Archive for 2009
December 31, 2009 – One Lonely Tree
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on December 31, 2009
One Lonely Tree
Thursday, December 31, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=351
Welcome to the end of another year! Who would have ever thought we’d make it this far? Better enjoy the next one, you never know when the world will end catastrophically. This was a fine enough year for me personally, although it seems like everyone I know on Facebook is complaining about how much it sucked and how they hope next year will be better. Perhaps I just had a lot of fun at their expense and now they’re just bitter. Not sure.
This will be the last picture posted in 2009. And, more importantly, it will also be the last picture posted this week. I’ll be back in full-force next week though. I’ll post a pretty good picture on Monday to get you interested, then I’ll sneak in something crappy on Tuesday and/or Wednesday, but then I’ll try to finish the week strong on Friday, because that’s the way I roll. That’s how it’s going to go down. You’ll see.
As with most (all?) of my wintertime pictures, I took this one while I was out skiing (Crystal Mountain this time.) We get a lot of days just like this out here in the Pacific Northwest: poor visibility, but lots of nice fresh snow. Although you can tell it wasn’t THAT big of a powder day, based on how much snow is sitting on the branches. But whatever, not the point. Actually, I don’t think there is a point, so maybe there is, and that was it.
Whatever. Have fun tonight! Do at least one thing that you’ll regret next year!
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/320s, f/10.0.
Subscribe to the Picture of the Day via: Popularity: 9%
December 29, 2009 – Sunset over Puget Sound
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State on December 29, 2009
Sunset over Puget Sound
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1127
Hey everyone, welcome back from the holiday weekend! Hope you all had a great Christmas if you celebrate that sort of thing, otherwise I hope you had a really great Friday. We had some gorgeous weather here over the weekend, which meant that I was able to get 2 or 3 post-worthy shots. They’re still on the camera, but you’ll see them someday I’m sure. This one’s actually from this last summer though. This is a view of the sunset (duh) over the Olympic mountains and Puget Sound, seen from downtown Seattle. Always beautiful, if the sun and the mountains are actually out.
Today’s picture gives me a chance to talk about one of my biggest pet peeves again: pictures that aren’t quite straight. It’s something that is really easy to take for granted, but is actually really hard to get just right. For a lot of pictures it really doesn’t matter (like yesterday’s picture of a rose) but anytime you have a shot that includes something that you would normally expect to be either straight up and down (like a tree or a building) or straight across (like the horizon), it kills me when it’s obviously tilted. And it doesn’t even need to be tilted by much. Even a degree or two can destroy a picture, especially if it’s something that stretches across the whole frame. This is particularly a problem for me, because for whatever reason my trigger hand seems to be a bit lazy, and it doesn’t want to hold the right side of the camera as high as the left. So it’s always something I have to explicitly ask myself before I hit the shutter: “am I holding it level this time?” In this particular picture I believe I just about nailed it (it’s oh so slightly off, but it’ll do), but there’s actually another variable going on here that can make it even more of a pain in the butt than usual.
In the cases I mentioned before (trees, buildings, the horizon), it’s generally pretty obvious what the “true” orientation needs to be. But what about the case of a lake with a far distant shore? (Or, like in this picture, a sound.) It usually looks right if the far shore goes straight across, but what if the shore is actually curving away from you? Then in reality it should tilt upwards a bit, but in a lot of cases, that will actually make it *look* wrong, even though it actually isn’t. Frustrating, right? I know, it kills me!
I’ll go ahead and finish this post with the standard caveat to the “is it straight?” issue: you can straighten pictures after the fact with software. But I have always claimed, and I still insist, that doing so subtly degrades the picture. Why? Because of math. The image off the camera is a grid of colored pixels. In order to rotate the image, you’re re-mapping those pixels to different locations. Here’s the kicker though: the new locations don’t exactly line up with pixel locations in the image. Meaning, the center of a particular pixel will be moved to a point that’s a little ways between the original pixel location and the location of the pixel next to it. Meaning the new pixel value will need to be calculated as a weighted average of several pixels. Meaning, you’re going to lose at least a little bit of sharpness, as adjacent pixels that once had a certain amount of contrast from each other will now be blended together. Make sense? It’s not a huge issue, and if it’s a question of either straightening an image or not having it at all, definitely go with the straightening. But if you have a choice between a straightened one and one that was naturally straight, I’d go with the natural one every time.
