like the middle child or Goldilock's porridge, not so far not so close — just somewhere in the middle.
Once again all with the x100 @ f/5.6, I think, three shot and pretty aggressive HDR. The yellow ones the side of a caboose the green from a box car. All from the B&O Museum parking lot.
Some shots that are less abstract than the close-ups. Once again three shot brackets either f/2.0 or f/8.0, exposure comp to taste, ND filter used with the f/2.0 snaps. All HDR, all with HDR Efex Pro and Color Efex Pro.
Always gotta start with the pedestrian one — including the blown flag...
a snap target favorite of mine, perhaps the most favored of all. All from the B&O Museum parking lot, all with the X100, all three shot brackets, some at f/2.0 some at f/8.0, all processed with HDR Efex Pro and Color Efex Pro. And, yes the ND filter was in play for the f/2.0 shots.
It appears to me that the logo is floating in space above the metal panels. Nice illusion.
X100, three shots bracketed around 1/180, f/2.0. HDR Efex Pro.
first HDR shot with the X100. Image reflects a modern technique and a new instrument and the need to always, no matter what, look forward. No rear view mirrors, just windshields and headlights. Pierce the darkness, overcome the hurdles and the hurdle makers. Onward.
A Berkshire (2-8-4) in the B&O Museum Parking Lot, taken today en-route from Boston via BWI to home. X100, three shots bracketed around 1/120, f/2.0. HDR and Silver Efex Pro.
If I could, I would... pen such a piece for the service that daily saves my butt. Today it was the abilty to type "classic swan boat book" and get Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey. Otherwise the SO would figure out that it didn't stick on Sunday. Having already played the Dear Matchette card, I am little short on creative solutions at the moment.
So... the first snap was stuck in the middle of the Public Garden post but it has since become abundantly clear that swan boats get pride of place. Clearly, this is a photo target that is going to take some more work but for now, I offer the best of Sunday's swan boat snaps.
well... before the impromptu visit to the Public Garden (see the prior post), I planned a trip to the North Shore of Cape Ann, specifically, Essex, Wingersheek Beach and Annisquam. The trip was curtailed by the X100 battery running out of juice but not before I got some decent snap candidates. As it turns out, I think really pretty decent given it was the first real attempt with the camera that just arrived on Friday.
All pretty much f/8.0 at ISO 200 (the minimum) at whatever shutter speed soultion that yielded, all of course at 35mm - standard one-shot Nashification recipe.
Ipswich Bay from the end of Coles Island Road
Dashed transportation in the Annisquam River
Wingersheek Dunes and the Annisquam Light
Through the dunes and on to the light
Mothers Day picnic
The second course
Pretty much the middle of Annisquam
Perhaps the only grit in very polished Annisquam
and one from the Common. The X100 battery died in Annisquam because it was never fully charged. That dampened my enthusiasm as I wasn't much interested shooting the 7D. So two weekends in a row, on trips especially planned for snaps, no juice. On the way out to Cape Ann, I spotted a Best Buy so I figured I would stop and get yet another 12VDC to 120VAC converters. Turns out there is a Target next to BBY, so I guess I saved a few bucks. Anyway, a half hour charge on the way from Danvers to Boston got me a a decent number of attempts in The Public Garden and yielded one from the Common.
I think they were all f/8.0, at ISO 100, Aperture Priority, pretty standard Nashification. Missed some, seems that the X100 is a bit slow unloading images to the card, maybe it is the RAW + JPEG setting or maybe because the battery was low. Something to explore. Anyway here are some snaps ...
A rather pedestrian shot of an equestrian George Washington at the west entrance for starters
Why ruin a pedestrian roll when you are on one
Hoofin' it on the Lagoon Bridge
Paying the piper (well guitarist)
Short, as in stature, not Bobby
Looks like things have changed since 1848
Ibid
the one from the Common
Dateline, Lowell, MA, 7:14PM, May 7, 2011
Dear Joe,
We won't be making that trip on May 8th. Please try later in the season.
Capt. Steve
Cap'n Steve is an astute man or at least his customers are. One lighthouse was cold enough six would have been hypothermic. Maybe still a little too early for seersucker bermudas north of the Hub.
Annisquam River and Light in Background, from Wingersheek Beach, 7D, 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS, 180mm, 1/320, f/8.0, ISO 100.
Hanging out, reading the X100 pdf manual in iBooks on the iPad, pop off an experimental shot or two. Hey, not too bad. From the aerie. A frequent perspective for me.
35mm, ISO 400, 1/40, f/2.0. Silver Efex Pro.
