31-DEC-2008
See Yah 2008!
Last day of the year. And first full year of my PaD. I did it! (Finally).
Tomorrow I can create my 2009 PESO (Will start out the year pessimistic like 2008) and rename my 2008 PESO to 2008 PaD.
My son is not feeling so hot and will not make it to midnight. The girls will try (my 11 year old won't make it, my 13 year old will keep on going past midnight). My wife will be giving up here in a few minutes, she will set her alarm for 11:45, sleep through it, and come down around 12:30 all upset that she missed it (sounds like this has happened before?).
Happy New Year.
30-DEC-2008
Busy Day at the Museum
We went to the Boston Museum of Science today via the Downeaster (Train service into Boston). I'd originally wanted to bring my 40D & gear to do some street photography, but my wife had other ideas. The LX3 made the trip (the best all around camera).
While waiting for a 3D show on the 2nd level (3rd floor, the 'level' numbering is all messed up) I took about 50 shots of this section, all hand-held. It was so busy there today, everyone was commenting on it (kids out of school, parents on vacation).
29-DEC-2008
Karate Feet
I took my son today to his Karate lessons and stayed for the entire class. I had my camera gear with me and was being a 'dad', but not distracting (thank god for ISO 1600). The Dojo is well lit, albeit fluorescent and is in an old mill. They retained the original mill flooring, slathering on a thick layer of sealant to remove the chance of splinters. The mill itself could keep a person with a camera busy for hours (days).
We head to Boston tomorrow, but I don't expect a photographic side trip (I will carry the LX3 at the very least though).
28-DEC-2008
Projects
Trying to get a little bit done around the house on this extended holiday vacation. Though this doesn't look like much, that piece of odd trim has taken me about 2 1/2 years to complete. . .
(I actually spent more time cleaning my workshop than fitting that trim)
A happy moment today!
27-DEC-2008
Roller Skating
We went Roller Skating tonight. Went to the same place that I went to as a teenager, after it had just opened (so this rink has been there a while ;). I can still get around the rink, though forward only.
Each of the kids had friends with them, so many kids that we needed to take two cars (a Tahoe and a car). I am feeling the skating right now (actually I was feeling it after I stopped). I will feel it more tomorrow morning I am sure.
26-DEC-2008
Counting the tokens [at Chuck-E-Cheese]
Took the younger two to LL Bean & Chuck E Cheese today. The goal was to pick up some stuff at Bean that I didn't want to order (save some shipping $$).
Irony = The stuff we wanted we had to order as they were out of in the store. . .
This shot is more of a "Hey, look what I did in LR [2.2]". Up until today, my LX3 workflow was a bit convoluted (it still is, right now I consider it in "transition"). I am shooting RAW + Jpg on the LX3 since there is in-camera compensation that I cannot handle in LightRoom (even 2.2 with support for .RW2 files). I am able to get close, as is shown in this photo, my rendition of Dynamic BW as a LR custom preset. It is close, but not right on. I need to do a couple of Colorchecker shots (RAW + JPG) and then try to tweak my preset from there. I honestly do not see myself shooting straight RAW from the LX3 like I do with my 40D, not yet at least.
25-DEC-2008
XMas Aftermath
We were very efficient today in gathering up all the mess and bagging it up. In fact, our family room looked neater than it had a few days ago as the kids put their things away in their rooms (usually the new stuff kicks around the house for a few weeks before getting put away).
24-DEC-2008
A Star
I was taking a few shots of this arrangement at my folk's house this evening when I realized there was a reflection coming off the star. Somehow I was able to talk my son into posing in just the right location (this with the TV on in front of him too, I was amazed I caught so many photos of him looking into the star properly).
Happy Holidays!
23-DEC-2008
Xmas Cheer
It can get a little hectic just before Xmas (like realizing you have to head into the mall for some last minute stuff).
One more day. . .
22-DEC-2008
Snow
I had to dig out a path that stretched around the house this afternoon so that we could get more LP (Liquid Propane) and Heating Oil. I also had to get access to our back deck, so if we are so inclined, we can walk a circle around our house if we cut through our garage. Because of the drifting, some parts of the path are three or more feet deep. There is nothing less than two feet deep, which is the amount about how much snow we got over the weekend (26" to be exact).
Last week at this time, I was heading home on my motorcycle. Until I get rid of the remaining 2" of snow in my driveway, my bike will remain in the garage.
21-DEC-2008
Falling [in the] Snow
I braved the storm and took a few shots today while the kids were out playing (having a ball in ten degree stormy weather, not wanting to come in). Technically I never made it outside as I stayed in our garage and shot through the door (all the better to protect my equipment).
I caught my daughter walking across the driveway and then falling into the snow. I'm not a big fan of photos during a snowstorm as all the flakes appear as dust. I think I had a slow enough shutter speed and there was enough subject motion blur to pull this shot off.
20-DEC-2008
Ornamental Bokeh
It is tough to get any kind of properly exposed shot of our tree as there are no "easy bounce" options off a ceiling in our family room. We have a cathedral ceiling with very large and very dark pine beams that cast nasty shadows. I lucked out a little on this shot though as it is more of a macro.
First good storm of the season has come and gone, we no longer see the ground it is snow, snow, snow everywhere we look. I'd wanted to get a shot outdoors today, but there were flurries all day long (at least it would snow whenever I got a free moment to use the camera).
We have another snowstorm tomorrow, winter is definitely here.
19-DEC-2008
Cables
This evening's project was to install the wall bracket for our new TV (Mom & Dad's Xmas present). My wife was activated today (Guard) so my son & I did all the work this evening (which was probably for the better ;-)
He's watching a movie right now, I will be up there in a moment...
18-DEC-2008
Swanky Burger Run
This marks the second time this week that I saw something that required capturing on film (er... Compact Flash). It is, however, the only one of the two that I actually stopped to photograph. This is something you don't see every day, though it isn't all that rare. I believe that when people are presented with the fact that they have spent all their money on limo rental & gas surcharge that they have no choice but to skimp somewhere in their evening's entertainment. . .
I looked like the paparazzi traipsing across the snow with my camera to capture this. The limo left shortly after this shot, no doubt it contained a famous singer/actor who wanted to "get away from it all" and head to New Hampshire.
17-DEC-2008
Visitor Parking
After I spent 15 minutes getting the fricken snow and ice off my car, I decided to amuse myself by taking a few shots under the street lights while the car warmed up a little longer.
I got the most of the riding season, Monday was the last day I rode in. I would have ridden in yesterday, but there were flurries in the forecast throughout the day (that never happened). Snow today, freeze tomorrow, and lots 'o snow Friday through Sunday. My last working day this year is this Friday so I can pretty much say that I am done riding into work for the year. I'm hoping for a couple of good weather days before the end of the year so I can get in another 200 miles. . .
16-DEC-2008
Empty
With the threat of snow, I drove into work (it never snowed). Since I drove in, I brought my gear & got out at lunch. I had no idea that I'd wind up at this old empty house (right off the Spaulding Turnpike, I'd intended for a slightly different location but got a bit diverted. When I shot this, I was thinking BW or Sepia the whole time. Sepia came out much better, even though the house isn't all that old (it has solar panels on the roof). I think this was purchased by the state to expand the turnpike (there is a huge bottleneck at the bridge that causes backups in the morning and evening every day).
15-DEC-2008
Bonus Fouls
Not much of a story here, was at daughter #2's Winter Band concert and couldn't get clear shots of her (she was hidden in the third row). The scoreboard caught my eye. I didn't realize there was so much dust on it until I was in LR2 and had it at 100%.
14-DEC-2008
More Ice
More ice shots. This is from a clump of trees & bushes that are beside the road that connects our development to another. The sun was hitting it just right earlier today.
13-DEC-2008
Xmas Tree Shopping
The annual Xmas tree hunt took place today. All the trees were coated in a layer of ice from "the storm". For the first time in a very long time, we found our tree rather fast, it was the 2nd tree we looked at. I think the fact that it was 20 degrees out helped to speed up the process too. After I paid for the tree and lifted it up over my head, I realized the error in my ways as a large quantity of ice and needles slid down my back. The worst part was that I had a 'Hoodie' on, had I just put the hood on first, it would have NOT gone down my back.
The rest of the process was pretty eventless. Shortly after setting up the tree in the house, there was a slight fog throughout the branches and then the rains came. The ice started melting at quite a fast clip and we scrambled for towels to keep the carpet from getting too wet.
Tomorrow we will be able to start decorating it, that is if my wife isn't activated (she's in the NH Air National Guard and we are awaiting her call any moment now).
12-DEC-2008
Ice Storm 2008
There is beauty in the aftermath of this storm we had last night and this morning.
We lost power at about 11PM, something that always keeps me awake when it happens in the rain (we rarely lose power when it is NOT raining) as our sump pump has no backup and the water level rises quickly. After power was restored, the sump ran nonstop for 2 full hours before it's first pause. The specs on the box say the sump we have will pump 3000 gallons an hour, so we had just about 6000 gallons of water in our basement. That sounds a little high, I haven't actually done the math to compute the volume of it, but it might be correct.
So back to this photo. When the sun popped out, I ran out and snapped this shot (amongst a few others). I switched lenses, reviving my 17-40 F4L as the EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS has a horrible flare problem in situations like this.
Here are a couple others that didn't make the PaD:
(And "YES" I am done with the Family PC Swap project)
11-DEC-2008
[This had better be the] Last day of this!
This is getting old fast. . .
The fam got their 'new' computer today, but now there is a Java script problem in IE7, you need java script to do just about all the things that they use the browser for. I couldn't even download Firefox!!!!
I found the way to get rid of IE7, went back to IE6 and things worked. Now I am trying to reinstall IE7 in hopes that Javascript will suddenly start working.
If this isn't working after this, I'm getting an iMac!!
10-DEC-2008
Is there no end?
And I am STILL transferring stuff from the old computer. It didn't help that last night, about 1/2 way (or more) through the "big transfer" one of the computers were reset due to the massive service packs pushed by Microsoft yesterday (as I write this on my Mac and smile). My teenager is the next to last account to transfer, she has about 10GB of data tied up in Sims2 files, music, and some other games. I will be so happy when this is through!!
09-DEC-2008
This is gonna take a while
Trying to transfer all the fam's settings from the slow old computer, running XP SP2 to the 'New'[er] faster PC running XP SP3. I've hit just about every snag, I've spent about 3 hours and have nothing to show yet...
I've switched to just plain copying the files I know they need and will try to get the stupid Files and Settings Wizard thing working after.
08-DEC-2008
Drive
Putting the finishing touches on the 'old' PC for the fam, popped open the DVD for a driver install and decided to take a photo (I mean, who opens a drive tray and decides that it needs to be digitally captured?).
07-DEC-2008
Soldierness
More Christmas decorations are making their appearance in our household. This was one of those crummy weather days where we had enough snow to preclude taking photos outdoors (the flakes get trapped in mid flight and look like dust specs), but not enough to make anything really interesting.
A little something in LR2 on top of the Lensbabies'ness-ish' aspect of this image.
06-DEC-2008
Projects
The cub scouts had their meeting at The Home Depot this morning, taking advantage of the monthly kid's projects that they put on the first Saturday of the month. After building the easel (which my son & daughter loved) we got to go learn about tools in the tools aisle. Some how, I was able to escape with only $20 in 'stuff' (much needed though).
05-DEC-2008
Inviting
The flannel sheets look more and more inviting as the outside temperature drops.
04-DEC-2008
Birthday
My now 11-year-old daughter's birthday today.
While I have a lot of the "traditional" shots of her opening gifts, etc, it is this particular composition that I really liked for posting out here at least.
03-DEC-2008
Murphy's Law
is spending $13 on assorted Resistors at Radio Shack, thinking "Where the heck are all my old resistors?" in the store, and "oh yeah, they are in the cellar" when I got home. . .
02-DEC-2008
How I feel tonight
I am exhausted tonight. This shot came out just as I'd wanted it to (even though it was by accident ;)
I was screwing around with the camera taking odd SP's with flash & messing with the zoom. The flash didn't fire for this shot and it picked up the yellowish ambient lighting. It was also way underexposed, after pushing the exposure a lot (+1.5 stops) in LR2 to bring out some detail, it also brought out the noise which now looks like grain. I'm glad that nothing is in focus here, it adds to the mood.
01-DEC-2008
You gotta start somewhere
We are going slow, one small circuit at a time with some tangents using some of the other "cool things" that I have in my box of electronic parts.
30-NOV-2008
Light up close
Time [again] to start getting the Christmas decorations out. . .
29-NOV-2008
Candle Lit
Had two birthday parties (sleep overs) this weekend, actually one is still going on. Tonight is my daughter's party, this is a candle lit shot from a little while ago. I was on the fence between this version and a color version with a much wider crop with a balloon in it. When I went to Black & White, the balloon just didn't cut it and needed to be cropped out. I liked this tighter shot better as it really focused on her and didn't include a noisy balloon part.
28-NOV-2008
Let the sun shine through
We had a dreary morning/day with cold and rain for the most part. About 3PM [ish] the rain stopped, the clouds parted and the sun popped out. I decided to head out and try to make the most of this event. I packed up the car with plans of heading about 5-10 miles to the outskirts of our town. I made it about 100 yards down the street ("Woods is woods!").
27-NOV-2008
Seating
Not a ton of photos today, more of a sit back, eat a lot of food and relax kind of day. . .
26-NOV-2008
Numbers
Kids left this out on the couch today. Actually, they have probably left it out a number of times, tonight was the first time it caught my eye.
24-NOV-2008
Yo-yo (Group Photo)
Since my son has really gotten into his yo-yo I've decided to bring my yo-yo's from work home. He got his from Grandma/Grandpa while at the Boston Museum of Science about a year ago, he just recently rediscovered it.
All three kids were quite shocked at my 'collection' of yoyos. As a Software Developer, I used to use a yo-yo in meetings and in thought, or while in a "wait state" (waiting for something to build, reboot, run, etc). I haven't actually used them in a long, long while so I brought them home tonight. I realized that I *might* have to get a few more to round out the collection ;-)
23-NOV-2008
Xmas Light Boy
My wife started hanging the outdoor Xmas lights today and I helped out by documenting this event for future generations. It was too cold to actually hang lights. . .
22-NOV-2008
Maine Tag - Latest
Can't give this away quite yet.
21-NOV-2008
Blood Donors Needed
I saw this scene yesterday on one of my trips home (I had to pick up my oldest & take her to an Ortho appointment). I forgot to capture it yesterday, so this morning, I made a point to do a U-Turn, pull over, and get this photo. Because I was riding my motorcycle and had on very reflective gear, drivers going both directions would stop (even though I would try to step as far out of the way as possible). They probably thought I was a trooper or something.
I have no idea what the red is and don't want to know, it was too good an opportunity to pass up. I did NOT stage this, the sign was place there (I am guessing by someone who saw the red in the road though).
20-NOV-2008
Daughter in thought
Captured my daughter in thought this evening, somehow I convinced her to be a model for a few minutes (my other daughter was unwilling).
19-NOV-2008
Maine Tag - New Location
I can't give away this location yet, but it was a nice ride this morning.
18-NOV-2008
Yo Yo Ba
Desperately searching for a PaD tonight and my son has a "yo-yo problem" where the string had gotten into a god-awful tangle. After 15 mins of untangling, I had this idea for a photo. . .
This is staged, all I had him do was swing the yo-yo towards me (after I figured out how far was safe for the camera and I). Turns out this was the first shot and the best of the group, the rest were timed wrong and/or he wasn't looking.
I have violated all composition laws with the clutter in the background (also all laws of general neatness as well as showing our kitchen in this state without my wife's prior consent). This would make for a great spring/summer shot in an urban setting, I'm thinking blue jeans, simple tee shirt, and a brick wall for a background. OK, note to self, in 6 months. . .
17-NOV-2008
Mt Aggie Tag
Here's my Tag that existed for all of but 2 - 3 hours before someone 'Tagged' it. . .
16-NOV-2008
Tag! (AdvRider Maine Tag, that is)
Nice little ride up to Poland Spring this afternoon. . .
Technically it was a *windy* little trip that only got worse on the return. Well worth it though as I broke my 2,000 mile mark on this bike (2,000 of my miles, it has over 20k on it).
15-NOV-2008
Train (Downeaster)
I swung by my daughter's gymnastics event which happens to be just beside the Dover Train Station. I saw a few people waiting on the platform so I guessed the train would be by soon. Right after my daughter's last event, I left as I still had to hit Radio Shack and then pick up my son at a preset time. I realized the train was inbound very soon, so I grabbed my gear and decided to give it 2 mins. It only took a minute & half for it to roll in.
This is one of those shots that took all of about 2 mins to setup for and shoot, yet it took about a 1/2 hour to post process. The sky was a bit blown out, so I masked it out and lowered its exposure. It shouldn't have taken that long, but I was interrupted a number of times in the process.
14-NOV-2008
What me?
My son this evening while playing a game with my wife. Another strobist shot, I had the flash way off on camera left so it would illuminate my son and not my wife (who never even made it in frame). I'd ask him to look at me and he would move his whole body and just go overboard. This one time he simply looked at me (like I'd asked) and that was the only shot I needed. . .
13-NOV-2008
Its Evening
A rare (lately) SP from this evening. I am decked out in my comfortable attire, complete with my very worn Boston Red Sox hat. It works that this is a Black & White as this hat is no longer Boston blue.
Not sure what it is, but I am very tired this evening.
12-NOV-2008
Trumpet
My daughter had to finally oil her valves for her trumpet tonight. I was able to grab the camera & flash and catch her practicing (something I'd not been able to do before).
11-NOV-2008
Long Commute
For most people that commute in a car, it is all about the quickest way to get to work. Commuting on a motorcycle is a whole different experience (for me). I find myself trying out different routes, looking for a longer ride in. This morning, I was able to stretch my 'normal' 17 mile, 25 min commute into a 129 mile, 2 hour 45 min commute by way of Gray, Maine. Even though I left with a thick frost on the cars (in our driveway, the bike is garaged) and temps about 30, I had a blast (literally).
People at work really didn't get it ("Why are you trying for a longer drive?").
This is the only shot I took on the trip at the service station on Rte 95 South in Maine, just south of the Gray Maine On Ramp.
I wanted to find a landmark to capture in the bike, but at the time I was a bit cold and wanted to get back on the bike.
10-NOV-2008
Wired
Dug out my Daughter's Christmas present from last year (not the breadboard, that is mine). We started on a line following robot but didn't get very far. After trying to get back to it for months, we sat down and went over a multi-meter tonight. I broke out the breadboard after we finished to show what we'd probably do next to learn about various electronic components (it's easier to test the components when they are sitting still).
10-NOV-2008
Homework
My son doing his homework (I didn't question the fact that he was doing his homework on Sunday).
Today I feel like I am about 50. I finished up with the bike (nailed down the low-beam headlight problem) and I cleared a good chunk of lawn (leaves). My back is killing me right now.
My son is also eagerly awaiting our nightly "Lego Star Wars" session, we are doing pretty good.
08-NOV-2008
[This] Weekend Project Complete [Kind of]
So the rear tire is finished, if it wasn't for the fact that I had to run into town and chase down a 24mm socket that I thought I already owned, locate & trim a piece of wood for a make-shift bead breaker, locate a number of tools that mysteriously moved, and had to hit up my neighbor (two doors down) to use his compressor, this would have taken about an hour to an hour and a half. As it was, it took about 4 hours.
I was able to take a quick spin around the neighborhood to make sure all is well in the back end. Felt much different back there, a bit firmer, and a lot more stable (much less front wheel wobble).
After parking the bike again, I had to address the low beam issue, this meant removing the left fairing and screwing around with a wiring harness for a few hours. I didn't finish as we had tickets to a local play & then all went out for dinner. I will need to finish the rest of it in the morning. You can barely see the missing left fairing from this angle.
07-NOV-2008
[This] Weekend Project
My original weekend project: Replacing my rear tire.
The rear is not that bad, at least from this photo it doesn't look that bad. Get a little closer (I'm not gonna macro that!) and you see a lot of flat spots, some scalloping, and what appears to be a decent sized puncture that didn't go far enough to puncture the walls (it hold air quite well).
I say this is my original weekend project because this evening I had to tack on cleaning a contact on my headlights since I had to ride home this evening (in the dark and rain) with only my high beams on. Luckily a single search on my favorite
VStrom Website turned up the fix.
06-NOV-2008
Forklift
I vowed today to get a PaD shot at work today. Even though it was raining out, I had my trusty "Bike Cam" (LX3) with me & decided to head out into the warehouse to find something interesting to capture. Our lovely forklift is what I settled on, it has a nice dark quality to it (I realize it might be a tad too dark though).
Can label it "Industrial Art"
05-NOV-2008
What are you doing?
My dog was a bit curious this evening while I was snapping a shot of our our banister.
I like the shot of him (Fox Mulder) better. . .
04-NOV-2008
Drips
Draw no parallels between today's PaD and the current election. . .
I replaced the washers in our faucet over the weekend, something that I am having to do a lot of lately. I used to only have to do this once a year (plus). It is now down to every six months. Unless there is something loose, I might have to replace the faucet itself as I noticed it dripping this evening (which is what gave me the idea to get some droplet shots).
I was bouncing the flash off the ceiling for this. No tripod, monopod only. I think I will retry this shot (or kind of shot) at a later date with the tripod. It was pretty tough to get the focus correct[ish]. I need to use the tripod to get the surface of the lens parallel to the droplet paths (both planes) to get the focus just right. On the 100mm Macro, there is a very shallow DoF.
03-NOV-2008
OK Button
Nothing super special tonight. In my desperate search for a PaD, I came across the OK button on our printer. Though the button says 'OK' the macro of it isn't all that OK. . .
I wish I'd taken a photo of a button with the word "Easy" on it.
02-NOV-2008
Tower
Had our Cub Scout Pack hike at
Mt Agamenticus this afternoon. I was a little shocked to see so much ice along the northern face of the mountain (hill). Otherwise, it was a beautiful day and a great time was had by all.
As I was walking back from getting my son away from a whiffle ball game so we could leave, I saw this scene with the tower and the jet contrails in the background. It made for an interesting scene. I shot it with a number of various settings on the LX3 and decided the Dynamic color was the best (it was what I'd originally intended to shoot it as anyway).
Simple cropping in LR2 and a mild tweak of the blacks. I had to be careful with tweaking this image as I could see some jpg artifacts come into play with all that blue sky.
01-NOV-2008
Loading Dock
On our way back from my oldest's Marching Band Competition, we drove past a freight yard with a running pair of diesels. I found a spot to pull in and snap a few photos. On a whim, I decided to pull around and try and enter the rail yard to get a better shot of the train. I missed a turn and pulled into a parking area for some warehouses to turn around. I saw this pretty cool image of an old warehouse loading dock adjacent an abandoned section of siding. The sun was hitting it just right. So I am posting this for my PaD today and not the diesels. Oh yeah, we found the correct road later but the rail yard was marked "No Trespassing" so we never made it in for a closer shot (it would have been moot anyway as the two engines had left by the time I found the correct road).
31-OCT-2008
Freak me out
File this under snapshot.
Someone put this damn evil doll witch thing in our breakroom at work today. I saw her out of the corner of my eye when walking by on my way in. I initially thought that someone had a sick daughter and brought her into work, in costume. I had already walked by & was still processing what I'd seen (out of the corner of my eye). When I popped my head in to get a better look, I was a tad bit freaked out. The other part of my "Walking by" was that there was someone else that I noticed and heard as I was passing by. He was talking to someone, I assumed the girl at the table. I saw him. What I didn't see was another actual live, human in the breakroom.
So that was how my morning began. This evil doll thing kept freaking me out every time I went into the break room. I figured I needed to get a photo of this thing so almost at the end of the day I got a few shots. The next time I went back into the breakroom, the doll was gone. At least I have a photo of her. I'm posting this image as a historical artifact to help justify my sanity should anyone question her existence next week (I can just flip to my PaD and provide my proof).
30-OCT-2008
Halloween group
A group shot before heading out to gather some candy.
Our development gets a large number of Trick or Treaters due to the fact that it is the largest development (there are four interconnected developments) in the area (in a couple of surrounding communities too). We have a lot of houses that celebrate Trick or Treat as well as a ton of people who drive in (we live in Maine, there are times during the evening when we see nothing by New Hampshire license plates on vehicles that line the streets).
We had a few of our daughters' friends over to help gather candy. I normally impose a "Peanut Butter Cup Tax" on the kids, where I force each child to pay me at least one. For some reason, there was a mutiny tonight and I only collected one.
29-OCT-2008
Hanging Circle
While screwing around with the camera tonight, I took a few unaimed shots up at these paper circle things that my kids had conveniently taped to the ceiling. I kind of like it. The vignette was created by shooting a wider angle than the 580EX2 flash would allow for, shooting up into a white ceiling exasperates the vignette. I helped it a little in LR2 also.
28-OCT-2008
Caramel
What was my wife's project this evening suddenly became a family project after she had a meltdown. Here my 10-year-old is working on melting caramel for some brownies. This was taken after my wife's first meltdown and well before my daughter walked away from the stove, leaving this pot unattended for a relatively long period of time (for melting caramel, that is).
28-OCT-2008
Warm Fingers
I got home this evening and was very happy to find that my Heated gloves had arrived. I had originally intended to half-ass the installation of the controller so I could start using it immediately and then finalize the installation later. When I realized that I was going to spend a hell of a lot more time "half-assing" it, I decided to "full-ass" it and permanently mount the controller. Just above the middle of the gloves (to the left and below the odometer) is the controller, mounted on the fairing. There is a little LED that is part of the installation. The controller is a PWM controller, it applies full power at a rate that depends on the controller setting. The LED will blink to this rate, it will be full on when the power is at 100%. In playing with the gloves when I first opened the box, I found that a rather low setting was very noticeable (especially since I'd just got off the bike from my evening commute and my fingers were still cold).
This is going to make a huge difference on my commute. I will arrive with warm fingers now!!
26-OCT-2008
Drivethru
Sometimes the photo takes itself. . .
Stopping off at Wendy's in Rochester (NH) and saw this guy on a motorized tricycle in the drive thru lane. I went back to the car to grab the camera.
He had actually mounted a motor to the front tire.
25-OCT-2008
BW Fall Floral
Today was a pretty nice day out, which meant that I spent most of it catching up on projects around the house that need to get finished before winter. Evening rolled up and I realized I hadn't grabbed the camera (and missed some good opportunities with some leave raking and the kids). Luckily, my loving wife picked up these pumpkin looking flowers when she took the younger two out to pick up pumpkins. I grabbed my portable floral studio and went to work (the portable studio is my Cactus trigger, 508EX2 Flash, and black duck cloth background).
24-OCT-2008
Warming light
I had one of those "Oh crap" moments when I just now uploaded my shots from this morning. They were taken in a bit of haste as I had all three kids to take in this morning (my oldest finally overslept and missed the bus). I was shooting into the sun, but didn't detect any glare issues this morning. I think there were a few factors in my NOT detecting this, two of which were that I couldn't see the detail on the LCD due to the uhm...err.. glare from the sun and the other was the rushed sense I had (I'd pulled over to take the shots with all three kids looking on).
Just before I pitched all of these, I decided to mess around with one and I am glad I did. The glare actually adds to this shot. This turned out to be the last morning I could shoot this scene as tomorrow is the final day of fall soccer. The benches and goals will be gone this weekend (or at least, they should). The full morning frost and the glare from the warming sun help this a lot.
23-OCT-2008
Laid back skeleton
My wife and kids got pretty creative while I was gone last week. There is a pile of Loam left over in our front yard from a project this fall. This guy gets a lot of attention from all the passerby's in the neighborhood.
