see, there are wooden planks for you to drive over, but I'm always paranoid that I'll swerve off them a little and drive onto the old boards below...then the whole bridge will give way and I'll go plunging into the water below.

Probably not very likely...but I think about that every time I drive across it!

Here's the link to the Watson Mill Bridge State Park if you'd like to check it out:

http://www.negia.net/~watson/

It's a beautiful place. One of my favorite places on earth. I plan on going back to take more pictures during spring or summer when there is some color in the park. Posted by Picasa

Watson Mill Bridge III

This is kind of a focal point picture. I remember back in some of my high school art classes learning about focal points. This kind of reminded me of the examples that my teacher used to explain it to us.

However, I'm not sure what the focal point is here...but maybe the way the picture is taken, it leads your eye to the bridge itself. That's what happens when I look at it.

Not a bad picture. I like it. Looks like something that would be on the Watson's Mill visitor's guide or web site. It would look even better in spring or summer.

Tv: 1/400
Av: 5.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 22.0 mm Posted by Picasa

The falls

A very high shutter speed used on this one. I like the way the ripples in the water were captured and the smoothness of the water as it was flowing over the falls.

Tv: 1/400
Av: 7.1
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 46.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Watson Mill Bridge (B&W V)

Yet another B&W photo of the bridge and falls...but a bit of a different angle.

Like most photos of the falls, I used a very high shutter speed to capture the movement.

Tv: 1/320
Av: 6.3
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 46.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Stream

Same location and everything as the B&W.

I really like the red buds on the branches in this one. Their color against the shades of brown, black, green and grey really enhances the photo.

Tv: 1/50
Av: 9.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 33.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Stream (B&W)

This is at the beginning of one of the nature trails at the park. I like the way the stream just kinds of runs into the picture. Makes for a decent B&W photograph.

Tv: 1/50
Av: 8.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 33.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Watson Mill Bridge (B&W IV)

This is the only one I took of the bridge using a B&W filter. This one was a red filter.

Kind of a different angle than some of the others I took of the bridge.

Tv: 1/250
Av: 8.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 30.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Watson Mill Bridge (B&W III)

Another one I like.

Like some of the other photographs I took of the bridge, I wanted to capture it alone with the falls underneath it, so I cropped this one to accomplish that.

No filter on the B&W.

Tv: 1/250
Av: 8.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 55.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Watson Mill Bridge (B&W II)

Another view of the bridge in B&W.

I like this one. Actually, I like all the B&W photos I took of the bridge. There's just something about the bridge that really contributes to a B&W photograph.

Tv: 1/320
Av: 5.6
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 30.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Knot hole stump III

The other side.

Gives a little bit more color to the picture, but the textures are still there. When I look at this picture, I find myself moving my eyes around the frame a lot. Not sure what causes that, but there's something about the texture of the tree/bark that gives some kind of motion to the photo.

Tv: 1/25
Av: 9.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 28.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Knot hole stump II

See what I mean about the stump offering interesting photo opportunities?

I like this one. I got close to the stump and focused on the closest object. I also took another one while focusing on the objects seen through the knot hole, but this one turned out better. I like the brownish-red color and the texture in this one.

Tv: 1/25
Av: 5.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 38.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Knot hole stump

This old tree stump made for an interesting subject as you can see in the other posts.

I'm not sure what became of this tree, but it looks like storm damage. Whatever it was, it tore the tree down kind of violently!

Tv: 1/15
Av: 10.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 55.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Steps

Kind of an interesting picture along the lower trail at the park. From this vantage point, the steps seem to lead up to nowhere.

Ok...so, it's not the most panoramic or beautiful picture ever taken, but I thought it was kind of cool.

Tv: 1/10
Av: 20.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 18.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Downstream

This is about a half mile below the falls. It's a peaceful looking picture. It'd be a lot more colorful in the spring or summer, but, you take what you can get.

There's a good amount of water coming over the falls at the bridge, but once you walks a ways down the trail, the stream is very narrow...almost at a trickle in some places.

Tv: 1/200
Av: 5.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 38.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Downed tree

Another close-up of some object! I remember there being some kind of magazine I used to read in elementary school (I think it was Scholastic) that had these magnified pictures of objects. The answers were in multiple choice.

