Theme # 256 "Reflections"

I belong to a couple of other photography forums and one member suggested that I make a "Motivational Poster " from my Autumn image ( a few below this one ). What do you think?

Theme # 121 "Ghosts, Ghouls, or Gobins"

We took the kids on a hay ride at the Holloween Party and saw this guy holding his head screaming as loud as can be that he had a horrific head ache. I wonder why. We were bouncing around on this hay ride so I don't know he stayed in focus. Had a great time.

Theme # 57 "Clown"

We went to a Holloween Party and my my wife posed with non-other then "Bozo-the-Clown". Fun Day.

Theme # 15 "Autumn"

My wife and I and my neice went over to the Sportsman club I'm in and had a very nice day at a Holloween Party. Plenty of food, hay rides, scary stuff and a magic show. After the festivities I saw the late setting sun and went over to the Peconic River's edge and saw this scene. One of those magic moments.

Exif data: Nikon D-90, 10/25/09, !8-200VR lens @ 18mm, ISO-400, 1/100sec f/3.5, VR on, Polarizer used, hand held.

Theme # 6 "Abstract"

These images were taken on the beach at Horton's Point, located in Southold, NY. I included two images so I could better describe how I arrived at my attempt for an "Abstract" image of the little rock. The first image is just a shot of two large rocks say 15' feet off shore. Notice the small green, moss covered rock in the foreground ( center ). It caught my eye because of the beautiful, shinny, green colored moss. I then took my zoom lens in closer and took about fifteen or so shots of the small tiny waves ( 6"-12" ) breaking over the rock. I choose the second image to post because of the wave action, and blurred movement of the water. Because I had the camera set in Aperture preferred mode and the f/ stop @ f/11 my shutter speed would change depending on the meter reading. I got lucky because the speed was changing for each shot from as slow as 1/10 th sec. up to 1/60 th sec. This image was shot at 1/40th sec. which is why I was lucky. I should have put the camera in Manual mode and kept varying both the aperture and speed to get the effect I desired. The image you see on the back of the camera is almost impossible to critique when outside in bright sunlight. I guess my next "toy" purchase will be a hood for the LCD screen so one can see what is what in bright sunlight. I have the Hoodman Loupe which fits over the LCD but is difficult to use when taking pictures. I hope I didn't loose you on this one but I learned that I must play more with the Manual Mode. I'm very comfortable with the Manual mode but more likely a little lazy. Hope you enjoy my attempt at an "Abstract".
Nikon D90 2009/07/19 17:41:04
RAW (12-bit)
Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G
Focal Length: 95mm
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern
1/40 sec - F/11
Exposure Comp.: 0 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 200
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-S
VR Control: On

Theme # 244 " Public ( Military ) Transportation"

My wife and I needed some relaxation so we took a nice Sunday afternoon drive out on Eastern Long Island. It's a very rural area with a lots of farms and wineries. We stopped at the Hallockville Museum Farm which was having their annual LIAPA Tractor Pull and Show with demonstrations and displays of antique farm machinery by the Long Island Antique Power Association. In addition to the antique farm machinery there was displayed all kinds of antique cars and trucks. This Jeep is a original 1948 and in good running condition and shape. We got there late which worked to our advantage as the spectators were at a minimum. I couldn't resist to take this shot with the two flags and the bright blue sky. As you can see I used my polarizer to full advantage. A couple of links on the history of the jeeps are below.

http://www.olive-drab.com/od_mvg_www_jeeps_origin.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep

Exif Data:

Nikon D90 2009/07/19 15:55:01

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 18mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/25 sec - F/14

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-S

Utilized Circular Polarizer.

Make your own theme......"Answer this question"

I'm so glad to be back after a too long R & R. I hope you all enjoy my weird sense of humor on this post. Now pay attention real carefully, this will be very difficult for some (Ron). The theme is "Answer" this question.......... "What is the name of the town located in Pennsylvania where there is a rather large localized area of Amish immigrants". A very good clue is located somewhere in the image.

After you have discovered the clue and know the answer here is a good link which describes the area. http://www.800padutch.com/intercourse.shtml

I know I'm bad.

Nikon D90 2009/07/19 16:35:23

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G

Focal Length: 15mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/80 sec - F/16

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-S

Theme # 315 "Symbols"

What better image could I post for "Symbols" then our National Symbol our flag. The lower flag is of course the United States Marine Corps flag. This shot was taken at the air show at Jones Beach , NY. As you can see it was very windy and gusts in the 25-35 mph range. The flag pole was a couple of hundred feet away from me but I just could not resist and had to take at least one shot. I've posted a few other flag shots so now I'll be considered a flag-aholic. Julie commented in my last flag post that the flag appeared to have depth to it. This was true as I sort of, if I can say, nailed the exposure of the flag pretty well ,which then enables one to get the most contrast which in turn gives that depth to the two-dimensional image. You can see the shades of grey on the white portion and that gives the 3-D effect. I remember this from the old film days but the theory is still the same with digital. I wanted to see a little movement in the flag so I lowered my shutter speed a little. You can see the curl in the flag at the right most edge and to me it adds a little flavor to the image. I really do not particularly care for that guys head in the fore ground but its a beach scene, what can I do. Good thing it was not a bikini clad young lady as I never would have noticed the flag or the air show for that matter.:)

Nikon D90 2009/05/23 13:35:52

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 125mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/320 sec - F/11

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-C

Theme # 345 "Upside Down"

I was at the Air Show on Saturday during Memorial Day weekend and these pilots put some show on. They were the Canadian Snowbirds in their CT-114 Tutor jets. Because I was taking the pictures I could not pay attention to the announcer and hear exactly what you called this maneuver. Originally there were nine planes and when these planes went straight up, two pealed away then the seven which you see here completed the inside loop then from other points of the compass the other two rejoined the group. As you look at these planes they are belly up meaning they are flying upside down at this point with the cockpit inside the loop at all times. Completing a inside loop as they say is difficult because of the overall dynamics of the maneuver. Any way it was quite the show. These planes were pretty far away and was hard to keep in focus no less sharp focus so I closely cropped to enlarge and you will see some noise in the sky. I also added some more then usual vignetting to help the eye focus on the planes better (IMHO). As mentioned in my other post I had the camera on what Nikon calls "Continuous Focus" which means that if I keep the subject on the focus bracket and pan at the same time and keep the shutter button half way depressed it will track the focus and when fully depressed it should be in sharp focus. Because the Nikon D-90 has only 11 focus points I sometimes had trouble keeping the subject locked in on one point. Practice makes for better images and I had a lot of training that day.

Nikon D90 2009/05/23 11:51:34

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 300mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/1250 sec - F/9

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-C

Theme # 47 "Childhood Antics"

Now who do you think those two young senior citizens may be. Correct, it is yours truly and the bride of 49 years. We just got done with the sight seeing and grand tour at the "Manor of St. George and on our way out of the parking area I saw this contraption and begged the bride to let me take a picture of her. No way she said but she offered to take one of me. So Eveline took one of me and just then the tour master asked if we would like one taken of both of us together. Of course before my wife could answer I accepted and got my camera all set up and locked myself in the contraption of captivity and we were digitally immortalized for the time being. Lots of fun. This was made for tall people as I had to stand on my toes in order not to break my neck and choke my self.

Nikon D90 2009/06/07 16:27:42

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 22mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/125 sec - F/9

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-S

Theme # 191 "Museum" #2

I tried to visit this museum two or three times before but it has always been closed. Today we had good luck. "The Manor of St. George" and its 127 acre site located in Mastic, NY and is now a public museum and park. It constitutes an important chapter in the history of these United States and the Colonies that preceded them for a span of over 261 years. It is an action-filled chapter that revolves basically around the life of Col. William "Tangier" Smith, first Lord of the Manor of St. George. A complete history of this site can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manor_St._George

It is a very interesting read if you have the time.

Nikon D90 2009/06/07 16:03:55

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 24mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/125 sec - F/11

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-S

Circular Polarizer used

Theme # 195 "National Pride"

This is of course a replica of the "Grand Union Flag", which is the first flag adopted by the Continental Army back in 1775. A very good description of this flag, its origins and history can be found here.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Union_Flag

I found this treasure at the "Manor of St. George" located here on Long Island in Mastic, NY.

Nikon D90 2009/06/07 15:59:23

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 70mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/400 sec - F/11

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-S

Circular polarizer used

Theme # 348 "Vapor"

Now this is what I call a "One In A Million Shot", Taken today by me at the Air Show at Jones Beach, Long Island, NY. Before I go any further here is an explanation of what and why's of this vapor plume.Quote: At sea level a plane must exceed 741 mph to break the sound barrier, or the speed at which sound travels. The change in pressure as the plane outruns all of the pressure and sound waves in front of it is heard on the ground as an explosion or sonic boom. The pressure change condenses the water in the air as the jet passes these waves. Altitude, wind speed, humidity, the shape and trajectory of the plane - all of these affect the breaking of this barrier. The slightest drag or atmospheric pull on the plane shatters the vapor oval like fireworks as the plane passes through it.This plane is a Navy Super Hornet F/A-18F Jet stationed at NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, Va. I got three shots of this jet with the plume in various stages of shapes and sizes. The actual speed of this plane according to the MC was 2 mph less then required to break the sound barrier. If the pilot was going just a little faster we would have had a lot of broken windows in the area. I wonder what effect that phenomena has on my camera lens glass ?Here's a link (a must read) on what happens but also how lucky I was in capturing this shot.http://www.rense.com/general8/boom.htm There is also a prize winning photo of the plume and my image is almost as good (IMHO). I'll bore you with the details as I am soooo excited. I used my AF-S VR Zoom Nikor 70-300 mm f4.5-5.6 G IF-ED lens. I had my focus set to continuous which means that the camera will try and maintain focus if the subject is moving and believe me the subject was moving. I did not use burst release mode but single -frame release mode. So in essence I squeezed off three shots of this bird in three seconds according to my exif data. The reason I used single-frame release mode is because I shoot in RAW and I did not want a couple thousand shots.

