01/29/2012 - Batsto Village

01/29/2012 - Batsto Village

Well, it was a beautiful and unseasonably warm winter day so I thought I'd take my camera for a drive towards Wharton State Forest and see what I'd come across that was interesting.  I haven't spent much time down that way, so I'm relatively unfamiliar with the area as a whole.  My travels led me to a neat little place called Batsto Village, riddled with various historic structures.


Here's a little excerpt from http://www.batstovillage.org/:


Batsto Village, is a New Jersey historic site located in the South Central Pinelands, which is administered by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Parks & Forestry. This site is nationally recognized for its historical significance and beauty. The roots of Batsto Village can be traced back to 1766. Two centuries of American history are available to visitors, with the Pinelands environment as a scenic backdrop.


I'm sure this village is much more vibrant in the spring time, but I viewed it as a nice day to learn more about my camera and have a little fun shooting.
Here's some pics from the day (really just cropped, didn't spend any time yet on editing the images).

Lessons learned:

1) Shooting my Nikkor at 24mm with the Hoya CPL filter results in some vignetting in the corners.  Didn't really ruin any shots, but cropping was needed to trim it out.  Next time I'll bump it a bit and step back if needed for the composition.

2) I got a good sampling of challenging contrast scenarios...bright sky and dark subjects.  I've seen photographers blend two exposures to make a single HDR (high dynamic range) image, but it requires exposing for both the sky and the dark subject to maintain detail in both.  I'll have to spend the time with two exposures on these shots in the future to try it out.  Other options are ND gradient filters...but I need to read up on it more.

3) I need a wider lens!  That Nikkor 14-24mm would be the ticket for getting much larger landscapes...although this is more architectural, I still found myself shooting at 24mm more than anything else and still stepping back.

4) Bring your flash...always!  I left it in my camera bag...in my truck...but it would have been useful (especially for decreasing the contrast between building and sky, as well as the boat under the canopy of structure).


Alright enough of the lessons, let's move on to some pictures!


This first shot was actually on my drive...came across the abandoned house and silo along a road...so I swung back around and snapped a few pics.
None of them came out really great, but it's a neat spot, I'll have to swing back again under different conditions...maybe the snow (if we get any more)?



This was the start of the village...

























































Well that's it for now.  If I have some time, I may edit and enhance a few of the RAW files to get them closer to where I would have liked.
Definitely a fun and relaxing day out there and a much needed break!  Really looking forward to spring when the colors start to come out! ;)