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All posts for the month September, 2015

Wednesday ~ September 30, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on September 30, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

September-29-2015

Happy Hump Day!

A couple  of early harvest images for you today.  We had a pretty good rain yesterday morning and I saw these two combines sitting in the field on the way to work.  I reasoned they might still be there in the afternoon on my homeward commute because it would probably be too wet to continue the harvest.

I was delighted to see them both in their original position and I had some softer light from the evening sun shinning on them.  🙂

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I’m doing some video work for a project this evening after work for my company.  I used to shoot a lot of video and make training videos as well as video vignettes for website work.  About the only video I work with now is from the Phantoms and they have been pretty much non-existent of late.

I actually was pretty good at editing video and using some special effects along with green screen effects.  But like any skill if you don’t use it on a regular basis it deteriorates. Additionally the video editing software has changed a lot and I haven’t kept up with the changes so it is a real challenge trying to piece some video together in a coherent manner.

This morning I’m desperately charging batteries for cameras that haven’t been powered on for several years, hoping that the batteries will last long enough to get the footage I need. 🙂

So that’s all I have for today.  It should be interesting working on this project.  I have two video cameras and if they fail I can always use one of my DLSRs as a backup.  Believe it or not I’ve never really shot any footage with the DLSRs even though they have the ability to do so.

Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Tuesday ~ September 29, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on September 29, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

September-26-2015-2A

Happy Tuesday!

Saturday after Josh’s soccer game we drove out to Schuster’s Picking Pumpkin Patch, south of town.  What a neat place for kids and adults.  I had a lot of fun there and perhaps I will talk a little about that at another time.

One of the things I’ve notice about Josh is that he is often in deep thought.  I would love to know what is going on inside the little head of his.  His vocabulary is well beyond his age and his thought processes are complex at times.  Then of course he is a lot of the times a five-year old child.  🙂

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I decided on black and white images today because the first image of Josh that I processed just didn’t speak to me in color.  Once I got started on a black and white image I couldn’t help myself.  🙂

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It wasn’t necessarily my intent to document the wonderful relationship between Josh and his friend Avery. But almost every picture I have of Josh Avery is right there.  They talk with each other a lot and they helped each other pick out their respective pumpkins.  It is a great friendship that hopefully will endure over time.

There are so many things to do at the pumpkin patch.  One of the highlights is taking the wagon ride to the actual patch.  They stop in the middle of the pumpkin patch and you can go look over the pumpkins and pick the right one.  Josh and Gabby both found the pumpkin they wanted.

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There are so many sexist things I could say about this image but I won’t.  🙂

We spent a couple of hours at the patch and I was ready for a nap.  The place was inundated with kids and lots of kid noise. There are so many things for them to do including a corn pool.  I’ll show you a picture of Gabby later when Mom said she couldn’t go into the corn pool.  🙂

That’s it for today.  Hope you enjoy your day.  As always thanks for stopping by my blog.  Be careful.

Monday ~ September 28, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on September 28, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

September-27-2015

Happy Monday!

Last evening was a super moon, A total eclipse of the moon, and a blood moon.  A self-proclaimed photographer’s dream.  Well I spent 2.5 hours watching the event, which was totally cool I have to admit, so no complaints on the amount of time spent.  I shot 348 images and tried a variety of techniques (that have proven satisfactory before) but none of them produced an image that I was happy with.

The image above is a composite image.  At the beginning of the eclipse there were a lot of clouds in our area.  If I exposed for the clouds the moon was nothing more than a big white ball of light with zero detail.  If I exposed for the moon to reveal detail I couldn’t get the clouds.

So I exposed for both and merged them into one composite photo. 🙂

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I couldn’t capture what my eye was seeing.  We had a pair of binoculars and they did a pretty good job.  You could actually see the moon and the “shadow” of the earth on its surface.  I couldn’t capture that with my lens and I was using a 600 mm lens on a tripod with a cable shutter button.

I tried every setting I could think of and short of running back to the house and researching the proper technique I did my best to capture what I saw.

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This image was taken as the last sliver of the moon was still white as the earth moved across the front of the moon.  I got some stars in this shot as I exposed it for a longer period of time.  A little too long because the moon itself is a little soft.

That’s it for today.  Hope you enjoy your day.  A nice weather day in our part of the world.  Thanks for stopping by the blog and be careful.

Sunday ~ September 26, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on September 27, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

September-26-2015

Happy Sunday!