Here is the exif data. Nikon D90 2009/05/23

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 270mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/640 sec - F/11

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-C

The three images above are Photo # 2, 1 and 3 in that order.

Exif data shows the times for each shot are as follow:

Photo#1 May 23, 2009 @ 13:09:35 (Middle photo)

Photo#2 May 23, 2009 @ 13:09:36 (Top photo)

Photo#3 May 23, 2009 @ 13:09:38 (Bottom photo)

Sorry for the confusion but when I posted the images they got out of order and I had all the typing done and I did not know how to fix it up. I like The last one #3.

Theme # 177 "Looking Down"

These swan's are swimming in the Peconic Bay located right behind Main Street, Riverhead, NY. Probably about 100 yards to the right is where the Peconic River empties its water into the bay. This area is affected by the normal tidal action of the bay. This family of Swans were on the other side of the river/canal and I kept calling them softly and throwing pebbles into the water hoping that they would come closer. But they would not follow my lead. I went back to my car to get my big glass (70-300mm) and a bunch of kids came over and started making a whole lot of loud noise and the Swans came right over. The Moral of the story is that Swans are hard of hearing so yell louder. They came to my side and I almost had to look straight down at times as the dock is say 6-7 feet above the canal. Cute little family aren't they?

Nikon D90 2009/05/17 16:50:19

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 22mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/30 sec - F/11

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-C

Theme # 33 "Break the Rule of Thirds"

I was in Riverhead today taking pictures and I spotted this restored 1933 Packard in absolutely mint condition. These old spoked wheels enticed me to take a few shots but here is a good example (IMHO) to break the rule of thirds, golden ratio or the golden spiral. Are not these wide white walls the neatest. I had a 1949 Ford coupe in HS with wide white walls like this. I know I'm dating myself, but I truly love the old stuff.

Nikon D90 2009/05/17 17:27:43

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 35mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/25 sec - F/6.3

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-S

Theme # 199 "No Exit"

The location is Meeting House Creek Dock, Aquebogue, NY.

What you see is a natural tragedy which happens every once in a while. These fish, Atlantic Menhaden commonly called "Bunkers" are on the food chain for Striped bass and Blue fish. The bunkers travel in very large schools measured in area (miles/km's) and most likely were being chased by Blue fish and ended up the creek with no way out/no exit. Due to the size of the school and quantity of bunkers, no exit, no oxygen they die. It is such a shame but sometimes nature in its purest form is cruel. Meeting House Creek empties into the Peconic Bay which is in the upper most part of the image. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_menhaden

Nikon D90 2009/05/17 15:21:45

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G

Focal Length: 12mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/125 sec - F/16

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 340 "Fowl"

This is the infamous "Big Duck" which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places located in Flanders, New York. In 1931, Riverhead duck farmer Martin Maurer and his wife Jeule decided to construct a giant duck-shaped duck shop. They hoped to sell the Peking ducks they raised to passing motorists who would surely be drawn to the striking form of a "Big Duck" along Riverhead's West Main Street. The Big Duck roosted at this location till 1936 until it was relocated to Rt 24 in Flanders. Long Island duckling can still be found as a menu offering at the finest restaurants around the world. Here is a little more trivia about Mr. Big Duck.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Duck

Nikon D90 2009/05/17 14:53:30

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 27mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/250 sec - F/8

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 154 "Humor"

This one half of a "Tin Man" was found at the junk yard where I took the picture of the VW posted below. As you can see I cropped the lower extremities of Mr. Tin Man off in order to not violate the regulations of posting X-rated material on this blog. Need I explain any further. When I first saw this creation I could not stop laughing. The artist certainly had a sense of humor. It's mounted and chained to a trailer that can be towed by a car or whatever. It appears that he has three kegs of "Beer" hoisted above his head and he is showing off his masculinity, male proneness and strength. I would love to know where this was displayed and what for. My DW said this was x-rated and could not post it. But with my sense of humor I could not help myself and had to just show a portion of the piece of local folk art. I will find out the history of this piece of local folk art and update the post.

Nikon D90 2009/05/06 16:15:27

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G

Focal Length: 18mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/50 sec - F/20

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 28 "Blue"

This junk yard is right up the street from the old church in Yaphank which I posted below. Nothing special just an Old Blue VW dating back to the mid-fifty's. The battery was still there and it was 6-volts and the tail lamps were the very small ones which dates this VW back to the 1950's. Back in 1960's I had a 1956 VW Bug and used it to commute back and forth to work.

Nikon D90 2009/05/06 16:14:27

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G

Focal Length: 20mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/50 sec - F/20

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 235 "Place of Worship"

This quaint little old church resides in the town of Yaphank, NY. It is right up the street from the old garage that I posted earlier in April. The little town of Yaphank was settled in 1726.

The Yaphank Presbyterian Church had its beginnings according to church and county records in the late 1700s. In 1817 the local Millville (Yaphank) schoolhouse on Sundays hosted a Sunday School mission of the Middle Island Presbyterian Church. After a number of years of worshipping in homes and in the schoolhouse, the present church was built as a chapel in 1851. In October 1871 the Yaphank Presbyterian Church was officially recognized as an individual church by the Long Island Presbytery.

After days of rain I could finally go outside and attempt something for the blog. This is basically a straight forward shot meaning I just got out of the car,got my camera and took a few shots. I purposely used the tree branches (on top and right side) and the bush on the bottom to sort of frame the photo for me. I used Lightroom for PP and PSE-7 for the frame and also the removal of lens distortion(both vertical and horizontal). I very rarely will shoot a building straight head on as I like to see the perspective and depth of the building. If you have been following my exif data in my posts you will notice that 90% of the time I shoot in Aperture mode and set my f/stop to give me that good DOF. I focused on a spot of grass on the left side in front of the church. That way the bush on the right and the whole church was in acceptable focus. I also used my circular polarizer in this shot and it is quite noticeable.

Nikon D90 2009/05/06 15:53:36

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 18mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/30 sec - F/22

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

Hand Held

Theme # 285 "Silver & Gold"

Well I back to post another one. Have not had the time for an outside shot so since it rained all day I got my home made light box out and snapped a few. This is the result of about four attempts. I tried using some of my wife's jewelery but the DOF is so short that half was in focus and the other half out of focus. The gold cross is thin enough to give me a little play. I used two lights mounted on the sides of the Light Box with 60 watt bulbs. Even with this much direct light the shutter speed as you can see was pretty slow. I also tried putting more lights on the top of the Light Box but this added too much glare. I used a tripod and manual focus. PP in Lightroom and added the frame in PSE-7.

Nikon D90 2009/05/03 21:59:09

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 105mm F/2.8 D Macro

Focal Length: 105mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/4 sec - F/25

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: Manual

Tripod

Light Box

Theme # 148 "Historic Lighthouse"

Well Julie guessed it. The first comment on the image below was from Julie and she asked if I was going to show off the Lighthouse. Well here it is and here is a little trivia about this Historic Land Mark. By the time I got here late last Sunday afternoon it was past 6pm. and we could not tour the Lighthouse but I got a good shot of it from the main parking lot across the street.

It was Authorized by the Second congress in 1792, under President George Washington and
Construction began on June 7, 1796 and was completed on November 5, 1796. It was the First lighthouse in New York State and Fourth oldest active lighthouse in the United States. The
Foundation is 13'deep and 9' thick and Constructed of sandstone blocks from Connecticut, 8" high and varying in length front 18" high to 44". The walls are 6' thick at the base tapering to 3' thick at the top. The height of the tower is 110' 6" with 137 iron steps to the top of the tower.
The light flashes every 5 seconds and can be seen a distance of 19 nautical miles. My first visit to this place was probably in 1945 or 1946 when I was a young boy. I remember going here on a Sunday afternoon ride with my family. My how time flies by when you are having fun. Here is a good link for this lighthouse if you are interested.

http://www.montauklighthouse.com/

Nikon D90 2009/04/26 18:03:28

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 52mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/160 sec - F/8

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 354 "Water's Edge "

This beautiful scene was taken at "Camp Hero" State Park, Montauk, NY. This is the first time I have been here and it was quite the treat. The Light house you see in the top left corner is the famous Montauk Point Lighthouse located at the eastern most tip of Long Island. Needless to say as you look east you are looking at the Atlantic Ocean towards our friends in Europe. As you can see the coast line here is hilly and rocky. No where else on the Atlantic coast of Long Island is this true. Just a few miles west of this spot the shoreline is beautiful, with sandy beaches famous word wide like the Hampton's where the pompous rich and famous live and have their summer compounds (who cares) with the like of the Kennedys, Speilberg, Billy Joel etc, etc. Camp Hero a former military base was originally a coastal defense installation during WW-II. During the cold war it served as a Antiaircraft Artillery (AAA) training site through the 1950's. It also served as a Revolutionary War Canon site during that era. The Park itself consists of over 400 acres with miles of heavily wooded trails, picnic areas and the historic military buildings. It is a beautiful place to take a long hike on Long Island.

Nikon D90 2009/04/26 17:30:13

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G

Focal Length: 17mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/30 sec - F/20

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 174 "Local Landmark"

The "Old Hook Mill" is located in East Hampton, NY right on Main Street.

The owners of a post mill at the north end of town commissioned Nathaniel Dominy V to build a new smock mill with two pairs of millstones. The mill was built in 1806 and incorporated the main post of the 1736 Hook Mill. Nathaniel Dominy VII's "Register of Wind, Weather R Doings" documented the mill as being surprisingly active from I887 through I908 when it ceased operation. The Village of East Hampton bought the mill and the lot in 1922 and restored the mill to working order in 1939. It operated seasonally into the 1950's The village made additional repairs in 1984-1985. It is open during the summer months for a short tour.

