Lens Correction

The Curved Door

The bad news is that every photographic lens induces some degree of distortion to the image that it sends to the sensor.  Some lenses cause more warping than others, but the amount and type of distortion is dependent on the focal length and the proximity of the subject. 

Types of Distortion

There are two types of distortion.  Wide angle lenses can cause the appearance of swelling out from the middle of the image, called Barrel Distortion.  This warping is often associated vignetting, a darkening at the corners.  Conversely, looking at more distant subjects with a telephoto lens can result in an inward bending of lines on the edges, called pincushion distortion.

The good new is that tools in both Lightroom and Photoshop can correct much of these problems and most of the adjustments are essentially automatic.  In Lightroom the magic all happens with the Lens Correction Tool.

The Curved Door

Recently, I was shooting along the waterfront in Rockport Massachusetts. I was especially attracted by the interesting detail in many of the Lobster shacks; colorful buoys, ropes and weathered doors.  I loved my angle on this shack, but I noticed that by using a 67mm focal length the lines of the distant door showed considerable pin cushioning.  The result was some post-processing correction and an excuse for another blog article

Lightroom’s Lens Correction Panel

Recent versions of Lightroom have a few nifty tools for correcting Lens distortion in the “Lens Corrections Panel”.  In Lightroom CC Classic, the first choice is between “Profile” and “Manual”.  In most cases you will not need to venture into the Manual options. 

Chromatic Aberration

The first option under “Profile” is to remove Chromatic Aberration.  I discussed the cause and treatment of Chromatic Aberration in an article six years ago.   Since then the causes have not changed, but many new lenses have become better at reducing the problem and the software has made its correction easier.  Just click on the button and most of the color banding will disappear. To fine tune the results you may need to dive into the Manual Options, but that will a subject for a future article.

Profile Correction

Profile Adjustment

I love automatic stuff.  Adobe has assembled a large and expanding data base on the characteristics of most of the lenses that are available on the market and many legacy lenses that you may still be using.  This means that it is very likely that Lightroom can identify the lens in your metadata and automatically make the necessary adjustments to compensate for the distortion and vignetting.  Click “Enable Profile Corrections” and chances are your; Make, Model and Profile will pop up and the image distortion will be corrected. 





If the meta data does not contain the lens information, then you can look for it in the Lens Profile drop-downs.  If you can’t find your lens, most likely because it is new, you can wait for the next update which always includes a bunch of new profiles.  When all “automatic stuff” fails you can drop down to the “Amount” sliders and adjust both Distortion and Vignetting manually.

Fine-tuning the Door

The automatic profile adjustment made a marked improvement in the pin cushioning of the door, but it wasn’t quite perfect. The door edge still had a definite curve.  I went to the Distortion slider and found that a full +200 correction led to a better result.  For Lightroom and Photoshop automatic adjustments can work great, particularly for lens profiles, but sometimes they are just a good place to start.

Brick Wall Barrel Distortion

A wide-angle close-up of a plain brick wall gives a nice view of Barrel Distortion and for this I must thank the imposing façade of Dick’s Sporting Goods in Keene New Hampshire.  A straight-on view with my 16mm lens clearly shows barrel distortion and edge vignetting.  In this case the built-in Profile Correction nicely fixes the problems without any need for further adjustments.

Maple Trunk

Often lens distortions are not immediately obvious until they are corrected.  It is always helpful to compare a corrected image with the original, especially when using telephoto or wide-angle shots and it is nice that the process is so quick and easy.  My original shot of a Maple trunk in my yard looks reasonable, but when compared to the corrected version it is easy to see the bloated barreling in the center of the image.

Needs Work

The Lens Correction in Lightroom is one of the program’s simplest and most magical tools.  It is a worthy stop every time you travel through the Develop Module’s workflow.

Jeff Newcomer, NEPG
www.partridgebrookreflections.com

New England Photography Guild and Rockport Cape Ann

The New England Photography Guild was organized in early 2011 as a group of photographers who focus on celebrating the 

Bearskin Neck

beauty of our unique corner of the country.  Since being establish by Jeff Folger, Butch Lombardi and Liz Mackney the Guild has grown to include 12 talented photographers from throughout New England.  It has been my honor to be member since 2012.  As stated in its initial blog article, Jeff Folger described the Guild as, “a place where some of the best photographers I've met will have a small gallery representing their work” to bring “all the incredibly beautiful areas of  scenic New England in one location”.

Rockport Sunrise

The Guild started as a gallery to show amazing images of New England, but over the years its focus has broadened.  Primarily through our regular blog articles, we have expanded our role to include a celebration of many of the region’s most beautiful locations, and as a source for information about photographic techniques and vision.  

The Meeting, Finally!

