Took a ride to Cherry Plain State Park in Rensselaer County. I had been here before and had pictured making a photo like this in my mind. I would have liked some red in the image but I liked the way the fallen orange leaves frame the roadway and lead the eyes through the scene towards the golden yellow trees.

Obligatory Fall Color on Galway Lake

Obligatory Fall Color on Galway Lake, a photo by UpstateNYPhototaker on Flickr.

Sometimes when taking photos in the fall I am as guilty as anyone of wanting to boost the vibrance and saturation in an image to give it that fall color photo look. In this particular instance I just let the rising sun that was to my back do that for me.

I was not overly enthusiastic about the fall color that I saw this year. On Galway Lake for instance I felt as though this weekend was probably the nicest color I had seen by far but most of the trees had experienced at least 50% leaf drop already. Also, where there was color in one section, it was long gone in other sections a few hundred yards away.

This photo was taken with the d7000 & "Kit Lens" 18-105mm VR. I didn't use any filters. I always shoot in raw and I really only cropped this, slightly adjusted the white balance and darkened the sky just a tad.

Horses at Sunrise

Horses at Sunrise
Originally uploaded by UpstateNYPhototaker

Sunrises can be hit or miss. When you work a full time job and the weekends are pretty much your main photography time, it can be a big investment getting up at 4:45am to get some shooting time in. It is especially tough if you don't have a spot really planned out and you are just winging it.

That was the case here. I knew that it was going to be a nice morning so I got up early and set out to make a nice photograph. I had to park on the side of the road near this farm in West Charlton and get up onto the roof of my car to shoot over the fence. I could have walked up to the fence, but I definitely didn't want to trespass.

The 80-200 F/2.8 was a no brainer here and I shot it at ISO 800 to help with the low light. There really wasn't a ton of post processing here. Some cropping and straightening of the horizon and some small changes in the color balance (namely making the photo a tad bit warmer).

Nikkor 80-200 F/2.8D ED

This is the first "Pro" grade lens I have owned. I picked it up off of craigslist for about half of what these lenses go for on ebay or through any retailer. It is in great condition and focuses extremely fast on my Nikon D90. This version, for those familiar with the lens, is the 2 ring version. The versatility of having a wide aperture like 2.8 is really essential for anything in low light or when you need to get your shutter speeds up to freeze motion. I love this lens and the more I use it the more I love it. the funny thing is, the more I use it the more I wish I had VR on this lens like the 70-200 F/2.8 VRII. For now I will continue to love this lens.

http://smpphotography.zenfolio.com/p544246370/h99003e4#h99003e4