Nikon D90 2009/04/26 16:41:14

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 20mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/100 sec - F/11

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 55 "Closely Cropped"

On Thursday evenings, in the nice weather, they have a car rally in the local King Kullen parking lot. This has been going on for years and I know some people who display their restored automobiles at these get together's. Yesterday when I took this shot of the 1965 Black Ford Mustang, the 6PM late afternoon sun was burning directly, straight on into my lens. I told my wife "no go", the light is not right, all I will get is burned out highlights and bad reflections with a lot of lens flare. Well she said take a few shots and see what you get because it will probably be raining next Thursday. So I took about ten clicks and and true to my expectations there was a lot of very over exposed highlights. So I went off to the Police Museum to get some other photos(see below). When the sun is a little higher in the sky in late June/July I will go back. Last evening I was playing around with these shots to see what I could salvage and use for the Blog Monster. I'm so far behind I figured what the heck post it. I kinda like it, it's different. The extreme close crop (IMHO) adds to the mystery of what this auto looks like in full view. I'll keep going back on Thursdays and get a good full shot of some of these autos. The original un-cropped version had the sky blown out with pure white pixels and a lot of lens flare off the fenders. I'm getting good look at the shutter speed (1/13 sec.)hand held non-VR lens.

Nikon D90 2009/04/23 17:47:55

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G

Focal Length: 15mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/13 sec - F/22

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 191 "Museum"

This is the first in a series of images I took at the Police Museum in Yaphank, NY. As you can see it is an old Shell Gas Station dating back to the early 1940's. The Police Wrecker (tow truck) is a 1942 Dodge. The price of gas as seen on the pump was 15 9/10 cents per gallon. The two posts below show one of the gas pumps and the restrooms (little bldg. on right side).

Nikon D90 2009/04/19 13:00:14

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G

Focal Length: 14mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/320 sec - F/11

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 213 "Orange"

This old orange Shell gas pump dates back to the 1940's. It is part of the Police museum mentioned in the post below. The price of gas at that time was 15 9/10 cents per gallon. What a bargain. But remember that ones salary was much less. I know that in 1951 I worked in a drug store in Sayville, NY and made a whooping 57 1/2 cents per hour.

Nikon D90 2009/04/23 18:29:09

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G

Focal Length: 19mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/25 sec - F/18

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 79 "Doors"

Well this pair of "Doors" belong to a restored Old Shell Gas Station from the early 1940's. It is located in Yaphank, NY and is part of the Long Island Police Museum. It's really a very interesting Museum to tour which I did quite a few years ago. One of these days I will go back and get more pictures. I took this one today as it is outside and not in the museum which was closed today.

Nikon D90 2009/04/23 18:37:08

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G

Focal Length: 20mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/60 sec - F/11

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 357 "What's for Dinner"

Well looking at this image I guess you can easily guess what is on the menu.

In 1896 the original restaurant and bar opened for business in the well-known J.J. Sullivan Hotel at its present location on East Main in Riverhead. It is believed to be the oldest continuing restaurant, bar and hotel in the town of Riverhead and the North Fork. Tweed's even continued to operate through the Prohibition by imaginative use of secret doors and dumbwaiters. The mahogany and marble bar originally constructed for the 1893 Exposition in Chicago still stands.

Today named "Tweeds Restaurant and Buffalo Bar" has been totally restored to it's original charm, featuring Victorian chandeliers, stained glass, the original stamped tin ceiling and a beautifully mantled oak fire place. And what Buffalo Bar could be complete without a trophy head of the last bison hunted by Teddy Roosevelt in the Dakota "Badlands." I personally have never eaten here but I here it is excellent and will make a point to visit this establishment. That said the Buffalo you see in the picture are raised on the owners Buffalo farm a few miles north of this restaurant. I have heard and read conflicting reports about whether the Bison at the farm are indeed used for food at the restaurant. Some reports indicated that the Buffalo's at the farm are for breding purposes only while other articles I read claim that the Buffalo are raised for food at the Restaurant. Here is the link for Tweeds and as you can see this place has quite the history. http://www.tweedsrestaurant.com/index.html

Nikon D90 2009/04/18 17:50:40

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 240mm

Exposure Mode: Manual

Metering Mode: Spot

1/400 sec - F/5.6

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 54 "Closed"

This my friends is the infamous Shoreham/Wading River Nuclear Power Plant. The plant itself is located in Shoreham on the edge of the Wading River which you can see in the foreground. It never opened but fuel was loaded for low power testing. The building of this monstrosity was a never ending effort with cost overruns and delays. This is where I live and all the locals voted against this plant but the politicians and Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO) new better. The opposition grew real stiff after the Three Mile Island incident and Chernobyl disaster. Finally because NY Governor Mario Cuomo would not sign off on an Emergency Evacuation Plan the new plant could not get the AOK from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In the end it cost us tax payers over 6 Billion Dollars which we local tax payers are still paying. Here's a good link for the history of this beloved place.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoreham_Nuclear_Power_Plant The setting sun was off to my right as you can see from the magic colors.

Nikon D90 2009/04/16 18:47:12

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 18mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/25 sec - F/16

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 400

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 360 "Who Put That There?"

This is a crazy fun shot. I went looking for a specific image and it did not work out. So I took a little ride and went down to the docks to see what I could find. There was not a boat in the Patchogue town Marina and it was around 7PM and I could tell with the dark grey clouds no sunset was in the coming. So I made a U-turn and on my way out I spotted this owl on the vertical pole. While I was in the car I thought it was real. So I silently and quickly got my camera and put the tele-zoom on and stepped out of the car. It was then I realized that it was a carving. Pretty neat, I've been here many times and never saw it before. These VR lens are great, look at the exposure 1/25Th sec @ 170mm with the ISO cranked up to 640. Hand held.

Nikon D90 2009/04/13 19:10:25

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 170mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/25 sec - F/11

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 640

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 56 "Clouds"

Today was a beautiful spring day with high winds and lots of big puffy clouds. I was up on Bald Hill taking the pictures of the Vietnam War Memorial ( posted below) and figured I would use this one for the theme title. When I took one of the picture of the Memorial I was facing directly into the sun. So I made a left turn (90degrees) put my polarizer filter on and took one shot. The filter really added to the depth of the clouds and color of the sky. I rotated my filter for maximum effect and then just backed off a bit. I find that this gives a more even effect all over the image.

Nikon D90 2009/04/07 12:36:49

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 40mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/80 sec - F/22

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 228 "Patriotic #2"

OK, so you saw the image below that is the Vietnam War Memorial here on LI, NY. When I took the image of the Memorial and was putting my camera gear away I turned around and saw these flags waving in the stiff breeze so I figured why not take a few shots. They are directly behind the Memorial. Easier said then done. It seemed that exactly when I pressed the shutter button the wind stopped for a second and the flag decided to drape downwards and the image did not look very good. So after about 20 shots I finally got a few that looked good. The Lower flag is the MIA/POW flag for the Vietnam War era.

Nikon D90 2009/04/07 12:50:10

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 280mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/200 sec - F/22

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 640

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 228 "Patriotic"

"Suffolk County Vietnam War Memorial", Farmingville, NY.

Situated on top of Bald Hill, one of the highest points on Long Island, this monument was constructed under the guidance of the Suffolk County Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee in 1991. The monument, a sharply sloping pyramid, painted boldly in the colors of our nation's flag, acknowledges the service and sacrifice of all Vietnam Veterans - those who died, those who were wounded, and the men and women who served. It is hoped the memorial will help heal the trauma of those war years in a spirit of reconciliation and remembrance. This site affords a spectacular and inspirational, unobstructed view of Suffolk County for miles in all directions.

I made about four trips here to capture this image but the light just was not what I wanted. Usually it was later in the afternoon around sunset. Today I happened to be in the area and saw those extremely large, puffy cumulus clouds and I knew that I better hurry. I got there at around noon time and by the time I got my camera gear and walked to the Memorial site I suddenly realized that I will be facing directly into the high noon sun. I took about thirty or so shots and tried to be exact in aligning up my camera and be centered properly. That said it was a hit and miss deal as the wind was blowing probably in the 30-40 mph range and the clouds were zooming by. The sun is shining through the dark clouds just to the right of the top of the memorial. Believe it or not I did not blow out the highlights because of the sun being behind the cloud so I lucked out and IMHO this is a keeper. Other shots I took where the clouds were white and not dark were over-exposed with hot spots. I use Lightroom for my PP and I did use the gradient filter on the top and left side to reduce my exposure. It acts the same as if I used a neutral density filter but to me its much better as I could use it on the left side also. I kept just a smidgen of the four ground trees on the bottom so that the Memorial did not appear to just emerge from the granite walk way. The Memorial is surrounded by heavy guard rails because I believe it was in 1997 that a couple of teenagers were painting there Graffiti art on the sides of the granite walls of the Memorial. They were caught and apprehended by the local police.

Nikon D90 2009/04/07 12:23:05

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G

Focal Length: 20mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/250 sec - F/22

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Hand Held

Theme # 137 "Halls of Justice"

Riverhead, Long Island, NY is the County seat and this is where the old Supreme Court Building resides. The original wooden structure was built in the mid 1800's and damaged by fire and rebuilt in 1928. The County has since built a new court building behind this structure and is attached to the nineteenth century complex by bridges. The whole area is roped off and is undergoing a major face lift.

Nikon D90 2009/04/05 14:47:45

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G

Focal Length: 14mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/80 sec - F/14

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 300 "Spring"

Well "Spring" has arrived. I have been trying to get a picture of these little spring " Crocus's" for about two weeks now. My wife and I walk our dog all over the place and every time I spot one of these little guys I say to myself I'll come back in a day or two with my camera and get a shot. And the next time when I go back all set to get a fabulous picture the little flowers are gone. Needless to say I think Ron (from down under) has been reading his mystical powers book and has put a hex on letting me capture a spring Crocus picture. Well yesterday, when I saw these little guys I placed a Rosary, Garlic Cloves, a Wooden Stake and a Cross in front of them and it worked I got my shot today. I waited until almost sunset for nice warm, soft light. This location is down the block and across the street in the local non-denominational cemetery. I took another image here for my blog titled "Rusted". Because of the setting sun almost everything was in deep shadow except for the little flower. The light was perfect and I was able to isolate the Crocus from the background pretty well. On the light side I took a little plastic water bottle with a spray attachment and when I sprayed some water on the flower it closed up on me. Luckily I took around a half dozen shots before I did that. Sadly I must also say that the gravesite where I took this picture was an aquaintance on mine who was killed in the 9-11 attack on the WTC. I used my Nikkor 105mm Macro lens and a Tripod.