Family images today.  We had a fun Saturday with Angie, Ben and the Grand Kids Saturday.  First up was Josh’s soccer game and then we all went out to the Pumpkin Patch.

Mark was home for a wedding of one of his friends.  I talked him into posing in his tux before leaving for the wedding pictures.  I think we did good with him.  🙂

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Then to the soccer game.  It is a hoot watching the little 5-year-old children try to play soccer.  Most of the time they are more interested in treats, visiting, and looking around.  Same way it was with T-Ball.  🙂

This is Josh’s best friend Avery.  They have been friends from almost their time of birth.  They happened to be on opposite teams today but they shared this warm greeting after the match.

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Little Gabby was not a happy camper because big brother took his water bottle from her.  This is one of the ways Gabby shows her displeasure.  I got to see a couple more ways at the Pumpkin Patch.

You have to be able to express yourself and what better way to do it then this?  🙂

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I wore jeans and a tee-shirt to the soccer game but by the time it was over I was hot.  So before going to the Pumpkin Patch, Jeanne and I went home and changed into summer garb.

Had a lot of fun at the Pumpkin Patch.  Hope to show you some of those images tomorrow.

That’s all I have for today.  Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.

Friday ~ September 25, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on September 25, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

September-24-2015

Happy Friday!

On my way home last night I always drive by the “Duck Pond.”  The two trumpeter swans were there but they also had a visitor in this blue heron.  Usually the swans are not very sociable and when anyone gets near their territory they become quite combative.  Not so last night as they didn’t seem to mine the heron one bit.

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I can never resist photographing a swan swimming in the pond.  So as I was getting ready to head out one of the swans decided to swim for a bit.

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Finally this image for my friend Becky.  I watched these guys last night for several minutes.  They were being bombarded constantly by flies.  Their symbiotic relationship works pretty well as their tail keeps the flies at bay for the other horse.  🙂

Notice the position of the horse in the foreground is mirrored perfectly by the horse in the background.  They have it figured out pretty good.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and weekend.  Be careful.

Thursday ~ September 24, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on September 24, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , .

September-20-2015-2A

Happy Thursday!

Okay, I’m completely embarrassed to admit this but I didn’t see this image on my first pass through and did not realize that I had achieved this neat star effect from the sun.  I was fooling around trying different shutter and aperture settings and was firing off  shots as quickly as I could while I still had light.  I shot this image with a Tamron 15 – 30 mm wide-angle lens at ISO 200 1/8 sec @ f22.  

So this morning as I’m going over images for the blog I come across this image.  Now I will admit that I have some plug-in filters that can accomplish the star effect but this one is totally legit.  🙂

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This image was captured on my way to my final location where I shot the sunset.  It was earlier in the day but I just like the way all the structures are arranged against the green hay-field.  The corn crib looks to be pretty old while the barn has been refurbished with newer siding.

Not sure what it is about farm buildings that my eye is attracted to but I do enjoy making images of them.

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Finally I’ll leave you with this image.  I have capture this particular scene many times.  It is my favorite windmill and I like the way the old shed is weathered and leaning.  He keeps this old corn wagon near the shed so it’s like he is inviting me to stop and take a picture.

I heard his big dog barking at me but he must have been on a leash because he didn’t come to investigate me like he did last year.  🙂

That’s it for today.  Enjoy your Thursday.  Should be a good one weather wise, at least in our part of the world.  Thanks for stopping by the blog and be careful.

Wednesday ~ September 23, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on September 23, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

September-22-2015

Happy Wednesday!

I took a different road though the countryside last evening on my homeward commute.  I was about a half hour early for the golden hour and probably a week or two early for any serious harvest images.  I saw several corn fields that have been cut for silage and one or two bean fields that are in the process of being picked but nothing that I could photograph.

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However it was a beautiful evening with blue skies and wispy clouds.  The bean fields have turned a golden color, contrasted by the still green grass so I opted just to shoot some landscape images capturing those things.

I had to go photograph my favorite tree even though I have shot this tree over a hundred times I never get tired of photographing.

It has one broken branch that hangs down and to me that represents one of the realities of life.  It isn’t perfect but we still enjoy the beauty that surrounds us.

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I went by this huge field of freshly mowed hay.  The rows were laid out so perfectly and I wanted to make an image of it but there was no place to park.  When I finally did find a place I could pull over I would have had to walk three-quarters of a mile on a road with very small shoulders so I opted for this compromise.

