I Thought You Dug Up Your Fish Bait!

Modern technology lands in Idaho.
How live can it be!?

For some reason, I thought you would go out and dig up your worms.
Now, you just go dig up some coins then head down to the street corner!
Bait vending machines. Sheesh. What's next?

Happy Holidays to All

Happy Holidays to All!

Thar's Elk In Them Thar Hills!

This is 10 miles outside of Boise, Idaho.
That fence keeps them off the freeway.

Photographing The Moon

I've been using a Sony CyberShot P150 for some time now, having taken almost 15,000 pictures with it.

It's done me good since I bought it back in 2005. But I've wanted a bit more on those occasions that call to the photographer in me.

Last weekend, I upgraded to an Olympus E-520. I will be writing on that experience later.

Right now, I'm looking at trying to take pictures of the moon. That is one subject that has eluded me with my point and shoot.

As you can see, it ain't going so well. The LR image in my Mutilated Moon Collage looks like it worked, but I have to get it focused on the subject for it to be any good. Details!

While I am trying to figure out the camera, I am having multiple issues. (There are so many buttons on it that every time I pick it up, I change some setting.) But after looking around I found a few resources on shooting the moon and have come to the following conclusions:

I know absolutely nothing and I need to learn all these new buttons and menus. It's a long cry from my Pentax K1000.

Onward about Moon shoots.
The first rule of thumb I discovered is the Moony 11 rule. That is to set your aperture to f/11 and set your shutter speed as close as you can to the reciprocal (1 / x) of the film speed.

IE: If your ISO is set to 100, set your aperture to f/11 and your shutter speed to 1/90 sec. We are reminded that the moon is merely reflecting sunlight and why this works.

Another resource I like is DPS (Digital Photography Shcool Forums). In one post here were the settings of one marvelous moon image (I'm extremely jealous.)

• Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320)
• Aperture: f/0
• Focal Length: 0 mm
• ISO Speed: 100
• Exposure Bias: 0/2 EV

And a great thread that touches on shooting the moon on the DPS Forums.

My own settings for the LR image in my mutilated moon collage, aside from not being focused were:

• Exposure: 1/4000 s
• F Number: f/5.4
• ISO: 400
• Focal Length: 132 mm
• Exposure Bias: 0.00 EV

Enjoy the labors of my research.

Moony 11 Source: PhotoNotes.org

These Days, This Might Be A Good Investment

In this housing market,

this could make a great investment.
At least they can say it's got great airy rooms with a view.

Real Estate Available!?
Oh the times and things this place has seen.

Filling in Your Subject With Flash Work

Sometimes for me, natural light works for me, other times it doesn't. Every now and then I find that the subject is darker than I would like. I have a tendency to not want to modify my images after I've taken them. Call me stubborn. So I employ my flash.

Employing my flash brings the subject to the forefront in a rather abrupt fashion. Then you can see the subject clearly and still see the background as well.

I like the results it creates like this pic I've previously posted where the leaf to the left is brought to the forefront while we still see the rest of the scene.




In this case below, if I had not used the flash the leaf would not even show up except as dark shadowed highlight:

Sighing In Silence, Helping The Family

One of the most confusing things to experience.
Helping the family pack and move,
stoic silence smothers your frustration,
sadness envelopes the day,
but it's not about me,
and I must help
for they are
family.

Sighing in Sadness.