The Old Halfway Bridge

I have for many years been fascinated with old bridges.  They have a kind of rustic charm combined with a graphic strength that give them an element of enduring artistic nature.  Most of the old bridges were way over engineered and were built to withstand far greater stress loads than they probably needed...that alone provides a degree of rustic charm that places them within a time frame where one can almost identify the era in which the bridge was built...not unlike a classic car.

There is an old bridge I found several years ago that spans Trammel Creek...I call it 'The Halfway Bridge' because it is located near the end of Halfway Road.  No longer able to withstand traffic, it was closed off many years ago, but it is possible to walk across it and get a feel of days past.  It is narrow...only one lane and it offers a splendid view of Trammel Creek.  Surrounding it are the wooded banks of the creek that have grown up  and encroached across both ends...even moss now grows on the crumbling asphalt surface.

Although I have photographed this bridge during all four seasons, the best time of year is in the fall when the trees begin to turn.  Around here in south central Kentucky, the fall colors seem to be coming early this season...I bet a good 10 days earlier than what is routine.  In the 8 years I've lived around here, I've seen the colors start to change anywhere between mid-October and the first week of November...peaking somewhere around the end of October through the second week of November.

I took a few days off this week...and spent a few hours around mid-day on this overcast day re-shooting the old bridge again.  It's a fun place to visit...Here is a link to see more.   Old Halfway Bridge

Create a Keeper from a Cull - Opening a Jpeg image in Raw

First of all let me explain that I am not a guru on Photoshop in any of its configurations whether it be Elements or CS3, 4, 5...or whatever the latest version is.  My philosophy when taking photos is to get it as close to being right in the camera so that when I do download it, any post processing will be minimal.

None the less...having said that...there are times when a little bit of post processing is desirable.  Here is a case in point.  The photo above was taken of my neighbor's cat as it played in and around an old chair in our garden.  (All together now...1, 2, 3...Ahhhh!)  It was late in the afternoon and the old chair was in the shadows.  I shot the image with in camera settings of jpeg, Standard, Daylight, ISO 200, f/5.6 @ 1/60th with +/- 0 compensation.  Nothing fancy...nothing tricky about it.  The results as you can see was an image with a bit of a blue and somewhat dull cast to it.  The reason was because I did not push the White Balance into the Shade range and the 0 compensation caused the exposure to move toward the mid-range tonal values.

This particular kind of image can be salvaged with a bit of a tweak using Photoshop.  At the moment I use Elements 6...I know there are newer versions out there, but this one seems to work quite well for what I need...so, I'm going to save the one hundred bucks or so it would cost to upgrade and use those funds for gas money so I can go out and take more pictures.

An easy way to fix this image is to open it in Camera Raw format using Elements.  With Elements 6 open, click on the File option and select Open As and select as the format Camera Raw.  Even though this is a jpeg image, it can still be opened using the Raw formatting configurations...you just don't have quite as much digital information to work with.  The image will appear looking like the top image with the adjustment sliders on the right.

To correct the bluish tint use the Temperature slider and slide it a few points to the right to warm up the image.

To give the image a bit more pop...slide the Exposure slider to the right just a little to push a bit of power into the image...not too much...just enough to remove some of the dullness.

Move the Blacks slider a point or two to the right to give the image a little more strength.

Add a little Contrast and Brightness if you want to...plus a point or three of Clarity and Saturation...

Then press the Save Image option on the bottom left.  Wait a few seconds for it to finish saving , then press Open Image on the bottom right.  This reopens the image as a jpeg.  From here I normally add a bit of sharpening then save the image again as a jpeg.  These simple corrections can take a dull, somewhat improperly exposed image and turn it into a keeper.

Writing and Photography...

There is a quiet nature that fills the air just before dawn...during those moments as the sky grows brighter little by little.  The softness speaks to those who take time to listen...what is said during those times often lingers long after the darkness has faded.  As with most days we soon are caught up in activities that rush about and distract us...but those silent moments...those times when it is most quiet...we always seem to remember with fond reserve.  Words found to describe such times are rare...yet the memories capture the heart of one who has discovered the rarity of those encounters.

I rediscovered such rarity one morning as I drifted across silent waters enjoying a brief and long anticipated escape canoeing the haunts of Shanty Hollow Lake.  It's an odd sensation floating on calm waters in the dark...no real sense of movement.  A hundred or so yards out I coasted to a stop and allowed my gaze to lift upward towards a sky filled with the light of countless stars.  The silence of that moment filled my soul.  For timeless minutes I simply drifted...no wind...no sounds...just the first light of morning to break the darkness.

As I moved on toward that morning rendezvous the stars slowly, one by one, twinkled one last time and faded away.  There was no way to capture the first part of that morning except in words...and in searching for those words I am reminded of the similarities between writing and photography.  Where in writing one seeks to stir the imagination by painting word pictures in the mind of the reader...in photography...one uses light to build an image that expresses emotional visual stories the viewer interprets in their mind.  The thought processes are often the same...to find the right combination of words...or light...to define the subject in such a way that the reader or viewer understands the importance of what you were trying to express.  Writing helps one to become a better photographer because it serves to develop that creative side of the mind...and that in time will lend itself well served.

Keith