John Brainard: The Dorky Photographer

Time For Change

2011-09-02T06:45:00.002-04:00

A few years ago, I wanted to create a blog and struggled to come up with an identity for myself. Everything I liked was taken, so I went with "Dorky". Well, the time has come to shed this identity and take on something more professional. After all, who wants to hire a "Dorky Photographer"? I'd be reluctant, that's for sure!

Over the last few weeks, I slowly put together a new website, coding all the fine details by hand. I even made sure to add an RSS feed so you could stay up to date with my latest photos and photo related musings.

Please bookmark my new site!
www.BrainardPhotography.com

And, if you're into the nerdier side of things, bookmark my personal site!
john.BrainardPhotography.com

Old Forge

2011-08-22T23:29:00.003-04:00

We took the kids and my father and mother in law to Old Forge this weekend! The girls had a blast at Enchanted Forest.

Fire in the Sky

2011-08-16T22:11:00.004-04:00

Download 1920x1080 Wallpaper

Macro Setup

2011-07-16T22:38:00.003-04:00

I can't express how much fun I've been having with my 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens! I went to Walmart today and picked up a Gorilla Pod clone and some shooting bags. Here's how I'm using them.

I'm amazed at how small of an object I can capture with this lens. That little purple dot in front of my flash and camera is the flower in the picture above.

Labrador Hollow Unique Area

2011-07-11T07:25:00.002-04:00

After Church, we stopped and picked up sandwiches at Bills' Bros and drove up to Labrador Hollow Unique Area. My girls waded in the pond for a while to cool off after eating and I spent a good part of the time shooting the small details of the area.

Ice Cycle

2011-07-10T23:21:00.002-04:00

After a nice day with my family at Labrador Pond, we stopped at the ice cream stand. While being amused by my oldest daughter's inability to eat anything without making a huge mess, a couple pulled up on their motorcycles. This one begged to be shot.

Shooting my AR15

2011-07-09T23:14:00.002-04:00

I learned a little bit this photo session. Black is hard to expose properly! The photos looked fine on my camera's display, but terrible on my computer. I also learned that it's important to clean stuff you're planning on shooting close in details of. A lot of my shots had too much dust in them to be useful. These are the only decent photos I was able to get.

I also learned that I might like Canon's eTTL system better than using remote triggers for my flashes. The battery in my transmitter died leaving me without wireless triggers and I really wanted to play with my new lens.... I wanted to shoot a gun tonight!

This is the only photo I really like out of all of them.

This turned out half-decent, though I'm sure you can find many things wrong with it.

Here's my setup. That's a reflector on the top right corner bouncing back the flash mounted on my camera.

Close Up Flowers

2011-07-07T23:08:00.002-04:00

Playing With My New Lens

2011-07-06T20:31:00.004-04:00

My kids are playing on their new swingset while I play with my new lens.

New 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro

2011-07-06T20:08:00.003-04:00

My new macro lens arrived today! My lovely wife was generous enough to buy this for me for getting a new job.

St. Mary's Cemetery Pt. 2

2011-04-11T00:10:00.002-04:00

Not everything has to be dark and gloomy on a grave site!

St. Mary's Cemetery

2011-04-10T23:57:00.003-04:00

I love getting in close and capturing small details on something bigger. There was no shortage of small details to capture at St. Mary's Cemetery on Saturday. We went in the evening which meant the sun was to the back of almost all the statues.

I liked how this angel appeared to be looking over the grave sites in the cemetery.

The Boat House

2010-10-22T19:00:00.001-04:00

Rustic Porch

2010-10-20T08:40:00.002-04:00

2010 Men's Retreat

2010-10-19T21:49:00.001-04:00

This is the first of a handful of photos I took at this year's Men's Retreat.

The Red Baron

2010-10-08T22:14:00.001-04:00

Puppy Love

2010-10-03T12:21:00.000-04:00

Fall Day Out

2010-10-02T16:55:00.002-04:00

Grumpy Soap Tray

2010-05-31T19:50:00.004-04:00

This is one miserable soap tray!

Happy Memorial Day!

2010-05-31T19:02:00.003-04:00

I thank God for all those men & women who have made the ultimate sacrifice so we could enjoy our freedoms.

The old things passed away...

2010-04-03T18:39:00.001-04:00

It's nice to see the new things in spring set against the old things that have passed in the fall. It reminds me of the following scripture:

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

2 Corinthians 5:17

New Visitor at our Bird Feeder

2010-03-06T18:57:00.001-05:00

This is our bird feeder's newest guest.

My Other Shooting Hobby

2010-02-27T20:24:00.002-05:00

I enjoy shooting more than photos from time to time. I find it to be very relaxing to go out in the back yard and turn soda cans inside out! These are some of the tools I use for that purpose.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-17T08:38:00.002-05:00

Yes, this is a few days late, but Happy Valentine's Day anyway!

This flower is a carnation we bought our 5 year old to have delivered in class with a heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie. She was ecstatic when she got this! It's nice to see simple things making my girls happy.

My Cup Runneth Over

2010-02-13T17:26:00.002-05:00

I was shooting this photo and was reminded of the 23rd Psalm and began to think about how blessed I am by God. He's provided so much for me and my family I can only be thankful.

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures:
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul:
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name' sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For You are with me;
Your rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
You preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
You annoint my head with oil; My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

--23rd Psalm

Some Christmas Stuff

2009-12-11T15:51:00.001-05:00

I love Christmas! It's the best time of the year. We get to celebrate our Savior's birth! We get to have some nice quality time with our families. I was overjoyed watching my kids getting excited decorating the tree! I love the snow too!

I took this one for a photo challenge on Steve Paxton's forum. It's a decoration on a table in our livingroom... It's in a small village. I love close up shots like this one and I especially love Christmas lights!

I shot this one at our Church's Christmas Tea event this year. It was a great time, though I was a bit uncomfortable being around all those women! 300 of them!

Have a Merry and God Filled Christmas!

Christmas Decorating

2009-12-10T21:46:00.002-05:00

We love Christmas in our house! Naturally, we had a lot of fun decorating. Everytime I went downstairs my girls would ask in excitement, "Are you getting the tree?" It was great to see the same kind of excitement in them that I had when I was a kid. It really makes this time more special.

We were almost done before I realized I should have taken some pictures. Here are a couple from the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Yes. We decided a few years ago that we aren't going to go shopping on Black Friday. It just doesn't seem right to us that people are so concerned about getting good deals that they'll trample to death a Walmart employee.

Around My Pond

2009-10-19T22:27:00.002-04:00

I woke up to a very beautiful morning and I took the liberty of sleeping in today. Having the two combined, I felt up to the task of playing with my camera for a bit. I went down to the pond and this is what I came up with.

Long Days

2009-10-09T23:29:00.002-04:00

The last few weeks, I have been very busy at work trying to finish up a project. I worked several hours last weekend. Yesterday we got the project to where we could hand to the client for testing. I was tired. I asked my boss if I could leave a little early. I had visions of going home and taking pictures of the girls outside, playing in the leaves, using my new lens! Unfortunately, when I got home, there were no leaves in the lawn to play in! Oh well... I was getting a bit frustrated and not really with it and the kids weren't really into it either. Fortunately, God is good and gave me a few gems anyway. Here are a couple.