22-OCT-2008
Make an offer
On the way into work this morning, I saw this old car on a trailer with a big sign on its front that said "Make an offer". This was an ideal "Rusty Stuff" shot opportunity, so I pulled over and started taking photos. It didn't take long to determine that "Make an offer" might be a plee, perhaps the last sign before "I'll pay you xxx$ to take this" appears in front of this vehicle.
Someone else pulled over to look at it just as I was pulling over. He knew about cars (I just like to look at them) and started laughing immediately. There was not one square inch of non-rusted surface on or in this old car.
Offers and condition aside, it made for a great subject for today's PaD!
21-OCT-2008
Last Leaves (Sepia)
I hate being sick. While heading out to the grocery store/pharmacy, I stopped at the Willand Pond Park in Somersworth/Dover NH. I figured I would kill a couple of birds with the same stone (so to speak, there were ducks at the park but no ducks were harmed while I took this photo).
I actually got a few good ones, but this is the one that made the PaD.
Here are a few that didn't make today's PaD:
20-OCT-2008
Fall Colors
So I make this big point about being back and using the 40D and today I post another LX3 shot. . .
Actually, I was feeling pretty crappy at work, so I left early and knew that I wouldn't be in any condition to take a photo later. I'd planned ahead and packed the "Bike Cam" this morning before riding in (in 29 degree weather which did not contribute to my feeling crappy, I was coming down with something last night). I passed by these beautiful trees beside the Rockingham Golf Course (aka "The Rock"). I've played off one of the graves out here before (the 9th hole has this nasty dogleg right, play it too long and you bounce across the street into the cemetery).
I pulled off and came around to take some fall shots. I was probably quite the sight in my bright orange motorcycle jacket snapping photos (with my helmet on). Actually, I may have blended into the scenery too.
In camera jpg, used LR2 to sort and resize.
19-OCT-2008
Foliage
So I am back in the states, back in New England, back home. I missed the bulk of the foliage, all the leaves seem to have turned and fell while I was gone. This is from my back yard this afternoon. I'd intended to step out and drive over to the nearby baseball fields as there are some maples in full swing, but decided to try my luck in the back yard first.
Last night I got the 40D back in my hands and kept with it today. The LX3 is a great small camera for travel, but I am home now.
I broke out the 100mm Macro today too.
18-OCT-2008
Prepping the jet
Woke up in Belgium & flew first leg back home through Frankfurt.
Shot through the glass at the gate in the terminal (glare on the right).
This is an Airbus A340-600, a much better (and newer) plane than the one I flew out in.
This was a long, long day, this is also the last photo I took in Europe and serves as my trip closing photo.
17-OCT-2008
Antwerpe Central Station
So I saw a photo of a train station in Europe (Germany?) a few weeks ago taken with an LX3 in Dynamic BW. I'd imagined this shot the entire time I was here, however, in Black and White. I find it a tad bit odd that I decided to go with this color shot. It isn't actually true color, it was taken with the Vintage setting so the colors are a bit desaturated. This building was absolutely incredible, the steelwork needed some color in this shot. While I liked the Black and White version, it was a tad too dark. This works for me.
This is/was my last full day on this Europe trip. Not sure if I will get a chance to get more shots tomorrow before my am flight.
16-OCT-2008
Antwerpe Night
We had a very late night, this is the closest I have come this year in my PaD to NOT taking a photo during the day (Gotta get it taken before midnight). I was out behind our hotel with my cool little gripper tripod taking really nifty night shots.
For this shot I set the mini tripod on a park bench to get it in the frame.
15-OCT-2008
Geneva Lunch
We got a little extra time today to hit downtown Geneva. I'd been here before for a few days but never had a chance to walk the streets and actually see the fountain (seeing it from the airplane on landing doesn't count).
We had just shy of an hour to walk around, I made the most of it with the camera. While I had a number of photos of Lake Geneva and the fountain, this small sidewalk cafe shot was my favorite.
Still B&W on this trip...
14-OCT-2008
Geneva
This is what touring Europe begins to look like after a few full days of travel, meetings, travel. It was a pretty cool handheld shot with motion blur on the baggage carousel though. . .
13-OCT-2008
Florsheim am Main
At least, I think this is the place. . .
We ate at this really nice place on the river. It was a bit of a walk from where we parked (a little 'bit', not a huge distance) so there was ample opportunity for photographs.
Was sans Wifi last night, catching up tonight (err, this morning).
12-OCT-2008
Frankfurt Cobblestone
This was a tough one today.
I am in Franfurt Germany today. Flew through the night (Saturday) and am staying up to get onto Eurpean time. I spent the whole afternoon walking around Frankfurt and never felt tired, I am feeling it now. . .
So, 260 photos on the LX3 (RAW + jpg), still full battery and lots of room on this card (4GB card) plus I had a spare 4GB just in case.
I got so many keepers that this was very tough to pick for the PaD. I will eventually pull a select few (something far less than 50) into a gallery related to Frankfurt (possibly a master gallery for this trip in general).
This shot is straight out of the camera, resized during export from Lightroom 2.
This trip is going to be a "No [to limited] post processing" event as I am managing these shots on an older laptop and I don't trust the monitor (I will most likely stick to B&W too...)
11-OCT-2008
My Bus
First leg of my journey to Europe (save for the car ride to the bus terminal).
Turns out this was my own personal chariot from Dover [NH] to Portsmouth as there was no one else riding at this hour.
10-OCT-2008
Music
During the half-time show at tonight's home game, the band seating area empties out. Since I have contacts on the 'inside' I know that the band members choose to memorize their pieces and leave the sheet music behind. It makes for an interesting shot. . .
09-OCT-2008
Fox and part of me
Late night [again].
I wanted to play with some off camera flash since last night I'd tried it out briefly with some pretty boring objects.
None of my human family members wanted anything to do with photography tonight (they were all watching Star Wars - Gotta love that). I got my dog to pose for a short while before he decided to bail on me.
08-OCT-2008
LX3 Walk Shot
Today was my test run for the LX3. I snuck out at lunch with the LX3 on my belt and found some interesting things to photograph. The walk itself wasn't really that much of a test as I'd made it with the 40D many times. The important part is that I was on my Motorcycle again today (basically I will be on the bike until the snow flies then back on in between the flakes, literally).
Minor tweak in LR2, pushed the exposure a tad, added a little fill, and cropped square.
There were a few other shots that made it past my scrutiny today:
07-OCT-2008
Twilight Bike
One of the benefits of carrying a P&S with me now is that I can take pictures with less effort on the bike. I was able to take this shot with my gear still on, I only needed to remove one glove.
It's a bit noisy, but I still like the silhouette against the blue & orange/red sky.
(It is a lot noisy after looking at it on the web, didn't look this bad in LR, I will investigate)
06-OCT-2008
Monitor Lit Grain
New Toy, it arrived a day earlier than UPS said it should (though shipments from NY usually only take 2 days anyway).
I have a few days to get used to this camera before heading off to Europe. I think this will do much better than a G10, although it will take a little getting used to a different Manufacturer's shooting system. The Panasonic LX3 is the talk of a lot of different forums, after flipping through the ample manual and navigating through the menus (not necessarily in that order) I can see why.
This shot came out a lot better than I'd thought it looked from in the camera. Basically a JPG that has been slightly cropped, but right out of the camera. I am shooting RAW + Jpg, but the RAW files (.RW2) seem to throw LR2 for a loop, it won't 'see' any images on the card when I insert it, so long as there are RW2 files on the card. Looks like I will need a special workflow until there is some support for it in ACR.
05-OCT-2008
Take the hill
We ended up at an indoor RC racetrack (
Maximus Hobby in York, ME) and got the bug. I'd planned on getting 'us' an RC truck or dune buggy for a little while now. Got a great deal on this monster truck. It is a four wheel drive model with a Digital Radio System. This thing runs for just shy of 10 minutes on a full charge. It is a four wheel drive, has two electric motors, incredible suspension, and is repairable. The latter fact something we've learned and something we will learn going forward. Dad was the first to break something, on the first run (in the dark) I lost the front left wheel and the locking nut that held it in place. There is a .0001% chance of locating a locking nut in either the dark or in sunlight. The hobby store was open on Sunday so we just made a special trip down there (and spent more in gas...).
I had to lie down prone to get this shot with the truck in the foreground and my son in the background. I had a bunch of shots of the truck in mid air, but nothing clear enough to pass PaD muster.
04-OCT-2008
All I want for xmas...
On my way back from my parents today, we saw this 49cc dirtbike on the side of the road. My son has been asking for one for quite some time. If we didn't live in a development, he'd already have one. We didn't get this one, but did get to pose for a goofy snapshot on it. Still working on my wife on this one.
03-OCT-2008
Hockey Grain
OK, now here is a photo with some grain in it. It wasn't what I'd intended to shoot, but it works for me.
Long week, very tired. Keeping it short.
(Also, I broke out my prime)
02-OCT-2008
Grain
I just ordered an LX3 today, I've been looking for a small P&S that I can carry with me on the bike and basically everywhere I go. Since I've been commuting every day on the motorcycle, I've only brought the 40D in a few times and never actually got out to use it. While researching the G10, I found the LX3 listed in a lot of Canon forums. It is smaller than the G10 and has a wider lens that is faster at it's wide angle (f/2.0 at 24mm). I've seen a lot of BW shots taken with the LX3 and some of the higher ISO shots have film-like grain (jpgs, mind you). So I've been wanting a 'grainy' photo for a few days now.
This was taken with the now ancient 40D at ISO 3200, the max it will go. It pales in comparison to the new 50D and the 5D Mk 2, but it works for me. This took a number of tries as she kept her eyes closed or covered (I had to take one shot then pause after she'd open them and snap off another).
01-OCT-2008
Wii
We picked up the Lego Star Wars game for the Wii over the weekend. My son & I have played it together the last few nights and are having a blast. Last night we got stuck on the Pod racing level and couldn't get past it (we tried for about 20 mins). This evening we had to start off on the Pod racing level and still couldn't do it. After we failed to win for the 4th lap, I chose the "Drop Out" option, thinking we'd both drop out and go back to the spaceport level to regroup. It turns out I was the only one who dropped out, he remained in the race. He was chatting away about the race, following the leader that we'd never get close to. On the last leg he (a wise 7 year old) said "No pressure Jacob" which made me laugh, but I kept my eye on the game and got to see him pass the leader right at the finish line. My little guy beat the level for us! While I am proud of him for doing this, I am not ready to relinquish the "Alpha Geek" title in the family yet...
(Oh yeah, all my work waterproofing my boots last night for the "Big Rain storm" today was for naught. There was no rain during either my ride in or back.)
30-SEP-2008
Evening project
We have more rain in the forecast for tomorrow, most likely on my morning commute in. I found out my combat boots leak like mad in the rain last Friday. My evening project is to inject a large quantity of beeswax into the pores and the seams of the boots to keep my feet dry (or as dry as possible).
The trick is to preheat them then apply the wax and apply a little more heat to help the wax seep into the pores and into the seams. I am quite sure all the water came through the seams.
29-SEP-2008
A good book
Broke out the lensbabies for this one.
The day began with rain, otherwise I had hoped to bring my camera in with me (I need a Motorcycle camera now). The day ended with beautiful, if just a tad warm, weather.
My daughter was engrossed in yet another book (she reads about one a day). The only difference is she wasn't locked up in her room (which is impossible for me to go into, due to the destruction zone appeal).
Shot from my monopod. The lensbabies requires some kind of stabilization, at least the 3G does. . .
28-SEP-2008
Brick
Another rainy day. It was, however, productive. I finished chopping my Motorcycle's windshield, a task I'd thought wouldn't get started until winter. I also go all the bills taken care of (and that isn't a fun job).
The leaves are starting to turn around here already, if it were a little drier, I'd have sought out some fall colored leaves and added some reds to my PaD. . .
These bricks are red, but look better in Black and White.
27-SEP-2008
Air Hockey
My son has a friend over this evening and they were playing Air Hockey. Well, they made me get it all set up and proceeded to play for about 2 1/2 minutes before getting bored. Luckily I had my camera all set and ready when they began.
580EX-2 Bounced off the ceiling illuminates the board nicely. Ambient lighting provided by a dim florescent bulb in a lamp and a halogen desk lamp from behind me.
26-SEP-2008
Me on the wet V
Very rainy day today. It didn't stop me from riding into work though.
In the spirit of the other Bike shots AND SP Friday, here's an SP of me on (well near) the bike.
It is still wet from the ride home (it had been sitting for about an hour in the garage when I shot this).
25-SEP-2008
Red Barn Background
I enlisted my daughter who wasn't involved in an activity this evening for some photo work. We were at my son's soccer practice and the sun had just set. There is a red barn that is used for a youth retreat beside the soccer fields that is a great place for a portrait. While were were taking photos a lady came around and checked us out. Turns out she runs the youth program there. We got a personal tour of the whole thing. It's right around the corner from our house and we've never been in. We must be too busy...
24-SEP-2008
Shift_
This might be it for the bike theme, both from a logistical and practical standpoint. We are done with School Open Houses for now. We are left with just the frantic running around for various children activities. I am also running out of parts on the bike to shoot.
I'm hoping to get a shot that I should have taken two mornings ago. I won't go into it and jinx myself.
23-SEP-2008
Exhausted
Is what I feel right now.
However, I did manage to locate and purchase a can of the Dupont Teflon Multi Lube Spray at a Lowes in Epping, NH. Mapquest said it would take me 26 minutes to get to that Lowe's from work. I was able to go there, find & purchase the spray, fill up with gas, and return with a couple of minutes to spare on my lunch hour. This bike can move. . .
22-SEP-2008
Spill
It's just water. While topping off the coolant, I ran some water over the top of the coolant tank by mistake. I was using a really cool funnel with a long stem and a twist on/off for the flow. The coolant reservoir is inside the fairing and it was a bit dark. I didn't miss with the coolant (which I did first). Of the two (water/coolant) I'd prefer I spill the water.
I am sticking with the same split toning as the other two 'cycle shots. These will flow nicely together in a V-Strom gallery at some point.
21-SEP-2008
Chain
Combining my two favorites for today (Photography and Motorcycles).
After another long day of cleaning the garage (well worth it though), I am kicking back and reading about some maintenance tips and decide that taking a picture of my chain would make for an interesting theme. I started with a simple "lay the flash on the ground" and "hand hold the 17-55 with IS on" attempt. When I was Post Processing, I realized I needed the flash to come in from the top to better expose the chain. After I'd pulled out the flash stand, the Macro Lens, and the monopod, I'd realized that this was much more than a quick shot.
I'm glad I put the extra effort into this. In keeping with the shot from the 16th, I copied the split-toning treatment to add a slight blue in the shadows. Lightroom makes this part easy.
One thing I wasn't expecting was how cruddy the chain and sprocket is. I've been reading about a lube from Dupont that is supposed to leave less residue and keep the chain much cleaner. I think I will be cleaning up the chain and giving this
Dupont Teflon Chain Lube stuff a try.
20-SEP-2008
Shelving
My day (well most of it) was spent attacking our garage (and traveling to The Home Depot for supplies). I got our kayaks off the floor (hanging on the walls now). I also got a lot of our crap off the floor and off of some old rickety wooden shelves (Well, one shelf - wasted space). It looks like I have one more trip to The Home Depot to install another set of shelves (4 - 6' shelves).
It is amazing to look in our garage and almost see where we could move around in it. I might even be able to park a car in there too (well, one motorcycle has to go first though).
19-SEP-2008
Homecoming
Second High School football game of the season (second home game too). This game went much better. The Marshwood Hawks (us) beat the Sanford Redskins 25 to 20 tonight.
I am there to see my daughter in the Marching band and am getting into the football games.
The Marching Band heads North tomorrow for their first competition.
Last week was rainy so I didn't bring any camera gear. We've had some great fall weather this week, nary a raindrop in sight. It was, however, very cold. Cold is a relative term in New England. Cold is defined as anything that is 10 degrees cooler than the previous few days. Right now mid 40's is cold. In two or three months, we could only dream of a mid 40's heat wave. . .
I am pretty impressed with ISO 1600 shot from the stands (with a monopod).
18-SEP-2008
Textured
A shot of the knee of my new riding pants (Odyssey Ranger 2). I just got back from the closest dealer of this riding clothing, a nice 60+ mile ride out in the warm[ish] sun and 45 back at dusk/evening, a tad bit cooler. . .
The motorcycle thing is certainly taking precedence over the photography thing so I am blending the two...
17-SEP-2008
Teen
Here's a common sight in our household (and I am sure for years to come).
Moving subjects are NOT easy to shoot with a lensbabies lens.
16-SEP-2008
Discs
A shot of my front discs on my V-Strom.
A bit of a Strobist shot as I had the flash lower camera left.
I'm doing a MaD too (Motorcycle a Day) at least until it snows ;-)
This is a pretty fun bike. Much lighter than my Beemer, very peppy.
(And, yes, I did add a little color in the shadows)
15-SEP-2008
40D SP
My 40D asked my Epson Scanner for a favor. Here's an SP of the 40D, taken with an Epson Stylus Photo RX580.
14-SEP-2008
Pool
No cool story other than the Patriots were able to win what I perceive as a big game today without Brady. . .
The kids were playing pool today, I figured it was worth attempting a shot in a room that we apparently need better lighting in ;-)
13-SEP-2008
Team
Soccer (Futbol for our 'worldly' viewers) morning today. Nice morning sun (that later turned into a scorcher of a day) to my back.
I took way too many photos (I am still trying to sort through them now).
My son enjoys soccer, he loves running around!
12-SEP-2008
Texture
Rained out today & I was on the [new] bike. I didn't take my camera gear into work not because I was afraid it would get wet, but because I figured I wouldn't be out and about at lunch if it were raining. After work I got to attend our first Marshwood High School Football game to watch my daughter in the Marshwood Marching Hawk band (her first 'official' appearance). It was raining off and on all evening and I didn't want to bring the camera for this fact (this time I was afraid of the rain).
This shot is of the grip on a [red] mini mag flashlight through the eyes of my 100mm Macro. Nothing too elaborate tonight. . .
11-SEP-2008
Hanging out
My wife is doing that P-90X thing. For her birthday, she wanted the P-90X DVD's and some kind of chinup bar. While I was finalizing the P90X purchase, this cool chinup bar offer came up (like they saw me coming, flagged my account and said "he's a sucka"). So now it is in our downstairs bathroom door, since we have an "open concept house" and that is pretty much the only doorway.
So I mention all this because my son believes this is his personal monkey bar setup. He's moved a kitchen chair beneath it and basically hangs from this thing all evening. He can do a few chinups (he's gonna be ripped by the time he's 8). I was taking photos of him from the knees up, trying to keep the chair out of the frame when I realized I could just push it out and slide the camera beneath his feet. This is the first picture from the first set and it worked. I had to hold the camera out & guess where it was pointing (blind shooting) since I couldn't fit under him. This photo is a bit OOF and might have a tad bit of motion blur, but it's one of those photos that goes beyond the "Tack Sharp" realm. I really like this shot of him because it makes him look tall, when he's just a little pee-wee.
10-SEP-2008
VStrom Dash
My new toy (well, the dash of my new toy). Actually, not a toy, but a device used to lower my carbon footprint! ;-)
Commuting on the Harley is getting old, I needed something with space (technically I needed something with a top case that would fit my camera bag, this bike works). I've only put 60 miles on it driving it back this evening, I need to put another 500 - 800 on it to get a feel for it. It seems to ride smoother than my '99 BMW R1100RT did.
Interesting setup for this shot, my tripod (Bogen 055MF3) was able to actually straddle the bike, with the center post in. I was able to line it right up. The bike was on the kick stand, so there was a bit of lean to it, I straightened it out in LR2.
Only the "True Geeks" will notice the problem with this photo. . .
09-SEP-2008
Thru the umbrella
Still on my playing with lighting theme. I'd never actually taken the black backing off my Wescott umbrella before. I figured I'd give it a try before I order a Soft Box. I'm still going to order a softbox, for this kind of shot where the lighting is part of the background, it would be less distracting. I was trying to get the pose a close as to last night's as possible. I am, however, extremely tired and most of my shots had my eyes half closed.
08-SEP-2008
Playing with a softbox
I bought a white sheet this past weekend as a backdrop and then stumbled onto a photo somewhere that used a piece of white nylon in the background but with the strobes behind it, shooting into it. It's basically a huge Softbox. I drape it up between two cabinets and point the 580EX-2 into it (from behind the sheet). I use my Cactus remote trigger to fire it, and play with the exposure. The sheet is wrinkled as all hell, the trick is to either a) Iron the damn thing or b) Overexpose the hell out of the sheet which acts as a digital iron. I opted for the latter.
07-SEP-2008
sk8tr boi
My son has been after us for a while to let him use his new roller blades in the driveway (new as in hand-me-down from a friend). He is actually pretty good.
06-SEP-2008
First Soccer Game
My son's first soccer game today. This was actually before the game during warmups (the part that didn't rain). I got some great shots of the game but had to pack up the gear after about 10 mins due to the rain. I actually tried to cover the 40D which isn't weather protected and left the 70-200 F4L exposed, which is. It's amazing that I was able to watch his game, we were remarking that it is the first sport he's played where I am not his coach (I know nothing of Soccer so I wouldn't be much of a help there).
As I type this, Tropical Storm Hanna is testing out my drainage project, so far I think it is working quite well. So well, in fact, that I thought we hadn't gotten too much rain since there are only minimal puddles forming near our garage. That was, until I saw the back of our garage (which still leaks until I fix our gutter).
05-SEP-2008
SP Subtle
Someone at work either today or yesterday was asking about an SP that flashed across my screen (I use my PaD photos as a screen saver at work). I was telling him about SP Fridays and realized that I hadn't done one in a while. I didn't feel like a traditional SP, so this is a pretty distorted Lensbabies shot. I basically took a bunch of blind shots, looking at the preview as necessary. For this shot, I have the lens tilted to camera right pretty much as far as it would go. I was using my Cactus Triggers for off camera flash and I seem to have picked up a reflection off a curio behind me (that I like).
04-SEP-2008
Stand out in the crowd
I will consider this to be my first actually decent Lensbabies shot. I think it works because there is some front/back separation between the subject in focus and the other items that I wanted to blur.
03-SEP-2008
Rollei 2.8D
I cannot wait to start using this guy. It is NOT a collector's item, it is meant to be used. I got it off eBay, it's been to China, the seller had some beautiful photos he took with this camera while in China.
Over the long weekend, I think I shot through all my Medium Format film so I need some more...
I cropped this square in honor of the 6x6 format.
02-SEP-2008
Lensbabied Dominoes
Still playing with the lensbabies 3G. This is similar to a post from earlier this year. I am more interested in the selective focus than correct lighting/white balance. There is some yellow left beneath the forward domino & some shadows as well.
Two important new facts from this photo/set.
1) I pulled the focus as far to the left and bottom as possible AND used the screws to adjust focus this time (with a little help from the manual adjust too).
2) The exif info was updated pretty darn fast with my new droplet I created. I select the photos I want to update, drop onto my droplet app, and enter the Aperture setting when prompted. All the files are updated in place.
01-SEP-2008
Ball in tube
Call this one a creative attempt. I was a bit tired after the "Final Fire" last night and packing up this morning.
The tubes are these semi-rigid 4" aluminum vent tubes for our dryer. I need to get ready to re-route our dryer vent to go outdoors versus into our garage (which seems to set off our CO2 alarm in the winter).
Using the lensbabies again, I am kind of struggling with this lens. I had all kinds of great ideas, but it has a pretty steep learning curve.
31-AUG-2008
Final Fire [of the season]
Technically, we *hope* to extend our camping season into October, however, this is our traditional send off. Tomorrow we pack up, head home, get the kids ready for school, talk of winterizing the RV, talk of snow, Christmas, etc...
I had the camera handy as one of my uncle's tended the fire. This is a handheld shot (with IS). Focus isn't a huge concern, its the spark trails I'm trying to capture.
This was a pretty hot fire, the coals will still be hot as we are driving away tomorrow.
30-AUG-2008
Sweet Jump
At the campground the past few years, the boys have been hitting some "Sweet Jumps" that are apparently "Off the hook". Sometimes they are even "Sick Jumps", but I cannot confirm nor deny the presence of any viral infestation of said jumps. On the subject of the 'jumps' themselves, to most adults, they appear as nothing more than a pile of dirt, possibly a nuisance when walking or crossing a road or path. To a kid, these are the launch vehicles for a ride of endless fun. However, it is not all fun and games, the kids work very hard at perfecting these piles of dirt, err, 'jumps'.
I started taking some shots of my son (pictured) and all of a sudden a flock of children appeared, all wanting to see the shots and to have their photos taken off the "Sweet Jumps". The last kid even turned his head 90 degrees to face the camera and smiled as he was lifting off a rather large and scary jump. At that point, I packed up the camera and moved away from the jump area. I could picture the resultant crash from one of the kids as they try to out-do each other in contests of 'coolness'.
28-AUG-2008
Lensbabied Wife
Second day of our Labor Day Weekend Camping Trip.
I got a lot of lensbabies time this morning. I was taking pictures of picnic tables, trees, my children, a dragonfly, and my wife. I liked this shot the best. It is a very picky lens and I am not ready to just "drop it on someone" yet. I wouldn't feel comfortable getting a decent shot with the amount of prep time it takes me (I get the "are you done yet?" look which basically ruins the mood...).
Here is a Polaris Startrail from later on today (I couldn't post two Star-trail photos in a row):
27-AUG-2008
Polaris Centered with light trail
First night of our Labor Day Camping [extended] weekend. We got in late, around 8:30 or so and didn't get all set up until after 9:30. The campground (Danforth Bay, Freedom, NH) is pretty empty, so I made good use of the space in the field and setup shot. I could use a tad bit more lens for this kind of shot.
This is off my tripod, I no longer have any telescope gear (with tracking mounts) so Polaris about my only hope for anything decent. I tried Cassiopeia, knowing it would be horrible (photo, not the constellation) and was right, it was horrible.
The good thing about the start trails is that it helped me identify camera shake on my tripod. Even with mirror lockup, there were some slight vibrations reflected in the images.
I'd wanted to get some cool circular star trails revolving around Polaris, but my POC remote decided to crap out on me tonight. With the Bulb setting on, the remote wouldn't hold the shutter open, I wound up with a bunch of 1 second exposures.
(And, this campground has nice, free, WIFI!)
You can time-travel into tomorrow to see what I intended to shoot:
26-AUG-2008
Rider
Playing with the lensbabies 3G again. I've had about a grand total of 30 minutes in the past two days to play with this new lens. We are getting ready for our big Labor Day Camping Weekend that starts tomorrow after work.
I had to "move the bike" in order to get to the kayaks to pack on the Tahoe. "Moving the bike" entails a ride around the neighborhood. I had to move the bike twice since it was in the way after the kayaks were loaded. Had I not "moved the bike" the second time, I'd have more available daylight to "take a photo". I don't regret it. Its been so hectic that the poor 'ole Sportster has been much neglected this past month.
I intend to get a lot more "play time" with the 3G over this coming weekend. This campground has WIFI too, so I can check up on pbase and all the latest chatter over the new 50D and 18-200 L lens.
25-AUG-2008
Discarded - Lensbaby 3G
Here is one of my first attempts with the
Lensbaby 3G.
After reading up on this lens and the 1 & 2 AND having a couple of shots under my belt, I feel very happy with my 'upgrade' to the 3G (thank goodness for Summer Sales ;-).
