Richfield Park Excursion

Woke up this morning to a surprise fluffy overnight snowfall.  A small amount of snow as forecasted, but there was more on the ground and in the trees than I expected.

When I see these mornings I recall my years when I really enjoyed winter.  I like winter these days, just not as cold or as long.  Back in the day, give me winter for 11 months out of the year.  Give me those nice walks on snow covers paths and streets.  Snow gives me that 'crunch' with each step.  Fluff, or not.  The sound, the feel and the peace.

So this morning, after clearing off the driveway I took off for Richfield park.  Home of the Richfield Eagle photos and the Richfield BMX track.  I was the first one there for the day.  Pulled up right behind the county truck that opened the park.  I'm guessing he was late due to plowing other areas.  I wasn't that early, but first is first.

And that reminded me of of being the first on the slopes.  With a few inches of fresh snow.  Nothing like it.

Back to the Park.  Beautiful drive.  In a way, a bit eerie as well.  In places, there was no color.  Just dark and light.  Silver.  Took me back many years.

The entrance to one side of the park crosses the Flint River.  Yes, that Flint River.  I saw this as I approached the bridge.  My first real shot of color in the Park.  What caught my eye was the white to greens and yellows and back to white.  Beautiful.

Winter Road to Green

NIKON D850 Ver.1.20/NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8E

62 mm, 1/500 sec, f/8, ISO 1100 (AUTO)

EV +1, MANUAL MODE, Size: FX

After crossing the river, I started to walk around.  Eventually I found my way to the bridge.  I figured a shot upstream and one downstream and move along.  Sometimes you just get lucky.  I think best shot of the day.

I like the whites and darks - and the shot color.  Awesome.

Flint River Winter Kayak

NIKON D850 Ver.1.20/NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8E

70 mm, 1/500 sec, f/8, ISO 1400 (AUTO)

EV +1, MANUAL MODE, Size: FX

With the overcast sky and the trees covered with snow, looks like a river of silver.

It was good to get out for a few hours today.  And a good photo.

D850 Test - in November

With the battery charged, the menu set up and a sunny November day in the 70s, time to take the the D850 out for a test drive.  I couldn't too far away from the house, due to the paying job, but the park a few miles away was in bounds.

I saw these two bikes leaning against a tree.  The riders were off walking around.  And they returned while I was taking the photos.  They were so nice, they asked if the bikes were in the way of something.  There is hope for the world.  Any way, what I saw here was the green on the smaller bike.  That is what doesn't belong.  Just great.

Two Bikes Against a Tree

NIKON D850 Ver.1.11/NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED

75 mm, 1/500 sec, f/2.8, ISO 500 (Auto)

EV 0.00, MANUAL Mode

And the first field test with the new lens.  At f/2.8 - pure awesome.  Super sharp against the tree.

And at the park, the BMXers couldn't stay home on such a nice day.  I like the split of focus on this, there is real distance.  Could be the BMX winner for the year.

Head On

NIKON D850 Ver.1.11/NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED

200 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/3.5, ISO 100 (Auto)

EV 0.00, MANUAL Mode

Can't wait for the airplanes!

Storm Front

When the paying job takes up most of your time, you look forward to time off as hopefully good weather.  And when you take some time off from the paying job, you really don't look forward to 'crappy' weather.  Unless....
Today was the perfect storm.  Pun intended.  Low 90s, high humidity and a cold front courtesy of tropical storm.  Entirely predictable.
So I went on the road to get out of the subdivision and get some visibility.  I went to the parking lot for the Nature Refuge.  It is closed due to flooding, more on that later, but the lot was dry.  Just barely.  But as I arrived, a thought struck me.  (Note the word, struck.)  I was just about the tallest thing for yards around me.  I know from the previous life, that lightning can lead the front by up to 20 miles.  Photography from a distance.  Time to move.
So, I spent some time in the lot, taking a few wildlife photos but keeping an eye on the sky.  It was getting darker by the minute.
The front was not what I had hoped for.  I wanted a big wall, lots of lightning.  This was a normal Michigan front.  Not that it sneaks up on you, but it does.  This part of the storm was not a large front, that would come later.  So, If I could get get to the side of the action......
And I did.

