Day 301 (27 Oct 2012) Fall Trees and a Stone Wall

Took a short walk this afternoon, under the cloudy sky, which provided nice texture to the sky.  I also noticed the moon out tonight before it got dark and thought it looked good 🙂  I’m not sure which version I prefer, so I posted both 🙂

This weekend I’ve been working my way through my photos from Spain, and I’m about halfway through; feel free to check out my Flickr Photostream Spain set, though it’s not complete yet.  I’ll repost the link once I’m done with them.  I don’t think I’ll make up the posts, but do one that has my best/favorite photos once I’m done.

Day 298 (24 Oct 2012) Lens Reflections

I was changing lenses to take the last image displayed below (nope, you are not getting away from fall/autumn images yet; it is my fav time of year, if you can’t tell, lol), and I noticed the reflection of the light in the lens, off of the multiple lens elements.  I thought it was pretty neat.  🙂

The last image is of a chair on my deck, reminding me that I still need to clean up the yard; anyone want to help rake leaves? 🙂

Day 297 (23 Oct 2012) Creek in the Woods

On my way home from work on Tuesday, I took a short detour to get an image.  I find it difficult to capture forest scenes to my satisfaction.  Maybe it’s because my memory of the scene is much more vivid than what my camera captures?  I don’t know.  But I’ll continue to try till I get it right 🙂

Day 296 (22 Oct 2012) Tree and Moon

On Monday, which is one of my busiest days each week, I pulled my camera out for exactly one photo, of a tree near where I park my car at work.  There are several of these trees that are in a stage of partial-color change.  I think it’s beautiful!  I tried to frame the composition with the moon, as it was out that afternoon.

Day 294 (20 Oct 2012) Autumn Macro – Acorns and Tractors

I took a quick study break after lunch (yes, I’m spending most of this beautiful day inside studying for my courses 😦 ) to shoot.  I thought it would be cool to shoot some of the many acorns littering my yard before I mowed the lawn and chopped them, and the leaves, up.  I also wandered over to the backhoe in my yard that shows up in several of my images and took some macro images of it, too.

Now back to the books for me!

Empty Shell

Acorn

Acorn among leaves

Hiding Acorn

Backhoe Bucket

Tractor Treads

Day 293 (19 Oct 2012) Rainy Autumn Day

It’s been raining since before I awoke today.  So I shot a few images from my spare room’s window.  I shot a long exposer using a 4x ND filter so that I could catch the mist/rain better.  I softened them a tad and boosted the saturation a hair to bring out the colors.

Then I saw a video on Adorama TV and tried to replicate the idea.  It was pretty fun!  Try to guess what was held behind the screen 🙂

30 mm, 2 sec, f/22, ISO 100, 4x ND filter (Autumn Rain)

60 mm, 0.6 sec. f/5.0, ISO 100, 60mm macro lens (Rainy Screen)

60 mm, 0.6 sec. f/5.0, ISO 100, 60mm macro lens (Green Screen)

Day 292 (18 Oct 2012) Autumn Night

Tonight I tried to capture the autumn tree color at night in the the parking lot of my school.  It was not as easy as I thought it would be.  I can’t seem to get the color right (I didn’t think to use my grey card), but I do like the one w/ a black & white treatment, and the color of another did come out (there was a slight breeze, if you can’t tell by the leaves).

Anyway, have a great night and I’ll talk to you again tomorrow!

Day 290 (16 Oct 2012) Fall Colors

I really enjoy driving this time of year, even when I’m stuck in traffic it’s not as bad as the rest of the year.  Thought my driving is a tad bit more distracted.  What is causing me to enjoy traffic and be distracted?  It’s gazing at all the beautiful colors on the trees!  I know I posted some leaf photos yesterday, and on Saturday, but it’s just so beautiful here I can’t help but look and shoot!

These photos were taken from a parking lot of a local hardware store.  There were so many times I wanted to stop and shoot today, but the highway is not the safest place to stop.  Enjoy!