I spent a good deal of my evening trying to get my Metadata in line. Since the Lensbaby has no brain, there is no lens-related Exif added to the resultant Raw files. I simply cannot live with this, I had to fix it. I messed around with Exiftool for a while and spent about 30 - 45 minutes on a tangent that ultimately had to do with me using "==" versus "=" (whoops). For those of you that care, here is the command line for tweaking your Lensbaby files (you can substitute the .CR2 for whatever format you use):
exiftool -LensType="Lensbaby 3G" -FNumber="2.0" -FocalLength="60" -overwrite_original -r -ext .CR2 .
Keep in mind that you will need to update the FNumber with the correct value for your Aperture in use (in this case, wide open, no disc).
With my metadata in order, I could start playing with the actual lens itself (well, I actually played with it first, then realized the metadata issue).
The 3G is great on a tripod AND on a 40D. Here is where Live View shines (yet again). I was able to get the sweet spot to just about where I wanted it, move my focus point in Live View, and then tweak the focus on the 3G until it was just right. No way the first or second generation models of this lens would work [easily] this way.
I shifted the camera around a little, changing the composition from yesterday's shot. Interestingly enough, I don't think the actual pile changed any. I did have to remove a few of my son's toys that got thrown into the mix, but the dolls look to be in the same pose from before.
I did try the 4.0 Aperture Disc (they aren't labeled, you have to know the values and compare them) which was already loaded into the camera when I got it. I wanted a much smaller sweet spot (just the face of the one doll) so I tried it wide open at f/2.0 and got better results, though a tad bit soft.
I plan on spending a lot more time with this lens in the near future (I have to work out the logistics of keeping it in my bag too).
Here is the link to yesterday's, non-lensbaby, PaD:
24-AUG-2008
Discarded
Another very busy day of yard work. I'd originally intended to do the "RV Parking-After" shot, but was a tad bit too dirty to risk touching my camera gear at the end of the day and I wasn't about to walk on the new loam in my slippers after my shower.
These dolls are one of my daughters or possible a collection from both. They have been moving around the house the past few weeks as a pile. I've not seen either daughter playing with them (and my oldest is definitely not into dolls anymore). I've only seen them in a pile.
Anyway, they make for an interesting subject. I imagine I might test this shot out again with the lensbabies 3G when it arrives tomorrow (at least I think it arrives tomorrow, 4 shipping days from Mass, something like 100 miles).
{Edit}
Here is a wormhole into the future by one day to look at the Lensbaby approach:
23-AUG-2008
RV Parking Area - Before
My weekend project (thus a not too interesting PaD).
Before applying 14 Cubic Yards of Crushed Gravel and Stone. . .
22-AUG-2008
2008-2009 Marshwood High School Marching Band - Pie in the face
All week long the Marching Band had been practicing, (yikes my daughter is in the High School Marching Band!). Tonight there was a special presentation for the families to see what they'd been doing all week.
At the end there was a marching competition, the last person standing got to throw a pie in the face of the band's instructor. Great motivational tool.
We were up in the stands, I'd already switched lenses, the 70-200 was back in the band and the 17-55 just didn't have enough pull to get a good closeup. However, with that said, this shot did get the entire band gathered around their instructor mere microseconds after impact. You can see two big chunks of cream frozen just behind his head (in the center).
My daughter (who is actually in 8th grade, High School Marching Band is open to 8th graders, a very good idea on a few levels) is in a white Tee Shirt in the front center with her back to the camera.
21-AUG-2008
Prescott Park Floral - Day 2
So I went back to Prescott park today for a very late lunch, trying to redeem myself. I was a good dubie and even printed up the hyperfocal chart, hoping to get the shot I'd wanted just right.
I *might* have a problem with my EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS as pretty much all the shots (manual focus and AF) were slightly OOF. I tried some silly shots this evening outside and found that I couldn't get a sharp photo of some leaves on a tree (not a good test as it was a very low contrast subject). Manual focus nailed it though.
After I post this, I intend to setup a yardstick and a piece of black tape and will test out the focus on this puppy.
This has been gnawing at me for a few days, something wasn't right about the 17-55, when I first got it, all my shots were tack sharp. Lately I've noticed slight sharpness issues.
The 70-200 seems ok though.
20-AUG-2008
Prescott Park Floral
I skipped down to Prescott Park today. I'd intended to hit Strawbery Banke, but there was nothing in the way of parking and I didn't have the time to walk to the house I wanted to shoot from the park.
While I was futzing around with the monopod and camera, this guy came up to me and asked me about my "stick". He said he really liked "electric cameras because of the light". He was really into those "electric cameras" and really wanted to get a "stick like mine". I tried to explain that it was called a monopod, he rambled on about "electric cameras" and I realized I could keep the technical details out of the conversation.
It was pretty windy and very bright. LR2 to the rescue on the brightness. I used the gradient filter, from the bottom up (opposite what one would expect to do) and that seemed to bring the flowers back.
I broke down and ordered the lensbabies 3G this weekend, I can't help but imagine what today's shoot would have been like with that attached to the front of my "electric camera".
19-AUG-2008
My Camera Bag (Domke J3)
(Finally caught up)
I've never posted a camera bag shot and I am running late on today's PaD, so here's my camera bag.
It's a Domke J-3 (as the title states).
I love this bag!
I have the padded inserts in the left side compartment where I have my 580-EX2 Strobe and a Giotto's Rocket blower. At some point, I will get another 580-EX2 and it will fit in here (then I need to worry about where the Rocket Blower goes).
I removed the padded insert on the right side compartment, I have spare AA batteries, a little case with my Cactus Triggers in it (one set), three ND filters, and one CPL filter.
The front compartment has an eBay remote timer trigger, whibal card, my CF card case, a few loose CF cards (in small cases), spare 40D battery, an allen wrench for my RRS quick release plates, a generic RRS quick release plate (for my other cameras). When traveling, I put the battery charger in the front compartment as well.
On the rear is a slot, I've put a couple of better bounce cards in there (fits perfectly).
The zippered pouch on the case cover has my MacBeth color card, filter ring adapters, lens & sensor pens, and a regular pen.
The main compartment has my 40D with the EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS with hood mounted, the 70-200 F4L with hood mounted, and my 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens. I have a lensbabies 3G coming in that will fit above the 100mm Macro lens (I will need a small pad to put between the two lenses.
Clipped to the carrying strap with a small carabiner is a zippered canvas pouch I bought at The Home Depot (for documents). I put all my velcro'd gels in it (hard to see in the photo).
I know where everything is, I can grab what I need without looking, something I've had to do numerous times. It is not overly heavy, I took it on a few short hikes when we were in Bar Harbor (Maine) last week and it wasn't uncomfortable. For long hikes, I use my Tamrac backpack.
I was actually able to bungee my tripod (Bogen 055 MF3) to the top of the bag on a few of those short hikes. It helped a lot.
18-AUG-2008
Last of the local shops
(Almost caught up)
The last of the local camera shops in the area (and this is a big area, say 30 - 40 miles) has closed.
"To All Eagle Photo Customers,
After 93 years it's time to say good-bye!
Thank you to all for making Eagle Photo part
of your life. I am deeply touched by the
outpouring support and caring everyone has
shown to me and my staff. I truly appreciate
the many flowers, brownies, card, Letters to
The Editor, champagne and the Mexican
fiesta and beer!
THANK YOOU!
Cindy
Jeremy, Tiffany, Kate & Joe"
It's all online from here. . .
17-AUG-2008
Black Rose and Nude
(Still catching up)
Here's a Black Rose in a much better setting. I'm liking the capabilities of LR 2. This was not my original choice, but jumped to the top after some tweaking.
16-AUG-2008
Black Rose
(Still catching up)
This is a Black Rose (not actually black, just deep red). My wife's 40th Birthday was during our camping trip (yesterday) and I surprised her with 1/2 dozen Black roses and 1/2 dozen Black balloons (can't fit a dozen of each in the camper). They make a great subject.
Camping trip is over, back to the real world. . .
15-AUG-2008
Bar Harbor Camping Day 7 - Bar Island
(Still catching up)
We lucked out and had low tide at a very good time (4:30 PM). One of the islands in Frenchman's Bay is called Bar Island because at low tide (+/- 2 hours) there is an exposed sand bar allowing you to walk, bike, or ride across (well, park) giving access to the harbor and the island.
14-AUG-2008
Bar Harbor Camping Day 6 - Ship Harbor Mist
(Still catching up)
We had a very active day (physically and photographically). The weather was 'iffy' so we chose to tour the "Quiet Side" and do a series of short hikes to the water. I had a lot of good shots, but this one really struck me as my PaD photo. Its a candid (literally as they probably couldn't see me in the fog) I don't know these people. My youngest daughter and I were walking back together and sat down for a bit to look at this inland portion of the harbor. We were watching the people out in the marshy area and trying to figure out how bad their dog would smell when they got him back to their car. I couldn't resist taking a few shots (OK, there were about 25 of these people). I really like the dog in motion.
13-AUG-2008
Bar Harbor Camping Day 5 - Schoondic Point Hike
(Still catching up)
Out on Schoondic Point (Great Head Trail) there are many great sights. On the way out, there was a receding mist. I pulled off the main trail to the rocky coast to take some shots. I thought my family was nearby. Turns out they kept on going (and I did let my wife know, CYA ;-). It took a little while to catch up with them, I'd get reports from hikers coming the other way, most of them associating me with our dog.
12-AUG-2008
Bar Harbor Camping Day 4 - Rainy Fireplace
(Still catching up)
We awoke to rain and a forecast of pretty much nothing but rain for the rest of the day. Before we took a day trip into Bangor (actually our first time in Bangor ever), I set up the tripod under our awning and took a number of shots. I liked this one in the camera and after the camera. We had a fire pretty much every night of our trip, I believe we even had a fire this day as the rains finally stopped by the time we got back. The fireplace looked a little cold that morning with the puddle and the wet rocks...
11-AUG-2008
Bar Harbor Camping Day 3 - Cadillac Misty Mountain
(Still catching up)
We woke up at 4am to catch the sunrise on top of Cadillac mountain (its the first place in the US to see the sun in the morning). On the way to the summit, we were a little concerned with the fog. The fog rolled in over the evening and hadn't dissipated yet. I got a lot of great shots with the fog and paid the price of having to clean my camera gear after getting back.
All my actual sunrise shots are going to be held back until I get at least a demo of CS3 because I shot them all bracketed for HDRs at a later point.
Here's my "Almost PaD" shot for today:
10-AUG-2008
Bar Harbor Camping Day 2 - Carriage Path
(Catching up)
Day two of our trip and we are taking advantage of the great weather (for a summer of rain). We hit the carriage path just below Eagle Lake and ride to the Jordon Pond House for lunch (they have the best Lobster Rolls) then back the long way. My oldest & I (with my son in tow) split off and tackle the Aunt Betty Pond trail, what we've started to call "The Snake" because of the steep, snaking drop that we have to ride our brakes on for the first 1/2 mile or so. What goes down must go back up, we pay for the joy ride a couple of times, sweating off the lemonade and Lobster Rolls before another nice little hill taking us back to the parking area.
This shot was at the beginning of the trip, I like my wife's expression ("Come on hon, lets go"). For the biking trip, I pack only the S3IS, I have no room for the 40D, yet. Next year my son will be on his own bike and it will be the first year that I haven't towed anyone since my oldest was born (she's 13).
09-AUG-2008
Bar Harbor Camping Day 1
(Catching Up)
Site C-8
Day one of our Bar Harbor week. We try to spend a week each year up here. Been doing this for the past 15 years (whew, time flies). This is our third year at this campground,
Hadley's Point Campground after our favorite campground was sold and became a KOA (was Spruce Valley Campground, have no idea what the new name is, we avoid KOA's for vacations).
This is our 8th RV. We've averaged 2 years between each RV, it is like a hobby ;-)
Technically, we have two RV's right now as we haven't sold our popup yet (anyone in New England looking for a great popup?)
08-AUG-2008
Kala's Back
My youngest daughter is back from Girl Scout camp. A week in a tent, in the rain. One night at home and we leave tomorrow morning for our one week vacation to Mt Desert Island (AKA "Acadia National Park" or "Bar Harbor").
I was testing out my new CF cards, arrived just in the nick of time for the trip. I got a pair of Ultra II 4GB's. The label looks a little cheesy on these, they look nothing like my previous three Ultra II's. I bought them off Amazon, they should be legit, but I wanted to make sure they at least worked by taking a bunch of shots tonight.
I got my wife to stand still and my daughter to pose for about 6 shots (a 30 second engagement, it was pure torture for the both of them). A bit of a sepia treatment and localized negative clarity to my daughter's face (though she doesn't need it).
07-AUG-2008
Green shirt
I took a quick trip into downtown Portsmouth today (not something that is wise to do in the summer when the weather is bad). As luck would have it, I found a parking space and there was 23 mins left on the meter! I needed to hit a toy shop for some tin soldiers for a game I am trying to make for the kids for next week. Two toy shops and an oddity shop later, I was no where closer to getting those toy soldiers. Luckily I'd grabbed the 40D and toted it with me while walking around the streets.
This shot looked interesting when I was taking it, then looked boring when I saw it in Lightroom, then looked interesting again after a tighter crop. It brought out what I saw on the street.
06-AUG-2008
Hydrant
Got another hydrant to add to my hydrant fetish collection.
This wasn't what I'd intended to shoot (I can safely insert that opening statement into all my PaD photos). I'd planned on playing with my gels for my strobe (which I did). I actually planned on getting something with some blue gels, however, nothing shot with the blue gel really worked for me (even with the dark overcast skies as a background).
For this shot, I put on a red gel and set the strobe on a metal water shutoff cover aimed at the hydrant. I had to wade through a puddle and cut a small swath through a bunch of wet weeds to get a shot of the hydrant (I know, sounds like a bit of insanity on my part).
To bump the exposure up with only one strobe (and a very little ambient light, it was dark) so I kind of blew out the highlights a tad.
05-AUG-2008
onalds
Been spending too much damn time at this here onald's lately.
Getting out of work too late, or just getting too busy has its toll.
This was another one of those "hey, neat lighting, neat colors, nice contrast" I snapped this from the car while in line to pay at the drive-through. They were running just slow enough that I didn't piss anyone off behind me.
(Getting a little urban/corporate theme going here too)
04-AUG-2008
Regal
Most of my lunchbreak was spent shooting bugs, I'd expected to post either a Butterfly or Bee macro in my PaD today. While running around getting things ready for our camping trip next week, I saw this. This is the new Regal Cinema in Newington, with these vivid colors & the dark storm clouds in the background. By the time I was able to spin around, find a parking spot, and walk out to get this shot, the real dark clouds had moved out of frame. However, this didn't look so bad ;-)
I'm a bit upset with all the noise in the background, it could be the presets I was using that really punched it.
There were a bunch of photos today that didn't make my PaD, but made some other galleries:
Macros:
Almost PaD:
03-AUG-2008
Camp Girls
Dropped my 10 year old off at Girl Scout camp this afternoon. She went with a friend from school this time (normally it's "make a friend" camp). Her friend has the ultimate in mosquito netting (the tent). They are staying within a [canvas] tent with an actual roof.
I had visions of taking lots of photos of the area (I knew my kids wouldn't want to pose) but we had to leave because my other two were pretty hungry (my 10 year old had a lunch, the others didn't). So we left & took another 45 mins to find a place to eat, then went to the new Cabellas in Scarborough Maine. I've been to a few other Cabellas, I call them the "Walmart verison of LL. Bean". I wish we hadn't wasted our time at Cabellas and gone straight to Bean (only 20 mins North at that point), we couldn't find what we were looking for.
So back to the camp photo. I thought the photo looked a bit overexposed. It wasn't until I got back home (hours later) that I realized I'd set FEC to +1 stop for some other reason (no idea at the moment).
02-AUG-2008
Pinpoint lighting
Another Strobist shot. I've had all these cool materials sitting around for quite some time to make a 'snoot' (this black, metal foil and a ton of brown plastic straws). This evening I spent all of 2 minutes making a contraption that fit over my 580EX2 & would focus the flash into a very tight circle. I practiced on my daughter who wasn't actually posing for a portrait, she was playing a PS2 game (they've dusted off 'old' console). I got better expressions from her focused on the game than I ever had (almost). Unfortunately, I realized later, she'd (we'd) just had a good-sized BBQ meal. I was able to Heal some of it off her, the rest adds character.
I like the pinpoint lighting, she was in our [cluttered] family room & I was able to expose only her face, pretty much all the other distracting stuff is in the dark.
01-AUG-2008
Through the weeds
I was out in the meadow for lunch today, camped out by this flower, macro setup ready to go. I intended on posting a Bee macro today for my PaD, really I did. After a number of bees stopped by and I captured them, I put the 70-200 on and did a few odd shots. This one was of the flower (the Bee target) shot through some weeds to give it a softer look.
Cropped square & a hint of a vignette (post-crop) and I really like this image.
Here are a few Macros that didn't make the PaD:
31-JUL-2008
What is behind the green door?
I like old stuff like this. I actually broke out at lunch time and rode off, intending to reach some sandy place for some kind of photographic resurrection (in the spirit of
socalrailfan from his
Photography On the Net post).
I never made it to a sandy place, instead I found myself cruising the streets of Portsmouth. I stumbled upon this old garage door behind the municipal building.
30-JUL-2008
Strobist Gargoyle
My Roscoe gels came in this week and I'd yet to actually play with them. I set up two strobes for this, one with a red gel (#124 Red Cyc Silk) filling the background (a while posterboard) and a green gel (#122 Green Diffusion) camera lower left, illuminating most of the front of the gargoyle. With just the red flash, the background is entirely red (and a pretty menacing effect). With the green illuminating the gargoyle and spilling over onto the posterboard, it would cancel out the red wherever they met. This would leave a red background only in the shadows. A wider angle would reveal a relatively well-lit gargoyle with a red shadow.
I was originally attempting to shoot through the viewfinder of my Yashicamat so I switched to my 100mm macro to get closer in. When I abandoned that idea (I need a lot more light for that) I left the 100mm on when shooting the subject directly, resulting in a much tighter shot.
I also wanted to play around a bit with localized edits in LR2, so I punched the green to bring it out a lot more. I put a bit of a post crop vignette in, used a camera standard profile (new to LR2), and added some sharpening.
I left the strobes where they are, I might put the 17-55 back on and get a wider shot to show the red shadow. Actually, I might be able to put my whibal card in and remove the green entirely. Hmm, gonna give that one a try.
Anyway, tonight is a learning night. I've been wanting to play with color gels for a long time and now I have the ability to do so...
(Update, here's a wider shot)
29-JUL-2008
Lightroom 2.0 Playing Around
Nothing special here, I just installed Lightroom 2.0 and was playing around. I needed a quick PaD shot for today. Not an optimal shot for LR 2.0, but something to play with.
I was able to upgrade and import my existing LR 1.x catalog with no problems. I've found a bunch of extras and am in the process of downloading them (more toys).
28-JUL-2008
Got a good smile
We got back today from our 4 day Saco river camping trip. The last day is usually quite busy for me so photos are few and far between. All the shots I'd wanted to get to were left untaken ;-)
When my son was heading upstairs for bed, I got my wife to help me stall him so I could take a few shots. I didn't expect to get a shot this good of him. Because I take a lot of photos, he has gotten into this model mode where he has these goofy poses. My wife was talking to him while I was shooting, trying to get his mind off the camera. This was shot in our stairwell and I was having a heck of a time getting the bounce just right. I wound up bouncing this off the wall to the right and part of the ceiling.
This is the more conservative processing option, I have another one with a serious green tint to it. I think I need photoshop to get the effect I was going for with that one. I'd wanted it to appear like an old polaroid, I got the tint right, but I need to add some distress to it and that can't be done in LightRoom. I will add it to my photoshop 'TODO' list for when I break down and actually get it.
27-JUL-2008
Fearless Seagull
They actually closed down the river to children today. It was too high, too fast, and too many trees were floating around. We went back to Woods Pond and I took the kayak out for a trip around the lake. On my way back from the other end, I noticed all the docks had these fake owls on them to keep birds away (this is my belief). I came across this one dock that had a Fearless Seagull. Apparently this is one bird who was not fooled by the Owl.
This was shot in haste from my kayak, I was floating all around as there were a few boats creating a heck of a wake. This is one of those times where just getting the shot is the important part.
26-JUL-2008
Monkey Boy
Day #3 of our Saco River trip. This was our down day, a rest from the 13.8 mile canoe/kayak trip the day before. Since the Saco was at flood stage, there was no beach at the campground. We were given directions to a few local swimming holes and chose Woods Pond, about 10 miles away. Woods Pond was pretty high too. There was all of 2' of beach, the town docks were under water. We enjoyed it though, the water was much warmer than the river.
Even though I brought my S3IS, I only took a few stills (most were videos of the kids). I had to get some shots of my son on the Monkey Bars, his favorite past time.
25-JUL-2008
River Fun
(Still catching up)
I took the S3IS with me on the river. It was in its bag, the bag was sealed in a large (1 gallon) Zip Loc bag, the Zip Loc bag was in a small carrying bag, the small carrying bag was in another plastic bag. I wasn't about to take any chances with the camera. It was a bit of a pain to get to the camera, but my wife & I were in a canoe, so I could take a few minutes off every so often to take some pictures and video. My daughters were in kayaks, the orange (Mango) one is actually mine and the lime green one is our newest, bought for the trip & to make life easier when we do get out to go canoing and kayaking. The girls were having a blast scooting around the river (which was pretty high due to the rains) and splashing each other. In this shot, my oldest is trying to push off on my youngest's kayak. She is not trying to tip her. They did that all day long, pushing off giving them some forward momentum and the other would come to a halt. Most of the time, the 'other' was my wife & I in the canoe.
For a river that normally is pretty dry this time of year, it was higher than most spring times. The next day, it rose 3 more feet.
24-JUL-2008
Mastermind (Camping Trip Day #1)
(Catching up from the camping trip)
Day (well, evening) #1 of our 4 day camping trip on the Saco river (Maine). Torrential downpours, severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, and rising river be damned.
We stayed in that night (after setting up in the rain). My two youngest broke out Mastermind and were in a heated game that evening.
23-JUL-2008
Fall Baby Shower?
These blue flowers (weeds?) were growing just outside my favorite meadow (that has been closed off due to an upcoming post office). I took my chances and darted through at the tail end of my "running around" lunch (the kind where you try to catch up on the things you forgot to do earlier in the week).
I used a "Color IR" preset for this, though I like the image, I am not ready for fall. A bunch of us were talking today about our "big plans" for the summer and realized that Labor Day is coming up pretty quick. How the hell did it get to be the end of July?
We are off yet again tomorrow afternoon. Our family is headed a bit north (just a couple of hours) to go camping on the Saco river. The campground has a shuttle service, we will be putting in (1 canoe and 2 kayaks) up river one day and paddling back (about a 6 hour trip). The next trip leaves from the campground and we head down river & a shuttle will bring us back. I'm bringing the camera gear, though I probably won't bring the 40D on the canoe or kayak. I think I will pack the S3IS for that trip. I plan on taking some video to, the S3IS comes in handy for that.
So, I will have to play catch up with the PaD since I doubt we will have WIFI or even internet access in general (or time) up there.
22-JUL-2008
Disconnected
My poor guitar has been sitting idle for the past 6 months or so while I spend all my free "hobby time" on photography. I'd actually taken a few shots of the plug on the neck until I realized that the plug was pretty smudged. This is the "polished with my shirt" version.
21-JUL-2008
Hello Bee
I was setting up to take some pictures of these black-eyed-susans when this bee decided to get into my shot. He happened to chose the flower I was working on, at first I only saw him in the viewfinder as he popped in after I'd chosen this particular flower. It was a very bad day for nature shots, overcast skies and windy, but this was a pleasant surprise. Going through my other shots, nothing else was even close. I'd found a bunch of ants on a white weed, but could never get a sharp shot with the wind.
I haven't done a macro in a little bit, normally I am knee deep in macros by now.
20-JUL-2008
Kala in front
I've been wanting to get outside and use two off camera strobes for a while now. Even though the weather was not all the great today, I ran out of excuses to give this a try. I brought out one stand, but never used it. Instead I set both strobes on the ground and angled them up. The Vivitar will only go down to 1/16 power, so it had to get moved much further back. I might cave in at some point and dump my Vivitar & 430EX for another 580EX2, I really like this flash. The 580EX2 was set to 1/64 and was a bit closer to my daughter.
I have a number of shots of my kids in the background looking at mom, this one was more of mom was in the background and slightly out of focus, looking at my daughter.
19-JUL-2008
Serious Child
I'd wanted an outdoor shot today but it was too humid earlier in the day for anything decent and we were at the movies for the last part of it (Saw Wall-E). I drafted my son into subject mode and only needed a few shots to get to this one. There was one more that I cropped down to just his eyes and nose that really like because at that level, I can see me.
18-JUL-2008
Wet Chrome
So on Monday the Weather report is showing rain, very good chance of rain. None of us ride in at work, we all agree in the AM that it probably won't rain and it doesn't. We are then blessed with 3 more very nice riding days. This morning, the power is out and I can't check the weather report (even the cell tower was down, bad accident outside our development, downed power lines, closed a state route, etc). My daughter recalls that we had a 30% chance of rain later in the day. I risk it, come summer around here the Weather peoples are always trying to cover their butts by throwing in a "30 - 50%" chance of late afternoon thunderstorms. I predict that because I rode it, it will rain.
Fast forward to this evening at work, I look out and see some dark skies. I check weather.com and realize there are some cells moving towards my home, if I am going to make a go for it, I have to go at that point. So I wait 15 minutes (nothing's ever easy...). I leave, riding into the blackest looking storm clouds. My *hope* is that I can make it over the river [border] and to this gas station (Irving) where I can throw my rain jacket on. This is the same gas station that I coasted into two days ago when I ran out of gas 100 yards from it (nice!!). This time, 100 yards before the gas station, I start getting some rain drops. I made it under the roof & got my rain gear on. The remaining 9 miles to the house was in a torrential downpour. I really miss my Beemer ('99 BMW R1100RT) and my Aerostitch riding suit. The rain drops felt like needles in my legs on the ride back. My feet were soaked and somehow I got a steady stream of cold water running down my back and my front.
So, searching for my PaD for today, I did an off-camera flash shot of the wet bike. I bumped up the contrast to bring out the water droplets on the chrome and like the effect. A bit of vignetting to bring down some of the bright spots on the edges and I have something worthy.
My rain gear is drying inside (I think the gloves will take a couple days to dry though).
17-JUL-2008
Candy Corn
The kids have had this jar out for the past few days and I've been wanting to either take a photo of it or eat them. I decided the photo route would induce fewer carbs.
Simple LR preset (300 again).
16-JUL-2008
Braces
My oldest got her braces today. She's the only teen I've ever known who has wanted braces for so long (well, she's wanted braces since before she was a teen). What we are looking at is about a 5D, another 40D, & 70-200 F/2.8IS ;-)
15-JUL-2008
Freezer Surprise
Here's another strobist shot. I did a similar shot with my daughter a little over a month ago, placing the flash (with eBay trigger) in the freezer. My wife added the bit of drama to really pull this photo together... (I think she should keep her day job)
14-JUL-2008
Marshwood Colors
I got out late this evening to the most beautiful sky. I was searching for a subject the whole ride home, bypassing areas that just wouldn't cut it. This is the gateway to the Marshwood High School Athletic fields, just around the corner from my house. My oldest will be attending the High School next school year (that would be school year 2009) but will be on these fields next month when she starts the High School Marching Band. They allow 8th graders to join the Marching Band as there is plenty of room.
I tweaked the shadows setting in LR to bring out the purplish sky, which is Marshwood's color (and white).
