Fun with Christmas Lights

Fun with Christmas Lights:



(click the photo to see more)

Shutter-priority mode
Exposure: 2 sec (2)
Aperture: f/13
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

I need a NaNoWriMo for photography

There are NaNoWriMo posts all over the blogosphere as the shoestring writers of the world work on their novels. (It's National Novel Writing Month). I need a NaNoWriMo for photography. I need some sort of challenge - a deadline. A goal.

I registered for the Intro to B/W Photography class at the college I teach at. (We can take courses for free, and I've decided to try and complete the photography certificate). It starts in January. I'm also taking meteorology. I'd like to do some weather photography. I suppose I'll have homework and deadlines soon enough! It's a film photography class with a darkroom component. I'm looking forward to really absorbing the truths of exposure.

I think I'm getting a digiscope and the SLR camera adapter for Christmas, which will give me new ways to get out and take pictures of birds. I hear that some owls hang out around here through the winter. I've never seen an owl in the wild, so that's one of my winter photography goals (to get a photo of an owl). I can't wait for the spring migration to see what kinds of birds I find!

Winter weather really zaps my motivation to get outside and shoot. :-/

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.3 Update

Adobe has released an update for Photoshop Lightroom. The update brings Lightroom to version 1.3.

Included in the Lightroom 1.3 Update: Update OS X 10.5 (Leopard) support and additional camera support for the 1Ds Mark III, Nikon D3, Nikon D300, Olympus E-3 and more.

Lightroom 1.3 includes corrections for the following issues:

• Writing XMP metadata automatically has been corrected for performance issues

• Printing with the native resolution option enabled no longer sets the wrong dimension for portrait oriented images

• Prior to Camera Raw 4.3 there was the possibility that artifacts in edge transitions could be introduced through the Bayer demosaic and luminance noise reductions algorithms. This has been corrected.

• The Canon sRAW format and the Fuji compressed RAF formats are now supported.

Lightroom 1.3 includes the following enhancements:

• The import dialog now offers the option to render 1:1 previews as part of the import process

• The export dialog layout has been enhanced

• A Lightroom Preview Export SDK is available for developers to create and distribute Export Plug-ins. Further details are located on Adobe Labs
  

Lightroom automatically triggered the update when I opened the application today, but if you'd like to grab it manually, visit Adobe's update page - Windows - Mac

I-355 Tollway, Opening Eve

Well, the I-355 tollway south extension (dubbed "Veterans Memorial Tollway") opens sometime late tonight for tomorrow's rush hour traffic. I was able to drive the half mile down the road to the closest overpass and snap a few photos. There was a police vehicle here and there driving along the tollway, but I got a few shots with no cars in them. I figured, this is the first major tollway to open around here in 20 years, and how often do you get to see a tollway with NO cars on it?

I didn't spend much time messing around with camera settings, as I was certain cops were going to come arrest me at any moment, thinking I was a kid throwing shit off the bridge or something. (My tendency towards paranoia over getting in trouble for trespassing-like violations will likely not serve me well in photography and storm chasing - I will have to learn to get over it!)

I probably should have used a higher aperture setting. I had my tripod with me but the shoulder wasn't very wide and I was afraid to set it up, lest it get hit by a passing car. I sat the camera on the concrete ledge of the bridge to take these shots.

Other overpasses have more to look at in terms of signs and whatnot, but this one is closest to home, has the least light pollution, and is on the least busy street. (I'd have never gotten away with parking alongside any of the other overpasses, as those are too busy with traffic).

Behold, the I-355 Veterans Memorial Tollway, South Extension, as seen from the Bruce Road overpass:

(Click the photo to see the set)

Reflections

I've been reading a lot about how the use of a polarizer filter can reduce reflections and glare, and I've seen some great examples of how this technique can improve photos.

There's another kind of reflection that can yield some pretty interesting effects.

This isn't a great photo by any means, but it reminded me of something I need to practice: really *see* what you're photographing.

I didn't notice the reflection until I got the photo off of my camera and onto the computer. Had I noticed it while framing the shot, I might have been able to do something cool with the effect. As is, cloud cover has moved in and the sky is no longer reflecting in the pond.

Comet Holmes

I was able to finally see Comet Holmes tonight through a mostly clear sky in Chicagoland. (Here's the full story on where this comet came from).

Since there is a lot of light pollution around here, bumping the ISO beyond 400 made for very noisy photos. (15 seconds was recommended, as stars move, and anything longer results in star trails/blur). ISO 800 allowed me to get a good exposure reading at 15 seconds, but the photos were very noisy. So I stuck with ISO 400. I think I was able to get away with 30 seconds - there are minor star trails but the comet itself seems OK. The second photo is a crop of the first.

I used manual focus and a remote shutter release to avoid camera shake.

Exposure:	30 sec (30)
Aperture:	f/5.6
Focal Length:	300 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV
Flash:	Flash did not fire

Digiscoping

Oh, how I love reading the posts and looking at the pictures on birdchick.com! Sharon does this thing called "digiscoping." It's like the next step for photographers who specialize in bird photography. Yeah, my 300mm telephoto is a nice lens, but I've been most happy with shooting "larger" wildlife with it, such as my trips to the zoo. It's tough to get close enough to a bird to get a sharp, frame-filling photo of just BIRD. I'd look at the pictures on birdchick.com and think, how on earth does she do it? What kind of camera does she use?

Well, it's not the camera, really. She attaches her camera to a spotting scope, a special kind of telescope. Digiscoping is the process of taking digital photos through a spotting scope.

To give an idea of the magnification, my camera lens zooms to 300mm. A spotting scope can achieve zooms up to 6,900mm. No wonder she can get so close up!

Sharon's digiscoping setup currently costs about $3,000. Oy. I'm sure it can be done more cheaply (as she says her equipment was top of the line when she bought it), though like cameras and lenses, it seems the advice on the street is buy the best one you can afford.

Someday! :)

It looks like a basic digiscoping setup can be had for under $500. I probably wouldn't know the difference! After googling around a bit...

A non-high-def digiscoping setup that would work with my camera, turning the digiscope into a telephoto lens: $370 + tax. This consists of:

• Zhumell 20-60x 80mm Spotting Scope (fogproof and waterproof) - $299
  
• Camera adapter for the 80mm Spotting Scope (to enable to scope to be used as a telephoto lens) - $49
• T-ring mount for Canon EOS cameras (to attach the camera adapter) - $17

Maybe I'll get a nice tax return this year and can get a digiscope in time for spring bird migration!!!