Archive for 2010
December 27, 2010 – Whitefish Mountain Resort
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on December 27, 2010
Whitefish Mountain Resort
Monday, December 27, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1277
I know, I know, I’ve been really light with the posts lately. But, it’s okay (really!) because I told you I would be. I’m setting expectations appropriately. So, in the interests of continuing to do so, I’m telling you now that this is almost certainly the only post you’ll see this week too, and then I may go back to a more normal schedule in January. Deal?
Today’s picture is another one of those that I seem to have a much higher opinion of than everyone else does. I love the textures in it, and the contrasting shades. But you think it’s boring. That’s okay though, we can still be friends. This one came from Whitefish Mountain Resort in Montana. I’m… running out of things to say about it.
Let’s see.. other stuff.. I guess I’ve got two things today, neither of which is any more exciting than anything we’ve covered thus far. FIRST! The annual Blogger’s Choice Awards popularity contest has rolled over, so I need votes. Go to http://bloggerschoiceawards, and vote for Picture of the Day in the Best Photography Blog category. I get a fair amount of traffic every day from them, so you’re definitely doing me a favor by voting me up (although not quite the favor you’d think – I don’t actually care if I win, I just want to be in the top three in the running so that I get clicks..) So, please take a moment to vote.
Now, in other news: I’m thinking about trying to sell some junk. I’m considering ordering some custom nightlights, among other worthless trinkets. (To be sold on Etsy, or maybe I’ll even go to some local shops and see if I can win them over.) Would any of you be interested in buying stuff like that? Is this just a terrible idea? If you let me know what you think (even if you say it’s an awful idea), then I’ll give you one for free or something if I do end up getting some made up. In the extraordinarily unlikely event that a whole bunch of you take me up on that, I may have to step back from the whole “free” thing and instead go for “really cheap”, but the spirit is still there. If the response to this offer is anything like that of when I sold calendars next year, well… then I’ll just be stuck with a box full of worthless night lights. But either way, let me know.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Quantaray 70-300mm lens. 1/800s, f/8.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 70mm.
Subscribe to the Picture of the Day via: Popularity: 11%
December 21, 2010 – Grand St. Bernard Pass
Posted by Dave in Europe, Mountains, Picture of the Day on December 21, 2010
Grand St. Bernard Pass
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=828
It’s been awful sleepy around these parts lately, hasn’t it? I mean, I know that Will is sitting there hitting refresh over and over and over, waiting for me to put something else up here, but the rest of us have been checked out for awhile. Something about the holidays, blah blah. And, don’t get your hopes up too much, I’m telling you now that this will be the only post this week. I don’t want to put all that wear and tear on my keyboard if Will is the only one reading it.
Anyway, today’s picture comes from Grand St. Bernard Pass, which lies right on the border between Italy and Switzerland. Rumor has it Napoleon marched his army through these parts back in the day. Actually, that’s not a rumor at all, it might even be true. There’s a monastery right at the summit of the pass that’s been here for hundreds of years, and yes, that’s where they breed the dogs of the same name (the ones with the fictional barrels of brandy or whatever around their neck, that (non-fictionally) are intended to rescue people caught in avalanches and such. ) Thus, the cross. The cross isn’t intended to endorse any particular religion or anything, but since it’s the time of year for Christian holidays, and I live in a predominantly Christian society, this is the kind of thing that I (and now you) get to see all over the place. Actually, I should be slightly more specific: that cross is TOTALLY intended to endorse a specific religion. However, the PICTURE of it isn’t, nor is the inclusion of it here on this blog. There, everybody on the same page now? Cool.
So, enjoy your holidays! Or, at the very least, enjoy the latter part of December! I’ll see you all on the flip side.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300mm lens. 1/400s, f/6.3, ISO 100. Focal length: 42mm.
Popularity: 32%
December 17, 2010 – Shannon Creek
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Picture of the Day on December 17, 2010
Shannon Creek
Friday, December 17, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1269
According to Google Analytics, everybody who normally comes around these parts is taking the month of December off. That means that you, dear reader, don’t actually exist. And THAT means that I may as well work through the backlog of pictures of Shannon Creek. Because I’ve still got a ton of ‘em. Then, when and if everyone comes back, I’ll go back to making a feeble effort toward variety. So, until then…
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300mm VC lens. 1/40s, f/9.0, ISO 400. Focla length: 46mm.
Popularity: 10%
December 14, 2010 – Blackcomb Mountain
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Mountains, Picture of the Day on December 14, 2010
Blackcomb Mountain
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1676
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Canon 55-250mm IS lens. 1/400s, f/11.0, ISO 200. Focal length: 55mm.