13-JUL-2008
Road Trip - Day 11 (We are back home)
Some 3100+ miles, 12 States, 7 hotels, 22+ fast food stops, unknown number of pit stops, and some 72+ bottles of water later, we have returned back home.
It didn't take nearly as long as I'd thought it would to clean up the car (Tahoe) either. I was expecting it to take an hour+. It took less than 30 mins, shedding hundreds of pounds of gear and junk.
On the way out, we averaged 20 MPG. On the way back, for some reason, we got 19 MPG.
It was a fun family trip, all 5 of us in close proximity for pretty much the entire trip (save for an evening when mom & dad got away to a 'Shcmantzy Hotel'). It is definitely NOT our normal trip. We are normally a camping family, this hotel thing is pretty new to the family vacations.
12-JUL-2008
Road Trip - Day 10 (Fast Lane)
(Still catching up)
There is a shared service plaza (
Angola Travel Plaza) between East and West bound traffic. You park on your respective sides of the highway and walk across an enclosed bridge to meet at a McDonald's controlled eating establishment. There are some great views through the windows on the bridge. I just happened to be walking across when a State Trooper went screaming under with his lights on. I just missed him on the other side for a head on shot, this was an afterthought and I thought the photo was blown in the preview screen. Turns out this shot works for me. This was taken with my S2IS through a finger-print-smeared window so I am pretty impressed with how it came out.
Oh yeah, we got back onto the highway shortly after this photo (like within 90 seconds) and never did see who he had gone after. We figured he was either rushing to a call off the highway or he chased someone onto an offramp.
11-JUL-2008
Road Trip - Day 9 (Happy family at indoor waterpark)
(Again catching up from the Road Trip)
Off camera flash directed at us, camera (in photo) directed at mirror.
Day 9 found us at the new Kalahari in Sandusky, Ohio. While they claim it is the largest indoor waterpark, we disagree. We think that that other Kalahari in the Dells is either larger or just plain better designed. The lazy river is pitiful at the Sandusky location, there is one entrance that is basically hidden. It is a simple small loop, hardly worth riding on. The Kalahari in the Dells is a large '8' with lots of locations to enter and exit. You can use the lazy river as your means of transportation to the next ride. You have to walk everywhere in Sandusky. I think the wave pool is 1/2 the size of the one in the Dells. It was too overcrowded for the small numbers of people there. The rides themselves were slow, you'd wait for 20 minutes for one ride when the line wasn't large at all. I'd estimate the resort was 1/3 to 1/2 booked (based on the parking lot and people in general). I would not want to be around if the park had more people, it would be way too crowded.
Also, there was no outside park in Sandusky, they had a pool and that was it. In the Dells, there was basically another park outside.
The hotel was wild, I don't believe security was present, there were kids jumping in the halls and nearby rooms until 12:45 at night (Despite calls to the front desk to ask for help).
The other issue I have is that they charge you a lot of money for the room and park fees, then charge you for every little thing on top of that. Food was very expensive ($4 for a kids hot dog).
On top of all my 'peeves' we did have a good time. After all, it is an indoor water park.
10-JUL-2008
Road Trip - Day 8 (Fun with the sprinkler)
(Catching up now that we have WIFI)
It was a hot day in the city, a perfect time for bringing out the sprinkler, watering the lawn, and watching the kids create a mess or two. I didn't catch the whole lead in to this shot, somehow my son convinced my youngest daughter to walk over to the sprinkler for some reason. At that time, the water was barely coming out of it. When she got near, he cranked it up and got her pretty good. There was nothing dry left on the kids after this progressed a little further. I am quite sure the lawn was either killed off as a result of all the water, or is going to be fine for the next month or so should the midwest somehow get a dry spell.
09-JUL-2008
Road Trip - Day 7 (Stump Carvings)
(Late post, we've been away from WIFI for a number of days)
On our way into Spring Green for a breakfast, we stopped at a place my father-in-law mentioned to us. This guy had all these elaborate stumps in his front yard. Now we are from Maine, so a yard full of stumps is nothing to be impressed with, however, this guy had done some real nice work carving a lot of them. Interesting concept, he turned something that most of us spend a great deal of time, effort, and money on getting rid of, into something that he lists at $10,000. Yes, you read that correct, $10,000 list price for a few of the carvings.
08-JUL-2008
Road Trip - Day 6 (House on the Rock - Carousel)
We visited
House on the Rock today. This is my second time here in the past 15 (or so) years. I'd not been all that pumped to go to this, but I decided to Schlep the camera gear with me and I'm glad I did. We got there right as the opened (9am) and there were about 9 cars there (the parking lots must hold about 500 cars?).
With a small crowd, this place is a great place to practice Strobist principals. I was hiding my flash everywhere, trying to get interesting lighting effects. This shot was sans flash, it was of the main carousel (there are about 4 to 6). I hand held this with IS off. I figure the nude form will help boost my PaD hit count ;-).
A note about the House on the Rock, as a museum, it falls a little short of explaining what they have on display. They certainly have a lot to display, it is an eclectic historical, sometimes nautical, collection of historical memorabilia from all over the world. It was about a four hour walking tour, possibly more if you looked at everything (well, definitely more). If you breeze through everything, it could be done in 3 hours.
We leave from here tomorrow (land of the cheap beds) and onto Milwaukee.
07-JUL-2008
Road Trip - Day 5 (Slow Lane)
Another day of driving, we left St Louis late, just after checkout time at 11am. Spent the day meandering (well at highway+ speeds) north to Southwestern Wisconsin to Dodgeville. We stayed (Staying) at The House on the Rock North Lodge, an establishment that is NOT the Drury in St. Louis. I believe we have located the Drury's polar opposite. The building we are in doesn't have WIFI (or any kind of Internet access). About 1/10 a mile down is the Main Lodge which does have WIFI (Which I am using right now).
Anyway, we had to check in at the Main lodge, inside the carport are these two old cars (display) that were in need of photographing. This is the more colorful of the two (the other is your standard "Old car black").
06-JUL-2008
Road Trip - Day 4 (Mississippi Rising)
This was a tough PaD today. I had from about 400 shots to select from between an outdoor art exhibit and the streets of St Louis. We took a walk around the hotel this evening and it actually felt like we were in St Louis. I am slowly processing all the photos from today and will most likely wind up with a couple of extra galleries out here from them.
This was the shot that stood out, for me, as a PaD shot. They haven't actually roped off the flooding areas, you can actually walk right down to the water line. There is a little bit of mud from the receding waters, but very little, my guess is that the waters haven't receded much. Beside the area that I took this photo is a parking garage that is about 1/2 under water.
We are leaving St Louis tomorrow, only two days here. I think we need to come back, stay at this same hotel (Drury Hotel), and take in a ball game or two at some point down the line.
05-JUL-2008
Road Trip - Day 3 (We arrive in St. Louis)
We made it to St Louis. We arrive to the crowds swarming to catch the Cardinals play the Cubs. Somehow the fact that the Cubs were playing today and tomorrow, here, one block from our hotel, escaped me during my St Louis research. So we aren't attending the games, just about everyone else in the hotel is though.
While asking the park rangers (I am on the Arch train of thought now) I found out that they had fireworks tonight. I was simply hoping to find out if the Arch was lit at night so that I might try a night shot. What a pleasant surprise to be staying about 100' from the park where we could view the fireworks. Save for a TV station's obtrusive antenna in front of us (I asked them if they'd be dropping it during the fireworks, like they couldn't move to the side?) it was a great spot.
I might post some of the other firework shots, I saved 45 out of 162 shots tonight.
We made it up into the arch today too, 630' high. My teenager was freaking out, your ride up in these little tram things, it is a bit claustrophobic.
04-JUL-2008
Road Trip - Day 2 (Mom left the room)
My wife left the hotel room to run downstairs to the car to get the kids bathing suits. I let them jump on the beds to let off some steam after the long (very long) drive. We left from somewhere west of Albany, NY this morning and have checked into a Holiday Inn Express (my favorite travel hotel) just outside of Indianapolis.
My son was jumping from bed to bed, I got a few good ones, my wife's favorite is of him doing a canon ball in mid-flight, I didn't post it here because his back was to the camera.
03-JUL-2008
Road Trip - Day 1
I have no idea where this was taken. My best guess is in southern NH. We left a day early, took the road(s) less traveled to arrive in Amsterdam, NY. Virtually no traffic on the route we took.
There is hardly any room for the kids in the back of the Tahoe. We are so used to traveling with an RV behind us to store all our junk.
I am making use of the available, and surprisingly free WIFI at the Hotel we have chosen for tonight ("Americas Best Value Inn") with such a lofty claim, we were just itching to see if they lived up to their name. So far it looks like they might need to rethink the name. Hotel pricing is odd, I am scratching my head thinking that we paid about the same price for a 4 star hotel that the wife & I will get to stay at next week in Milwaukee (via priceline) as we just did for the room we have tonight. I wish I had WIFI in the car, I'd be bidding on Hotel rooms as we pull into town...
02-JUL-2008
Mushroom
There are a bunch of these guys growing under some spruce trees that divide our lot from our neighbors. Not much (if any) sunlight hits this area. It has been so damp lately with all the rain that they are thriving.
I had to get way down on the ground for this shot. At this angle, there is no viewfinder and Liveview was of limited use so I basically shot a bunch and hoped it was in focus. I was able to set the [off camera] flash directly onto the ground (I should check it for bugs now).
We are heading out on a road trip vacation either tomorrow or the next day (depending on traffic). I hope to keep posting, but might slip a few days based on WIFI and level of energy at the end of each day. I will definitely keep the PaD going albeit a bit slow to post.
01-JUL-2008
Summer Squash
We are growing some Summer Squash, Zucchini, and Cucumbers in large flower pots in the front of our house (lots of sun). I'd forgotten how large these plants can get. We have had yet another afternoon thunderstorm, there's a few drops left in this shot (I rode the bike all the way home, following the thunderstorm the whole way up. . .
30-JUN-2008
All Stars Softball - South Berwick Team vs Saco
We were at my oldest's All Star softball game today. She was in left field and I was messing around with odd angles on 3rd base when this girl from Saco was caught stealing. My daughter had backed up the throw which went wild and was able to still throw her out. I saw none of this, I was still in the viewfinder. . .
It turned out to be the last out made by our team for the game. We lost, but went out with a bang. . .
29-JUN-2008
Serious Uno Game
My wife and kids involved in a pretty serious Uno game this evening (while we were inside due to yet another evening of Thunderstorms).
28-JUN-2008
Ajar
This was an interesting shot of my wife's china cabinet, something that sits about 8' behind me when I am sitting at the computer. I started shooting various angles of this thing and settled on this.
I actually bounced the flash off myself and the ceiling (I almost went blind in the process).
27-JUN-2008
Brick ice
The photos that I did take for my PaD basically sucked, I rushed them and it showed. In search of something remotely interesting, I decided upon the ice theme. I'd pictured (in my head) the cube sitting in its own puddle, on a counter. Only problem is our kitchen is straight out of the 80's, yellow counter and all. Not the best contrast. Our brickwork in the family room was put to use again (its appeared in quite a few shots).
While I was sitting there waiting for the ice to melt, I realized I could simply pour a little water over the ice to give the same effect. I won't tell you how long I was sitting there waiting...
26-JUN-2008
The ride is over
It was a bit of a wet ride home today. Just a light sprinkle, nothing much. There were enough clouds and enough water on my bike to force me to put my rain gear on. It had been a while since I'd used my two piece rain gear. I was pretty worried that I would burn/melt my rain pants on the pipes.
I had the motorcycle inspected this afternoon, I'd made the appointment a few days earlier so I had no choice, riding was a must. I got the the shop and was able to stay on the bike the whole time (pull up to the side, someone comes out, does the walk around inspection and gets your sticker ready). While I was waiting for the sticker, I burnt three good sized holes into my rain pants. Guess I was right to worry. I think I can duct tape the holes. The pipes, however, now have to be cleaned, I have to get the plastic off them and I have no idea how that will happen (or when as we are pretty busy the next few days).
25-JUN-2008
X's, M's, W's, and V's
On the way back from picking up new Crocs for my ten-year-old, I stopped beside the low train bridge in Dover and captured this angle. This bridge has been around for a while, it is very low, like 10 feet low (perhaps lower). Each year, someone (local) drives a vehicle that is about 6" higher than the posted clearance of this bridge, beneath it. My guess, if you went back far enough into their childhood, they would be the ones who continuously tried to slam that square plastic peg into the round hole and just didn't get it.
I never noticed the X's, M's, W's, and V's before. In fact, I'd taken all my shots before I'd noticed them from the angle of my car (of all places). I snuck back out and captured this angle.
I had a few different post processing options on this, I opted for Black and White to emphasize the letters. The color shots had some beautiful blue skies, but that drew the attention away from the main subject.
24-JUN-2008
Empty Nest
I went back to the nest today, I kind of expected some closure as it has been a number of days since I had visited. There were no Blue Jays present, no parents, no children. No feathers either. This could be good news, they'd all gone off hunting some food and they were not present when I arrived.
I didn't stay all that long, instead of getting attacked by the parents, I was assaulted by mosquitoes. Someone must have dumped a box of dehydrated mosquitoes in that area last week before the rains. They were all over me, it was almost like I was in New England...
I will have to find another kind of theme now, the dragonflies are out, I need to start hunting them.
23-JUN-2008
After the storm
We got hit with another incredible storm. For some reason, the past few thunderstorms have centered on where I work. We'd hear the rain on the roof & check weather.com for more details, you can zoom right in on the new storm tracker. Our building (well, all of the tradeport actually) was covered in red from the center of the cell.
So on my way home from work, I took a different way off the tradeport and saw this beautiful scene. I stopped my car in the road (put on the blinkers), got out, grabbed the camera, and ran across the street to catch this. I'd wanted to catch the sun peeking through the trees, but it had just passed below the cloudline as I got into place. I think that might be for the better as the sun would have really darkened the foreground. LR did a good job in adjusting the exposure (one of the presets).
22-JUN-2008
Mower view
Sunday has become the mowing day. About an hour after I finished (while someone was looking at our popup camper we have for sale) the sky literally opened up and dumped this massive rainfall on us for a bit of time. It had been a very sunny day with little to no clouds. It almost looked like we'd beat the weather prediction. In a very short span, these clouds rolled in. One second we happen to look up and say "It looks like it's gonna rain" just after that sentence, before anyone could answer with a "yes" it started pouring.
This is a mower-eye view of our back yard. We have some stepping stones that are actually in the lawn, they are flat so I am able to mow over them. They are a pain, I'd prefer gravel and might get my way here before the fall as we have to move a rear garage door and the path/stones will need to change (otherwise, we'd have a path leading into a wall).
21-JUN-2008
Summer...Grilling
It is officially summer. . .
This isn't our first grillout of the year though, but I guess it would be the first of the season. . .
Big day today.
Had our final two T-Ball games this morning. Sweated my way through those. Picked up my 'new' (to me) bike, a 1989 Harley Davidson 883 Sportster Hugger. I rode it to Seacoast Harley Davidson in N. Hampton, NH to get a net. I then took a relatively long route home by way of the Kittery Trading Post (really to grab a couple of Flo Dogs, local favorite).
My ass is killing me, specifically my tail-bone. I will be spending some time googling touring seats for the bike. Perhaps I will just get a new bike ;-)
20-JUN-2008
Sensual lighting
Another strobist-inspired photo.
This was a tough one, I had 4 shots that worked. Usually, I know which photo is my PaD at the time that I export from LR. This time, I didn't know until I was uploading my PaD. One of the shots was in the initial rejected pile (luckily I don't delete immediately).
Part of the problem I had with strobist before was that I felt compelled to set up the flash on a stand. That is a real PIA. For the off camera flash photos in my PaD in the past few weeks, I've been either holding the flash in one hand or I've set the flash down somewhere and aimed it in the general direction. It makes like a lot easier.
Here's one that didn't make today's PaD:
19-JUN-2008
Smiling daughter
The ultimate in photo capturing abilities. Getting a photo of my daughter while I lounge on the couch this evening. Not sure what it is, but I am exhausted this evening. There must be something in the air because so was my son, usually an energizer bunny in the evenings, I could tell he was tired by 6pm.
18-JUN-2008
And then there was one. . .
I made it back to the nest today. I really wish I'd made it yesterday based on what I found.
There was only one baby (this one) left in the nest. It was very shy/scared so I only took a few photos. There was another one nearby in the bushes, I got a shot of it, not a very good one, but a shot.
After I got the shot of those two, I realized we were missing someone so I looked around. I saw something in the grass about 50 feet from where the nest is. Turned out to be a very dead baby blue jay. I have a shot of it in my other gallery.
I'm hoping the other little guy makes it, the one out of the nest, that is. I kind of feel an attachment to them. I have been watching them since they were eggs. . .
17-JUN-2008
Midnight Snack
Well, not quite midnight, but with the exposure set the way I took it, it looks to be about that time.
The rain has kept me indoors yet again and I am still on this strobist kick. I'd wanted to get out at lunch to check up on the Blue Jays, but I wound up spending more time than I'd expected looking at the bike. I got it (the bike, that is). So now I am a Harley Owner. Somehow I'd gone through all these years without a Harley. My midlife crisis has changed that. Well, that and a sound financial decision. I seem to keep bikes about 2 - 3 years. I figure this bike won't depreciate any, if all.
So my daughter just informed me that the rain stopped. The light is incredible, dark skies with some setting sun coming through. I think I'll cut this short and see if there are any photo ops outside.
Sans flash, of course...
16-JUN-2008
Helmet Light
Along my strobist theme as of late. I had the helmet out for tomorrow as I am checking out another bike in the AM.
15-JUN-2008
A young 40
My youngest 40-year-old self portrait. I haven't done an SP in a while and since it has been rain-type weather AND since I've been doing a lot more off-camera flash stuff lately, I decided to try one out.
I am using a black background courtesy of Staples.
14-JUN-2008
Feeling's mutual. . .
This shot summarizes the love-hate relationship I share with my cat.
This is the cat that I spent a while politicking for with the wife. This is the cat that I drove 3 hours north for, with an infant and a 3-year-old (at the time). This is the cat that turned on me.
My wife who never wanted the cat, has this odd little relationship with her (our cat). The cat (Maria) is in our room just before my wife wakes up, every morning. They have a little sink-time ritual. Maria sits on the side of the sink while my wife gets ready. It drives me crazy, I don't like animals that close to me when I am getting ready.
Right now, the cat & I are on good terms. She has been groomed recently (It was a PaD photo a few weeks ago) and I seem to like her more as a lap cat when she isn't shedding clumps of fur all over me.
Maria will bite my kids toes when they are at the kitchen table eating. This is sometimes funny and sometimes a royal pain (she will really bite at times). I have two of my 3 kids kind of on my side regarding Maria (from time to time).
No resolution is possible, we will go on existing in this household, giving each other a safe distance. She will continue to glare at me while curled up at my wife's feet on the couch. I will continue to call her fancy names. . .
(Please note, no cats were harmed in the making of this photo and this text)
13-JUN-2008
Looking like a blue jay now
Now that the feathers are starting to show, the babies are beginning to look like Blue Jays. A good thing too, since they are running out of room in that nest, they will have to move out soon and get real jobs as blue jays...
I had a different idea for a photo today as I turned 40 today. I thought a shot of me sitting on a Harley would suffice, however, the dealership was really not suited to such ideas. I guess I will just need to get a Harley and then do an SP of me on it.
12-JUN-2008
Light from above
This is what I get when I have no PaD photo and it is pushing 8:30 PM. . .
In a last minute rush to come up with something, I grabbed my trusty model (my son), an actual umbrella (not a photography umbrella), my strobe, ebay triggers, and some elastic bands. I was able to get the strobe (580EX2) to stay in place up inside the umbrella with a single elastic to secure the hot shoe end of it.
There was still some light left outside, but not enough ambient to actually affect the photo. With the light from the strobe pointing straight down, it looked like a pitch black night.
Of all the shots, this was my favorite, even though there is no way of telling that he is standing outside, on the grass, barefoot, holding an umbrella. I might have to work on this kind of shot, perhaps mix it with a drinking glass. . .
11-JUN-2008
Blue jay beak
I went back to the nest today and got my first Blue Jay attack. They can actually inflict a bit of terror onto a subject. I wasn't expecting it. I moved in a little bit faster than usual. Because of the heat and the size of the babies (not much room in the nest) the mother (or father) was out of the nest, but up in the next branch (close by). Usually the mother (or father) is in the nest and flies off when I approach. Before the parent scattered, they did an aerial assault on my head.
From the photos, it is actually hard to see any change, but they are much bigger now. None of them opened their eyes while I was there, they remained sleeping. Perhaps they are used to me.
Instead of a wider "here's the crew" shot, I opted for this macro of the beak/nostril. At 100% crop, you can see the tiny feathers inside it.
10-JUN-2008
Vanity
So I'm out shooting bugs and things around the corner, right next to the restricted zone (the area they are supposed to be building a post office on, but there is nothing happening, save for grass growing) and had a pretty good time of it. As I am heading back to the car, I've already collapsed the monopod and am hand-holding the 40D & 100mm when I notice this hornet/wasp checking himself out in my side view mirror. I thought this rather odd as hornets are not known for their vanity, but this guy/gal was definitely checking him/herself out in the mirror. So all my carefully composed shots with the monopod are put to the side for this one hand-held quick shot of a hornet getting ready for a hornet-prom or some-odd social event that hornets attend when it is hot out.
I didn't realize my mirror was so dirty until I looked at it in LR.
This is the photo that would have made my PaD, had it not been for this hornet:
09-JUN-2008
Lazy Jay
No wonder these little guys are tired, they are growing so fast. I can't believe how much they change every time I pop in on them. I think I spooked mama Jay today, she and hubby were shrieking at me as I was taking their kid's portraits. I was expected to get swooped upon (but didn't).
I was able to walk around to the other side of the tree and it turns out it has a much better view of the nest. I am not sure why I never saw this earlier. The best part about this angle is that the sun is pretty much to my back from this angle (I go around noon, so it is a slight "to my back").
They are starting to get their feathers and it looks painful with these barbs pushing out of their skin. This guy looks to have a bit of a scratch on him, I think it is from one of his siblings moving around in the nest, probably stuck him with a feather thing. I have to admit that I don't see any of this detail when I am at the nest taking the pictures. Remember, these guys are about the size of a computer mouse (tops), there is a lot more detail when you blow them up to 2 - 3 times their size.
I didn't bring a drinking glass with me today so no "through the drinking glass" shots. I actually thought about going to the kitchen store and getting some different glasses. I'd have to ask the clerk if they could recommend a good glass, something "L" quality...
Here are the other Blue Jay shots that didn't make the PaD:
08-JUN-2008
Fox through the drinking glass
I'm having fun with the Drinking Glass thing. The distortion from the glass is pretty strong (as expected) AND it really plays havoc with available light and the light from the strobes necessary to get the subject illuminated.
Our dog thinks me to be crazy at times and wasn't really sure what to think with me pointing a drinking glass at him. I mean, how is a dog to react to someone pointing a drinking glass at them?
His name (our dog) is Fox Mulder. He is a Shiba Inu, we've had him for quite some time, as you can tell by the name ("the X-Files" was still on TV when we named him). He looks much better without a drinking glass obstructing him.
I have to work on the Drinking Glass approach, I need to find some glasses that do not distort quite as much. Either that or I need to work out the composition so that the sides of the glass reflect enough of the subject to make it a little more familiar.
I've posted a few other shots from outside today too:
07-JUN-2008
Through the drinking glass - Rhodadendrum
I'm really liking this effect through the drinking glass. I'm grilling out right now (well, I am inside on the Mac at the moment) and decided to try this out on the Rhodadendrum next to our deck.
Very hot day today, pushed into the 80's. It was muggy too, felt like South Carolina weather again. . .
I didn't crop as much to leave my hands in to show what is really going on.
06-JUN-2008
Through the drinking glass...
So I got a little busy at work and never had a chance to get out for my PaD shot. Probably a good thing as the weather was not conducive to photography.
This was a last minute idea, I was getting ready to make my supper and pulled out a drinking glass. I wondered what it would look like to shoot through the glass. It is NOT good glass. It is a Walmart special.
I started taking a few shots around the house through the glass and wound up with this one.
I'm not allowed to give out the subject matter, it needs to remain a guessing game. So what is this of?
(I still haven't had supper yet)
Here's a few more "Through the drinking glass" shots:
05-JUN-2008
Baby Blue Jays - Update
I *thought* I'd be back to the Blue Jays a lot more this week, but the days appear to go a bit faster than planned.
They have almost doubled in size, but have not opened their eyes nor do they have any feathers yet. Mama Blue Jay was keeping them warm today, it was a tad bit chilly out and drizzly. I moved in for a few shots and got out of the way so Mama Blue Jay could come back and warm them up.
These shots of the nest have been with the 580EX on camera pointed directly forward with the diffuser down. There is not a lot of room to maneuver in this nest area and there is not a lot of light.
One good thing about the rain and mist was the spider webs, on my way back from the nest, I noticed a couple and took a few shots. I really needed to use the tripod and manual focus as only one shot (out of something like 50) was even closely in focus. It didn't make my PaD, but here's the link:
04-JUN-2008
Tekno Gurl
My daughter has taken a new interest in the computer now that her school laptop has been returned. Here in Maine, 7th & 8th graders are given a laptop (iBook) and allowed to take them home (if the parents agree) and basically live with them for the school year. She is very adept on a Mac now, she can whip through AppleWorks & Neo Office (Pages & Keynote, etc). She also has Office on the PC and is learning the Microsoft equivalents. As a teen, the drama level is high, we have heard "I don't know if I can make the summer" a number of times. "What am I going to do without my laptop?" so far she's doing fine, 2 days without a Mac.
It was raining out all day, something that we haven't seen much of this year. I decided on an indoor shot today and wanted some kind of shot that would work at 17mm. Her hand on the mouse works for me.
03-JUN-2008
Geese on parade
It looks like I have a bird theme going here.
I've driven by these guys on my way into and out of work for the past week. Why I didn't stop earlier for photos is beyond me. They are docile enough to get within a decent range with the 70-200, though none of the closer up shots did it for me.
I think this is one of the first morning PaD shots I've taken this year (I believe there was one other during a snow storm). It made for a productive lunch (I picked up some much needed clothing).
These guys are huge compared to the previous birds.
I might have to stop off and try for a different composition, perhaps focus on one bird. There is quite the flock forming (or is it a Gaggle? - Do you Google for Gaggles when trying to learn more?) this shot only had a small subset of them (easily 3 - 4x more little guys than in the shot).
Note to bird-lovers/watchers: don't cringe at my ineptitude regarding birds, I will be moving on to more subjects I know little about soon enough.
02-JUN-2008
Bluejays in the house
So after all the fun with the baby bird in our backyard yesterday, I figured the Bluejays must have hatched by now. Good thing I went, they have!
I was a little shocked to see what they looked like. I expected some feathers or something. They look so much like baby dragons or dinosaurs that I've used the "300" preset on a bunch of the other shots to give them that look. I've posted them in my 'other' gallery.
I decided to lead with the 17-55 f/2.8 IS today, I wanted to get in close and get a better DoF than I could with my 100mm. I'm glad I did, I got some great shots with the IS, and got in closer than I'd expected.
My daughter and I were trying to count the babies in the photo, It really looks like 5, but there were only 4 eggs in the nest (or so I thought). We both said "Twins" at the same time, but the eggs were just too small for that to be possible. Either I am mixing up a head for a body, or there was an extra egg stuffed beneath the others.
I can see myself spending a lot more time out near the nest this week as these little guys actually start looking like birds.
