Tuesday January 31, 2012

A few more images from Sunday at the 14th street pond.  This image is really busy and hard to see what is going on.  If you have to explain an image you probably should show it but I was lucky to catch the goose at the moment he jumped into the water.  You can see that there are other geese making their way down to the water.  I shot a half-dozen of these before getting one just hitting the water.  Hard to see what is happening in this small image so you can click on it and it will show a larger image.

I love the metallic green head of Mallard Ducks.  Contrast that with their soft earth tone body and they just make a nice looking image in my view.   I received several e-mails from my friend Burt G. about the eagles at LD #14.  He has some beautiful images of an eagle eating a fish in a tree just above him.  It filled the entire frame of the image and he said it didn’t require any cropping or Photoshop work.

My friend Andreas also went to LD #14 this weekend and he made some great eagle images.  Above two Canvasback Ducks swim with a Mallard.  I really enjoy this pond on 14th street.  Yes I know you can get tired of ducks and geese pretty quickly but it is fun to watch and shoot them plus it is good practice.

Enjoy your day.  Thanks for stopping by and be careful.

Monday January 30, 2012

I had three goals to accomplish this weekend and I was able to complete two of them.  The one goal I wasn’t able to carry out was to go to LD #14 in Le Claire and shoot eagles. Burt said that the eagles were not fishing Saturday and he wasn’t sure they would be on Sunday.  By the time I completed my projects it was simply too late to head to Le Claire.

I checked out a couple of places and finally ended up at LD #11.  No fishing today just 4 eagles sitting high in the trees.  So based on the advice of my friend Burt G.  I set up the D3 to shoot with the following parameters: ISO 1200, aperture f8.0, shutter speed 1/1500 sec single focus / continuous focus, noise reduction turned on,  and high burst mode.  I had the camera on a tripod and the eagles were not moving.  Still could not get a sharp image!    I hate this lens.

Frustrated I went over to 14th and Sycamore Streets to check on the Geese and Ducks.  Lots of them around and I captured this sequence of a pair of geese coming in for a landing.

I was sitting on one of the big stones that allows you to view the entire area and I was shooting some of the mallard ducks when I noticed a pair of geese preparing to land.  I thought this was a good opportunity to practice my panning skills.

Burt sent  me some of his eagle shots.  They are beautiful.  Tack sharp and wonderfully composed.  So those are the images I’m trying to emulate and I’m not even coming close.

Maybe I need to stick to barns.  They don’t move and I can sneak up on them pretty good.  Enjoy your Monday.  Thank you for stopping by.  Be careful.

Sunday January 29, 2012

Yesterday Jeanne stayed with Joshua all day while Mom and Dad did some other things.  To me this would have been a hard day of work but for Jeanne it is nothing short of a delight.

So I went over to their house around 7:00 pm to spend a little Grandpa time with Joshua.  He made strange with me and wouldn’t even look at me for about 10 minutes.  No matter what I tried he would have nothing to do with me and would cling to Jeanne.

I decided since he would play with me I would at least take his picture.  After the first shot his eyes lit up and it was like he said, “oh yeah I know this guy it’s Grandpa Flash.”

From then on we played, talked,  looked at books and just had a lot of fun.  He is walking now although his preferred mode of travel (if he’s in a hurry) is still crawling.  Additionally  when you ask him a question that can have a yes or no answer he bounces up and down with his whole body to signify yes.  If it’s no he just looks at the ground

So we had some fun and Josh even took a picture with the D3, although neither one of us knew it was happening until it happened.  No harm but it’s not a very good picture.

I’m going to drive down to Lock & Dam 14 tomorrow.  My friend Burt keeps sending me all these great Eagle pictures and telling me what a great place it is to shoot.  I’m not very happy with my long lens right now and spent a lot of time today trying new things with it.  Burt has been very helpful but it is a learning process.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your Sunday and be careful.

Saturday January 28, 2012

Friday around noon the temperature was mild and there was a hint of sunshine.  So I grabbed my camera and drove out to the local Subway to have a quick sandwich and then off to hunt for images.

