Photoblog of Wayne Woodruff

Retiring this blog ...

2010-08-01T21:15:00.001-04:00

After 20 months here at blogger, I'm going to retire this blog. All of my new postings will be placed on my new blog at http://photoblog.2zars.com/.

In the text above this posting is a link that will show my latest posting on the new blog and a link to the RSS feed, also copied here for your convenience. Subscribe to this Feed

Blogger has been great, but I wanted greater creative control over the site, which is just not possible with Blogger.

I plan on leaving these photos here. Perhaps I'll move some of the content to the new site. Maybe someday, I'll come back here, who knows?

Thank you for your support and encouraging comments!! I hope you'll join me at my new home.

Boardwalk Reflections

2010-07-30T06:01:00.002-04:00

Posted here

Are you a turtle?

2010-07-27T22:02:00.002-04:00

http://2zars.com/photoblog/2010/07/are-you-at-turtle/

Jetty

2010-07-26T06:17:00.002-04:00

http://2zars.com/photoblog/2010/07/jetty/

Icy Shadows

2010-07-24T21:46:00.000-04:00

Posted here for shadow shot Sunday. I'm really trying to give the new blog a workout to decide to keep it, this blog, or both.

Sunrise reflections

2010-07-23T06:00:00.001-04:00

I'm going to post this on my other blog.

http://2zars.com/photoblog/2010/07/sunrise-reflections/

Pissed off catepillar

2010-07-20T06:01:00.006-04:00

I've decided to post this on my other blog, mainly as an experiment. I know some of you have visited the site and posted comments before. I've done a bunch of 'tweaking' and I think it's ready for prime time. Depending on how it goes, I may switch to the new blog.

Here's a link to the posting. This is a macro shot you may not want to miss.

http://2zars.com/photoblog/2010/07/pissed-off-catepillar/

Fence posts

2010-07-18T07:00:00.002-04:00

I shot this at the lighthouse at Turkey Point. I believe these were fenceposts for the stable that was part of the lighthouse keepers home.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens

Exposure 1/4000 sec @ f1.4

ISO 100

Curves adjusted for contrast

Train Station

2010-07-17T09:20:00.001-04:00

I've decided to post this to my 'new' blog. A second submission for Weekend Reflections and a submission for Weekend in Black and White

http://2zars.com/photoblog/2010/07/train-station/

Window Reflections

2010-07-16T05:09:00.003-04:00

I was roaming around the outside of an abandoned house and passed a basement window that consists of two rows of glass panes. One of the bottom panes was broken, so I peeked in.

You can see the support column transition through to the unbroken upper pane and then you see the tall grasses outside the house reflecting off the glass, to the right of the column.

Submitted for Weekend Reflection #43.

I'll be returning from vacation soon, so hopefully I'll get a chance to visit and comment on your blogs.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/50 sec @ f1.4
ISO 320
Curves adjusted for contrast

Sheena

2010-07-14T08:00:00.001-04:00

My wife planted these really cool daisy's, called echinacea or purple coneflowers. I've been wanting to photograph and they were parked right next to the parsley (where the butterfly's lay their eggs), so I took a few shots with the macro lens.

I thought this resembled the hairdoo of a punk rocker, hence the name Sheena (as in Sheena is a Punk Rocker by the Ramones).

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens

Exposure 1/100 sec @ f2.8

ISO 500

Aperture priority

Curves adjusted for contrast

Fire House structure

2010-07-12T08:00:00.001-04:00

The Chalfont Fire Department is building a new home. Alex and I visited the site the other evening and I took a bunch of shots. I though the steel looked cool against the setting sky.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens

10mm Focal Length

Exposure 1/125 sec @ f7.1

ISO 200

Curves adjusted

Mill Road Bridge

2010-07-09T12:01:00.013-04:00

These shots are of the Mill Road Bridge (bet you can't guess what road it's on). It was built in 1888 and is still in service today. It's not too far from the Bridge of Eight Arches and also spans the Neshaminy Creek.

This is the underside of the bridge. I like the symmetry and monochrome make this rock. I'm submitting this for 'The Weekend in Black and White'.

I'm away for a while, so I may not get to commenting on your blogs, sorry!

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens

10mm Focal Length

Exposure 1/5 sec @ f8.0

ISO 200

Curves adjusted

Here's a more 'normal' view. Pretty cool old bridge. The bridge design is referred to as "Whipple through truss"

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens

13mm Focal Length

Exposure 1/160 sec @ f9.0

ISO 200

Curves adjusted

Steel Reflections

2010-07-09T05:53:00.021-04:00

I've occasionally stretched James definition of 'reflection' and this is no exception. You can't see anything specific reflected, but it is a reflection. Submitted for Weekend Reflections #xx

This is the steel framework from the new Chalfont Fire House taken late in the day. I thought the setting sun reflecting off the structure facing the sun looked cool.

I'll be away for a bit, so I will not be able to respond to your comments.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/640 sec @ f5.6
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

fiber optic grass

2010-07-07T05:54:00.000-04:00

My wife had a planter full of these funky grass things, so I got up real close and took a shot. I like to squiggly white thingys (highly technical term). I should have opened the aperture up a bit, maybe next time. My wife tell me these are called 'fiber optic grass'.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/25 sec @ f2.8
ISO 800
Curves adjusted for contrast
Aperture Priority

lightning bugs

2010-07-05T05:58:00.001-04:00

We recently had a nasty storm that dropped 1.6" (4cm) of rain in less than one hour. My wife noticed that the lightning bugs had crawled out of the grass and were seeking refuge on the plants and flowers. These guys were hanging out on the daylillies.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/15 sec @ f5.6
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

July 4th

2010-07-04T04:05:00.003-04:00

Today's posting is on my other blog at http://2zars.com/photoblog/2010/07/july-4th/. That site is best seen with FF, Chrome, or IE8,

floating steel

2010-07-02T20:39:00.000-04:00

I posted this shot a couple of weeks ago from the Montgomery Square United Methodist Church.

This steel that will support the entrance. I was able to position myself to make the steel appear as if it were floating.

Submitted for Monochrome Weekend

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/1000 sec @ f7.1
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast
Monochrome

frog reflections

2010-07-02T06:00:00.004-04:00

I found this guy in Reading Creek, which is near my home. Here's a google map link. I found this guy under the railroad bridge (this is the same train line that Rebecca caught flack for photographing). I was there because the one lane bridge that your see on map page is closed for repair. One might ask why they are repairing a one lane bridge that was built in 1915 in the year 2010 and I wish I could give you an answer. Anyway, since the road is closed ,it presented opportunities to explore that your would not normally get. My youngest son and I rode our bikes on the road without fear of being run over.

Submitted for Weekend Reflection #41

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
105mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/40 sec @ f5.6
ISO 400
Curves adjusted for contrast

wet grass

2010-07-01T06:00:00.000-04:00

Here on the East coast of the US, we normally get more than a few foggy mornings that result in a nice dew covering. This year has been remarkably 'dry', so I jumped at the opportunity one morning when saw some dew had formed on the ornamental grasses in our back yard. I took two shots and after looking at them in the display, I came to the conclusion that they sucked and I should delete them. Thankfully, I didn't and I think they came out way better than I expected.

