'I-crop-a-lot' or 'Psuedo-Alone'

Garden of the Gods, Shawnee National Forrest, Southern Ilinois

Met an elementary school classmate and her husband at Garden of the Gods. They live an hour or two north of GOG. Rainy most of the day. The rain did clear out for a few hours around noon, fortunately that was when we were to meet. We stayed there on the Observation Trail for a few hours, then went to find something to eat. The sky was clearing out again as it was starting to get dark. I was still in the area, so I went back for some night shots. Nothing too daring, as it was getting pretty dark.
It was actually a little spooky out there in the dark. As the 15 minute exposure was happening, I made the trip back to the trail several times. Then, on the way back to the camera, I had to re-find it, while trying not to shine a light at the camera. I think it was maybe four crack jumps to get out there. The camera actually takes a second shot of the same duration with the shutter closed to subtract out some of the noise. I decided to let that happen on the way home in the truck. I hadn't planned on staying that late, so with a 3.5 hour drive home time, it was getting late for an old fella who likes to get up early.

I wasn't stupid enough to follow it into a pond or anything but on the way there, my gps took me through 4 or 5 miles of gravel roads! Nice scenery though. On the way home I refused to turn onto the gravel road, so it re-calculated a friendlier route.


Polarizer filter on all but the night shots.


'Pseudo-Alone': I cropped a few people out on the very left edge. I-crop-a-lot. No, that was not a typo.
















5 Minute Exposure


15 Minute Exposure

'Grabbing Lunch' or 'Not Enough Glass!'

Sloan's Pond - Mammoth Cave National Park, Ky. Yeh, yeh, I know, I have been up here a lot. I am still playing around with the new lens. Better to figure it out here, as there is a nice handicapped track around the pond with two 'decks' or 'mini-piers'. The heron that dines here was on the prowl. I watched him for a while, set the camera on him. He was much closer than he normally is. Anyway, I had taken my eyes off him for a while, and when I looked back, his head was coming out of the water with a fish. The camera was still ready (on a tripod), so I started firing. The 40D fires at 6 frames per second, so I had plenty to choose from. I really don't have enough glass to get to him, but with some cropping, you can at least see the fish. This was with the Canon 100-400 lens.


Not enough glass!! All that money (to me anyway), and still not enough glass!!!

Neutral Density Creek Wading

Alavton KY - Low water ford across Trammel Creek.
I bought an ND1000 neutral density filter (10 stop) (this is an expensive hobby). After a few disappointing outings shooting traffic and a fountain downtown, I decided try moving water. These are right as the sun was up a bit and still nicely orange. I think I started around 8am CST. The exposure times were from 8 to 20 seconds.

Weekend of 08/29/09

This was right off the new gravel trail they built from Park City to the visitors center. It was a little windy so it was tough to keep focus. I shot several of this and other flowers, but this was the only real keeper.


Mammoth Cave National Park, KY
Nice.

Spider vs Bee! Film at 11!

Again, I tend to like star trail shots. I shined the flashlight for a portion of the exposure on the nearby foleage.


Sloan's Pond - Mammoth Cave National Park, KY
I like star trails, even short ones.

---

Freeman Lake, Elizabethtown KY (all below)






Spider vs Bee!
Actually the bee was right up against the spider several times. I suppose the spider knows how to pick his battles.
I didn't hang around long enough to see what the spider had for dinner.
I noticed the spider, as I saw the flower move. Hey, flowers don't move (very fast anyway).




Oh, there is no film. There never was any film. It was a scam. Get over it.

Caught in the Headlamps!

Sloan's Pond (Again!) - Mammoth Cave National Park, Ky
Very Very Nice!


Glen Lily Bridge, Bowling Green Ky - 120 second exposure
I think this location has potential. I will go back when it is not quite as dark, so that the background is not overpowered by the headlights. Maybe with pleasing cloud cover. I went late mainly because I was setup on Price Chapel Rd bridge. I figured there would not be much traffic that time of night.