That’s it for today.  Nothing very exciting but it was sure enjoyable being out making images.  Today is the first official day of Fall.  My favorite time of year.  Enjoy.

Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Be careful.

Tuesday ~ September 22, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on September 22, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , , , .

September-20-2015-1A

Back at it today.  I wanted to show you this 3 image HDR rendition of the sunset I captured on Sunday.  This is really more representative of what I actually saw.

The problem with DSLR cameras is that they can only capture about 5 levels of Luminance.  The human eye can see about 9 levels.   We can see detail in highlights, mid-tones, and shadows.  By that I mean if I were to set the camera so that the sky was exposed correctly the shadows would turn to pure black and the mid-tones would be very dark.  If I were to expose for the shadows then the sky would be pure white (blown out.)

I shot this using a technique call bracketing.  The three shots were 1 full stop above, the mid-tones, and 1 full stop below.  So you are able to capture the full dynamic range of luminance.  Normally call HDR or High Dynamic Range.  You can get pretty carried away with the finished product but this image is reflective of what I actually saw.

Look at yesterday’s post and compare the difference.  Both were shot at about the same time.

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I saw this guy coming over while I was waiting on the sun.  At first I thought it was a regular plane but then as he got closer it was obvious it was an ultra light craft.

I only had the 80 – 400 mm lens with me so this is as close as I could get.

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I’ll leave you with this image of a farm in the distance.  Another shot I captured while waiting for the sunset.  It wasn’t exactly what I wanted but wasn’t going to take down my tripod and go looking for something that might not be there.  🙂

That’s it for today.  I hope you enjoy your day.  Thanks for stopping by the blog and be careful.

Monday ~ September 21, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on September 21, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

September-20-2015-B

Happy Monday!

Sorry for the lack of activity on the blog of late.  I’ve been working on several projects and just haven’t been out with my camera.

Yesterday I decided enough was enough and grabbed my camera and a couple of lenses and headed out to see if I could capture a sunset.  Tricky thing (at least for me) about sunsets is that your never fully sure how they are going to look because of the clouds.

This is an image I took while waiting for the sun to get into the right position.  I had my camera set up on a tripod and was going to take a series of shots as it went down beneath the clouds.  I thought I had found the perfect place.

September-20-2015

So after the sun went down below the clouds and I got what I thought was a reasonable shot I packed up and headed back to the car.  There was still enough light to capture this image so I did.  🙂

What I didn’t realize because ,it looked like a solid bank of clouds, was that there was an opening at the bottom of the cloud.  When I turned to go North I saw this amazing reddish light pouring down from the main cloud bank.  Well damn!  The tripod is in the trunk and I’ve gone a couple of miles from my original (perfect) location.

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So I stopped the car and shot what I could get.  The sky was amazing and I’m not sure this image does it justice but it’s pretty close.

I love photographing sunsets with lots of clouds.  You can click on the image to see a larger version of it.

That’s it for today.  I caught a cold Thursday and (not expecting any sympathy) have felt progressively worse through the weekend.  😦

Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Hope you enjoy your day.  Be careful.

Wednesday ~ September 16, 2015

Posted by Dave Updegraff on September 16, 2015
Posted in: Daily Posts. Tagged: , , , .

September-14-2015

Happy Hump Day!

A mixed bag of images for you today.  No award winners here but they were of interest to me so I made an image of them.

Our company had its annual golf outing on Monday and we played in Clinton, Iowa at the Valley Oaks Country Club.  The layout of this hole caught my attention so I made a photograph.  The bridge is actually an old railroad box car that has been placed over a small stream and the floor has become a wooden bridge over the stream.  Makes a nice visual presentation.

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From the Fly In Breakfast of Sunday.  The U of I Life Flight Helicopter always makes it to the Fly In but this is the first time I’ve been there when it actually took off.  I couldn’t resist taking the shot even though I had to get out of the breakfast line to get it.  🙂

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Another frequent visitor to the Fly In is this gyro copter.  The owner has been there for at least the last three years giving rides.  Someone told me that he is actually a dealer for this brand of Gyro.

That’s it for today.  I’ve been busy photographing some images for the City of Maquoketa.  They are building a new website and wanted some images reflective of the community.

I’ve also been building a website for a political candidate so my shooting time has been somewhat limited.  Hopefully this coming weekend I can shoot some harvest images.

Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.