The only difference is the bottom one has the aperture opened one full stop.

Pretty interesting reflections in the drops on top.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/100 sec @ f4.0
ISO 400
Curves adjusted for contrast

I like this one the best. The appearance of larger drops outward from the focal point are really cool.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/100 sec @ f2.8
ISO 400
Curves adjusted for contrast

They're back!

2010-06-29T21:50:00.002-04:00

They're back! After much anticipation, the swallowtail caterpillars are back. We haven't seen any adults flying around, but obviously they've visited.

These were all shot the evening of 29-June and most used a flash because I shot them around 9PM.

This guy (or gal) was munching on some baby parsley. He's about 1.25" (~3cm) long, so he's been here for a while. It's safely in a container in out kitchen for the next few weeks being pampered.

We have milkweed growing to attract Monarch butterfly's, but none yet.

Update 30-June - good thing I took the time to photograph the eggs. Today, they had all hatched!

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 0.8 sec @ f7.1
ISO 800
aperture priority
Curves adjusted for contrast

Here's a first. A baby caterpillar just outside their egg. Pretty cool, eh? You can see how it ate a hole in the shell to get out.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 4.0 sec @ f4.0
ISO 400
aperture priority
Curves adjusted for contrast

Here's a shot of an egg next to a ruler to give you perspective. The markings are 1/16", so it's probably 1/32" (0.08cm) in diameter! We counted at least 6 eggs.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 25.0 sec @ f9.0
ISO 800
aperture priority
Curves adjusted for contrast

Not your typical macro

2010-06-28T05:03:00.007-04:00

I found this rather large specimen next to the railroad tracks near my home. This is not from a dandelion, I'm not sure what the plant it. Regardless, I thought it made for an interesting wide-angle shot.

Submitted for Weekday Macro #5

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens
10mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/30 sec @ f3.5
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

Knecht's Covered Bridge

2010-06-26T06:00:00.006-04:00

This is Knecht's Covered Bridge, shot last spring. It's about 15 miles from my home. Looks like it leaning a bit :-(

This post gets a triple bill. Monochrome Weekend, Sunday Bridges, and Shadow Shot Sunday #110!!

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
60mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/50sec @ f4.0
ISO 100

I took this shot of the inside. I liked it so much that I printed it 11 by 14 on metallic paper. I don't know why it took me so long to post this, it ranks as one of my most favorite shots.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
49mm Focal Length
Exposure 1.0sec @ f5.6
ISO 100

Window Reflections

2010-06-25T03:01:00.004-04:00

A very subtle reflections from this window. The house attached to this window is some 160 years old and the property is preserved land in Bucks County.

Submitted for Weekend Reflections #40

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/800 sec @ f2.2
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Fence finial

2010-06-23T06:00:00.004-04:00

I took my youngest son on an expedition to explore a new stream, adjacent to a park. The stream was a bust, but the path through the park took us past some beautiful homes, one of which has this awesome wrought iron fence. I had the 24-105 zoom on the camera because I was hoping to capture some birds or wildlife. I should have used the 50mm and I may return to do just that. Not that this is a bad shot, I think it would be better with a wider aperture.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
105mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/50 sec @ f4.0
ISO 800
Curves adjusted for contrast

Lighthouse

2010-06-21T05:59:00.000-04:00

Late last week, I decided I was going to take Friday off and go for a motorcycle ride. I hoped to choose a destination that would offer some photographic opportunities and also allow me to get in a decent amount of miles. After researching points of interest and parks, I settled on a two-destination trip, Elk Neck State Park and Susquehanna State Park, both in Maryland.

I got on the road at ~9AM and took the direct route to Elk Neck, arriving ~11:30. Here's a google map link. The lighthouse is at the very end of that road. The 'B' mark is where the visitors center is located. As you can see, this peninsula juts out into the Chesapeake Bay.

Once you arrive at Elk Neck, it's about a 1/2 miles 'hike' to the star attraction, a 31 foot (10 meters) lighthouse. Here's a shot of the plaque that gives information about the lighthouse.

Aberdeen Proving Grounds is just across the bay. The Army tests munitions there. As I was walking towards the lighthouse, they set one off and the sound was VERY impressive.

I brought a sandwich, so I decided to eat before taking photos. Here's the view from the bench where I had my lunch. No too shabby. What you can't see is just beyond the bushes and trees, there's ~100 foot (30 meter) straight drop to the shore of the Chesapeake Bay.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens
10mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/320 sec @ f11
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

I took a lot of shots and I will be posting them as I get to them however, this is my favorite shot. I believe the concrete pilars formed a fence that surrounded the stable, which is no longer there. I like the perspective of this shot and, of course, the exaggerated proportions due to the 10mm focal length.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens
10mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/320 sec @ f11
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

cold, hard steel

2010-06-19T00:01:00.000-04:00

The Montgomery Square United Methodist Church is building a new church and I visited the site Memorial Day so I could safely walk around. I thought this was interesting in monochrome.

Submitted for Monochrome Weekend, Vol 2 Issue 43.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/320 sec @ f11
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast
Monochrome

Hot Rod Reflections 1.0

2010-06-18T05:00:00.004-04:00

There was a car show in Chalfont this past Friday. I took my youngest son, Alex, who is quite the car buff. You can see his red shirt reflecting in the air cleaner.

Submitted for Weekend Reflections #39

I'm experimenting with hosting my blog at my domain (2zars.com). I've been duplicating my posts there for a couple of weeks now. If you're so inclined, have a look. I like the format, but I'm still experimenting with themes, so the look may change.

http://photoblog.2zars.com

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/100 sec @ f2.2
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Purple and White flower

2010-06-16T06:00:00.000-04:00

I have no clue what type of flower this is, but it's something my wife planted. I particularly like the details of the pistil.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/13 sec @ f8.0
ISO 800

Aperture Priority
Curves adjusted for contrast

Strawberry

2010-06-14T04:00:00.000-04:00

I must have tried to photograph strawberries a dozen times. I think previous attempts were done at night with a flash. This came from natural light and looks pretty good.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/10 sec @ f2.8
ISO 800

Aperture Priority
Curves adjusted for contrast

Daisy's

2010-06-12T15:43:00.002-04:00

Here's a series of daisy shots, all slightly different genus.

This is a form of a Gerber Daisy (my favorite).

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/100 sec @ f8.0
ISO 640
Curves adjusted for contrast
Aperture Priority

Your basic Gerber Daisy

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/100 sec @ f8.0
ISO 640
Curves adjusted for contrast
Aperture Priority

I decided to get in as close as possible to the center of this daisy and get a shot of the pollen. I really like this one, both color and composition.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f2.8
ISO 800
Curves adjusted for contrast
Aperture Priority

Reflections of the eye

2010-06-11T05:42:00.001-04:00

My wife spies this bee in one of her Pentas plants. I think it was bedding down for the night (assuming bees do that sort of thing). It spent time what appeared to be grooming itself, then found a spot and didn't move. I must have taken 10 shots and this was one of the better ones. You can see the reflection of the sun in it's eye, but if you look carefully, you can see reflections of other parts of the plant as well.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f2.8
ISO 800
Curves adjusted for contrast

Penta Heart

2010-06-10T00:01:00.002-04:00

My wife purchased Penta's to attract butterfly's. I was using the macro lens and was going from flower to flower and I noticed this pistil in the shape of a heart.