Nikon D90 2009/03/31 16:41:57

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 105mm F/2.8 D

Focal Length: 105mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/15 sec - F/22

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: Manual

Theme # 329 "Tilt"

Well this is the "Tilting Tower of Riverhead. These surrounding area's are the last remaining rural areas on Long Island. At one time most of these farms were growing potatoes and various other vegetables. Now one by one they have been bought out by developers for housing developments or wineries. They have found out that the sandy soil and the climactic conditions are ideal for growing wine bearing grapes. This little tilting water tower is situated on a farm that still grows vegetables. It is totally covered with thick, heavy Ivy vines. In the summer you cannot really see the tower very well because of the Ivy vines. I moved out to this area thirty years ago and the tower was not on such a steep tilt as one sees today. The water tower it self is made out of wood and one wonders how long it will remain standing. I have passed this spot thousands of times and finally this blog has forced me to get my first image of the "Tilting Tower".

Nikon D90 2009/03/17 15:54:54

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 40mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/60 sec - F/14

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 320

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 233 "Photographer"

I have been struggling with this theme since we started. I had no clue on how to do a self portrait. I got this idea from one of my CS-3 books , "Photoshop CS-3 Essential skills " by Mark Galer and Philip Andrews. Personally I think it looks pretty neat ,I love it. But of course I am biased in my opinion. My wife doesn't really care for my artistic sense of humor she kinda thinks I look gross in this picture. The Flag image is the same one I posted the other day (Old Glory). That handsome guy is me (of course) and with the help of my dear bride I got a shot of myself. My wife has no idea on how to work a Nikon D-90 so I set up the tripod in the living room, placed two modeling lamps (the ones from my Lightbox ) on each side pointing to the sides and upward. Placed the D-90 on my tripod with the flash (SB-800) on the hot shoe pointing up toward the ceiling. Then I got my wife to sit on the sofa and I zeroed her in with a full face shot with my focusing spot on her right eye. Then we swapped spots and all I did was adjust my position till the focus spot was on my right eye ( my wife looked through rear viewfinder) and when she said OK , I pushed the infra red remote to fire the shot. So it was a self portrait with a little help. We took six shots in which four of them were use able. Of all the posts so far this to me was one of the ones I had the most fun with. I converted the image to Black & White in Lightroom (not auto-then really boosted up the contrast) an did the rest of post processing in CS-3 and the frame in PSE-7.

Nikon D90 2009/03/28 21:28:12

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 80mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/60 sec - F/11

Exposure Comp.: 0 EVS

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

SB-800 Flash and side lighting

Theme # 187 "Monotone"

I took this image about ten days ago and did not where to place it in my blog. So I finally Googled "Monotone" and it said basically in photography it means one color like Black & White so since this image had a lot of contrast I figured it may work. This little house is situated in either Baiting Hollow or Riverhead. I am really not sure. When I passed this house I told my wife that on the way home remind me to get at least one shot at a picture. So on my way home I pulled into the driveway got my camera and got out of the car and all of a sudden I realized that this place possibly was occupied. The side door has a lock on it and there are ground lights all around the front lawn in front of the little house. There also was tire track in the driveway. I quickly took about a half dozen shots jumped back in the car and drove off. I wonder if it really was some sort of grinding mill or that if the wind mill was a prop. Any way I converted it to Black and white in Lightroom 2.3. If I can find out any more info on this little house I'll update the blog.

Nikon D90 2009/03/17 16:03:55

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 32mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/60 sec - F/14

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 320

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 101 "Flags and Banners"

I am sure that most likely I do not have to explain this image. It was taken a few day's ago when I took that picture of the invisible tower that was supposed to look like a pine tree. Both images were taken from the same spot, the parking lot of the local Catholic Church, Saint Jude's. It was a beautiful clear, very windy day with gusts probably in the 30-40 mph range. It was perfect for a waving Flag and I took about twenty shots. I had the camera in shutter priority mode and started shooting at around 1/50 sec. This gave the flag some blurred movement but I couldn't get it right. So I kept increasing my shutter speed until I had a balance between stopping the motion and lending a little blurred movement to add something to the photo. In this photo there are very slight blurred areas when viewed at 100% magnification. I really like to take images of flags waving in the breeze. Gives me a sort of patriotic feeling.

Nikon D90 2009/03/23 16:53:22

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 95mm

Exposure Mode: Shutter Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/200 sec - F/7.1

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 53 "Clock"

This structure about ten years old replaced an old Lace Mill dating back to the late 1800's. My wife worked there back around 1959 while in High School. The local department store Swezey & Newins which also dated back to the late 1800's was located on Main Street , Patchogue, NY. It was considered by many the mercantile monument of the area. The Swezey family ran that business for over 100 years. I really do not know the exact reasons but the younger generation of owners built a new Swezey's at the site of the old Lace Mill and it never really took off. Possibly the ill fate of many a main Street in rural America as a result of the encroachment of larger and larger shopping malls. These large shopping malls on Long Island has laid ruins to many a main street. The new Swezey's Department store , a portion seen in the above photo lasted maybe 5 years or so. They sold the property to a local small college called Braircliff College and they sublet a portion of the building to Quiznos Restaurant and also a well equipped Gym. I have fond memories of the old store with its squeakie wooden floors and little nooks and cranny's all over the place . The old store had class and even particular odors that were inherent in very old wooden buildings. It still stands on Main Street but has been unoccupied for at least ten or so years. I made about three trips to this place before I got the image I wanted. Today was a beautiful day with a clear blue sky and when I took this image there was a fire red setting sun directly behind me as I snapped this photograph. The sky never changed colors as there was no clouds. But the setting sure warmed up the red brick on the building.

Nikon D90 2009/03/23 17:59:17

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 56mm

Exposure Mode: Shutter Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/50 sec - F/4.8

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 60 "Communication"

Believe it or not this tower is for our wireless communications commonly called "Cell Phones" connections. It is located right behind a beautiful Church in Mastic Beach, NY. When they originally designed this tower the "locals" objected to its horrible, ungainly, sight right smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood. I believe these large telephone companies paid off enough Lobby Money and had a law passed that basically said these towers will be put up wherever required. The only concession was to make the tower look like a pine tree and look like part of a natural landscape. IMHO they failed miserably. But Uncle Sam gets what it wants and when it wants it no matter what.

Nikon D90 2009/03/23 16:47:32

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 60mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/40 sec - F/8

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 260 "Rest in Piece"

The location for these grave sites is Calverton National Cemetery in Calverton, NY. I have friends and relatives interned at this cemetery. Being that it is so close to my house I make frequent trips here to pay my respects. Sometimes I will just drive around and say hello and reminisce about the good old days and times we had together. In each of these small vaults are the cremated remains of the respective individuals. A very close friend of mine, Harry had his father buried here in this section and I payed my respects a couple of weeks ago. This is the area where I took the other picture "Repeating Pattern" that I posted a while back. It's kind of hard to capture a great image as it's sort of confined and difficult to set up and compose. Any way you get what you get. I think its because we all are so used to seeing the headstones so perfectly aligned, row after row, for as far as one can see. This type of scene is not one usually sees in the Military Cemetery. This is the first time I tried to make a Collage or Montage from three different images. All three images were photographed by me on different occasions. The Statue of Liberty photo was taken when we went on a Circle Line Cruise around the island of Manhattan back in October 2007 and the waving flag was taken here at this cemetery during the Veteran's Day ceremony back in November 2006. Both of them were taken with my Nikon D-80. The reason for the Collage was to try and give some depth to the photo by adding the symbolic symbols of our Nation. Harry's father served in the US Army throughout out WW-II and was a active member of many Veterans organizations.

Nikon D90 2009/03/12 15:46:15

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G

Focal Length: 12mm

Exposure Mode: Shutter Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/80 sec - F/18

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 320

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF

Theme # 365 "Yellow"

Every day I keep getting further behind but I promise to try and get more photos now that the weather is nicer. This photo was taken at the Railroad Museum in Riverhead , New York about ten miles from my house. I took my camera, dog and my wife (notice the importance of the listed order) for a short ride to this place. It's in total dis-repair and actually is closed. Since this car is on the tracks they did not fence it in. Some homeless people are living in and around some of the other cars but I did not see them but saw only their cloths and garbage all around. The sign on the bright yellow car indicates that at one time it may have been used for a traveling circus. Since nobody was around and the place was closed I could not ask anyone for any information. There's about 15 different types of old railroad cars here. I'll have to go back in the summer to see if it's open.

Nikon D90 2009/03/17 15:19:01

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 18mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/50 sec - F/11

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 320

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

I have been tagged,...........

Madelaine tagged me and here are the rules:

•Go to your photo folder on your computer (My Pictures)

•Go to the Sixth folder of photos

•Go to the sixth picture

•Put the picture on your blog and a description of it

•Invite six friends to join the challenge

Friends that I have invited for this challenge are:

Lorri, Barbs, Jo, John, Sunny, and Dart

This image was the photo that I used back on January 5Th to test out the blog and post a picture to see how every thing works. The reason I picked this image was simple, I went to "My Pictures" folder and quickly browsing saw this one was already a JPEG and nicely framed. I would have loved to use this image as one of this years 365 but it was taken back in October 2000. My wife and I were camping in the beautiful Smokie Mountain National Park. On this particular day we went for a short (5-6 miles round trip) day hike relatively near Cosby Campground, where we were camping. It was a beautiful fall day in the mountains and we had a very nice hike. The Trail led us through a small group of very old camps that most of which were un-occupied. The park contains some privately owned land and homes which will become the property of the National Park System when the original owner dies. In this particular group of old homes only one or two were still occupied. It was like a sort of 20th century ghost town. The Park personnel do not (to my knowledge) destroy or burn the old cabins down. They let the elements take over and I suppose that in 30-40 years the old camps will be taken over by trees and the buildings will just rot out. I've hiked a lot of trails in these Mountains and every once in a while you will come across a old homestead that is being slowly returned back to the wild or just a old foundation with nothing else around. .