Storm Front

NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/24-70mm f/2.8

27 mm, 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100

Aperture Priority, Size FX

This is the first week out with the new lens, 24-70mm f/2.8.  I needed to get a lens for the D780 to go more wide angle.  I have a 50mm f/1.8, but the next useful lens is the 70-300 f/4.5 to f/5.6.  To be fair, I don't see landscape shots as well as I see other subjects.  But I can see the cloud formations.  This is a start.  Again, it could be more dynamic, some strategically placed lightning.  Maybe a more defined front?  For a mid-Michigan defined front, I'll take it.

Sunday Morning Walk on Mt. Washington - Pittsburgh Skyline

Call me a Homer.  I think Pittsburgh's skyline is very underrated when it comes to national skyline publicity.  Few cities have an observation like Mt. Washington.  Add the two together, you can get some very nice shots.
Back in the day, the mid-60s, my grandparents had an apartment on Grandview Avenue.  My sister and I would spend many hours watching the coal movement on the Monongahela River.  Yes, some days had limited vision due to the steel mills.  In the sunlight, it was sort of a yellowish haze.  And on some days, it was as clear as it was this morning.
On Sunday, my sister and I returned to the scene where we walked many years ago.  The day was perfect.  Pittsburgh blue sky, no clouds.  I must be living right, because there was a 'barge' heading down river to the Ohio.  In my memory, the barges pushed by the tugs seemed to be longer, maybe eight long by two wide.  Matters not today, this was an awesome trip down memory lane.
The skyline is not as I would remember it.  Back in the day, the Gulf building and the Koppers building were it.  it was a big deal when USS Steel built the building that now in monikered by UPMC.
Photographically, was out still testing the D780.  I have a few panorama sets to work.  This is a single shot.  I used a 50 mm prime lens.  I'd like to work more with the primes when I can.  Would have been nice to have more power when the barge went by.  Guess I have to go back for more tries.
The Pittsburgh Skyline from Mt. Washington.

Pittsburgh Skyline - Blue Sky

NIKON D780 Ver.01.00/50mm f/1.8G

50mm, 1/640 Sec, f/8, ISO 110 (AUTO)

MANUAL Mode, Size 16:9

Laurel Mountain Fall Season - Nine Years Ago

October brings the fall season.  On the calendar, the fall season lasts roughly three months, right?  For me the fall season is the middle two weeks of October where, when nature is willing, the fall colors explode.  The timing is often shifting a bit depending on weather patterns, but vacation time can be booked in this time with a high confidence that some colors will be on display.  The tops of trees around where I live now are starting to turn.  We're about ten days or one cold night away from starting the color changing process.
As much as I like living in mid-Michigan, there is one place in Pennsylvania that can't be replaced at the top of the list of places I'd like to be at this time of year.
Back in the early days of my formative being, my grandparents purchased some property east of Ligonier.  On top of a mountain/ridge.  In the fall, I would walk the unimproved roads and trails with my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.  The smell of decaying leaves and home fires have never left me.  I remember fondly the feel of a slight breeze, and the sting of driving rain and sleet.
Although our house had all the conveniences of modern housing, in the Fall we favored a fire for heat and camaraderie for entertainment.  We were on the outskirts of civilization where power and phone service could not be counted on once the weather turned bad.
I remember the color explosion of the leaves.  The bright reds, the sunlit yellows and the shades of orange against a blue sky.  Human sight is wonderful.  Memory, as long as I have it is pretty good also.
In 2010 I was fortunate enough to be at the Laurel Mountain Ski area for a day of hiking around.  The ski area had been closed for a few years.  I skied there many years ago when a season pass for a kid was around $10.  For years, the area was open for hiking.  On this day, the colors were at their height and the days was slightly cloudy.  Perfect.
Photographically, nine years ago I was shooting with a D90.  Great learning equipment.  Thanks to meta data, I can see I was shooting with a Tameron lens.  The Tameron experiment didn't last long before I switched to Nikon lens' for my use.  And for some reason, I was shooting in RAW format - and I probably didn't know what it was about.  I do know now, and thankfully I kept the files.  With improvements in software and nine years of experience, these images turned out OK.  Note to rookies, shoot RAW even if you don't know why (yet).  Looking at some of these settings, what was I thinking?  I was expecting to see AUTO.
These pieces of equipment and buildings are no longer standing.  They were removed in 2016 when the area was overhauled (snif) and new equipment was installed.  The area is now closed to hiking as far as I know.  If I ever get to explore the area again, it will be on rented skis.  In the sunshine.  Above freezing.
This is chair 15.  I have pictures of this scene, from different years where this chair is in the same position.