For other hearts, visit Clytie's Random Hearts. She finds the coolest hearts you can imagine!

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens

Exposure 1/100 sec @ f2.8

ISO 800

Curves adjusted for contrast

Aperture Priority

bark

2010-06-08T04:00:00.001-04:00

Here I go, all artsy-fartsy again. This 50mm lens is a KILLER!. I was in a park near my home and there was this enormous tree in the park. As I got closer, I saw some amazing textures in the bark, so I got in as close as I could and took this shot. It's really cool in color, but I think it's way better in monochrome. You be the judge.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f1.8
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Purple flower

2010-06-06T05:53:00.001-04:00

I shot this in the field near Stover Myers mill. The thought these flowers were really cool.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens

Exposure 1/400 sec @ f4.5
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Bridge Reflections 1.1

2010-06-04T05:52:00.009-04:00

Some time ago, the Pennsylvania Department Of Transportation (PennDOT) released a list of bridges and their status. The status reflects the condition of the bridge and it's ability to handle traffic. Several bridges near me were identified as 'Structurally Deficient' which means "the bridge has deterioration to one or more of its major components ".

When returning to work from lunch the other day, I noticed there were police and construction people all over one of these 'Structurally Deficient' bridges. They changed the traffic pattern so traffic only flows in one direction to reduce the load on the bridge. The bridge also has some nasty curves leading to it which contribute to many accidents.

I did some investigation on the PennDOT website and discovered this bridge was constructed in ... 1838!!! (I'm not sure if I believe that date)

The website has lots of other information on the condition of the bridge (wait a few seconds for Google Maps to switch to street view), but I was fascinated to learn that it was built so long ago. Since this is a major road, I'm assuming the bridge will be demolished and replaced with a boring, ugly modern structure, so I decided to get up close and personal and get some shots. I hope you enjoy it. Too bad no one was around to video tape my approach to the bridge. It was very overgrown with lots of poison ivy and I was doing all kinds of funky steps to avoid it.

Submitted for Weekend Reflections #37 and Shadow Shot #108 (I actually try to get multiple themes in my photos)

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens

10mm Focal Length

Exposure 1/80 sec @ f5.6

ISO 200

Curves adjusted

a boy and his dog

2010-06-03T05:00:00.002-04:00

This is my oldest son, Nick, dressed for his Junior Prom. I thought it was cute how Zephyr sat next to him and looked at him. I wish I had used a tripod because it's a little blurry.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/50 sec @ f1.4
ISO 500
Curves adjusted for contrast

Rainy drive

2010-06-01T06:00:00.011-04:00

I'm driving home from work one cold, rainy day. Sitting at a traffic light, I decide to take a few shots. Did I mention it was cold? If you look in the upper left of the photo, you can see remnants of a snow flake.

I use this photo as the wallpaper on my droid.

It seems blogger has lost a few of my photos, so I'm reposting :-(

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/200 sec @ f2.8
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Salamander

2010-05-30T05:53:00.002-04:00

My youngest son, Alex, captured a bunch of salamanders the other day. They are quite difficult to photograph with a macro lens, because they don't stay still.

Reposted because blogger lost the photo :-(

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/100 sec @ f3.2
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Broken Reflections

2010-05-28T05:50:00.003-04:00

I pass by this formerly beautiful old house twice each workday, it's less than a mile from my work. You can see it on the right from this google map link (give it a second to jump to street mode). I shot this August, 2009.

I'm not sure who owns the house or property, but it's adjacent to the Commonwealth National Golf Club. I've watch it deteriorate each year :-( The house has tons of character and could be restored to it's original glory. It's stone, but someone stuccoed over the stone years ago. Sad to see this happen.

Submitted for Weekend Reflections #36

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
47mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/25 sec @ f4.0
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast

Are You Ready For a Challenge?

2010-05-27T06:23:00.000-04:00

Scott Kelby has something up his sleeve. He'll be announcing a monthly challenge starting tomorrow.

'Details' on the challenge
http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2010/archives/10466

His blog:
http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/

Lonely

2010-05-26T06:02:00.001-04:00

I shot this at the Hilltown Baptist Cemetery late on a Sunday afternoon in March (I'm just a tad behind). I thought the late afternoon lighting offered some solitude to a poor lost soul who obviously perished a long, long time ago. The headstone was unreadable. There were many very old headstones, still standing, but unreadable.

A Submission for Shadow Shot Sunday #106

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/2500 sec @ f2.8
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Got the boot

2010-05-24T21:43:00.004-04:00

Ok, so I don't know what was going through my head when I shot this. 20 seconds @ f32? ISO 800? I had aperture on the brain.

Regardless, I like the shot. It's the right boot from one of my pairs of Doc Martin's. I love these boots (obviously) because they are very comfortable.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 20.0 sec @ f32
Aperture priority
ISO 800
Curves adjusted for contrast

Wild Daisy

2010-05-23T07:56:00.014-04:00

I shot this wild daisy at Lower Nike Park in Warrington, PA. I love this shot because of it's such a simple, yet beautiful shot. I'm really pleased with the bokeh considering this is an f4 lens. I guess that's what bright, mid-day sunlight will yield :-)

The park is called Nike Park because this site used to house Nike missiles during the cold war. You can figure out where one of the silos was located because there's a very large, level, circular area on the grounds and it stands out.

Here's a pdf of an article about the missile site from 1955.

A contribution for Mellow Yellow #70

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
105mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/1600 sec @ f4 (aperture priority)
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Stadium Reflections

2010-05-21T05:57:00.002-04:00

My son's 6th grade class trip was a tour of Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, followed by a Phillies game at Citizen Bank Park. These two are conveniently located across the street from each other :-)

You can see there plenty of reflections, though they are not spectacular.This is my submission for Weekend Reflections #35

The Phillies won :-)

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
24mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/125 sec @ f8.0
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast

Rebar

2010-05-20T06:00:00.010-04:00

A few weeks ago, I posted some shots from an abandoned barn and noted that the 202 parkway was being built nearby. I try to drive the road that passes the barn several times each week, because it's a nice lunch-time escape. I have been keeping an eye on the construction progress because I thought it might yield some interesting photo opportunities. Well, here's one I like. The parkway will have a bridge over Almshouse Rd. The footings for the bridge support have been poured and this is the rebar that forms the support for the pilar. I intentionally waited for a cloudy, overcast day so I could get the effect I was seeking. I was able to walk up to the construction and sit on the ground to get the angle I desired.

Submitted for Monochrome Weekend #39

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/250 sec @ f3.5
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Dragonfly lights

2010-05-18T06:00:00.002-04:00

My wife bought these really cool solar lights that cast this really cool effect on whatever surface they are sitting on (my wife likes dragonflies). The light is sitting on the patio 'floor' which is made of a concrete material that resembles slate.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/5 sec @ f1.4
ISO 800
no adjustments (this is a color shot!)

