Posts Tagged Canon Powershot S500
May 25, 2010 – Dogwood Blossoms
Posted by Dave in Flowers, Macro, Picture of the Day on May 25, 2010
Dogwood Blossoms
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=277
Well, hey guys. How’s it goin? Yeah? Good to hear. Uhhh.. Have a good weekend? Great, great..
Here’s some dogwoods. I like dogwoods, they’re pretty. But for whatever reason, I haven’t been able to get a good picture of them since several years ago, and it’s really aggravating. I keep seeing nice looking dogwood trees, but then when I get close I realize there aren’t any nice blossoms down where I can reach them. Oh, also, they tend to be, you know, in people’s yards. So that would seem a little bit rude, to just go tromping around on somebody’s yard, and start snapping pictures right outside their living room window. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m totally not above doing that, I’m just afraid of shotguns.
Anyway, here’s a picture. Woo!
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/400s, f/4.9.
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May 5, 2010 – 7th Heaven
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Mountains, Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on May 5, 2010
7th Heaven, Blackcomb Mountain, Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=353
Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! I realized as I was tying that last sentence that today would have been a perfect day to post a picture from Mexico. I don’t have one handy though, and I’m not even entirely sure I have one at all. I’ve been there a couple times, but I’m not sure I got anything picture-of-the-day worthy while I was there. Sad. Instead, here’s a shot from our other North American pals, Canada.
This was shot in the 7th Heaven area of Blackcomb Mountain, at Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort. Those peaks in the distance are all part of Garibaldi Provincial Park, and that’s all I can think of to say about this picture.
In other news, one of my friends asked me yesterday for some camera advice, which isn’t that uncommon of an occurrence these days. After spending a decent amount of time writing up a fairly detailed response, which contained a lot of advice I’ve rehashed several times in the past, I realized that I might as well save that work for a larger audience. Thus, I posted it here on my blog. You can also find it by clicking “Camera advice?” up above. Note that this is in addition to the My Equipment page, which contains exactly what it sounds like it would. Note that this particular camera advice was somewhat tailored for somebody in my friend’s situation, which is that she was confident that she wanted to go the digital SLR route, but was wondering what to do about which one to pick, and what lenses to start off with. If you’re just in the market for a decent point and shoot, or a full-featured camera that’s not quite as much of a commitment as an SLR, obviously that advice won’t be really applicable. But, feel free to take a read, and set me straight if required.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/800s, f/11.0.
Popularity: 18%
April 14, 2010 – Wenatchee National Forest
Posted by Dave in Fall Color, Picture of the Day, Washington State on April 14, 2010
Autumn in Wenatchee National Forest
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=309
Hey everyone! It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time to post another picture. I had a tough time picking one today, I’m not sure why. Some days, it’s easy. Like, the day after getting home from Jamaica. I figured I should post something from Jamaica. (Well, then I had to pick WHICH picture from Jamaica to use, but that just came down to the first one I saw that was good enough.) Some days, it’s harder than that, but still not too hard. Like if it’s been awhile since I’ve posted a picture of a flower, I figure I should post a picture of a flower. Today though, I had no clue what I wanted to toss up here. I literally decided on 25 different pictures but then changed my mind before it made it up on the page.
In the end, I decided to go with this one. It’s a pretty old one, from before the time that I had my first digital SLR. (I had a 35mm SLR way back in the day, but I never really liked using it – the advantages of digital were SO blatant in my mind that the 35mm started collecting dust almost immediately after I got my little pocket digital, which was just a little 2mp POS. I’ve never looked back since, even though that meant spending a few years SLR-less.) But, I like the colors. Fall color shots always put me in a good mood, even in the spring when I should be getting excited about the nice weather that I keep hearing rumors is on its way. (But let’s be honest, I’m in Seattle, it won’t be summer here until July 5th.)
This was taken in Wenatchee National Forest, sort of between Blewett Pass and Leavenworth. For those outside of Washington state, that’s like me saying it was taken somewhere between NYC and Boston. In other words, I’m being kind of vague. But that’s fine for today. Most of the forest is evergreen, but there are definitely pockets of deciduous trees and bushes, particularly along the rivers. So you get some nice color if you know where to look. I don’t know the right way to wrap up today’s post.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and Shoot). 1/200s, f/3.2.
