So on one very rainy weekend last summer, mom and I visited the Philadelphia Zoo.  Since we were there, six hours from home, we decided to go for it and make the best of it.  Fortunately the rain did stop for an hour or two, but by the time we left it was raining so hard there were rivers running where the sidewalks used to be!  Not only is this uncomfortable it’s not very good for photography.  In a few places I could take some pictures from under an overhang:

Fortunately hippos don’t mind the rain!!

But then there were many indoor areas – one of them being the bird aviary where you could literally walk among the free-flying birds. I love aviaries – getting right up close with the birds – just be careful where you step!!

I posted this shot on Flickr a few days ago in hopes someone would help me identify this bird but no luck. So all I can tell you is that it is colorful!

This one I was able to find – it’s a Victoria-Crowned Pidgeon – I just love the headdress – I probably took 50 pictures trying to get a shot of the intricacy but she was not sitting still for anything!!

So the next time it’s raining or cold remember your local zoo probably has many indoor exhibits for you to enjoy!!!

A flake from Total Raisin Bran (because there have been very few snow flakes around this year!!):

A hamburger bun:Christmas bows (I did consider getting hubby to pose with his compound bow but this ended up working out fairly well):

In addition to the macro shots I also came across rows and rows and rows of bleachers in Schoellkopf Stadium on Cornell’s campus:

I know Karma specifically said no candy box hearts.  Look at me breaking the rules!!!  Hubby has one job on Valentine’s Day – chocolate-covered strawberries please.  Sometimes the box is pretty and I save it to keep memories in – this year’s box with its Gertrude Hawke insignia will not be saved!!

I bought this set of mugs at a garage sale for $5 and set them on the counter next to the coffee pot and people use them all the time.  Come to find out that they are actually some kind of fancy hand-painted artwork from Arizona – my neighbor knows because she saw them there once and did not buy them then went back on her next visit and purchased a similar set because she liked them so much.  So it turns out I got quite the bargain!!  And I like the way the woods behind my house reflected onto the mugs.

Bonus – leap: Sister was getting ready to jump the creek when I said “Wait, I need to take a picture!”  Being used to me by now she went back and waited until I was ready to make her leap across.  Notice that even her dog is decked out in Syracuse Orange!!

Thanks Karma!!!

Here is the photo they chose:

If my memory serves I believe The Aspiring Photographer and Scott from Views Infinitum were standing right nearby when this shot was taken – they must be good luck!!

The other photograph that I submitted that was not chosen is below:

Personally I like this one so much better but I tend to be opposite on these things I guess. The shots that are liked by judges are usually the opposite of the shots that are liked by me! What do you think?

Last weekend mom and sister came to Ithaca for some hiking and some dining.  First the hiking to work up an appetite.  I took them to the Sweedler Nature Preserve which I first introduced you to in June.  This is a Finger Lakes Trail so it is open all year round – unlike many of the area state parks that close their trails in the winter.  These shots are all of the lower falls. The lower falls are quite accessible and I could have spent an hour moving all around getting all different views of the ice and the falls.  Mom and Sister probably would not have appreciated that!! I was surprised by how much ice was on the falls since it was 40 degrees and sunny on this particular day.  In general the gorges are 5-10 degrees cooler than the surrounding areas and they also don’t get a lot of direct sunlight but I was still surprised and excited by the amount of ice!!

The above is the view mom enjoyed as she didn’t jump the creek with Sister and I to get closer to the falls.

I didn’t even notice the leaf hanging on in this shot until I was processing, otherwise I would’ve done some shots showing it’s perilous plight!!  I’m hoping to get back before spring although the forecast for the coming week has all temps above freezing!!

On a more serious note our area experienced a tragedy this past week when a photographer slipped and fell to his death while shooting some other area waterfalls.  I know I’ve said it several times but this is a reminder that the gorges, while beautiful, can also be dangerous.  Please Please PLEASE be careful out there – no shot is worth your life.

However…….

This is my before Photoshop intervention….

And this is my after Photoshop intervention…..Wrinkles – GONE!

Freckles – GONE!!

Eyes – SPARKLE!!!

Lips – PINK!!!

And since I don’t think I’ll be appearing on the cover of any magazines anytime soon – Bless the Airbrush – it may be my new best friend!!!!

Walking around the yard on a very windy day last weekend I noticed a pinwheel going round and round as fast as it could possibly go – just a big, round blur.  The colors all merging together looked so pretty – I’ve got to take a picture!!  Grabbed the camera already set at ISO 400 and snapped this shot at 1/800.I was a little shocked when I checked the image – quite surprised that at 1/800 the movement was almost frozen.  Not at all what I expected.

So let’s slow things down a bit.  Changed the settings to ISO 100 which brought me to an exposure of 1/250.

Really?  Still not the total blur of color that I was seeing right in front of me.

Let’s slow things down some more – brought the aperture to f/22 leaving the ISO at 100 – this led me to an exposure of 1/50.

That’s more like it – that’s what I’m seeing right in front of my face.

Personally I was very surprised that the human eye sees things at roughly 1/50 sec.  I know this was hardly a scientific experiment but you get the idea.  I totally thought our eyes were faster than this – what did you think?

