Susquehanna

Trains are pretty neat. I wish I had more access to them for photographing. I'd probably spend some time in a train yard doing just that. Last night, after work (you'll hear that frequently around here) I went back to try and get a better picture of the barn I shot on the 21st of May. It didn't turn out as well as I had planned. I just couldn't frame it as I remembered from the previous picture I took.

During my attempt at taking a better picture of the barn, a train came by. Unfortunately, I had mirror lockup turned on and a 2 second timer delay to minimize camera shake. That's not a good combination for shooting moving objects. Fortunately, I was able to get one decent shot in.

I did a little post processing work on this in RawStudio and The Gimp. Take a look at my Flickr Stream if you're interested in what I did and for a link to the original version.

I shot these guys Memorial Day evening. After it rained for a little bit, the sun came out and so did these guys.

Here's my Flickr Photo Stream.

Happy Memorial Day!

I wish I had some patriotic pictures to post for Memorial Day in honor of all the great men and women that have died serving our country. I'm eternally grateful for the freedom they have preserved and are preserving in this great country. Take a moment today to thank God for their service and to pray for the families and loved ones of soldiers serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world. We owe them so much for what they do for us!

I developed a new affection for these large, lumbering creatures. I couldn't help but fall in love with them.

I think these guys are the barnyard patrol. Look at the goose in front with his cronies following closely behind. It kind of reminds me of the penguins from the movie, Madagascar.

And a few landscape shots.

Yesterday, my wife and I were going to take the kids to the zoo. Lynn remembered her friend from Church who just acquired some kittens, baby chickens and turkeys. So, we went there instead. It turned out to be a great time. I wandered around their 56 acre property taking pictures of every interesting thing I could find. The above pictures are the results of yesterday's adventure. I'd have more, but I ran out of room on my 8gb memory card.

Getting Caught Up Part 2

I think God was thinking about me when He created squirrels. He must have known how much I would love them! Red Squirrels aren't my favorite kind, but they're a wonderful part of God's Creation, so here's a few shots of one stealing seeds from my patio.

I guess they weren't actually stealing seeds. You can't steal what's being given to you!

I don't really like Blue Jays, but they are neat looking birds. They make some very annoying sounds. I don't know why they're classified as song birds... Perhaps the people that classify birds are not very musically inclined. This guy was stealing seeds.

I took these on my way home from work that day. I don't particularly care for dandelions, but a field full of them makes for a pretty picture.

Getting Caught Up

WOW! It's been almost a week since I've made any posts! I had hoped to make a new post at least every couple of days. I guess I got a little behind.

Friday after work I stopped at Labrador Hollow and Tinker Falls to get some pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't get many that I liked. I was in a sour mood for some reason, so I didn't put a whole lot of effort into my pictures. Here's what I came up with.

Waiting for the Sun

Last night I decided I'd stop at a couple of places on my way home to get some pictures. There's a horse drawn wagon on a crossroad between routes 11 and 281 just south of Tully that I wanted to take some pictures of. Unfortunately, none of them turned out well enough to upload. I'll be back there when the sun is shining.

I did get this barn though. I wasn't paying attention to what was going on behind what I was shooting. I was more concentrated on the dirt than the barn, so I had to crop and rotate to get the image to appear straight.

I wandered up the railroad tracks to see if I could find anything of interest. I thought I found some interesting things, unfortunately, they weren't so interesting when I got home and looked at them on my computer.

I left, drove around Song Lake then up Maxon Road and Vern King Road. I saw a few opportunities a little ways up to get some shots, so I pulled over, got out of my truck and the sun disappeared! Ugh! I wasn't going to waste the opportunity, so I took a few pictures of the road, down the valley, the field and just as I began to pack up my stuff, the sun started peeking through the clouds. So I waited a few minutes and ended up with these.

After I shot those, I drove up Vern King Road a little ways and saw a couple of trees I had to shoot.

Despite the sun not being out for most of my trip, it turned out pretty good, I think. I'm going to drive up Vern King Rd. and Maxon Road one morning to catch the sun on the other side of the trees to see what I can get.

I'll leave you with this fun guy...

