Posts Tagged yellow
June 8, 2010 – Ingalls Creek
Posted by Dave in Fall Color, Picture of the Day, Washington State on June 8, 2010
Ingalls Creek in Autumn
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=691
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a fall colors pic (has it? I actually don’t know, I haven’t been paying attention), so I figure a random Tuesday in June is the perfect time for one. Besides, with the crappy spring we’ve had up here in Seattle, it feels like fall anyway. I mean, seriously, I’m sick of temps in the 50s, I’m ready for some effing sun. Goddamn.
You’re looking at Ingalls Creek, which is up Highway 97 in Washington State, a little ways north of Blewett Pass. (Basically, on the eastern slope of the central Cascades.) The road (Ingalls Creek Road, appropriately enough) is blocked right at the trailhead for the Ingalls Creek Trail, although there’s a bridge and the road keeps going on the other side. (Although if you follow it up the hill for a bit, you soon run into a landslide that blocked the roadway, that’s probably why it’s blocked. Not sure where the road ends up, but it’s sad that they decided to just go ahead and block it off rather than maintain it, in my opinion anyway.) Why am I telling you all of this? Because I’m trying to get across that this picture was taken on the other side of the bridge, just a couple minutes from the trailhead. That’s all.
Ingalls Creek seems to be a pretty decent trail for checking out fall colors. Most of the surrounding forest is evergreens, but right along the creek there’s a bunch of nice bright yellows. I’ve honestly never gone further than an hour or so up the trail (various reasons, whatever), but the part I’ve seen just nicely meanders along the water. No big views or anything, but some nice wildflowers and fall colors (not at the same time though.) So, go check it out. Or, alternatively, don’t.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Canon 18-55mm kit lens. 1/100s, f/5.6, ISO 400. Focal length: 27mm.
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January 26, 2010 – Aspens
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Picture of the Day on January 26, 2010
Aspens in the Fall
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=654
I know, I know, I promised that I’d write something meaty today. Well.. have you considered vegetarianism? I ran out of time and content both today, so you’ll just have to keep waiting for another soliloquy. To make matters worse, I’m going to be on jury duty the next couple days, so unless I feel like tossing something up later on when I get home (umm, yeah, unlikely), this is all you’ll get until at least Friday. At least I’m setting you up properly for disappointment instead of springing it on you and leaving you sitting there wondering if something happened to me. Because I know you’d do that too, you’re always looking out for my back. That’s why we get along so well. I’m glad we’re friends. C’mere, gimme a big hug. Awwwwww.
These are some aspen trees, in Colorado. This has always been one of my personal favorites, I think because of all the little details in there. I love shots with a lot of little details, which also helps explain why it bothers me so much when pictures are just a little bit out of focus. And THAT helps explain why it’s not uncommon for me to over-sharpen a lot of my pictures. I tend to err way on the side of too much sharpening, which a lot of times makes a crappy result. But that’s okay, it’s something I’m working on. One of these days, when I actually sit down to learn how to use photoshop, I’ve promised myself that I’ll cut back on the sharpening a whole bunch, and instead spend all of my time playing around with levels and curves. I mean, that’s what all you photoshoppers do, right? Hmm, if I only knew…
One of these days I’m thinking about having a week dedicated to pics from you, my dear readers. I haven’t decided when, and I haven’t decided what a good theme would be, and I haven’t even decided yet if it’s a good idea. When I see super-cool-awesome pictures from other people, I sometimes feel bad, like “oh man, I could NEVER take a picture like that. I might as well just give up”, so I’m afraid doing so would send me into a tailspin that would take my whole weekend to recover from. So maybe I’ll make it a rule that you’re only allowed to submit crappy pictures. Yeah, actually, I kind of like that. It’ll be a “send me your best crappy picture” kind of thing. I can’t wait! Anybody have any thoughts on that? Possible themes? Let me know – either comment here, on my Facebook page, or just email me at dave (at) davefry (dot) net. We’ll see how this goes.