Popularity: 16%
March 11, 2010 – Spring Blooms
Posted by Dave in Flowers, Picture of the Day on March 11, 2010
Spring blooms
Thursday, March 11, 2010
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Today’s picture is an old one that I dug out from the archives. It’s getting to be that time of year now, so I figured I’d should start tossing some of these into the mix. (I saw my first rhododendrons the other day. Whaaaat?! Where’d my ski season go?!) I’m not sure what those green ones are in front, but the red ones in back are rhodies. I love rhododendrons, mostly because I actually know what they are, and I can look (and sound!) smart by pointing at them and saying to whoever is nearby “Hey, aren’t those rhododendrons nice??”
Seattle’s an interesting place in the spring. On the one hand, it’s absolutely gorgeous, because there are rhododendron bushes EVERYWHERE, so all along the streets there are these wild splashes of color. And they come in all sorts of shades too, red, yellow, white, blue, purple, anything you want. Pretty nice. But on the other hand, the weather sucks. Winter’s fine, because even though it’s cloudy and raining all the time, you can at least know that it’s snowing in the mountains, so the skiing will be good. But in the spring, the clouds just linger, and linger, and linger. Long past the closing dates of all the ski hills. Long past when you start hearing on the news how nice and warm it is in the rest of the country. Typically it’s not until the beginning of July that we finally kick the cloudy-with-temps-in-the-low-60’s weather. So it’s a bittersweet time. It’s really the only season that I haven’t grown to love in Seattle. Summer? Outstanding. 75 and sunny every day. Winter? Fantastic skiing. Fall? Have you SEEN the fall color shots I’ve posted?? Spring? Hmm. Pass.
Anyway, I wish I got more of the green flowers in focus. Oh well.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/200s, f/4.0.
Popularity: 19%
March 4, 2010 – Iceberg Ridge
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on March 4, 2010
Iceberg Ridge, Crystal Mountain Ski Resort
Thursday, March 4, 2010
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As many of you know, I tend to really really dislike having people in my pictures. (Well, with the obvious exception of pictures of my family which generally aren’t intended for public consumption, blah blah blah…) I’m not sure why I shy away from it so much. Maybe it’s because the fashions that look good when you take the picture can look horribly dated before much time passes (seeing somebody wearing some ridiculous outfit in an otherwise really beautiful wilderness setting completely changes/ruins the picture, in my opinion anyway), or maybe it’s just because I only know ugly people. But whatever the reason, I really try to keep my pictures people-free. It’s a shame though, because having people in your pictures can definitely add value, it’s really good for adding scale, and it can really draw the viewers in, help them imagine themselves actually being there. Or so I’ve heard, not sure if I’m buying it.
All that being said, I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for this image. It may only be that nice deep blue in the sky. Blue makes me happy. Not sure. But whatever it is, I think I’ve always liked this one more than other people do. Stupid other people. Not you, of course. Like, *other* other people.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/1500s, f/7.1.
Popularity: 20%
January 12, 2010 – Whitefish Mountain Resort
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on January 12, 2010
Flathead Valley, seen from Whitefish Mountain Resort
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
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This is a view looking out over the Flathead Valley from Whitefish Mountain Resort (formerly Big Mountain) in Whitefish, Montana, at something-like-sunset. This is where I’ll be in a couple of days. I am extremely happy about this. The weather isn’t looking like it’ll be perfect (it’ll be mostly cloudy with a chance of only a half inch of snow or so each day), but it will still be fantastic. Because I will be there, and I make everything fantastic. There’s a lesson in there for the rest of you.
Last time I was in Whitefish, I only had a point and shoot camera with me. Because at the time that’s all I owned. This time though, I’m bringing the big guns. Actually, I’m only bringing one big gun. I was originally intending to bring two big guns, intending to use my *old* SLR (the XT) just in case I fell on it. I didn’t want to risk the fancy new one. But, my buddy Dan is borrowing it, and I was too lazy to ask for it back. So I may just have an excuse to spend more money when I get home, we’ll see. But that’s the real reason why I have mixed feelings about the weather. I’m afraid of boring light. Oh well. I’m sure I’ll still have plenty of fun. Do you even realize how cheap the beer is out there?! Oh man, it’s heaven on earth, I swear.