New Hampshire Photography Guild

Recently we gathered in Rockport Massachusetts for a long overdue assessment of the on-going goals of our group.  We hadn’t met  in several years, and it was exciting that eleven of our current 12 members were in attendance.  It was a long meeting, including catching up with new and old members (I am one of the OLD members), chatting and comparing our various activities and of course planning how to keep the Guild relevant in the rapidly evolving world of digital photography.

Lobster Shack Door

We decided on a long list of tasks and goals, which might be worthy of a future article.  I was especially excited by plans to highlight the list of classes and workshops that many of our members organize throughout the year.  We came away with a fresh sense of connection and purpose, and a commitment to stay closer in touch with each other and our community.

In all, it was a productive and enjoyable meeting, but the other attraction of the weekend was the chance to revisit the Gloucester and classic New England fishing village of Rockport.

Back to Rocky Neck

Grounded

I grew up spending my summers on our family's little boat on Rocky Neck in Gloucester.  I explored every corner of the harbor in my own eight foot dinghy with its ferocious 3 HP motor, and we spent weeks cruising the coast from Block Island to Acadia.  I wasn't surprised to find that Rocky Neck showed signs of development, but, for me, it still held the charm of many years ago.    

Low Tide on Rocky Neck

Rockport

Rockport harbor is tucked away in a far corner of Cape Ann on the northern Massachusetts coast.  Despite its relative isolation, Rockport still attracts tourists to its artist studios and unique shops especially along famous Bearskin Neck.   Photographers are drawn to its well protected harbor, which is almost entirely populated with working lobster boats.  Unlike so many harbors on the New England coast, Rockport has not become overrun by pleasure craft.  The waterfront provides many opportunities to capture scenes of lobster boats, weathered shacks, lobster pots. colorful buoys and coils of rope.  

Motif #1

Of course, Rockport is most famous for the iconic red lobster shack “Motif Number One”.  Every photographer who has ever lived must get the classic shot of the motif.  It would be trite if the damn place wasn’t so ironically iconic!  The goal is to find a few fresh angles on the shack, but a “fresh angle” means that it has been captured by perhaps 1,000 previous photographers.

Of course, I bagged my Motif from several perspectives.  I included lobster boats, pots and skiffs.  I shot evening and dawn light and mixed in a little tone mapping.  That should last me for a few years.

Dinner and a Thacher Island Dawn

Sunrise Line

Our Guild meeting was scheduled for 9:30 Sunday morning, so Susan and I headed down on Saturday afternoon and stayed at the friendly Tuck Inn.  Saturday night we joined Guild Members Liz Mackney and Jonathan Steele (with his partner Jules) for dinner at a local fish restaurant.  The food was great and Jonathan, Liz and I got to consult the Photographer’s Ephemeris for the best place to catch the sunrise over Thacher Island.  Susan and Jules seemed happy to entertained themselves.

Sunday morning, I met Jonathan before dawn on the rocks opposite Thacher Island, with its twin lighthouses.  Right on cue, the sun rose between the two lights.  It was a beautiful calm and clear morning, sadly entirely too clear!  The hope is always to have enough clouds in the sky to light up with the gold of the rising sun, but this morning we had to contend with the “terrible clears”.  

Blue Hour Gold

Dealing with the Terrible Clears

I tried many of the approaches to a dull clear sky.  Before the sunrise I took advantage of the “blue hour” with its additional shades of red and yellow.  I caught the first slight crescent of the sun as it rose above the island.  For most of my sun shots, I accentuated the star burst appearance by stopping down on the aperture to f16-f22.  Unfortunately, the small apertures also increased the prominence of flare, which required correction in post-processing.

Another approach to an uninteresting sky is to eliminate most of it.  In one shot I zoomed in on the South Lighthouse, reducing the sky and showing the sunlight shining through the light and the tower windows.  In another image, I pulled back to show the foreground rocks and the light scintillating across the water.   

I always enjoy finding excuses to travel to our New England seacoast.  On this occasion I got the opportunity to capture images around one of the coasts most iconic little harbors while also renewing connects with some of our regions best landscape photographers.  What could be better?

Jeffrey Newcomer

www.partridgebrookreflections.com

Photographing Our Autumn Oaks

As our autumn is fading, we are sadly saying goodbye to the brilliant reds and gold of the Sugar Maples and happily goodbye to the hordes of “peepers” who congest our roads and then leave without offering to rake a single leaf.  Things are getting quiet, but before we descend to full November stick season, there is still much late season color to enjoy.  The Maples are spectacular, but delicate and short-lived.  This year we seem to be enjoying an especially lovely late foliage season and, as always, it is coming primarily from the long-lasting beech and the sturdy Oaks.