Chair 15 in the Fall

NIKON D90/TAMRON AF 18-270mm F3.5-6.3

27 mm, 1/320, f/13, ISO 400

EV -0.67, Aperture Priority, Size DX

The area of the hill where this lift was did not exist in the early days.  I did ski here once during the time of this lifts use.  I won't say I was a hot dog skier in those days, but I loved skiing under the chairs and yakking with the chair occupants.  They were short conversations.  It was a different time.

Laurel Fall Chair Narrow

NIKON D90/TAMRON AF 18-270mm F3.5-6.3

27 mm, 1/500, f/13, ISO 400

EV -0.67, Aperture Priority, Size DX

As tight as the previous picture is, I like the openness of this one.  And on the same day, in the same area, the colors here almost look painted.  Different weather patterns on the hill.

Laurel Fall Free Style Slope

NIKON D90/TAMRON AF 18-270mm F3.5-6.3

27 mm, 1/400, f/13, ISO 400

EV -0.67, Aperture Priority, Size DX

The D90 is a 12.3 MP camera.  Doesn't leave a lot of room for cropping, but the images seem to show up OK on the monitors.  I've become spoiled with the higher MP counts of the D7200 and D500.  Big difference.

Harbor Springs Summer Morning

Last day of my visit to Harbor Springs.  Took a walk this morning on the bluff above the city.  Rewind to earlier in the morning, the weather channel had a dense fog advisory for the area.  Seriously, less than an hour later, this.........  Clear as can be.  Beautiful.
Harbor Springs is one of the those places you visit, and after a day, one of great weather, you start looking at the real estate office photos.  How can I get here?  What shack can I afford?
On of of the days, you take a walk at the local ski resort.  Then you realize - I bet it gets really cold here.  Flashback to way too many years ago, but isn't that why you gave up skiing?
And the boats on the water.  And more boats.  And some really big boats.  First thought, this is how the other half lives.  If it is not the 1% life, it is close.  If you have to ask the price, you're in the wrong neighborhood.  Back to the boats.  I just don't have the water life in my blood.  I like to look at them.  I'd really like to see the electronics in some of those things.
So I enjoyed my week there.  Lots of stuff to see.  Very nice area of the state.  Couldn't have picked a better week weather-wise.

Harbor Springs Summer Morning

NIKON D7200 Ver.1.04 /18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

48 mm, 1/500 sec, f/11, ISO 250 (Auto)

EV -1, Manual, Matrix Metering

The great weather was part of the problem.  I wanted to see some weather.  Something on the other end of the spectrum.  I wanted a great lake weather front to roll through.  Well, maybe some other time.

Fort Mackinac from the Bay

This image of  Fort Mackinac was taken in late June, 2011.  We were on a day trip to Mackinac Island, and the day weather-wise was perfect.  This image was taken from the ferry on the way from the island returning to the mainland at the end of our stay.
On the hill is Fort Mackinac.  The white diagonal is the walkway.
The Fort has an interesting history.  The current fort was built in the early 1780s by the British.  The Fort remained under British control until 1796 when the Fort was turned over to the United States as part of the Treaty of Paris agreement.  As part of the War of 1812, the British regained control of the Fort without firing a shot in July of that year.  The British retained control through July of 1814, when the terms that concluded the War reverted control of the Fort back to America.  
From the end of the war to the mid 1800s, the Fort was basically used for exploration and trading.
Currently the museum is in great shape and is very interesting.  And the entire Island is interesting.  The Island is definitely worth a visit.  It helps if the weather is nice.
This image does include something you will never see again.  The docks are part of the Arnold Transit Company.  Unfortunately the ATC closed its doors in 2016 after 138 years of continuous service.
As to the image, while looking at some old vacation files I saw this one.  Lots of great colors and subjects.  I like the Fort on the hill and the vessels down below.  I really like the larger vessel on the right, takes up a lot of great space.  I like the color flow all around.

