Reflections in a water drop

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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