Beach Forest

The beeches display bright orange and gold. Over time the leaves mature to a rich brown, but when the Maple leaves are largely on the ground, the Beech are just reaching their peak.

I have previously sung the praises of the “Underappreciate Beech”, so this seems a good time to celebrate the wide variety of New England Oaks.  Oaks come in a wide variety, from low lying shrubs to majestic giants. 

Champion Red Oak

In Chesterfield’s Friedsam Town Forest we are blessed with the county champion Red Oak, nearly 100 feet tall and estimated to be over 300 years old.  Other varieties of Oaks include the White,  Pin, Black and the Swamp Oaks.  Their leaves vary widely in shape and in autumn color.  Oaks can have bright russet foliage, but they are known predominantly for earthy browns and rusty tones.  

Stickney Falls Autumn

Black Mountain Oak

All autumn colors become apparent only after the green of Chlorophyll has faded.  Maple leaves get their yellows from Carotene while their reds and oranges come from anthcyanins.  For Oaks, the distinctive brown color comes from Tannins.  Actually, Tannins cause the brown color that most leaves, including Maples, display after they have settled into the forest floor.

Over the last days I have been out looking for autumn Oaks and I have come to freshly appreciate the variety of photographic opportunities that they provide. 

The range of color in the leaves makes for attractive intimate tableaus especially when something of interest can be placed in the background. 

Frozen Floor

Whether frosted, frozen or lying in the grass, fallen Oak leaves can portray a sense of autumn’s end.

Because autumn Oak leaves tend to reach their color after most other leaves have fallen, their arrangements tend to stand out in greater relief, creating clearer patterns than are apparent in the masses of early foliage

A few years ago, I included Oak leaves in my back-lite Macro leafstudies.  The results showed the variety of shapes and the delicate quality of the “mighty” Oak leaves.

Of course, I still miss the amazing colors of that split-second of peak foliage, but there is much to enjoy in autumn’s prolonged mellow tail.  So, get out there and capture all the beauty that our Beeches and Oaks have to offer, before stick season fully descends.

Jeff Newcomer, NEPG
www.partridgebrookreflections.com

2019 New England Reflections Calendar

Benefiting the Monadnock Conservancy

With the fall foliage season fading away, the time is overdue to get people thinking of there 2019 calendar(s).  Actually, October is late to be pushing out my New England Reflections Calendar, but there are two important factors that make this year’s calendar especially desirable.

The Calendar

First and as is always true, my 2019 calendar is the best I have ever offered!  It is difficult to choose the pictures for the calendar, but I am excited about the image selection and, once again, how beautifully they have been printed by Silver Direct. 

As always, my images focus on the Monadnock Region and southern Vermont.  Pictures include lots of flowing water (four pictures), ice coated Harrisville during the crippling 2008 December storm, spring flowers, and intense autumn colors along a road in Chesterfield.  I always include at least one animal picture, and for the 2019 calendar, it is of new-born lambs at Harrisville’s Mayfair Farm.  This year’s seacoast picture captures sunrise at the icon Portland Head Lighthouse. In November 2017 we saw a spectacular “Super” moon and I managed to capture the moonrise over Mount Monadnock. 

You can see some of these pictures here, but for the full collection, check out the 2019 New England Reflections Gallery on my web site.

The Cause

For the first time, this year, all the proceeds from my calendar benefit the great work of the Monadnock Conservancy. The Conservancy is a nonprofit land trust for southwestern New Hampshire.  Since its founding in 1989 the Conservancy has protected nearly 20,000 acres, including farmland and open spaces.  This is a wonderful group of hard-working conservationists who have been strongly supportive of the New England Reflections Calendar.  

Monadnock Conservancy Staff

It is refreshing to partner with folks who have enthusiastically taken on the work of distributing and promoting the calendar.   Even if you don’t like the calendar, please consider supporting this excellent organization to any extent you can but remember the New England Reflections Calendar make a great gift for family and friends, anytime, but especially during the holiday season. What better gift than to promote the protection of the natural beauty of our amazing corner of New England.

Where are the Calendars?

The calendars are widely available.  We are still working on expanding their distribution, but here is a partial list of the quality local establishments who have agree to carry the calendar.  You can also get one or more from me, or from the Monadnock Conservancy.

• Creative Encounters Keene
• Flowers on Main- Keene  
• Hannah Grimes- Keene
• May Fair Farm- Harrisville
• Monadnock Imaging- Keene
• Sharon Arts Center Peterborough
• Toadstool Keene
• Toadstool Peterborough
• Jingle Christmas Store, Westmoreland
• Westmoreland General Store, Westmoreland   

Monadnock Conservancy
15 Eagle Court, po box 337
Keene, NH 03431
603-357-0600

Jeff Newcomer

www.partridgebrookreflections.org
603-363-8338