This image was taken with my old film camera the Nikon N-90S, 24mm f/2.8 lens and 35mm Etachrome E100VS slide film. I scanned this image from a 35mm slide into my PC with a Epson Perfection 4180 photo scanner. Post processing was done with PSE-4.

Theme # 259 "Repeating Pattern"

I was at Calverton National Cemetery here on Long Island visiting the grave site's of relatives and friends. This area is so different then most areas as this is the "Columbaria" where the inurnment of cremated remains are placed in small vaults. I have a very good friend whose father is buried here. I paid my respects to Harry and noticed that in between the sections where the vaults are located is a sitting area where one can meditate and perhaps reminisce or say some prayers. The repeating patterns were apparent but how do I photograph this structure which is at least fifty feet long and get the impact that I was looking for. It was late sun and the shadows were not cooperating with me at all. It was cold and my hands were freezing cold and I knew that this was a image for a wide angle lens. The car was parked quite a distance from here so I took about ten shots with my Nikkor 18-200VR lens but when examining the the focus with the zoom on the camera it just was not hacking the job. So off I went colder then ever and got my wide angle. Took one shot and came home. I use Adobe Lightroom extensively for PP my RAW files. I did all sorts of PP but just could not get the POP that I was looking for. So I went over to my presets menu and hovered my mouse over each one and you can see a thumbnail of the effect and when I hovered over this one I knew it was the one I wanted. Sort of surreal but it does get your attention. I very rarely use presets as I'd rather do the job myself and then save some of them for future use. Prior to using the preset I did not like the fact that I had some trees on the right and left as they(IMHO) were distracting. No matter what I tried I could not get what I wanted, but when I hit the preset the image popped out at me and the trees didn't bother me in the least. The link for those presets are here: http://www.albertdebruijn.com/gallery/page.php?13

He also has some new ones simulating film, The one I used for the image above was called ADB Steel Dark. His site is very neat.

Nikon D90 2009/03/12 15:48:27

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G

Focal Length: 12mm

Exposure Mode: Shutter Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/80 sec - F/22

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 320

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 94 "Fasteners"

I probably stretched this theme a little but ordinary paper clips do fasten sheets of paper together. By the way these are the small colored paper clips not the big ones. I used my Macro lens, light box, tripod and shutter release. Also I find that one must use manual focusing as the auto-focus does not know what detail to focus on and 99% of the time it focuses on the wrong detail.

Nikon D90 2009/03/11 15:54:56

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 105mm F/2.8 D

Focal Length: 105mm

Exposure Mode: Manual

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/13 sec - F/32

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: Manual

Theme # 43 "Celestial Bodies"

Not quite a full moon but I figured I would get some large craters with possibly more detail. But I like this shot anyway so here it is. I took this out on my deck tonight and because of the high humidity today there was a very thin sheet of frozen ice. I almost went slipping and sliding a couple times with tripod and camera.

Here is one of the best links that I've seen on Moon Images.

http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/moon/index.html

It explains in detail the how's, do's and don'ts of moon photography. I found it very useful and for one of my first attempts I don't think this is that bad. Possibly could be a bit sharper but then again I'm not sure. It goes without question I used my tripod, and delayed release with the infra red remote.

Nikon D90 2009/03/09 22:39:03

RAW (12-bit)Lens: VR 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 270mm

Exposure Mode: Manual

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/500 sec - F/11

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 400

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: Manual

Theme # 149 "Hobby"

Now since this is a Photo Blog how could I not post a picture of one of my first cameras that I got when I was around ten years old. Photography has been one of my favorite hobbies for a long time. There is a story about this camera and I promise to keep it short. My grandfather died when I was only four years old and my grandmother never remarried. There was a gentleman who was a very close friend and in ways a business partner of my grandmother named Mr. Alex Laky. He adored my mother when she was a child and when I was born I became his sort of adopted son. He always showered me with love and attention. Our family heritage is of Hungarian extraction and Mr. Laky occasionally went back to Hungary to visit friends and family. It was on one of these trips that Mr. Laky bought me this camera. It was made in Germany and when I goggled it I became aware for the first time the history of this camera. This particular model was made in or after 1938, it has a fixed lens and used 120 roll film. I shot hundreds of images with this camera but only a few survived the passing years. For those interested here is a link for Voigtlander who as I just found out is the oldest name in cameras and dates back to 1756. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voigtl%C3%A4nder

If you hit this page on the right side is a picture of my camera with a link for its history. I learned a lot about camera history from these sites.

I again used the light box with the plain white background with three lights. One on each side and one on top facing down. The lights on the sides were pointed up towards the top of the box.

Of course I used a tripod , manual focus and manual exposure. Post processing done in Lightroom2.3 and I applied a duotone effect to give the image a older vintage look.

Nikon D90 2009/03/07 18:26:46

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 35-70mm F/2.8 D

Focal Length: 58mm

Exposure Mode: Manual

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/20 sec - F/16

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: Manual

Theme # 107 "Footwear"

These old sneakers were at one time part of my canoeing equipment back in the mid eighty's. My wife and I love to camp, hike, and of course canoe. Today with all the new fancy gear, this, I guess looks outdated. Anyway my DW figured that these were obsolete, disgusting and disposable so in the garbage they went. Well Mr Ed (me) takes the garbage can up to the street and being the type of pack rat that I am checked out what she (MDW) was throwing away. Need I say any more? The sneakers were saved for another canoe trip up in the Adirondacks. Of course they are only back up gear as I now have new and fancy slip on canoe clogs. But you never know when they will come in handy.

I guess I am becoming a light-box-aholic as I again used it for this shot. I use my wide angle lens for the best possible DOF, Manually focused on the toe of the right sneaker and used a tripod..

Nikon D90 2009/03/07 15:09:42

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G

Focal Length: 24mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/8 sec - F/18

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-Manual

Theme # 128 "Greek"

Well if you look real carefully at the equations from my college physics book I think you all will agree with me... Meaning that it all looks like "GREEK" to me. This book dates back to 1961 when I took Physics at the University of Florida. I cannot believe that at one time I actually understood Greek. I mean Physics and all the other Math and Engineering courses. I did well in the sciences but had to take extra English courses before they would let me graduate. I used my new light box with the dark blue poster board sheet for the background. Another plus for the light box is that the light was so good that this shot was hand held and only took a couple minutes to set up and get four shots.

Nikon D90 2009/03/05 21:01:44

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 44mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/200 sec - F/4.5

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF

Theme # 59 "Colored Glass"

The Church that my wife and I belong to is Saint John the Baptist Roman Catholic. On Ash Wednesday when my wife and I went to church I noticed the large circular stained glass windows which dominated each side and the front and back of the interior of the church. Basically the Church is orientated North and South. This stained glass window is on the west side so I figured the setting sun would be ideal. The weather has not been cooperating in this endeavor but today was ideal. Nice clear blue sky and near sunset was my chosen scenario. I called the Church and asked permission to take a few shots. They were very happy and if things turned out OK they would be happy for a JPEG copy for their web site. I'm sure they will be as happy as I am. I got to the Church at around 3:15PM and was surprised that there were about 10 people visiting and saying prayers. I then realized that we are commemorating the season of Lent so I tipped toed around to my vantage point and luckily was not bothering anyone. The window sits around 25' off the floor so I wanted to get away as far as possible in order not to introduce distortion by pointing my camera at a steep angle upward. So I grabbed my big glass and took a few shots. I purposely did not use any flash so as not to bother any one. All the painted walls around the window were in deep shadows and I figured that would add to the image by not distracting from my main subject the "Stained Glass Window". Most times when using my tripod and long lens I will use the infra red remote and delay when taking the shot. This will help dampen any vibration from the mirror or my hand. The Exif data below will show the basic set up. It goes with out question that I tried hard to align the camera and tripod vertically with the glass window. As the sun was setting I was watching for that shadow to disappear ( just to the left of the main vertical brace) but all of a sudden it started to get wider so I had to fire away. This was because of the low angle (to the south) of the sun. So this is the best for now. I suppose that if I want the perfect aligned shot I would come back again when the setting sun is more vertically aligned. I hope I'm not losing every body but I don't know how else I can explain my method. In fact if I ramble on any longer I too will be totally lost.

Nikon D90 2009/03/04 15:48:05

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 122mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/13 sec - F/16

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 275 "Sense of Motion"

This wind generator is located at the Town Of Brookhaven center where all their offices are located. I had to go there today to file some property tax papers for my mother. It was very windy with gusts in the 30-40 mph range and was also drizzling on and off so I took this image while in the front seat, window down in the parking lot. The advantage of digital becomes more apparent to me as I took about 25 shots and this probably the best one. And at no cost just delete and bring some home to post process. I had a lot of difficulty as the wind was blowing so hard and that tail assembly is hinged so it was swinging back and forth as the gusts were from slightly different directions. The tail would move the whole assembly from right to left and the speed of the propeller would change so in essence I was shooting a erratic, moving, jerky target. In order for me to get the sense of motion of the whirling propeller I had to keep changing my shutter speed up and down. It seemed to me I was always behind one or two steps as when I would increase shutter speed the propeller also did. I was trying to get the optinum shutter speed matched with the wind speed so as to get the most "sense of motion " with the blurred propeller. I could have done better with a tripod but I did not want to get my camera wet and I did not have my rain coat for my camera with me. I think the guy upstairs was playing games with me. Any way I got what I got.