See you guys on (maybe) Friday!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Quantaray 70-300 mm lens. 1/250s, f/7.1, ISO 100. Focal length: 50mm.
Popularity: 7%
January 4, 2010 – Autumn Hiking
Posted by Dave in Fall Color, Picture of the Day, Washington State on January 4, 2010
Autumn on the Merritt Lake Trail
Monday, January 4, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1149
Okay, finally, we’re done with all of those holidays and all that. Back to the grind, etc. Not only is this your first post of the YEAR, it’s also the first post of the WEEK! Man oh man, the excitement is palpable. Palpapalable. Plapable. Palatable. The excitement is reasonably agreeable.
Hiking in the fall is great. Views that are normally composed of a bunch of indistinguishable ordinary green suddenly become a lot more interesting. I’m a big fan of color in my pictures as you’ve probably noticed, so I’m like a kid in a candy store that time of year. There was a several minute gap between writing each sentence in this paragraph, that’s why they don’t really fit together.
In other news, I really do apologize for the infrequency of posts over the past couple weeks. I used the holidays as an excuse, but that’s really all it was, an excuse. The real reason is actually pretty silly, and a little bit embarrassing. There was this website, see, that gives away these cheeseball blog awards. No, not the bloggers choice awards, this is a completely different sleazeball awards website. But it’s a similar idea, you nominate yourself and tell everyone to register and vote for you, thus making all of your friends give away their contact info to a shady organization for no benefit to themselves. It’s really a pretty smart way to get other people to recruit traffic for you. But back to the point, I nominated myself and was waiting to see if I was chosen as a finalist. I figured I wouldn’t be, but just in case I was I didn’t want to have a bunch of crappy pictures posted that would scare any traffic that headed my way because of it. But at the same time I didn’t want to “waste” a bunch of top quality pics in quick succession either. I gotta spread those out, ya know? And use filler pictures like this one to push back that inevitable sad day when I run out of postable pictures. Well, in the end they just cancelled this year’s awards for whatever reason. So now I can resume your daily drip of mostly mundane but occasionally fantastic photos. Welcome back!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 28-75 mm f/2.8 lens. 1/200s, f/2.8, ISO 100. Focal length: 28mm.
Popularity: 6%
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
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=319
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: 5%
November 10, 2009 – Bee and Daisy
Posted by Dave in Flowers, Macro, Picture of the Day on November 10, 2009
Bee and Daisy
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1097
Bees and daisies. Not the first time I’ve posted a picture like this, and it absolutely won’t be the last. Not a whole lot to say about though, we’ve already covered this ground. 
Notes: Canon Eos Rebel T1i, Quantaray 70-300 mm macro lens. 1/500s, f/5.6, ISO 200. Focal length: 300mm.
Popularity: 4%
November 3, 2009 – Woodland Park
Posted by Dave in - Best of Dave's POTD -, Fall Color, Picture of the Day, Washington State on November 3, 2009
Woodland Park in Autumn
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1156
I love the fall, I really do. I also really like living across the street from Woodland Park. It’s a nice place to head out for a little walk if you’ve got that “I just gotta get outside” thing going on. And when you get these nice, sunny days in the fall, the yellow light filtering down through the leaves is just… sublime.
A lot of the trees here around Seattle have already finished for the season, but we’ve still got a lot of the season left (And there are still a bunch of trees that are still green!) That’s one nice thing about Seattle: we have a nice long fall. Which does help compensate for the short summers and the fact that it gets dark at 4:30 pm in the winter.
I hope you all have been able to get out and enjoy the season. If not, do it while there’s still time! Forget work, this is more important! Do it NOW! Okay, see you tomorrow.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 28-75 mm f/2.8 lens. 1/160s, f/6.3, ISO 400. Focal length: 28mm.