I was anxious for a long time to get some gels and a gel holder for my flashes. I finally did. My first idea was to fill the living room with some blue light. It didn't come out as I had anticipated, but I'm satisfied with the results. I'll try harder next time!

Flowers by the Road

2009-10-05T21:11:00.002-04:00

Here are some wild flowers I saw growing by the road on my way home from work on Sunday. I was anxious to play with my new lens (Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L).

Golden Harvest Festival

2009-09-13T22:50:00.001-04:00

We went to Beaver Lake Nature Center on Saturday for their Golden Harvest Festival. Instead of being lazy and leaving my camera in the car (I almost turned around to bring it back), I carried it with me and took a bunch of photos. I'm glad I brought it. It was an overcast day, so I got to see how good my camera works at higher ISOs. Here are a couple of pictures I took of some of the animals there.

First Day of School!

2009-09-03T07:24:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was the first day of kindergarten for our oldest daughter. She had a great time.

Blue Angels

2009-07-12T14:39:00.003-04:00

Here are the rest of the "Blue Angels" photos I took before my battery died on me. I'll be posting one more "Wrap-Up" set from the Greater Binghamton Air Show very soon.

Harrier Jump Jet

2009-07-08T07:41:00.002-04:00

This is the Harrier Jump Jet from the Binghamton Air Show this weekend. This is the only plane that posed for pictures!

Still more to come!

F16 Fighter Jet

2009-07-07T08:40:00.002-04:00

Here are a few more from the air show this weekend. It took several attempts before I managed to get a photo with a decent orange glow in the jet engine.

Keep an eye out for a Harrier Jump Jet and some fireworks to come in the next day or so.

Third Strike Wingwalking

2009-07-05T23:35:00.003-04:00

The best part of the air show this weekend was supposed to be the Blue Angels. I'm afraid it didn't turn out that way. As I was processing the days photos, the set from the wing walking woman struck me as the most interesting. This first one is by far the best of the set.

Hopefully there will be some F16, C130 and Harrier Jumpjet photos to come soon.

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-04T22:55:00.003-04:00

Yes... July 4th is just another day on the calendar. We don't need to celebrate that. What we need to celebrate is the brave men and women who fought 233 years ago for our independence as a nation and those who have been fighting since to preserve that! God Bless our soldiers and God Bless our country!

I had a great time celebrating our independence from Great Britain with my family at the Binghamton Air Show. Thankfully, my camera battery lasted long enough to capture some of the Blue Angels air show. Here's the first of what I hope to be many photos to come over the next several days.

In anticipation of a lot of blurring due to the aircraft flying at high speeds, I increased my ISO to 200 and 400 while taking photos. Some were flying slow enough that I didn't need the higher sensitivity. I tried to keep the shutter speed around 1/1000, though I don't know if it was absolutely necessary. Hopefully I'll find out as I sort through my photos.

Hopefully I'll see you all tomorrow with some fireworks photos!

Playing In The Driveway

2009-06-24T23:04:00.003-04:00

I finally dusted off my camera for some photos today. I let the girls play in the driveway and used the asphalt as a backdrop. This shooting angle is new to me, but I like it. I'll be sure to get the step ladder out more often!

I'd like to introduce you to...

2009-05-02T22:41:00.002-04:00

I'd like to introduce you to our latest family member, Remington. His mom is an AKC registered Rottweiler and his dad is most likely a lab. The woman we adopted him from isn't sure. She was given the litter of puppies to find a new home for.

52 Self Portraits: Week 8

2009-04-19T22:36:00.006-04:00

At the rate I'm going, I won't be done with this project for 3 years!

Here's my latest installment. I was excited to finally be able to play with my camera outside. The weather was nice with little breeze.

Some things that are wrong with this picture are:

Flash not balanced with the natural light. I need to get some gels.
I wanted the background to go darker than this.. It looked the way I wanted on the camera's LCD.

As always, comments and criticisms are very welcome!

52 Self Portraits: Week 7 (Catching Up)

2009-03-03T21:45:00.005-05:00

These photos are much closer to what I was trying to achieve. What I'm missing in my arsenal is the ability to color my lights better and keep my light pattern tight. I didn't have as much control over the difference in the background and foreground lighting that I want. Either too much light from the foreground spilled onto the background, or the long exposure time due to hot, continuous lighting in the foreground allowed too much through in the background.

I made great use out of my "Stick-in-a-Cans". See my set up shot here.

My wife took our mop in to get converted back into a dog today, so keep an eye out for a session with her (the dog) soon.

52 Self Portraits: Week 6

2009-03-02T23:37:00.005-05:00

I think I'm about two weeks late for this one. I had so much to do around the house the last couple of weeks, I couldn't spend the time I needed to get some photos.

I had an idea for this photo that I found on the Ikea website. Unfortunately I'm not able to find it. It was is a photo with a chair in the foreground lit by a lamp just behind it. The photo was white balanced for the tungsten bulb in the lamp, blue color cast on the background. I wasn't able to achieve it with this photo, so, this week's photo (Week 7) is another attempt at it.

A friend from Church had called to ask if I'd meet him for breakfast the next morning while I was working on my self portrait project for the week. I thought it would a perfect opportunity to get some "candid" shots of myself, as if that's possible.... At least, I wasn't concentrating as much on posing as I was talking on the phone. I certainly wouldn't pick up the phone and pretend to be on it!

Keep an eye out for Week 7 very shortly (next day or so). I'm closer to what I wanted to achieve with that one, but not quite.

UPDATE: Here are the images I was inspired by. I suspect I'll need a tighter light pattern from my CTO'd flash in order to accomplish the look I'm going for. My gold reflective umbrella spills too much light onto the background making it difficult to control the lighting in that area. One of my next purchases will likely be the Lumiquest FXtra gel holder for each of my flashes. I may even spring for a Soft Box III.

Finally Some Scenics!

2009-02-14T20:40:00.004-05:00

I wouldn't ever quite my day job to become a tour guide! I met with Beau this morning to go out shooting photos together. It was a great time and if I hadn't taken any pictures, the trip would have been worthwhile, but the locations I selected were less than ideal. We started out at Pratt's Falls only to find out the park isn't open until 10am. We were there around 8am. So, we went out to Chittenango Falls State Park where the main trail through the gorge was closed. We weren't able to get down below the waterfalls for some good photos. We wandered around there for a little over an hour though and then decided to head over to Onondaga Lake Park.

Here are a few photos from the trip that I thought were at least decent.

Next time, I'm letting Beau decide where to go!

52 Self Portraits: Week 5

2009-02-10T20:37:00.005-05:00

Here we are on week 5 of my "52 Self Portraits" project and I'm still stuck on the black backdrop. I've been enjoying using it, but I'm hoping next week to get outside and do my portrait or switch to a white sheet for a while. We'll see how it goes... Now that I finally have both flashes off camera, I have a little more flexibility in my set ups.

