It was hard to pick just a few shots to post tonight. But, without further ado, here they are...
What do you think? Was it worth going out tonight?
Thursday, March 19, 2009
A Surprisingly Fine Night
We had light clouds most of the day, today, and I was very hopeful for tonight. But, of course, by the time that sundown was approaching, most of them had disappeared. There were a few remaining off to the West, so I decided to go out to a place I hadn't been for a while. Boy, am I glad I did!!! God had some surprises in store for me.
It was hard to pick just a few shots to post tonight. But, without further ado, here they are...
What do you think? Was it worth going out tonight?
It was hard to pick just a few shots to post tonight. But, without further ado, here they are...
What do you think? Was it worth going out tonight?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Trees Do Make Nice Silhouettes
I was late heading for home tonight, and the sky looked incredibly cloudless. We are setting high-temperature records for this time of year - near 90 deg. F. But, I could see that there was a lot of pollution (or just dirt) in the air, and this usually makes for great oranges. When I was about half way home, the sun was just about ready to go down. I could estimate that in about 10 minutes I'd reach this place, where I've taken photos before. So, I planned on making a stop.
There is this great big tree there that makes great silhouettes. I'd have liked to be able to get the sun directly behind the tree, but unfortunately, the tree is on the other side of the fence, and the fence is posted with No Trespassing signs. At this time of the year, the sun is still setting a little South of due West, which meant that I could not position the tree directly in front of the sun. It won't be too long from now, that the setting sun will be a little to the North, and I'll be able to line it up a little better with this tree. I just need to remember this as I am driving by!!!
Is it just me, or does this shot make it look a little like the tree is trying to reach out and grab either the sun, or that approaching airplane?
Zooming in a little more shows of the mountains in the distance. Too bad about the power poles though.
And, since the power poles are not going to go away, how about making the sun look like it is balanced on the power lines?
In this last shot, I aimed the camera a bit down so that it would lighten up the overall image a little. I wanted to show the road and the nearby terrain. Even with that, I had to use Picasa to lighten the shot some more so that the road was actually visible.
There is this great big tree there that makes great silhouettes. I'd have liked to be able to get the sun directly behind the tree, but unfortunately, the tree is on the other side of the fence, and the fence is posted with No Trespassing signs. At this time of the year, the sun is still setting a little South of due West, which meant that I could not position the tree directly in front of the sun. It won't be too long from now, that the setting sun will be a little to the North, and I'll be able to line it up a little better with this tree. I just need to remember this as I am driving by!!!
Is it just me, or does this shot make it look a little like the tree is trying to reach out and grab either the sun, or that approaching airplane?
Zooming in a little more shows of the mountains in the distance. Too bad about the power poles though.
And, since the power poles are not going to go away, how about making the sun look like it is balanced on the power lines?
In this last shot, I aimed the camera a bit down so that it would lighten up the overall image a little. I wanted to show the road and the nearby terrain. Even with that, I had to use Picasa to lighten the shot some more so that the road was actually visible.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Not Too Many Clouds - Just Another Orange Sunset
But, add something interesting in the foreground, like a tree, and things turn out quite nice.
When I looked at the setting sun tonight, I could see that there weren't very many clouds. But there were several contrails. I usually like the contrails, even though they are obviously not natural - we all know just what they are. I find them to add a very nice little detail. And, the sky was turning nice and orange. So, I decided to give it a go. I settled on a couple of trees, and spent my time working around them.
These three shots show that even for just a plain orange sunset, with a little help from a tree, the results are pretty nice. A like these a quite a bit. They show that you can get quite a different look to things just by positioning the foreground objects a little differently.
You know, it always seems to amaze me that even when shooting directly at the full sun, there can be enough detail in the shot to make it interesting. I always like the big orange (or is it just white??) ball.
And in this shot, there is enough sky showing to reveal that it really is blue up higher, and that the orange is quite low. There is just enough of hint of the sun to create the nice bright spot.
When I looked at the setting sun tonight, I could see that there weren't very many clouds. But there were several contrails. I usually like the contrails, even though they are obviously not natural - we all know just what they are. I find them to add a very nice little detail. And, the sky was turning nice and orange. So, I decided to give it a go. I settled on a couple of trees, and spent my time working around them.
These three shots show that even for just a plain orange sunset, with a little help from a tree, the results are pretty nice. A like these a quite a bit. They show that you can get quite a different look to things just by positioning the foreground objects a little differently.
You know, it always seems to amaze me that even when shooting directly at the full sun, there can be enough detail in the shot to make it interesting. I always like the big orange (or is it just white??) ball.
And in this shot, there is enough sky showing to reveal that it really is blue up higher, and that the orange is quite low. There is just enough of hint of the sun to create the nice bright spot.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Railroad Bridge at Sundown!!
Sounds like a Western movie title, huh?
Tonight I thought I'd try a new subject - one that I've been intending to shoot for a quite a while now. It wasn't a super-splendid sunset, but as I was checking the sky as sundown was approaching, I did notice some wispy clouds off to the West. So, I headed for this bridge which is located just North of Coolidge, AZ.