Popularity: 5%
October 22, 2009 – A Bit of Color
Posted by Dave in - Best of Dave's POTD -, Fall Color, Macro, Picture of the Day on October 22, 2009
A bit of color
Thursday, October 22, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1090
Hey everyone! It’s still fall out there, so here’s a bit more color for ya. Taking pictures of good fall color is harder than it should be, or at least it seems that way to me. It’s so beautiful to just look at, so my gut instinct is that it should just naturally make for an effortless great picture. But it never quite seems to work out that way.
You of course need to decide what kind of role the leaves are going to play in the picture. Are they going to be the subject? Or are they going to just help set the scene? Are you going to try to emphasize the leaves themselves? Or focus more on the tree (or bush.. or whatever) as a whole? The amount of detail in a tree that’s changing for the season is both a blessing and a curse. There’s a lot of interesting stuff to look at, but it’s way too easy for that to end up just adding too much chaos and complexity to the picture. That just ends up leaving my eye confused. It’s a fine line between having that much detail enhance a picture, and having it just give the person looking a headache.
This picture is obviously going the “color as subject” route. I keep walking around and seeing individual leaves that are just astoundingly beautiful, with sometimes 3 or 4 distinct colors. There’s got to be SOME way of turning that into a great picture, but it never quite turns out the way I want it to. It’s hard to have it tell a story, instead of just saying “oh, yeah, there was this leaf there.” I guess what I’m trying to get at is, it’s hard to present it all such that the viewer’s eye is definitively drawn to a distinct subject, instead of just perceiving the photo as a jumble of lines and colors that aren’t really coherent. I’ve seen some really fantastic examples, and every time I do, it just seems like it should be so easy. When I wrote that last sentence, I was visualizing this picture that my friend Nina took, it’s got this brilliant red leaf all alone on a bunch of gravel. So simple, yet so maddeningly hard to capture. I’ll try to track down a link to it, you really should see it.
Not really applicable to this picture in particular, but I also have trouble when I try to capture a really pretty tree when I see one. When I do see one, it instantly just puts me in that fall state of mind, which I love. So I try to capture that in pictures, I want a picture that recreates that mood. But I almost always just end up with either a shot that contains a pretty tree along with a bunch of boring ordinary stuff like power lines and/or buildings, or I get a shot looking up at a tree, which when I look at it, makes me say “yup, looking up at a tree”, but it doesn’t put me in the mood like I’m looking for.
Man, I’m afraid to go back and read all that crap I just wrote. I honestly don’t even know if I used complete sentences or not. I’m running on 2 hours of sleep here, and I was interrupted twice. Meh, maybe it makes sense, maybe not. The sheer number of words I used sure looks impressive, so I’m sticking with what I got. See you all tomorrow!
Details: Canon EOS Rebel T1i. Tamron 28-75 mm lens. 1/200s, f3.5, ISO 100. Focal length: 68 mm.
Popularity: 5%
October 12, 2009 – Aspens in Autumn
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Picture of the Day on October 12, 2009
Aspens in autumn
Monday, October 12, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=680
Hey everyone, it’s fall now! I mean, it’s actually been fall for a little while already, but it really feels like it now. Probably because I took the wife and kid out for a hike yesterday though a bunch of color. Not this color, no. I haven’t gone through the pictures yet, I’ll try to post one tomorrow.
These are aspens, from Colorado. They usually turn around the end of September, and they go golden yellow, like these here. It’s a beautiful sight, well worth a trip out there if you can time it right. (But, they are only at their peak for a weekend or two, so that’s a lot harder than it sounds, especially when you consider that the weather may just suck, in which case you’re out of luck.) They can be really magical though, especially in the late afternoon golden sunshine, when a little breeze rolls through and sets all those little leaves quaking, which makes the trees look like they’re shimmering and sparkling. Good stuff.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Quantaray 70-300mm lens. 1/320s, f/5.6, ISO 100. Focal length: 248mm.
