May 29, 2010, Memorial Weekend Campfire

For our family part of the Memorial Weekend tradition is gatherings at my Uncle's Pond in Summerhill, NY.

I waited much of the day to have the opportunity to take photographs at the campfire.  The subject presented himself perfectly with a Tom Sawyer type of look.  No props were needed.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/50 sec, Aperture f/1.8, ISO 1600, Focal Length 50 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 82mm, Lens Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, handheld.

Week 52, Day 361, April 25, 2010, An Old Solution to a New Wrinkle

It was another rainy day for us, but we had a great time.  We visited my son, and his fiance in Rochester for the day.  We were busy having great food and conversation, that I didn't have a lot of time to take photographs.

When we returned home, I began thinking of ideas of what to photograph.  I wanted to attempt to photograph something that other people might not have, or see everyday.  We have an old Iron that we use as a door stop.  I think that somebody put a different handle on this one.  I've never seen another quite like it.

Lessons Learned:

• I started by just photographing the iron on a wooden chest of drawers, then I moved to a larger wood surface because the chest of drawers wasn't large enough.  I thought the plain wood was just to bland, so I took my shirt off, and used it as a surface. I think it was a better result.  I'm still not quite sure I like the lighting.  I may return to this subject the another day.  I guess the lesson is, experiment and try a lot of different things when photographing stills.

Photo details: Exposure time 6 sec, Aperture f/4.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 17 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, tripod. 

Week 50, Day 348, April 12, 2010, Corn Husk

I'm not sure why, but I find myself drawn to photographing corn.  I was walking through a corn field tonight and found the husk left from last years crop very interesting.  I think I have a collection of corn at it's various states from the past year.  It might be interesting to put them in a collection.

Lessons Learned:

• I forgot one lesson from yesterday. Taking 5500 photos tires the index finger.  I had to switch to using my middle finger to push the shutter button during the end of the race.  I didn't have enough strength left in my index finger.  I didn't mention it to the runners, because I don't think they would show me any sympathy. :-)
• Trees are blossoming all around, but I don't feel drawn to photograph them.  I enjoy their beauty, but somehow they seem to obvious a choice for photography.  I've taken several photos, but I just don't seem to like them very well.  It could be that I just haven't captured them in an interesting or new way.  What are your thoughts?

Photo details: Exposure time 1/80 sec, Aperture f/4.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 40 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, handheld, circular polarizer filter.  

Week 47, Day 328, March 23, 2010, Foggy Afternoon

We had a second day of rain, and most of the day was foggy.  The fog moved from place to place.  I saw a couple of opportunities that I would have like to photograph while I road the bus, but was unable to stop.  On my way home the fog wasn't as thick as it was during the day.  I took this photo about 1/2 mile from my house.

I like the grainy look of the photo.  Even though it is an ISO of 100, the fog created a very grainy look.

Lessons Learned:

• Fog works very effectively as a filter.  If you want a image that is fuzzier and less defined move further from the subject in the fog.  The more moister there is in the air the less defined the image becomes.  Because the fog wasn't as thick, I took this photo from across the field.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/80 sec, Aperture f/13, ISO 100, Focal Length 50 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 82mm, Lens Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, handheld.

Week 47, Day 326, March 21, 2010, Dinner for One

I went for two walks this afternoon.  The first one I took my cameras and our dog Tank.  Needless to say, there wasn't much photography.  I took Tank for a walk in the woods with the neighbor, and his dog.  They had a great time together, and I got a work out trying to hold the leash.  He seemed to have a great time smelling everything in sight.

The second walk I took only my cameras.  I walked through the old orchard behind our house.  This led to a field with a hedge row.  I followed the hedge row to the woods beyond the field.  There is an old stone fence all along the hedge row.  In some parts it has fallen down, in others large trees have fallen on it.  I took a lot of photos.

On the way back I noticed something on one of the tree branches.  When I got closer I notices it was part of an ear of corn.  It looks like some animal took and put it on a branch to chew, and look over the fields.  It is a seat with a wonderful view.  All that is needed is a candle.

Lessons Learned:

• I tend to find many things to photograph when I take walks in nature.  It's a good way to get a photo for the day.  Many times it is difficult to choose which photo to use.  
• I can more easily see what light works, and what light doesn't work when I'm getting ready to take a photograph.  This helps in that I don't waste as much time with things that I have a pretty good idea that won't work.  I guess this could be a blessing or a curse, in that I might miss some serendipitous photos.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/160 sec, Aperture f/4, ISO 400, Focal Length 34 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, hand held.

Week 46, Day 318, March 12, 2010, Pineapple

It was a cloudy dreary day, so I took the opportunity to take the second photo in my food challenge photo.  I find the shapes of a pineapple very interesting.