This shot, I had a bare flash directed toward the black sheet from an angle in order to add some dimension to the backdrop. To my left is a silver reflector and my right is a flash bounced in a gold umbrella.

Additional Shots...

Feel free to leave your comments here or on Steve Paxton's forum.

52 Self Portraits: Week 4

2009-02-05T23:36:00.005-05:00

This was supposed to be a two light portrait. Unfortunately, I didn't read the red text on the hot shoe adapter when I added it to my cart! Oh well.. Hopefully I'll be able to find the right PC to Hot Shoe Adapter in town tomorrow.

The light is a 580ex II bounced out of a gold umbrella... I wanted to play with the gold umbrella and didn't feel like converting it to silver or putting my other umbrella on. I white balanced in UF Raw.

In processing, I decided I'd try the cross process look, so I found a tutorial online and saved my curve for future use. I also added a slight vignette.

As always, the additional shots can be viewed on Steve Paxton's photography forum.

52 Self Portraits: Week 3

2009-01-28T19:48:00.003-05:00

I wasn't sure what I was going to do this week. I have already started running out of ideas.

I like the black background and using the smaller radius of light to fade things into the shadows. I also like having a prop, such as my guitars, in the photos. This week, I was sitting on the couch in the living room wondering what I was going to do. The guitar came to mind then, somehow, the lamp came to mind. It was fun trying to incorporate the lamp in the photo. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to achieve what I was shooting for. I wanted the light from the lamp shade to spill onto the background, creating a cone of light. It didn't work... I'll have to try it again.

Here's the photo I chose to use this week....

Click Here for an additional shot.

52 Self Portraits: Week 1 & 2

2009-01-21T00:01:00.003-05:00

I was thinking about ways I could force myself to learn lighting using my small strobes, or flashes and decided on a '52 Self Portraits' project. The idea is that after the first few photos, it will become more challenging to light myself in new ways. I'll be forced to think and work harder and experiment with things. So, I'm committing to doing 52 self portraits, one a week for an entire year.

Here is week 1:

Week 2:

You'll notice that if you follow the link for "Week 2", you will find some additional photos. As I process each session, I'll pick a couple of photos that I liked, but weren't quite what I was looking for. There will be something interesting to me about them and I will post them on Steve Paxton's forum exclusively.

Enjoy and feel free to comment here or on the forum.

New Forum for Photographers

2009-01-12T10:49:00.002-05:00

A great photographer and asset to the photography community, Steve Paxton, has set up a forum to build a community dedicated to serving new and experienced photographers. Through the short time I have known Steve, he has been very helpful and encouraging. I learned a lot through his e-mails, through looking at his portfolio and through the tutorials on his website.

Take a moment to check out his forum, sign up and introduce yourself in the "Introductions" board.

Paxton Prints Community Forum

Image used with permission by Steve Paxton

Playing With Smoke

2009-01-03T06:27:00.002-05:00

When I first started getting into photography, I found a couple of blog entries on photographing smoke. I was anxious to try this out, but I didn't have a flash that I could use off-camera... until now.

This image, I created a grid overlay in Gimp as well as colored the smoke with a gradient.

In this image, I duplicated the smoke layer and flipped it horizontally. I was surprised that it resulted in a very serious looking girl!

A few things I'll try the next time I photograph smoke:

Shoot further away from the smoke than I was to capture larger patterns.
Shoot a larger quantity of images
Try burning two incense sticks together

If you look at Steve Paxton's smoke art, you'll see that the smoke starts and stops within the image. This is likely the result of using a snooted flash. I'll try to get a tighter beam of light next time and use a larger black background.

I learned that this is better done in a room you're not going to spend a lot of time in after you shoot the smoke, unless you like the smell of incense!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T13:19:00.002-05:00

I hope you all had a great 2008 and that it ended safely!

2008 was the year I started dabbling in Photography. I won't say I have made great leaps and bounds into it, but I enjoy every moment of it. The last few months have been slow, unfortunately. I'm looking forward to getting out and shooting more.

Here are a couple of photos of my latest toy from my quick trip out this morning.

Have a great and blessed new year!

Playing With Flash: Chickadee

2008-12-28T13:58:00.003-05:00

I don't remember what exactly I was doing, but it caused me to remember a guy who photographs birds using his flashes. It occurred to me that I'm pretty much all set to give this a try myself, so I did. What you see below is my first attempt at shooting a bird using flash. I wanted to blacken out the background, but it didn't work out as well as I had hoped.

In order to shoot this, I had my camera and flashes on full manual. The slave flash (580EX) was set to full power and my master flash set to 1/128th, the lowest it can go. All I'm using my master flash for is triggering the slave. I set the shutter speed to 1/2000th of a second and the aperture as wide as I could go, which is f/5.6 with my Sigma 70-300mm lens.

Here's a list of things I plan on trying next:

Block all the feeder ports on the feeder except the ones I want to shoot the birds from.
Remove the other bird feeder from the back yard so they don't have an alternate feeder to eat from.
Position myself better so the tree is in the background.
Work out better exposure settings.

Playing With Light

2008-12-20T23:43:00.002-05:00

Thanks, Zetson, for the extra push I needed to get a new entry up on my blog! Hopefully, this won't go collecting dust for nearly a whole month again for a while!

I currently have in my possession a 580EX flash to accompany my 580EX II as I contemplate buying it. I originally wanted to purchase a set of Elinchrom Skyports to get my flash off camera and I still may do that, but I really am enjoying the Canon wireless flash system. Some of the benefits to it are the e-TTL, which I'm not using much, and high-speed shutter sync, which I have used. It didn't take long to figure out how to control the 580EX as a slave to my 580EX II master.

The following is a result of my playing around with a toy my mom bought me for Christmas a few years ago. Yes, I'm 32 years old and yes, I still ask my mom for toys like this for Christmas! I thought it only fitting that I incorporate some Christmas lights in the photos of a Christmas present around Christmas time!

The lights in the background are supposed to be star shaped. Unfortunately, the star I cut out of a piece of foam craft paper didn't work out too well. I'll have to try again with card stock. If you want to know what I did, check out this link.

Have a Merry Christmas! And don't forget the Reason for the Season!

Welcome Snow!

2008-11-22T20:43:00.002-05:00

I know certain family members will wish to cause me harm in some way because of these feelings (yes dad, I'm talking about you and my wife too), but I'm excited about the snow! It's here! I got to use the snowblower today!

I went out for a few hours this morning and took some photos around Labrador Pond and Tinker Falls. I have more photos to post, but I'm going to wait until my new computer parts come in. I'm anxious to see how much of an improvement a Core 2 Quad w/4Gb of memory will be over my old, tired Athlon XP with 1GB of memory.

I see the prices on 1TB SATA Seagate drives are reasonable, so I'll likely add one or two of those in a RAID configuration soon.

Keep an eye out for more photos.... I think I still have some to finish up from the men's retreat.

