Thursday, April 17, 2014

New Big Bend Galleries

Better late than never... :-) Three online galleries of photos from the Big Bend are now up:




Big Bend, March 2014



Big Bend, October 2013



Big Bend, October 2012


Shooting the Moon

Earlier this week we were treated to very clear weather and a full lunar eclipse. Even from Houston, aka light pollution central, the moon was highly visible and quite beautiful.


I shot the moon with a borrowed 400mm lens (f/5.6 max. aperture) and a cheap Tamron 1.4x converter. The combination made for a slow f/8, and I also stopped down one (f/11 effective) in attempts to sharpen things up a bit.




click for larger image


I used to own a 400mm lens many years ago, and I'd forgotten how difficult it can be to shoot long. Every bit of disturbance around the camera caused a visible vibration in the viewfinder. Using live view at 10x made the issue very apparent. A cold front had blown through, and the winds were making it impossible to get the camera and lens completely stable.


The other issue with eclipses, and I'd experienced this before when shooting one many years ago, is that the moon gets very dark towards totality. A normal full moon in clear skies is nearly as bright as full daylight. But a moon mostly covered in the Earth's shadow is 5 - 6 stops of light less. That's really challenging when shooting at f/11 :-)

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Random Pics, Random Thoughts

I've been posting quite a bit to my Instagram account lately. Below is a sample of the recent photos along with a few random thoughts and info.


Shadows in the Grass, Mar-11


The collection of apps and the workflow I had on my mobile phone that enabled me to post to my blog is out of commission. I've had so many issues with my phone over the months and have had to reset it a few times. I'm not sure if all the apps are the reason that the phone keeps bogging down and having a glitch-fest that renders it practially useless, but I'm hesitant to set everything back up as it was before.


Mule Ears, Big Bend N.P., Mar-15


I'm still using the Olympus OM-D E-M5 more than any other camera. I feel that I'm starting to learn what it can do well vs. the areas where it absolutly sucks. The small size and light weight of the Oly kit trumps everything else, so it's been the right tool for the job lately.


Ladybug on Prairie Buttercup, Mar-21


Of course the other tools that I carry (Sony RX100 and also the camera on my phone) come in handy when needed!


Sandpile Silhouette, Mar-25


One impressive thing about the Micro Four-Thirds (M43 or M4/3 or whatever you want to call it) is the reach you can get with relatively small telephoto lenses. Combined with the EXCELLENT in-body image stabilization of the E-M5, it's a great tool for wildlife shooting.


Cormorants, Lake Fork, Mar-28


My current longest focal length is 150mm, which translates to about 300mm (35mm "full-frame" equivalent field of view).

I'm looking into getting a longer lens for my kit, perhaps the Oly 75-300mm or the Panasonic 100-300mm. The long end of those lenses works out to about 600mm equivalent.


Sunrise, Lake Fork, Mar-30


The flowers are NOT as good as anticipated. I had high hopes over a month ago when I noticed flowers blooming in mass very early in the season. I think the ice storm we had in early March really hurt things.


Golden Groundsel, George Bush Park, Apr-1


I've been exploring through the local parks: Bear Creek Park (Addicks Reservoir) and George Bush Park (Barker Reservoir), visiting my usual spots for wildflowers. They are thin in coverage as compared to previous years. Also, many of the easy-access areas have been mowed by the park services. That doesn't help at all!

Please consider following my Instagram account! And if you don't have Instagram, then consider getting an account. It's free and easy. It's a fun app to have on your phone and really helps you to engage in and play with photography.