Month: June 2013

The waning moon presented itself in the morning light when I went out to get the newspaper. I took a few shots with my 28-300mm lens, which lens hasn’t been on my camera much lately. The morning light through the lens revealed a huge scratch on the filter and when I downloaded the photos, I realized that my camera needs to pay a visit to Action Camera for a thorough cleaning. I’m glad I finally figured out how to use the healing brush in Lightroom so that I could eliminate all the spots and squiggles from the morning sky. The clouds veiled the moon a bit so the overall look of this shot is a bit hazy.

Focal Length 300mm
ISO 100
f/11
1/125

The Super Moon, created when the new moon occurs when the lunar apogee, or is it the lunar perigee, oh, forget it, who cares? Anyway, the moon is closer to the Earth. I had decided not to photograph it because we are in the midst of an unseasonal summer rain that brought clouds and overcast skies to the area Sunday and I thought the moon would be obscured. I looked outside about 10PM and the moon, appearing a bit larger (I think the actual super moon occurred at moonrise a couple hours earlier) was unobscured with a cloudy background, the light of the moon reflecting off the clouds. I set up with my 70-300mm lens and discovered that I have no idea how to capture clouds while photographing the moon and retaining its detail. I should have taken one shot of the clouds and one shot of the moon and merged them in Photoshop but since my Photoshop skills are lacking, I didn’t think I would succeed if I tried that. The other thing about the Super Moon is that it really only appears to be “super-sized” in photographs when other things are in the shot, like a bridge or a mountain top. Photographing the already risen moon from my front walkway resulted in yet another ordinary moon shot. At least this time, I got a few clouds for added interest.

I took the first shot at my normal “moon shot setting” which is the Sunny 16 rule, ISO 100, f/16, 1/100. I added a bit of clarity and contrast. The clouds do not show at all. I took the second shot at ISO 100, f/11, 1/100, adding some clarity and increasing exposure by 5 full stops. This brought out the cloud detail and surprisingly, because the clouds were drifting in front of the moon when I took the shot, some of the moon detail as well. I increased the luminance to get rid of some of the noise in the clouds.

I noticed some hummingbird activity in the yard late this afternoon so I attached my 70-200mm zoom and went outside to see what I could see on this unusally overcast summer day. A hummer landed on an interesting, unobstructed twig and he seemed to have his eye on me the entire time, waiting for me to leave so he could enjoy his feeder in peace. I hear him at the feeder now that I’m back inside. These shots are rather drab but the day is drab and dreary and I think this is the female because it has very little color.

Focal Length 200mm (and cropped)
ISO 100
f/7.1
1/250

The reflections on the drummer’s cymbals caught my eye before the performance of the Keith Williams Band at Mo’s last night.

I have been very negligent in my photography of late. I do still take photos every day (well, almost) but obviously they don’t all make it to my blog. Some go on Facebook (my band photos and weekly food specials, mostly) but most of the others languish in a Lightroom catalog, probably never to see the light of day again, because they aren’t particularly good. I do look forward to having time to focus (no pun, well, I guess, yes, pun intended) on my photography a little more soon. And, I am especially looking forward to a couple of photography workshops with Moose Peterson coming up. One is scheduled in October in the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, and the other at Arches National Park in Utah in February of next year. I am excited to see the Tetons again after almost 50 years (yikes how time flies). Besides it being one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, I spent the two best summers of my life during my college days there. And my rafter buddies and I visited Arches National Park a few years ago during our Colorado River adventure. And now, after my Grand Canyon adventure with Moose, I can see real possibilities for incredible photos at Arches, especially now that I have a decent camera.

About noon, I realized that I had some time to myself today, so I went out because I noticed a butterfly flitting around and thought it might be a photo op. By the time I emerged onto my patio, the butterfly had disappeared so I made do with what I found. The light was harsh and bright; probably the worst time to try for a decent photograph. A cluster of Spiraea Bumalda (Anthony Waterer) got my attention because only the flowers clusters themselves were in sunlight. The rest of the plant was shaded. The second shot is a cropped version of the first.

Based on my choice of time for this photo shoot, it could be argued that I am one of those mad dogs I mention in today’s blog title (I’m pretty sure I’m not an Englishman); after all, I was out there in the noonday sun!

I took this shot a couple of evenings ago. When I reviewed the photos, all taken with my 70-200mm lens, I noticed that the color of the moon was slightly different in some of the shots. Most were grayish but some had a slight brownish cast, despite the settings being identical in all of the shots: ISO 100, f/11, 1/100, WB Auto. The only differences were that I had the lens’ VR setting on in some shots and off in some and I used the camera’s timer in a few of the shots instead of depressing the shutter release. I took all of the shots with the tripod and once the camera was set up,I didn’t adjust the tripod.

I cropped the shot and applied clarity and a few other basic adjustments. When I changed the white balance from the “as shot” setting, which setting was Auto on the camera, to “Auto” WB in Lightroom, the brownish color became very pronounced, giving the moon a very different look than I usually get. I like the results. I have no idea why the color of the moon would change from photo to photo, all taken within a four minute period between 10:26 and 10:30PM; yet another photographic mystery I should learn about. . . someday!