The X100 arrived while I was up north in the Hub. Got to pick it up at the office on Friday, couple shots in the office, running to a medical appointment, then home with a bunch of calls unfortunately booked for a gorgeous Spring Friday afternoon. Then, wrong keys, locked out and a wait for RN to get back. So over to Patterson Park and some pagoda and fountain snaps. The X100 draws, as Sean Reid would say, uniquely. Snaps don't look like the Canons ones at all, maybe because of a weaker or non-existent AA filter, actually doesn't matter why — the snaps sure are good looking.
Pretty normal RAW post processing (with ACR in Photoshop as Aperture doesn't have support yet), except the close-up where the peeling paint has been made more peeling via a pretty heavy dose of Nik Tonal Contrast. I like this camera, it is going to fill its role perfectly — serious photography in a smaller than DSLR package. It will be coming to Boston tomorrow and along to Denver later in the week. I was only going to bring the X100 but I decided to take a boat tour of Cape Ann and I am sure I am going to want more reach, so the 7D and 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS are coming too. The 50mm f/1.8 is small and light so it is in the bag but the intent is to use the X100 everywhere it makes sense.
35mm, ISO 200, 1/1000, f/2.0, standard Nashification post processing except Nik Tonal Contrast to emphasize the peeling paint.
35mm, ISO 400, 1/120, f/8.0, standard Nashification post processing
35mm, ISO 400, 1/420, f/8.0, standard Nashification post processing
35mm, ISO 400, 1/450, f/8.0, standard Nashification post processing
No sense complaining about the equipment fiasco. I like a lot of the Carrie Furnace shots.
Canon 10D, 70-200 f/2.8 IS, f/2.8, 70mm, ISO 800, bracketed off 1/3200. Three shot, Slight (low opacity) Midnight filter application plus some Topaz Adjust and Nik Glamor Glow.
Canon 10D, 70-200 f/2.8 IS, f/2.8, 70mm, ISO 800, bracketed off 1/1250. Three shot, Slight (low opacity) Midnight filter application plus some Topaz Adjust.
Lots of post processing in a not all that sucessfull attempt to make up for a not very technically good snap.
Canon 10D, 70-200 f/2.8 IS, f/2.8, 80mm, ISO 800, bracketed off 1/80. Two shots HDR.
just to keep the blog items for getting too lengthy, see the prior two blog posts for the story. The furnaces are going is going to require another trip in the fall, to make up for the battery fiasco. That visit will have a different strategy, since the tour is not really a tour and tripods are OK, I'll bring the Gitzo and a rented 17 TS-E. This place needs wide, really wide.
Oh yeah, I forgot, I thought I had packed the 17-40 f/4.0L when I got there it turns out I packed the 35 f/1.4L — really clueless morning. Anyway, fast but not really wide, especially on a crop camera like the 10D. Although I guess I could have put it on the 10D, gotten a 50mm equivalent and dropped the ISO. DOF would likely been an issue and frankly given the grittiness of the furnaces the high ISO noise isn't much of a problem.
Yet, I am not unhappy with yesterdays snaps. Thanks to being lucky with the XZ-1 being in the bag, with power and with a card and an old 10D. What could have been nothing but a nine hour drive worked out OK.
Canon 10D, 70-200 f/2.8 IS, f/2.8, 75mm, ISO 800, bracketed off 1/640. Two shots, no way I am good enough to handhold the over exposure steady. Slight (low opacity) Midnight filter application.
Canon 10D, 70-200 f/2.8 IS, f/2.8, 75mm, ISO 800, bracketed 1/30 and 1/90. As above only two shot. Again slight (low opacity) Midnight filter application.
Canon 10D, 24-70 f/2.8, f/8, 24mm, ISO 400, single shot. Slight (low opacity) Midnight filter application, Topaz adjust, plus the regular stuff.
Read the post just below this, if you already haven't, to hear the reason for the XZ-1 at the Carrie Furnaces. All taken with the EVF and the new productivity enhancing lens cap. Anyway didn't know what to expect under really tough conditions. I think these are stunning snaps — digital cameras have come a long way with these kind of results from a compact, albeit an enthusiast compact.
So what doesn't work so well? Dynamic range. While DSLRs can recover lots of highlights, large sensor compacts cannot, in these dark shots any sunlight coming directly in is completely blown out. Even the passé 10D has a little bit of latitude for highlight recovery. Solution... make sure the framing is is accomplished to reduce the required demand on dynamic rage. The supply just isn't there.
XZ-1, f/2.2, ISO 640, 1/50, 18.2mm (what ever that means). Standard one-shot processing.
XZ-1, f/2.2, ISO 640, 1/50, 18.2mm (what ever that means). Midnight filter in Color Efex 3.
XZ-1, f/2.0, ISO 640, 1/30, 11.8mm (what ever that means). Standard one-shot processing.
XZ-1, f/2.0, ISO 640, 1/50, 6mm (what ever that means). Standard one-shot processing.
