Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company & Museum / November 22, 2016 by Todd Henson

Working engine outside the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum (7 image HDR)

While visiting Portland, Maine, my father and I stopped at the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company & Museum, off Fore Street, just down from the Portland Ocean Gateway, where cruise ships dock off Casco Bay. This was a small, but very interesting museum that also included a ride on their narrow gauge train.

Serenade of the Seas docked in Portland, Maine, with statue of George Cleeve (5 image HDR)

The ride began at the museum, where we had good views of Serenade of the Seas, a large cruise ship at dock. The train took us down to the Portland Ocean Gateway, where passengers from the cruise ship would enter and exit Portland. Some of the folks on the train were from the ship.

From the dock area the train reversed direction, passed by the museum, and then along the coastline paralleling the Eastern Promenade Trail, through Fort Allen Park. Around Fish Point we had very foggy views of Fort Gorges in the bay. One minute we could see the Fort, the next it was obscured in fog.

The train continued past East End Beach where we saw someone swimming in the cold water, and through the Eastern Promenade, stopping at the old railroad bridge. We were able to disembark from the train and walk around the area. The old bridge had crossed the water to the right side of the Burnham & Morrill Company factory, known for their B&M Baked Beans.

Looking through planks at old railroad bridge with Burnham & Morrill Company factory on distant shore

Old railroad bridge with Burnham & Morrill Company factory on distant shore

After we boarded the train it made its way back through the parks along the Eastern Promenade to the museum grounds. The view continued to change the entire ride, fog moving in and out. Some of the folks on the train were annoyed by this, but I found it fascinating to watch and photograph.

Luggage display in the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum

Interior of passenger train with stove (3 image HDR)

After the train ride we spent some time in the actual museum. It was small, but had a lot packed in the small space, including several full size narrow gauge train cars we were able to walk through.

There wasn’t a lot of light in the cars, but their interiors were very interesting, so I did the best I could to capture what I was seeing. I had to hand hold the camera since I didn’t have the tripod with me, so I raised the ISO on my camera to let me use faster shutter speeds, and captured a number of image sequences where I adjusted the exposure (shutter speed) between each image, holding the camera as still as possible between them.

I knew I would take each image sequence and combine it into a single high dynamic range (HDR) image, where I could better show the interior as I saw it. The camera just wasn’t capable of capturing what my eyes could see. One day cameras may have better dynamic range than our eyes, but for today we need to either decide what we want to compromise on, or capture multiple images and merge them into HDR. I don’t use this technique often, but it is fun and useful every once in a while. I worked to keep the images looking as natural as I could, trying to avoid the over-processed look of many HDR images.

Another interior of passenger train with stove (3 image HDR)

Interior of passenger train with individual seats (3 image HDR)

Horizontal view of passenger train interior (3 image HDR)

When we visited the museum it was located in Portland, but they told us it would soon be relocated to the town of Gray. If you’re interested in visiting be sure to check the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum website for the current status and location.

Train engine inside Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum

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Schooner Head Overlook, Acadia National Park, Maine / November 15, 2016 by Todd Henson

House on Schooner Head as viewed from Schooner Head Overlook in Acadia National Park (2 image panorama at 140mm focal length)

Schooner Head Overlook is located in Acadia National Park, on Mount Desert Island, in Maine. From the parking area there’s a nice view of the water, including Egg Rock Lighthouse on an island in the distance. A paved trail winds its way down the side of the slope and ends at a rocky overlook, giving fantastic views of the water and of Schooner Head to the left.

House on Schooner Head as viewed from Schooner Head Overlook in Acadia National Park (140mm focal length)

Schooner Head is not actually part of Acadia National Park. It’s privately owned and populated by several large, expensive houses, one of which is easily viewable from the rocky overlook. It is a beautiful house, no doubt, but is also an indication of what the rest of Mount Desert Island might have looked like if not set aside as a national park. This is such a beautiful island. It would have been a shame if it had become wholly privately owned and inaccessible to the public.

View of Egg Rock Light from parking lot of Schooner Head Overlook. This is an unprocessed image to show how hazy and rainy it was. (400mm focal length)

View of Egg Rock Light from parking lot of Schooner Head Overlook. This is a processed image, where I tried to cut through the mist. (400mm focal length)

The day we visited was overcast, foggy and misty, with brief periods of rain. The view was sometimes obscured by the hazy atmosphere, especially more distant views, such as those of Egg Rock Lighthouse. I used Adobe Lightroom to reduce the haze and reveal more detail of the area, though this can affect image quality when pushed to extremes. But it gives you an idea of some of the views.

Wider view of Egg Rock Light from parking lot, processed to reduce mist. (210mm focal length)

Wider view of Egg Rock Light from base of rocky overlook at the end of the paved trail, processed to reduce mist. (140mm focal length)

I had seen the lighthouse from the parking lot, so I fitted my camera with the 70-200mm lens and a 2x teleconverter to let me capture as much of the lighthouse as possible. Because of the misty air I chose not to change lenses when I reached the rocky outcropping. I would have liked to switch to a wider angle lens to capture a wider perspective of the scene, but didn’t want to risk the inside of my camera and lens getting wet. Thinking back on it I probably should have attempted some multi-image panoramas, but didn’t think of it at the time. The only multi-image panorama I did capture in this spot was mostly by accident. I had created two images with slightly different framing, and was able to combine them in Lightroom to show a slightly wider perspective, which I preferred to either individual frame.

