Week 50, Day 349, April 13, 2010, Low Clouds

I had some fun with today's photo.   I began by taking photos of  the long shadows of the trees across the corn field.  At first I was attempting to take photos of just the shadows.  Then I noticed if I walked down the hill the shadows were looking much more interesting from the bottom of the hill.  I then tipped the lens up and started to see the cumulus clouds.  I liked how the shadow of the trees began to look like the shadows of the clouds.  Now all we need is some cool mountains to set the tone. :-)

Lessons Learned:

• Taking photos up a hill can make the clouds in the sky look closer to the ground.
• I can really see the effects of the circular polarizer filter in the sky.  I like the effect, but it definitely doesn't look completely natural.    I may tone it back a little next time.  What do the rest of you do?

Photo details: Exposure time 1/100 sec, Aperture f/8.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 17 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, handheld, circular polarizer filter. 

Week 12, Day 79, July 18, 2009 "Tent Over Winefest" Winner of Week 12 in the Online Viewer Poll.

The Finger Lakes Wine Festival took place at the Watkins Glenn International Raceway. It's an interesting event were the participants pay an admission ticket to sample wines from most of the Finger Lakes Wineries. During the day people can purchase wine, and put a sticker on the bottle. The bottles are collected and held at a tent near the exit. At that point the people collect all their wine bottles to take home.

This photo was the top of one of the tents at the Festival. I liked how the sunlight was reflecting off of one side, and the clouds in the back ground.

Lessons Learned:

• I think the White Balance was the key in this photo. It has a much different look with a default White Balance.
• Having a single lens with me allowed me to focus on just one type of shooting. I took my 50mm f1.8 lens because it is very small and light, and was easy to carry for the day. The problem with the fixed length was I had to stand back to take photos of my family. This was difficult with the crowds, but I did take some interesting close up photos as well. Sometimes the photos were so close that on a profile shot of a person the side closest to me was out of focus, but the other side of their face was in focus. This is the opposite of most photos, and created an interesting effect. I don't care for the results so far, but it may lead to some interesting future shots.
  

Photo details: Exposure time 1/640, Aperture f/13, ISO 100, Focal Length 50 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 124mm, Lens Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, hand held.

Winner of week 12 in the online viewer poll.

Week 10, Day 64, July 3, 2009 "Crow with Clouds"

My Uncle has a pond in Summer Hill, NY. It's a very small area of the state. My father-in-law jokes that it is called Summer Hill because that's the only time of year that you can get there. Today was one of those summer days. It's an excellent place where a lot of my family gathers. My children enjoy going there, and my Aunt and Uncle enjoy having everybody around.

After dinner I took some photos. I was going to attempt to take some photos of fireworks. (Especially after seeing Greg Kirkpatrick's firework photos on Facebook. Great job Greg.)
It began raining, so I didn't have the opportunity to take the firework photos. Maybe tomorrow night.

I did attempt to take some more photos of birds this evening. I attempted to get as close to a dead tree that had some crows roosting. Finally when I was to close, they began to fly. The crows flew over head, and I began to follow them with the camera. This is one of the photos. I like the contrast of the black crow on the blue sky, with the clouds. The darkness of the crow created a silhouette effect that I like.

Lessons Learned:

• I think I'm beginning to learn a little behavior of the birds. If I was directly toward a tree with crows in it, they tend to fly away quickly. If I walk at an angle getting closer to the tree, I seem to get closer before they fly away.
  
• Red Wing Black Birds seem to sometimes become agitated and fly directly overhead while chirping. I think they may be marking where I am, and alerting other birds to my location.
  
• The more that I know about my subject, the better job I can do with my photography.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/1000 sec, Aperture f/9.0, ISO 200, Focal Length 200 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 323mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, hand held.

Week 9 - Day 57, June 26, 2009, "Cummings Barn"

Sorry about not posting last night. Our DSL connection was down.

Last night the clouds were spectacular. I thought they would make a great back drop to the Cummings Farm up the road. This farm has been in the same family for 5 generations. While taking the photos Bill Cummings stopped by to see what I was doing. He had some great sugguestions on other places that I might also get some great shots. (Including on top of his silo. I'm not sure if I'm that brave.)
Lessons Learned:

• I think that I need a gradiant filter. It was difficult to balance the bright sky, with the not so brightly lit barn. I think the gradiant filter will help with that.
• Asking people for sugguestions on their favorite views. So, what are your favorite views in the area?

Photo details: Exposure time 1/320s, Aperture f/9.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 70 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 113mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, tripod.

Week 5 - Day 33 - June 2, 2009, "North Carolina Clouds"

Today was a day of travel. I'm currently in North Carolina, on my way to my niece's graduation in South Carolina. (We'll arrive tomorrow)

Photography wise I spent the day shooting through the windshield. (When I wasn't driving.) This was the best shot I had for the day.

I played with setting the white balance to bring out the blues. A setting of a fluorescent seemed to work well for distant mountains and sky. For the photos of the clouds I also didn't use the recommendation of the cameras light meter, and used a slower shutter speed. This seems to make the whites whiter. Bruce Monger had told me that he had read that this was also a requirement for photographing snow, so I tried it with the clouds. It seemed to work well.

Lessons Learned:

• Cool effects with white balance. (as mentioned above)
• While taking photos in a moving vehicle, 1) don't drive, 2) don't bother with objects nearby when traveling 70 mph.
• Snow settings for shutter speed seem to work well for clouds.
  

Photo details: Exposure time 1/125, Aperture f/14.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 70 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 113mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, hand held, in a car, through a windshield, with one hand tied behind my back.