The following shot was taken with the Canon EOS Rebel xsi. To help enhance the red's and orange's of the sunset, I set the white balance for 'shade.'
After it started getting dark, I thought I'd try for some more 'star' shots. I don't know how well these next two are going look, being so small here, but I hope that you can see the stars. (Try clicking on the picture to make it a little bigger.) I'm located toward the North end of the bridge for this shot, looking South. The glow at the horizon is from the lights of Coolidge, which by the way, I had to hide behind that bush so they wouldn't be too bright.
And finally, I really like this next shot. I'm looking up a hill at the cactus. The orange glow is from the lights of Phoenix (about 30 miles away) shining on those wispy little clouds I mentioned earlier.
Tonight I thought I'd try a new subject - one that I've been intending to shoot for a quite a while now. It wasn't a super-splendid sunset, but as I was checking the sky as sundown was approaching, I did notice some wispy clouds off to the West. So, I headed for this bridge which is located just North of Coolidge, AZ.
The following shot was taken with the Canon EOS Rebel xsi. To help enhance the red's and orange's of the sunset, I set the white balance for 'shade.'
After it started getting dark, I thought I'd try for some more 'star' shots. I don't know how well these next two are going look, being so small here, but I hope that you can see the stars. (Try clicking on the picture to make it a little bigger.) I'm located toward the North end of the bridge for this shot, looking South. The glow at the horizon is from the lights of Coolidge, which by the way, I had to hide behind that bush so they wouldn't be too bright.
And finally, I really like this next shot. I'm looking up a hill at the cactus. The orange glow is from the lights of Phoenix (about 30 miles away) shining on those wispy little clouds I mentioned earlier.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Change What To Focus On & Zoom In
Today, Friday, was just another 'orange' sunrise and another 'orange' sunset. So, I didn't shoot anything today. But, yesterday provided a couple of opportunities. As I was leaving for work, I thought that it was going to be just a plain old 'orange' sunrise, but I decided to drive into one of the cul-de-sacs and take a look. And, lo and behold, there were a few clouds. So, I jumped out of the car to take the shots below.
It may be a little hard for you to tell from these small images, but I decided to change what the camera was focused on. (If you click on the images, you can see them a little bigger.) With the camera (this was using my Fujifilm) set for its automatic 'sunset' mode, it automatically focuses on what it wants to focus on. After taking the shot, I could tell that it had focused on the branches, leaving the clouds a little out of focus.
But, what if you wanted the clouds to be more in focus, and the branches to be softer. One of the tricks you can do if the overall lighting of your subject is uniform, is to point the camera at the something else that you want it to focus on, press the shutter button halfway down and hold it there, and then re-frame the picture to position your desired objects into the frame. Then, press the shutter button the rest of the way. But, when shooting something kinda bright (like the sun!!!), if you aim at something else to get the camera to focus, in this case, at infinity, it will also lock in the exposure based upon what you currently have in the frame. And, then when you reposition so as to bring the sun back into the picture, it will end up being badly over exposed. So, for the following shot, all I did was to step to the side so that the tree limbs were no longer in the center of the frame, kept the sun centered, and let the camera focus and adjust the exposure, and then stepped back to the side to reposition the tree limbs where I wanted them. So, in this shot, the limbs are out of focus, and the clouds are sharp. Notice that the two exposures are the same.
And, that brings me to last night. I was still in town as the sun went down, instead of arriving back at home. I have pulled over at this same spot several times, and each time I have gotten completely different results. As you can see from the shot below, it looked like just another 'orange' sunset. The colors aren't too bad - I like the darker sky up high.
But, just zoom in and the world looks completely different! The difference here is that the above image was shot fully zoomed out, and the one below, fully zoomed in. Again, my Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd sports an 18x optical zoom. You can see what an awesome difference this makes. And, I really do like Palm Tree silhouettes.
And, one final issue -- image stabilization is a must when zoomed in this much. Otherwise you can't possibly hold the camera still enough (without stopping to set up a tripod - and did I mention that I had just pulled over to the side of the road?) to keep the image from getting all blurred. I have found the image stabilization of the FinePix to be outstanding. I'm just standing there, teetering back and forth, taking shots, and they all come out looking like the camera was on a tripod.
It may be a little hard for you to tell from these small images, but I decided to change what the camera was focused on. (If you click on the images, you can see them a little bigger.) With the camera (this was using my Fujifilm) set for its automatic 'sunset' mode, it automatically focuses on what it wants to focus on. After taking the shot, I could tell that it had focused on the branches, leaving the clouds a little out of focus.
But, what if you wanted the clouds to be more in focus, and the branches to be softer. One of the tricks you can do if the overall lighting of your subject is uniform, is to point the camera at the something else that you want it to focus on, press the shutter button halfway down and hold it there, and then re-frame the picture to position your desired objects into the frame. Then, press the shutter button the rest of the way. But, when shooting something kinda bright (like the sun!!!), if you aim at something else to get the camera to focus, in this case, at infinity, it will also lock in the exposure based upon what you currently have in the frame. And, then when you reposition so as to bring the sun back into the picture, it will end up being badly over exposed. So, for the following shot, all I did was to step to the side so that the tree limbs were no longer in the center of the frame, kept the sun centered, and let the camera focus and adjust the exposure, and then stepped back to the side to reposition the tree limbs where I wanted them. So, in this shot, the limbs are out of focus, and the clouds are sharp. Notice that the two exposures are the same.