Playing with Fire 1.1

2010-05-16T06:00:00.001-04:00

We had an outdoor fire the other evening. My youngest son had thrown some pine cones in the fire that are covered with Copper Sulfate, which turns the fire blue. He wanted me to take some photos, so I got out the camera and took a bunch. I was experimenting with various shutter speeds and came up with this. I think this is really interesting. I believe this is the fastest shutter speed my camera supports.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/4000 sec @ f1.6
ISO 500
no adjustments

Now, let's slow the shutter down. I don't know how to explain what I see, but I think this shot gives the feeling of movement. The flames appear to be 'rushing' you can almost hear the fire roar. In the prior shot, the flames seem 'quiet'. Note that these shots were taken ~20 seconds apart.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/20 sec @ f14
ISO 200
no adjustments

About a year ago, I posted these that were shot with a 50-250mm zoom. I prefer the 50mm shots.

Sea of Reflections

2010-05-14T06:00:00.016-04:00

Nothing like rain after a you've just waxed your car. There are more than 2,000 reflections of me in this shot! No, I didn't count each one. I'm not that anal (but close). Sorry, but the contrast is non-existent. It was cloudy and cool.

Submitted for Weekend Reflections #34.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/250 sec @ f3.5
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Train Bridge railing

2010-05-12T06:00:00.023-04:00

This is the railing from the train bridge I mentioned earlier. I guess it's supposed to keep people from falling off the bridge, but normally, there wouldn't be people on the bridge in the first place! I provided a monochrome and color version.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens

Exposure 1/250 sec @ f3.5

ISO 200

Curves adjusted for contrast

Railroad tracks

2010-05-09T21:39:00.001-04:00

Again, my apologies for not regularly visiting everyone's blogs. It's baseball season and I help coach my oldest son's team, so that will keep me plenty busy for the next several weeks (we have games Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday this week). Fortunately, we have several coaches, so if time permits, I take photos :-)

Just a down low shot on the tracks. I know the train schedule and the Philly inbound has just passed, so there would not be an outbound for about an hour. You can see a bridge just a few feet up the track. I shot this from under that bridge a few moments earlier. See that railing on the bridge? I have some killer shots that I'll hopefully post this week.

It was a very cloudy day, so monochrome was the ticket.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/320 sec @ f4.0
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast
I did go a little heavy on the black fill, but I think it looks cool.

Pansy reflections

2010-05-07T06:00:00.000-04:00

Another shot from that cold, rainy day, this time I captured some water drops on a pansy leaf. The reflection is of the arm that is supporting the planter holding the flowers.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/320 sec @ f11
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast

Monochrome Slats

2010-05-04T13:23:00.002-04:00

On the back of the Stover Myers Mill, there is a small building attached. I'm not sure of it's purpose, but it had an interesting view through one of the openings. I really like the sunlight running across the bottom boards.

A submission for Shadow Shot Sunday #104 and for Monochrome Weekend Vol 2, Issue 38. Double trouble :-)

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/400 sec @ f4.5
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Ride for the Cure

2010-05-03T12:55:00.000-04:00

I apologize for not visiting many of your blogs this past weekend. Saturday, I was busy doing Spring clean-up around the yard and Sunday, I participated in a motorcycle event that had two purposes, one meaningless, the other very meaningful.

Earlier in the year, a group of BMW Motorcycle riders joined together to form the longest parade of BMW Motorcycles, which numbered 241. Not to be outdone, one of the members of Mac-Pac suggested to Bob Jones, owner of Montgomeryville Cycle Center, the record could and should be beaten. Bob was completely supportive, opening his dealership on Sunday and providing food and drink, as long as we also collected funds for his favorite charity, The Pediatric Cancer Center of St. Jude’s Hospital. This is nice because St. Jude is one charity my wife and I always support.

Here's a wide angle view of the parking lot at 11:07AM. At this point, we were probably 30 bikes shy of the record. With minutes to spare, we got ~247 bikes registered and went for a short ride, so we should get the record. Verification will take some time, but that really isn't important. What's important is that a lot of people, from different walks of life, came together for the kids. I don't know yet how much money was raised, I'll update this entry when I find out.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens
10mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/200 sec @ f9.0
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

Reflections in a water drop

2010-04-29T06:00:00.010-04:00

I was walking from my car to the house and I noticed this plant that had captured water drops from the rain the night before. I set up the tripod and the macro lens and went to town. Check out the droplet at the 11 o'clock position from the big drop - it's pretty cool too. This is my submission for Weekend Reflections #32

So the next time you are bummed it's raining, think outside the box. When live gives you lemons, make lemonade.

One note, I scheduled this through blogger and obviously picked the wrong date. This should have shown up on Friday morning, my apologies!

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/100 sec @ 4.5
Aperture Priority with a tripod
ISO 640
Curves adjusted for contrast

Dreary day

2010-04-27T06:18:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday was a dreary day - cloudy, very cool, and rainy. I captured a bunch of shots this day and you'll see move in the very near future, but this one I had to post 'straight away'.

Some cool water droplets on the face of a pansy. That lovely background is my lawn :-)

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/60 sec @ 7.1
Aperture Priority with a tripod
ISO 800
Curves adjusted for contrast

Tower of power

2010-04-25T08:33:00.000-04:00

First, my apologies for not visiting your blogs these last few days. It's been extra hectic with my youngest son's lip sync contest and my oldest son's Junior Prom.

A cloudy cool day made for a boatload of interesting monochrome shots. This is one of the towers that provide power to the local commuter trains. I used black fill to darken the tower.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/800 sec @ f5.6
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Bridge Reflections

2010-04-23T06:00:00.003-04:00

I was on a ride through Montgomery County in the vicinity of Green Lane reservoir and I go past this sign. I made a u-turn so I could go back and take a photo. Evidently, between January and September of 2009, 7 motorcyclists crashed on this stretch of road. After taking the photo, I continued down the 'treacherous' road and was really disappointed. I expected a nice twisty road and the road didn't live up to the expectation set by the sign. I've ridden much more challenging roads.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
70mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/100 sec @ f5.0
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

As I approached the end of the twisty part, I came across this bridge, which is my submission for Weekend Reflections #31.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
35mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f5.6
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

What is this?

2010-04-21T06:00:00.001-04:00

This isn't too hard, but I did play with the photo to make it a little harder to figure out. I'll post a less modified shot later today with an explanation.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/6 sec @ f22
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast

Lots of good gusses! This particular day was cloudy, which really helped this shot. Actually, I took ~20 photos this day and I didn't think many of them would turn out. As it turns out, I think about half of them are shots worth posting and you should see them soon.

I was in a park that had a creek running through it and a set of commuter train tracks that bounded one side. The train tracks crossed a bridge over the creek and I was walking under the bridge when a train passed overhead. I got off 6 shots and I had the presence of mind to flip it to shutter priority mode for the last shot. I though it was pretty cool. In this less modified shot, you can clearly see the ties that support the rails. I thought it was cool that my hand moved during the exposure, but it really didn't mess up the shot. Here's the slightly less processed version.