Want a different way of looking at the issue? Okay, here you go. Imagine a sheet of graph paper. Let’s say you want to draw a horizontal line on that paper by filling in squares. Easy enough, right? You just fill in a row of squares. Same with a vertical line. A 45-degree diagonal line kind of works. But any other slope of a line, and you get into averaging. Meaning, you start doing things like filling in two squares next to each other, then you move diagonally for one square, then diagonally again, etc. If you look at it from far away, it looks like a line of the correct slope, but up close it’s clearly kind of a hackjob. So when you straighten an image, you’re doing the same thing. You’re taking lines that were originally at one slope, and tilting them along a grid. So the result will average out to look decent, especially from far away, but you will have lost some detail in the averaging. Long story short, it’s a better idea to just try to take the image straight the first time.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 28-300 mm VC lens. 1/320s, f/9.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 154mm.
Popularity: 10%
December 23, 2009 – Rose
Posted by Dave in - Best of Dave's POTD -, Flowers, Macro, Picture of the Day on December 23, 2009
Rose
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1106
Yeah, I know, I know, I promised either a baby ostrich or a barbed wire fence today. Or at least something keeping with the theme of using only crappy and/or weird pictures this week while “nobody was around to read the blog”. Well, I couldn’t do it today. Because, you see, this is the last post until sometime next week. Which means, all of the random folks that land on this page between now and then will see *today’s* post as their first and most likely *only* impression of me. So I had to make it a good one, right? Don’t worry, you’ll get to see at least one of the mediocre pictures that you want next week.
Today’s shot is another one taken with a macro kit, basically a set of magnifying glass type things that you screw onto the front of your lens. But this was a somewhat different set up than you’ve seen before, because this was taken with a lens that I bought at the end of the summer, a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8, and because it takes a different size of filter than the lens I formerly used with my macro kit, a brand new macro kit. But it’s the same idea.
The macro kits do work as advertised, allowing you to focus more closely and get further in than you would be able to otherwise. But they can also add sort of a hazy, dreamy feel to the pictures (particularly at the far end of your zoom), which may or may not help the picture. This picture is a perfect example. It looks like it’s been extensively photoshopped, but in reality I only did minimal post-processing on it. If I had the original handy, I’d post it here as well so you could see. Perhaps I’ll do that later. Definitely a great toy to play around with, and it can definitely get you some really interesting images that you wouldn’t get otherwise. But it’s also definitely not something you want to keep on your lens all the time.
Okay, that’s it for this week. Have a great holiday if you’re in to that sort of thing!
Popularity: 11%
December 22, 2009 – At The Club
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day on December 22, 2009
At the Club
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=603
So yeah, here’s another one that doesn’t really fit with the usual theme here. Perfect for Christmas week. I’ve actually been waiting a really long time to find the right chance to squeeze this picture in there. To sneak it under the radar, midweek sometime when not too many people would even notice. It’s cheezeball, but I like the color.
This was taken back in my clubbin’ days. Back when, you know, I was hip, and all that. Ooooohhh yeah. Way back in the day, right? Heck yes. This was at the Last Supper Club here in Seattle. Good times. A nice, slow exposure (a quarter of a second) to make the laser light look like the solid bands that you see, and also to make all the normally recognizable ordinary stuff that I hate so much get blurred into something else. Yessssss.
For tomorrow, you’re either going to get a baby ostrich or a barbed wire fence. We’ll see what kind of mood I’m in. 
Notes: Fuji Finepix F30 (Point and shoot). 1/3s, f/5.0, ISO 1600.
Popularity: 3%
December 21, 2009 – Strange Vine
Posted by Dave in Macro, Picture of the Day, Washington State on December 21, 2009
Strange Vine
Monday, December 21, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1033
Welcome back everyone! As you can tell by the very fact that I did indeed post something today, my traffic looks to be improved. Still not sure what happened at the end of the last week, but it sure seemed like most of you decided to go outside and play instead of sitting inside reading my stuff like you should. But since I did kind of already mentally check out for the holidays, I’ve decided to compromise, and use this week and next week (I’ll probably only post 2 or 3 times next week) to post some pictures from the backlog that are either not really that great, or just.. kind of weird.
