Pine plains on 539 after the fire

[Boyd]

Pictures may be worth a thousand words, but you need to see this in person to really appreciate the the scale of the fire damage here. It looks like a black and white landscape:

But there are some interesting contrasts to the unburned areas as well:

Must be an impressive view from here:

I'm not sure... is this Forked River Mountain in the distance? Seemed to be looking in that direction more or less..

Note 5/21/2025: Found this old post while updating topozone links. I have uploaded the same pictures that were originally posted in the (now defunct) NJPB gallery

 

[BEHR655]

Nice shots. I did not stop for pictures on 539 because the angle of the sun was horrible when I was there.
What was your vantage point for the second set of shots?

Steve

 

[this_is_nascar]

Some wild pictures, that's for sure. I plan on being in the RT-72/RT-539 area tomorrow. I've never witnessed the aftermaths of a wide-spread burn like this, so I want to snap some photos.

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Boyd, you sure know how to take a great shot. That first one is simply awesome. Thanks.

 

[Boyd]

What was your vantage point for the second set of shots?

I was standing on top of a hill here (I think): http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...,-74.37448&spn=0.009705,0.01178&t=h&z=16&om=0

From the Google earth photo you can see that this area has burned before.

 

[lost soul]

Thanks for the pics. I hope to get out there this weekend and see it for myself.

 

[Teegate]

Thanks for the photo's Boyd!

Guy

 

[james ungehajer]

Real nice pics,were they taken with the D80?

 

[Boyd]

Yes, I used a 14mm f2.8 wide angle Nikkor and a 70-300mm f4.5 VR Nikkor telephoto zoom lens. Difficult subject to photograph because the black trees tend to fade into the background.

 

[bobpbx]

Fantastic Boyd! That shows a good hot burn, just what they need to be the plains for awhile longer.

 

[Boyd]

Thanks everyone, glad you enjoyed the photos. I just threw together a 360 degree panorama, taken at the Google Maps location I linked to above. The image is over 5000 pixels wide so you will need to use the scroll bar to pan across it:

Note the burned out washing machine; I stood on top of it to take some of the other photos

Note 5/21/2025: replaced the original picture in this post with a new version. You will have to click on it a couple times to get the full resolution version, then pan left and right to see it all.

 

[james ungehajer]

One word,Magnifico.

 

[Boyd]

I was just looking on Topozone, and I'm now certain it was Forked River Mountain that I photographed standing atop the burned out washing machine and looking towards the Northeast. Here's a wide shot:

and a closer view here

Note 5/21/2025: Replaced original photos from the old gallery

 

[james ungehajer]

You are now,imprinting your photos with your name and year,did someone try to rip off your photos? Did the software for doing this come with the D80?

 

[Boyd]

I'm not aware of anyone ripping me off; just it seemed like a good idea to leave my mark on them. No special software is needed for that kind of thing, I just typed my name with the text tool in Photoshop.

 

[bobpbx]

I say no to that being Forked River Mountain Boyd. Can't be, its too close to where you are standing. You are around 10 miles from the mountain if you were on 539 just north of the bombing range. It is probably some lesser hill. Still, it is a mystery that bears solving. Maybe Guy can tell, he'll be in that area some time next week.

 

[Teegate]

I'm not aware of anyone ripping me off; just it seemed like a good idea to leave my mark on them. No special software is needed for that kind of thing, I just typed my name with the text tool in Photoshop.

Boyd,

You can set Photoshop up to automatically do that. I did all of mine that way until I lost Classic and only now have OSX. The quality of Photoshop is much nicer than what I use now.

Ben showed me how do do it, and I may still have the instructions here. It was slightly confusing and not as simple as I thought, but once done it worked really well.

Guy

 

[Boyd]

I say no to that being Forked River Mountain Boyd. Can't be, its too close to where you are standing. You are around 10 miles from the mountain

Yes, it's a puzzle. I did some quick investigation, and I still say it's FRM however. I'm attaching a map from Google Earth; the Warren Grove placemark is where I was standing. Forked River Mountain is the only high point I can think of in that direction... maybe you guys can think of someplace else? It can't be Spring Hill (also shown) since I was looking across Rt. 539.

10 miles is a really good guess... Google Earth measures it at 9.75 miles! But I don't think that's too far... you need a frame of reference. I was using a 300mm telephoto lens which is the equivalent of 450mm on my D80 so that's really a small telescope. The wider shot in my gallery was also taken with the same telephoto lens but zoomed wider - still magnified quite a bit though.

To put it all in perspective (pun intended ), here's another photo taken with my 14mm wide angle lens; I have cropped the height down but kept the full 3872 pixel width of the original photo:

http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10294/frm.jpg

You will need to scroll all the way over to the right, or view in my album here:

http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=509&pos=18

This gives you a better idea of what the field of view would be with the naked eye. The little bump with the red arrow above is the high spot. It's clearly the highest point anywhere in that direction. If there is another place that high out there then I'd definitely like to visit it!

 

[Boyd]

Guy, I haven't looked at any other ways of watermarking. I guess if I had a whole lot of photos to do in a batch it would be handy. But I need to edit and resize my pix before posting, so typing my name isn't a big deal. And I want to have the control of choosing the size, location, color and opacity of the text to suit the photo. Photoshop (actually I'm using the less expensive Photoshop Elements) puts the text on a separate layer which can easily be moved and I can change its opacity. Then I flatten the image before saving as a JPEG.

Your mileage may vary

 

[james ungehajer]

What is the diameter in inches of your telephoto lens? Whether it is 2" 3" or larger with a 450 mm equivalency,as you have stated,you have a nice little telescope on your hands,which in turn brings any object as you know alot closer and magnifies it.