Lessons Learned:

• I think that color can sometimes distract from the shapes and textures.  At first I was using black and white for this photo, but I think that sepia worked even better.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/15 sec, Aperture f/1.8, ISO 100, Focal Length 50 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 82mm, Lens Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, tripod.

Week 41, Day 287, February 6, 2010, Barn Frame

I've been looking at this old barn along the road for several months.  Today I finally took a photo.  This photo is facing west, so I've been waiting for the perfect sky beyond the barn.  I still didn't have the perfect sky, but could hold back my shutter no more.

Lessons Learned:

• It's good to look for the perfect shot, but in the mean time take photos anyway.  
• I think the dead weeds of winter add well to sepia photos.

 Photo details: Exposure time 1/20 sec, Aperture f/5.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 40 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, hand held, converted to sepia in Picasa.

Submitted to the Sepia Scenes Blog

Week 38, Day 271, January 20, 2010, Milk Can

Somebody had mentioned in the comments of one of my first cellar series that they wanted to see more of the milk can in that photo.  (I think only a portion of it was showing in that photo.)

This is the 6th in the cellar series.  The milk can is sitting in the old coal bin in the basement. 

Lessons Learned:

• The first time I took this photo, the lighting was to harsh.  I returned to the basement and turned off the nearest overhead light.  This seemed to work much and create much more interesting shadows.  The shadows now have more definition.  You can still see the right side of the can in these photo.  In the harsher light it was just to dark.

Photo details: Exposure time 30 sec, Aperture f/5.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 26 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, tripod.

Week 37, Day 262, January 11, 2010, Descent

This is the 5th photo in my cellar series.  These are the old steps leading to the basement. 

Believe it or not we had to put in a new 250 gallon fuel tank for our furnace.  These is the passage way that we had to take our tank down.  It just barely fit.

Lessons Learned:

• My new camera has a live view setting.  This allows me to view the photo with the LCD panel on the back of the camera.  This was very handy for the tripod shot in which it wasn't easy to view through the view finder.  Most of the time I still prefer the view finder.

Photo details: Exposure time 30 sec, Aperture f/22.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 17 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, tripod.

Week 35, Day 247, December 26, 2009, Tools of the Trade

We live in an old farm house.  It was built in the middle 1800's.  The cellar is stone, and there are some old garden tools, and milk cans.  A great place to take photos.

This is the first in probably a series.  I'm going to try and take different types of photos from the cellar.

Lessons learned:

• I think that the cellar has interesting potential.  It has a dirt floor, interesting walls, lots of spider webs, and old tools.  I think that somehow the places that we don't spend a lot of time are the most interesting to photograph.

Here's a photo challenge.  What strange places do you have where you live?

This Monochrome concept came from Aileni at The Monochrome Weekly

Photo details: Exposure time 10 sec, Aperture f/8.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 23 mm, Lens Canon EF 17-40mm, tripod.

Week 28, Day 199, November 9, 2009, Old Barn in the Fall, Weekly Winner in Online Viewer Poll

It's an incredible day. It's 60 degrees. The sun is shining, and all the leaves are off the trees.

Many times when I photograph things I tend to use specific lens for specific types of photography.  My wider angle lens I use the most.  My telephoto lens I tend to use on sports photography, or when objects are far away.  My 50mm lens has a narrow aperture setting with a f-stop of 1.8.  I tend to use that for people, or very low light when I can get close to objects.

Because I have these options of lens, and usually have access to all of them, I tend to limit how I photograph.  Today I went for a walk with just one lens to try and see things in new ways, and photograph in new ways.  I took my telephoto lens.  I think I shall try this more often.

Lessons Learned:

• Try new things for new results.

Weekly winner in online viewer poll.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/60 sec, Aperture f/8.0, ISO 100, Focal Length 108 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 176mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, handheld, Changed to sepia with Picasa.

This Monochrome concept came from Aileni at The Monochrome Weekly

Week 7 - Day 48, June 17, 2009 "Weeding"

I knew that I didn't have a lot of time this evening. I have a meeting at 7:00, so my photography was limited. When I arrived home the wheel barrow full of weeds was tipped over. Garden weeding can get to be a real chore, and I thought this was a good metaphor for summer time weeding.
(I apologize to all of you who enjoy it.)

I hope you enjoy.

Lessons Learned:

• At first I had the whole wheel barrow in the photo, but it looked to much like a snapshot. I think the partial view is more effective. I chose a Sepia to try an simulate the dry hot job that weeding can be. I think it worked for this type of photo.

Photo details: Exposure time 1/80s, Aperture f/2.8, ISO 100, Focal Length 85 mm, 35 mm equivalent focal length 137mm, Lens Canon 70-200mm f2.8L USM, handheld.