Upde Designs

I was coming home the other night and decided to drive through the industrial park, which is located a couple of miles from my home.  I came that way because it was during the golden hour of light and I had seen a windmill behind a building a couple of weeks ago.

So I grabbed the D700 with the Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 and walked the foot path down to the windmill to see if there was anything worth shooting.  Much to my delight there was also a nice pond just below the windmill and so it set up a very nice shot.

I was too lazy to walk all the way back to the car (about 1/2 mile) to get my tripod (which I should have done) but hand-held the camera and took about 35 images of the pond and the windmill.

I like the way it turned out but was thinking it might have been a better shot using bracketing and HDR imaging.  Maybe next time.

Hello

If you read my last blog you know I don’t do well with high places.  Well today was a bit of a challenge for me because I went flying with a good friend.  My friend just got his pilot’s license last week and I suspect I’m one of the first people to fly with him.

The plane he was flying was a 1970s vintage Piper, which didn’t add to my confidence so I was a bit nervous to say the least.  But then I have great respect for this individual and he is one of the smartest people I know, plus being meticulous in his preparation so I figured I was pretty safe.

We met at the Dubuque Regional Airport.  He had flown in from Freeport, Illinois, his home.  We went up to the Dubuque terminal  and had  breakfast at the restaurant inside the terminal.  It was surprisingly good.  Then Gary said, “Well let’s do this”, and it was time for the flight.

By the way it was a perfect day for a flight.  Crystal clear skies and the temperature was about 50 degrees,  with very little wind, and unlimited ceiling.  We taxied out and  took off from runway 36 (360 degrees or due North).  It was about a 22 minute flight and Gary flew an unwavering course  to Prairie Du Chien, WI.  We landed at the airport and taxied to a full stop.  I asked Gary if we could stop so I could change the lens on my camera because I had chosen the wrong lens for what I was trying to capture.

I don’t know what I was thinking, when I took my Nikon 70-300mm lens.  It was too long to operate comfortably  in the small cabin.   I changed to my Nikon 24-120mm lens and it made it much easier to get some shots without banging into the side window.

Now about the shots.  I used my new Nikon D300s for this trip because it has video capability and yes I did take video of both take offs and both (thankfully) landings.  I shot 170 images plus the video and few of any of the images are worth posting.

Like I said this is an old plane and the windows have kind of a haze or mild fog on them from all the sunlight that has beat upon them over the last 30-40 years so it was like trying to shoot though a dirty filter.  Most all the shots have a milky haze cast to them.  Not very pleasing and I haven’t tried to fix them yet in Photoshop.

I got some shots of the river, the Meadows Golf Course (which for awhile I thought was Thunderhills.)  Then I realized none of the holes were in the right place so it dawned on me that it was the Meadows.  The only really decent shot of the day (and I’m being kind to myself) was this shot of Gary making final approach at Dubuque.

It was a great experience and I thank Gary for giving me a real treat. By the way this is the plane we flew in (below.)

Here is our landing “SWEET” in Dubuque.

From the 11th Floor

Hey Good Evening

Okay I’ll admit it I don’t do well from heights.  Especially if there is a chance that I could fall, jump, or crash.  Well I’m in Des Moines, Iowa this week at the annual SHRM Conference and we are at the Sheraton Inn.

I think this was originally a Regency Hyatt hotel because they use to design all their hotel buildings this way.  No roof  between floors until the top of the building.  I have never liked this design since staying at my first hotel like this in Atlanta Georgia.  It was 22 floors and I was on the 21st floor.  It was not a good experience.

So I made myself go to the eleventh floor (that is the highest floor in this hotel) this evening and lean out over the railing to capture this HDR image.  I’m pretty happy with how it came out considering what personal risk I took with my own safety to capture it. 🙂

Anyway processed in Photomatrix and then post processed in Photoshop.  By the way the first day of the conference was awesome.  I heard an amazing speaker by the name of Shawn Achor.  Purchased his book “The Happiness Advantage.”  Can’t wait to read it.  If it is half as good as his presentation was I’m in for a treat.

Thanks for stopping by.

Upde

HDR Image

This is a small creek that I pass almost every day going to and coming from work.  I have thought about making an image of it, but there is almost no where to park and the light is so bad I didn’t figure I could get a good image.

Then I decided to try an HDR  exposure.  So I set up my tripod and endured all the people slowing down to see what I was doing and took a 5 exposure HDR shot in both landscape and portrait set up.  I liked the landscape position better.

Everyone has their own opinion about HDR imagery but like Scott Kelby says it is in the eye of the beholder.  So if you like it fine and if you don’t that’s okay as well.  Thanks for the look.