Nikon D90 2009/02/27 16:15:48

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 170mm

Exposure Mode: Shutter Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/60 sec - F/20

Exposure Comp.: 0 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

Hand held

Theme # 326 "Things With Wings"

Look at the wings on them geese or is it goose..
I made my "Do It Yourself" light box today and it seems to be working out pretty good. These Grey Goose bottles are pretty tall so you can see the seam between the back panel and the top panel. But I have only two lights and I believe a third light (pointing upwards toward the ceiling) would make that joint seem less. If you notice the bottle on the right is 3/4 full while the one on the left is empty. This stuff goes down really smooth like water and really works wonders when you are constructing a light box. I had the stereo on blasting some Rock music from Pink Floyd and Meat Loaf and my wife had to lower the volume at least a half dozen times. But I'll tell you I had a great time making the light box. The first attempt the light box came out round.......Only kidding around. It only took about a hour to make. Actually very simple.

Nikon D90 2009/02/25 00:22:58

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 27mm

Exposure Mode: Manual

Metering Mode: Spot

1/6 sec - F/25

Exposure Comp.: 0

ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

Theme # 271 "Second Hand"

Finally I'm back to post a new image. There is no big story about this except this is my Seiko watch and as you can see the second hand is ticking away. I used my macro lens and it looks acceptable but really should be much better. The problem I had was lighting. I really have to make a light box out of Styrofoam and few other miscellaneous items. The color temperature of the lamps I used were too low and I have to go to Home Depot and get the right ones. Knowing that I never shoot Macro I now must practice up. I really struggled to get this image.

Nikon D90 2009/02/22 21:48:13

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 105mm F/2.8 D

Focal Length: 105mm

6 sec.-F/40

Exposure Mode: Manual

Manual Focus

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

Exposure Comp.: -0.3 EV

ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

Theme # 267 "Sandy"

This is my first post in a few days so I feel I must apologize for not visiting all the other post's and blogger's but I have been so busy. It's good to get back in the groove as they say. This picture was taken at Smith's Point County Park, Shirley, NY. I took this the same day that I took the other fence image and the image of the TWA Flight 800 Memorial. It's funny because I rejected this image from being posted as I initially did not really care for it that much. But I kept going back to look at it and realized that I liked it. It was a beautiful warm day about 40 degrees Fahrenheit and there were a lot of people visiting the park. A young couple in love (constantly kissing) were watching me take pictures and when I stepped off of the sand dunes and walked toward the beach the young man asked what was I taking pictures of. I tried to explain to the both of them that the late sun, beautiful textured white and light tan sand and the fence with the shadows was so interesting. But I know that he could not see these things. When I got about 100 feet away he walked over where my foot prints were and looked down where I was looking and told his girl friend that there was nothing there. I was taking pictures of the pretty rough surf and really was not concentrating where I was walking or in what direction and the next thing you know a larger then normal wave came in and I got soaked way above my ankles. I didn't panic, drop my camera or tripod but very nonchalantly walked out of the surf back to the sandy beach. A lesson to be learned concentrate on what you are doing not on a young couple. They thought it was quite funny. Well needless to say that ended my photographic journey of the day. Homeward bound to change sneakers, socks and pants. It looks like snow but the sand is almost pure white very fine and then turns to a golden tannish color.

Nikon D90 2009/02/07 16:24:32

RAW (12-bit)Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 18mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/320 sec - F/6.3

Exposure Comp.: -0.3 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance:

Theme # 362 "Windows"

This beautiful window is part of an old building situated on the grounds of the old Woolworth Estate. There are many buildings here and one by one they are renovated and repairs made as appropriate. I believe all the buildings are barn red and have the older double hung windows as you see here. At one time this particular building was servants quarters and now is used for storage. If you look at my first post you will see a window similar to this and I titled that image "If only windows could talk". That title is very appropriate for this image also. All sorts of stories, gossip and who knows what else would be learned about the ultra rich when they lived or visited the estate. One for sure could write a book about it. Items such as this window always catch my eye even though it may not necessarily be the most photogenic window in the world. But the colors, warm late afternoon sun light and reflections help to make this image passable. I also like the idea that the outside ivy has some how made it's way inside out of the harsh winter elements.

Nikon D90 2009/02/14 16:04:39

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G

Focal Length: 24mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/60 sec - F/7.1

Exposure Comp.: -0.3 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 239 "Power"

Not too much I can say about this image other then these high power lines supply eastern Long Island with some of their electricity requirements. They are running basically East and West. The low setting sun is directly behind me. It's kind of difficult to capture these enormous, high towers but the warm light , the towers and the fall like colors drew my interest. Take note that the whole image is in acceptable focus. I focused on the tall grass on the left foreground only a few feet from where I was standing. This location is a few miles from my home and I figured I'd give it a shot.

Nikon D90... 2009/02/14 16:18:04

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G

Focal Length: 24mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/100 sec - F/11

Exposure Comp.: -0.3 EV Sensitivity: ISO 200

White Balance: Auto

Theme # 196 "Navigational Aids"

There is not too much I can say about this image other then it is exactly like the theme says "Nav Aids" used by the FAA. It located across the street from where my last post (Warnings) was taken. There is not too much data other then that which I got when I goggled that site.

I don't no if you have noticed but I am using my new found toy the Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 lens which through a series of sales and trades I purchased from the Nikonians used equipment forum. I absolutely love this lens because it now gives me the capability of some wide angle shots which could not be done before with my other lenses. Since the Nikon I have has a form factor of 1.5 this lens at the widest is really a 18mm (compared to a full frame 35mm sensor).

Nikon D90 2009/02/11 14:27:41
RAW (12-bit)
Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G
Focal Length: 18mm
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern
1/80 sec - F/22
Exposure Comp.: -0.3 EV
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 351 "Warnings"

This secured gate and fence surrounds the 2921 acres of the old Grumman Aircraft Flight Test Facility located in Calverton, NY. At one time when Grumman was still in operation here this gate was the primary entrance for Plant 7 and the Flight Control Tower. The previous image of the F-14 Tomcat was taken no more then a half mile down the road along this fence in Grumman Memorial Park. From this vantage point one cannot see the enormous hangers which housed all the aircraft when being built and flight tested. The reason I mention this is that when TWA Flight 800 went down and parts of the wreckage were found the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) needed a facility large enough to try to piece together the aircraft. At that time Grumman still had possession of this property and allowed the wreckage to be pieced together in one of the hangers. If you want you can see this in some of the pictures that are in the link I provided in the previous post. I personally went thru this gate thousands of times while gainfully employed by Grumman.

I believe that this pretty well fits the theme but I wanted to add a foreboding look to the image so I played around in Lightroom, converted to Black and white and finally settled in on a sepia toned image as I thought it added a dramatic effect telling one stay out or else. I added a little vignetting effect to focus in on the sign and barbed wire fence. At one time these fences were paroled by armed guards and no photographs were allowed. It's really funny because as I was taking this image I kept looking around for the guards which are no more. I guess it was ingrained in my memory bank absolutely ... NO PHOTOGRAPH'S.

Nikon D90
2009/02/11 13:54:06
RAW (12-bit)
Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G
Focal Length: 12mm
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern
1/125 sec - F/20
Exposure Comp.: -0.3 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 250
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 188 "Monuments or Memorials" Part 2

This probably should have been the first image but I'll leave the best for last. This is the front of what you saw partially in the other image. This side signifies the release of 230 sea gulls into the sky from the ocean waves. On the other side as you saw in image #1 all 230 names of the crew and passengers lost on that flight were inscribed in the black marble surface. If you look closely at the image above you can see reflected on the surface the 14 flag poles ( middle left side) which represent the 14 countries from which the victims came from. You can read all the details at this site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800

I converted this to Black and White in Adobe Lightroom-2

Nikon D90
2009/02/10 15:01:10
RAW (12-bit)
Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G
Focal Length: 18mm
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering Mode: Spot
1/80 sec - F/8
Exposure Comp.: -0.3 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 500
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 188 "Monuments or Memorials"

This is only a very small section of the Memorial dedicated to Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 800. Flight 800 was a scheduled international passenger flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York to Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Rome, Italy. On July 17, 1996, at about 20:31 hrs. EDT, the Boeing 747 exploded in mid-air and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the shores of Long Island near East Moriches, New York. All 230 people on board (two pilots, two flight engineers, 14 flight attendants, 212 passengers) were killed and the aircraft was destroyed. A good link for more details on the accident can be found here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800#TWA_Flight_800_International_Memorial
I am not too sure about this image but figured I would post it any way and go back again to the memorial and try again. This was my third trip to this site and very few pictures if any can do it justice. I tried early morning, late evening right before sunset and today a little earlier in the afternoon but cloudy, overcast dreary sky. The problem was that the monument itself is highly polished almost black marble and the sun and blue sky reflecting off it would drive me crazy. Every thing around would be reflected like a mirror and it was sort of difficult to really see the etched names and designs in the marble. Today's reflections look like I converted it to Black and White but that is not the case. It's in color. I know what image I want but have not been close as of now. If you browsed the link I provided you can see the whole Memorial and get a better feel for what it looks like.

Nikon D90
2009/02/10 15:08:37
RAW (12-bit)
Lens: 12-24mm F/4 G
Focal Length: 19mm
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern
1/50 sec - F/8
Exposure Comp.: -0.3 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 500
Optimize Image:
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-A

Theme # 98 "Fences"

Today, here on Long Island it warmed up to a sizzling 45 or so degrees. I just had to take advantage of the heat wave so naturally went down to the beach to see what I could find. This scene is situated at Smith Point County Park, Shirley, NY. It is a beautiful park located on the ocean front and has swimming and camping facilities. It is also the home of the Memorial of TWA Flight 800. I went there to take pictures of the Memorial and what ever else captured my interest. When I saw this fence and the golden colors of the tall grass I knew I had a winner. The fence itself is only about two feet high. I wanted the best depth of field possible so I went back to the car and got my tripod. I cranked up the ISO to 320 and stopped down my aperture to f/25 and took 3 shots at different zoom settings. The reason for my choice of a higher ISO was that it was pretty breezy but I still wanted a fairly fast shutter speed to stop the wavy tall grass. What amazes me the most is the depth of field I got with this lens. Its my general walk around lens that at times I have been known to say is a little too soft for my liking. I actually focused on the bottom of the left most post and I guess coupled with the f-stop chosen came out smelling like a rose. I really did not expect this with a so called general purpose walk around zoom.