Getting Behind

I made the decision before I even bought my camera that I would shoot in RAW+JPEG mode. I want the most flexibility in getting the best possible image out of my camera. There is a trade-off in shooting RAW though. It requires a bit of work in processing the image before you can use it.

I knew it would take some time to figure out RAW so I'm capturing the JPEG images as well. I can use those, but I find that they come out a little flat, no matter what I do. Perhaps it's my lack of experience with my camera or just a limitation in the technology.

This weekend, as I was processing images, I came to the conclusion that my workflow wasn't very productive. I was opening each RAW file in UFRaw, setting the white balance, exposure and curves then saving them. I find that the settings for one image in a set can be used with minor tweaks in other images from the same set. UFRaw doesn't allow you to copy & paste settings, so I was finding myself tweaking each photo. That method is not very productive.

Knowing I needed something a little more efficient, I gave RawStudio another try. I was able to get some nice results from a few of my images, but no matter how hard I try, I cannot get good portraits out of RawStudio. I haven't figured out why yet. I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out RawStudio and how to get good images from it. The images look better from RawStudio than UFRaw, in my opinion, when I can get them to come out right, but I haven't quite figured that out.

This leaves me to where I'm at right now.... I have a handful of photos that I want to upload and post to this blog, but I'm way behind in my processing. I left my camera at home today so I wouldn't be tempted to take any more pictures until I'm caught up. I've only been at this for a few weeks and I'm already overhauling my workflow.

I'm having fun learning though! As frustrating as things can be, it's still fun. Here are a few shots I took Friday after work.

I don't include all my photos in this blog. I pick out a few from each set I take. There are more images in my Flickr Stream. Take a look around and always feel free to critique my photos.

Thanks for looking!

Encounter On An Exit Ramp

I was planning on going out and taking some photos tonight after work, but it rained. I wanted the sun to be shining so I can get some Golden Hour shots. I guess God had different plans for me.

I stopped a couple times along I81. Once at a weigh station south of Nedrow Indian Reservation and again at the Tully exit. I pulled my truck over on the exit ramp and got out to take some pictures of an old barn and house. When I was about done shooting, I had noticed a car pulled over on the road and a lady walking toward my truck. I wasn't sure what to expect as I've read on some forums that people don't like cameras with big lenses. It makes them think you're a terrorist. I braced myself for the worst, hoping for the best.

I talked to Trish, the lady I met, for a few minutes. It turns out, she had taken a picture of the barn from the same spot I was taking a picture. Only, she had intended to paint it. I couldn't paint a mono-tone picture with a spray can. I'll have to stick to capturing images with my camera.

Here's the spot that we had both shot the barn from.

Thank you Trish for the conversation and not accusing me of terrorism! It was a pleasure meeting you. I hope you're able to read my blog address when you get home. I looked at the photos of the barn. I'm not sure they turned out that great. I have some more post processing work to do. I auto-bracketed a few shots in hopes of doing an HDR image.

Birds For Deb

Every day it seems I'm asking my coworkers "did you see my blog today?" I think they're going to start getting annoyed soon. Oh well.

I asked Deb a little while ago and she responded with "did you post any birds yet?", or something along those lines. So, that's what this post is for.

I have been meaning to post these for a while now anyways. I still have some that I haven't finished processing. Being that birds move around a lot, I take shots in bursts, so I end up with hundreds of pictures of just a small handful of birds that I have to sort through. It's worth it though. Birds are some of God's greatest Creation.

Here's the first part of my bird post. I'll try to get the rest this weekend and maybe even a picture of my "blind".

You gotta love this guy's expression... the way his head is cocked. "Who's that nut in the bathroom taking pictures of me?" It seems a little ironic. Most peeping toms are outside the bathroom window!

I hope this post is to your satisfaction, Deb... And remenber, you don't need to log in to leave comments on my blog!

Relieving Stress, Part 2

So I wrote last night that I had to take care to get this desk home safely. I declined opportunities to explore dirt roads with my camera last night because I didn't want to ruin the desk. I took mediocre pictures for the sake of this desk. I went home stressed and uninspired about my photography so that I could deliver this desk safely. All this for a desk.

So you know what kind of desk this is that I didn't want to ruin it, here is a picture of it.