I’m still planning on putting up another post tomorrow before I leave, but then that’ll be it until at least Tuesday of next week, so you’d better enjoy it!
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/250s, f/7.1.
Popularity: 9%
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
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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.
Popularity: 11%
December 3, 2009 – Autumn in Seattle
Posted by Dave in Fall Color, Picture of the Day, Washington State on December 3, 2009
Autumn in Seattle
Thursday, December 3, 2009
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Bleah, it’s Thursday again. Another week blown by. It’s not really fall anymore, but I’m still going to pepper you with fall pictures from time to time. I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but I generally try to mix up the themes, and not put, for example, too many pictures of flowers too near to each other. I kind of effed that up the last few days with a string of mountain shots, but I’m sure you’ll get over it. Actually, yesterday I had intended to post a big ole’ closeup of a flower, but then when I was paging through the shots I had conveniently available, I saw that one and decided to go with it before I realized what I was doing. Oh well.
Today’s image is kind of interesting, because I didn’t even really remember I had it. Pictures are kind of like children, in that I pretty much remember all of mine, for the most part anyway. But not this one. I pulled up Rate Dave’s Pictures to look for what I wanted to post today, and there it was. Most of the shots in there aren’t worth posting, so I won’t ever use them. Especially the older ones. But I saw this one, and, yeah, I decided to go with it. Also, it gives you all a break from the mountains. So, cool, there we go.
This also marks another interesting trend: this makes three days in a row of pictures from point and shoot cameras. I keep saying it (over and over and over), but it can’t be said enough: just because you don’t have a big fancy camera does NOT in any way mean you can’t get fantastic pictures. Not that I’m trying to say this is a fantastic picture or anything (it’s not bad, it’s got nice colors and stuff, but it’s clearly not **fantastic** or anything), but the point still stands. It’s true that there are some shots you can get with an SLR and some fancy lenses that you probably can’t get without, but if you understand the strengths and limitations of the camera you’ve got with you, there’s no reason you can’t come up with something wonderful. So don’t let lack of equipment be an excuse. Get out there, experiment, and figure out what you need to do in order to get the kind of pictures you want to take. At the end of the day, you’re taking pictures for yourself, so don’t worry if your idea of the perfect picture doesn’t match up with what somebody else says. If you take two pictures and like one better, then that one’s a better picture, period. Then your job is to figure out why, and go do it again.
I’m sorry, I’m still laughing at that second paragraph. Comedic genius I tell you. That’ll last me for the rest of the day, for sure.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/400s, f/4.9, ISO unknown.
Popularity: 9%
November 16, 2009 – Whitefish Mountain Resort
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on November 16, 2009
Glacier National Park and Whitefish Mountain Resort
Monday, November 16, 2009
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We’re almost a week into ski season, and I still haven’t even SEEN snow. What’s up with that?! I don’t have an answer to that. What I DO have is a picture from Whitefish Mountain Resort in northern Montana. (Formerly known as Big Mountain resort – in fact, that’s what it was called when this picture was taken.)
Those peaks in the distance are inside the boundaries of Glacier National Park, if that helps out with your mental map. I’ve said it before, and I’ve said it again. Whitefish mountain is a FANTASTIC place to ski. It’s one of my all-time favorites, in fact. (Along with Schweitzer in Idaho, Sun Peaks in BC, and Mt. Bachelor in Oregon.) This picture, and a few others, were used by the hotel we stayed at last time we where there (the Kandahar lodge) in various ways (in brochures, at ski shows, in banner ads online, etc..) although at the time I was taking it I had no idea that it would be. Had I known that was a possibility, you can bet I would have brought along more than a point and shoot. In fact, the folks at the hotel have asked when I’m coming out next, I guess they’ve got some more pics they want for a new brochure. 
So as if there wasn’t enough reason to go back as it was, now there’s that too. So assuming the rapture doesn’t come before then or the Cubs don’t win the world series, I will MAKE IT OUT THERE again, THIS YEAR. Wanna come?
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and Shoot). 1/250s, f/13.0.
Popularity: 10%
August 12, 2009 – Whitefish Mountain Resort
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on August 12, 2009
Whitefish Mountain Resort
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
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I decided to use a skiing picture today, because it felt like I hadn’t used one in awhile. Plus, I thought to myself, “I don’t think I’ve used one from that trip I took to Montana a few years back yet…”, so I chose this one. But then I realized that not only has it not been that long since I used a skiing picture, but also the last skiing picture I used was, in fact, also from Montana. Whoops.