Men's Retreat: Nifty Fifty

2008-11-03T21:52:00.002-05:00

I haven't forgotten about the Men's Retreat photos or my Nifty Fifty project! I managed to get my 50mm f/1.8 lens mounted to my camera while at Huntington Camp on Raquette Lake. I sometimes wonder which lens I'd keep if I had to get rid of all but one lens. I get so much use out of my 10-20mm lens, but when I use my 50mm f/1.8, I get some photos that I really enjoy. I especially enjoy taking photos of various hardware on docks and piers, especially if there's a little rust involved.

Believe it or not, I still have a few more photos to process and post. I've been preoccupied with other things lately. More to come, I'm sure!

Men's Retreat: Second Day

2008-10-26T21:39:00.002-04:00

I woke up the first morning rather early. Well, 6:30am is early for me. I took a shower and went straight to the dining hall for a cup of coffee. Surprisingly, I didn't manage to take any pictures. I took the following picture between breakfast and the devotional/worship time.

This photo required a little running around to get into position. The guys on the canoes probably wouldn't have stopped for a picture, so I didn't bother asking. I figured it would be easier to run.

Surprisingly, I haven't touched my camera since I came back. It's been sitting in the camera bag, next to my bed. Granted, I still have quite a bit of work left finishing up the photos from the trip, but this is the longest my camera has gone untouched. Perhaps I'll find some time this week to get out and take some close ups of leaves or something else.

Speaking of time, I know some of my readers are Christians. I have a prayer request. If you could take a few moments and pray for me and my family, I would certainly appreciate it. If you see me in Church, feel free to ask about it or e-mail me. I'll be more than willing to share.

God Bless!

Men's Retreat: After Dark

2008-10-24T21:49:00.002-04:00

Normally I get very bored when I'm taking pictures after dark as I can stand there for as long as 10 minutes, sometimes more, waiting for the exposure to finish. When I'm with a group of 40 or so men, I can take night scenes all night, or until the battery dies. These are some of the night shots I managed to capture while at Huntington Camp last weekend.

You can see on this last one that the boats and the dock were moving with the water. An interesting effect, but I think I'd prefer it if the boats were more clear.

God Bless!

Men's Retreat: Two Truths and a Lie

2008-10-22T22:11:00.003-04:00

The first evening we were there, the sun was perfect and the sky had a nice texture. I managed to get a few photos in after getting settled into the bunk house and before the dinner bell rang.

After dinner, we all met in the building they used for a classroom. In order to break the ice, we played this game called "Two Truths and a Lie". The rules were you came up with two truths and a lie and shared them with the others in your group. It was a great time. My two truths and lie are below. I hope you'll take the time to figure out which is the lie and leave a comment!

I rescued my wife from the fashion industry.
I took first place in a photography contest this summer.
I dropped out of college my second year and moved to North Carolina to start my career in computer programming.

Leave your guess in the comments.

Men's Retreat: Huntington Memorial Camp

2008-10-20T23:10:00.003-04:00

Our Church, Grace Christian Fellowship, organized a weekend at Huntington Memorial Camp on Raquette Lake. It was a great time. Brian Newman shared from God's Word on the relationships in men's lives and what it is we live for and what we're supposed to live for. He did an excellent job of helping to open my eyes to the fact that I need to be there for my family more and spend less time playing. I went to my first Bible Study in a long time as a result of this weekend.

There was plenty of free time available to do as we pleased, so, naturally, I took pictures. Sunday morning, as I was about to take a photo inside the lodge, I looked at my camera and saw that the ISO was set to 800. I only adjusted the ISO once this weekend and that as Friday evening to meter for some night shots. I set the ISO to 800 to get my light meter to give me a usable reading. The whole day I was fairly bummed about having lost a whole weekend's worth of photos as photos taken at ISO 800 on my camera get pretty noisy. This wouldn't have been a big deal, but I may never see Raquette Lake again! Oddly, though, it didn't bother me much at all. I knew that there was a much better purpose to being there and it certainly wasn't to take pictures. That was an added bonus.

Here are the first couple of photos of what will be several posts over the next week from the trip.

This was a great weekend and I certainly won't hesitate to do it again. I'm extremely thankful to the guys that organized this weekend! It was a blast. I met a lot of guys from Church that I might not have met otherwise.

Enjoy!

Hope Lake After Dark

2008-10-10T21:25:00.002-04:00

When I went through these photos to process them, I wasn't sure I was going to post them. I didn't like the way they turned out, mostly and became discouraged. Looking back through them again, I found a few that I liked.

I reprocessed this one as the noise-reduction routine removed a lot of detail and sharpness. I just didn't like the way it turned out. So, I processed the photo without noise reduction. I think it looks better, though I have no idea how it would look printed as it's a bit noisy.

I took this photo earlier the same evening I took the above photos. This is a campsite in Heiberg Memorial Forest owned by one of the SUNY schools. I liked the light trails from this set of photos so much, I decided to do it again. I set the aperture so I could get a two minute exposure, which gave me enough time to get in my car and drive around the loop a few times.

These photos were taken on September 19th. Enjoy!

Rays of Sun

2008-10-09T22:54:00.002-04:00

This is the last of the photos from my trip to Calico Pond at Gee Brook State Forest on Saturday. I've been impressed with the photos I took there. Many of them turned out to be much different than what I normally get on my trips out.

This photo was taken at a park in Homer. I'm not sure what the name of the park is, but I'll probably go back to get some more photos. I was about a half hour early for worship practice, so I stopped to check this place out. I had only a few moments to capture this one before the sun disappeared below the horizon.

This photo I took on Saturday. After my trip to Gee Brook State Forest, I went driving around the town I spent the better part of my childhood years in. This is a bridge I used to ride my bike over a lot. I even played down in the river a few times. I've thought about doing a photo journal of where I grew up and played when I was a kid. It could be fun.

Enjoy!

Frost on Calico Pond

2008-10-06T22:13:00.002-04:00

I hoped to have had more shots of plants and foliage covered in frost, but that didn't happen. I have a couple that I liked from this Saturday's trip. I'll have to go out and look for frost covered foliage to shoot.

The leaves below are from the same tree. It's amazing how turning just a little bit away from or toward the sun can have a huge impact on how the photos turn out.

Enjoy! I hope to have a couple more tomorrow to wrap up my trip to Calico Pond in Gee Brook State Forest.

Sunrise on Calico Pond

2008-10-05T20:54:00.002-04:00

The scenery first thing in the morning on Calico Pond in Gee Brook State Forest is unbelievable. During the day, it's just a small body of water set in the woods with a nice stream that passes it by. During the dramatic hours of the day, however, it's hard not to see the artist in God shine through.

I have some frost covered foliage to upload soon, so check back!

Nifty Fifty: Foliage

2008-10-04T20:11:00.002-04:00

It has been way too long since I made an entry for my "NiftyFifty" project. It's also been too long since I updated my blog with any landscape/outdoor photos which I enjoy making the most.

I spent the last two weeks anxious to get out on a nice day for pictures. This morning finally provided an opportunity to get out that I was able to take. These photos are the first of a set I took at Gee Brook State Forest. Keep an eye out for more entries to come over the next few days.

It's fun to get down close to the ground, even while standing in a stream to do it! I came home with soaked shoes and partly soaked pants this morning. It was well worth the trouble. I read early on about photography that you should never be afraid to come home dirty to get the shot you want. I think I get dirtier taking pictures than I do working in the yard! I love it!