NIKON D90/18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

ISO 400, f/10, 1/400 sec, 75 mm

And I thought this would look good in a creative style.

Back in 2011, I was just shoot and pray.  This one did OK.

Pittsburgh: Monongahela Incline

One of the first engineering marvels I have early memories of is the Mon Incline.  My grandparents had a residence on Mount Washington then - overlooking the Monongahela River.  As a kid, I could watch the tugs pushing barges full of coal up and down the river all day.  
Coming from the east, going to Mount Washington means crossing the Liberty bridge and up PJ McArdle roadway.  The road climbs the two hundred feet from the bridge to the top of the cliff in .8 miles.  That comes out to close to a 4% grade.
Crossing McArdle roadway about halfway up is the Mon incline.  The incline itself travels over 360 feet up the hill from the south side to Grandview Avenue.  The incline was built in 1870 to carry steelworkers to their homes on top of the hill.  There were many inclines in Pittsburgh and now only two remain, the Mon and the Duquesne.
So last Saturday I was driving up McArdle Road, like I have in the past so many times, the sun caught the autumn leaves leaving a tunnel of gold around the incline rail.  I was thinking this was the shot of the day.  
There is no parking along the road, so a half mile walk down and half mile walk back up was in order.  No problem there.
Now that the logistics part is over, setting up for the picture is next.  I though the best shot would be shooting from downhill going uphill.  This was due to sun position.  In reality, that didn't work out so well.  The best shot by far was shooting from uphill - looking downhill.  I'll have to deal with the sun issues later.
I shot this with the D500, still testing.  And as such, I configured the camera to save the RAW file to the primary card and a JPG to the secondary card.  So I have a JPG for comparison.  That usually doesn't happen.
A side note, this is why I shoot RAW and process my own shots.
To be fair, the JPG settings I used are very base and bland.  As a general rule, I just don't do JPG.  The camera will do 'better' if configured for vivid colors and in camera HDR.

This shot has so much potential, but needs a lot of 'help' work.
Clearly the sky is blown.  After that, there are some distractions.  I'm not sure about the 35 MPH sign - because it belongs.  Also the street lamp is an eye catcher.  Again, it belongs, but.....  Down the road, there is an orange detour sign that doesn't belong.  That's easy removal.  There's also a sign on the protective fence that could be removed.
In the end, I decided if the removal was clean that all these items needed to go.  The subject is the incline car and the gold leaves.  I also like the stained concrete on the right.  The correct light on the concrete could really help.  Other than those subjects, the rest needed to go.
As to the sky, I wanted to keep it all Pittsburgh.  I have plenty of shots with sky.  So, it will be ethical to 'correct' this Pittsburgh sky with another Pittsburgh sky from the same area on the same day.  Right?
All the object removals went fine, even the big 35 MPH sign.  Very happy with that.
To mask out the sky, I used On One.

The process in On One was less than ten minutes, where if I had used PS, it would have been considerably longer.
When I added the Pittsburgh sky, I still needed to work on the overall light levels.  For that I used Photomatix.  I wasn't going for a HDR look, just wanted to bring up the shadow light and colors a bit without looking over saturated.  I used the Photographic filter.
This is the final image.

ISO 100, f/6.3, 1/100 sec, 35 mm

D500/18-200 f/3.5-5.6

The sky part wasn't a slam dunk.  I had to lighten it a bit.  The mask work on the car was a bit tedious, but finally got it to a point where I liked it.  The reflection of the sky in the car windows was interesting.
Although I had to work to get in a spot to take this image, and had to work it a bit in post processing - I was extremely lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

You can take the boy out of Pittsburgh.......