This picture kind of reminds me of that magazine and those magnified pictures.

Tv: 1/5
Av: 11.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 55.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Stone wall

I'm really disappointed with this picture...but, I like the subject matter so much I decided to post it anyway.

I was on a pretty steep incline looking up at this stone wall that was (I guess) acting as some kind of reinforcement to the upper trail. I couldn't really hold my hands steady enough to get a good crisp shot. I thought I had it at the time. The picture looked decent through the LCD monitor, but when I got home and downloaded the photographs from the camera, I noticed it was blurred a good bit.

Anyway, it's here. I still like the idea and the texture of the picture. I just wish it would have been more sharp.

Tv: 1/10
Av: 11
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 54.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Watson Mill Bridge (B&W)

Almost the exact same picture as the one right below, but taken with B&W setting. I didn't use a tone or a filter on many of the pictures I took at Watson's Mill. I didn't think it really needed it.

The old bridge makes for a good B&W subject, in my opinion.

Tv: 1/400
Av: 5.6
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 37.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Watson Mill Bridge II

This one, like the two just below, was taken at the beginning of a trail that runs along the stream below the falls.

I like this one because of the branches in the corner of the foreground. It gives the bridge a little bit of depth. The water running right towards the foreground also has a pleasing effect.

Tv: 1/400
Av: 5.6
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 37.0 mm Posted by Picasa

View through the trees II

This one has basically the same explanation as the one below. I kind of like this one better than the other one, though. Maybe it's got something to do with the end of the bridge being show. It kind of breaks up the picture a little and gives the eye something more to look at other than just a bridge that fills up the frame.

Tv: 1/50
Av: 13
Exposure Compensation: +2/3
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 55.0 mm Posted by Picasa

View through the trees

This one was taken at the bottom of the stairs leading to the path that skirts the stream below the falls. It's one of those photographs in which I was trying to obtain focus on both a close object (the trees) and an object far away (the bridge and falls). It turned out pretty good. I may set the shutter speed a little faster next time and use a different shooting mode, though.

Tv: 1/200
Av: 7.1
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 33.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Terrain

This is one of those landscape shots that I have a hard time with. There's nothing in this photograph that the viewer can focus on, but it seemed (at the time) to be too good of a shot to pass up. I'm not really sure why.

Anyway, it's a nice little view of what lies beneath the falls at Watson's Mill. This area is about 200 yards down stream.

Tv: 1/200
Av: 6.3
Exposure Compensation: -1
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 55.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Watson Mill Bridge

This is one of my favorites I took on this day. I really like the detail and tones in the wood that makes up the bridge itself.

I cropped this photo to cut off both ends of the bridge. I wanted just an image of the bridge with the falls underneath it.

Tv: 1/500
Av: 5.6
Exposure Compensation: -2/3
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 55.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Water

I was trying to capture the movement in this photograph. I like the way it turned out, but I seem to always find a few areas in the picture that could have uses a higher shutter speed. There's something I like about the detail that a high shutter speed gives an object caught in motion.

Tv: 1/400
Av: 5.6
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 31.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Dandelion in winter

This picture didn't quite capture exactly what I had in mind. The focus on the dandelion isn't as sharp as I wanted it. I wanted the dandelion to be really crisp and clear and the green leaves in the background to be blurred and frame the dandelion.

It's still kind of an interesting picture, though. Just not what I originally wanted.

Tv: 1/20
Av: 5.0
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 35.0 mm Posted by Picasa

Herty Field Fountain - UGA campus

I did some touch-up to this photo by fading the B&W on the edges and leaving the color of the lights in the fountain. I had to take this one quick because it started to rain really hard right after I shot it, so, I didn't quite get the shot I had in mind.

I don't like to mess with the final pictures too much because I like the origianl image to remain in tact as much as possible...especially when I capture a photograph I'm really happy with.

I used a high shutter speed on this one to try and capture the water in the fountain and I think it turned out pretty well.

Tv: 30
Av: 3.5
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 24.0 mm Posted by Picasa