Popularity: 10%
December 10, 2010 – Summit At Snoqualmie
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on December 10, 2010
View from Summit West / Snoqualmie Summit
Friday, December 10, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=2222
Hey, you guys remember Monday? I mean, I know it was a long time ago and everything, but, do ya? That was the day that I posted a picture from my camera, because I didn’t have any other cameras with me at the moment. I said that I might post something that I got after I went back to the car to GET another camera, and that I would maybe post it later in the week. Well, it’s later in the week. And here’s a picture that I took after I went back to the car to get my other camera.
The sun was shining nicely on the back side of lots of the trees that were along the ridge, so it made for a nice scene. I didn’t get that nice illuminated ridge across the big valley that I wanted, but at least I got some decent stuff out of it all.
On an unrelated note, I noticed today that I’m getting frightfully close to having a total of 400 comments on this blog. (That only includes comments on this blog itself, not comments on my Facebook page, for what it’s worth. But it DOES include comments from me, which is probably 94% of them. Whatever.) So, I’m wondering if I should do anything special for whoever happens to post comment number 400. What do you guys think? Anybody care? Like, maybe a free print or something? It could be of any picture you see here. Well, it doesn’t even have to be that, it could be anything really, it doesn’t even have to be a picture I took!! Actually, yes, it does. Sorry.
Okay. Bye.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, 18-55mm IS kit lens. 1/250s, f/7.1, ISO 200. Focal length: 24mm.
Popularity: 15%
December 9, 2010 – Bug
Posted by Dave in Animals, Macro, Picture of the Day on December 9, 2010
Bug
Thursday, December 9, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1994
Bug!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 90mm macro lens, cheap macro ring flash. 1/160s, f/18.0, ISO 100.
Popularity: 14%
December 7, 2010 – Loveland Pass
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Mountains, Picture of the Day on December 7, 2010
Loveland Pass, Summit County, Colorado
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=2236
I busted out one of Ansel Adams’s dirty little tricks today: red-filtered black and white. Except that, you know, he sort of had to plan it out ahead of time before he took the shot. I just had to get a little funky and decide to use Picasa’s filtered black and white tool, and choose a nice deep red. Have I mentioned that I feel super cheeseball when I make black and white images? It just.. seems like cheating.
But, I thought this one was a good example to show the results of using a (simulated) color filter on a black and white shot. Or, at least, it would be, if I weren’t too lazy to also include the full-color version, or either an unfiltered black and white or a version filtered with a different color, for comparison. As it is, you just get this one today. Although I’ll be honest, I actually prefer the full-color version, since the colors are, quite frankly, really awesome. It’s actually fairly rude of me to be talking about that without actually showing it to you, but hey, that’s how it’s going to be. Maybe I’ll post it here later this week or next week though, since it really does look nice.
Anyway, a red filter on a black and white shot has a lot in common with a polarizer filter on a full-color shot. It really darkens the sky and pulls out the white fluffy clouds. It’s a decent way to get around that nasty, mid-day sunshine too. But, I dunno, I’m still not a black and white kind of guy.
What’s that? Where was this taken? Oh, right. This was taken near Loveland Pass, in Summit County, Colorado. Loveland Pass used to be the way through the mountains, until they built the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70. Wikipedia knows ALL about it, if you were curious. WikiLeaks knows less about it, but hey, you might as well check there too.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. 1/500s, f/7.1, ISO 100. Focal length: 12mm.
Popularity: 29%
December 6, 2010 – Snoqualmie Pass
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on December 6, 2010
View from Summit West Ski Area
Monday, December 6, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=2231
Wow, I kinda let you all down last week, didn’t I? Only two posts that whole time. Don’t even have any good excuses either, I wasn’t out of town, or particularly busy. I just… wasn’t in a posting mood. And I’m not gonna lie, this week isn’t looking much better. We’ll see how it goes.
So, on to today’s picture. Right. This is actually from yesterday, which is remarkable turnaround for me. I went skiing for an hour or two at the rinky-dink hill that’s about an hour outside of Seattle. It’s actually a set of rinky dink hills, I think I’ve mentioned this before, called the Summit at Snoqualmie. It’s at the crest of Snoqualmie Pass, if you were wondering where the name came from. This was from the first rinky dink hill, called Summit West. It’s easy to make fun of. But it’s also got nice views.
I’ve always been in the habit of carrying a pocket point and shoot with me when I ski, but more recently (I started at the end of last year) I’ve started bringing an SLR with me. Sometimes I bring my T1i, which is my current go-to camera, but I’ve decided that my standard practice should be to bring my Rebel XT, which is the first digital SLR I bought, and was my go-to until I got the T1i. I now call it my “rock camera”, which isn’t that funny. I also deliberated for a little while about which lens(es) to bring. I mean, the whole idea is that I’m bringing my old camera in case I wipe out catastrophically. I don’t want the good stuff to get destroyed. So I’ve decided that as long as I’m bringing the substandard body, I may as well bring the non-premiere lenses too. So, the past few times I’ve gone up, I’ve just brought the kit lens that came with the T1i – the Canon 18-55mm IS. (I also have the kit lens that came with the XT, which is almost the same lens, minus the IS, but that one’s still just gathering dust.) I could also bring my old telephoto, but I’ve been a bit lazy about that.