Winnie, Short for Winchester

2008-09-28T19:11:00.002-04:00

On August, 26th, I introduced our newest family member, Winnie. Well... over the last month, she became very hairy. Here she is after her first haircut.

Judging by the look on her face, she's not thrilled with this new hair style. I tried to convince her that it will grow back!

For those who are curious, check back later for a set up shot and a description of how I shot these.

Grace Christian Fellowship Church

2008-09-25T22:23:00.004-04:00

I envision my future with photography to be in real estate. The challenge of lighting interiors and finding interesting exterior shots looks exciting to me. You can imagine my excitement when a friend from Church asked if I'd take some photos they can use for advertising. I didn't get any interior photos, just the exterior. Here are a few of the ones I chose to give them. Most of these are multiple exposures.

Feel free to check out their website.

Morning Fog

2008-09-17T21:55:00.003-04:00

There was a heavy fog this morning in the valleys that I couldn't pass up shooting. I couldn't capture it the way I had hoped to, but I did manage to take a few photos that I do like. Next time, I'll try to find a different spot to shoot from, perhaps Sessions Hill Road.

Enjoy.

Moonlight on Sessions Hill Road

2008-09-16T22:54:00.003-04:00

If you've been following my blog, you might recognize these trees as I have shot them before.

Sessions Hill Road and Vern King Road in Homer have some interesting features to shoot. I'm looking forward to some fall and winter trips up there for some photos. The colors should be great.

I shot these at ISO 400 as I don't really like the star trails too much. Unfortunately, there are small trails. Thankfully, UFRaw has noise removal built in and was able to get rid of a lot of sensor noise.

After the Sun Set

2008-09-11T23:38:00.002-04:00

I spent some time last night at Dwyer Park on Little York Lake taking photos. I'll go back as there were many more things I wanted to take photos of, including a large boat anchor in the main lawn of the theater. Even after having already spent some time taking photos, I couldn't pass up the sky that presented itself last night. It was rather dramatic as you can see below.

These were taken not even a quarter of a mile from home.

Dwyer Park on Little York Lake

2008-09-11T07:46:00.002-04:00

This is the first of what will likely be two parts. I have been itching to get out and take some photos for a while now. Unfortunately, things kept coming up over the last week or so that kept me from doing it. They have also kept me from getting caught up on processing my stuff. So, I'll be busy for a while going through photos and getting them uploaded.

I stopped last night on my way home from work at Dwyer Park on Little York Lake. I have been wanting to get there for a while now. Here are a few of the photos I took there.

I hope you enjoy these photos. Feel free to leave any comments and critiques as that's how I learn.

Ross Park Zoo: Monkeys

2008-09-09T08:40:00.002-04:00

I took my wife, two girls and my mom to Ross Park Zoo on Labor Day. I was hoping to get more pictures of animals while we were there, but most of them were in the shade. My Sigma 70-300mm lens just doesn't cut it for taking pictures hand held. Hopefully, next year I'll be able to add a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens to my camera bag.

This is my favorite photo of the day.

I had this guy sticking his tongue out at me! It was hilarious. Unfortunately he wouldn't do it for the camera.

Keep an eye out for part two. I took a couple pictures in the aviary and some in the display donated by Time Warner. Go ahead and guess what's in the Time Warner display.

Feel free to offer suggestions on how I could have taken these photos better.

Nifty Fifty: Catching Up

2008-09-05T22:14:00.003-04:00

My wife has been pretty sick from a bacterial infection and some un-named virus. It has been beating up on her bad enough that I have had to work from home as much as I can. Being that I recently acquired a flash, I had to take advantage of a photo opportunity. This is what I have been looking at the last few days.

This is my toy fund jar. I collect all the change and put it in here. When I have enough, I go out and buy a new toy!

I still have a ton of photos to catch up on. I still have photos from our recent trip to the zoo to post. Keep an eye out for those. Unfortunately, not too many of them turned out good.

Early Morning Walk with the Dog

2008-09-04T21:54:00.003-04:00

My wife and I just got a puppy. She's great to have around, but she is very much like having a baby in the house. She wakes up in the middle of the night two or three times to go to the bathroom. The other morning, I took her out and saw the sky and the stars. I knew I had to shoot them. So, I brought Winnie back inside and grabbed my camera. These were taken around 5:30 in the morning. I don't recall getting much sleep the rest of the "night".

I am way behind on processing my pictures. We went to the zoo on Labor Day and I managed to get some shots that I like. Unfortunately, my wife has been sick, so I haven't had the time to work on photos. We spent a couple of evenings in the emergency room while they tried figuring out what was wrong with her. She's mostly fine now, but fighting a virus. We are hoping and praying that it's gone by the weekend. Keep checking back for some zoo pictures, more of the dog and I think I might have some photos for my nifty fifty project.

Dorchester Park on Whitney Point Reservoir

2008-08-31T22:42:00.004-04:00

I took my family to Dorchester Park tonight so the girls could play on the playground. I have wanted to take pictures of the sunset there for a while now too. It was a good time. I got to spend some quality time with my family and do something fun outside the house.

The last set of sunset photos I took, I left the white balance on the camera's automatic setting and liked it. In fact, it resulted in a second place photo in a competition. This time, I slid the temperature slider to the left some to bring back the real colors of the scene and I really like it that way. The blues and greens turned out nice.

And, of course, the best photo of the evening!

Playing With My New Flash

2008-08-30T21:04:00.002-04:00

Due to some generous family members, I was able to buy my 580ex II for my birthday this year. It arrived Friday afternoon and I've been playing with it quite a bit since. In fact, my primary test subjects are asking me to stop! Poor kids. You'll see further down this post, my fall-back subject got bored and nearly fell asleep on me. I had to resort to using the kid's toys!

Actually, the photos of the little people turned out to be some fun family time. I asked my wife to model the little people for me and the kids had a lot of fun getting in front of the camera! It was a good time.

Here's one more to show off what happens when you bounce the flash off the floor. The background blacks out and the subject looks as if it's sitting around a camp fire!

Backyard Cleanup

2008-08-28T22:03:00.002-04:00

I started going through photos from the last week or two to see if there was anything I missed. Sure enough, I found the following two photos. They were taken on separate days with my Sigma 10-20mm, the reason I started my "Nifty Fifty" project.

As always, your comments and criticisms are very welcome!

Nifty Fifty: Clump of Red Leaves

2008-08-27T21:55:00.003-04:00

As I was driving to work this morning, I passed by a tree with a clump of red leaves climbing up it as if they were on a vine. They turned out to be a few small branches and a lot of fun to shoot.

This NiftyFifty project has really been getting me to think about different angles to shoot my subjects from and playing with depth of field. I have learned quite a bit from this experience and hope to keep learning. This clump of leaves was almost as much fun to shoot as my sunflowers.

I have more photos from this morning and last night that I'll be posting over the next couple of days. As always, your comments and criticisms are welcome and appreciated.