This one definitely falls into the weird category. I saw this vine thing on a hike one day (I’m not going to say which one, due to my aforementioned hesitation at admitting to yet another picture from the Shi Shi Beach trail – although to be fair, it’s been a month since I posted one. Well, posted one that I actually identified as being from that hike anyway.) I thought it was really cool how those two strands danced and curled around each other, but the resulting pictures were still a bit weird. As in, I felt like when I looked at the picture I started by noticing the cool, playful pattern, but then right at that moment where you’d say “Oh, cool, that’s a [whatever]! Awesome!” I instead found myself saying “Oh, cool, that’s a …. umm… uhh.. what the hell is that?”. So it felt like it had a great build up, but then a crappy, poorly thought out, meaningless ending. But this and the other couple of pictures I got of this.. thing.. are both somewhat interesting photos in my opinion, so it fit perfectly with this week’s theme. (Oh, we’re doing weekly themes now, are we?)
So, there it is. Be sure to check back tomorrow to see what crappy and/or weird picture I decide to use to take up the dead-space between now and the end of the year!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 28-300 mm lens with Hoya Macro Kit. 1/250s, f/5.0, ISO 800. Focal length: 50mm.
Popularity: 9%
December 18, 2009 – Mt. Baker
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State on December 18, 2009
Mt. Baker from Yellow Aster Butte
Friday, December 18, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1184
Hey everyone! As you were probably expecting, here’s a picture of Mt. Baker. This actually isn’t the picture I had in mind earlier this week when I said I was going to post an awesome shot of Baker today. I still have that one, and I still love it, and it’s still awesome. I don’t have a good excuse for why, but I decided that I’d rather go with this one instead. Do I think this one’s a better picture? No. Like I said, I have no reason. I just followed my instinct. Because that’s what they tell you to do, follow your gut. Which is really easy for me, because my gut has a pretty good head start, it sticks out past my feet. So I have plenty of time to react when it changes direction without notice.
This was taken on the Yellow Aster Butte trail, which is accessible from a little forest road that shoots off the north side of the road (Highway 542 I believe) that goes up to the Mt. Baker Ski Area and Heather Meadows. It’s a fantastic trail any time of year (that it’s not covered with snow) because you can actually get out of the trees and get some great views. But it’s particularly great during the early fall. There’s a ton of low-lying ground-cover type bushes and grasses that change colors nicely. But it peaks significantly earlier (a couple weeks to a month) than the trees that are at lower elevations. So make sure you time it right. But it gets you right up there among some huge peaks, so it’s a great way to spend a day. And if you bring a flashlight and stay out a bit later than you normally would, you can get some great late-afternoon views of Shuksan and Baker.
I noticed that my traffic plummeted the last couple days, down to less than half of normal. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming any of you. But I am thinking that a lot of folks are travelling for the holidays. So I’m considering making this the last entry until things calm down a bit. I’m not personally going anywhere, but why waste some good shots when there’s nobody there to see them, right? My supply of pictures, while not small and not about to run out any time soon, is finite, and it WILL run out sooner or later. (Although it’s true that some weeks, particularly during the summer and fall, I’m able to maintain a pace of producing more than 5 new pictures worth posting each week, that definitely does *not* hold true in the winter.) So, if you’re still around, and you want me to keep posting, either just let me know, or hit refresh on my page a bunch of times, preferably from different computers and browsers, and it would help to clear your cookies each time too. That way I’ll think you’re 50 different people, and I’ll totally feel the love. I’ll be keeping an eye on my traffic, because I’m obsessive like that.
Have a great holiday!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300 mm VC lens. 1/100s, f/9.0, ISO 200. Focal length: 92mm.
Popularity: 4%
December 17, 2009 – Insect and Flower
Posted by Dave in Macro, Picture of the Day, Washington State on December 17, 2009
Insect and Flower
Thursday, December 17, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=986
See? A bug and a flower, just like I said. Man, I’m really good at predicting stuff. It’s almost like my today self somehow sent a message back through time to my yesterday self saying exactly which picture would be posted. Almost eerie, really.
Those of you who were with me earlier this year, you know that this summer I went on a mini-odyssey of sorts, exploring several different cheapskate methods of macro photography. The extreme case was of course the reverse-mount adapter that I used to get that picture of the fly a few days ago. That one, while extremely powerful, is also extremely difficult to use. Today’s solution, while it won’t get you nearly as close, is in a lot of ways more pleasant to use. It’s a Macro Kit, which consists of a set of these magnifying-lens type filters that you attach to the front of your lens. They magnify a bit and allow you to focus more closely than you would be able to otherwise. So they get you closer than you would be able to otherwise, but with a whole new set of limitations. (Your depth of field is very small as you would expect, although not as drastic as with the reverse-mount. Also, the area outside of the in-focus range gets blurry in a weird way. I guess I’d describe it by saying it gets “foggy” rather than “blurry”. And, the longer your focal length (distance from the front of your lens to your sensor) the foggier it gets, to the point where, if you’re using a superzoom lens, and your lens is way extended, the whole frame will be foggy, even the stuff that’s in focus. It’s weird, really.)