Yesterday, though, I figured I wouldn’t really need it, as it was one of those uninteresting overcast days. So I left it in the car. Which of course meant that, right around 3:15 pm, the sun dramatically broke through the clouds, making for some really nice views. Crap.
To make matters worse, I’ve gotten really lazy about bringing my pocket camera too. I used to have this photojournal thing where I’d take pictures every day and post them (http://davefry.net/journal – I left off the link on purpose, as I don’t want to share the link juice from this site with that POS, but that’s where it is if you wanted to have a look), but I’ve basically stopped doing that. (But I kept it up for like 6 years!!) So, all I had with me was my phone. So I snapped a couple frames, all the while crying inside because I wasn’t prepared. The results, as you can see, aren’t bad. They wouldn’t print up very nice, but at web-size, it’s passable. It’s good enough for this blog, is what I’m saying.
I of course ran (well, skiied) straight down to my car to grab the backpack that had my camera in it, and got back up there as quickly as I could. And there were still some nice views to be had (and I got a few nice frames – maybe I’ll post one of those later this week), but the magic window had passed. Sigh.
Oh well. I’ve heard people say things like “the best camera is the one that you have with you”, and to some degree that’s true. But until the cameras that come with phones get at least up to the quality level of a pocket point and shoot from 8 years ago, you won’t hear me agreeing with that statement in public. But… soon!
Notes: Taken with an HTC Evo 4g smartphone. ISO: 109, Focal length: 4.9mm.
Popularity: 10%
December 2, 2010 – Roses
Posted by Dave in Flowers, Macro, Picture of the Day on December 2, 2010
Roses
Thursday, December 2, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1593
Welcome to December! Hope you didn’t have any trouble getting here. I’m kind of breaking one of my sort-of quasi rules today, in that I’m already posting another picture of some roses from across the street, when I already just posted one a couple weeks ago.
But!! There’s a reason for it. Somebody asked me recently about mounting non-Canon lenses on a modern Canon dSLR. It’s true that I talked about it the last time I posted a shot from this particular camera/lens combination (as well as a couple other times over the years), but it never hurts to cover it again. To recap: this was taken with an old Kiron 105mm macro lens that was built with an old Minolta mount. When I say “old”, I mean really old, back when they used actual physical actuators to control the aperture, none of this electronic craziness. I mean GOSH.
I won’t bore you with the full description of why that’s interesting again, especially when I already linked to a whole post talking about it. BUT, I whipped up a little illustration of some of the points I was talking about when I was talking to the reader that was asking, so I figured that was of general enough interest that I should share it here as well. I was talking about how lenses that are built for different camera mounts are expecting to have different distances between the rear end of the lens and the sensor or film. But that’s the kind of thing that is much easier to visualize if you’re looking at a picture of it. So, I made a picture of it. The first section shows the normal situation, using a lens designed for the mount that your camera uses. The next section shows what happens when you use a lens that expects a LONGER lens-to-sensor distance (ie, Nikon lens on Canon mount), and when you attach a mount adapter to it. And, the last section shows a lens that wants a SHORTER distance (ie, Minolta lens on Canon mount), using an adaptor either with or without glass. When I shrunk the image down to a reasonable size, some of the text became too small to read, but the labels for the adapters say “Adapter (no glass)” and “Adapter (cheap glass)”.
Nikon and Minolta lenses on Canon mount
So, there you go. Now you all get it, right? Yay!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Kiron 105mm macro lens. 1/250s, ISO 200. Aperture unknown.
Popularity: 11%
November 30, 2010 – Guanella Pass
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Mountains, Picture of the Day on November 30, 2010
Guanella Pass, Colorado
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1765
Hello, everyone! Welcome back from the holiday weekend! I hope you all missed me, but otherwise had a fantastic time. In addition to the holiday, I also had a birthday over the weekend (happy birthday to meeeeee!), which makes it all the more pathetic that I did absolutely nothing since we last saw each other. Absolutely. Nothing. I didn’t even toss up a blog post. That’s okay though, judging by the traffic figures, it looks like none of you were around to read it anyway, because you were all out having the fun I should have been having.