Here are a few of the shots from the "other" gallery (You'll have to browse around to see the rest)
01-JUN-2008
Call Me a Toad?
This was NOT my planned PaD for today. I'd actually planned on doing some kind of indoor lightbox type shot. I even went to The Home Depot and Staples today to get some DIY materials for building one.
While mowing the lawn this afternoon, I noticed a Toad. It was a split second view, just before he went under the front of the mower. I pulled the mower up and moved to the side. I was reaching down to grab the Toad and put him into the woods (out of my way) when I realized it wasn't a Toad, it was a baby bird. I shut the mower off and that was when I heard all the commotion, its parents (and possibly entire extended family, squadron, whatever) were chirping away like crazy. I still had my thick work gloves on so I grabbed this little guy up and put him in my kids critter keeper while I finished the lawn (I didn't want him getting back under the mower). Afterwards, I broke out the camera for a few shots just before my family (& their friends) returned from the pool (association pool). Each group of children & women arrived with an "Awwwwww" "its sooo cute". My ten-year-old's first question was "can we keep it?". We actually have all the bird gear as she was planning on getting a Parakeet earlier this year, but it never happened. Each group of visitors asked "Did you touch it?" (I swear it was like a tape on a loop...).
We (ok, "I") put this little guy back under the maple trees where he/she fell but realized it wouldn't last long on the ground. I had him in an evergreen but it wouldn't stay there, kept falling/flying out (which I figure is good, exercise those wings). I don't have a very good prognosis for this little guy, we have a lot of cats & critters in the neighborhood.
This makes me wonder how the Blue Jay nest is doing. I will check it tomorrow at lunch.
31-MAY-2008
Flower Eating Bug
I drove through a cemetery this evening for my PaD, I figured there'd be some decent flowers. I actually found a lot of bushes with flowers on them. This one flower had a little visitor. I didn't realize till I got into LR that this guy was actually eating the insides of the flower.
Right beside this flower was another one with a tiny little spider in it. I got a few shots of the spider but he was so small that none of the shots passed muster.
(Updated image: I didn't realize there was a bad color cast to this shot, I just corrected it and replaced it.)
30-MAY-2008
Floral Fight
So I head out to the field around the corner from work in search of a frog. I found a frog and decided to keep on walking to see if there was anything else interesting. I noticed some Daisies that were covered in spider webs. It looked interesting so I took a photograph of one then kept walking. On my way back, I saw a bee in a Daisy that was just behind where I knelt for the previous shot. I went relatively slow approaching the bee, but fast enough to get the shot before he flew away. As I got close enough, I realized this bee wasn't going anywhere soon. Apparently a spider had crafted quite a trap. It wasn't until I got home (much later) and was reviewing the shots, that I realized that there were a bunch of spiders all doing the same thing. They had surrounded the Daisies with their webs and were hiding beneath the petals, waiting for bugs to land. My kids thought this was pretty cool!
I took 160 photos of this one flower with the bee and the spider. It was pretty windy and I knew that there would be a number of blurred shots. Towards the end, I even mounted the flash and took about 30+ shots with it set to Hi speed sync.
This has to be my most interesting nature/macro shot to date. The Daisy alone was worthy of a shot, the bee on the Daisy was also worthy of a shot, but the spider chowing down on this bee on the Daisy is quite a find.
I'm deeming this one a "Hat Trick". . .
I've posted a few other shots from today in a couple of my galleries:
Macro Gallery:
Finally got a Frog (2008):
BW Version of Shot:
29-MAY-2008
Hanging On
This kind of reminds me of kids, hanging on.
Though ours aren't old enough to let go yet. . .
I went back to the Urban Forestry Center again today. I actually googled Blue Jays (not the baseball team) and learned that they gestation period is about 17 days. It was about 2 weeks ago that I took the photo of the eggs, so I figured it was worth a try. The eggs are still there, mom jay is still hovering over them. Perhaps this weekend, though it will be raining all weekend.
I like the area because there are a lot of things to photograph and few people (so far).
This shot was actually in front of the tree with the nest. Someone was walking by while I was taking a second peek (from a distance) of the nest. I didn't want to draw attention to it so I bent over and started shooting the weeds. I'm glad I did, it worked!
Here are a couple that didn't make today's PaD:
28-MAY-2008
Leaf lamp
This wound up being a much better crop than my original intent. I had originally planned the shot to fill the frame with a bunch of leaves that were well lit from the sun. It is not a 100% crop, but it is pretty close to it. I really liked this one leave and I preferred Black and White too (I'd originally wanted to keep the greens).
This was taken along a path in the Great Bay Wildlife Refuge. There is now some wildlife, though none of it present for photos today.
Here's the shot that didn't make my PaD:
27-MAY-2008
Rough Floral
I went back to the urban tree farm to check on my Blue Jay. The eggs are still there (I really need to check the Blue Jay Wiki...).
This patch of greens (no idea what kind of plant/weed this is) was growing out of hole in a live tree. I took a number of different shots trying to get this, I even switched lenses. The 100mm Macro, close[r] in seemed to do the trick. A couple of guys (I think they were construction or landscaping) walked by while I was assaulting the tree. I've gotten to not care about people surrounding me when I am in the "zone". . .
Here are a few that didn't make today's PaD:
26-MAY-2008
Basketball Boy
My son was outside practicing basketball today after coming home from the pool. Usually his sisters hog the net, raise it, and he's out of luck. I decided to get a few shots from his perspective of his Basketball practice. He was counting by 10's for all the shots that made it in the net. He claimed that he stopped at 1000 and that I made him continue to get a good photo. Somehow I don't think he really had 100 baskets. . .
For this, I put the 580EX-2 on, in Hi Speed Sync mode. I probably could have used the 420EX on the ball itself, but it was a bit scary out there, the basketball had its own mind from time to time.
25-MAY-2008
Camping Kayak
Sunday was just plain beautiful. It felt like summer, sunny and dry all day. Hardly any wind or clouds. We spent most of the day on the beach (in front of the campsite). The night before, I got conned into heading back home and bringing the Kayak back with me. It was a good thing I did, it was a hit. Both my girls were taking it out, I actually got to spend about an hour fishing from it (caught a 12" Pickerel & a 50' Maple).
We were so busy that I never got a chance to run to the camp store to get 24 more hours of WIFI. That was a good thing as we had more time to spend relaxing. So this is my first PaD of the year posted a day late (but still a PaD since I took this photo on the 25th of May. I will have a few more vacations this year where this will happen again (might go for a longer stretch too).
(And yes, I did go for the crazy color effect you see here.)
24-MAY-2008
Summer Scene
Technically it isn't Summer. Technically today's weather is NOT summer-like. But this scene reminds me of a summer scene (thus the clever title).
This willow is just outside our campsite (a little to the right of the canoes from yesterday's PaD).
Last night, my son & I caught 8 horn pout between the two of us off the dock (would be to the left of this tree), four a piece. This morning my daughter (Kala) and I each caught another horn pout, they were not really biting so it was luck that we caught what we did. I wish I had taken a photo of Kala's fish, it was at least a pound and put up a bit of a fight (it kind of freaked her out). Best part was that it spit out the hook once we got it up on the dock (usually they swallow the hooks). My son, daughter, & I plan on catching a lot more this evening (my oldest is actually babysitting right now and will be into the evening).
23-MAY-2008
Gritty Canoes
OK, so we are camping and I have brought the digital armata with me. Complete DSLR lineup and Mac Book Pro to boot. The campground has Wifi (I think is "B", so technically I am roughing it). We are in our camper and my wife is complaining that she has to use the gas stove to cook her meal instead of the microwave (which isn't working, apparently I need to check on the power).
These canoes are right off the beach about 25' from our camper. They really are gritty, although they have not been used this year yet as today was the opening day for the campground.
I'm heading out to go fishing with my son, I think it might be too cold right now (a cold front moved in this afternoon) but it will be fun nonetheless. We might catch some horn pout, they seem to be biting.
22-MAY-2008
Puddle Flower
Found this in a now deserted parking lot (apparently not for long) around the corner from where I work.
Call it a puddle flower.
Making this short as I have to zip off to a kid's school event.
21-MAY-2008
Grass
Today I wanted to get down with nature. Literally, I got down with nature. I removed the extension to my center column on my tripod and splayed the legs out so that the camera was about 3" off the ground. It was sunny as hell so I brought my fleece jacket with me. I've found that I can drape that over my head and cover the LCD so that I can see well enough to focus (via Liveview, of course). I must look a tad bit odd out there, in the sun, on the ground, in a field, with a jacket covering my head. I actually picked up a couple of ticks too. One came off me at work (again, this has happened before) and the other I just found camping out on my camera bag. Whenever I find a tick, I tape it to a 3x5 index card and write the date and whether it was on me or not. I now have a little catalog going between work and home for this year alone. They are pretty bad this year.
So, I got my grass shot. I've actually cropped this (a virtual copy), exported it at 1600x1200 and have set one of my monitor's desktops to it (on the Mac Book Pro). It makes for a nice background (without the ticks in it).
20-MAY-2008
Watchful Eye
So I went back to the Urban Forest center today to check on the status of the Bluejay nest. I'd thought that the eggs might be hatched by now, I was wrong. I'm not surprised, seeing how I have no clue about birds.
I found the tree and the nest easy enough, on my first pass, I scared the mom off. I was able to check the nest and saw that all the eggs were still in place. So far the squirrels have behaved.
I kept walking along the path and was able to get a shot of some red flowers (posted in my Not a PaD gallery) and a macro of a couple of bugs getting it on (in my macro gallery).
When I came back around, I noticed that the Bluejay mom had returned to her nest. I set up my 70-200 & my monopod from a safe distance, took a few shots. I would move the base of the monopod forward about a foot or so, then slowly lean forward, following the monopod. I was making a god-awful racket moving through the leaves and sticks. Somehow, I was able to get within a few feet of her before she startled. This shot wasn't the closest, I actually got too close and cropped out her beak in some of the later shots. I wanted to get the nest in frame, to give it context, otherwise it would be a closeup of a Bluejay's head.
I will try to pop back again sometime this week as we are coming up on a long weekend. Again, I have no clue about birds (though I do know this is a Bluejay). I really want to get a shot of the little guys in the nest though.
Here are the shots that didn't make today's PaD:
Here's the macro shot:
19-MAY-2008
New Approach
So today marks my cut over day. A bit ahead of schedule, but things are going a little too easy in this PC to Mac switch thing. Copying over all my iTunes stuff (40+GB) went too easy, I even kept all my metadata (play counts, etc) which was very important.
Last night, I imported all my 2008 LR photos. It went well due to my new and improved Workflow. Each month I have been archiving all the photos for that month as a catalog and burning them to DVD. Since I had a pretty empty Harddrive on my PC, I left the catalogs (folders) on the image. I was able to import images from catalog on the Mac through a shared folder on the PC.
My import, backup, and export for pBase workflow are identical on the Mac, the only difference is the file locations. Since I was able to copy over all my presets, all I needed to do was change the folder locations and update each preset as I ran them. Very nice.
I plan to mess around with LR 2.0 Beta a lot more now that I have a system that can actually run it. The LR 2.0 Beta has support for dual monitors. Since I have the laptop screen and my original monitor connected to the MBP, I can (and have) make use of this neat feature.
Next big thing to do is to get a large (1TB) external HD to setup Time Machine AND to copy over my 200GB of photos. There is no way I can fit all the photos on this laptop (320GB harddrive).
18-MAY-2008
My Girls
My wife & daughters went to a baby shower today, before they left, I forced them to pose for some photos. It was brutal torture to them, out of the 50+ shots, I got about 3 with decent facial expressions. . .
One of those odd New England days. It was bright, sunny, & dry this morning, temps in the 70's. My son & I got back from The Home Depot with a new lawn mower to be greeted by high winds and rain (just as I opened the mower's box).
17-MAY-2008
Miscommunication
Imagine my dismay when I realized that this was what my wife had been talking about all week long!
16-MAY-2008
White Flowers
These are some small flowers that grow in bunches in our front yard.
(Not much of a story here)
15-MAY-2008
In the apple tree
So I am on my way to a bowling party for work (get together) and I stop by the tree farm on the way (OK, slightly out of the way, but only by 500 feet or so). I am taking pictures of wooden posts and tree stumps (yeah, that desparate) when I come across an apple tree in full bloom. The apple blossoms are really doing it for me when I see a wisp of blue fly off out of the corner of my eye. It was a blue jay and I think it might have a nest that I can photograph. I am hoping for some eggs and I am not disappointed.
I will have to come back to this nest in about a week to check the progress. By the looks of the eggs, I might only have to wait a few days (though the weekend is coming and I an normally NOT around this area if I don't have to be).
The apple blossoms didn't make my PaD, but they did make my Not PaD:
14-MAY-2008
Lucky No 7
Not much of a story to this one. It is up in the housing area that was just demolished earlier this year, apparently this was a lucky number for a mailbox and an unlucky number for a house.
I got my Mac Book Pro yesterday and have been trying to get it ready to start my switch over from the PC. I really like the workflow that I am currently using on the PC, I have to get this figured out on the Mac before I can even think about cutting over. I suspect I will be posting from my Windows machine for another week or so.
13-MAY-2008
Dandi Weeds
So I broke out the macro lens and got real low to the ground for this shot. It was one of the few possible outdoor shots today as there was so much wind.
This is just one preset in LR, I didn't even sharpen or crop. The background is typical 100mm f/2.8 Macro Bokeh.
There was another shot that didn't make today's PaD, it was close, because I wanted it to:
12-MAY-2008
Pitching Shadows
This is the same baseball from my PaD a few weeks (month?) back. My setup was pretty lightweight, I was able to use my desk (which has been cleaned as of recent) and the little metal stand that comes with the flash (580EX-2). I have my cactus triggers going, the flash is to camera left (like that wasn't apparent). I actually got away with handholding (IS on).
I used a dark background, instead of the white backgrounds that I've been using for a lot of my indoor shots. I liked the little bit of light that helps reveal the outline of the ball.
11-MAY-2008
Through the Cracks
This is one of those experimental shots. I was in the backyard trying to talk my wife into a shot near the laundry (hanging on a clothesline) and started messing around with the deck. I realized there was sunlight through the cracks of the deck and that I could actually frame a small flower (no idea what kind of flower it is).
This is a pretty tight crop, I probably should have gotten closer instead.
Its an interesting effect.
10-MAY-2008
Sidewalk Chalk
One of my kids favorite activities in the warmer months (and I have even seen them go a bit chalk crazy in the winter too).
Our driveway was pretty much covered in juvenile graffiti until I had to pressure wash some edging material this afternoon. The sidewalk chalk mysteriously appeared once the asphalt began to dry.
I have a shot of my 10 year old lying beside the puddle, I wanted a decent reflection, but her face was too dark in the reflection. I probably could have gotten better lighting if I had my wireless triggers with me (they were in the house) by manually aiming the flash up towards her face. As it was, I decided to forgo the flash. I couldn't simply pop in since I had mud all over my shoes from working on a small garden with the kids.
09-MAY-2008
Datsun
On my way home this evening, I pulled into a used car dealership to turn around so that I could take a picture of this lobster boat in front of a recycling center. I've seen it there before, I liked the desaturated colors and decided that I'd shoot it tonight. I didn't make it that far, in the dealer's lot is this old Datsun (that must still run, there's a valid registration sticker on it).
It was the rust that caught my eye. I was a bit rushed, I was trying to get to my daughter's softball game (they won, 16 - 1, and my oldest was pitching). I didn't take the right shots, but this one does work.
It was a pretty hectic week, I hope to break that pattern this weekend, though the weather won't be conducive to photography.
08-MAY-2008
KC-135
At lunch there were a bunch of people lined up at the end of the runway, on my way back, I realized why. There were a couple of our (NH ANG) KC-135's doing approaches. I took 89 photos, though I had some decent 'standard' aircraft shots, I really like this one with the distortion from the exhaust. This KC actually landed, I have a few more shots of it leveling off. It may have done a touch 'n go, I was putting my gear away and didn't follow it through.
I need to catch the planes in the evening on approach. The best angle is from the other side of the runway, which is the golf course. Golf season's here, I should bring my gear with me when I play (the blue course has the best angle for photos, not good for golf, narrow fairways...).
07-MAY-2008
Baseball Boy
Photos don't have to be Tack Sharp to work. This shot really captures my son, at 7, he is a blur of activity, zipping through activities.
Today was T-Ball practice, but before that we had T-Ball photographs. After the practice (that I let run late) we zipped over to the softball fields to watch my daughters play. We'd been running around for a bit and I never took any photos at lunch. There is this red building, an old barn, that is the Teen Center, located in the softball and soccer field area. It makes for a nice backdrop, especially in the evening.
Lighting actually wasn't that bad, I could have bumped the ISO up and gotten a sharper photo, but I really wanted enough motion blur to convey the moment. I asked him to stand in front of the building so I could snap some shots and he started throwing the ball all over the place. I decided to change my tactic and let him throw the ball up and I tried to get the ball blurred on the way down. The only thing I don't like is the window, but if I cropped it out, it would clip the ball and the ball needs some whitespace between it and the border. It looks more "ball like" with the rounded top and the rounded bottom (I think).
06-MAY-2008
Swamp Stumps
I have decided that today is the day I break away from the standard "use the date as the title".
I went out to the Great Bay Wildlife Refuge yet again, this time I came away with a number of possible Pad shots. Interesting that I only took one shot of these stumps and it was this shot that I liked the most. Its not the sharpest, but with the 300 effect, I like how it accentuates the lighting of the stumps.
This part of the pond is rich with bass, they were in close to shore to seek some of the warmer water. It made me wish I had my fishing gear, but I am sure that's not allowed in this pond, it is a wildlife refuge, which I believe means that you can't fish (wildlife can fish though).
05-MAY-2008
5 May
Happy Cinco de mayo!
Coming home to this bee in our shrub was a spirit lifter. At lunch, I drove around looking for bugs & flowers and found none.
This won't go into my favorites anytime soon, I broke a few rules (handholding my 100mm, harsher flash, shot in evening in the shadows) but it's the first bee macro of the season. It is my favorite colors for bees, I like the amount of contrast between the bee's yellow & black and the flower's magenta.
Cutting this short as I have some bills to pay...
04-MAY-2008
4 May
Still haven't changed the date on my watch yet ;-)
Feeling uninspired tonight, I spent the better part of the last hour & half taking pictures of marbles against a white background. I didn't realize how much of me would come through in the reflection off the glass. That would have been perfect as an SP, but I was getting so much glare and couldn't get anything too sharp (to my liking).
I was using my Yashica-D as a weight for the white card stock, I decided to take a few shots of it, then broke out the Rolleicord. I moved into the next room and set up, trying to get a shot of my eye looking through the taking lens (with the 40D pointed into the lens & me looking through the Rollei's viewfinder). That didn't work one bit.
I started taking shots of the Rollei and stumbled on this one. I realized that the shutter speed on the Rollei was pretty close to the shutter speed of the 40D, so I just matched the two so that I had my Exif info as the subject of the photo. Opened up the Apeture and it made for a nice shot. My 'cord has seen better days, there is some minor corrision just above the taking lens. Converting this image to a greyscale helped to minimize that ugly patch.
03-MAY-2008
3 May
I still haven't adjusted the date on my watch. Apparently the only time I check the date on my watch is when I post my PaD (so I know the name of the title). While I am on this tangent, this is a hold over (setting the title to the day) from my old PaDs. This year's PaD is using the Photo Blog template and already adds a date to the photo. I've actually known about this for about 3 months, but decided to stick with the date naming thing.
So we have some dominoes (not the pizza). My family has gotten used to me pulling out the camera gear, taking over a section of the house for a period of time, and focusing on rather odd items. The domino idea started this morning (while sitting in the cold rain watching my daughter's Softball game). I realized there was no way I was going to do any kind of outdoor shot and needed some idea for an indoor theme. I thought we had dominoes (the black ones) readily available. After about a 1/2 hour of searching, I found a bag of dominoes, 5 of the 'standard' sized (as seen in the photo) and about 30 of these micro dominoes. I didn't want to do a macro shot, so I made due with the 5 'white' dominoes. I'd already grabbed the white card stock for a background and set up the area so I stuck with the white on white. I love Lightroom, once I selected the photo, I created a bunch of virtual copies and applied a bunch of different presets, then went into survey mode and settled on the High Key preset (I realize it isn't exactly a "High Key" per se...)
02-MAY-2008
2 May
OK, I'm confused, it's really supposed to be the 2nd of May, but my watch still says the 1st. I apparently forgot to update the date on this thing yesterday. Amazing that I have an analog watch in my digital world.
At lunch I headed out for the field I traversed earlier in the week. Google maps let me know that there was a lot more to this field then a bunch of grass. How I missed the old road that bisected it and lead off to a pretty nature-rich swamp is beyond me.
Just as you approach the swamp, there is this big drain that apparently helps move the water under the road that is no longer in use. Its kind of odd, you stand in view of an office building on the other side of the swamp (through some trees), the road noise from 95 is quite loud, and there are animals all over the place throwing a party. I startled something large and saw the splash out of the corner of my eye. I realized it was a beaver shortly after and took chase along the mucky shore. I got a few manic shots through the barren branches, but nothing worth posting. He had enough of me after three shots and disappeared into what I think was his mud home on the shore.
I continued walking around the area for some time, on the way back, near the beaver's area, I saw these fuzzy budding flower things. They looked pretty interesting in person and even better through the lens. I can imagine that they would look even better catching some of the yellowish/reddish hues from a setting or rising sun. From the looks of the bud, I'd only have a few days (if that) to find out.
01-MAY-2008
1 May
I can't believe it is May already. . .
The funny thing about this shot is that I set out for the Great Bay refuge to get some kind of animal shot. I did the 1.5 mile trail (I don't think it is actually 1.5 miles, it feels like a 1/2 mile) I walked along the edge of the pond, I looked in every swampy section, I found a spot where there was a hornet or a bee, but it left as soon as I arrived. There were plenty of little bugs, but nothing large enough to shoot with either the 70-200 or the 100mm Macro. The temps have dropped so the wildlife has subsided.
So the wildlife expedition was bust, actually I did see two wild turkeys crossing the road right in front of me on the way, by the time I stopped and got the camera ready, they'd scattered. Interesting enough, on my ride home from work (in a different state) traffic came to a halt while a wild turkey crossed the state road. So a massive accident almost occurred so that someone could save an animal that we could freely get at the supermarket.
Back to the afternoon, having left the wildlife area with no photos, I decided to ride close to the old flight line to check out some of the older buildings. We actually had clouds at that time, something to provide a nice dramatic backdrop. I rode past this building about 3 times, trying to figure out what it would look like as a photo, then realized it really didn't matter as the clouds were really the main point of interest anyway. There was a guy in the field beside this building playing with his dog, he must have thought I was a bit odd to finally pull up the building and come out wielding a camera, only to take photos of the corner of an old building. Taking a photo of the dog never really occurred to me.
So anyway, I finally get a nice dramatic shot of clouds with attitude.
30-APR-2008
30 Apr
For my last April photo, I present a bug macro!
Woo hoo! Finally, I get a worthy bug. It's not up to par with what I want to be shooting, but it works for now.
I stepped out (it was sunny) at lunch with a predetermined location in mind. Around the corner from where I work is a fieldy-marshy area (or so I thought). I've been trying to find a replacement for the meadow that has been taken over by Secret Service Agents (or DEA?) in anticipation of a new Post Office. If I went hiking through that meadow now with my camera bag, I'd be swept up by a joint task force and would disappear from this earth.
So anyway, around the corner is what I thought was more of a marshy area, it turns out its actually a giant field on the edge of a marshy area, however, the marshy area isn't all that 'marshy' on its edges. I'd hoped to find a frog, but the lack of marsh and heat (it was only in the 40's or 50's) prevented that. As it was, I hiked into the field and back before I took a photo of this weed about 20 feet from where I parked.
Here's the shot that didn't make today's PaD:
29-APR-2008
29 Apr
Rainy Day Project - Strobist work.
How much simpler could it be than taking a picture of a basket ball?
Almost 2 hours later, I would think not as simple as I'd first thought, but then again, I learned that lesson years ago.
I tried a number of different angles, switched out lenses for a bit, and even substituted paint brushes for the ball, but I settled on this one. It was lacking something as a B&W so I added something to the highlights and shadows in LR.
28-APR-2008
28 Apr
Apparently my son was the first guinea pig for the cool lighting near our Fireplace. This is a rainy day photo. We are at the beginning of a much needed soaking AND it is happening on a weekday!
So, back to the photo. My son got this snake at the museum's gift shop yesterday. We don't usually get 'stuff' from gift shops, so he's digging this snake close by.
Keeping this one short as I picked up our reserved Mario Karts today and haven't even opened it yet. I just picked up my daughters from softball practice and they have homework to do so I might get a chance to play with the game!
27-APR-2008
27 Apr
The bushes in front of our house have begun to bloom. We finally have a flower that isn't yellow. Yesterday, before we left for our Museum trip, there was a rather happy bumblee claiming ownership of this bush. I'd hoped to return today to sunny skies and buzzing flies, but we got some [much needed] rain instead.
I tried a number of different shots of this bush before settling on this shot. I'd hoped to go a little more 'macro' but none of the macro shots did it for me. I'm also a bit tired after getting only 6 hrs of sleep on a leaky air mattress at the Boston Museum of Science last night. We had a blast. My son, the budding actor, was actually pulled out of the audience as a volunteer for a "Pirate Scientist" he was supposed to be "ascared of nuthin" but when the Pirate held a balloon with some water in it over his head, with a lighter beneath the balloon, he scattered.
My decision to NOT bring the DSLR with me on the trip was a good one (except that I have no decent shots of him on stage). It would have gotten in the way because I'd have to carry it with me everywhere.
26-APR-2008
26 Apr
Normally you don't see major appliances in the middle of the woods. This dryer, however, was clearly NOT doing its job as there is still standing water in this swampy area. I can only report what I see now, I would have a totally different opinion of this situation if, say a month ago, it was sitting beneath 4 feet of water.
So anyway, very interesting and needed to be photographed.
I'm feeling a bit rushed, we are still getting our things ready for the train trip to Boston for the Museum of Science sleep over. Time is running out...
I am still on the fence over which camera to bring. Right now it looks like my wife's SD800IS will get the nod. It is nice and compact.
25-APR-2008
25 Apr
Yet another long week. Absolutely NONE of my photos from this afternoon made it through my final cut. I broke out the macro lens and the monopod (flash, etc) and set off in search of bugs. Well I got the bugs out (literally). I had to move stuff around to get them to come out, but they scurried so fast that all the shots were blurry (that and from camera shake). There were no bees or other flying insects, I usually have much better luck with them. With the great weather we are having, I keep forgetting that it is still April. The trees have just begun to bud, we still have no leaves yet.
So, my evening was looking grim, I was out of photos, out of energy, and really felt like this wasn't going to happen. I was taking pictures of our toaster (yeah, that bad).
For some odd reason, I decided it would look interesting to have my hat and work gloves sit on our mitten tree. I left the flash on camera, just bounced behind me. In this section of our family room, the ceiling is dark stained pine, and there's that big honkin brick work behind the hat. I bounced the flash into the only relatively bright corner that I could. The lighting came out nice, I'm making a mental note to try this out on some of the family (if I can catch them).
This Red Sox cap was purchased during the 2004 season (yes, the season that will go down in history simply as "The Season"). It has faded quite a bit, so much so, that in Lightroom, when I was trying adjust the blue saturation with the mouse control, blue was not the color coming up. I mucked with the tint a bit to get the cap back to an acceptable Boston Blue.
