I love to watch Deer

This fellow was standing to the side of the road and having some confusion so instead of turning and running into the forest he started down the road toward us. It made for a great opportunity to shoot him several times and then we both left happy about it. I used to hunt deer with a rifle but find that I like doing it much better with a camera. (The bullets from the camera don't kill even though I know a lot of people who are afraid of camera's just the same.)

Stitching in CS3 Photoshop

On my way to Oregon with my wife she wanted to stop at the lookout where we could see the entire way up and down the Columbia River Gorge. SO we did and for the first time out of three that we have been there it was a clear day so I decided to take several shots of the gorge and then stitch them together in photoshop. It is really easy even though I didn't do the portrait image for the original images it still did a really good job with the landscape ones. I have included the original images from which the stitching was done and then added the piece of it that was actually used by photoshop to make the final image.



Here is the final image. The river is bent but that is because I just did a standard stitch however I think there is a way to make it look straight I just haven't experimented with it yet to find out.

Same Falls, Different Views

So one of the places that we visited on our trip to Oregon for a family reunion was the Silver Falls. We did a seven mile hike and saw 13 sets of falls and I don't remember the names of them at all. But while there I tried several different techniques for photographing falling water. I had a small tripod but due to the fact that I was hiking with 10 other people part of which were teenagers with attitudes I couldn't take the time that I really wanted so that I could use it each time. But I did the next best thing and found trees to steady my camera and allow for time exposures. I used a #4 Neutral Density filter since it was a very clear and bright day but was often surprised that I didn't need it since we were hiking into places where the moss hung thick on the huge tress and the light was not nearly as bright as I thought that it would be. This set of falls, as did several of the others, had a trail behind them so that you could hike to the other side without having to cross through the river. That trail allowed for me to take several pictures from different views of the falls.
So here is a quick rundown on part of the images that I took. The first three images were taken with different shutter speeds. The first was taken for 1/320th of a second with an F stop of 3.5 and an ISO of 1600.  I love digital cameras since you can change the ISO each time you take an image. It is really a lot more fun than carrying several cameras with different speed film loaded into each one.

This one was taken for .4  seconds with an F stop of 13.0 and an ISO of 200. My family in this image gives a little sense for the size of the falls.

This third one was taken for 1/8th of a second with an F stop of 3.5 and an ISO of 200. I loved the way the light was coming onto the falls making them very pretty from this particular angle.

This image was taken from almost directly behind the falls looking down to the rocks where the water first landed.  This was handheld at 1/160th of a second with an f stop of 5.6 and an ISO of 3200.

Here is the next one taken from the same location as the last only looking up to where the water came over the falls. Again this was handheld at 1/2000th of a second with an f stop of 5.6 and an ISO of 3200.



Taken at 1/500th of a second, f5.6 and ISO at 3200 I did the middle of the falls. As soon as  get a chance I want to try to stitch them together but I don't hold out much hope for a good image, just wanted to try it with a vertical set of images not horizontal as it is usually done.



Here is a look at the falls from the other side from the trail as it first comes past the falls. .5 sec, f 5.6, ISO 100.  Portrait orientation.


Here is a look at the falls from the other side from the trail as it first comes past the falls. .5 sec, f 5.6, ISO 100. Landscape orientation.


Finally this one was taken at 1/60th of a second, f 8.0 and ISO 1600. Again handheld and quickly shot with no tree to steady me as I was hurrying back to catch up with the group that had not waited for my fun to end there at those falls. (It did still take us about 4 hours to make the hike that they had expected to do in two and the others who couldn't or didn't hike were waiting at home ready to have dinner long before we got there. Oh well I probably will never get to visit these falls again and I didn't feel bad about taking the time. The others still got to eat and maybe not on schedule but the hike was far to beautiful to just run past them. Part of being a photographer is taking the time to do it as you go so you have some good images, with the bad, to choose from when you get back.)

Young Love

The day started out great as we traveled down the coast to see a couple of lighthouses. Then on the way back we stopped at a place called Foul weather Point. There for the first time in my life I got to photograph a whale. It was really fun and after about a 10 minute wait, from when we were told there is a whale out there, to when I got to actually see it I wasn't ready with the camera, didn't know what to expect actually, So I had to wait another 5 minutes or so and then he decided to put on a show and in about a five minute span of time surfaced, spouted, dove and resurfaced several times. I had the camera on rapid exposure mode by that time and was catching several phases of the show each time. I was even able to get a whale spotting boat with the whale in the same shot later in the session. It was really fun but then we had to hurry on to Lincoln City to spend some time on the beach since the day was almost over by that time.
So we ate a little dinner and then headed to the beach. I was a little slow getting going since I had hurried out the night before and then ended up being there for over an hour and a half, in the cold blowing wind, from the time the sunset started to the time the color was finally all gone from the sky. So I wasn't really in a big hurry. The house we were in was across the street from where we could go down to the beach and as I crossed the lawn to head for the road I saw Scott and Tia coming back. Tia however turned and went to the park where Ann, Charles and Marie were sitting and waiting for the sunset. Scott however continued toward me and beckoned me to go back and when he got to me started the conversation by saying something to the effect that he wanted to ask me permission to ask Tia to marry him. We then talked for several minutes and went over to join the group. The sun was starting to set.

It was then time for Scott and Tia to take a walk along the beach. I followed at a distance so I could take some pictures and yet not let Tia wonder why I was following.

So I took a couple of pictures but tried to make it look like I was just photographing the sunset. However the group up at the park on the bench were more interested in what was happening with the couple. I would occasionally take a shot of them but was later told I missed the moment when he told Tia he had to get a rock out of his shoe and went to one knee and asked her to marry him.
So then when they returned I took a few more pictures because, well, she knew all about it by then.
So I also took a couple of shots of the ring against the sunset.


Then we took some shots of them against the final sky. So I came on this vacation with my daughter and her boyfrien and returned from the vacation with my daughter and her fiance.

A walk on the beach

Just a little stroll on the beach can produce some fun images. Look a nd see for yourself.

Aquarium Fun

I never realized how much fun it would be to change the ISO to 1600 and then put the lens against the glass of the aquarium, holding a finger between the glss and lens so as to not scratch the glass and then take a timed exposure as needed. The colors were beautiful and the models were great fun.

Shifting Sands. Change is Good

I spent most of the day on the beach yesterday and enjoyed it. In the afternoon we experienced fairly heavy winds but stayed and enjoyed the beach anyway until after sunset was almost over. We had played volleyball in the sand and on one of my frequent trips down to the water I noticed how there were so many tracks in the sand and then suddenly realized that they were slowly vanishing and the area was becoming flat again. It made me stop and think about change and how it really is good even though most of us don't really appreciate it.


The sunset was really pretty so I had to get the group to do a staged photo for me.