I was just about done and ready to leave when a friend of mine came up to me and asked if he could join me.  I said sure (thinking you can always take images, but you cannot always find a friend to talk with.)

So we visited and ate our food and finally with about 12 minutes left of my lunch time we left the Subway.  I thought I had just enough time to take a quick run down to the Maquoketa dam and see what was going on there.  If I was lucky I might find some ducks or geese.

What I found instead was a lone man sitting in a boat fishing in the open water.  I knew instantly that I had my image, so I shot about 20 times, with the first one winning out.

Then I grabbed one of the river with the shore line and it was time to get back to work.  I am accustom to taking several quick shots in a short about of time but I was a lot more rushed than I like to be.  Lesson learned, next time get the food to go.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your weekend and be careful.

Thursday January 26, 2012

I went to Cedar Rapids yesterday.  The sun was pretty much non-existent for most of the day but the lighting conditions were not too bad.  On the way back to the office it seemed like there was an abundance of barns that caught my attention.

I like barns anyway but for some reason I saw barns yesterday that I’ve never really noticed before.  Perhaps it was the snow that enhanced their appearance or I was just in the mood for barns. 

I made several “U” turns on the trip back yesterday.  On a couple of occasions the barn didn’t look all that interesting but then I’d catch a glimpse of it in the rear view mirror and have to turn around and go back. I’m going to have such a wreck one of these days if I don’t stop looking for things to shoot.

This is my favorite of all the barns I shot yesterday.  I captured an image of this barn about 18 months ago.  It sets just off the highway and I walked down a short lane to make some images.  It is in bad shape but I just love the way this image looks almost like a painting.  Remember if you click on the image you can see a larger size.

I just downloaded the Beta version of LightRoom 4.  It is in the testing phase until mid March when it is scheduled to be released.  It is a fully working product that may or may not be what the final product resembles.

They have added a couple of major functions such as a book making module and a location function.  Also on the development module there have been some major changes in the adjustment tools.

Worth your time if you own LightRoom 3 or you think you would like to get started with LightRoom.  You can play around with it for a couple of months before it stops working.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your Thursday and be careful.

Wednesday January 25, 2012

Nice to see the sun shine for a change.  I had to visit one of our banks today for a meeting so I took my camera with me in hopes of finding something worth shooting.  I didn’t see a thing on the way over that caught my eye.  On the way back I could tell the light was better as it was about 4:15 pm.  The lighting did get more favorable with every mile I drove.

I came across this pile of trees and they caught my eye.  Sitting all alone in the middle of a field with no hint of where they came from.  I thought they looked interesting so I made this image of them.  Now that I see them I’m not sure if my rational was sound. 

A little further down the road was this wonderful old barn.  It was in a pretty run down state of repair but appeared to still be in use.  I saw several barns this day in the same condition but something about this one caught my eye.  Maybe it was because it was sitting away from any other buildings out in the snow and I just liked the way it looked.

Finally I turned on to another road heading back to Maquoketa and went over a small bridge.  I noticed the water was not frozen so I did a turn around.   I like the way the water picks up the color of the sky as contrasted with the snow on the ground.

I have several images of streams over the years but I really like the way the snow accentuates the outline of the stream.  After several days of gray featureless skies it was just wonderful to see the sun and blue sky.  It does wonders for a person’s mood.

Anyway I took a total of about 10 minutes out of my day for these images but they did a lot more than that for my outlook on the day. 

Thanks for stopping by.  enjoy your hump day and be careful.

Tuesday January 24, 2012

I’ll call this lame Tuesday as today’s post has less to do about photography then it does weather conditions.   The image above is reflective of what the conditions were like on Sunday when I attempted to capture some eagle images.

My friend Burt from Le Claire wrote me saying that he actually thought about going out Sunday to shoot as well.  He thought about it for 3 seconds and decided  to not go.

We were driving around looking for a better place to shoot and came across these guys.  They said they were not having much luck catching anything but it was obvious they were enjoying themselves.  Considering the football play offs were on TV you would think they would have more fun in a warm house watching the games.  I guess we all have our passions to pursue.