Back from spending a few days in SW Pennsylvania.  There was a certain amount of work to be done at the family house but once the tasks were completed I could spend a few days in Pittsburgh.
Despite the fact I'm from that area, I have no real good pictures of town.  The weather didn't entirely cooperate, but it could have been worse.  Friday's rain was a stopper, but Saturday's cold I could deal with.
There is a very nice overlook that face north looking over the Monongahela River.  That was the target for the day, as well as paying a visit to the Tree of Life Synagogue Memorial in Squirrel Hill.
Saturday was sunny, with passing clouds and cold.  Pittsburgh windy cold.  
My sister, who has many of my photos framed and displayed in her home has no Pittsburgh images from me.  That has to change.
I know there are two 'keepers' from the weekend.  There will be some form of skyline and there is one incline photo.  (That will be posted soon.)
This photo is a panorama.  The finished photo is 35x15 inches.  There are 21 images (portrait) there were blended into this one.  What is shown is the center, there is more on each side, but it didn't format well for display.  For single shot skylines, there isn't as much 'information' in the image, but there also isn't as much panorama distortion.  In the end, it's all about learning.
Side story:  While I was shooting the panorama photographs, there was a couple next to me that said their phone camera was inadequate next to what I was doing and my equipment.  I replied, just depends on what you want.

Panorama 21 Images (Portrait)

I have four sets of skyline panoramas.  This is the most centered one.  There are no huge shadows from the clouds.  And I have all winter to play.  I'm sure there will be more later.

Walking Bridge into Fall

Fall is just around the corner - or maybe here already and the trees in my yard just didn't get the memo yet.  I equate fall to the change of color in the trees.  For mid-Michigan, the turn is generally the second week in October.  And of course, work will interfere with and extended fall foliage trip next weekend, but we'll see what can be worked out.
So this is a photo from the past, 2011.  The camera then was the D90 with the 18-200 lens.
As I look back at my photography history, I've gone through phases of file collection.  By the time I started using the D90, I was all into RAW files, but I would often change back and forth whether or not I would also create a JPG file.
Early on, I'd look at the JPG and use it as a reference to what I had created from the RAW file.  In the end, it turned out I was never happy with the JPG and I quit creating them.  But as I go back through my old files, when I do find a JPG file I'm happy to see it.
So, today as I was looking for a fall themed photo to play with I found this one from 2011 and a corresponding JPG.
From the set of shots that I took this day, I found some old one I'd 'touched up' and it was a bit on the funny side, as they were pretty much all 'grunge' settings from Photomatix.  Ah, the good ol' days.
This is the original JPG from 2011.

ISO 400, f/9, 1/40 sec, 18 mm

I think it is nice fall photo, but needs lots of 'little' tweaks.
First, the close bridge supports need to be straightened,  The 18 mm lens distortion is a bit annoying.  If I can't straighten them, I could crop them out, but I'd like to keep some part of them for framing reference.
I need to do something with the wood bridge.  I'd like some heavy contrast to bring out the grain, but that might not go well with the foliage.  Doable.
I also need to pop the foliage colors a bit.  It's fall, celebrate!
I used ACR to adjust the lens corrections, to straighten the bridge posts and to pop the colors a bit.  I used On One to create a layer mask over the bridge to increase the contrast on the wood and metal.
This is what I cane up with.

And the trees look a bit more upright as well.
Welcome to Fall.

Williamsburg Governor's Palace - North Side

At last night's photo club meeting I volunteered to do a demo on Adobe Camera Raw (ACR).  We have some new members who don't understand what it does, other than it annoys them.  We have members who use PS and Elements, so this 'discussion' will be beneficial to both groups.  My 'discussion' will be in essentially five weeks.  Unlike my school days, I will try to prepare more than a day out.
Since any chat about ACR on its own might take 20-30 minutes, I'll have to do some demoing.  That can fill up the other 90 minutes.
Tonight I was looking for RAW file images to use.  My criteria was to have some dynamic range, but not outrageous.  For the club, I want to use a somewhat realistic image not one that was deliberately taken to prove a point.
This is a photograph of the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg, Virginia.  Most people approach the Palace from the south side, main entrance.  Apparently I got lost and found my way to the lesser known north side.
I like this landscape shot.  Nice carpet of grass, bricks for detail, a not very common gold seal on the doorway and most importantly a sky that I won't have to replace.  There is a landscape dude that will have to be dealt with by some form of removal or crop.  We'll go for removal because I like a challenge, plus for the club I have cred that needs a bolster every now and then.
Here is the original image.