Turns out, it didn't fit in my garage. All that for nothing! At least it was free.

Relieving Stress

I took my car to the shop yesterday morning to check out an oil leak. It turned out there's a leak somewhere in the transmission. They called me up and told me it would be around $800 to get in there and check things out and fix the problem. They said they could look into replacing the transmission with a used one. They found one with 42k miles on it for just under $1,500. I doubt my car is worth that much, even with a good transmission in it. Replacing the transmission is out of the question. My car has 136k miles on it. It's served me well for seven years. I was hoping to get another 60k miles out of it, or until my truck is paid off.

To make a long story less long, I was a little stressed tonight, so I decided I'd stop and take some pictures on my way home. I probably shouldn't have done that as I don't think I got that many decent shots.

One of the SUNY colleges owns a nice parcel of land between Tully and Truxton. There was a dirt road that went straight through it, but apparently the farmers land was getting abused around it, so they cut it off. You can still access parts of the road, but it doesn't go all the way through. I didn't make it that far, I had a desk on the back of my truck I needed to get home in one piece. I did make it to a couple of spots I had checked out before though. Here they are. (feel free to click the images to view them larger)

I thought this shot was kind of neat. I stuck my camera in the opening of the tank above. It was dark in there. I didn't expect to get anything. This was the first picture of two I took inside the tank. My camera did a fine job of metering the light and finding something to focus on. I couldn't see much of anything, except a few shadows, inside the tank.



Last night, I decided to give a try at playing around with some lighting. I'm using a few cheap work lights I picked up at Home Depot that I had clamped to a couple "Stick-in-a-Cans" from the Pro Photo Life blog. I found this flower that I bought for my wife as a Valentine's Day gift. I'm happy with the way it turned out. I'll be spending some rainy days shooting things in my basement.

If you're wondering, the background is a foam play mat we bought for our daughter when all we had was hard wood floors.

Marlin & Savage

Some time last year, I found that rodents made neat pets. I decided I really wanted a pet rat or two. Unfortunately, my wife was not so keen on the idea. She came close once to letting me get a rat, but that quickly faded. I discovered a neat alternative to rats that my wife could enjoy.

We found a breeder near us and acquired a couple of Degus. We named them Marlin and Savage. I'll let you figure out where the names come from.

This morning, I got up to make coffee and noticed the sun shining in through the window on Marlin & Savage. It was perfect. I got out my camera, set the tripod on top of the table and snapped a bunch of shots.

Being Me (Dorky)

Saturday's trip couldn't be all serious! One of us had to do something stupid. Apparently, I was nominated for that task!

Macro

Yesterday, while at Gee Brook State Forest, Steve pointed out a burdock that would be a good candidate for a macro shot... I'm not sure if this actually qualifies, but my Sigma 70-300mm lens seems to think it's capable of macro. I was going to create a Flickr set for my macro shots, but I need to be a paying subscriber to create more than three sets. I'll probably remedy that in the near future, but for now, a tag link will have to do.

These are a few of the macro shots I have taken so far.




Enjoy.

Gee Brook State Forest

Yesterday's trip to Gee Brook State Forest was fun. I had a good time with Steve. If we didn't get any good pictures, the trip was still worth it. We left my house around 8:45 to head up there. We had sandwiches and snacks packed to guarantee that we would be able to get plenty of interesting pictures.

There was one shot I had already composed in my mind. It was a dilapidated bridge that I wanted to shoot from a ledge a little ways down the river. Unfortunately, it didn't come out as I had expected. You can see my attempt at it here. When I composed the shot, in my mind, the trees were still bare and there was some snow on the ground. So, I'm going to go back this winter and see if I can get the shot I had hoped for.

This is the bridge I was hoping to shoot.


I have found streams and falls to be among the easiest things for me to shoot. Here are a few of the falls I was able to capture. I was hoping to take some longer exposures, but there was too much light and I don't have a neutral density filter. That is high on my list of things to purchase as is a wide angle lense.


Yesterday was a good day. I didn't get as many good shots as I was hoping to, but I'm satisfied with a handful of them. I managed to get 213 shots during the trip. I'm not sure how many Steve got, but I think it was about the same. Sadly, I came home and took another 445 pictures. A good lot of them are birds that I took from the kitchen window and another bunch of them are of my daughter and one of her friends.