With 'normal' shutter speed.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens

Exposure 1/400 sec @ f4.5

ISO 200

Curves adjusted for contrast

Stover Myer Mill 1.0

2010-04-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

This is a shot of the underside of the roof of the lumbermill at Stover Myer mill. It was built in 1800 and ground flour and cut lumber. It's pretty cool on the outside; I can't wait to see the inside.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
32mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/30 sec @ f4.0
ISO 500(?!)
Curves adjusted for contrast, Antique greyscale software filter

This is a shot of the lumbermill. It's a huge saw powered by water. You can see the saw blade running vertically to the left of the large wheel, just left of center of the photo.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
32mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f5.6
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast, Antique greyscale software filter

International Tow Truck

2010-04-19T06:00:00.001-04:00

There's a junk yard I drive past every so often. It has this neat old International tow truck out front that has seen better days. You can see it at this google map link, but wait for it to switch to street view.

One day, I stopped by and snapped a few shots of it. I kinda like how the shot of the dashboard came out.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
45mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/50 sec @ f4.0
ISO 400
Curves adjusted for contrast

Here's a shot of the logo from the hood.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
92mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/400 sec @ f8.0
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

A shot of the front. Kinda looks like a dog with droopy eyes.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
32mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/100 sec @ f7.1
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Abandoned Barn

2010-04-17T19:53:00.000-04:00

There's a neat road near my house, called Almshouse Rd, that I love to ride on my motorcycle. It runs behind Delaware Valley College. Useless trivia fact to shamelessly bolster readership: M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Sign' was filmed on this road. The production company built a house, filmed the movie, and removed the house.

Anyway, there's this huge old barn in a horrible state of disrepair that I've always wanted to visit. You can see the barn from the road on Google maps. After you click on the link, wait for Google maps because it switches into street mode and you can see the barn. The google maps photo is a bit old because the barn is now in much worse shape :-(

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is building the 202 Parkway, which is supposed to alleviate traffic in my area. The parkway will pass right by the old barn and quite frankly, I don't see how the barn will survive the construction, let alone vibration from passing cars. Here's an artist rendering of the barn from the 202 parkway sight. I hope someone restores the barn to that level!

Well, here a shot of the rear of the barn (the opposite side from google maps). As you can see, it's not in such good shape.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/1000 sec @ f7.1
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Here's one looking inside. I didn't dare enter the building; there are huge holes in the floor. I love the stone wall and the timber framing. This was a grand barn in a prior time :-(

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/100 sec @ f2.2
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast

While the building is in horrible shape, this shot is almost inviting.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/50 sec @ f1.6
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Orange Concept

2010-04-16T06:00:00.002-04:00

This was a concept car on display at the American on Wheels museum in Allentown, PA. I'm guessing the exhibit was not quite done yet because there were no lights on in this room. The only light source was a large window and it was very cloudy this day, making for challenging lighting. You can see more reflections at Weekend Reflections # 30.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens
10mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/13 sec @ f3.5
ISO 320
Curves adjusted

Pansy

2010-04-14T06:30:00.000-04:00

Earnest inspired me to post a shot I recently took of a a white pansy growing 'wild' in our front landscaping. I recall my wife had purchased pansy's a few years ago and they keep seeding themselves, so we get great flowers for free! I think pansy's are the Rodney Dangerfield of flowers - they don't get any respect.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/250 sec @ f4.5
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast

Waterfall

2010-04-12T17:06:00.001-04:00

I recently visited the Stover Myers Mill on Dark Hollow road. It has not yet opened for the season, but there was plenty to see outside. While visiting, I went upstream a bit to look at a dam I had seen on previous trips to this area. This google map link shows the small dam.

I recently purchased a 4x Neutral Density filter, but have not had a chance to play with it. Well, this day, I has a BLAST. I took a bunch of shots with the 24-105 and to 10-22. I think the 24-105 produced the best shots.

I had my monopod with me, but I choose to not use it. For the first shot, I braced myself against a conveniently located tree. I do not recall what I used to the second shot.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
50mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/4 sec @ f22 (shutter priority)
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast

I zoomed in on an area that I thought was interesting.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
105mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/5 sec @ f22 (shutter priority)
ISO 100

callalily

2010-04-10T12:00:00.001-04:00

My wife has this callalily in a planter in front of our house. I love the colors, so I went a little extreme on the macro. I like how the pistil is peaking out of the center and the little purple dots that merge to form a solid color.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/250 sec @ f5.0
ISO 200
The only adjustment I made was to increase the clarity

A closer shot. I really didn't go nuts on the saturation. As a matter of fact, I didn't touch saturation at all. I adjusted the white balance and increased the clarity, that's all.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/320 sec @ f5.0
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Motorcycle Reflections

2010-04-09T05:00:00.003-04:00

This is a reflection off my motorcycle fairing. The two parallel strips to the right are the oil fill plug. To the left, the cylinder is reflecting off the fairing of the bike.

I vacillated on monotone for this, but by doing so, removed the cool color wave in the fairing. You can see a planter that is outside the garage to the left of the cylinder reflection. This is my offering for Weekend Reflections #29.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/160 sec @ f2.8
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast

Bee wings

2010-04-06T12:24:00.000-04:00

We have a weeping cherry in the front yard that always look great when it blossoms. It attracted a ton of bumble bees this years I took advantage of the opportunity.

I mounted the camera to my tripod, but didn't spread the legs out, so I was using it more like a monopod. I just leaned in and got the shot. I didn't get stung once!

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/250 sec @ f5.0
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

M&M's

2010-04-04T11:25:00.000-04:00

In the spirit of the Easter Bunny, I present M&M's. These are the dark chocolate variety, which my wife and I prefer. The regular ones are very good, peanut are a favorite of mine. The new coconut one are cosmic.

I did use a tripod and aperture priority.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens

Exposure 1.s sec @ f13

ISO 800

Curves adjusted for contrast

Building reflections

2010-04-02T06:16:00.002-04:00

Here's another guest shot from Nick. I wasn't really sure what this building was, but google maps reveals it's Temple University School of Medicine. If you look to the right of the circular tower, you can see it's reflection in the other part of the building. This is my submission for Weekend reflections #28

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/50 sec @ f1.4
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast

Pucaducs

2010-04-01T11:58:00.001-04:00

My oldest son, Nick (soon to turn 18), had problems with water in his ears when he was a child. The water impaired his ability to hear, which affected his ability to pronounce words. He always called Mike & Ike's "Puc-a-ducs". How you get Puc-a-ducs from Mike & Ike is beyond us, but it stuck and to this day, we still call them Puc-a-ducs.

I staged this on our kitchen counter. I put down a black cloth and piled on the Puc-a-ducs. Since it was mid-morning and cloudy, I didn't need any extra lighting. I did use a tripod and aperture priority.

Now don't you just want to run out and catch a sugar buzz?