Day 289 (15 Oct 2012) Autumn Morning

This morning as I was leaving for work, I saw what is represented in the first two images from my drive way.  These are the days when I’m glad I live out in the country, many miles from the nearest big town or city.  It’s great having the relitive peace and quite (I can hear the occassional car or truck on the road near by), and the dark nights (pretty decent for night photography).  It’s hard to imagine living in a city or large town on days like this.  I included both images because I’m not sure which composition I like the best; each has elements that speak to me in how they are captured.

The other images were taken at Horse Pond in Salem, CT, on my way into town to teach a personal finance class called Financial Peace University.  Fall is my favorite time of year, and in New England, it’s even better because of the fall foliage.  I actually met an Irish couple during my flight back from Spain  (the Dublin – Boston leg) who fly to the US to be “leaf peepers” almost every year.  It’s great to live in such a beautiful area!!

For those of you who are near/in CT, I have planned a Fall Foliage hike at Sleeping Giant State park that is open to anyone who wants to join.  Of course there will be lots of photography, so leave a comment and I’ll give you details if you are interested!

Day 287 (13 Oct 2012) Mt. Monadnock

Today a few friends and I took a short drive up to New Hampshire, to Mt. Monadnock, to hike and admire the fall foliage.  The foliage was predicted to be at 95% peak color, so we figured this was the perfect weekend to hike.  Mt. Monadnock is the second most climbed mountain in the world, second only to Mt. Fuji (which I have climbed); it’s a bald summit (due to fires in the 1800s), a short hike (~4 miles round trip), and the only mountain for many miles around, giving it a great view.

The views did not disappoint, however the trees were not as colorful as we had hoped, but that’s ok, fighting the crowds on the trails provided enough entertainment to counter that, LOL.  But it was a good day for a hike: clear weather, cool air, and enough color to make it worth the 2.5 hr drive.

Day 248 (5 Sep 2012) Falling

I’m not sure what the proper verb for the onset of the Fall season, but it’s onsetting!  Some of the leaves here are starting to turn.  Before long all the trees will be displaying beautiful hues of red, yellow, and orange; I can hardly wait!  Last year tropical storm Irene came near the Fall season and disrupted the natural seasonal change; in CT the leaves changed over almost completely within a 4 day period; most of which I was stuck out of town (due to the storm delaying my return flight).  This year I’m not going anywhere till late Sept, so I’m hoping to see the leaves in all their glory!

60 mm, 1/40 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100, 60mm macro lens (Color of Fall)

60 mm, 1/40 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100, 60mm macro lens (Change Is Coming)

Day 102 (11 April 2012) Blackledge Falls

At about 25 feet high, Blackledge Falls is one of the tallest water falls in Connecticut.  It’s located in Glastonbury just off of a minor highway, and easily accessible on foot.  A short, half-mile hike from the parking area brings you into full view of the twin falls.

Since this set of falls is normally only flowing well after a rain, I thought I would check it out tonight, since we had some light rain today.  It wasn’t gushing, but under flash light, it looked pretty cool.

I think now I know why it’s called Blackledge Falls.  Almost no light was present on the face of the cliff.  It took over 6 min of exposure time, a high ISO, and lots of editing to bring you this photo.  Below the photo is just a little narrative of my photo jaunt tonight.

This little hike was not a perfect event; after I get set up, I take a couple 30-second exposures to try and test the photo’s composition.  I knew I had the falls somewhat centered and in focus by using my flash light and LiveView.  But I didn’t realize that it was way too dark for only a 30 second exposure; even with ISO 800 and shooting wide open at f/3.5.  At that point I realized I forgot my IR remote (which allows me to lock open the shutter in bulb mode) in the car.  So, leaving the tripod, I hustle back to the car.

I quickly locate the remote in my other bag and head back to the falls at a quick pace; the clock has already passed 10:30pm and I do have work in the AM.  So, I re-set up the camera, get the focus set, and then my battery indicator starts blinking red.  At this point I realized that I don’t have a spare battery with me; it is in the car.  But It’s late, so I open the shutter and pray the battery can last at least 10 min (I’m planning a 5 min exposure).  Praise God it held out long enough to complete the shot and process it!  Lesson(s) learned!

I think I would like to do this shot in the daytime, with a better perspective, and more flow (I did have my umbrella, because it was raining a little during this whole ordeal).  Stay tuned!