XZ-1, f/2.0, ISO 640, 1/25, 6mm (what ever that means). Standard one-shot processing.
or actually no juice and a severe lack of MIPs too!. Twelve hour round trip to the Rivers of Steel "Hardhat" "Tour" of the Carrie Furnaces in Rankin, PA. Not really a tour (good), no hardhats for the touristas (not an issue) and no batteries for the MIPless snapper. Yep, 4+ hours out there, get all strapped up, cameras hooked up, hit the on switch switch and nothing, absolutely nothing, perhaps because the batteries were 4+ hours away in Charm City. Serious MIP shortage.
I did manage to toss the XZ-1 in the bag and it had power and a backup and fellow snapper (who did the driving) had a backup body, a rather long in the tooth, 10D (ca 2003). So I guess we shall see what trumps what, equipment or the artiste. 10D high noise at high ISO (800 for the indoors shots) might present some challenges, it was dark inside the furnaces. I suspect most of these will wind up in B&W.
I can see why Tim rarely uses the handmedown 10D anymore. It is slow, really slow and the buffer even fills up writing RAWS to a fast card after a couple of fast bracketed shots. Five years is a long time in camera technology.
Three shot bracket, 10D, 70-20 f/2.8 IS, ISO 800, f/2.8, bracketed off 1/125 @ 70mm. HDR Efex & Silver Efex Pro 2.
Three shot bracket, 10D, 70-20 f/2.8 IS, ISO 800, f/2.8, bracketed off 1/30 @ 70mm — saved by IS. HDR Efex. Looks like some color might work.
No HDR here, just one shot with 10D, 70-20 f/2.8 IS, ISO 800, f/2.8, bracketed off 1/15 @ 70mm. Hit with Color Efex Midnight Filter.
Three shot bracket, 10D, 70-20 f/2.8 IS, ISO 100, f/2.8, bracketed off 1/2000 @ 70mm. HDR Efex. No problem outside at all.
Single shot, ISO set wrong at 3200 from prior indoor shot. Actually looks pretty good with high ISO in decent light. 24-70 f/2.8L @ 24mm, 1/500.
From the approach road, a few miles away. The dunes are about 750' high, the white between the clouds and the dunes is blowing sand. Sangre de Christo range in the background. The name, meaning "blood of Christ", is said to come from the red color of the range at some sunrises and sunsets, especially when the mountains are covered with snow.
7D, 24-70mm f/2.8L, ISO 400, f8.0. Three shot HDR.
Bessemer, CO. All with the 7D and 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L , ISO 400, from the West to East Northern Avenue I25 overpass. Most HDR some last one not.
Bessemer, CO. Across I25 from CF&I. Lot handy for parking while shooting CF&I from the I25 overpass. Great colors, but I guess Yelpers! have discovered Bessemer yet!
7D with the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L which just happened to be on the camera. Thought maybe not the best place to be changing lenses. ISO 400, f/8.0. Three shot HDR.
somewhat reminiscent of the 2006 Nebraska snap that got a runner up in a AAA contest. Both happenstance, this on the way to Great Sand Dunes National Park the Nebraska one en route to the Ogalalla National Grasslands. I guess I get better stuff by accident on the way to to places that only sometimes work for me.
Off CO 17 on LN6N north of Alamosa. 5D Mk II, 17-40mm f/4L @40mm, ISO 100, f/8.0, three shot HDR, handheld, out the Hertz SUV window.
Off NE 2, West of Hemingford, NE, ZCBJ Lodge #298, 5D with 17-40mm f/4L @ 40mm, ISO 100, f/16, on the Gitzo, July '06.
en route to Fairplay from Buena Vista, across the stunning South Park, the 5D Mk II can't be found on the rear seat floor. So we pull over in front of a ranch gate. Randomly, it turns out to be a ranch founded in 1862 and still in the same family.
We spent the next several minutes of the ride, yacking about how cool it would be the day you found out that someday you would be running the family ranch. Anyway... turns out this place, the Salt Works Ranch, is a big deal. So is Mr. Hall and the family. Read about how Hall, astonishingly a Mayflower descendent, found his way from New York to South Park here, fascinating.
Charles L. Hall established one of Colorado’s earliest industrial enterprises, The Colorado Salt Works, on his ranch west of Hartsel in 1862. By 1868, this business was producing 4,000 pounds of salt daily, much of it for use in processing gold ore. Hall’s son-in-law, Thomas McQuaid, built the Salt Works Ranch into one of Colorado’s largest cattle operations, comprising some 80,000 acres. Salt Works Ranch is still owned by descendants of Charles Hall and is also on the National Register of Historic Places.
5d Mk II, 17-40 f/4.0L @ 17mm, ISO 100, f/11.0, 1/40.