As with any accessory though, they are well worth playing around with, despite their limitations, especially given their really low price (20-30 bucks.) Again, you’ll definitely get better results with a true macro lens, but you’ll also be paying a heck of a lot more than most of us can afford to spend on such a niche-use lens. So, if macro seems fun (it totally is), go buy one, using that link above, so that I get a kickback from Amazon. We all win! Woooo!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 28-300 mm lens with Hoya Macro Kit. 1/200s, f/5.6, ISO 200. Focal length: 168mm.
Popularity: 7%
December 16, 2009 – Mayflower Gulch
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Mountains, Picture of the Day on December 16, 2009
Mayflower Gulch, Summit County, Colorado
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1061
Well, it’s Wednesday. Awesome, right? Yeah, exactly. Today’s picture is from Mayflower Gulch, which is a little ways up a little trail/4×4 road just off Highway something-or-other in Summit County, Colorado, the one that goes from Copper Mountain to Leadville. It’s a really nice alpine basin, with the standard set (for Colorado, anyway) of broken down, abandoned houses from long-gone miners. I suppose there are a couple trails that leave from right around here and explore more remote places too. But I didn’t have time for that when I was there.
The weather was kind of a mixed bag when I was there. No rain (not yet anyway), but clouds that were constantly moving through. That meant that most of the time I had in the actual basin was spent under cloud cover. That actually affects your pictures quite a bit, because it makes a surprisingly large difference in your exposure whether your foreground is in the sunlight or in the shade. Generally, I prefer sunshine as you can imagine (although if you can get one of either your foreground or your background in the sun and the other in the shade, it can provide some really nice contrast), and I would have preferred that for the day I was here, but alas, you take what you can get. As a result, I had to expose the shot more than I would have liked, which resulted in losing almost all of the color out of the sky. (A polarizing filter would have helped, but I don’t yet have one that fits my wide-angle lens, which is what I was using here.) I really like that little spash of sunshine on the peak there in the distance, without it I think it would have just kind of been washed into the background, leaving a much less interesting shot. This way, it’s kind of peeking out, saying “HEY! I’m here too, damnit.” Wait, your pictures don’t talk to you? Oh.. Weird.
Anyway, in an unusual moment of foresight, I’ve come to realize that tomorrow I’ll be posting a picture of a flower and a bug, and Friday is going to be a really nice shot of Mt. Baker. So be sure to stick around for that before you abandon the picture of the day for ever and ever. Until then…
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tokina 11-16mm lens. 1/250s, f/6.3, ISO 100. Focal length: 16mm.
Popularity: 12%
December 15, 2009 – St. Thomas Sunrise
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Tropical/Beaches on December 15, 2009
St. Thomas Sunrise
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=459
Welcome back everyone. Today’s shot takes us back to my honeymoon a few years ago, in (among other places) St. Thomas. St. Thomas is in the Caribbean, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, for those of you who need a quick geography refresher. This was the view at sunrise from our hotel complex. It was really hazy while we were there, which may very well be the way it usually is, I really have no idea. But, it made for these somewhat unexpected colors during sunrise and sunset, kind of cool.
I went back and forth for a little while about which picture I should post today, this one or a similar image, taken horizontally, which didn’t have nearly as much sky in it. In a lot of ways, that one is a better image, because this has all the interesting stuff way at the bottom, and just a bunch of dead space up top. Except that it’s not quite dead space. It’s got that huge color gradient, from yellow to deep navy blue. The other one cut off right where the yellow turned into the mud brown. So in the end I went with this one, since it was the amazing color that made me want to take the picture in the first place.
Be sure to check back tomorrow, because I’m going to post another picture of… actually, I have no idea, but I’m sure it’ll be utterly fascinating. See you then!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, 18-55 mm kit lens. 1/400s, f/5.6, ISO 100. Focal length: 30mm.
Popularity: 8%
December 14, 2009 – Kubota Garden
Posted by Dave in Fall Color, Picture of the Day, Washington State on December 14, 2009
Kubota Garden, Seattle, Washington
Monday, December 14, 2009
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1205
Hey everyone, hope you had a great weekend that wasn’t completely wasted on recovering from the stomach flu! If so, that means you’ve got me beat.
