Sunday, July 29, 2012

LensProToGo 52 Week Photo Project - Week 30 Submission

My submission for week 30 themed water.


I had lots of different ideas for this week but last night while looking through the shots I had taken for this weekly theme none of them really jumped out at me. While thinking about how I could take a shot that would be unique I got the idea that instead of taking a photo above the water why not use my Canon PowerShot D10, which can take pictures underwater without a separate housing, and take a picture under water. With that in mind Donna and I headed to the neighborhood pool this morning and took several shots. This particular shot is of bubbles that are made as water splashes into the pool from several fountains the shoot water into the air. The shot was taken by holding the camera underwater and pointing it towards the surface.


Alternate photo I considered using.

Road Trip Pictures

Some pictures from the road. In many cases I've uploaded the normal aspect and square aspect versions so you can see the differences. Although the images may look the same in the post they aren't. Click one to view larger and then you can see them all in the proper format.


Some berries. Anyone know what kind they are? This one is in the square format.


Berries in the normal format.


Fedex Truck in square format. I've never seen one with 3 trailers before.


FedEx truck in normal format.


Dig that chain link steering wheel.


Flower in square format.


Flower in normal format.


Old Cougar but notice the reflection :(.


Mountains in square format.


Mountains in normal format.


Road sign in square format. Notice the upper left hand corner and then look at next image.


Road sign in normal format. Notice how you can see part of the windshield.


Terry at a really cool statue. This statue sits suspended in water and you can actually rotate it.


Terry making a self portrait using the side mirror.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

15 Things I Learned on my 2000 Mile Road Trip

Our son in the Army, Terry, is being transferred from Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Washington to Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma for tech school. Because it's 2000 miles (3218 KM) between the two bases I flew out to Tacoma and helped Terry make the drive. Our goal was to average 500 miles a day. Below are some random thoughts about things I learned/discovered along the way. In the image below each red pin represents a spot where at least one photo was taken. There's actually more than are shown but I couldn't zoom in any more and keep the entire route on the screen.

  1. Sitting in the middle seat of an airplane for 5 1/2 hours sucks. It does matter if you have the nicest people in the world sitting on either side of you it still sucks.
  2. A few of the states we drove through had 75 MPH (120 KPH) speed limits on the Interstate and that rules. We set the cruise control on 80 MPH (128 KPH) and just sat back and enjoyed the scenery as it whizzed by.
  3. I could not believe how wide open it is out west. There times when we'd travel for over and hour without seeing anything taller than the exit signs on the Interstate.
  4. Terry and I can go through some David brand sunflower seeds. That was our snack of choice between meal stops.
  5. It was odd seeing signs such as "Next exit 45 miles (72 KM)". Here in the South East exits are way more frequent than that.
  6. I brought my 45mm 1.8 lens and didn't use it once.
  7. I used the kit 12-50 lens and was wishing I had something even wider than 12mm. I will probably be buying either the Olympus 9-18 or Panasonic 7-14 lens at some point in the future.
  8. Tinted windows make a great polarizing filter but you have to watch out for reflections. In sever of the shots we took you can see parts of us reflected off of the window.
  9. My small Tamrac Travel pack 73 backpack continues to perform very well. It has gotten a lot of use in the short time I've owned it.
  10. This one is a biggie for me. I have been reading an eBook about shooting in the square format so I decided to shoot with my E-M5 using that aspect ratio rather than the standard 4:3 aspect ratio. I had mistakenly thought that when shooting with this aspect ratio and RAW format that the camera would record two images. The RAW one in 4:3 aspect ratio and a JPG in the 1:1 aspect ratio. WRONG! The aspect ratio is embedded in the EXIF data and programs such as Lightroom honor this data so your image that you thought would be in the 4:3 aspect ratio shows up in Lightroom as a 1:1 ratio. Which if you think about it Lightroom should honor the information in the EXIF data but it would be nice if there was an easy way to reset it.
  11. The first day Terry and I shot 130 images and all of them were recorded in the square format.
  12. Fortunately I have found a plug-in for Lightroom called DeAspect that allows you to take an image in an aspect ratio other than 4:3 and reset it to 4:3. This free plug-in has been a life saver for me!
  13. I had forgotten how hot it gets out west. I once lived in San Antonio, TX but have been out of that state since 1994. Holy cow the heat is intense. When we arrived in Oklahoma on Saturday it was 106 degrees (41C) out. When I left on Sunday it was 108 degrees (42C). It gets hot here but nothing like that!
  14. We were in Colorado on the Saturday that the shootings took place in Aurora. What a tragic event. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of the victims involved.
  15. To sum things up as Visa may say in one of their commercials: One way ticket to Tacoma Washington - $365.00, Distance between Tacoma and Lawton - 2000 miles, 4 days on the road with your son - Priceless

I am going through the photos now and will post some soon.

Monday, July 23, 2012

LensProToGo 52 Week Photo Project - Week 29 Submission

My submission for week 29 themed Summer.

I struggled with this theme a good bit. There are so many different things that could represent summer and I couldn't decide on which one to choose. This past week I helped my son make the 2000 mile move from Tacoma, Washington to Lawton, Oklahoma. This shot was taken through the windshield of the car as we passed through the small town of La Grande, Oregon during a late afternoon rain shower. When I saw this theater it immediately brought back memories from my summers as a kid. One of the highlights was the weekly movie my brother and I used to go watch. So of all of the things that could possibly represent summer this theater made me think back to my summers as a kid so that's why I chose it. You may notice the square format. I've been reading an eBook regarding shooting using the square format and that's how I shot everthing on the first day, using the square format.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Protecting His Nest

This is a very photo intensive post but the photos tell the story. Yesterday I had a opportunity to watch the male Eastern Bluebird (Daddy as we call him) protect his nest from an unsuspecting Mourning Dove that landed too close. All shots were taken with my E-M5 and Olympus 40-150 lens. You can click on the images to view larger versions of them.


Daddy on the left and Momma on the right. The dish next to Momma is where we put mealworms for them.


Unsuspecting Mourning Dove


The Dove finally decides to fly away.


The victor!

Friday, July 13, 2012

LensProToGo 52 Week Photo Project - Week 28 Submission

My submission for week 28 themed texture


This is a close up shot of one of the flowers in a display we have on our dining room table. The flower was lit with light coming in through a near by window.

LensProToGo 52 Week Photo Project - Week 27 Submission

My submission for week 27 themed reflection.


The afternoon sun reflected off of the ripples in the water. In a way it looks to me anyway like there's oil on the water but there's not.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Expose to the Right or Expose to the Left. Does it matter? Part 2

In Part One we took a look at how images looked when using various levels of exposure compensation. In this second part we'll take a closer look at those images to see what kind of noise is present. Is it still better to expose to the right or to the left or does it matter? You can click on the images to view a larger version. I think once you review the images it'll be pretty obvious which exposure method is better.


+3.0


+2.7


+2.3


+20


+1.7


+1.3


+1


+.7


+.3


+0 but after clicking auto button


-.3


-.7


-1.0


-1.3


-1.7


-2.0


-2.3


-2.7


-3.0