New Family Member

2008-08-26T07:57:00.002-04:00

Meet our newest family member, Winnie (short for Winchester). She's Buffy's sister.

This is her brother. He's not our newest family member, though I think my wife was considering it. She's been trying to get someone close to her to adopt him since we picked up Winnie on Sunday!

There will be more, though she's not an easy target. I had to put her on the couch to get a picture of her this morning. She's afraid to jump off.

Enemy Opposition

2008-08-25T21:05:00.002-04:00

Sunday, August 17th, the Youth Pastor at the Church we're attending organized a skate & bike demo by a Christian group called Enemy Opposition. Thinking my nephew might like it and wanting to show support to the youth pastor at our Church, we decided to go. I wasn't planning on taking pictures as I didn't really think I had the equipment to do it. My telephoto lens and my wide-angle lens aren't exactly the fastest lenses there are.

I'm glad I took out my camera. I was very surprised at the results. The sky exposed nicely on most of the photos and the skaters and BMX riders came out exposed decently. It would have been great if I had a flash, but you make do with what you have.

I quickly switched my camera to manual after taking the first few shots as I wanted the exposures to come out consistently and I wanted the skaters & riders to be properly exposed. I metered off my hand. It seemed to have worked fairly well as I didn't have to make too many adjustments after that. The biggest adjustment I made was setting the ISO to 200 about half way through. That allowed me to use a faster shutter speed, freezing the action and produce sharp images.

It was a great time and I won't pass up the opportunity to do this again. Enemy Opposition's demos were a blast to watch and their testimony was great.

If you have a favorite photo from the group, let me know which one it is and why. Don't be afraid to critique my photos too! This is my first experience in event photography. It would be nice to know what I did wrong.

By the way. I was told the last person standing where I was standing and taking photos was taken out by a biker! Oops! Hopefully he's not hurt too badly. I heard he was more concerned about his camera then the blood pouring out of his body!

Nightime in Downtown Cortland

2008-08-19T23:06:00.003-04:00

I went downtown with a friend from Church to take some photos of the city of Cortland. I had been meaning to do this for quite a while and decided now was good as the college students would be back soon. I prefer to shoot when there aren't as many people around.

We made the mistake of shooting in front of a bank. A lady came out to check on us and make sure we weren't doing anything wrong. We figured all was fine after she walked away. We crossed the street to shoot the Chinese restaurant and as soon as I had selected my composition, a police officer came up to us and said "hello." He told us a lady from the bank called. He was nice about it and just wanted to check on us. He mentioned that he was into photography as well.

It turned out to be a decent evening. It was cut a little short because my friend's wife called, concerned about a bat in their house.

Enjoy!

Nifty Fifty: Party On Otisco Lake and Other Photos

2008-08-17T08:30:00.004-04:00

This installment of my "Nifty Fifty" project is taken from several days worth of photos. The project seems to be working, though. When I'm out, I think about possibilities for using my 50mm lens.

I drove by Otisco Lake the other morning to get to work. I wanted to stop in Marcellus to take some photos that I couldn't get on my way home because the sun was in the wrong part of the sky. Fortunately, I was able to get one photo worth keeping. I saw the boats on the lake that foggy morning and couldn't resist pulling over to snap some pictures.

Here are a couple photos that took throughout the past week.

Enjoy and God Bless!

Marcellus, NY

2008-08-13T22:36:00.004-04:00

I enjoy taking new routes home from work. It's relaxing and I enjoy the scenery. Once in a while, I even get a nice landscape to shoot. This time, I decided to drive home on the west side of Syracuse because of a field of sunflowers I wanted to drive by.

As I approached Marcellus, I found the scenery below.

It was overcast that day, so I decided I'd try going back again the next day.

I think I'm going to have to go back again and see what I can come up with. I like the way the exposure turned out on the first one, but the composition of the second one.

Nifty Fifty: Around the Church

2008-08-12T21:08:00.003-04:00

Last year, our Church bought the adjacent, abandoned property. It has taken quite a lot of work to get the house on it inhabitable, but not impossible. They are nearly complete and the new pastor and his wife will hopefully move in soon.

Along with the house came several outbuildings. There is a garage and a couple sheds. This property has quite a bit of character and I had fun taking pictures around it this past Saturday. I took most of my photos with my 10-20mm lens, but I managed to get my 50mm lens attached to my camera to take some for my "Nifty Fifty" project. Here are a couple that I think turned out decent.

Here are couple that aren't a part of my "Nifty Fifty" project, but taken around the Church.

Please feel free to comment and critique my photos. I'm encouraged by, but don't learn from "Great shot!" I would love to know what it is you like and dislike about my photos.

Rainbow in Tully

2008-08-08T23:08:00.003-04:00

I shot this photo on my way home from work recently. It had just rained and the sun started coming out. I looked out the window to the east and saw this rainbow forming. I knew I had to shoot it. I wasn't sure where though... It took a few moments before I thought to go to the railroad tracks in Tully near the mobile home park. I had been in that area to take photos before, so this seemed like the perfect location. I shot a handful of photos and started walking toward the corn field in the photo below. This is the one that turned out the best, in my opinion.

You might have noticed that there's no way my camera was going to pick up deep, rich colors like that. If it can, I haven't figured out how to get it to! If I was shooting JPEGs, the photo below is what would have come from my camera.

Fortunately, I decided to shoot RAW before I even had my camera. So, just about all my photos have a RAW file to go with them. This is what UFRaw produced, with a little tweaking.

I like it, but it needed a little tweaking. I learned of a technique called tone mapping. I don't fully understand what exactly it does, but I understand how it works. Here's the tutorial I started out with.

After applying those steps, I played with the curves. I brought in the end points of the 'Values' curve so they touched the edges of the histogram. After that, I brought up the center of the blue and green channels to boost those and left the red channel alone. I didn't want to warm up the photo any.

After the curves adjustment, I felt the sky was just a touch too green. I wanted it to be bluer... so, I duplicated the background layer and adjusted the curves on that. I boosted the blue channel and left the rest alone here. I then created a layer mask to mask out the corn field and the hills in the background as I wanted them to stay green.

I hope this is useful to someone. I know the photo doesn't look very realistic. I like the look.... now, anyways. I may look back at this as I mature in my hobby and see that it's grossly overdone. I hope not. I think I'll try making this into a 16x24 print from Mpix.com.

Beaver Lake 5th Annual Photo Contest

2008-08-08T22:13:00.002-04:00

The letter from Beaver Lake Nature Center came today to inform me that the photo below came in 2nd place in the 5th annual photo contest!

I'm excited! I just might have to get up there for the Golden Harvest Festival.

Hooya!

Nifty Fifty: Sunflowers & Robo Raptor

2008-08-05T23:27:00.004-04:00

This morning I woke up, made coffee, fed the birds then went to check my e-mail. I sat in front of my computer for several minutes then thought I'd be more productive if I went out and took some photos. So, I went upstairs, grabbed my camera and 50mm f/1.8 lens and went outside. My first stop was the sunflowers.