Today’s shot was taken last fall (as in, 2008) in the Kubota Garden, which is the “other” Japanese garden in Seattle. (Although that’s probably not quite fair, because it’s actually quite a bit larger than the one in the arboretum, so that one probably deserves the distinction “other”.) Until Julie suggested heading there that day, I didn’t even realize it existed. It’s pretty nice though, and it’s ripe for getting some nice shots, especially in the fall.
If I were to go back though, I’d definitely try to be more prepared. As in, I’d try to bring a tripod. Well, maybe a gorillapod since they frown on bringing full-on tripods into the garden unless you pay for a permit. Most of the shots I found myself wanting to take ended up being well-shaded, so I was pretty limited without one. This was a case, though, where having an image stabilized lens helped me. I took a bunch of shots that day with shutter speeds of between 1/30th and 1/60th of a second. None of them really came out spectacularly, but a fair number of them are passable. Like today’s shot. It’s just sharp enough to not be painful to look at, although it’s definitely not crystal clear. Worth posting, but not worth hanging on the wall. Also, since it was pretty dark in there, I was forced to crank up the ISO (to 800 for this shot) and open up the aperture all the way just to get even to a 1/30th second shutter speed. With the new camera (Rebel T1i), the high ISO wouldn’t have hurt as much, although I didn’t yet own it at the time. Maybe next year?
BTW: this is your last chance to order your 2010 calendar! Well, that’s not quite true, you can always ask me for one, and I’d always be happy to send you one. But this is your last chance to get one before 2010. Also, if you’d like any other memorabilia (prints, tshirts, photo mugs, signed concert posters, anything available from snapfish, shutterfly, or pick your favorite print-your-own-photos place), that can, uh, also be arranged.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300 mm VC lens. 1/30s, f/3.5, ISO 800. Focal length: 33mm.
Popularity: 8%
December 11, 2009 – Glacier Express, Blackcomb
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on December 11, 2009
Glacier Express, Blackcomb Mountain
Friday, December 11, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=876
Hello again everyone, welcome to another Friday during ski season! To celebrate all of the upcoming turns this weekend, here’s a shot taken on the Glacier Express chair on Blackcomb Mountain. (Which is of course part of Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort, where the 2010 Olympics will be held.) I say that, but it’s not actually clear if I’ll be making it up to the hill or not this weekend. But a man can dream, a man can dream…
The day that this picture was taken was exceptional for a lot of reasons. It was taken over Thanksgiving weekend, and before we headed up there they hadn’t really gotten any snow at all, so all of the rooms were super cheap and there was nobody there. But once we got there it started Dumping. (With a capital D, did you notice?!) So the skiing was fantastic. Plus, while the weather on this particular day looked pretty crappy down in the village, once we got up top, as you can see, it was really beautiful. (Don’t believe me? Here’s another example.) That always brings a smile to my face. Know what else brings a smile to my face? The fact that all that great stuff happened on my birthday. Actually, that’s not the whole story. Birthdays don’t bring a smile to my face any more. This was in fact the last birthday that did so, because it was my 29th. Ah, those were the days.
Make sure you get outside and enjoy your weekend, it should be a great one! Even if you’re not a skier. What do you people do with your time between November and May??
Notes: Canon PowerShot SD700 IS (Point and shoot). 1/1000s, f/5.6.
Popularity: 7%
December 10, 2009 – Lilypads
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Washington State on December 10, 2009
Lilypads, Washington Park Arboretum
Thursday, December 10, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1168
Hey everyone! As promised several weeks ago (just over a month ago now, actually), here is the “other one”, the version of this picture without ripples.
To recap the story, I took this one (and the other one) in the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle. I was there to see if I could find any cool flowers to take pictures of, and I snagged these two as I was walking by. At the time (and even at the other time, later that night when I was looking through the pictures) I didn’t really think much of them, decided they weren’t really that interesting. But a few months later they caught my eye. Well, actually, the other one did, the one with the ripples. But that caused me to look more closely at this one too. I still think it’s a bit boring, but it’s got some elements that I like: I love the color, and I love the detail in the reflection of the tree. But I’m still not convinced about the picture as a whole. But, I promised I’d post it, so post it I did. You’re welcome.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300 mm VC lens. 1/250s, f/10.0, ISO 400. Focal length: 77 mm.
Popularity: 4%