This is taken from Big Mountain Ski Resort (since renamed to Whitefish Mountain Resort), which is just outside Whitefish, Montana. It’s up north, near Kalispell and Glacier National Park. In fact, those peaks you see in the distance are part of the national park. It’s great, you should go, blah blah blah, I’ve said this all already. I hope to make it out there again this year, we’ll see how that goes.
Unrelated to today’s picture, I have three distinct but highly related bits of news to share today:
1. I snagged the facebook URL http://facebook.com/PictureOfTheDay for this page.
2. I went on a domain-buying spree yesterday, and purchased http://picture-of-the-day.com , which now points at the davefry.net version of the blog.
3. As part of the aforementioned spree, I also bought http://pictureoftheday.info … I wasn’t sure which one would be easier to remember and tell people, so I just bought both of them. (The .info version cost all of 89 cents.)
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/640s, f/8.0.
Popularity: 2%
July 24, 2009 – Whitefish Mountain Resort
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on July 24, 2009
Flathead Valley from Whitefish Mountain Resort
Friday, July 24, 2009.
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=334
Yeah, the Snoqualmie Falls thing didn’t work out this week, sorry about that. (And now I’ve built it up enough that it’s going to be a big ole’ disappointment when I *do* finally post it. I mean, it’s a fine and dandy photo, but it’s not earth shattering or anything…)
Instead, here’s a picture from a group trip out to Whitefish Mountain Resort (back then it was called Big Mountain Resort) several years ago. Big Mountain is a FANTASTIC place to ski. Definitely in my top 3 all-time. (Along with Mt. Bachelor in Oregon and Schweitzer in Idaho. And as long as I’m naming states, Big Mountain is in Montana, right near Glacier National Park.) It makes for a great trip from Seattle too, because Amtrak takes you right out to Whitefish. It leaves in the afternoon and gets you there at 7am, so you don’t even need a hotel room for that first night. Great stuff.
Not sure if any of you noticed, but I normally do my best to avoid having people appear in my pictures. But, this one turned out so well that I decided to make an exception. From left, that’s Pat Roby, Mark Buckner, and of course my wife Julie. While we were there, they had this crazy inversion which filled the whole valley with these clouds, and left us skiing in the sunshine with jaw-dropping views every way we looked. Pretty incredible trip.
Enjoy the weekend, see you all on Monday!
Map: http://bit.ly/fVsVT
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/500s, f/13.0, ISO unknown.
Popularity: 4%
July 23, 2009 – Shannon Creek
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Picture of the Day on July 23, 2009
Shannon Creek
Thursday, July 23, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=285
I know, I know, yesterday I promised that I’d put up a new picture from Snoqualmie Falls today. But… well… it got late, you see, because I was at this concert.. and.. well… there were a few good ones, and I ran out of time to decide which one to post. (Some of them have rainbows! Unfortunately, none of what are the best overall pictures do.. hmm.. dilemma.)
So instead, here’s a shot of Shannon Creek, which is near Squamish, British Columbia. There’s a nice little park where Shannon Falls is the star of the show (I’ll post a pic of those falls at some point too), but below the falls there’s a nice little path along Shannon Creek.
You’ll notice that most of the stuff in the foreground is pretty dark. Normally I would try to avoid that, because then it’s at risk of becoming wasted space. That’s one of my pet-peeves, an otherwise nice, interesting picture with a large area of non-interesting stuff. Like any rule, it’s made to be broken (minimalism can be dramatic), but if all the stuff in the foreground is too dark to make out, it can suck. Fortunately, in this image, the little spot of sunshine and the subtle green reflecting off the little pool bring out just enough of the foreground to serve as a soothing bit of calmness that I think contrasts nicely against all of the noisy stuff going on in the background (both the turbulent water and all of the thousands of individual leaves on the trees.)
I’ll see about following through with that Snoqualmie Falls pic tomorrow (because I know how excited you all are about it! Yeah, stop laughing.) but I have to pack tonight for my trip this weekend, so it may not happen. Hmm.
Map: http://bit.ly/hCop3
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/80s, f/3.2, ISO unknown.
Popularity: 4%