Morningstar Mill and Decew Falls at Blue Hour

[Manfred M]

I've been out of town for a few days and had my camera along. I discovered this site that was just down the street from the B&B we were staying at and got there just before sunset. I took a few shots and by the time I found the view I really liked, it was well into Blue Hour (21:25 / 9:25 PM in the evening), so the light level was quite low; this is an existing light shot.

The is the historic Morningstar Grist Mill and the Decew Falls outside of St Catharines, Canada.




Nikon D810 with Nikkor f/2.8 24-70mm lens. ISO 1000, 13 second exposure at f/7.1 at a 40mm focal length.

[dje]

It works for me Manfred, nicely captured. The image has an interesting mix of elements and the soft light is nice.

Dave

[Shadowman]

Nicely composed.

[NorthernFocus]

You did find a nice composition, Manfred. Whoever does the maintenance around there needs some instruction on trimming trees for the benefit of photographers

[Manfred M]

You did find a nice composition, Manfred. Whoever does the maintenance around there needs some instruction on trimming trees for the benefit of photographers

Totally agree. If would have been nice to have a chainsaw or machete and a tall step ladder along. There is also a fence that runs along there; a tall wire mesh one that is terrible for shooting and a somewhat shorter wooden picket fence that can be avoided only if the branch on the top right is included. Somehow preventing people from falling down the cliff seems to be a higher priority to the local authorities than letting photographers get the shot...

[Wavelength]

WaW!!!It is so lovely!!!

[Rainforest]

Hi Manfred, What a nice spot to find. There are four strong elements for my eyes, the most interesting being the light on the wheel and mill house. I tried a square crop and liked the stronger focus there and cloned out the branch. Anyway, lovely!

[rpcrowe]

Dan... Haven't you seen the new "tree removal" filter on eBay? It is listed right next to the "telephone pole removal" filter

[NorthernFocus]

The trees obscuring the beautiful red building are the biggest offenders. I'm all for protecting the public. But at least let a clear view of that pretty mill be the last thing they see before climbing over rhe fence and plunging to their death.

[Manfred M]

Dan... Haven't you seen the new "tree removal" filter on eBay? It is listed right next to the "telephone pole removal" filter

Found it!

[PRSearls]

Beautiful capture. I really light the soft light and blurred water. I don't think TSA would allow a chainsaw in carry-on luggage, but who knows?!

[Manfred M]

I don't think TSA would allow a chainsaw in carry-on luggage, but who knows?!

Not a problem - we drove there; some 600 km / 375 miles from where we live. There was lots of room in the car for a chainsaw. On a flight, a machete in the checked baggage should have worked too.

[MrB]

A pleasing composition but a question, Manfred. Was there any more of the machinery on the left visible from your viewpoint? Just curious. And the following is just a matter of personal preference - I realise that you have called it the "blue hour" but for me the blue tones are just a bit too strong.

Philip

[Manfred M]

I realise that you have called it the "blue hour" but for me the blue tones are just a bit too strong.

I'm not quite sure what to do about it as all of the light at that time of day is blue coloured reflections from the sky. This is quite typical of the light after the sun has dropped below the horizon. The level of light was so low that I had to manually focus using LiveView / magnification as the camera's autofocus could not cope.

To get the image to be "neutral", I have to set the WB in ACR to 50000K! I can 100% guarantee, this is not what the scene looked like.




This is a shot of the entire complex, taken from the opposite side from the previous image (I was past the stone mill building and up the hill behind it). You can see the power shaft from the water wheel connected to the stone mill building.

The widest lens I had with me was my Nikkor f/2.8 24-70mm, and this shot was taken at a 24mm focal length. It was taken at 10 minutes after sunset, so there was still a warm glow from the sun.

[MrB]

There was no need to go to that extreme, Manfred. I wrote only that, for me, the blue tones are just a bit too strong. It looks better to me when the blue intensity is reduced by only a small adjustment, e.g.:



Philip

[Dave A]

Wonderful image Manfred.

Dave