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/3 sec @ f11
ISO 800
Curves adjusted for contrast

magnesium

2010-03-31T05:00:00.001-04:00

This is a close up of the cylinder head on my motorcycle. As you might have guessed by now, it's made of magnesium. The road spooge on the front gives it some authenticity, but you might not see it unless you blow it up by clicking on it. I ride this bike as much as I can, I absolutely love it.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/160 sec @ f2.8
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast
Monochrome

moving but not

2010-03-29T12:00:00.002-04:00

This is a close up of the badge on my motorcycle. I was shooting reflections off the paint when I got this idea: shoot the badge in focus with the aperture wide open and see what happens. Let me know your thoughts.

The light color lines to the very right are the fins in the cylinder head. As you move left, you can see where they change directions. This is where the fins are reflecting off the paint. The lines seem to bring motion to the photo.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/320 sec @ f1.4
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast

Fonthill 1.1

2010-03-28T17:00:00.002-04:00

These shots are from the well house at the Fonthill Museum, which you can see in the background.

This is a pretty spectacular building to house the well! Note the arches and the terracotta roof tiles!

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens
10mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/200 sec @ f9.0
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

A closeup of some of the arches. The tile work on such a trivial building is amazing.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/1600 sec @ f1.4
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

A shot of the side of the entrance. The phrase above the door is "to earth from sea clouds carry me to sea from earth I turn at birth"

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens
10mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f5.0
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

A shot of the 'ceiling'. There are details everywhere!

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens
10mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/50 sec @ f4.5
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

Fonthill Museum

2010-03-27T15:00:00.000-04:00

These shots are from the exterior of the Fonthill Museum, the home of Henry Chapman Mercer. Fonthill shares the same property as the Moravian Tile Works. Both of these building are constructed of reinforced concrete. It seems that everything is concrete and tiles, which makes for excellent subjects. The best part is this is about 15 minutes from my home.

Interior photography is strictly prohibited in Fonthill :-(

I have a second batch coming very soon. These will contain more close-up shots showing some of the spectacular tile work.

I know the wide angle distorts the building, but I happen to like the effect.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens
10mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/250 sec @ f10
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

This is a closeup of the doorway from the prior shot. Check out the tile work below the steps. A google search reveals it's probably Psalm 127:1 "Except the Lord build the house they labor"

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens
12mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/125 sec @ f7.1
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

A shot of the side of the house. That's my youngest son, Alex, under the stairs.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens
16mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/250 sec @ f11
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

Alex found a little compartment inside the compartment under the stairs.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens
10mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/320 sec @ f11
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

A shot around back. Evidently, this entrance was recently remodeled judging by the newness of the concrete.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/250 sec @ f3.5
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

A shot of Lucy. Evidently, Lucy was Henry's horse who hauled all the hand mixed concrete for the house.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/250 sec @ f3.5
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Red Globe

2010-03-26T05:00:00.009-04:00

This was the first thing I photographed when I got the 50mm f1.4 lens. It's the globe that was in the reflection of the counter top for Weekend Reflection #22.

I took the same shot 15 times with each aperture from f1.4 to f7.1. Don't ask me why, I just did. They all look good, some are better than others, but I wish I had done the experiment more scientifically. I should have used a tripod and remote shutter release to put them all on equal footing.

Lots of detail in the reflection. You can see me in the foreground, the patio door that leads to the back yard on the right. The dark rectangle to my left is a doorway to our Family Room, with sconces on each side of the door. A clock above the doorway. The light fixture above my head and to the right is behind me, over the kitchen table. Enough already!

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/50 sec @ f2.8
ISO 800
Aperture Priority
Curves adjusted for contrast

Downtown Philly

2010-03-23T19:56:00.002-04:00

I am please to display the photographic work of a guest photographer, my oldest son, Nicholas (Nick) who is seventeen.

This is a shot of way up high of City Hall in Philadelphia. It was shot by Nick while I was driving. The family decided to visit Tony Luke's for an 'authentic' Cheese Steak this past Saturday and came home Broad Street, which takes you around City Hall. To be honest, I was dying behind the wheel. I could have filled up every memory card I own on that trip! Nick took a lot of shots and I kept a bunch. You'll definitely see one of them on Weekend Reflections. He shot a bunch of really funny signs, but many of them didn't come out too good. He created several excellent abstract works, mainly due to shaking hands.

I had to crop this big time because of the funky exposure and lighting.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/50 sec @ f1.4
ISO 800
Curves adjusted for contrast

I though this one was really cool. A shot of the GPS on the dashboard as we cruised up Broad Street. The GPS was telling me to turn left on Stenton Avenue, but of course, being male, I can't listen to directions. Actually, I lived in the Mount Airy section of while attending college, so I knew a better route.
Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/30 sec @ f1.4
ISO 800
Curves adjusted for contrast

And lastly, this one. Nick wanted to shoot the McDonald's in the background, but fortunately, for him, the auto-focus decided otherwise. I really thought this was a great shot.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/50 sec @ f1.4
ISO 800
Curves adjusted for contrast

Rusty Bolt

2010-03-22T06:00:00.005-04:00

I returned to the Bridge to ? one day at lunch to see how the bridge looked without any snow. I have taken an interest in rusty things and got inspiration for this shot from James. I seriously wish I had bought this lens a long time ago. My film SLR had a 50mm f1.4 and it's bringing back some good memories.

I'm submitting this for Shadow Shot Sunday #107

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/000 sec @ f2.8
ISO 200
Aperture priority
Curves adjusted for contrast

Swirling clouds

2010-03-21T06:00:00.001-04:00

I shot this last summer as a nasty storm was passing through. I looked up and saw this interesting, twisting cloud. Fortunately, it did not turn into anything worse.

Canon EF 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens
18mm focal length
Exposure 1/8 sec @ f3.5
ISO 800

I decided to have some fun with the flash and manual focus while it was pouring rain. I set the focal length to 28mm. I first focused at infinity and took a shot. Not what I wanted. I then focused close up and took a shot, that didn't do it either. I started focusing towards infinity taking shots ever so often. I got several interesting ones, but I liked this one the best.

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens
28mm focal length
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f4.0
ISO 400

Eye of the Zephyr

2010-03-19T06:00:00.008-04:00

This is a closeup (duh) of our dog, Zephyr. She is a Miniature Schnauzer and a great dog. She doesn't have a mean bone in her body. Every other dog we've owned had certain things that would piss them off, but not Zephyr. Nothing phases her.

On the flip side, she's not the sharpest tool in the shed. She's over a year old and is just beginning to get the hang of giving a paw. We're not sure if she'll ever get it, but that's OK.

This is my submission for Weekend Reflections #26. If you look closely at her eyes, you can see my reflection. She's not really a fan of being photographed and normally runs away from the camera. I caught her off guard one day and got this.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens
Exposure 1/50 sec @ f1.4
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Lone survivor

2010-03-17T06:00:00.004-04:00

I shot this back in the Fall. We hadn't had a frost yet. This was a cherry tomato that had seen better days.

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens
Exposure 1/100 sec @ f5.0 (Aperture Priority)
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

This one's in a little better shape. It looks almost yummy ... if you like tomato's (which I really don't). I like the contrast of the dead leaves with the live branches and the bright red tomato.