I'll be wearing this hat tomorrow when my son & I head to the Boston Museum of Science with our Cub Scout pack for a sleep over. We actually get to spend a night at the museum. I've been debating weather or not to bring my camera and am still out on the fence. We are taking the train, so we will both have to backpack our gear in. I'd have to have my camera gear with me at all times, I can't see myself setting it down unattended. I might just bring the S3IS (and regret it later).
24-APR-2008
24 Apr
OK, this is a bit out of the norm for me, there wasn't really enough contrast (what was I thinking?) and the shadows don't do this justice (nor do the apparently blown out highlights).
It all looked and felt fine when I was shooting, just not so right now while post processing.
I think the hecticness (yeah, its a word now) of today may have contributed to my low appreciation of this photo. It certainly was a beautiful day (weather-wise)!
23-APR-2008
23 Apr
This was not my PaD choice during the shoot, for some reason though, it grows on me during PP.
It would figure, one of 3 quick hand-held shots from underneath the bridge is the one I like best. The other shots were long exposures with the B+W ND 3 (1000x) ND filter again. It is beginning to become my favorite accessory.
Back to this photo, this is the underside of the General Sullivan bridge. This used to be 'the' bridge between Dover and Newington, NH. A simple two lane job, back when the Spalding Turnpike was only two lanes. Now it is a rusting reminder of sprawl. There are two new bridges beside this providing 4 lanes and that is woefully undersized for today (well, it's been undersized for about 12 years). There are plans in the works to increase the size of the bridge, possibly removing this old structure in the process. At $250 million, and ten years out, there are a lot of photos left of this old behemoth before I need to worry about it.
There is a park to the left (west) of this bridge that gives access to this area (Hilton Park).
The tides are pretty brutal, I got there as the tide just started coming in. I set up my tripod with about a foot to spare to the water, two shots and the end cap was under water.
It got into the 80's today. Its still April and we are having July weather. Normally we are bitching about the rain right about now. Actually a lot of people are bitching about the rain, rather the lack of it.
Here are the photos that I spent most of my time on, but didn’t make today’s PaD:
22-APR-2008
22 Apr
So my son was sick again today, I stayed home as my wife had to go to the midwest for a day. I worked pretty much all day (I am actually more focused at home, even with the kids) and took a short break in the afternoon for some PaD shots. This past weekend, the jonquils started blooming. I am sure I could have gotten the tripod out, put the center column into horizontal mode, and snapped a few really good shots, but it was a bit windy and I really didn't have a ton of time. So I handheld the 17-55, while sitting on the ground and shooting "From the hip" in that I didn't look through the viewfinder, I guessed, shot, checked the preview and adjusted.
I have a color version of this, I just like the BW better. PBase has a ton of yellow & white jonquils already.
Instead of bringing out the larger roll of black duck cloth, I took a black tee shirt and draped it over a log behind the flowers. I didn't get the shirt high enough to provide enough of a blacked out background so I compensated by pumping up the Black point during PP in Lightroom.
This is about an 80 to 90 percent crop.
21-APR-2008
21 Apr
So I had some extra time to kill this evening. I'd planned on sneaking out at 6pm and going towards the coast for a bit but my wife called to let me know I had to pick up our girls from softball practice. Not a problem, I decide to take a bit longer way home, up in the hills a bit with lots of farm houses. The road I planned on taking runs parallel to my normal commuting route for most of the trip, intersecting with the main thoroughfare a few miles from my house. So I head to this road (known locally as Rte 101) only to find that they are working on a stretch of the road near the beginning (southeast end) and they have us detoured back west onto my normal commute route. These are interesting tidbits of information that would have been nice to know before I went out of my way to come back to my normal route.
I did make it back to 101 and found this old house with plenty of room to park for photos. The sun was hitting it just right.
I've done something that I normally don't do, I have three completely different treatments to the three keepers. The other two are in my other gallery:
20-APR-2008
20 Apr
Here is a shot of a door at the Woolen Mill building, around the corner from our development. The name of our development "Old Mill" comes from this mill. As the crow flies, it's only about a mile from our house (tops).
I would love to have the chance to actually go into this old mill, I can bet there are plenty of things worth photographing inside.
I just finished reading
The Placenames of South Berwick so I am all historied up on our town. One of the benefits of the book is that I discovered a few parks/public use lands that I never knew existed.
The Woolen mill exists on the Great Works river. Just downstream from this building (and the falls) is Leigh's Mill Pond, on the other side of the pond are the
falls that I photographed for last week's PaD. Up river a way (about a mile of winding curves) is the area that we put in (canoe/kayaks) near our house. Canoe and Kayak weather is pretty much here and I suspect we will start soon (my oldest has been begging me since the ice began to melt). I haven't had the nerve to take my DSLR into the kayak with me yet, I might this year. There are miles of unpopulated shorelines rich with all kinds of life (turtles, frogs, birds, deer, etc).
19-APR-2008
19 Apr
Awesome weather today. I spent most of my day getting our pop-up camper cleaned, I am always amazed at the amount of dirt, grime, mildew, etc that accumulates on our RVs over the winter.
I took off for a short ride to find something for my PaD, I actually had more of a barn scene in mind, which is why I went out the way I did. The road that I'd hope to nab a barn on loops back to Emery's Bridge Road, on this road is the Emery's Junk yard, in front of the Junk yard is this old car that I've been wanting to stop and admire for a while.
So, the barn didn't pan out, the side I wanted to shoot was in the shadows. It would have made for a good HDR project, but I haven't purchased CS3 or the new Photmatix yet (though I am playing with Photmatix 3.0 and actually getting decent results).
I have no idea what kind of car this is (I am not really a car person). I do know that it looks pretty cool. I am a bit shocked at the windows, this car has been sitting in a dirt lot for years (trees are growing around it). It was almost like someone washed the windshield for me.
Here are a few more shots that didn't make the PaD:
18-APR-2008
18 Apr
I pass this marshy area 2 times a day (4 times today) and have wanted to get a sunset photo of it before pollen season AND before it dries out.
I think I rushed it a bit tonight, this shot is really screaming HDR to pull in the complete range.
I'm not super impressed with the high noise in this shot at ISO 400, but it was rushed and the exposure is not correct.
I did grab a bracketed set of photos and might give this a whirl as an HDR, but my HDR luck has been not so good.
17-APR-2008
17 Apr
I'm not usually prone to this over the top Post Processing, but it was the only saving grace for this photo and for my lunchtime shoot in general. I'd been past this old rail bed on the base a number of times and have found it pretty fascinating. Sometimes fascinating doesn't equate to photogenic. . .
I will admit tha the treatment is kind of interesting. It helped bring out the old rail and also brought out the animal footprints running across it (an unexpected benefit). I can only assume that this area of track washed out during our relatively recent spring time flooding. It has been abandoned for quite some time. When I was a full time guardsmen (mid '90s) we'd bike out this road, I don't remember seeing this back then. For all I know though, this could have washed out in the 70's, I don't remember ever seeing a train run on the base.
16-APR-2008
16 Apr
OK, sticking with a theme here. . .
I've been trying to figure out a way to incorporate the old base supply building into my PaD and it looks like I found a way. . .
There was a lot more to this building then this chimney, but it is pretty boring (trust me).
I'm cutting the story short here, I've been calling all my T-Ball players tonight and now I need to get an email together.
15-APR-2008
15 Apr
Tax Day in the US Today!
What better way of celebrating this most auspicious day than to post a photo of an old water tower!
This water tower is on a hill behind where I work. It sits at the highest point in the last area of Officer Base housing that remained (but was torn down in January - See my PaD's then for more photos). I'd been trying to photograph this damn structure for the past two years, but never really had a good angle. Today, I was driving around and found what I'd always thought to be a driveway to an old house, but was an access road to the tower. It's a beautiful spot, as I was walking towards the tower there were birds and squirrels rustling in the dried leaves. They obviously thought the area was theirs.
I used just about the same PP treatment that I did for last week's light tower shot. Had the same clear blue skies too. I think I will be back to harvest more rusty shots.
14-APR-2008
14 Apr
I stayed home today with my son who was sick, turns out I either had/have/caught what he has/had. Can't beat that to start your week.
We actually got out today to run some errands. Back in the morning when we still had energy. Errands to the tune of "lets find a toilet tank to bowl gasket so the upstairs toilet will stop leaking". Those kinds of errands. I replaced all the guts of said toilet (which had been leaking before its surgery) and noticed that the universal gasket wasn't quite right. So anyway, got that fixed today.
My energy and creativity level has basically bottomed out, though this shot doesn't look half bad (if I say so myself). My girl's have their first official softball practice of the season tonight (wife took them) and I got to thinking. . .
T-Ball starts up soon too, I coach my son's team. We started gathering up all the gear a few weeks ago, I've been informed that we are in need of new cleats (kids just grow and grow).
The ball on the glove is an official Major League ball that I got when I was a kid. We went to a Red Sox spring training game in Florida (1980?) and I tried real hard to get Yaz's signature (as in Karl Yastrzemski, #9). My baseball hero let me down, he wanted nothing to do with the kids. While I was begging for an autograph, this older guy tells me he will sign my baseball (he was in the seats behind me). I let him sign it, thanked him, and went back to trying for more Red Sox signatures. The guy who signed it, wrote "Johnny Pesky", someone I'd never heard of at the time. I know who Johnny Pesky is now! And I have forgotten that other player who ignored us (that same guy who was given a boat on his retirement).
The other signatures on the ball:
Dave Stapleton
Wade Boggs
For the longest time, I could not find this baseball, I'd thought my parents sold it in a yard sale after I left for the military. I would tell people the story, but got the 'main character' wrong. For some reason, I thought it was Ted Williams who signed the ball. I just found this ball in a memento box that my parents dropped off in the fall. My son was actually talking about it today, which is why it was on my mind come PaD time.
13-APR-2008
13 Apr
Here's the version that made my PaD. After running around a bit taking photos on both sides of the river today, I came across this tuft of light brown grass sticking out of this brick wall or foundation. I knew that it would make a great Black and White, so I spent a bit of time taking various photos trying to get it right.
After I got back and looked at it in Lightroom, I'd realized that I should have stopped it down once to get the whole clump of grass in focus. The effect is not lost, however, so it still 'won out' in the competition for today's PaD shot.
Here is a different angle from this brick wall:
Not PaD:
12-APR-2008
12 Apr
I went back to Leigh's Mill Pond today to take some long exposure photos. I had a bunch of keepers after my Post Processing so I added a new gallery for the one's that didn't make my PaD:
This was a tough choice, I went with this photo, a continuation of last night's SP PaD. The zoom technique is working quite well with this tripod.
Today's goal (at home) was to work on getting decent prints out of my printer from Lightroom. After a few tries with a snapshot or two, I decided to take a photo of the Gretag MacBeth color card and print it. I have come to the conclusion that the Epson RX580 was never meant to produce awesome photos. I had a hell of a time trying to find ICC profiles for it on the web. I never did find the profiles, I did find some profiles for a Japanese version of the printer (or so I am told) though they didn't turn out so hot. I really want to get the 2400, but am dragging my feet on it. It's interesting that I have so many digital photos and so few prints (less than 5, I'd say). We have lots of wall space for hanging them too. I plan to try a few local shops and an online service or two before dropping some $$ for the 2400.
Oh yeah, my son preferred the Black and White version of this, though technically, in the gallery, the Black and White is of a different photo.
I congratulated him on his taste. My wife liked the wider shot of the actual bridge and dam. She actually liked it before I processed it which got me to thinking about adding it.
11-APR-2008
11 Apr
Even on the days where I come home wiped out and PaDless, I have been able to jump start the creative juices and come away with something I really like.
I took my camera with me to lunch, expecting to snag a photo of the water front on the way back to work. Unfortunately, as I was getting into my car in the parking lot at work, it began to rain. It's not that I fear the rain on my gear, its that to take a decent shot in the rain would have required more setup time than I'd have (after eating).
So the day progressed. On the ride home, I figured I would do some kind of SP for Friday since I'd been a bit remiss on this in the past. None of the run of the mill SP stuff was working for me, so I tried the zoom trick. Indoors, without a flash, I had a nice slow shutter speed, allowing me to zoom from 17 to 55 smoothly as the shutter was open (and vice-versa).
I changed shirts twice during all this. Originally I was wearing a plaid dress shirt from work. It is hard to look imposing in plaid ;-)
My normal winter/spring "after work" garb is some form of sweatshirt in varying degrees of dishevelment. Hoodies are my favorite, no idea why. It is much easier to look imposing in a hoodie ;-)
So anyway, I am standing there tripping the shutter (remote) with one hand and zooming with the other. I can say that the 17-55 f/2.8 IS doesn't have the smoothest zoom, it seems to bind around 35mm or so, when worked from the shootie position. . .
Time to go work on my taxes!
10-APR-2008
10 Apr
Driving around during a quick lunch (well - Photo) break, I ran up on part of the old parking ramp, behind an old hanger. I was on the 'legal' side of the gate. This light tower was accessible from the ramp I was on, so I took the liberty of shooting the hell out of it. I am going out on a limb and guessing this tower has not seen any maintenance since the base closed (18 years ago) and it is still standing.
The wind was whipping pretty bad, it was amazing I got so many sharp photos, the camera was jostling, I was bouncing, and the whole tower was swaying.
I plan to go back at some point and get a better shot looking up through the center of this tower. The wind was so horrible that I wasn't able to get any good shots from that angle. The triangular patterns against the deep blue (CPL - enhanced) sky will make for a real nice shot.
09-APR-2008
09 Apr
Construction Site
This shot has a little character. I never made a lunch photo run today, so I stopped an area that used to be a school on base. In fact, if you follow the map link to google maps, if you switch to hybrid/satellite, the school building is still there). I'd stopped by here before during the day and saw absolutely nothing of interest. Tonight, however, there was a lot to shoot.
On my way in, I scared three wild turkeys who flew off (I didn't realize they could fly away that fast). A small flock of ducks flew by a little later.
When I captured this particular shot, I didn't see or expect the orange buckets in the background. I had the Monochrome Picture Style selected on the 40D and they blended into the background. I actually switched position to get more of a "constructiony" theme to the background as there were some trucks and supplies in the distance. When I got back home and imported these, I realized the color and the reflections actually worked for me.
I walked down the road a bit & found more interesting subjects. When I turned around to head back to the car, I saw this beautiful orange & purple sunset that had just formed. We get a few of those a year. On my way back (in the car) near the end of the runway, I almost stopped to get a better shot, a wide angle view would have captured a very nice sunset at that point. There is a gate that I feared would have interfered with the shot, perhaps I will try it again the next time we get this sunset.
Here is that sunset:
08-APR-2008
08 Apr
Shapes and Tones
Yea we had sun today! So, with the proper exposure, I was able to see what this lens can do. I'm pretty impressed. I wound up with an eclectic mix of photos today. I shot a lighting pole that was horizontal on the ground. It looked interesting at the time and the photos are unbelievably sharp, but in Lightroom, they were not so interesting.
I really like this photo, the shapes and the tones came out pretty good. The deep blue is part PP and part actual sky. I didn't put the CPL on for this shoot. The white on the building in the foreground almost looks blown out when zoomed out, but at 100% crop the detail is all there.
The Photos that didn't make today's PaD:
07-APR-2008
07 Apr
On my way home this evening, I took a different route (the road less traveled). I came across a public boat launch in Eliot, Maine. It was set way back from the road (103) and you couldn't see any of it from the road. I had no idea there was a nice park, complete with a bath house on the premises (although closed due to the season). As luck would have it, the sun was setting and this playground was nicely silhouetted. I could see this from my car in the parking lot and realized I'd found my PaD.
Black and White was never an option for this one. The rich sky tones would be lost. I did muck with the tint & shadows in Lightroom to bring out more of the reds.
I'd read a lot of posts on this lens & flare when taking shots directly into the sun. I will agree with them, until I got the correct angle to block ALL of the sun, there was a tremendous flare. The flare was ugly too, otherwise, I'd have tried to incorporate it into the image.
I took a bunch of photos from various angles, realizing that I might not get another chance like today (the weather is all over the place lately). The skies were clear, I think clouds would have detracted from this image.
An interesting note, this park is on the Pisquataqua River, between Maine and NH. If I were to drive off the end of the boat ramp (and NOT sink) I would hit the fuel docks in Newington. This will prove to be a great vantage point for photographing the ships when they are in this particular port. Again, I never knew this park/public boat launch existed. I will be back (good think I can Geo Tag it, it will remind me in the coming months).
06-APR-2008
6 Apr
Some Life
I visited what I thought was the
Plaisted Grave Site in Berwick, ME but turned out to be the
Wallingford Family Cemetery instead. It just means I need to stop by again and look harder. It is on my way to Home Depot/Wal-Mart/Grocery Shopping etc, so I pass it a lot.
Spring is here, things are starting to grow, snow is starting to fade. While I was at the graveyard, I really didn't notice anything green. It wasn't until I was back home mucking with the photos that I noticed the green grass poking through. It makes for a kind of interesting photograph, desaturating all but green, then pushing green a tad. It probably would have been a bit more dramatic if I tighted the crop, but then the tell-tale signs of this being a small graveyard would be lost.
My wife & I are off to see Def Leppard, REO Speedwagon, and Styx tonight. I am not going to take any chances, I'm leaving the camera at home. Never fails though, we will get there and see a handful of other people with DSLR's and fast lenses. At least I will enjoy the concert!
05-APR-2008
5 Apr
Depth of Field on the new EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS.
We had a tour of the Coast Guard station this morning for Cub Scouts, I brought the camera but the sky was very overcast grey and it was cold out. Sometime later (around 2pm) the clouds opened up and the sun came out. The temps got into the high 50's and it was like a totally different day.
We had a lot of stuff to do, however, to prepare for my wife coming back after her 2 week biz trip. I didn't get out with the camera until later. When I shot our park bench, I was thinking Black and White all the way. This lens is pretty sharp, had I stopped it down a bit more, I could have gotten more of the grain in focus. My goal, however, was to test it wide open. I think I will be able to live with this ;-)
Oh, and my trust monopod that has followed me around for 3+ years has finally broken. The foot broke off. It is plastic, so I super-glued it back on. I am pretty hard on the monopod, I don't expect this to last much longer. This kind of sucks with the snow melting and the weather changing. The monopod is a must for bug work.
04-APR-2008
4 Apr
Got a bunch of goodies in the mail today. . .
First and foremost, the EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS came in (and I didn't have to be around to sign for it!!). I got home an hour later than I'd wanted to & had to rush out with the youngest two to 'investigate' a bird (Parakeet or Cockatiel). When I got back, I was only able to take a few shots (I'm wiped too). First impressions are pretty good, but I will reserve my opinion till later. It is much smaller/lighter than the 24-70 f/2.8L and I hope this equates to more usage.
This photo of my son isn't the sharpest, but it had the best expression. He was captivated by the TV (no idea what show was on - Hannah Montanna or something like that - his sisters control the remote).
I also got a
Domke J-3 bag in, something I'd wanted for a number of months (it was a toss-up between the J-3 and the
Crumpler 6 Million Dollar Home bag (Don't worry, I did NOT link to the crummy Crumpler website ;-)
The bag is a little bit larger than I'd expected, however, it fits ALL my major lenses now. Since the 17-55 will overlap my 17-40 f4L and 28-135 IS, I have one lens that replaces two. . .
The 1.8 ND filter came in, I need to take that outside to play with it (plus I know what to expect already).
I also picked up a
Sensor Klear Lenspen since I have come to grips with the fact that I really should clean my 40D sensor after 7 months of use, it's time. I found out about it on the boards (
photography on the net) and did a bit more research.
Tomorrow morning we (Son & I) get to head down to the Coast Guard station for a tour for the Cub Scouts. I will try to get in a few ocean shots and test out the new ND filter on the new lens (and, because I will be near the ocean, I will need to use the new sensor lenspen!)
03-APR-2008
3 Apr
My 10-year-old concentrating on the manufacturing of a peanut butter sandwich. She is very serious about peanut butter.
Hectic day. I got home later than I'd wanted (but earlier than normal). I didn't have time to get all elaborate with the PaD.
Fingers crossed, I get a couple of goodies in the mail tomorrow. New cam bag (finally), another ND filter (1.8 - good middle ground between my .9 and my 3.0). And, oh yeah, the EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS is coming in. I'd been pretty set on the 24-70 F/2.8L until I found review and post after review and post (and post and review, and post and post, and review and review...) saying the 17-55 was the real deal. I find out soon enough.
I am hoping it's the real deal, because I'd sell off two lenses that would then have serious overlap. My long-time friend, the 28-135 IS and the 17-40 F4L.
02-APR-2008
2 Apr
Transformer at the Leigh's Mills Pond Power Station.
I never made it out for lunch today so I needed to get out and about after work for my PaD. The weather was nice, we had blue skies, and I have my Circ Polarizer to test out. I wound up at the falls, the bridge has been closed all winter (actually last summer too) so it made for a nice place to park. While I nabbed a few shots of the falls, my goal was to get some deep blue sky, so I passed up the falls photos for this one (which I rather like). I made a mental note to hit the falls again real soon. From the angle I was at, I can get a nice long exposure shot of the falls and the concrete work/bridge, etc. I didn't feel like mucking with the ND filter and tripod today, knowing I needed a "blue sky" shot. . .
On the other side of the falls is the pond which is still frozen over (though not thick enough to walk on). With all the rain and snow melt, the rivers are running a tad bit high right now (all the more reason to be getting some water shots).
01-APR-2008
1 Apr
"Frosty is Dead"
We had a nice warm day today (not that I got to enjoy any of the weather portion, however). Temps reached 60 degrees. When I got home, I saw that the remains of one of the kids' snowmen had been revealed. If I'd known this was revealed, I'd have stopped at The Home Depot to pick up some yellow tape and outline the body of the snowman. It would have made for a good April 1st PaD.
Last night I took my lenspen to my B+W Circ Polarizer as a last-ditched effort to clean the thing (before chucking it into the trash). I was quite amazed that it looked like the 'scratches' are now gone (there are some small ones left that shouldn't appear in the photo). I packed the filter last night, hoping to use it today. Here is a good reason why I should check out www.weather.com the day BEFORE I do/plan/hope for something. It was overcast/raining all day, any hopes for deep blue skies evaporated faster than the snow on my driveway.
31-MAR-2008
31 Mar
Closing out the first quarter of my 2008 PaD with a family shot. The kids are deeply engrossed in a new game on the Wii. We've had the Wii now for a year plus (Xmas 2006) and they still play it regularly (The addition of Guitar Hero III this past Xmas really helps).
Tomorrow we are supposed to see temps into the 60's. Last Wednesday or so we had temps in the 50's. Since that day, however, we've had mostly days in the 20's and 30's and 3 days of snow to boot (not a lot of snow by this season's standards). We are so ready for spring and Winter just doesn't want to go quietly. . .
30-MAR-2008
30 Mar
Can't believe that March is almost over. Today was almost one of those days where I didn't have the energy left to submit a PaD. It was pretty busy, I didn't get any down time until a few mins ago and was lacking in the creative department. I am not sure what the hell I was thinking, but somehow I got this idea to shoot an SP through a chair. I originally had my 17-40 on and nixed that after the first two shots. I needed something with a little more reach.
I was able to use the timer remote's cord (wish I had about 2 extra feet of reach on that) to trip the shutter. I started without flash, realized a 4 second exposure just wasn't going to cut it, then turned some overheads. I was able to see that there were shadows from the rungs in the chair on my face. Bouncing the 580 off the ceiling (albeit cathedral and through beams at that) seemed to cure the shadow problem.
So, I start out thinking I have about 5 mins of "creative energy" left in me and wind up spending the better part of my 9pm hour working out my position relative to the camera AND the chair. It wasn't nearly as hard as I'd originally thought it would be.
This came out a bit grainy and you really can't make out the fact that it is a chair (I could be a criminal in jail, which I think my wife would probably think with my unruly hair and beard right now).
29-MAR-2008
29 Mar
Hopefully I am getting all my "Snow Shots" wrapped up in the next week. I was ready for spring earlier this week when we had 54 degree temps. This morning actually worked out rather well, I had to get up early to take my oldest to pitching practice (softball) and then head over to Home Depot for some supplies. I took the scenic route to Home Depot and was able to find a stone wall topped with snow. I wish I went back to the stone wall I saw yesterday, it would have made a great color shot, but that is in the other direction and we didn't have long enough to get our running around done.
28-MAR-2008
28 Mar
Wow, this was a hard photo to crop. We got what is hopefully the final snowstorm of the season this morning. Traffic was slow on my normal route, so I took a detour to get into work. On the way in, I kept passing these beautiful stone walls that were lightly covered in snow. I really wanted to get a nice close-up of one of them, however, there were no safe places to pull over (read: narrow country road and slick snow). As I was reaching the end of the "countryness" section of this road, I saw this tree covered in snow that was just incredible. I backed into this person's driveway to get off the road ran out and snapped a few shots.
Because I was trying to be fast, I handheld the camera which isn't the worst thing since I was using the 28-135 IS. The problem is that I didn't have time to really plan the whole thing. I could see when taking the photo that my Tahoe was going to be in frame, but I thought I had room to crop later. It turns out the Tahoe really screwed up the crop that wanted.
It was still snowing too, so there are flakes and subsequent flake trails due to the slower shutter speed. They appear as dust over the darker backgrounds. My *hope* was that I'd sneak out of work as soon as the snow stopped and snap a few shots of some stone walls. That never happened.
So anyway, I spent the last 15 mins screwing around with cropping. I finally settled on a bit wider shot, somehow living with the snowflakes that appear in the lower portion of the photo. This is a tree after all, and it really loses its context without its trunk.
OK, enough rambling on about a tree and snow. . .
27-MAR-2008
27 Mar
Went driving around the back side of the base/tradeport today at lunch. It was a gloomy day, there were some old guardrails that looked interesting. I think I will return to these in the summer when there will be a different background. I don't think I got the tonal separation I was looking [hoping] for.
26-MAR-2008
26 Mar
I've driven by this small dam a number of times on my PaD-Quest. Today, I decided to pull over and give it a try. While I was taking some long exposure photos, a lady walked over to talk. I was parked on her property (she was fine with that) and she actually came over to tell me that I need to come back in a few more weeks to catch some ducks and geese in this pond.
She also pointed out a trail to the bay that was on the other side of the road. I'd never had known about that. I plan to go back a few more times to take some photos of the bay.
Long exposures with my 28-135 IS (IS Turned off), not something I'd actually planned on doing. I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome though. It doesn't change my mind about searching for either a 24-70 F/2.8L or the EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS. . .
Loving the ND (3) filter!
25-MAR-2008
25 Mar
I was feeling a bit pressed for time at lunch, running around to pick up some groceries to save a few mins after work. I drove around the tradeport towards the flightline, looking for something interesting. There was an old loading dock near a supply building that was very interesting. Someone had stacked these rocks this way, I left them as they sat, I figured this would look good with a shallow DoF and a Black and White.
I've also mounted the 28-135 IS on the camera, its been neglected recently. I am trying to decide if I will sell this and replace it with the 24-70 F/2.8L (yeah, I know why am I even asking myself this question? I should have just done it!)
24-MAR-2008
24 Mar
Though this may appear to be a pretty boring photo (out of context, it is), there are reasons to rejoice here. . .
1) I can see my driveway (Black tar in foreground)
2) I can see my lawn (or what has survived the attack of the snowblower)
3) The snow is receding.
The default joke at this point is that the snow is melting to reveal the lawn so the skunks can come and rip it apart looking for grubs. That is, should I fail to lay down some grub killer when the snow has melted and the ground has thawed.