I’ll leave you with an image of the lock and dam that I have never seen before.  It is from the Wisconsin side of the river.  I have only seen the lock from the Iowa side.  From a purely photographic standpoint I like this image.  I tried it in black and white but I like the color of the locking mechanisms contrasted with  the gray structure of the dam and the weather elements.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your Tuesday and be careful.

Monday January 23, 2012

A difficult day for shooting with a long lens.  It was overcast, cloudy, and misting.  But I had heard there were eagles at the lock and dam so Jeanne and I set out to see if we could see them.

I shot this sequence of an eagle fishing with the Nikon D700 at ISO 2000  1/800 sec @ f8.0 with the Sigma 150 – 500 mm lens.  Considering the distance I was away from the eagle and the shooting conditions I’m not too displeased with these images.

We walked up to the observation deck at the Lock and Dam.  Lots of obstacles in my field of view  but it was the only place I could find to shoot from where I could get images of the eagles fishing.

There were probably 20 – 25 eagles on the ice and always two or three flying over the open water.  This guy was the only one that was half way in focus.  It is the first time I have captured an eagle catching a fish so I’m excited about that.

In the process of shooting the eagles today we discovered a new place.  More on that in another post.  We could get right down to the water’s edge at the new location and hopefully do so in a way that won’t spook the eagles.

By the time we found this new place it was misting pretty hard and it was getting dark enough that I couldn’t get the lens to focus.

So even though these are not tack sharp and still have some noise I am reasonably happy with the results.  It’s a learning process and I have a long way to go.

Enjoy your Monday.  Thank you for stopping by.  Be careful.

Saturday January 21, 2012

Happy Saturday.  Yes this is a wild turkey.  New Year’s Eve and Day Jeanne and I (well okay mostly Jeanne) stayed with Joshua while Angie and Ben got to go to Lambeau  Field to see the Green Bay Packers play the The Detroit Lions.

They live near a wooded area and the wild turkeys often roam in their back yard much to the delight of Joshua.  He loves to look out the window and see the turkeys.  There were four of them on this day.

New Year’s Day was spent watching Josh play with his toys from Christmas and keeping an eye on the football game.

It’s been a busy week since I shot the eagles on Wednesday so I have not had an opportunity to shoot any images except bank functions.  We also had our annual meeting for the Chamber of Commerce, which I am a board member so that left no time for pictures.

I love this image of Jeanne and Joshua.  She is so much about caring, nurturing and giving of herself for others.  I’m a lucky man indeed.

I plan to get out today and shoot some of the snow scenes. while the snow is still white   Have fun shoveling out, thanks for stopping by and be careful.

Thursday January 19, 2012

Nikon D3 | Tamron 200 - 500 mm lens | ISO 3200 1/1000 @ f8.0

Long day yesterday.  I left the house at 6:00 am and didn’t get home until 8:30 pm.  Lots of meetings today, both for the company I work for and for the Maquoketa Chamber of Commerce.  I am on the board of directors of the Chamber and this was our annual meeting for investors.  Then meetings this noon and afternoon.

Anyway this evening I attended a program at our bank in Monticello and on the way over about 4:30 pm the light was just beautiful.  I happened by the feeding ground for the eagles and this time I put the Tamron on the D3.  Admittedly they are far from sharp however  they are better than the images I posted a couple of days ago.

Nikon D3 | Tamron 200 - 500 mm lens | ISO 3200 1/1000 @ f8.0

To be fair the conditions were better today than on Monday.  The time of day was about the same but lighting was so much better.  I also had a lower ISO and shot at a slightly slower shutter speed.

I would like to be able to get a little closer to the eagles  but they are so skittish as it is.  When I roll up in my car about half of them fly away.  Once I ease out of the car and shoot over the roof half of the remaining birds fly away.  So if I were to try to walk a little closer to them I doubt that any would stay.

Nikon D3 | Tamron 200 - 500 mm lens | ISO 3200 1/1000 @ f8.0

These are still not very good but as Andreas says at least I was outdoors and had my camera with me so it sure beats not getting to shoot.  Additionally I was around eagles and that’s pretty nice.   I have to remind myself that it is a journey and I have a long way to go.

Enjoy your day.  Thank you for stopping by and be careful.