Today’s picture was taken atop Guanella Pass, which is in Colorado, sort of on the eastern side of the Rockies, fairly close to Denver actually. It’s a nice drive, gets you right up into the high country, and it’s where you’d go if you wanted to hike up Mt. Bierstadt. I only mention Mt. Bierstadt because it was the first fourteener I ever hiked, back when I was growing up out there. Sadly though, I forgot my camera that day, so all I have is memories. Although even more sadly, I have a horrible memory (which is a big part of the reason I started taking pictures back when I was a kid), so even those are fuzzy. That is NOT Mt. Bierstadt that you’re looking at, it’s actually right behind me from this vantage point.
On another note, I realized the other day that it’s almost the end of 2010. Which means… you need another calendar! Remember how I was selling those last year? Hmm, yeah, they weren’t actually that much of a hit, it turns out. But hey, that’s no reason not to do it all over again, right?? So let me know if you want one. They make mediocre gifts (a better idea for that would be a huge canvas print, I could hook you up with one of those too – I just charge what it costs me to print it at Costco), but it’ll at least give you the warm fuzzies.
This concludes our broadcast for November. Next time I see you, it’ll be December!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300mm VC lens. 1/60s, f/22.0, ISO 400. Focal length: 35mm.
Popularity: 15%
November 24, 2010 – North Cascades National Park
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State on November 24, 2010
North Cascades National Park
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=2044
There, see? Something mountainy. Yesterday, I promised a picture of a mountain, and today I delivered. Gosh, I’m so reliable and honest. Sadly though, this is the last picture that I’m going to post until next week, due to the Thanksgiving holiday. So, I sure hope you like it. Otherwise you’ll be left with nothing but a sour taste in your mouth over the entire long weekend. You may even have to go elsewhere (oh, no!) in search of your photographic fix.
This is, as the post title would suggest, a picture from North Cascades National Park, a few hours northwest of Seattle. Sometimes people call the North Cascades “The American Alps”, which always makes me chuckle a little bit. Because people call a LOT of things “The American Alps” or “The Switzerland of America” or variations on the theme. (Are you listening, Ouray, Colorado??) I just love the implicit inferiority in a statement like that. It’s like you’re not even trying to claim that you’re an interesting place on your own. It’s like you’re agreeing with whoever you’re talking to that sure, the Alps are the greatest thing ever and nothing could ever compare, but hey, this is kinda the closest thing we’ve got to it, so I guess you’ll just have to deal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not disagreeing, the Alps are really fantastic, and I’d LOVE to live there. But, well, I don’t. So I guess I’ll just have to deal with the American version. How sad.
That’s it, folks! I’ll see you next week!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 1/320s, f/13.0, ISO 200. Focal length: 44mm.
Popularity: 11%
November 23, 2010 – Autumn Leaves
Posted by Dave in Fall Color, Picture of the Day, Washington State on November 23, 2010
Autumn Leaves, Woodland Park Rose Garden
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=2185
You’d think that, given that it’s a short week this week (Thanksgiving is this Thursday for those of us in the states – which means that a lot of folks get Thursday and Friday off) that I’d make sure to post every day that I could, so I could at least get in three posts this week. But no, you’d be way wrong. Waaaaaay wrong. Wow, how’s it feel to be so wrong? I bet it stings, just a bit.
We got some snow here in Seattle, so it’s definitely winter now, but I’m still going to keep tossing some fall color pics your way for awhile. Like this one. This came (like a lot of other pics I post here) from the Woodland Park Rose Garden, across the street. Just like the last post, this picture was also edited 100% in Lightroom, instead of Picasa. My feelings about lightroom haven’t changed a whole lot since then. It’s still fairly powerful, but DOG slow. Whereas in Picasa I can take a picture from zero to processed in less than a minute, I find myself taking 10 or 20 minutes for each one in Lightroom. Not because I’m doing anything crazy (I’m still just tweaking the exposure) but just because it’s so dang unresponsive. Garr, it’s frustrating. But, all that being said, I’m leaning toward buying it, because it does have one killer feature that isn’t in Picasa: noise reduction. For those times when you just can’t get around using a high ISO, being able to smooth the noise right out is really really nice. Granted, there are a lot of other choices for noise reduction as well, and in fact I already own an old copy of some software called NeatImage, which works really well. But, the interface to it is a bit kludgy (the newer versions may very well be better, I’ve had this one for several years), and it’s completely external to my workflow and doesn’t fit in nicely, so I find myself very rarely using it. But the way it’s implemented in Lightroom is really nice and intuitive and useful (other than the maddening slowness), so I think it’d be a nice tool to have. But, if I find out that Picasa adds a noise reduction filter that works even reasonably well (or if Picnik adds one!) Lightroom would be gone. I guess I should do some research to see if something like that is coming, before I drop the cash, huh? Hmmm..
Okay, that’s it for today. Tomorrow I’m going to post a mountainy picture, then you’re on your own until AT LEAST next Monday. Man oh man, how are you going to get by??
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 1/100s, f/3.2, ISO 800. Focal length: 50mm.
Popularity: 11%