The best part of a very snowy winter is that, once we start to see the green of our lawns, it won't be long until spring. For this winter, we've seen nothing but white since the first week of December (ironically a few days after we returned from our Florida vacation, RV in tow). The winters that have little or no snow seem to go on and on because we see the browns and greens of our lawns and shrubs the whole time, we are tricked into thinking Spring is on its way (in January).
23-MAR-2008
23 Mar
I drove around this afternoon in search of some water to photograph. I had my 10-year-old with me, she thought I was just going to the transfer station and back home. After giving up on the water scene, I stopped at a historical momument that I've passed many times before but never actually investigated.
This place is called the "Trafton Grove and Riverside Preserve". It is more of a forest and the river is somewhere in the woods, just not visible. I will most likely pop back out there in the near future, its a short jaunt from our house and it looks like a good place to investigate further.
This beech tree had some beautiful leaves, just hanging out until the spring.
22-MAR-2008
22 Mar
Went back to the flowers today. I didn't look at the flowers on the back part of the arrangement last night. This morning I noticed these and realized I had to get a photo of them. I have no idea what kind of flower this is, it just looks nice. . .
Also, I broke out the big gun for this shot. A bit of overkill, but I also wanted to get a little experience with the 70-200 on the tripod in a non-wind situation. It is quite stable indoors, as the snow melts I will find out how this combination behaves outdoors.
21-MAR-2008
21 Mar
A good end to a tough week. My wife was gracious enough to let me borrow this for photographic exploration this evening...
Here's the photo that didn't make the PaD:
20-MAR-2008
20 Mar
We had one of those sunsets this evening that was quite beautiful (yeah, and I go an shoot a black and white). Feeling uninspired after a much better day than yesterday AND not having anything to shoot (I sent my wife flowers today because of her bad day yesterday - and so that I'd have something to shoot tonight - but she left them at work) I took a different way home. Very glad I did, there are more interesting things to shoot on the 'different' way home.
This is a statue inside one of the umpteen cemeteries I pass by. This statue sat inside a much larger granite frame. I could see the sunset behind the statue from the road and decided this would work well for my shot.
The RRS QR system came in handy. I used the L-Bracket to mount the camera on the tripod in portrait mode. This is so much easier (and better) than angling the ballhead 90 degrees and farting around with it trying to get it level.
19-MAR-2008
19 Mar
Today was a day for the records (though most of it transpired on my wife's watch):
My wife usually goes in early so she can hit the gym (like 4:30 - 5:00 am early).
On her morning ride she hit a deer. It glanced off the car, no damage to deer, car, or wife.
She realized after her shower at the gym that she forgot an important undergarment and wound up going "comando" for the day.
I dropped off our Tahoe for a simple Oil Change, the initial price about tripled after they found some 'issues'.
My 13-year-old called me at work today, begging to read a book that arrived today. I told her to wait until I came home. She hung up.
About a 1/2 hour later, she called my wife in a frenzy, apparently our dog had gotten his paw stuck in his collar some time during the day (she hadn't noticed when she called me) and there was a trail of blood in our family room all the way to our upstairs landing. She was hysterical, it took a neighbor to free his paw. He's OK, it was from his mouth, he's actually done this before, without the drama of the blood.
After my wife got home, she had to run to the corner store (~1.5 miles through the neighborhood). On her way back, she was hit by a teenager. She's OK, our relatively new Civic will be needing a new driver and passenger door along with some more body work (not on our dime, she wasn't at fault).
I just finished cleaning the carpets (~ 3 hours) thank god for the steam cleaner!!
My Really Right Stuff package came in. I was able to mount all the QR Clamps and test them out. Today's photo was from the tripod (of course, 4 second exposure. . .) with the whole "She-Bang".
I've been kicking around this ghosting theme for a while, this was only a quick test. About all I have time for after today's strange chain of events.
18-MAR-2008
18 Mar
I got out early today so I could go to my oldest's school and have her tell us how she was doing in school. What is called "Parent Teacher Conference" in the younger grades, this one is Student-Lead, with teachers available to answer any questions should they arise.
On our way back, she was telling me about the ice at this one bridge between Eliot, ME and Dover, NH. It was kind of on the way back so we drove out there and walked around. There is a landing near the bridge on the Maine side where you can put in during the warmer months (boats, canoes, kayaks, etc). I pop out to this location a few times over the summer during low tide for photo shoots. My son & I have also gone fishing out here as well.
The bridge was blocking the exit for the ice that wanted to flow south into the ocean. The tide was still going out, as it goes out, the water level drops and the ice cracks. You get this really interesting effect with all the ice jutting out at various angles, stacked upon other sheets of ice that have been blocked as well.
We spent a little while down there getting our shoes mucky and taking a few photos. She told me to make sure I gave her credit if I "posted the pics on my internet thing" so, the credit for today's PaD (and the photos that didn't quite make the PaD) belongs to my daughter Randi. Randi, if you are reading this, make sure you do NOT lose your Science test this trimester!
Here are the photos of the bridge that didn't make the PaD:
17-MAR-2008
17 Mar
Here is the long exposure that I was trying for a few days back. What a difference a 1000X ND filter makes ;-)
This is at noon in bright sunlight and I am able to get a 30 second exposure at ISO 100 & f/16.
It was very windy, but the tripod seems to have held up pretty good.
I like the tones in the water and the fact that there are still reflections off the water, even after 30 seconds of waves.
16-MAR-2008
16 Mar
This started off as an uninspired PaD. I had hoped to check out my 1000x ND filter on a river this afternoon, but we had snow/rain and that would really affect the shot (so I think).
I was walking around the house looking for something and I decided to try some smoke shots. I set up a white background on our kitchen table, broke out the tripod and went to work. I realized early on that this wasn't to be (like 7 shots early). I grabbed a cereal bowl and filled it with water and dropped a blue marble in for a bit. My 10-year-old came by and helped, though she had some trouble tripping the shutter with the remote release cord.
I had two strobes, the 580EX-2 on camera, bounced off the ceiling and my 420EX to camera left with a paper towel wrapped around it to diffuse the light. About 150 photos and 45 minutes later, I had switched to a clear bowl and a black background. This still isn't perfect, but it is much better than the first set. I actually have the timing down quite well, I know when to trigger the shutter/strobe after dropping the marble from a height of about 18".
15-MAR-2008
15 Mar
Love Chip.
My wife really has a thing for chips that are folded onto themselves. Chips that sort of look like tacos. Call it a chip-fetish. I am always trying to find these chips to make her happy. Today, I found the Grand Pooh-Bah of folded chips. Today I found the "Love Chip". Perhaps 30 days late (or so) for Valentine's Day, but, its better late than never.
The Love Chip is proof-positive that there are caring and thoughtful individuals across this planet, united in their support of brotherly and sisterly love. People who care about others, people who are not afraid to turn to their peers and say "I care". And, the best part about it, these people are apparently highly skilled chip crafters, sending notes of love out to the world. Like a message in a bottle, cast from an island, adrift in a sea of unease and wonder. These chip crafters send out their messages, never knowing if others receive and appreciate their work. Today, I would like to tip my hat to these crafters, and show them that I care. I care, and I appreciate this little piece of wonder. This little piece of art, carved from select Potatoes, bathed in oil, and lightly seasoned with Salt and Vinegar.
I presented this work of art to my wife, as a token of my love for her and she simply melted. I believe she shed a tear of joy at being presented by such a fine token of my love for her. Somehow she was unable to find the courage to eat this token. So I setup my camera, my black cloth background, and my tripod in hopes of capturing the feeling that we have been benefitted with today.
I carefully nestled this work of art in a North facing bay window to soak in the natural light and to bring out its inner beauty. Somehow, I did this quick enough to not leave any oil stains on my black cloth background.
When I showed my wife the photo, she actually said it would look good in multiple colors, which I took to mean a Warhol treatment. I think I will be busy in Photoshop this afternoon...
14-MAR-2008
14 Feb
This was going to actually be an SP, but my daughter decided to investigate the commotion in the commode room (we don't have many mirrors in our house).
I flipped the camera towards her and caught her eying her old man (and probably thinking I am a bit senile).
The Whibal card really helped this one, the lighting in our downstairs bathroom/laundry room is florescent through yellowed plastic light diffusers. There was this god-awful yellowish/pukish hue to the entire photo. The Whibal got it close, but the photo still needed a little tweaking.
13-MAR-2008
13 Mar
I went to a local forestry area (I keep driving by it on my way to shoot cool things). Looks like a great place for photos in about a month when the bugs come out.
There is a small private cemetary a short way in that is surrounded by this wrought iron fence. On the back side is a tree that has impaled itself on this fence. I had a few different angles, but none really give this the correct context. In looking at my shots after the fact, I think this one really needed a wider angle to pick up the apsects of the actual fence, stone fence-posts, etc. It still made for an interesting shot though.
12-MAR-2008
12 Mar
I was walking (OK, Running) out of work tonight, late for my oldest's concert, and I couldn't keep my eyes off my our flag at work. A snowstorm moved through the area during the day and was to our East, the sun was out to our West, lighting the flag beautifully (along with everything else in the immediate locality). I had the camera bag in hand so I snapped a shot. Its a good thing considering I just got home from the concert and have some work work to do as well as some household work to do, I wouldn't have had the time to get a photo in today (and that would disrupt my unbelievable PaD stretch. . .)
11-MAR-2008
11 Mar
Not sure how this is happening, but I have yet another Train-related PaD photo today. Trust me, I am not consciously going out to find railroad tracks, they appear to be finding me. . .
This was taken in Greenland, NH today on my way back from the cleaners. There is a lot of construction going on, a new Target and Lowes coming, and traffic is horrible. I took what would usually be the long way back, (call it scenic) going down a road I don't think I've gone down before. This old train station looks to be inhabited by a tree trimming business, but someone thought it a nice touch to add the baggage cart (either that or it has been there ever since).
This is probably the weakest of the Train photos and might actually signal the last of them for a while (not that I don't like trains, I really like them...). I also left the tripod in the car this time as I was taking the photos from the road. I find it tough to set up a tripod in the middle of a busy road.
10-MAR-2008
10 Mar
The lower deck of the Route 1 Bypass Bridge between Maine and NH. Taken from the Kittery (Maine) side, underneath the auto bridge.
What you can't see from this photo is the incredible wind chill that froze the right side of my face and my right hand. I've never actually stopped under the bridge, I will have to come back in the summer when it is a bit warmer. Perhaps time it to catch the bridge in the up position with a ship coming through.
This railroad track/bridge hasn't been used in years. I believe there is a rough plan/talk to use it as part of the
Eastern Trail but don't quote me on that.
Here is the "quick shot" I took that didn't make my PaD cut, but I really liked when I got back and viewed it in Lightroom.
Hey, this Geo-Tag thing is kind of cool. Yet another whiz bang thing I don't have time for (but will most likely suck a ton of time as I try to locate my images...)
09-MAR-2008
09 Mar
Tire in the river. This photo was a lot more effort than I originally thought. I had to walk into the woods a bit and kept sinking about 2 feet into the snow with each step. I originally wanted to get a shot of the river itself, but this nice old tire presented itself.
This time I brought my step up rings and ND filter. I have to use two step up rings to get my 77mm ND filter to fit onto my EF 100mm f/2.8 with 58mm filter threading lens.
08-MAR-2008
08 Mar
Here is the results of the past 3 weeks of "Rock Tumbling". Basically you turn on a relatively loud machine, put it in the basement, and live with the squeeky noise for 3 weeks.
It was actually kind of fun, my 10-year-old got this last year (possibly the year before) and it sat on the shelf for a while. We finally broke down and did it. She actually has another kit to do one more batch, though I don't know if the rock tumbler will make it (it certainly sounds like it is on its last legs/gears?).
This shot was also a good excuse for me to try out the 055MF3 with the center column aligned horizontally. Here's the thumbnail and link to the setup:
It goes into this postion easier than it looks. I have to get used to setting it up as once the snow finally melts, bug season starts and I can start taking Macros again!!
07-MAR-2008
07 Mar
I spent most of my lunchtime driving around the coast only to wind up about 3 miles from work (and very much inland) taking a picture of these tracks. I found a dam that I really wanted to capture, but the access was on the wrong side of the river. I had to shoot through a fence and some concrete culverts to even have a chance at getting part of the falls. I might be able to try the other side, but we are entering mud season and it was much lower on the other side.
So I found these train tracks. I like the contrast between the snow and the tracks, there won't be many chances to get snow shots as it is warming up and we have more rain on the way.
06-MAR-2008
06 Mar
A shot from
Odiorne Point. Today I remembered to bring my ND (4X) filter with me and I head to the one place where it really doesn't make a difference in the middle of the day. . .
Again with the tripod, I had a bunch of photos that were relatively slow shutter speeds, but 1/6 doesn't really cut it for a coastal shot. It is slow enough to blur the waves, but not create that misty feeling.
This shot is facing across the harbor, to Maine. In the background, you can see
Whaleback Light.
Simple B&W conversion in lightroom with a very generous crop, to remove the boring sky & ground that the 17-40 pulled into frame.
05-MAR-2008
05 Mar
We had some wild wind and rain blow through here today. By noon the worst of it was over and we had a short period of clearing as I left for lunch. Of course, on my way back, the fog rolled in, nixing any attempts at a "clear shot". I knew a place to head as foggy weather is great for gnarly trees. I probably should have gotten a bit closer to the tree for this shot, as it is I wound up cropping out the top of it to bring out some of the texture.
04-MAR-2008
04 Mar
Still testing the tripod. It would help if I could remember to pack my 4x ND filter.
Won't be getting outside for photos for the next few days, we are about to be literally swamped with a ton of rain. Only fitting that the last day without rain for a while and I take a photo of water. . .
Though this was just off the road, I had to make my own path down a rather steep, snow-filled hill. Again, spiked feet for the tripod would have come in real handy, though the Bogen retractable spiked feet would have been filled with mud after this excursion.
I really need my ND filter for this, 2 more stops would have gotten me past a 2 second shutter speed, more than enough for milky water.
Aside from the steep descent (and the tough climb back out) and the good use of the tripod, I am really amazed at how clean my lens and sensors are. I was reluctant to take this to f22 for fear of spotting, but I couldn't see anything in Lightroom. Granted this photo has a lot going for it to hide the spots, but I have yet to clean my sensor on my 40D! I've had the 40D since September '07 and have not been too careful in changing lenses (outdoors, at the beach, etc).
I definately need a better camera bag for this too, the minolta one I have has reached its limit. . .
03-MAR-2008
3 Mar
The track from a tractor that is parked up on the hill cleaning up what is left of all the homes that were recently destroyed (on purpose). It is kind of eerie to go up there now, not even foundations left now.
I did some tweaking in Lightroom on this one, the famous "Sliders to the Right" trick.
I really wish I took more photos now, this came out pretty good (if I say so myself).
My Rolleicord came in today. I believe it was part of an estate sale and came out of someone's basement. It seems to work, but does smell musty. I think I can fix that with some baking soda or something to that effect. . .
02-MAR-2008
2 Mar
Made it to Downtown Dover, NH today with the tripod. I basically had the entire park to myself since it was still covered in about 6" of snow. I got to use the tripod in a funky way today too, for my second series of shots (which really didn't do it for me back here during PP), I had to collapse two legs to allow them to rest on the brick wall beside the river. This put the camera in the correct position to shoot over the wall, down to the falls. Had I been feeling a bit more daring, I'd have moved the center column to the horizontal position and extended it over the wall. Once I get my quick release plates AND a bit more confidence, I will probably do that. No way I'm extending my 40D over a 25' drop to water covered granite on my first outdoor try!
I also got to use the remote timer cable again, though only to trip the shutter. Today would have been a great day to remember to pack my ND filter! In the shade at ISO 16, the slowest shutter speed was 1/8!!
I liked this preset, it began with a color IR preset, I tweaked it a bit from there. I like how it brought out the red, giving it a real nice lighting effect.
So far I believe the only thing missing from my tripod setup (save for the Quick Release Mount and Plates) is the retractable spiked feet. The cheesy rubber feet that comes with the 055MF3 are not gonna cut it outdoors.
01-MAR-2008
1 Mar
OK, enough taking photos of new equipment, time to use the new equipment to take photos.
I used the tripod today. I like the stability of it a lot. I also used my timer remote shutter release (a lot). I had a bunch of shots tonight, nothing was doing it for me. I was focusing on this lantern thing that I found at a store today and bought for my wife (really, I did buy it for her, I just stole it to photograph it for a while). I was trying all kinds of lighting, using a strobe to light the interior. I switched to a candle, but it still wasn't doing it for me. While looking for something to add to the photo, I realized the flowers from Valentines Day (That I photographed 2+ weeks ago) were still alive (well, kind of). This flower, lit by the soft glow of candlelight was just what this setting needed. I switched lenses (from my 28 to my 100) and changed the composition entirely, making the flower the subject (versus the lantern in the other 100+ shots).
Live view again comes in handy, getting pretty precise focus. I tried a number of different shutter speeds, amazed at how easily the highlights on the petals are blown out in this soft light. I actually had Post Processed and settled on another photo (2.5s shutter) and then did another check of some of the other photos, I liked this one, the highlights were softer, lighting in general was softer, and I liked the tonal range.
This time I kept it in color (which was my original intent). I might even load up some film into the Yashica and give it a whirl...
29-FEB-2008
29 Feb
My goodies. . .
No, this has nothing to do with the curtains. . .
The new tripod & ball head arrived today. Long day, long week, pretty tired so nothing too intense photo-wise. I'm liking the tripod, it is the Bogen 055MF3, I did mess with the center column and put it into the horizontal position (really cool). It is much lighter than I'd expected too.
The Cullman ballhead is pretty beefy. I am so glad that I actually waited on the Quick Release Plates (which are definately needed). It turns out the existing plate comes off pretty easy. I think I can remove it and mount the RRS Quick Release directly to it.
As I expected, the Cullman has a German name, background, etc. It has a Chinese price and a sticker on the box that says "Made in China". It did come with a nice little bag that should protect it.
The Yashica-D makes its way into my PaD for the 3rd day in a row now. I didn't take any photos with it today, I did buy more film for tomorrow though. I have all the legs on the Bogen extended, so the camera is about eye level with me. This is a pretty useless configuration for the Yashica as I am left with nothing but the sports-finder and wouldn't be able to focus from this height. I am not planning on using the Yashica with the tripod all that often (especially if I have to get a special RRS plate too).
28 Feb 2008
28 Feb
OK, my first Medium Format PaD post. . .
I shot a roll of 100 TMax today at lunch to get a feel for the camera and to see how it all works out.
I don't have a separate light meter so I carried my 40D around with me and took a few test shots of each subject to get the correct settings first. My first mistake was forgetting to expose for the shadows.
I am happy to report, however, that the optics look fine. The processing, however, leaves a lot to be desired. There are rouge hairs in a lot of the photos (but not on the negatives) something I've not had to worry about for a number of years.
I learned a few important lessons about film processing:
1) It is expensive
2) When asking for a "Photo CD" one should not assume they make a high resolution scan of the negatives. My guess is they scanned the prints (which are on color paper). 72 DPI color 1100x 1100 jpg doesn't do it for me. . .
3) When asked if I want to print on color or Black and White paper, chose "Black and White"
4) It is expensive.
I carried a small notebook with me and recorded all my shutter & aperture for each shot (it's been a while since I did that).
I am still very impressed with the camera, it was a lot of fun to shoot. I definately need a camera strap!!
I did get a few "Nice Camera" comments from various people. With a Point and Shoot, DSLR, or even SLR, you are lost in the noise. Carry a TLR around and people notice! I liken it to walking a Shiba Inu (our dog), you don't get far before someone stops you and asks about the breed.
27-FEB-2008
27 Feb
What a pleasant surprise to find on my doorstep tonight. Actually, I was a bit concerned that my family passed by a box on the floor of our garage in another snowstorm with water from the melted snow and rain from last night, but I digress. . .
It was pretty cold, so I let it acclimate itself to room temperature (or as long as it took me to eat supper, whichever came first).
All functions appear to work fine:
All shutter speeds working, no sticking.
All aperture values appear to work (from sight, granted).
Self timer actually works (will come in handy for SPs).
I even tried plugging one of my strobes into the pc slot and it fired the flash just fine (nice!!).
I cleaned both lenses, they appear extremely clear (I'm really only concerned with the taking lens, not the viewing).
The viewfinder works fine, the loupe is nice and clean, the matte glass is nice and clean (now).
Tomorrow I will put some film in it and fire off a roll, hopefully at lunch so I can get it developed and see what happened after I get off work. I might even get a chance to use it for my PaD. . .
My kids were all quite interested in it. They all agreed that it looked "old". I am very happy to own something that is older than I.
It doesn’t stop with the Yashica, I have a Rolleicord on the way now too. . .
26-FEB-2008
26 Feb
Feet.
Tonight's theme is/was feet!
Actually, it was the easiest thing to photograph while sprawled out on the couch watching American Idol (on the DVR!). Snowstorm post-poned our Cub Scout Pack meeting, otherwise, my son & I would be at the meeting.
I like this shot, actually I wasn't sprawled out for this one. Those are her feet, just an odd angle.
25-FEB-2008
25 Feb
As February comes to a close, I find myself spending [wasting] an inordinate amount of time seeking out a new tripod setup.
I've gone from a Gitzo w/ RRS BH-40, now to a Bogen 055XPROB (Or even a Giottos) and a Cullman 25 or 30 Nm Ball Head. . .
It is sooo confusing.
Though, I think I have a plan. . .
I really want a consistent QR mount across my tripod and monopod. Right now, I do NOT have this. It is a pain too. I have a cheesy Slik tripod with a cheesy QR plate. My monopod has a Bogen 3232(?) head with no QR. Switching between the two requires tools.
So, to make it simple:
Tripod:
Bogen 055XPROB
-or-
Giottos MT-7261
Ball Head
Cullman 25 Nm (4018)
Quick Release Clamps:
B2-Pro (for Monopod)
B2-Pro2 (for the tripod)
L-Bracket (For the 40D)
At least, this is the *plan* right now. . .
Oh yeah, almost forgot, my Aputure Timer Remote Cord (Chinese Knock Off) came in today. Got it off eBay for about $20. Very cool! For one, it is a remote shutter release cord (with a half-press for AF). I can set a simple timer, I can set an advanced timer with multiple photos. This was the main reason for getting it. Now, for family photos where I need to run around to get into the shot, I can use the timer cord and set it to take about 10 shots all a second apart.
24-FEB-2008
24 Feb
I love old barns. On my way to pick up one of my daughters from a friend's house, I noticed this barn (actually I see it every day) in the sunset. However, by the time I spun around and got set up for the shot, the sun had sunk enough in the horizon to not hit the southern face.
I played around (a bit extreme) with exposure, recovery, fill flash, blacks, and contrast on this one. I kind of like the grain.
In the spirit of Medium Format (soon, I will be shooting medium format soon) I cropped square again. . .
23-FEB-2008
23 Feb
Beacon 225 Medium Format Camera. It takes (and is actually still loaded with) Kodak 620 film. I have honestly never used this camera, I found it at the "Swap Shop" at our local Transfer station about 5 years ago (someone was getting rid of it). I just realized it still had film in it when I opened it a few weeks ago. Its too bad, I wonder if I could still develop it (actually I should try).
I am seriously looking at getting a Medium Format camera, either a Rollei or a Yashica.
In the spirit of Medium Format, I've cropped this to a square...
OK, so I had to Google the Beacon and found
this link. I think I will grab some 120 and re-roll it on the 620 spool (OK, time suck. . .). And while I am at the store to get the 120, I might as well get the mint (like never used) 1958 Yashicamat while I'm at it.
22-FEB-2008
22 Feb
My son enthralled by the internet. . .
My oldest is having her birthday sleep over (she's 13) so my son is the odd kid out. He's actually quite happy to be able to spend a lot of time on the computer (usually his sisters hog it).
21-FEB-2008
21 Feb
My wife curled up with a book (normal evening activity for her - I either take my PaD or Process it).
Just a simple casual shot emphasizing textures more than anything else.
20-FEB-2008
20 Feb
I swear that PaD photos are starting to find me now. . .
Just when I feel like I have nothing to shoot, I head out on a quest to nowhere and find something worthy of a few MBs on my CF card. . .
I actually walked up towards the tree, over a snowbank (pocked with deer tracks). Luckily all the rain and cold weather helped to keep me from dropping through and filling my shoes with snow. I took something like 60 photos of this sign, right off the bat I knew I wanted this to be a selective color photo, the question was how to compose it. I'm still not 100% satisfied with the background on the right, it needs more contrast. Part of this is my inexperience with CS3, as it was, I couldn't figure out how to get the mask to work on the ACR Smart Object (I tried to mask out the ACR settings on the green). I gave up and copied and pasted the green to its own layer then overlayed it.
I mimicked the "RAW BW 02" preset in lightroom (that I downloaded from somewhere). I think a BW Adjustment layer would have worked with the added benefit of lightening the right side background.
19-FEB-2008
19 Feb
We have a teenager. . .
Can't believe that we are now parents of a teenager. And we will not be allowed to forget either.
Mom got her red streaks in her hair for her birthday, dad got a captive model for a couple of shoots (to get a picture of the red streaks for the grandparents).
Two lights, camera left and right. Had to actually get them in rather close, even then there is still some shading. I can now see the need for the third hair light too, add a bit more definition and contrast between her and the background. This is from the 2nd shoot, the first had no black background, behind the black cloth is our brick fireplace. The brick was a good idea at the time, but it provided almost no contrast and there is a black metal door (mock oven) that was just too distracting.
18-FEB-2008
18 Feb
Photo of my son and his trains.
Very foggy, dreary day today, not conducive to digital equipment (at least not mine).
This is a simple shot from when we still had better daylight. Things are tight with the 100mm, had to get him pretty close to the train to keep it all in frame (I was about 6' back, not much more room to go either).
17-FEB-2008
17 Feb
Spooning Banannas.
Back on the still life thing. I used the Northern lighting again (tomorrow it is supposed to be overcast/raining so most likely no more natural lighting this weekend).
Took photos of fruit (exciting weekend, huh?).
Today, my intent was a Black and White photo and it wound up a split tone.
The black and white wasn't working on this shot (my favorite of the bunch, so to speak).
All Post Processing done in Lightroom.
03-FEB-2008
16 Feb
My wife bought some flowers for the children for Valentine's Day and I just noticed them on the table. Brought them upstairs to our bedroom with the North Facing window and took a lot of different shots. I intended to stick with color for this, but on a whim I applied a BW preset & really liked it. I did a bit more tweaking and like the tonal range in BW versus color.
15-FEB-2008
15 Feb
Went back to the destruction site today and took a bunch of photos of one of the piles of house.
I didn't notice the writing or the grain on this particular stud until later during Post Processing.
I did all PP in Lightroom, I wish I could have done more selective muting of the highlights on the snow & reduced some of the grain in the background (clouds/sky). I'd wanted a bit of a spotlight effect on the grainy wood too, something I could do in Photoshop Elements, but am struggling with in CS3. I'm just not as comfortable in CS3 yet. . .
14-FEB-2008
14 Feb
While walking in Prescott Park today, I saw this Snow Statue/Sculpture. It was tough to get a good shot, much less walk in the park (lots of water beneath the snow).
Got better detail in Black & White.
13-FEB-2008
13 Feb
I am trying to look for scenes with Red Green & Blue in them, yesterday I found one, but during Post Processing, I realized the colors were so muted (shot in the shade on an overcast day anyway) that it didn't look right. Today I was too busy for a lunch and never made it outdoors (though it was raining all day, so I didn't miss much). This evening I had to come up with an idea.