Nikon D-90 2009/02/07 16:18:58

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 32mm..1/50 sec-f/25

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

Exposure Comp.: -0.3 EV

Sensitivity: ISO 320

White Balance: Auto

Tripod mounted

Image count: 27/365

Theme # 3 "A Movie Title"

This is the under belly of a Grumman F-14 "Tomcat". Fame and recognition by the general public came about with the release of the motion picture "Top Gun" on 16 May 1986. Tom Cruise was the Hollywood actor trying his best to be a tough Navy pilot attending the elite Top Gun flight school. This particular F-14 has found it's final home at Grumman Memorial Park situated a few miles from my home. It's located on the old property of Grumman's Flight test facility in Calverton, NY. I worked for Grumman for 34 years starting out as a Electronics Technician. After completing my BSEE I continued on with Grumman for a rewarding career.

I took the liberty and copied a little historical data on the real Top Gun Flight school.

The United States Navy Fighter Weapons School was established on March 3, 1969 at NAS Miramar, California after a United States Navy study (sometimes referred to as the "Ault Report") directed by the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) at less than desired performance of fighter aircraft, aircrews and weapons. The head of the study group, CAPT Frank Ault recommended that a graduate-level school be established to train fleet fighter pilots in air combat tactics to improve the relatively poor air combat performance of Navy aircrews over Vietnam.
The school was initially formed and placed under the control of Miramar-based fighter squadron VF-121 "Pacemakers", an F-4 Phantom Replacement Air Group (RAG) unit responsible for providing type-qualified air and maintenance crews to first-line units of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet. It received relatively scant funding and resources and built its syllabus from scratch, while borrowing aircraft from its parent unit as well as other units to support the practical aspects of their operations.
Its objective was to develop, refine and teach Air Combat Maneuvering tactics and techniques to selected fleet air crews, using stand-in aircraft that could realistically replicate the nimble Russian-designed fighters that they were most likely to oppose in combat. At that time the threat aircraft were in the form of the transonic MiG-17 'Fresco' and the supersonic MiG-21 'Fishbed'. This teaching concept is known in military aviation parlance as DACT, or Dissimilar Air Combat Training, and presently is widely used in air arms the world over.
Air crews selected to attend the TOP GUN course were usually considered to be the best that their units could offer. Upon graduating they would then return to their parent fleet units to relay what they have learned to their fellow squadron mates, in essence becoming instructors themselves.

Camera: Nikon D-90

Date/Time: January 29,2009@ 14:53:44 hrs.

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 18mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/50 sec - F/8

Exposure Comp.: 0

ISO 200: White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Filter: Nikon Circular polarizing

Software: Adobe Lightroom 2.2, CS-3, PSE-7
Image Count: /365

Theme # 141 "Hangs on a Wall"

If you read the history on the prior post about the Woolworth Estate I mentioned the Elephant Room. Now you know why we call it by that name. This trophy was bagged by Mr. Woolworth Donahue in the early 1930's. This trophy has been "Hanging on the Wall" for around eighty years. This room is where we have our monthly meetings and many formal affairs are also held here. I have the honor of being the committee chairman for the annual installation dinner held in this room every year in early December. We can sit 150 people comfortably with banquet tables and have a large area for dancing and band. It is one of the nicest yearly affairs that my wife and I go to.

Date/Time: February 1, 2009 @2:14:25 PM
Camera: Nikon D-90
Lens: Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.0
Shooting Mode: Aperture Preferred
Image Format: RAW
Metering Mode: Matrix Multi-Pattern
ISO: 800
White Balance: Auto
Shutter Speed/Aperture: 1/60sec. f/11, Focal Length: 29mm
Technical Notes:
Flash: SB-800
Location: Long Island
Editing Software: Adobe Lightroom 2.2, CS-3, PSE-7
Image Count: /365

Theme # 331 "Times Gone By"

If you have been reading my previous posts then you will remember that I am heavily involved in the shooting sports. I feel that I must add that I do not hunt any more as there is no need to provide food from the wild on my table. I belong to a sportsman club here on Long Island that is probably one of the premier clubs on the East coast. Our facilities is situated on the Peconic River hence the name "Peconic River Sportsman Club. The history of the grounds and buildings is fascinating. In the early 1920's this private estate was sold to the Woolworth family. In the early 1930's it was enlarged for Woolworth Donahue ( his wife being TV celebrity Mary Donahue). It consisted of about 400 acres and was used primarily as a hunting retreat and had a 75-acre private lake stocked with fish, along with small bore and hi-power rifle ranges. Over the early years it was expanded and many more buildings added. Woolworth's hunting lodge on Long Island was known to the select few as just Riverhead. The very large Room called the Adirondack lodge became a trophy room supporting the vast elephant head hanging over the imposing stone fire-place . The trophy room also contained some of Africa's greatest treasures including prize animals that Woolworth bagged in his hunting episodes. This image is just one small portion of what the interior looked like. The days of so called "Camps" of the ultra rich are "Times Gone By" with the advent of almost instant travel to any where in the world. I just love the simple elegant design of wooden beamed ceilings. This view is looking up at the ceiling of the main entrance into the so called "Elephant Room".

Date/Time: February 1, 2009 @2:09PM
Camera: Nikon D-90- .
Lens:Nikkor 18-200 VR
Shooting Mode: Aperture Preferred
Image Format: RAW
Metering Mode: Matrix
ISO: 800
White Balance: Auto
Shutter Speed/Aperture: 1/60sec. f/11 Focal Length: 32mm
Technical Notes:
Flash:SB-800
Location:Long Island
Editing Software: Adobe Lightroom 2.2, CS-3, PSE-7

Image Count: /365

Theme # 266 "Rusted"

This image would fit numerous themes but as you can see there is some rust in the picture. A cemetery would probably be the last place to look for a rusted item other maybe a gate or something. This is a headstone with the triangular shaped iron chime. There is no name on it or for that matter no writing at all. It's located in the older section of the cemetery so I would presume that it dates back to the mid 1800's or so. We live across the street and up the hill so this is the perfect place to walk my dog "Honey" whom you met in a previous post. I've tried to capture this headstone before but to be truthful could never get the right lighting. It's up on a pretty hill and today the setting sun did it justice with it extra warm tones and shadows. I had to take it on this angle as my shadow would get in the way. I couldn't kneel down as the grass was a muddy sponge. It was quite breezy today and the chime has a surprisingly beautiful deep bong sound similar to a sea buoy. Maybe he or she was a sea Captain or loved the sea. I know I will re-visit this headstone to really get it right as I'm not too sure about this one. The whole picture does arouse my interest because of it's different open shape, the chime and of course the shadow and warm lighting.

Date/Time: February 1, 2009 @ 3:41 PM with Nikon D-90

Lens:Nikkor 18-200 VR
Shooting Mode: Aperture Preferred
Image Format: RAW
Metering Mode: Matrix
ISO: 320
White Balance:Auto
Shutter Speed/Aperture: 1/160sec. f/8 Focal Length: 27mm
Technical Notes:
Flash: none
Location: Long Island
Editing Software: Adobe Lightroom 2.2, CS-3, PSE-7
Image Count: /365

Theme # 126 "Graffiti"

I can not remember what the name of this closed up restaurant was but any way it is across the street from a rather large Shopping Mall and has been closed for around a year now. I took five shots some from over to the left and right from where this one was taken. I decided that the straight on shot was the winner. Being vacant I guess the local Graffiti Artist's had a very good red brick wall for practicing and displaying their artistic talents. It is a shame that all this energy goes into this rather then into developing there talent on a professional artistic level. Who knows maybe the artist will be the next Picasso.

Exif data: Photo taken on January 30, 2009 @ 2:36PM with my Nikon D-90and the 18-200 VR lens. RAW format, Matrix metering Mode, Aperture Preferred Mode, WB-Auto, ISO-200, 1/50 sec. f/11 @28mm. Hand held, no flash, no exposure compensation.

Theme # 139 "Hands"

"Hands"......I know that I basically composed this image, in my mind, the first day I saw the 365 theme list. I also believe in order for a image to have a sense of being or character that the story behind the image is sometimes as important as the image itself. That said I will try to provide some background and insight in the making of this photo. In 1997 my mom's health took a turn for the worse and she suffered a slight stroke and required hospitalization and rehabilitation. My father has long been deceased and also her second husband so my wife and I became care-takers for my mother. Anyone who has done this for their elder parents knows how difficult it is at times. In 2007 my Mom's care escalated to such a degree that it was best for all concerned to place her in an assisted living care facility where proper care could be administered. This was by far the most painful and difficult decision that my wife and I have ever had to make. The guilt, sobbing, crying and sever emotional pain were with us until we sought help from the Alzheimer's foundation and went for group and individual counseling. They explained so clearly the "Journey" that my Mom was on and nothing we could do would change that journey. We did the best we could for ten years and now suffer no guilt at all. When my Mom was placed in the nursing home they all told us that acclimation to this facility would come about when she started to make contact and friends. These "Hands" are of my mother Gladys, and her dear friend Ruth. When they became friends my Mom sort of settled in and felt safe and secure in her new home. My mom is now 91 and Ruth's age I really do not know. When I went to visit her today she asked if I have seen Ruth as she has not been around for a few days. I wheeled Mom over to Ruth's room and the three of us had quite a chat and I asked permission of Ruth and my Mom to take a few pictures. Well here is one result. Too me my short story adds depth to the image as now We know who, where and what they are.....but Two strangers from different walks of life.... each on their own individual path of their life's journey finding friendship and strength from one another when meeting in their next to final home. We have made friends with at least thirty or more residents at this facility and when my wife and I visit my Mom we visit them all.
Exif data is as follows: Image taken on January 30, 2009 @ 3:52PM, Nikon D-90,RAW, Aperture Preferred Mode, WB-Auto, ISO-200, Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens at 1/60 sec. f/5.6,zoom @44mm. Hand held and in/on camera flash fired with minus one stop compensation.