Back then Long Point was a free park with a few grills pits and picnic tables.  We used to walk along the shores searching for lucky stones – rocks which have had holes carved in them by the tides.  I still have 7-8 of the stones I found during these little excursions.

Fast forward a few years.  Now one has to pay to enter Long Point (walk-ins are free) but Long Point now has a very nice boat launch, a small playground and a lifeguarded beach in season.  Easily the smallest state park in the area, it still is a lovely place to stop for a little picnic and scenery.  Which is exactly what I did one day last week – hard to believe these shots were taken in February!!!

I spent some time with my new Photomatrix HDR software on Saturday processing these. Above is a 3 shot merge, the two below are 5 shots merged.

I was also using a circular polarizer to take some of the glare off the water, making the rocks more visible.

Finally, I was able to merge my HDR image with a couple of the original images and using a clipping mask allow the original to show through a bit. I did this to take some of the golden glow off the stones and to tone down the orange in the sunset a bit.

I don’t really believe in New Year’s resolutions but if I have one goal for 2012 it’s to take more night or blue hour shots. I’m finding this to be an area of photography I’m really enjoying. It’s difficult since blue hour always seems to be very late in the summer, and during dinner time the rest of the year. But I’m going to make an attempt….

I took this one with my still-new-to-me macro lens.  I’ve been playing around with depth of field using the macro lens as it really feels like it is an entirely different ball game from depth of field with my other lenses.  This was shot at f/11 – the “doesn’t matter” aperture since it’s kind of halfway in between.  The larger rock near the top is more in focus than the rest but not by a lot and some of the blurry is due to water movement.  I also had recently read that ditches are often great places to shoot – this is a make shift ditch from a plugged storm drain but it works!!!

This was shot in a drainage ditch in front of our local Burger King!  I tried doing some Photoshop work on this without success.  I had wanted to lower the cattail on the left and make the shot more focused on the right cattail by cropping out some of the distractions (right pine tree, other smaller cattails, etc).  It didn’t work out – I think I’m going to try shooting this with more sky in the background and not try to include some of the other street stuff – maybe get in closer and get down under it more.  Or try to frame it with the pine tree as the backdrop – we’ll see.  I’m also hoping to someday get a day without breeze so I can do some cattail macros. 

This one definitely gets me out of my creative box.  The horse was standing quite close to the chain link fence which is rather rare – usually these are not the most social of horses and they hang at the other end of their pen near the barn.  But because she was so close there was no way I could blur out the fencing.  But prior experience has taught me that if I stand close enough to the fence and zoom in – I can eliminate the fence that way.  Except once I zoomed in there was only a partial horse.  I had recently been reading about details and how we photographers tend to try to show the big picture as opposed to focusing in on the details – there is often a picture within a picture was the lesson to be learned.  Since that stupid chain link fence didn’t leave me many options this is what I did.  I kind of like it!

So I’m hoping to actually get out and do some serious shooting soon.  Since there’s no snow in these parts they drab brown and gray of the landscape is very uninspiring.  But I’m itching to get out so we’ll see what I come up with.

Have fun!

So I’m going to turn the clock back a bit.  Last October I had the pleasure of attending my first and so far only rugby game.  I don’t know much about rugby.  The only rule seems to be that there are no rules – although I know from talking with the players that this is not exactly true.  There is a code of conduct of sorts where even though you are trying to beat the stuffing out of the opposing team, you should try to do so politely.  Dirty play is HIGHLY frowned upon.This is what they call a scrum I think.  The ref will drop the ball in the middle and the girls will fight over it until someone is able to break free.

This is something they do when inbounding the ball – lift their teammates up in an attempt to control the inbound.  This shot was taken relatively early in the game (or is it a match?) – these girls are very clean compared to how they looked after a couple hours of rolling around in the mud!!

I don’t remember specifically but I have a feeling that the girl with the ball is about to eat turf…..

Another inbound shot now towards the end of the game/match.  Notice the mud – glad I don’t do their laundry!!!

I’m sure there will be more rugby games in my future as I have two young friends that play.  I have to hand it to these ladies – this is not a game for the faint hearted!!  Well done – I’m looking forward to watching you again next fall!!

I bought Topaz Stars.  If you’re interested the coupon code is “TopazStars” to get $10 off – good through 2/15/12.  Now I know how to make stars, or flare, in camera.  Set your aperture at f/18 or higher and go for it.  But I remembered that I had this one picture from my Chicago trip that for some reason did not create the flare I was looking for.I had really been hoping to get some sparkle from the lights beneath Trump Tower instead all I picked up were some street lights near the Wrigley Building (far right).  But with my new toy I was able to create this:

This stars didn’t translate as well as I had hoped when I lowered the resolution for the blog but you get the idea.  And I toned down the stars significantly from what was suggested by the software.

Now I know some of you purists out there probably frown on software such as this – that’s fine.  Like I said – it’s a toy.  I’d prefer to get my shots the way I want them just using my skills and the camera.  But that doesn’t always work and sometimes I just want to monkey around and see what I can create.  This seems like it’ll be fun software for doing just that.

Have fun!!