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens
Exposure 1/100 sec @ f5.0 (Aperture Priority)
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

Circuit board traces

2010-03-15T00:01:00.000-04:00

Here's a shot of traces on a circuit board. This happens to be an old Pentium II motherboard I have laying around (don't you feel bad for my wife?). Some of the traces in the lower half have a 3D effect that I really like.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/5 sec @ f2.8
ISO 800
Aperture Priority
Curves adjusted for contrast

I really like the 3D effect of the traces in the lower left. If you stare at them for a few seconds, you should be able to see it. If not, try clicking on the photo to enlarge it.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/3 sec @ f10
ISO 800
Aperture Priority
Curves adjusted for contrast

I redid the previous with a high contract monochrome effect. It makes the 3D pop a bit more. I hope you agree.

Bridge to ?

2010-03-13T22:03:00.000-05:00

This is a pedestrian bridge over the Neshaminy Creek on Dark Hollow Road. There was a vehicular bridge here at some point that was replaced with a pedestrian-only version. There's a lovely old stone farm house adjacent to this bridge.

This link shows the location on Google Maps. I plan on returning to this place now
that the snow has melted. Maybe tomorrow, since we've received 3.5+ inches of rain today :-0

This is about 15 minutes from the Bridge of Eight Arches.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
28mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/160 sec @ f9.0
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Reflecting Balls

2010-03-12T06:00:00.004-05:00

We have this bowl on a table in our Living Room that sits near a window. I noticed the balls reflecting in the daylight. You can see me in the left one and the window in the right one. You can see more reflections at Weekend Reflections #25

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Macro len
Exposure 1/30 sec @ f4.0
ISO 800
Aperture priority
Curves adjusted for contrast

Spring, what else?

2010-03-10T11:41:00.000-05:00

Spring is definitely on it's way. A big pile of snow that buried some of our landscaping finally melted and look what I found - minature daffodils getting ready to get serious.

Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM lens (new toy)
Exposure 1/500 sec @ f5.0
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Air Force One

2010-03-08T13:00:00.000-05:00

I'm fortunate to have my own office at work. It doesn't have a nice view's like Dot's office, but it does overlook Willow Grove Naval Air Station. President Obama planned to visit Arcadia University today and Air Force One landed at Willow Grove. Photo-op!!

Helicopter sweep of the runway prior to arrival.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
105mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/500 sec @ f8.0
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Approach of AF1. Often, planes approach from the opposite end of the runway, which is where I'm located. If they approach from my end, I usually get a better shot. Maybe I can get a photograph when they depart.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
105mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/400 sec @ f7.1
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

You can make out AF1 through the trees from the Commonwealth National Golf Club, which surrounds the facility where I work. The tail is fairly easy to see.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
105mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/320 sec @ f6.3
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Just about 2 hours later, time to go home!

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
70mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/250 sec @ f8.0
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

A little closer zoom a few seconds later

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
105mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/400 sec @ f7.1
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

First

2010-03-07T19:28:00.002-05:00

I'm feeling much better and cautiously optimistic that my current batch of kidney stones are behind me. On my last ER trip, the doc informed me that I still have one in my right kidney, but it should not bother me for months. Am I supposed to thank him for that information? Thanks for all your kind words, I am feeling much better!!

I'm sure everyone is sick of snow, but I've been saving this one. Not that it's anything spectacular, but as I was hiking through my favorite part of Peace Valley Park after a show storm, I came upon this bridge. It was late in the afternoon and I was the first to arrive!

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
28mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/80 sec @ f6.3
ISO 200
No adjustments

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go

2010-03-05T09:26:00.005-05:00

Another bummer week, another trip to the ER (fortunately, the doc gave me some good pain meds). I've passed THREE kidney stones in the last 8 days. Needless to say, I'm grumpier than normal and feel pretty miserable.

I live in suburbia, so I don't normally deal with traffic. When I ride my motorcycle to work, I have a carefully picked route that does not have any traffic or congestion. When I drive the cage (motorcycle speak for 'car'), I don't normally take the same route and I encounter a bit of traffic. Likewise, I don't normally have my camera out while I drive, but we had rain for several days and I was jonesing for shutter fix. Check out Jame's site for more Weekend Reflections

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens

45mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/25 sec @ f4.0
ISO 800
White balance adjusted

Trail in the snow

2010-03-03T12:00:00.001-05:00

Many people treck to Peace Valley Park to get in some cross country skiing after a good snow storm. I came across these tracks late in the afternoon and thought the reflections was interesting with the setting sun hidden behind the trees.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
47mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/000 sec @ f6.3
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

Solitude

2010-03-02T12:32:00.000-05:00

I shot this at Peace Valley Park the day after a snowstorm (one of the 'early' ones this year). For such a simple shot, there's a bunch going on there. I like, I hope you do too. I was wrestling with monochrome for this, but I really like to color in the leaf.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
100mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/160 sec @ f5.6
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast
1/3 right crop

Wooden Horses

2010-02-28T08:00:00.005-05:00

There's a small playground at Peace Valley Park. Adjacent to the playground is this water fountain. I though these horses looked particularly interesting with the wide angle effect.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens
10mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f5.6
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

Fall Reflections

2010-02-26T10:30:00.002-05:00

I'm in a funk these days. I've seen many others in the blogosphere commenting about this as well.

I haven't felt well this last week, mostly self-induced. My family and I spent last Friday evening and all day Saturday removing our Kitchen floor in preparation for installing a new one. I insisted on doing this project rather than paying someone to do the work. Installing the new floor is easy, removal of the old is the really hard part. It was quite a lot of work and it kicked my butt, so much so that I had a brief visit to the ER last evening :-o I'll be fine, I need to take it easy.

As I was 'relaxing' after the floor removal, the words to my favorite Little Feat song, "Old Folks Boogie", came to mind. I like the live version of the song from Waiting for Columbus, which came out when I was in college. Back then, I used to laugh at these lyrics; I'm not 25 anymore and they've become reality.

"So you know, that you're over the hill
When your mind makes a promise that your body can't fill"

Enough of my self-pity, we're here to see some weekend reflections! This was shot at Delaware Valley College (link on the sidebar) from a small basin on the side of the road back in November. It was shot the same day as this. Something with some COLOR, not this white nonsense (we're currently having our 3rd major snowstorm of this Winter, highly unusual for this part of the world)

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
32mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/30 sec @ f5.6
ISO 200
White balance adjusted

I have a visitor

2010-02-21T19:52:00.000-05:00

So I'm at work last Thursday afternoon, sitting at my desk and out of the corner of my eye, I see a lady bug crawling all over the place. Now mind you, it's February and we have two feet of snow on the ground and I can't imagine where a lady bug could have come from. It was constantly on the move, so getting a shot was tough. I finally had to resort to using the flash. I was about to have an afternoon snack, so I shared my banana with it and it seemed to enjoy it a lot.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f4.0
ISO 400
Curves adjusted for contrast

Granite Reflections

2010-02-19T10:00:00.003-05:00

I recently installed new light fixtures in our kitchen. This is a reflection of the globe from the fixture above the kitchen sink. You can also see the reflection of the window blinds and the faucet. The countertop is made of polished granite, which has a texture and modifies the reflection.