May 19, 2016 - I did have the D7200 at that time.  The lens is my 18-200.  ISO 400, f/11, 1/250 sec, 38 mm.

First step - open RAW image file in ACR.

There are two settings in ACR that I know of that are not available once the image is imported to PS.  I need to make my selections here.  I also do my initial light level sets.

First I will set the profile to Adobe Landscape.  For my light levels, I just hit the Auto setting.  First pass, I'll detail it later.

In this image, that is not so necessary, but is some other darker images this step will at least let me see what is there.  

The options that are not available later are the lens corrections.  I need to set them now.

I want to use this options to remove chromatic aberrations and enable profile corrections.  (It will change the image!)

From here I will take the corrections and open PS.

PS will open with the image as the Background layer.  As practice, I never work on the background layer, so I make a copy layer using the shortcut Ctrl+J.  Layer 1 is created.  Again as practice, I make Layer 1 a Smart Object.  This will allow me to make changes at a later time if necessary.

At this time I will open the RAW Editor Filter.  This is ACR inside PS, except for the two parameters I've already changed in Lens Correction.  I'll use the shortcut Shift+Ctrl+A to open the editor.

From here, I'll set the temperature and tint levels.  For this shot, I'll bump the temperature a bit, to give the illusion of some sun light.

I'll also move the other light levels as necessary.  I want a good photograph with a good sky.  No blown pixels, some (small) black areas are OK.  I'll also set my Clarity, Dehaze, Vibrance and Saturation.

When the colors and light levels are set, I move to sharpening.  For this, I generally use the heavy preset.

From here, I'll move to the Transform section.  Because I've already it the image with Lens Correction, there won't be much change unless the level is off.  I start off with the 'waffle' selection.  Unless I'm off at an extreme angle this will do the trick.

Nothing can ruin a good photo like spots.  Dirty lens, dust on the sensor, even a small flying critter will subconsciously catch an eye.  I always check for spots in the sky.  ACR makes this really easy to do with the spot removal tool and the Visualize Spots option checked.

No odd images in the sky.

Last stop in ACR is the Adjustment brush.  I didn't make any spot changes.  Usually when I do, it will be to over or under expose a small area.  There are some dark areas in the image, but non that I want to tackle.

At this point the image is basically done.

For the final touch, I need to remove the lawn service dude.  It would easy to crop the image and remove him.  But the Content Aware Fill option worked really well.  I did some touch up cloning along the brick wall just for fun and practice.  I also removed the top of the lightning rod that extends out of the picture.  Personal preference, not real fond of items that extend out of the photo if I can avoid it.  I'll finish by cropping it to 1920x1080 and adding the frame.

Fun image to work on.  Little bits of everything.

Balloon Day - 2010

Saturday was Balloon Day for us.  We started with our long awaited and multi-scheduled Balloon flight.  The rest of the day was spent in Frankenmuth, MI for a balloon festival (and doggie festival).  The holiday weekend so far has been wonderful and except for a Friday night/Saturday morning work issue - has been perfect so far.

The total day has expanded my use for photographic tools and tricks to get some really good shots.  So far this weekend, there have been over 150 shots.  I had to throw away about 10 for either unfocused or some other rookie mistake.  For shots in changing environments - and no shots in AUTO - it was a good day.

The ISO minimum on the D90 is 200.  For the day, I could have used much lower.  So I was really forced to using some tricks - and for the most part came away with some really good shots.

First, I used a polarizer almost all day.  For the early morning balloon ride, there was enough light at 6:30 AM to allow the polarizer to work.  Later in the day, with full sunlight I could set the WB to Daylight and back off the exposure by one full step.  That setup seemed to work for most of the day.  As dusk approached, I could move the exposure back to normal in increments.  For the balloon glow, I had the ISO set to 650 and the exposure upped by a step.  For the most part, the night shots turned out real well.

So it was a great day - had a lot of fun.  And have a better idea for the Nikon settings for a sunny day!

1/50 f/8
Aperture Priority
ISO 200
Focal length 50 mm (105 mm for 75 mm film)