Popularity: 6%
October 9, 2009 – Bee and Daisy
Posted by Dave in - Best of Dave's POTD -, Flowers, Macro, Picture of the Day on October 9, 2009
Bee and Daisy
Friday, October 9, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1094
Another bee, another daisy, whatever. Awhile back I said I had a feeling in my gut that taking pictures of bees on flowers just may become my new obsession, and that turned out to be right on the mark. I have so many of these pictures that if I don’t spread them out, I’m going to scare away my whole audience. Well, “scare” isn’t the right word. “Annoy” is probably better.
If you’ve been reading and paying attention to this blog for awhile, you’ll know that the word “macro” can mean a lot of different things. As in, there are several levels of macro. I think the word itself (at least in the context of photography) generally just means focusing on things that are close (ie, “macro mode” on a point-and-shoot). In practice, it generally means taking pictures of little things – usually flowers – and having those little things be the big star of the show. There are a lot of camera lenses you can buy that say “Macro” on them, and it’s not entirely clear what exactly that means. I mean, there are true MACRO lenses, on in particular that I know about that has a magnification ratio of up to 5:1….
Hold up, let me take a step back. This confused me for awhile, so it’s worth talking about. Magnification ratio. I think we all know what the term is ABOUT (making things look big), but what does, say, 5:1 mean, exactly? Good question, let’s address that.
Right, magnification, magnification.. Let’s start with the easy case. A magnification ratio of 1:1. So, you all know basically how cameras work, right? You have this lens that focuses the light into a spot inside the camera, onto the sensor (or the film, in the case of a non-digital camera). In the case of a traditional 35mm camera, the target is, yes, 35 mm across. In most digital cameras, it’s a little bit smaller. (Although there are digital cameras, usually the higher-end SLRs, that have a full-size (meaning 35mm) sensor. I’m not going to go into what differences that makes here.) Regardless, there’s a target where the light coming through the lens is focused. With me so far?
Normally, when the light that will be making your picture is shining on the target/sensor, it’s quite a bit smaller than the real thing. If you’re taking a picture of a mountain, or a person, the real thing is almost certainly less than 35mm across. Let’s say that you are taking a picture of your buddy, and for simplicity let’s say that you’re using a 35mm camera, and, also for simplicity, let’s say your buddy’s face is exactly 350mm across. If you take a picture where the edges of your buddy’s face exactly touch the edge, then you’re working with a magnification ratio of 1:10. Make sense? The number before the colon is the size on the target, the number after is the size in real life. So, 1mm on the sensor represents 10mm in real life. Let’s say you get a bunch closer, and zoom all the way in, so that now you can only fit in half of the face. Well, now the ratio is 1:5, since you’ve got a 175mm (350mm divided by 2) object that’s 35mm across on the sensor.
So, following that pattern, we can get to the idea of 1:1 magnification. Meaning, something that’s, say, 10mm across (like a bug) will be exactly 10mm across in the image being shined on the sensor. 1:1 is actually a very LARGE amount of magnification as far as cameras are usually concerned. Because if you then view that image on your computer screen, that 10mm bug (that’s a centimeter) will take up a third of the frame. That’s BIG!
So, to take it one step further, imagine what happens when you get to, say, 2:1, or 3:1. Now the image on the sensor is BIGGER than real life, and the results will be more and more ridiculous. This is the part that got me for awhile, there is a **HUGE** difference between a magnification ratio of 2:1, and a ratio of 1:2. (Well, there is a 4x difference, to be precise.)
Camera lenses that supposedly do “macro” usually specify a “maximum magnification ratio”. What that means is, through a combination of zooming in and getting to the closest point that the lens will focus, that is the *maximum* ratio that you can get with that lens. In my experience. any lens that will get you to a 1:1 ratio or beyond will cost a LOT of money, as in, at least a thousand bucks generally. And they’re hard to find. But lots of lenses still claim that they do “macro”. Most of those lenses will usually get you to a 1:4 ratio, sometimes 1:2. That’s a big difference from 1:1, but it as long as you’re taking pictures of things that aren’t TOO small (like, a flower, for example), you can get a great image. If you’re hoping to shoot images of the little hairs on a fly, then you’ll need something more.