Garvin Bridge, Bowling Green Ky - 30 Second Exposure
The colors were wild on this shot. I corrected to make the lights on the bridge look like I thought they should. That gave the light from the street lamp that eerie green color. I will go back sometime and shoot this from a lower prospective - maybe have the camera level with the guard rails, then another with the camera six inches to one foot above the bridge.

Frog Gigging

Mammoth cave again. I plan on letting it get dark and try a few star trail shots. I suppose I have never hung around a pond as the sun goes down, but it was interesting. As the sun went down the bats came out in force. Bats galore, but only for about 10 minutes, then they were gone. Then an hour or so later, the full moon started showing over the tree line and the frogs started croaking. Definitely linked to the moon.


Sloan's Pond - Mammoth Cave National Park, Ky


My version of 'Frog Gigging'
Illuminated with an LED flashlight - it took four shots to get a keeper.
I kept on blowing out the frog's underside. Once I didn't blow that out, I white balanced on the frog's underside later in post as the LEDs were not very white.
15 Second Exposure


The Big Dipper - 10 minute exposure

'Wet Belly' or 'Stop, Drop, and (almost) Roll'

Got out early to try to catch the sun rising over the lake in the park. The park is closed. Head over to the other side of town to the river. Barely make it in time. Need something to make the shot interesting. Weeds look nice, so I did the fire drill: Stop, Drop, and Roll. Actually no roll, just stop and drop and a little wallowing for position.

Wound up with a wet belly for this, not sure if it was worth it!


Bowling Green Ky - Just across the walking bridge.

The following shots are with the new lens. I had some dissappointing results with it the first time out, so I was glad to get some results.
Sloan's Pond - Mammoth Cave National Park Ky






This had lots of 'not-attractive-stuff', fortunately it was 'croppable'.


The dragonflies are out, and seem surprisingly easy to shoot. Right place, right time I think. These are cropped heavily, as I was not all that close. Interestingly, the dragonfly would take off, buzz around a bit, then land back in the exact spot over and over again. If I did not get him the first time, I just had to wait for the next landing.



'Googly Eyes'

Butterflies Everywhere

These are close to the Old Louisville Rd bridge. Don't know much about butterflies, but there were lots, and lots, of these babies.

One Duck For You!

Well, I bought a big canon lens from Amazon - good source by the way. The zoo trip convinced me I needed more power. This was my first trip out with it. I lamely went to the local park to shoot ducks, and whatever else fell into the crosshairs. The first shots with the new lens were really disappointing. It was overcast, that may have something to do with it. I came away with one shot that I liked....

Basil Griffin Park, Bowling Green Ky.


One duck for you!
(Spoken as in 'No soup for you!' (Soup Nazi))

'Thirty Six Seconds of Lightning' or 'I'm going to figure out how to take pictures of lightning if it kills me!

I've never tried to capture lightning. I went out to the front porch with the camea, tripod, and remote release (Do I really need to say a thunderstorm was underway?). I try and try, but I just am not fast enough to get the strike. Frustrated, I finally wise up and set the timer-remote to take continuous shots of 6 second duration. Then went inside and watched TV for 30 minutes or so (yes I left the TV plugged in during the storm). After wading through approximately 300 pictures, the winners are:












Oh, and for the record, I am still alive, and six times six equals 36. Just so you know.

Thelma Stovall Park, Munfordville Ky

I was in Munfordville for a service call which didn't take long. I had the camera in the truck, so I thought I would swing down to da river. Didn't get many that I wanted to keep, but the sun shining down through the wood line on this daisy was nice. I met a professional photographer who was getting ready to take pictures of some of the seniors. He was a nice guy and we had a good little discussion about technology, digital cameras, workflow, etc. When the seniors started showing up, I got the heck out of there.

I would call this 'the post with no name', but I think I'll save that.

'Seven Hours at the Zoo - Whew!' or 'The Doublemint Twins!'

Met my sister, brother and his kids at the Louisville Zoo. We were there for seven hours! Gave me plenty of chances to take pictures (between the rain showers). I need a bigger lens. Today's theme of chance 'The Doublemint Twins'.







'The Doublemint Twins' Feel free to apply to any of the following...