One day it might be nice to return to this area, see what it looks like in different weather. The trail along the rocks continued further than I followed it, and I’d be interested in seeing what else it led to. But due to the wet weather the rocks were sometimes slick. I didn’t like the idea of slipping and falling over the edge to the water or rocks below, so I only went so far before turning around and heading back to the parking lot above.

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River Otter on the Schoodic Peninsula in Maine / November 8, 2016 by Todd Henson

A mother and three young river otter on shore.

We were extraordinarily lucky on a drive through the Schoodic Peninsula portion of Acadia National Park in Maine. We pulled over at an area with a nice rocky beach facing the water on the right. On the other side of the road were trees, but just through the trees my father spotted a small body of water where a stream emptied. He noticed movement in the stream. Swimming down the stream was a mother river otter with three young. They swam so smoothly through the water, it was as if they were water themselves, just waves moving through the larger stream. This is the first time I can recall ever seeing an otter in the wild.

Two river otter swimming. The closer, darker one, is the mother. The other is a young otter.

Four river otter swimming. The mother has turned her head to look our way.

The otters made their way to the far bank of the stream where there was a small opening at water level. They swam through this opening and shortly afterwards came out from the brush to sun themselves in the grass at the top of the bank. Their fur was so coated in oil it made fascinating patterns with the water. As soon as they were onshore they began stretching and playing, and then almost appeared ready to lay down and rest. But before long the mother took them back into the water.

Three river otter have gone through the darker opening at water level and are on shore. A fourth is still in the water.

The three river otter are now on shore, while the fourth is at the opening.

They swam closer towards the road. I had been speaking with another photographer who happened to be in the area when the otters arrived. He said they had seen the otter the day before, and that they had crossed the road towards the ocean. I moved away from the area he said they’d crossed, hoping to give them space to cross again, if they chose to. But instead they came towards the shore exactly where I was. I tried to stay quiet and still, and attempted to capture more images, but the tree branches were in the way, and they didn’t stay still for long. The mother peeked her head up right near the shore, perhaps 8 feet from us, and looked at those of us along the side of the road, then moved back out into the middle of the steam and began taking her young upstream, eventually disappearing around the corner.

Four river otter on shore, stretching and scratching.

This entire experience lasted only 6 or 7 minutes, and we were very fortunate to have seen them. I’m very pleased I was able to capture the images I did, though they aren’t as good as I would have liked. I was excited, and likely shaking, trying to follow their movements without causing too much noise or movement of my own. When we first noticed the otter I had my mid-range telephoto lens, a 70-200, on the camera, so that’s what I started with. After they came ashore I took the time to switch to my longer telephoto, a 200-400mm with a 1.4x teleconverter. This allowed me to zoom in closer to the otter in the latter shots. But it’s a heavy lens, so I might have compromised the sharpness at times through camera movement. My father brought over my tripod, so some of the images were shot from that.

Four river otter relaxing and sunning themselves on shore.

Looking at the images now, I wish I’d used a smaller aperture to get a little more depth of field for the group shots, where all the otter were playing or laying together on shore. My aperture was wide open with both lenses, so my depth of field was as shallow as possible with those lenses at that distance. Sometimes shallow depth of field is a nice thing, but in this case, with multiple animals in a group, more depth of field would have been helpful to try to keep all the animals in focus. In conjunction with stopping down the aperture I should have increased the ISO when I switched to the longer lens. This would have allowed me to use faster shutter speeds and lessen the chance of motion blur. I was shooting at ISO 400, which gave me shutter speeds around 1/2000 at f/2.8 with the 70-200, but only around 1/640 to 1/800 at f/5.6 on the 200-400mm with the 1.4x teleconverter.

I really wish we’d had more time with the river otter. But the longer we aimed our cameras into the trees the more people took notice of us and started coming over to see what was happening. The otters didn’t seem overly bothered by us while they were in the water or on the opposite shore, but they obviously didn’t like the idea of trying to cross the road to the bay with so many of us there. And larger groups of people sometimes cause problems, so it’s probably just as well the otter returned upstream when they did.

Mother river otter posing for the camera.

Seeing these river otter, which I was told is a rare experience, reminded me of a CreativeLive class I purchased and watched, called The Art of Wildlife Photography, taught by Tom Mangelsen, a master at wildlife photography. He was with students along the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park. It was a very similar experience to ours, though he knew there were otters in that area and did hope to see them, but didn’t expect to. As it turned out, though, they were able to watch and photograph a large family of 8 or 9 otter as they swam, fished, and pulled the fish up on the shore to eat. I saw his excitement while watching that class, and now my father and I know some of what he was feeling, having had our own opportunity to view and photograph river otter in their environment. It’s not something I’ll forget anytime soon. I hope one day I’ll get another chance to photograph these remarkable animals, and perhaps capture some better images to share.

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