When I left the gym this morning, the glint of sun reflected in water drops on a fortnight lily caught my eye, espcially because my friend Honora had just sent me a collection of macro water drop photos that were awe-inspiring. This photo is not particularly awe-inspiring because I don’t have a macro lens and I didn’t have my tripod and I was battling a slight breeze that kept the flower in almost constant motion but I think a bit of cropping and adding a vignette makes for an interesting flower photo.

I suppose I should be worried that today, Raley’s Supermarket texted me a coupon for $2 off Talenti’s gelato. That means their targeted marketing is dead on! In the past few weeks, I have bought so many pints of Talenti’s Sea Salt Caramel Gelato, with huge chunks of dark chocolate suspended throughout its silky goodness, that it has surpassed everything else I buy there. . .even Zinfandel!. . . and rocketed to the top of the list. I found it quite by accident and tonight, when I got home with my newly acquired pints, having taken no other photos today, I decided to feature it. Yum!

I took a little too long to set up this shot so the gelato has melted a bit more than I wanted but it still looks luscious and, of course, I had no trouble devouring the model once I’d taken all the shots I needed!

I had dinner tonight on the patio. It consisted of a glass of Klinker Brick Zinfandel and herbed goat cheese with ciabatta bread. The herbs in the goat cheese were herbes du Provence, which includes thyme, basil, lavender, and perhaps, rosemary. Although this photo doesn’t show it, the basil is to the left and the rosemary is to the right. The lavender and thyme are in the background but I didn’t make this batch of l’herbes du Provence nor did I infuse it in the goat cheese. I bought it at Safeway. It is delicious. I may have this dinner again tomorrow night!

One of my favorite roses, one that I have featured here in the past, is Abraham Darby, a gorgeous pink David Austin rose with a deep, heady fragrance, and so many petals it is too heavy to stand upright without support. This evening as the sun dipped, I noticed my David Austin rose had a single, lovely bloom that had managed to survive the killer weekend heatwave and had perched itself on one of its horizontal trellis bars so the cluster of petals displayed themselves to me instead of drooping toward the patio.

I used my tripod and set the aperture to f/22 to capture a deep depth of field.

Focal Length 70mm
ISO 100
f/22
1/2
WB Fine Weather

Val Starr and the Blues Rocket exploded onto the Famous Mo’s stage last night. The record breaking heat yesterday did not sap her energy! What a great show!

This mask, dangling against a black background in my sewing/junk/photography studio struck my fancy this morning. It’s creepy and mesmerizing and it seems to fluoresce from within although the light is all reflected.

70mm
ISO 100
f/2.8
1/10

One of the things I love about being a photographer is finding interesting and fascinating subjects that I haven’t photographed. Today was a case in point. I found myself at Full Spectrum Ink for the first time, one of the neighborhood businesses that is, like Famous Mo’s, affected by the Rocklin Road Roundabout Construction Project. I am creating a brochure that all the affected businesses will distribute during the 6 months of road construction in front of our businesses. It was the first time I had seen a tattoo in progress and I immediately knew I had to take photos. Brandon, tattoo artist extraordinaire, and Eric, his client, graciously allowed me to photograph the dragon tattoo that Brandon was inking to Eric’s shoulder.

Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” came to mind as I downloaded the photos. Lisbeth Salander’s dragon tattoo, as described in the book, was a bit more elaborate than this but I must admire Eric for his stamina during the several hour process. Brandon told me that this tattoo would probably take about 6 or 7 hours to create and that it would be done in one sitting. Wow!

I was so intent on capturing this single lavender cluster while the light was perfect that I didn’t notice the hummingbird squeaking at me to leave the fountain area until he got annoyed, buzzed by my head, and disappeared. Hummingbirds tomorrow, maybe?

ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/320, 70mm

Today, as I watered the wilting plants in my garden (the temperatures are surging upward again, into the high 90’s to 100 for the next few days) I noticed a single bee flitting from lavender flower to lavender flower. Ah, yes, one more thing that makes my life normal and complete: my camera. I went inside and got my camera. It was late afternoon and only a few rays of sun remained on the lavender. The bee was difficult to follow. I should have used the tripod or the monopod but they’re in the trunk of my car and I opted to hand hold the camera. The lighting was not optimum and I had the lens wide open instead of stopped down for better focus. Only a single shot out of several was in decent focus. And, here it is! A bee hunting for pollen in the lavender flowers.

I am never prepared, photographically speaking, whenever Bobo decides to climb down beneath her cage. Some day I will capture a perfectly focused shot of her hanging eight, so to speak (zygodactyl feet, you know). She moves so swiftly and even though I had the camera in hand when she did it a couple of days ago, by the time I got the viewfinder to my eye, she was on the move and I couldn’t focus well. Ths shot shows movement, of course, but the still part of her isn’t clear enough to suit me. I’ll keep trying. Of course, afterward, she posed, at first with a “stay away from me” look, then with one of her mesmerizing stares.