I made several other stops throughout the yard, but, the sunflowers are the only photos that I like from this morning's batch. After I went inside, I didn't feel like I was done taking pictures. So, I grabbed my Robo Raptor from the shelf and brought it to the living room where the sun shines in perfectly every morning.

I'll probably try for some more photos of my Robo Raptor. I'm disappointed that I wasn't paying attention to his hands. They really should be in the shot, as well as the top of his head. I love what the bright sun did for the background. I really need to get a shoe-mount flash for my camera!

All things considered, I'm rather excited about this "Nifty Fifty" project I've started. I have learned a lot, such as exposing to the right, experimenting with perspective and shooting from different angles and paying attention to what's in the background. I have a lot to learn still, but I think I'm progressing.

One last thing... I've had several encouraging comments from several people in my blog comments, on Flickr, via e-mail and face to face. Thank you all for your encouragement! I'm having fun.

6th Anniversary

2008-08-04T23:06:00.002-04:00

My wife and I have been married for six years as of Sunday, August 3rd. In that time, God gave us two wonderful daughters. We've had our ups and downs, but we are happy. I couldn't be happier with the woman God gave to me to be my wife.

To celebrate our six years together, we dropped our girls off at their grandparents house and we went out to eat. After lunch, we came home and watched a movie, then went out by the pond and took some pictures. I thought it would be fun to take some photos of us on our anniversary. I think we have one or two that we'll print out to hang on the wall.

If you couldn't tell, I had to bend over quite a bit to put my arms around Lynn. I'm 6' 2" tall. She's 4' 9" tall. There's quite a significant difference in height there. We had to toss out a bunch of photos because they looked goofy. Toward the end, I ran up to the house to get a stool for her to stand on. Before that, though, I thought it would be fun to take a picture of us standing side by side. You can see below that it was very difficult!

Nifty Fifty: Starting a New Project

2008-08-01T22:38:00.004-04:00

I've been a bit uninspired lately. My photos are all looking mostly the same. I take a picture of a tree, I make sure there's a nice sky in the background and presto, I have a nice picture. Unfortunately, all of them look pretty much the same. You see one tree, you've seen them all! Obviously, there are exceptions to this as there are some very neat, unique trees out there.

One of my favorite photos is a tree. Don't ask me why, but that photo, taken by Steve Paxton, was very inspiring to me. The first time I saw that, I came to the realization that I needed a wide angle lens.

I picked up a Sigma 10-20mm lens rarely ever take it off my camera, which leads me to this blog entry. My other lenses are getting dusty! So, I'm going to force myself to post a new picture every week with my 50mm f/1.8 lens, also known as the Nifty Fifty.

This is my first entry for this project. The sun was down over the horizon, so it's not very bright or colorful, but I still like it. I love sunflowers for some reason. Perhaps it's because the chipmunks steal the seeds from my feeders and "plant" them all over the place, leaving sunflowers to pop up in my yard throughout the summer.

Here are some of those thieves now!

Now, for something totally unrelated. I stopped on my way home from work last night to take some pictures. I needed some more material for my blog as I was running out of photos from my adventure to the Whitney Point Reservoir.

For some reason, I like vertically oriented landscape shots like the ones above, especially with a large foreground that leads into the photo. A kid riding a red tricycle on the sidewalk in the second photo could really make that shot.

Whitney Point Reservoir, Pt. 2

2008-07-29T23:38:00.002-04:00

This place is absolutely beautiful. I hardly ran into anybody. I saw one person and the evidence of one more. A few vehicles passed through the area, but it was very quiet and peaceful. I will definitely go back here.

I was going through my photos from this trip this morning, getting a bit discouraged. I posted a photo in my previous blog entry with a visible seam where I blended two exposures together. It's rather sloppy and I had hoped I wouldn't do that. I worked for about an hour this morning trying different things to fix it with little success. I haven't given up entirely, but I have set it aside for another day.

Here are some other photos I managed to get through my workflow. As you can see, I was there early enough to catch the sunrise. The sun didn't show itself much at first, but when it did, it was gorgeous. I'd wake up at 5am again to go back and catch the sunrise again.

I'm not sure about this one. I like it, but I don't. What do you think? Please feel free to comment on it.

Feel free to post critiques of my photos in the comments. I won't learn anything if you don't tell me what you don't like about my work.

Whitney Point Reservoir

2008-07-27T23:13:00.003-04:00

I'm not known by my friends and family to be an early riser. I sleep in the morning when I can. I usually roll out of bed around 8 and get to work around 10. This Saturday was different. I had big plans for this weekend. I set my alarm for 5 and was out the house by 5:30.

Last week the weather was miserable for shooting photos. It was rainy. I'm not taking my camera out in the rain to get soaked and ruined. I can't afford to buy new cameras regularly. So, I opted to drive around and scout out a new location to shoot. I saw the wildlife sanctuary in my Jimapco Atlas of Central New York right off the northern tip of the Whitney Point Reservoir. It was absolutely beautiful down there. There is so much different scenery to view and photograph. There's a nice bridge, a swamp, a lake, a windy river, fields and wildlife. Here is the first of a set of photos I took this Saturday.

I'm not 100% sure how I feel about self portraits. They're kind of convenient as the subject is usually 100% cooperative. I took this one for a specific reason, though. I wanted to point out my silly hat. It's just a camouflage John Deere hat my wife bought me. It's not special, but it serves a great purpose. Bugs. They don't seem to like getting under the brim of hats. I know this for a fact. Every time I take it off because my head is getting sweaty, the bugs bug me. This hat is very much an important part of my camera gear.

If my pants look wet, it's because they were! I was walking through grass up to my waste and early in the morning, there's still dew on it. I was soaked! I was also getting down low and dirty. Whatever it took to get a decent shot.

Keep an eye out for more to come. I shot 350 photos while I was out. As I go through and pick out ones I like, I'll post them and blog about them.

Onondaga Lake Park, Pt. 2

2008-07-25T13:03:00.002-04:00

Even though I had a difficult time capturing images with overcast skies, I was able to get some that I liked, as you saw in my previous post. This is a continuation of that as I was able to spend some more time processing photos. The photos below are all blended exposures as it was difficult to get a single exposure that I liked with the lighting. Maybe I have a lot more to learn here.

I hope you enjoyed them. I hope to get back there when the sun is shining to see what kinds of photos I can get with better lighting. I am happy with the results I achieved though.

Overcast at Onondaga Lake Park

2008-07-24T10:38:00.002-04:00

I've been out to shoot in overcast situations before with very little luck, so I wasn't very inclined to go out again last night. Unfortunately, I was miserable yesterday and just wanted to get out to take some photos. On top of that, I haven't updated my blog for a week. So, I figured if I was going to learn how to take decent photos on overcast days, I'd have to go out. So, I chose Onondaga Lake Park as my destination.

I learned a good piece of information that I might not have learned. Unfortunately, I didn't learn it until I was at home looking at my pictures. The piece that I learned was that there are subjects that can look good in low light and others that just plain don't. I couldn't get my standard landscape shots, but the photo below, I'm quite happy with. I like the subject and I think it fits in very nicely with the gloomy skies. It's very somber. The only thing that's missing is some tumbleweed.

