Archive for category Random

30 Seconds At A Time

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A view of the mysterious orange glow from the Correctional Facility south of Baraga.

This series of images is just for those who lay awake at night wondering what happens if you leave the shutter on your camera open for 30 seconds while along the road at the south side of Keweenaw Bay. I happened to be driving home last night so I decided to give it a try. Read the rest of this entry »

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Things that make you go hmm…

Feeling a little creative frustration with all the white outside (aka snow) so I decided to find something inside to shoot. Here are a few things that caught my eye.

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Stormy Night in Paradise

Apparently, we had quite a storm that came through in the early morning hours. We all slept through it, but when we finally did get to the beach we found it a complete mess.

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We be in Jamaica. Yaw Mon.

Yes. We be in Jamaica. It’s been a struggle dealing with the warm tropical climate and abundant sunshine, but we soldier on. 

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Entertainment In The U.P…. It’s About Community

So why is it that we always feel the need to justify the price we paid for an item or service? Maybe it’s because we have felt so challenged by the high cost of just existing lately. I think we all want to enjoy our summer time, but with the cost of everything else rising you begin to wonder “just when do we get a break?”. With that bit of reality it’s good to realize that we all know the value of getting out and being a part of the community.

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Yak, Yak, Yak and a Slice of Bread…

So what do you get when you put a slice of bread in your backyard at lunchtime? A flock of happy yakkers!

So if you read my previous post you already realize that I have a yard full of European Starlings and their fledglings. The fledglings mission is to yak enough so as to have food shoved down their throats by their parents in hopes of silencing them. It is actually quite amusing to watch. Frantic parents trying to hush their kids with offerings of food.

 Attacking the bread.

Not only are they creating quite a bit of racket, but also seem to be creating a shortage of suet not only in my feeders, but also at the local grocery stores (I bought the last 2 econo had just the other day). The racket continues, but it is obvious they are trying to be more self sufficient. This morning they were all along my driveway picking through the freshly mowed lawn. I don’t know if they were getting much to eat, but at least they were making it look good. Read the rest of this entry »

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Yak, Yak, Yak (That’s bird talk for “Feed Me!”)

A European Starling works the suet

When I first captured a picture of these interestingly colored birds and looked it up online I was surprised to find out it was European Starling. First of all I was fascinated with their color and how it changed in different light, but secondly was that they made that trip all the way from Europe to my bird feeder. I wonder what part of Europe they originated from?

It all started about a month ago when I started noticing them show up in my backyard. The number of them seemed to increase with each passing day. I suspected they weren’t that organized on their flight over here so there were some stragglers still arriving. It was obvious they were depleted in their resources, which was evident by the continual disappearance of the hanging suet. It was getting expensive to keep these guys fed, but they still are a good deal. 2 suets for $3.34 + tax. Heck, anything that is less than a gallon of gas is a good deal in my book.

The Brown Thrasher wasn't at all impressed with the activity.

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Patience Is A Virtue, 53 Weeks A Year?

The Portage Lift Bridge spans between Houghton and Hancock, MI.

Any experienced photographer can attest to the importance of patience. In this digital age of photography one would think that a hit and run, mafia like approach would generate far more keepers than in the film days. Just hold down the shutter and rattle off a couple dozen frames. One of those is bound to be good. Right? But those of us who have been blessed with those rare opportunities to capture that unique image know that it takes more than equipment to make it happen. Read the rest of this entry »

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1 Year and 42,000 Clicks Later

It’s hard to imagine that a little over a year ago I got my Canon 20D digital SLR camera. I updated my spreadsheet where I track the total files downloaded from the camera and guess what… since May 2nd of last year I have taken 42,597 photos with it! I know that sounds a little… okay a lot obsessive especially when you divide that number by the total days and it comes out to 112 images per day.

Yes, another sunset... how predictable (taken with 40D)

Now in my defense I will say that it is rather easy to rack up a lot of photos per day when shooting sports in burst mode. What would be depressing would be to come up with the number of “keepers” that I got out of te 42,000+ photos I took. Fortunately, it would be a rather difficult exercise to determine that because if I had I am sure it would be quite low. Read the rest of this entry »

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Catching a sunset…

I’ve always been fascinated with sunsets and have tried on many occasions to capture them in photos. Anyone who has ever tried doing so I think will agree that it can be quite a challenge.Sunset approaches over Pine MountainThere are a number of things working against a photographer trying to capture a sunset. First of all there is the extreme dynamic range. The sun is a lot brighter than the surroundings and the camera can only capture about 4 stops of light. The sun passing through the edge of our atmosphere greatly reduces its intensity, but it is still a lot brighter as compared to the surroundings.The other problem is lens flare (see my first image for an example of some mild lens flare). This is simply one of those problems we just have to accept when using a digital camera. The problem is that the sensor is reflective so when a bright light source hits it straight on it reflects back out the lens. And because a lens is comprised of a number of glass elements there is a pretty good possibility some of the light reflected off the sensor gets reflected back again which shows up as lens flare. Some lenses have less flare than others and sometimes you can adjust the aim a bit to reduce or possibly eliminate it. If you have a filter on the front of the lens remove it when shooting sunsets to prevent the filter from introducing even more reflections. By the way the same problem exists when shooting the moon since it is actually very bright.To combat the extreme dynamic range I have found that I need to reduce the exposure by 1 or 2 stops under what the camera thinks is right. And don’t aim directly at the sun when getting the exposure setting. Instead focus on something darker that is near it. Once you have the exposure locked then recompose and release the shutter. Review the image with the histogram to see if there is any highlight clipping.Almost there…If there is a lot of clipping reduce the exposure another stop and try it again. If you run out of exposure compensation adjustment then stop the lens down more. I usually start with f/16 when shooting sunsets and go smaller as needed to prevent clipping. The trick with all of this is that as the sun gets lower in the sky it has less light so you need to remember to reverse the process as it nears the horizon.The other thing to keep in mind is to not go overboard with under exposing. It may seem like a great way to avoid clipping, but it will introduce noise in the image. You still want to get the exposure as high as you can without excessive clipping of the highlights. I always take multiple shots varying the exposure compensation so I have some alternatives should I find I was being too aggressive one way or the other. You can always set up exposure bracketing to help with this also.The sun disappears behind the ski jumpKeep in mind that there will be a point, as the sun nears the horizon, where you will need to reverse the process with exposure compensation and aperture. And depending on how dark it gets you might need to go into mirror lockup mode and remote trigger the shutter. Just be careful to not use too long a shutter because the sun moves rather quickly and will become a blur if you use something longer than 1/30th of a second. Be prepared as this part of the sunset goes by really fast as opposed to the point leading up to it where it feels like it is taking forever.Photographing a sunset is not easy. I respect those who do so well. A lot of it is finding a lens that has little flare and to only photograph it when the suns intensity is low. But if you realize how you can improve your chances you just might get some decent shots.

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