After the Sun Set

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!