Little Garden Walk

Echinacea Close ups

Focus stacked some echinacea images to get the sharpest images possible.

Farm Community

The morning light on the metal barn caught my attention and I needed to get this image. I wasn't expecting to see such a modern looking barn in rural Pennsylvania.

Old Stone Mill

A different angle of Herr's Mill. The brown stones made a nice contrast against the bright green duck weed.

Station Break

A train conductor sits on a bench waiting for the signal to go.

Power Up

Nothing too spectacular about power lines, but I liked the dramatic clouds in this picture.

Thomas the Train

While we were at Strasburg Rail Road Station we took Wendy's grandson on the famous Thomas the Train ride. He totally had a blast and was super excited to see Thomas in person.

Strasburg Rail Road

Old time stream engine at Strasburg Rail Road Station.

Ye Ole Print Shop

Here's an image I made of the print shop used by the Cloister in Ephrata. One of the Society's outstanding contributions to its communities was the steady flow of books, broadsides, and tracts that rolled off its printing presses. I used 3 images merged together in Photoshop CC. Then processed in Aurora HDR Pro. I have been experimenting with blending Source Image > Custom Textures in this program with a vast array of colored and textured backgrounds I used in my portrait studio. I am happy with the effects I can achieve to give my work its own style and look. I will do a tutorial on that soon.

Niagara River Morning

Image of a very calm and reflective Niagara river. This is shot from the north west corner of Grand Island looking towards Niagara Falls. Part of a 30 mile bicycle ride I stopped at this overlook and snapped this image because I rarely see the river this calm.

Susquehanna High

A beautiful view of the Susquehanna river.

Retouching Wildlife Eyes

I have this great image of a bald eagle close up. As you can see I have some great detail in my subjects eye already, but what if I want to go a step further and make that eye realistic and give it a little pop.

Most of us have been taught to add a layer and use a round brush with white and paint a dot to make a catch light effect and thus give the eye a bit of sparkle. This technique is fine as long as you don't look too close. My background in painting tells me I need more, more realism.

Add another layer mask then choose a sky color from the color picker.

Now paint a little squiggle in an arch motion in the eye like this.

Now go to filters> Gaussian blur. I use about 4.5 - 5 to soften my images. Also at this time drop down to the previous layer and do the same to the catch light dot we added at the beginning.

Now go back to the the blue layer and reduce the opacity. This adds roundness and transparency to the eye.

Here's the final image. Although the orinal image was acceptable, I like the added effect. Now if you're one of those people that frown on retouching any wildlife image then please disregard this article.

Amish Country

Amish farmer still using mules to hay. His little dog leads the way. I added some painterly effects to enhance the sky.

Strasburg Covered Bridge

I like to photograph covered bridges in case you haven't noticed. One of the attractions for me is their interesting history and probably the fact there are no covered bridges where I live. Although the bridges seem to look all the same, each one is very different from the other, be it construction, color, condition or location. When you walk through one of these magnificent bridges it's like walking back through time. You can just feel the history. Some are even haunted with great stories behind them. Either way they are a great piece of americana.

Wilbur Buds

In Lititz, Pa, H.O. Wilbur and Sons produced their first batch of Wilbur Buds back in 1894.

They developed a technique for depositing specially blended chocolates into a mould that resembled a flower bud and they called them Wilbur Buds.

The company now specializes in all kinds of molded chocolates and distributes them world wide.

Pretzels of Lititz

Pretzels have an ancient history, but the origin of the pretzel remains a mystery. There are many stories as to how the first pretzel was created, the most common being that in 610 A.D. Italian monks used scraps of dough to form the shape of children’s arms in prayer, with three holes to represent the Christian Trinity. They were called “pretiola” in Latin or “little reward” and were given to children who learned their bible verses and prayers.

In 1861, after eleven years as a baker, Julius Sturgis stopped making bread and established the first commercial pretzel bakery in America.

Their pretzel tour not only gives a complete history and demonstration of how the pretzels are made.

They also teach a hands on training course of how to properly twist a pretzel complete with certification. I am now a pretzel twisting fool with papers to prove it.

Coleman Bridge over the Pequea

The Colemanville Covered Bridge is a covered bridge that spans Pequea Creek in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

The Colemanville Covered Bridge was originally built in 1856 by James C. Carpenter at a cost of $2,244. After being damaged twice by flooding, it was partially rebuilt in 1938 by Edmund Gardner and 1973 by David Esh. Lancaster county completely rebuilt the bridge in 1992 for $350,000.

The bridge has a single span, wooden, double Burr arch trusses design with the addition of steel hanger rods. The deck is made from oak planks. It is painted red, the traditional color of Lancaster County covered bridges, on both the inside and outside. Both approaches to the bridge are painted red with white trim.

This bridge has easy creek access and great for photography.

Erb's Mill

This was one of my favorite bridges from Lancaster county. The bridge was originally built in 1849 for a cost of $700. It was built on the Erb family's tract of land in the farming region along Hammer Creek. In 1887 the bridge was rebuilt by John G. Bowman for $1744. Today the bridge has been fully restored. It has easy access to the creek to get some great shots. I used a R-72 red filter to get the infrared effect on this image.

The Cloister

One of America's earliest religious communities, the Ephrata Cloister was founded in 1732 by German settlers seeking spiritual goals rather than earthly rewards. Gathered in unique European style buildings, the community consisted of celibate Brothers and Sisters, and a married congregation of families. At the zenith of the community in the 1740s and 1750s, about 300 members worked and worshiped at the Cloister.

This one is a four image panorama merged in Photoshop CC and finished off in Aurora HDR Pro. Ephrata, Pennsylvania.

Lime Valley Bridge

Here is a four image panorama of the Lime Valley covered bridge in Lancaster county, Pa.

Neff's Mill

One odd thing I found in Lancaster county was they don't really have a lot of areas around their covered bridges where you can stop, park and snap a few pictures. I saw lots of no parking and no trespassing signs near many of the bridges. To get this image I had to go on someone's property to shoot and didn't feel comfortable doing it so I just got the one shot and moved on. This could have been a tremendous image but the horses wouldn't co-operate in the short time I had, so for now it's just an image to say I was there once.

Long Horn

Impressive set of horns here. Some horns get to be six feet across. A truly magnificent animal. It took a bit of patience to get a good composition image but it was worth it.

Herr's Mill

Another covered bridge from Pennsylvania trip. This one is closed to traffic and needs to be restored. One of the longest bridges I have encountered as it double the size of most covered bridges. I am not sure if the doors are to keep people out at night or if they were part of the original bridge design.

Susquehanna Valley

I used eight images merged together in Photoshop CC to make this grand vista view of the Susquehanna valley near York, Pennsylvania.

Weaver's Mill covered bridge

Lancaster county, Pennsylvania has an abundance of covered bridges like the Weaver's mill bridge above. They are an interesting part of history and make great photography subjects. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members and flooring from the weather. Uncovered wooden bridges have a lifespan of only 10 to 15 years because of the effects of rain and sun. Wooden bridges with covers last for centuries. Bridges having covers for reasons other than protecting wood trusses, such as for protecting pedestrians and keeping horses or cattle from shying away from water, are also reasons for covers on the bridges.