So, this image, while still in the “macro” realm, clearly isn’t at the extreme end of the spectrum. This one was taken with the lens that I recently settled on to be my primary mid-range lens, the Tamron 28-75 f2.8. (Amazon link: http://bit.ly/z7D8t ). It’s got its maximum magnification ratio listed at 1:3.9. So, definitely not extreme, but enough to get some nice flower shots. And actually, I don’t believe I was at the maximum end of the spectrum either.
There are a variety of methods I’ve used to get in further, which have been covered in some detail in earlier posts. If you want to read more about those, just go back into the archives, or ask me, I’m happy to talk about it at length. But, here’s a quick list: I have a big telephoto (70-300 mm) lens that has a macro mode that gets in to about 1:2, I’ve got a “macro kit”, which is basically a set of magnifying lenses that you put on your lens like any other filter, that help you focus closer and magnify the image a bit, and I have a reverse-mount that I put on my 18-55mm kit lens. THAT gets you some ridiculous magnification. Well beyond 1:1, although I’m not sure how far beyond. Fun stuff to play around with, and all quite a bit more affordable than a $1000+ macro-specific lens.
So there you go. Please do let me know if you want to know more about my macro explorations. I’m still an extreme beginner, but there’s a lot of fun ground to cover. So, have a great weekend!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens. 1/320s, f/7.1, ISO 100. Focal length: 75mm.
Popularity: 3%
July 7, 2009 – Merritt Lake Trail
Posted by Dave in Fall Color, Picture of the Day, Washington State on July 7, 2009
Fall colors on the Merritt Lake Trail
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=905
I’ll make up for yesterday’s super long entry by making today’s short and sweet.
This is a picture taken along the Merritt Lake trail, along Highway 2 a little ways east of Stevens Pass. This was actually taken only about 3 weeks before my son Wes was born. At the time of course I didn’t realize that was still 3 weeks away. This was the last weekend that I felt comfortable heading out for a hike where I’d be 2+ hours away from home without cell coverage.
And I realize that makes me sound like a terrible husband, heading out to play around in the mountains while my 8-months-pregnant wife sits at home. But it’s not like that at all. Julie doesn’t like to hike anyway. Plus, she was busy that day. So the options were either sit at home alone doing nothing, or get out hiking. Easy choice.
I’m trying to think of any tips or pointers I can give related to this picture, but I’m not coming up with anything. Guess I just got lucky?
Map: http://bit.ly/3b6Qwq
Couldn’t find the trail in the satellite view, so I put the pushpin on the parking lot.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300 mm VC lens. 1/125s, f/8.0, ISO 200. Focal length: 28mm.
Popularity: 1%
June 19, 2009 – Wildflowers near Ingalls Creek
Posted by Dave in Flowers, Macro, Picture of the Day on June 19, 2009
Wildflowers Along Ingalls Creek
June 19, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=916
I realize that yesterday, I wrote the wrong date at the top of the post. I would correct it, but I’m afraid that would make it reappear on everyone’s news feed, and I’m already self-conscious enough about how each time I post a picture it tends to drop a bomb on whatever was there before. So I won’t.
I’m pretty busy at work today, so I’ll end the week the way I started it – with a picture of flowers. Not much to say about flowers. They’re pretty. Actually, I was originally planning on using a flower picture that I took with a point-and-shoot (a 3 megapixel one from back in the day in fact), just to continue the point I was trying to make yesterday about being able to take great pictures with them, but for whatever reason I decided against it. Maybe I’ll use that one some day next week.
Have a great weekend!
Map: http://tinyurl.com/lcvz44
What’s marked as “Ingalls Creek Rd” is actually a trail. Just sayin’.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300 mm VC Lens. 1/160s, f/7.1, ISO 100. Focal length: 92mm.
Popularity: 3%