And, that brings me to last night. I was still in town as the sun went down, instead of arriving back at home. I have pulled over at this same spot several times, and each time I have gotten completely different results. As you can see from the shot below, it looked like just another 'orange' sunset. The colors aren't too bad - I like the darker sky up high.
But, just zoom in and the world looks completely different! The difference here is that the above image was shot fully zoomed out, and the one below, fully zoomed in. Again, my Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd sports an 18x optical zoom. You can see what an awesome difference this makes. And, I really do like Palm Tree silhouettes.
And, one final issue -- image stabilization is a must when zoomed in this much. Otherwise you can't possibly hold the camera still enough (without stopping to set up a tripod - and did I mention that I had just pulled over to the side of the road?) to keep the image from getting all blurred. I have found the image stabilization of the FinePix to be outstanding. I'm just standing there, teetering back and forth, taking shots, and they all come out looking like the camera was on a tripod.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
On the Drive Home - Radials, Trees and Bird!
Radials!!
Tonight wasn't especially wonderful. The skys had been almost completely clear all day long. But, as I headed home, I noticed that there were a few clouds in the West. I knew that the sun would be setting at about the same time that I arrived home. So, I did pull over and take a few shots. The first picture below, shows an effect that I frequently get when the sun is directly present in the frame -- radials. Usually these would be caused by the leaves of the iris in the leanse - one radial per leaf. As I count them in this shot, I see ten of them. But, I don't know how many leaves the iris of the Fujifilm camera has. Ten, maybe? A common way of also getting this effect is to use a 'star' filter in front of the lense. But, I am not doing that.
Look for something to use!!!
In this next shot, you would find me keeping my eyes open as I drive along, looking for a tree, a cactus, a building, or anything else to put into the foreground. I just happen to really love old dead-looking trees. I think they make great silouhettes. In this next picture, the sunset may not be all that great, but I do like the tree. And, by the way, since I drive the same routes to and from work, over and over again, I take note of and remember most of the trees, etc., along the way, so I can plan ahead a little bit, and tell my self, that just around the next bend is that nice tree. That way, I can safely pull over without scaring any other drivers!
Bird!!!!
Finally, tonight I noticed that I had company. Or, maybe it was that I was causing this bird to have company. Anyway, he was watching me watch the sun set. I'm sure that he couldn't begin to figure out what I was doing, running around the trees, stooping down and aiming whatever that thing that I was holding at the trees and sun. Anyway, I enjoyed his company.
Tonight wasn't especially wonderful. The skys had been almost completely clear all day long. But, as I headed home, I noticed that there were a few clouds in the West. I knew that the sun would be setting at about the same time that I arrived home. So, I did pull over and take a few shots. The first picture below, shows an effect that I frequently get when the sun is directly present in the frame -- radials. Usually these would be caused by the leaves of the iris in the leanse - one radial per leaf. As I count them in this shot, I see ten of them. But, I don't know how many leaves the iris of the Fujifilm camera has. Ten, maybe? A common way of also getting this effect is to use a 'star' filter in front of the lense. But, I am not doing that.
Look for something to use!!!
In this next shot, you would find me keeping my eyes open as I drive along, looking for a tree, a cactus, a building, or anything else to put into the foreground. I just happen to really love old dead-looking trees. I think they make great silouhettes. In this next picture, the sunset may not be all that great, but I do like the tree. And, by the way, since I drive the same routes to and from work, over and over again, I take note of and remember most of the trees, etc., along the way, so I can plan ahead a little bit, and tell my self, that just around the next bend is that nice tree. That way, I can safely pull over without scaring any other drivers!
Bird!!!!
Finally, tonight I noticed that I had company. Or, maybe it was that I was causing this bird to have company. Anyway, he was watching me watch the sun set. I'm sure that he couldn't begin to figure out what I was doing, running around the trees, stooping down and aiming whatever that thing that I was holding at the trees and sun. Anyway, I enjoyed his company.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Superstition Mountains and Orange Sunsets
So, now I almost always pay attention to them, especially when the sun is going up or down, and when there is some kind of cloud cover. I haven't gone a long way out of my way, but there are a few places I will pull over and take pictures of them when I think there might be something special. Above is a sample picture I took this afternoon on the way home that I really like. I especially like the little yellow flowers in the foreground, even though I don't know what they are called.
Through out the day we had beautiful, mostly cloudy skys - the kind that get me real excited! But, by the time I got home around 6pm, they were mostly gone. I went out anyway, and took a few of the 'orange' kind of shots that we get here so often. Here is a sample of tonight's sunset. And, since this is about as bad a sunset as we get here, it's not really too bad. I like to shoot these at about -1 EV, which helps the sun to not be too over exposed, and helps the higher parts of the sky look nice and purple.
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