I learned something else as well. Photos that don't look good in color might look good in black and white. I decided I'd have a go at creating a black and white image out of a photo I didn't like in color. It's hard to tell from the photo because of the lack of color, but the object in the foreground is the exposed root of the tree in the background.

As I was on my way out of the park, I saw this guy running around the ground. He stopped and I was able to get my telephoto lens attached, but a car drove up and scared this squirrel up the tree. I was rather disappointed because I wanted to shoot him on the picnic table. This isn't technically a good photo, but I love squirrels. So, here it is.

More From Beaver Lake

2008-07-16T23:15:00.002-04:00

These are the final images from my trip to Beaver Lake this week. I'll probably try to get up there again and see if I can get some photos of the local wildlife. I'll probably pack some bird seed in my camera bag to offer the squirrels and birds and sit a while to see what I can get.

I'll have some more photos from my trip to Currie Road tomorrow sometime.

Being Busy

2008-07-16T09:53:00.003-04:00

I've been rather busy taking pictures lately. I have a lot of RAW files that still need to be processed. I'll be getting around to it very shortly.

Here is a sampling of what I've been shooting lately.

I took this at Beaver Lake last night while walking around, looking for photos to take to submit for the amateur photo competition. I won't submit this one, but I like it. Unfortunately, the blades of grass in the front seem to get in the way a bit.

I figured I was already going to be home late last night from my trip to Beaver Lake, I might as well make another stop on my way. There's a whole plot of land that's owned by the SUNY schools between Tully and Truxton. I'm not sure what exactly the land is, but they have what appears to be a campground here.

Using the satellite feature of Google Maps, I found a location down some railroad tracks that looked interesting. So, I stopped there after work on Monday to take some pictures. I have been wanting to shoot some railroad for a long time now. I have more photos from this trip that need to be processed, but here's one so far.

Here is where the above picture was taken.

Local Park

2008-07-14T12:35:00.002-04:00

After our normal Church service yesterday, we went and joined the fellowship dinner at our old Church. It was my dad's last day as pastor there. That Church played a big part in our lives over the last several years, so we wanted to join them in their farewell. It was a great afternoon, but it happened to be during our kids' nap time.

During our short drive home, I discovered our 1 year old sound asleep in the back seat. Rather than wake her up and try desperately to get her to fall asleep again at home, I asked my wife if we should just drive around. We enjoy looking at the scenery, so that's what we did. Both kids fell asleep eventually. And so did my wife.

I was left to drive alone with three girls in the car, sound asleep. I figured the youngest was going to wake soon and started for home. As I was driving toward the house, I remembered the school in town and thought I might drive out that way. I made a short detour and discovered a surprisingly nice park. For a small town, this park is pretty nice. I didn't stop then, I just wanted to look. I went back last evening when I saw how beautiful the sky was. It needed to be photographed.

This is the river that runs along side the park. It's a combination of three exposures, all of them fairly long.

Keep an eye out for more. I'll be going back when there's a little more light to get some pictures of the rest of the park.

Here's another photo from last evening. This one is two exposures blended together using Gimp.

Contest Entries Pt. 1

2008-07-10T23:16:00.004-04:00

I was told a couple of times that I should enter some photos in local photo contests. I thought I'd give it a try.

Here are two of my potential entries. I'll be going back for more photos in hopes to get some better shots.

Both of these files are HDR images. I took three exposures of each scene and combined them using Qtpfsgui.

I'd love to hear your comments and criticisms. Feel free to tell me what I could do to make these shots better, either by editing or by recomposing and shooting them again.

UPDATE: After uploading these, I noticed they were straight and both had unnecessary tree branches poking in on the left side. I cropped and straightened them. You can see the originals here and here.

The Joseph Cloud

2008-07-05T08:54:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, as I was driving around with my family, I saw this cloud. I was rather amazed at the colors in it as I have never seen a cloud with a rainbow in it. I stopped the car and jumped out quick, fearing my opportunity wouldn't last, and snapped off a few shots. I had to do two exposures to get the colors in the clouds to come out without underexposing everything else.

As I was processing this photo and uploading it to Flickr, I remembered the story of Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors.

Happy 4th Of July!

2008-07-04T20:56:00.004-04:00

I woke up this fine 4th of July morning not sure what I was going to do. I figured I would try and get in some shooting, but looking out the window, I didn't see a sky I cared to be in my pictures. It was mostly gray. I decided I'd go anyway as it was relatively bright. Thankfully, when I got in my truck, I saw that the piece of sky revealed to me through my bedroom window was just a small piece of sky. There was much more sky up there that proved to be very interesting.

I drove to the Tioughnioga River fishing area in Blodgett Mills and trudged through dense and wet brush to take photos. I wanted to make sure the sun was behind my back, otherwise, I would have had a terrible time getting good exposures.

To celebrate the holiday we in this great nation enjoy and take pride in, I give you my attempt at HDR. I didn't want an unrealistic looking image. I wanted something that represented what I saw even though my camera was unable to capture it as the color and luminosity range of imaging sensors is inferior to the human eye.

This photo is of a network of exposed roots covered in moss. They are a little dark as I haven't quite grasped the whole method of creating an HDR image.

I had my truck parked a few feet from here.

The rest are pictures I took throughout the day. I have more that need to be processed, but these are the best of what I have so far.

I love how this one turned out. I was driving back from Tioughnioga River and pulled over to take a picture. I saw the stop sign and thought it would be interesting. So, I walked over there, laid on the ground and snapped a few pictures. Got up, laid down on another spot, took a few more pictures. My neighbors must think I'm loony, laying in the middle of the road like that!

I hope your 4th of July was as great or better than mine. Enjoy!

Poor Lawn Care Habits

2008-07-02T21:59:00.002-04:00

I have an excuse. My family was in California visiting my wife's parents. I didn't have enough time to take care of the yard before we left. So, when we came home, I had a field to take care of. The upside to all this is the Smurfs moved in.

I wasn't sure if I should go somewhere and take pictures this morning or if I should shoot in the back yard. I decided having only one good picture of my pond wasn't enough. So, after shooting the Smurfs homes, I shot these.

Enjoy!

Playing With My New Lens

2008-07-01T22:15:00.002-04:00

If you've been reading my posts, you know I have been waiting for my Sigma 10-20mm lens to come. I wish I had this lens when my wife and I were visiting her parents in California.

I lost a lot of good photos today because I had my camera ISO set to 1600. I took some nice pictures of the kids too. I keep swearing that I'll check the ISO every time I turn on my camera, but I never do!

Here are a few pictures I took on Sessions Hill Road. I've posted these trees before and I'm sure I'll be back up there several times throughout the next year taking pictures.

I hope they're not oversaturated. I gave them a LAB color boost and sharpened them using a high-pass filter technique I found in the Digital Photography School forums.

California, Final Post

2008-06-30T08:28:00.002-04:00

I looked through all the pictures I took in California and I really didn't find much more worth posting except this one. I was in my mother and father-in-law's backyard shooting to pass the time away.

I hope you enjoy it. Unfortunately, I discovered that my camera's ISO was set to 400, so the picture is a little noisy.