Week 40, Day 281, January 31, 2010, Kyle's Gold Fish

We drove to visit my son, his fiance, and their roommate in Rochester.  It's a four hour drive, so my photography was limited.  We had a great time, and they made us a great lunch.  It was so much fun to see them all again.

My son has had this gold fish for several years, and it continues to grow all the time.  It has great eyes, that bug out.  They may have to move it to a Gold Fish pond this summer.

Lessons Learned:

• I learned a little more about the live feed, and focusing the photo with the new camera.  It's a little tricky, but I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/80 sec, Aperture f/1.8, ISO 400, Focal Length 50 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 82mm, Lens Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, handheld.

Week 40, Day 280, January 30, 2010 "Taughannock Falls in Winter"

It was cold today, but the sun was out.  So Judy and I had an Ithaca type day.
  We started by going to the Moosewood Restaurant for lunch.  The food was fantastic, and the service was great.
Next we went to the Taughannock Falls Overlook for a view of the falls.  These falls are incredible any time of the year, but the ice helps to make them spectacular.  A sense of scale is difficult, but these falls are 215 tall.  They are among the tallest falls East of the Rockies.  Plus a year long photo blog in this area wouldn't be complete without at least one photo of Taughannock Falls.
  We ended the day getting supplies at the the Shops at the Ithaca Mall and were elbow to elbow with Cornell University and Ithaca College students who have returned to Ithaca. 
A cold day in Ithaca is not necessarily a bad day.

Lessons Learned:

• It's always interesting to go to a site seeing spot with lots of people with cameras.  Many assume I'm a professional (probably because I'm old, and have a tripod.)  Little do they know.  But I find it a great place to talk to people, as well as take photos.  I find that many times there are others that are there that also know something about photography.  I learn by watching what they find interesting in ways that I haven't considered.  I also tell them what I'm trying to accomplish, and I like to hear their responses.
• I find that if I attempt to blur the water in the falls by using a longer exposure that it begins to look like ice.  I like having a distinction between the ice and the falls.  So, for me I don't tend to blur the water in these types of photos.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/25 sec, Aperture f/20.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 70 mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, tripod.

Week 40, Day 279, January 29, 2010, "Behind the Back"

Normally when I put up sports photographs for the "Photo of the Day" I use photos where my son's team members are the center of attention.  For today's photo I'm using the opposing team.  This player for the Lansing team had an incredible behind the back pass to his team member as he was driving toward the basket.  I was lucky to capture it in a photograph from the other side of the gym.  I wasn't expecting it.

Lessons Learned:

• Although it's noisier, I experimented with an ISO of 6400 on my basketball shots tonight.  I was very impressed at the quality of the shots for such a high ISO.  We were in the home gym which has bright lights for a gym.  Using an ISO this high I was able to use shutter speeds of 1/500 sec and 1/640 sec. This really helps in getting the stop action of the game. I also think it will help tremendously in the darker gyms. If you click on the image you'll see a larger version of the photo and will see what I mean by the noise level.  What do you think?

Photo details: Exposure time 1/500 sec, Aperture f/2.8, ISO 6400, Focal Length 125 mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, hand held.

Week 39, Day 278, January 28, 2010, "Heat by the Fire on a Cold Winters Night"

It's 9 degrees, the wind is blowing, and I don't have to go outside tonight.  The fire feels great on a night like tonight.

I hope you are all warm and safe wherever you may be tonight. (Or if you're in the southern hemisphere, may comfortable breezes comfort your evening.)

Lessons Learned:

• Taking photos of a white out with to fast of a shutter speed doesn't show the snow flakes very well.  (More of a Note to self for future reference)

Photo details: Exposure time 8 sec, Aperture f/5.6, ISO 400, Focal Length 17 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, dog crate for a tripod.

Week 39, Day 277, January 27, 2010, Law School Arches II

I returned to work today, and felt much better.  On my way home the sun was out, and there were blue skies.  This helped lift my spirits even higher.  As I walked to catch the bus, I walked through one of my favorite areas on campus, and snapped this photo.

Lessons Learned:

• I need to be less of a wimp when I'm not feeling well.  There are people in much more difficult situations than I am, and they are still doing incredible work.  I need to find inspiration in their work, and push forward.  
• I figured out how to set my camera to an ISO 6400 and 12800.  I'm surprised at how well those ISO's still look.  I feel some very dark photography coming.
  

 Photo details: Exposure time 1/100 sec, Aperture f/5.6, ISO 400, Focal Length 17 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, hand held.

Week 39, Day 276, Music Room

My son has a music room where he has a few guitars, a keyboard, and amp, a computer, and a banjo.  (The banjo is mine.) 

I've haven't been feeling well, and haven't left the house in 3 days.  I'm beginning to feel like a hermit.  Hopefully I'll feel better, and go back to work tomorrow.  I hope my creativity returns with my health.

I did read some more about my camera, and figured how how to record video.  I recorded my first video of my dog.  In the video he is running back and forth with his toy.  He lives up to his name "Tank".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwL6uCB-fW0

Lessons Learned:

• How to make movies with my camera.

 Photo details: Exposure time 2 sec, Aperture f/5.6, ISO 100, Focal Length 17 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, the camera was sitting on a stack of albums for a tripod..

Week 39, Day 275, January 25, 2010, Amaryllis

It's winter, I've been taking a lot of sports photos, and the weather has been wet and rainy the past two days.

I need some color.

Every year my wife plants Amaryllis bulbs.  This gives us some color about this time of year when we really need it.  Thank you Judy!

This photo was taken on the kitchen table with a candle light.  I used the gorilla grip and a chair for the tripod.

Lessons Learned:

• I purchased a toy with my new camera.  It's called the Eye-Fi.  I'm still playing with it, and see some definite advantages, and some disadvantages for the type of photography that I do.  The Eye-Fi card is a SD card that has a wireless connection.  I've connected in conjunction with my desktop computer, and my Picassa Web Albums.  Any time I'm near the computer with my camera on, the Eye-Fi software on my desktop sees if there are new images on my card, and copies them to the computer through the wireless connection.  After copying to the computer, I have the software autoconfigured to copy the contents to a private folder on my Picassa Web Albums.  Once I had it all set up, I really like the automation.  It even works if someone else is using the computer.  The disadvantage is the speed.  The wired connection to transfer the files is quicker.  I think that I might give this to my wife for her camera.  She doesn't take as many photos as I do, and I think it will work well for her.

 Photo details: Exposure time 10 sec, Aperture f/5.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 32 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, gorilla grip tripod, Auto White Balance.