Have a look at the rest of the set on Flickr.

Finally, Some RAW

I decided to take a minute and read through an article Joel Cornuz wrote on his blog. He described how he used UFRaw to convert his images. So, I had a go and I have to say, I'm rather impressed. The images aren't perfect, but they look better than I thought they would.

I took these pictures of the sky this morning before I left for work. Normally, I'm not outside at just past 7am to do anything, but I'm excited about my camera and new hobby, so, I'm a little more motivated to get out of bed in the morning.


This morning was a perfect morning for shooting photos and the perfect birds presented themselves to me as I was driving to work. I grabbed my camera, rolled the window down on my truck and rested my camera across my left arm. I took a couple dozen pictures and left for work. I was flying pretty high with excitement about having these shots.... that is, until I plugged my card reader into my computer. Every single one of the shots turned out dark. I had the exposure compensation turned down a stop for some pictures I took just a few minutes early (I deleted 'em all). If this doesn't teach me to look at the histogram and preview while I'm shooting, I'm much more dense than I originally thought I was.

With a little work in UFRaw, I was able to get the levels back up to where they should be, but the pictures are noisy. The crops and resizes don't look so bad, but I fear they won't turn out good if I print them. Here they are.


Tomorrow, I'm going to Gee Brook State Forest with a friend from Church. There is a river and a stream that run through it with some nice falls. They're small, but nice. There is also an older bridge over the river. I have a few shots that I have been planning even before I got my camera. Hopefully I'll come back tomorrow with that shot to blog about.

Some Flowers

I came home tonight with the intention of using the macro capabilities of my Sigma lens on frogs by the pond. Turns out, the frogs weren't hanging around down there. Instead, I wandered around the yard looking for defenseless subjects. This is what I came up with. Thankfully, the people we bought the house from were motivated enough to plant flowers. Otherwise, I would have had nothing to shoot tonight.

I think these guys might be telling me I need to get some weed & feed for the yard. Look at all those dandelions!

Daffodils

Grape Hyacinths

Hyacinths

More Daffodils

Tulip

I intended to work with the RAW files and start learning, but no matter how hard I try, I just can't get the pictures to come out even close to what my camera is producing.

As always, comments on my photos are welcome. Yes, that means to tell me you don't like them, but tell me why too.

Update: Turns out the blue ones are Grape Hyacinths. I guess it's good that I spam family and coworkers with my blog updates! I wouldn't have known what they were. I've added labels next to the flowers.

The Dorky Photographer

I decided a little over a year ago that I'd like to get into photography. I talked about getting a Digital SLR with my wife for a family Christmas gift, but it didn't end up happening. I put it off in my mind for a while, but it came back again. So, this year, I bought myself a camera with our tax refund. Here's what I'm starting out with:

• Canon Rebel XTi
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens
• Sigma 70-300mm APO DG Macro lens

I'll be using this blog to document my progress as I learn how to use my camera to take better photos. I'm sure it won't be long before my wife and kids get annoyed with me hovering over their shoulders taking pictures of everything they do.

I will also use this blog to document using Linux and Open Source tools. I will share some of the things I learn as I use these tools that are generously offered up by the community of open source developers.

Here are a few shots I have taken in the last few days with it.

I went to Tinker Falls near Labrador Hollow last night, on my way home from work. I took a ton of pictures, but only a few turned out nice. I'll be making another trip there in the near future when the sun is out a little more. When I was about to take one of the last few shots, I saw in the corner of my eye the little 'L' on the LCD display that indicates the picture quality. I fully intended from the very beginning, even before I had my camera in hand, to shoot in Raw+JPEG mode. I don't like the idea of losing all the information from the image sensor when shooting just JPEGs, even though the camera creates better JPEGs from the RAW images than I can right now. It would be nice to be able to go back to some of these photos in the future and do some more post processing work. Oh well.



I took these in my yard this morning before work.

I took this with the 'Nifty Fifty' lens the day I received my camera. It's my mom's Suzuki Savage.



I'm always open to critique on the photos I post.