My kids were kind of fascinated by this shot, though I had to keep telling them to stop moving. I had Live Preview on, zoomed in max and had manually focused the shot. I had the timer set to 10 seconds which was just enough for the movement to stop (kind of). Our dartboard is on the second floor, 3 kids, all drawn to Dad with his camera gear... Lots of movement.
Ambient light is spot halogen, used the 580EX2 bounced to the rear off a Cape (slanted) very white ceiling.
I am still playing around with ACR Calibration, I found a plugin that works, but after running for a 1/2 hour, I didn't follow instructions and screwed up the final open...
Oh yes, I know ISO 1600, this was more of a "yeah, I can do usable ISO 1600" than a "I really needed ISO 1600" type shot.
12-FEB-2008
12 Feb
My goal was to run through the
AcrCalibrator and have some stunning colors to display. However, that was not the case. The script kept crashing, I tried to debug it, but I am not familiar with the Adobe CS3 Object Model (yet) so I was able to make it further, but still had some problems.
This is a Door (yeah, like you needed to know that). I saw it in Strawberry Bank, in Portsmouth, NH. The whole door looked incredibly boring, besides the details of the cracked paint were lost, this is a pretty tight crop. I think it gets the character of the door correct.
11-FEB-2008
11 Feb
Wandering aimlessly in the driving cold, I found a dock. . .
Actually, I had a semi-plan that went amuck. My plan was to find some kind of waterfront scene. It was in the 20's and there was a strong wind, creating a lot of chop on the bay. I wound up on the back-back bay in Durham, NH. I found two new places to take photos (well actually three). Perhaps when it is not so cold, I will give them a shot.
Spent all of 2 mins taking a series of photos of this dock. That was all I could stand with my gloves off. I had to re-warm my fingers in the car after standing outside for that amount of time.
Minor tweaking in Lightroom, I'm not overly overjoyed with this shot.
10-FEB-2008
10 Feb
Today I decided to play around with eyes. It was also snowing out so that nixed the outdoor shots.
I "stole" my son for a bit (my wife decided that she was not into modeling today). I sat him down beside a North facing sliding door and had him try his best at posing.
My main goal here was to capture the eyes. He has blue eyes that would look striking with a selective color treatment. I did have to enhance his eyes a tad. It is amazing how much of a time suck Photoshop can be. About 10 mins to take the photos and an hour to Post Process it!
09-FEB-2008
9 Feb
Hey, its not a Black & White!!
I was out with my oldest on our way back from a failed trip to find "modern flute music" for a friend's birthday when I saw this garage door.
My daughter really didn't understand my fascination with "an ugly old garage door" but I sure did.
I tweaked the colors a bit in Lightroom to try to match what I saw. The yellow was desaturated from the weathering. I dropped into CS3 for a bit to darken some distracting hoses inside the garage. The windows are really missing, but in two of the open windows, there were some kind of something that could be seen.
I like the surrounding red also.
08-FEB-2008
8 Feb
I have, however, decided to NOT follow any advice from said book this evening. It is getting late and my original photos all suck (I took them while it was still snowing out so there are flakes throughout the photos that look like dust specs).
I was able to take a few shots of the wife & kids with great hopes of trying out some of the techniques in the book. After screwing around for a 1/2 hour or so in Photoshop, I have given up and decided to tweak in Lightroom for now. I'll use the sample images from the book & follow along at a later time.
And, yes, I must work on getting properly exposed!
Oh yeah, so I am in Best Buy this evening looking at stuff and I walk over to check out the 40D (make sure the price hasn't dropped ;). There is this young (real young) couple looking at DSLR's (Nikon). The boyfriend snaps a shot of his girlfriend and she asks to look at the preview image. The next thing I hear is "Black and White! That is so stupid! Why would anyone use a camera to take Black and White shots?". I quickly made my way to the iPod section.
07-FEB-2008
7 Feb
Woke up to snowy/slushy/cruddy type weather. It continued to snow pretty much all day. The good thing about all of this is the fact that it makes for some good photo oppurtunities.
Goal for today was to locate either a tree or some leaves (yeah, they are kind of connected) with snow on them and take some photos.
Mission accomplished.
Oak leaves turn brown and remain on the trees. This would have been better had it been a red leave, but then that would be a Maple and those fall off in the fall. And, well, it's not fall anymore. . .
06-FEB-2008
6 Feb
Still had the 70-200 in the bag today, when I left at lunch, I'd hoped to get back to the coast, just a little further down. It was actually misting out and I decided it wouldn't be worth the extra ride to where I wanted to go, so I headed to downtown Portsmouth instead. Prescott park was quite empty today (go figure). No problems with parking at all.
Took a bunch of photos off the public pier, these gulls are my favorite (and, as a rule, I cannot stand gulls).
The guy on the right was keeping an eye on me (literally).
I actually didn't blow out the background, it was very overcast and foggy, there really was no detail behind the gulls.
05-FEB-2008
5 Feb
Today started out as a beautiful New England snowy morning. We got a few inches (enough to break out the snowblower) overnight and stopping in the early morning. I was looking forward to taking some shots of the trees. I realized that wasn't going to happen when I was clearing the driveway and it started raining out.
The temperature rose and the rain eventually stopped, leaving a warm(er) mass of air hovering over all this new snow. While at lunch, the fog moved in, armed with nothing but telephotos, I decided to make the best of it. I think that in the fog, a wider angle lens would help as you have to be closer to subjects to keep their detail.
I went off aimlessly in search of something to shoot, took a few shots that left me with a "blah" feeling, then turned a corner and realized that I had to catch the relatively straight road in the fog. Luckily it is a not very well traveled road, so I had a lot of time straddling the double yellow lines.
I'm still working on the Black and White conversions, apparently they will not come out like I envision them (but I keep on chugging along...).
04-FEB-2008
4 Feb
Bridge, Dock, Water, and Reflections. . .
What more could you ask for?
Another tough choice, there were two others that were pretty close, but this one won out today.
I went out to
Odiorne State Park for a quick lunch break today. I was at the North end, near the boat launch, not the main entrance near the coastal defense batteries. That end hosts a gallery of photos. Odiorne State Park was 'the' place for field trips when I was growing up. All the underground caves and bunkers were a ball to run through (even though most were off limits).
So, again, I wasn't at that end. Somehow I managed to not fall on my butt while walking through the muck seeking out photos.
Here are the other two that didn't make the "PaD cut":
03-FEB-2008
3 Feb
Did a little "South Facing Window Lighting". This flower thing is beside our bed and has been there for some ages (can't be more than 10 years though). What I'd set out to do was use some strobes and catch the dust coming off the petals while I thumped it or blew on it. When I got setup, however, I realized I'd really like to try some natural lighting instead.
Irony = Getting in closer to the flower & then blowing on it to get something off it, only to have a puff of dust come out. Time to clean the 28mm f/1.8!
02-FEB-2008
2 Feb
So, now that Lightroom is all set, I have moved onto my next quest - HDR. I downloaded the CS3 trial, but held off on installing it. Instead I downloaded the Photomatix Basic program, used it for all of 2 minutes, uninstalled it, then downloaded the 3.0 Beta(9). The Beta is just that, a Beta, I got it to crash in under a minute. This morning I downloaded Beta 10 and it won't even display an image when loaded (nice!). So I uninstalled it and reinstalled Beta 9 and played around with some shots I'd been staging for the past 3 months or so (basically bracketing on occasion to get to try HDR at some point).
I was able to learn that HDR isn't what I wanted, Tone Mapping was what I wanted. I am down with Tone Mapping. I was able do some Tone Mapping (via the Beta) on single Raw files. I really liked the results, but then I decided to compare the results to my PaD photos (I was playing around with a few of the PaD originals). I had problems telling the difference, actually I kind of preferred my PaD photos over the Tone Mapped ones.
So I decided to install CS3 and play with its HDR capabilities. CS3 is NOT Photoshop Elements, there are a lot more ways to shoot yourself in the foot in CS3. Anyway, I learned a valuable lesson, even though I installed 2 other products that had the updated ACR (4.3), when you install CS3, it doesn't install with the latest ACR. And, if you don't have the updated ACR AND you try to do an Automate | Merge to HDR, nothing happens! Nothing, no warning dialog, no crashing, no odd sounds, just nothing. You are left with a sort of empty feeling. You are pretty sure something is not right, but you aren't familiar with the situation, you figure something is happening, it's just happening in the background. And it is so efficient, its using 0% CPU! So, yeah, I checked and CS3 had the wrong ACR.
OK, so I got all this stuff happening on my PC, I head out and take some shots that will be perfect for test HDR images. When I got back home and tried them out, they kind of sucked. I have to spend more time on HDR (just like I need to play with the Stroboscopic mode on my 580EX2...).
So, that is why I have a BW of a door. I do like this shot, its just nothing like what I'd wanted it to be.
01-FEB-2008
1 Feb
A new month. . .
So I lost my trial of Lightroom last night. I eBayed a copy & had the seller email me the serial number, but he transposed it wrong & it failed (of course). Based on the knowledge of my loss, I packed the A80 today. Actually, I'd been wanting to blow the dust off of it for a while anyway, this was a great reason.
I tweaked the camera on BW, spot metering, Manual mode & went to work. Literally, I took a bunch of photos on my desk at work (while some code was compiling in the background). This was the P&S that got me into DSLR's. It was the full manual control (even manual focus) that got me back into the mode.
A few simple tweaks in Lightroom, dust spec removal (my A80 has a spec somewhere in the middle of the lens). Unlike my other Black & Whites, this one is permanent. I shoot with the Monochrome Picture Style a lot, however, I always shoot RAW. When I import my photos into Lightroom, after the previews have been regenerated, the photos revert back to color.
On the A80, it's all in camera processing to spit out a jpg. There's no going back on this one.
Oh yeah, so Lightroom is all fixed...
31-JAN-2008
31 Jan
Capping off my first full PaD month of 2008.
This was a tough one, last night I saw lights in the lot that is just above our parking lot at work. I thought it was snow removal. This morning when I came in and looked at the lot, there was a pile of rubble instead of a house. There are (or were) a few houses left up there. Where I work and the surrounding area, used to be Officer Base Housing when the Tradeport was Pease Air Force Base.
My interest piqued, I decided that I'd investigate at lunch for my PaD. I called it the "Destruction Site" since there was nothing but the fireplace & chimney left from the house (and the foundation). I started taking photos of all the carnage. Off the back corner of the foundation, there were a number of beams that had been placed or dropped during the destruction process. Between the foundation and the beam pile, I noticed a few old crumpled newspapers. At first I disregarded them, thinking they were relatively new, but then decided to check them out since their color showed some age. The date on the most legible one was 28 Mar 1968. About 2 1/2 months before I was born (interestingly enough, my mother used the base's services while pregnant with me since my father was in Viet Nam).
I figured the newspaper was used by the construction crew to shim the beams. There was a relatively clean hole through the middle of one of the crumpled newspapers, about the size of a large bolt. The newspaper had been sandwiched into the walls of the former house for almost 40 years!
I decided that the newspaper on the foundation with the carnage of the former house in the background would be my goal. I tried as hard as I could to get the date in focus. It was in the 20's, I was crouching, in mud, fingers frozen. Thank god for Live View! I was able to compose the shot, check focus, and get a number of decent shots.
Ideally, I'd have gotten more of the concrete in the foreground to add to the depth of field. As it is, I had to be generous in my cropping in order to keep the date fairly legible.
I decided to keep this a color shot, since the colors are really what drew me. The paper itself was already sepia...
Here's a few that didn't make the PaD:
30-JAN-2008
30 Jan
On my way to Best Buy today (I actually took a lunch break), I noticed a set of birch trees that had a nice stormy background and were well lit from the sun as it peeked through the clouds.
On my way back, I stopped and took a few photos, waiting from time to time as the sun was covered by the clouds. The background wasn't a clean as I'd like, there is an industrial horizon that I cropped out, but the lighting is great.
Yet another Black and White, I will get back into a color streak at some point.
Today is my last day on my Lightroom trial (whoops). Hopefully I will win a copy on eBay and not suffer any break in Lightroom service. At this point, I am addicted to it and wouldn't survive long.
29-JAN-2008
29 Jan
Though this looks like something from yesterday, I did, in fact, take it tonight.
Last night, while trying to do the SP, I got part of my unruly beard (as others have called it) and kind of liked the look. I moved in front of some brickwork for a nice background, then cropped it right out.
At first I set up my Cactus triggers until I realized I didn't have enough light for the AF. So I put the 580EX2 back on the camera and broke out the 420EX again (just like last night).
This isn't exactly what I wanted, but it will do. I am still continuing my light theme.
I think I will have to load the Canon software on my laptop to help with SP's this is a royal pain. The AF locks on when I half press the shutter and not when the shot is actually taken. This means I have to be in my position when I hit the button and wait 2 seconds for the timer to kick in. The Remote live view would be great, it would solve my low light AF problem too, as I could manually focus, using the reflected light from my laptop.
28-JAN-2008
28 Jan
Wow, this was a hard one today.
Also, hard to followup yesterdays. I can't believe that I've got over 2200 hits to my site in the past two days. I normally get about 200 a day.
So, long day, didn't get out at lunch. On the drive home, I decided to play with the Stroboscope feature on the 580EX2 only that didn't go so well. It was definately cool, but also definately looked like it was my first time mucking with the strobe.
So I had to come up with something. . .
Sticking with the playing with light.
Started with the glow from my monitor (Lightroom was active, so a greyish hue was cast) and just the 580EX on camera, pointing to camera left & bounced off wall. The initial batch was good, but my eye was too shaded. I broke out my 420EX and used it as a slave. I moved it all around, I believe that for this shot, I was hand holding the slave below camera left. I decided to open my eye wide, apparently it is a tad lazy.
I think I need more ambient to get a more clear eye shot. That might be next.
27-JAN-2008
27 Jan
Abstract nude, playing with light.
I happen to have the most wonderful model for this shot, she's been patient through a couple of sessions as I try to get the lighting and tone that I was looking for.
This was the second attempt, the goal was to shoot a B&W image with the light hitting her just right. I had to string up a black background to keep our closet doors and normal clutter out of the back of the shot. It turns out the backdrop wasn't large enough (I originally got it for head shots). The low lighting of the background and the final Post Processing pretty much underexposes any peripheral clutter.
This was one of the best shots (that we could put in the public pages), accentuating her curves.
On the shot itself, I found it ironic that the key for this shot was the use of the spot meter on the light itself. Yesterday, out on POTN (Photography On The Net), I had written that the Spot Meter was something I really wanted, but never really used.
Lighting is a South facing skylight, well difused with new snow (not to mention there was really no sun today with all the snow).
26-JAN-2008
26 Jan
This was not my original PaD idea, my wife put the kibosh on some really good photos we did earlier today which would have been perfect for pbase. Yeah, nudes, a few will go up on our walls, but not gonna make it on the internet.
However, tonight our Cub Scout pack had the local climbing wall booked for the evening. It was a blast (at least for my son, I only got to try one wall).
He was a bit hesitant at first, only making it up about 6' or so on his first climb. He'd get about a foot higher for each of his next attempts. Once he switched walls (this place has a ton of different climbing areas), he found one wall (the "Red wall") that he could reach the top. He climbed this wall about 6 or 8 times (I think it was 20' high, not 100% sure).
After 2 1/2 hours of literally climbing the walls, he finally got tired. He'll sleep well tonight.
25-JAN-2008
25 Jan
My oldest was in a Geography Bee, sponsored by the parents of one of her good friends. I really didn't know what to expect, but since I am a geek, I had a blast. My daughter (in shades) has become a bit of a ham (potentially taking after her father).
Here is a great example for yet another use for the 100mm f/2.8 macro, it's usefulness goes way beyond photographing bugs. Indoors, even though I used the 580EX2 with the Better Bounce card, I really didn't need the flash at all.
At one point early on, someone who must have worked for the newspaper came by with two cannons around his neck, one had a 70-200 f/2.8IS on it. I wanted someone to distract him while I took it (perhaps he wouldn't notice?).
24-JAN-2008
24 Jan
I went to the
Great Bay Wildlife Refuge today (finally) and had a blast (albeit cold and short). The parking lot sits across from the old ammunitions storage facility. Inside this facility is this old tower. It was the first thing I photographed (rusty, contrast, etc) and I never expected it to be my PaD. During my Lightroom processing, I was drawn to this photo.
I created a new gallery for my "Not PaD" shots. I have a few runner ups from today out there:
A "Split Tree" with cool lighting along one of the trails:
A view of a frozen pond, complete with a cool crack in the ice:
23-JAN-2008
23 Jan
Been venturing further and furhter out for my PaD at lunch. Today, I took a wrong turn and wound up somewhere I'd not expected (heading into the center of Portsmouth, NH). I decided to head to the coast (well, we are on the coast, but head more on the coast...) and took Route 1-A, a road I don't think I've been on since I was a teenager (oh-so-many-years-ago). I never made it to said coast, this beautiful stone church appeared on my left. I took a number of shots, but the red door is what I liked the best back here in Lightroom. I did a little tweaking on the red, I wanted to bring it out, I like the contrast to the stone (that actually has a little color in it).
Maybe I will make it to the coast tomorrow...
22-JAN-2008
22 Jan
What better way to start the work week than to take a contrasty photo?
When I am in the "PaD mode" virtually everything I see has some kind of photographic quality to it. At least, that is what my current "PaD mode" feels like. I will admit that my other PaD attempts weren't like this. I would spend at least 2 hours in the taking of the photos (usually a hundred or so) then the Post Processing of them. The 40D and Lightroom have really helped in this department (and a little credit goes to me too ;)
Looking back on my current PaD, I can see that I am in a contrasty/grainy/saturated mood. Perhaps the arrival of spring will change this (spring is a long, long, way off).
21-JAN-2008
21 Jan
My goal was to find something grainy today. I didn't have far to go. This is an end to an old saw horse from when I cut our firewood. We used to have a wood stove for supplementary heat in our family room (though it could heat the entire house quite nicely). We traded that in for a Propane stove that looks like a wood stove about 4 or 5 years ago. With the price of oil & propane now, I kind of wish we still had a wood stove (though my back sure doesn't).
OK, anyway, grain.
Again Post Processing in Lightroom. I just restarted Lightroom and I am down to 10 days remaining on my trial. Since I am basically hooked now (yeah, the trial is like drugs I guess) I will be purchasing the full version here shortly (which means "the last minute").
20-JAN-2008
20 Jan
This was my goal today. To get out of the house and find a wintry gravestone & shadow to photograph. Picked a much colder day (than yesterday) to do this, also had to hike into the cemetary as the entrance was closed. The things we do for our hobbies...
Light processing in Lightroom.
Also trying to catch up with my 35mm negative scanning project. I kind of went way past my 2nd archive DVD limit (I am working in batches that will fit on a 4.7 GB DVD). I have a bit of catchup to do, identify date/time, keywords, etc. Once I get past this particular batch, it will go much smoother. The first 2 batches were of 1800 photos in loose negatives. The next few batches are neatly arranged in tubs/containers and have the photo wallets (with date/time of development). I should take a photo or two of this process.
19-JAN-2008
19 Jan
Spent a lot of time telecommuting today so I never got outside to either enjoy the day or take some kind of earth-shattering outdoor photo. I like this shot though. My son following along during story time.
Again with the 28mm f/1.8 & the 580EX2. The more I use this flash, the more I like it. You can get in close and not wash the subject out.
Very little Post Processing in Lightroom (BW Preset & Crop).
18-JAN-2008
18 Jan
My youngest daughter & I watching American Idol. Been a busy week, we DVR'd American Idol and she's been hoping to watch it every night since, but I've had to work late. . .
We got to watch some of it tonight.
I used my wife's P&S too, the photo works all around for me, I am wiped after this week and really wanted to relax, I believe that comes through in the image.
The SD800IS is a great camera, I bought it for my wife last Xmas ('06) but I think I use it more. It came in real handy when we were in Disney this fall, I could use it to take photos of the whole family on a ride, something I couldn't (and wouldn't) do with my 40D.
17-JAN-2008
17 Jan
Here's my son making a mean face. Before I was ready, he made this really good pouting face that no matter what I did to coach him, he could not duplicate.
Just a simple shot. Yet another extremely busy day at work. It is good to be able to come home and employ these little, low-cost, models for my PaD work.
My goal today was to play with my grey card to get the White Balance correct. I like how I can use Lightroom to set the WhiteBalance for a group of shots.
16-JAN-2008
16 Jan
On my way to what I thought was going to be my PaD shoot, I got pleasantly distracted by this abandoned Guardhouse. Even when Pease was still an active Air Force Base, this guardhouse was not used that often (I never drove through this gate). It does, however, make for a great thing to shoot.
More photos can be seen in my new Abandoned Guardhouse gallery:
15-JAN-2008
15 Jan
Last week, when I went out and about searching for a PaD photo, I found this area and took a few shots of some leaves that remained on this tree exposed to the sun. I went back to the same area and took photos of the leaves, they didn't do it for me a week ago when I reviewed them in LR and they didn't do it for me again tonight. I've settled on this stream/barbed wire shot instead.
This is on the border of the Great Bay Wildlife Refuge. I am sure I will have many more keepers in this region (especially if I stumbled upon a
Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L with me.
14-JAN-2008
14 Jan
What is incredible about this photo is not its composition or the fact that it is surrounded by fresh snow. It is that as the last one out of work today, I was surprised to find that someone had taken the time to clean off my car for me. I didn't have to wade through snow drifts, clean off my car, curse, and freeze my fingertips off trying to uncover my vehicle and make it safe for interstate travel. Instead, in an elated state of glee, I did the first thing anyone under the influence of Digital photographic paraphernalia would do, I took off my gloves, got my camera ready, and proceeded to freeze the tips of my fingertips taking photos of this good deed.
No PP, just Lightroom & Export.
I had a few shots of the snowpile in front of my car, but none did justice to the 18" bank that blocked the front of the car in. Instead of blasting through the pile, I backed out (not very dramatic).
13-JAN-2008
13 Jan
Saw this while waiting for my daughter (Sunday School). The church parking lot has lots of goodies for PaDs. . .
Another tweak with one of the 300 styles in Lightroom. Also had to crop and rotate to get rid of a green chain-link fence in background.
This is part of an old sign that hung over the entrance of a Cemetary, it was resting against a tree. There is no cemetary nearby, but that fact really doesn't matter with this photo ;-)
12-JAN-2008
12 Jan
Tiger scouts at the Portland Pirates Hockey game this evening.
My son was asked if he wanted to participate in the flag ceremony this evening (we were already going, it was cub scout night). He wasn't shy in front of all those people. We got there late, he really didn't have time to worry about it.
The angle isn't all that great. We had to stand back, off the ice with their backs to us. There was a moment or two where the people guarding/watching the opening, moved a way so I could get a shot or two in. Had to flip to ISO 1600. This is definately NOT a fast lens, I thought I was going to be too far away for my 28mm f/1.8. In hindsight, I could have left the 28mm on and just cropped. It was all so fast, when they were rolling out two carpets, we thought that the boys were going to be in the middle of the rink. They rolled out the carpets into a T, so they were much closer to us then we expected.
11-JAN-2008
11 Jan
SP Friday. A rare actual SP of me.
I have a splitting headache from a hectic day, what better way to finish it off than to mess around with an SP?
I'm not a huge fan of SPs (just look at my galleries) but at least the model was easy to deal with!
Another Lightroom developed photo. And I am back to my EF 28mm lens.
I'm sitting at my computer desk, but the camera is pointing up. This was the angle I wanted, I'd thought about having the camera level with me so the computer screen is in the background, however, my desk is so cluttered, there would be too much distracting crap in the background.
10-JAN-2008
10 Jan
This didn't come out exactly like I had wanted it to. The mere fact that I was able to get a photo taken and posted is quite incredible.
I wanted to play a little with balancing exposure without a flash. I had the wrong lens to try a DOF effect too.
I also forgot my grey card at home today too.
09-JAN-2008
9 Jan
Got a lamp post today.
I really like the different shapes in this photo. I wish I could have had a better angle so that the brick would be even, but that was not physically possible (I wanted the lamp post to be parallel beside the window).
I'm going to get hooked on this "300" Preset for Lightroom, I started with it, then tweaked from there.
08-JAN-2008
8 Jan
On the way to the camera store (the ONLY camera store left within a 45 mile radius, and they pretty much only sell used cameras at that), I saw this foot bridge. My main goal at the camera store was to purchase a grey card to help get my colors more on target. What better way to test out a grey card then to shoot a Black & White shot ;-)
Actually, the grey card remained in the car while I walked to the bridge. I am definately NOT off to a good start with said grey card, my saving grace, however, is that I knew this scene would be converted to Black & White during PP...
07-JAN-2008
7 Jan
OK, I like this one. I liked it when I was out snapping my PaD for today and liked it when I was playing with the new Presets I got for Lightroom. The preset I used is called "300 v1" I got it from:
http://inside-lightroom.com/index.php
I could easily get carried away with all the new presets, well OK I am getting carried away.
06-JAN-2008
6 Jan
There was this fence I was looking at while waiting for my oldest to get out of Sunday School (or whatever they call it now). There was a better shot, but the angle was wrong, and there were some shrub branches in the foreground that interfered with the scene (I knew this while I was there, but wanted that effect).
Again, everything in Lightroom.
05-JAN-2008
5 Jan
Took the two youngest to Powder House Hill in South Berwick. Our own little ski/snowboard/sledding hill here in town. Took over 200 photos, these two wipe outs were some of my favorites. Sledding and wipe outs are a great past time out/up/over here.
Used the 70-200 on these (actually for all our shots).
Oh, found another benefit to the 40D, I was able to take most of the photos with my gloves on!!
Did the organization and some tweaking in Lightroom, but had to drop to Elements (4.0) for the montage. I don't think this is possible in Lightroom alone (I could be wrong though).
04-JAN-2008
4 Jan
OK, a bit of a different effect for this year ;)
Again, nothing but Lightroom, playing with the Sliders to the Right trick with a few presets and a crop.
In the spirit of SP Friday, I had a winter shadow shot, but saw this tractor (and one beside it) after I shot my shadow. I took a few shots of the tractors as a backup. It was a good thing because the sun was behind some high clouds for the shadow shot, there wasn't enough contrast for it to work (even with slight mucking around in Lightroom).
03-JAN-2008
3 Jan
This felt much better when I was taking it. I don't think it's all that bad.
Here is an example of wishing I'd remembered to pack my 580EX2, it could have used a bit of fill.
I actually rotated it to add a little something to it during PP (in Lightroom).
Another Lightroom only photo. . .
Oh yeah, it was about 8 degrees (Farenheit) when I took this, rather cold out there.
Yeap, another shot with the 28mm off the end of my camera.
02-JAN-2008
2 Jan
OK, this one came out better today.
It seems to work out better when I actually make some time during the day (read: sunlight) to take a shot or two.
I am working with a demo copy of
Lightroom primarily to help organize the 5000 or so images that I am converting from 35mm negatives. What I am liking about Lightroom is that I can import some completely different photos (read: pbase PaD stuff) and NOT ruin the organization effort of my conversion process.
So back to this image. It is a tree branch with a nice snowy background. I believe I took it at +1 maybe +1 1/3 stop (Yeah, I could just look at the Exif) and then used a Lightroom preset (Age photo) which I really like.
Oh yeah, the EF 28mm f/1.8 hasn't come off my 40D in the past week+. Something about the 40D is making this lens a joy.
01-JAN-2008
1 Jan
My first entry for the new year. . .
One of those "It really sounded like a good idea at the time" kind of shots.
Snow, off camera flash, below camera, aiming slightly up 1/128 power.