This is my submission for Weekend Reflections #22.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
105mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/40 sec @ f4.0
ISO 800
Curves adjusted for contrast

I took many shot of these fixtures and threw most of them away. If you want the nitty gritty details, read on.

This exposure was very tricky to get correct and I experimented over two sessions to get something I was happy with. I was determined to get this shot and I will explain my logic.

Initially, I autofocused on the brightest part of the light, locked the exposure, and recomposed the shot. I got decent results, but I was not pleased. I found that underexposing by 2/3 stop gave reasonable result.

The second session, I shot four identical shots with the four possible metering modes: Evaluative, Partial, Spot, and Center-Weighted Average. Evaluative was blown out, Partial and Spot were underexposed, and Center-Weighted was overexposed, but not as badly as Evaluative. I then used Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) with the bracket at +- 2/3 stops and took three more shots. It would have been just as easy to take a bunch of shots and manually adjust the exposure compensation, rather than using fancy-pants AEB. In summary, using Center-Weighted Average with 2/3 stop underexposure gave these results.

I'm still thinking about other 'tricks' to improve this. I'm sure you have ideas, fire away!

Not something you see every day ...

2010-02-17T17:06:00.000-05:00

I shot this Valentine's Day at Peace Valley Park (how romantic). I thought this sign was very unusual to say the least. I guess people who no longer want their cats have been letting them go wild at the park. I can't imagine they could survive very long, especially in the winter.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
47mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/320 sec @ f11
ISO 100
Curves adjusted for contrast

Circular Polarizer

2010-02-16T06:00:00.003-05:00

After posting a complex shot that involved the sun and fog and the sun was a bit overpowering, a friend recommended that I get a Circular Polarizing filter. I research them a bunch before buying one. I've used it a bunch and it's saved my butt several times. When I mention them to fellow photographers, either they love them or have never heard of them. A CP filter has two elements, one is fixed and the other can rotate. You look through the viewfinder and rotate the outer ring until you get the desired effect.

Some CP's take down the light a stop or two, depending on the manufacturer. Some CP's come with their own lens cover. I think using a different lens cap is a deal breaker for me. The last thing I want is another thing to keep track of.

Here are two identical shots, one taken with the CP in 'normal' mode and one taken in maximum blocking mode. A much simpler way to think about this is, I took the first shot without sunglasses and the second shot, I had my Ray-Ban's on. Check out the footprints. In the first shot, they're lost.

No CP

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.4-3.5 USM lens
10mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/320 sec @ f11
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

But wait, there's more! Here are two more shots same deal, shot with the 24-105.

No CP

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens

24mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f5.6
ISO 200
Curves adjusted for contrast

What is it?

2010-02-14T20:08:00.000-05:00

To demonstrate just how romantic geeks can be, I'm posting this on Valentine's Day. Although my wife and I stopped exchanging gifts on this day many years ago because it's become so commercialized, I did purchase her a gift and it's somewhat unique, so I may take some photos and post them later.

What is this? I'll give you a useless hint. It's metal and the little particles are dust. I think this is a really cool photo, but that just reinforces the whole geek thing.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 15.0 sec @ f10
ISO 400
Aperture Priority
no adjustments

I used my flash for this. I had it fire on the second curtain. In this mode, the flash 'pre-fires' when the shutter opens, then fires again just before the shutter closes. Pretty slick.

Give up? How about a second hint? It's not going to help. Different angle showing the relative height. I kinda like the first one better.

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 USM Macro lens
Exposure 13.0 sec @ f10
ISO 400
Aperture Priority
no adjustments

OK, here's another hint. Not likely this is going to be much help either. Most people would not know what it is because they've never seen anything like this before, unless you're a computer geek like me. I shot this one a few days prior using my telephoto, the ones above were with the macro.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens

102mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f4.0
ISO 400
Curves adjusted for contrast

Give up? Don't feel bad.

This is the heat sink from an Intel Pentium II microprocessor that came from a 'vintage' personal computer. The microprocessor is the chip that runs the instructions generated by a programmer. Microprocessors consume a lot of power for their size, thus they get very hot. Heat sinks attach directly to the surface of the microprocessor and have a very large surface area. This helps move the heat away from the microprocessor helping it remain cool.

Way more information than you really wanted.

'Vintage' in computer terms is anything older than about 3 years. The Pentium II was initially released in May 1997 and the last release was January of 1999, so this baby really fits the 'vintage' bill.

Wet reflections

2010-02-12T11:00:00.003-05:00

First things first ... I've been a bit busy tending to cleaning up of our recent massive snowstorm, so I have not had time to visit and comment on your blogs. I hope to resume shortly.

I took this 25-January-10 after we had received 2 inches of rain in 4 hours. I work in Horsham, PA (the complex I work in can be seen in the background of the photo). Horsham has a lot of low places that flood easily. This picture is shot on Davis Grove Road facing Babylon Road. If you look at the google map link, this stream crosses the road at the number '908'.

I though this would be good for Weekend Reflections #21

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
50mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/50 sec @ f4.0
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

If you headed the opposite way on Davis Grove, there's an old stone bridge that crosses a creek and you can see it's way over the bank. If you look very carefully a little to the right of center, you can see a swing hanging from a tree. If you can't find it, look at the right-most tree. There are two more trees to the left of it that are similar distances from me. It's to the left of the third tree.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
24mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f5.6
ISO 200
Curves adjusted

Burger anyone?

2010-02-10T19:16:00.001-05:00

So, it's been snowing here for 24 hours. We're currently have received about 20" and it's still snowing like mad. I took a shot of our grill completely entombed in snow. Behind the grill is a hot tub that is currently not used. I completely cleared the snow from the hot tub a few hours earlier.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
24mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f4.0
ISO 400
Flash used

This is a shot out the laundry room door. This leads to a fenced in area for our dog. Since she's a small dog, I've already cleared this area TWICE today with the snow blower and it's up to her belly AGAIN.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
24mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/60 sec @ f4.0
ISO 400
Flash used

My oldest son, Nick, clearing the driveway after the township plow cleared the street and blocked our driveway.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
96mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/200 sec @ f5.6
ISO 200
curves adjusted for contrast

These shots were taken 3 hours apart.

Bad photo

2010-02-09T16:49:00.000-05:00

We all have them. We don't like to talk about them and we certainly don't post them on our blog for our friends to view

or do we?

Our local township recycles Christmas trees. They grind them up and make mulch, which is good for Mother Earth. What you can't see is the sign behind the pile of trees that tells you to "Drop Christmas Trees here". Forgive the out of focus. I didn't check the camera LCD. Shame on me.

I love taking these shot - things that contradict themselves or just don't make sense. Here's a link to one I posted last summer, but it's a bit more subtle.

Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 IS USM lens
55mm Focal Length
Exposure 1/15 sec @ f4.0
ISO 800
Curves adjusted for contrast