Theme # 292 "Snow or Ice"

This little area of very thin Ice was just about twenty feet from the previous post the old abandoned water tank. What struck me was the blue reflections from the cloudless blue sky and the abstract patterns of the frozen ice. After I took a bunch of pictures of the tank I was going back to the car and had to crunch my way back through this thin ice. It intrigued me, caught my attention and I took about a half dozen pictures but intuitively knew that most likely I would end up chucking them. So many times I have tried this sort of shot but find it so disappointing when I see them first hand. It's sort of like a love and hate type relationship. One minute I like it and the next minute I say to myself I must be nuts to like this image. I took six shots and played around in Lightroom with all of them. Not so much image post processing as cropping. I finally ended up with this and have a rather thick skin so tell it like it is. I know I'm crazy but one moment I like it then the next I'm not too sure if it works. And believe it or not I'm still not sure.
Exif data as follows: Image taken with Nikon D-90 on January 29, 2009 @ 3:25 PM, Aperture Preferred Mode, WB-Auto, ISO-200, Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 zoom, exposure at 1/50 sec f/5.6 @ 35mm. Hand held looking straight down.

Theme # 5 "Abandoned"

This old abandoned water tank probably has an interesting life story but unfortunately I could not find out too much about it's history. All I know is that back in the early 1950's the United States Government bought up a couple thousand plus acres of land to be used as a flight test facility by Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation. Back at that time most of the land was unimproved and parts of it was farm land. A portion of that land was allocated for a National Cemetery and that is where the old tank sits. It's about a couple hundred feet off the main road in an overgrown area that at one time was part of a farm lot or whatever. The house is gone but some remnants of a foundation are still visible. This water tank is about 2 miles from my house and I've seen it here thousands of times but never took the time out to actually investigate and see really what it was. It's funny because we had about five inches of snow on the ground and yesterday we had a little rain and sleet so when I pulled the car over and got out of my car and headed towards the water tank there were fresh frozen footprints leading from where I parked my car to the old water tank. Some one else was curious and looked this place over perhaps even taking a picture or two. One of the old farmers told me that at one time these old water tanks had wheels on them and were moved around by tractors to provide water for the crops. Considering that this tank has been sitting here for fifty plus years it is in remarkable shape. The carriage and wheel assembly are gone but as you can see it's now on blocks and retired from farm use. I could not get real close as it's in a wet area and you can see the ice in the picture. Because of the DX format and a multiplier of 1.5 I really don't have a wide angle lens anymore. Otherwise I would have gotten in much closer and used the high depth of field to its maximum.
Exif data is as follows: Image taken on January 29, 2009 @3:22 PM. Nikon D-90, Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 lens, Aperature Priority Mode, Matrix Metering, WB-Auto, ISO-200, exposure 1/60 sec. f/8 35mm. No flash and hand held.

Theme # 103 "Flowers"

This stunning plants real name is "Spathiphyllum" or commonly called a "Peace Lily". It has only one small flower on it so figured I'd better get it now or never. The flower it self is no longer then 2".
I tried various angles and different lens but settled on my Nikkor 35-70mm zoom with the Nikkor-5T Supplementary Close-up lens attached to the front element.
Exif data as follows: Image taken on January 28, 2009 @ 9:08PM. Nikon D-90, Aperture Preferred Mode, Manual focus, ISO-200, Matrix metering, WB-Auto, Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 lens, zoom @ 52mm, exposure 15 seconds @f/11, no flash, tripod mounted and wireless infrared ML-L3 remote used.
Enjoy

Theme #364 "Works of Art"

Well I'm back from being gone for a few days. It seems I'm always playing catch up. These "Works of Art" were all hand carved by local wood carvers located here on Long Island. It is truly amazing to watch some of them as they start from a block of wood and a few hours later you can see the liking of whatever they are carving. Over the years I have accumulated quite a few pieces of waterfowl and duck carvings. Our house is decorated in Early American style so these fit in with the decor.
Exif data is as follows: Image taken with Nikon D-90 on January 28,2009 @ 6:58PM. 18-200 VR lens at 1/60 sec. f/11 and 36mm. Aperture Priority mode, Auto WB, ISO-200, Matrix metering, Hand held using SB-800 flash bounced off ceiling.
Enjoy

Theme # 4 "A Pair OF...."

Well here we are with another inside shot. These glass eagles have been my book ends since the late 1940's. My mother encouraged reading and subscribed me in the children's book of the month club. I still have those books. Hopefully next week will be the outside shots.
I tried various angles on this shot but straight on and a little higher seemed to work the best. Sunlight from the window really gave me too much glare on the glossy book covers so I covered up the window and used the on camera fill flash. I manually focused on the front of the glass eagle and then recomposed my shot.
Exif data is as follows: Image taken today January 22, 2009 at 2:22PM with my Nikon D-90. Aperture Preferred Mode, Matrix metering mode, WB-Auto, Manual focus, ISO-200, 18-200 VR lens, 1/60 sec f/11 @26mm. Built in camera flash fired. No exposure compensation.
Enjoy

Theme # 41 " Canine Companians"

What could I say about "Honey". She is the most adorable, loving dog that we ever had. When my wife and I decided to get another dog we wanted a short hair, extra calm and friendly dog. Honey meets the friendly criteria but she is a little hyper, a little nutty and long haired. She gives us total unconditional love with absolutely no pre-conditions. She is by far is the smartest dog that I have ever had dealings with. Her mother was a Golden Retriever and her father was we believe a Border Collie. She's five years old and a little gray hair now appears on her chin. She has a tiny white triangle of baby soft fur on her lower chest between her two front legs and little white hairs between her toes. Other then that pitch black. My wife attributes her shinny coat to the fact that we give her one of the best dog food's around. The name being Nutra Natural Choice Large Breed Adult. Even though she is five years old she is still a baby at heart. She steals your slipper, sneakers, hat, or whatever and runs around the house for you to catch her and is such a devil always trying to get in trouble and tormenting us with her childish antics. But that is "Honey" and we would have it no other way. We love her dearly. By the way she is named after my wife's childhood dog when she was in grammar and high school.

One of the tricks of pet photography is to always get down to there level. Some times being in close also works. Well I did both. With a pocket full of treats I placed her on one of her beds. They say when you point a camera at a dog they feel threatened so I let her sniff and investigate the camera to quite her down and sort of squelch any fears. That done I took about thirty shots and had about three keepers. At first I focused on her eyes but then her chin was out of focus. So I stopped down to f/16, focused on her chin and the eyes were in acceptable focus. I could see this pretty good on the rear display by zooming in on her eyes. I had her bed in front of our dark blue sofa so that the background would not be distracting. Over all I think it turned out nicely.

Exif data is as follows: Image taken on January 21, 2009 at 4:21 PM. Nikon D-90 with Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens. Aperture priority, Matrix metering, ISO-200, WB-Auto, 1/60sec. f/16. No exposure or flash compensation.

Enjoy

Theme # 48 "Childhood Favorite"

One of my childhood favorite toys in the late 1940's was my set of .027 gauge Lionel Trains. I dragged these few example's up from the basement, polished them up a bit and figured I'd try my hand at some more indoor photography. Considering that these trains are over 60 years old they really don't look that bad. I spent hours and hours running these electric trains around and around on its 4' X 8' plywood table. It had gates, crossing lights, curves , switch tracks, and little towns and streets. Little miniature people and buildings. I had a conveyor belt for coal transfer, a magnetic crane , a refrigerated milk car which would leave little milk containers on the platform and so many others that I don't remember anymore. I just about made all these miniatures up myself. These were the days before it was normal for every household to have a TV. I kind of miss the old days as life was so much more relaxed and family oriented. Sunday was a day of rest and nobody had to work.

At first I used side lighting from a large sliding glass door but just could not get the right affect. I waited for a hour or so till it was dark and used bounce flash off of the dinning room ceiling. This is all new to me trying my hand at still life photography. I tried around six shots trying to get maximum depth of field but was not able to get the front of the engine to the rear Caboose in acceptable sharp focus. The 20mm length ( 30mm in 35mm format) was not wide enough for me to get that depth of field. I tried smaller aperatures but not enough bounce light from the ceiling. I would expect the Nikkor 14mm f/2.8 would suffice or the Nikkor DX zoom 12-24 mm f/4 zoom. Next on the shopping list.

Exif data is as follows: Image taken with Nikon D-90 on January 19, 2009 at 5:59PM, 18-200 mm VR lens, RAW, Aperature Preferred Mode, Matrix Multi Pattern metering, ISO-200, Flash bounced off ceiling, 1/60 sec. @ f/8.0, zoom at 20mm.

Enjoy

Theme #355 "Weights and Measurements"

Well still stuck inside. Doctor's orders. Just to be on the safe side I use this scale to check my powder drop when reloading my own shotgun shells. I have reloading machines for all gauges of shells from 410 to 10 gauge. Some are progressive meaning every time the handle is pulled down a new reloaded shell drops out. Others are single stage reloader which take 9 steps of moving the shell and pulling the handle down. I save about fifty percent of the cost of newly manufactured shells. Because I shoot in competition which require's a lot of practice in order to not lose my competitive edge I shoot some where between 12,000 and 15,000 shells a year. With the increase in the price of lead these days it is not a cheap sport any more and I have cut back a little this year. My wife begged me to notify the local Fire Department that I have gun powder and live primers in the basement. No way, if I had a fire they wouldn't come.
The image as you can see is rather straight forward. I'm using the dinning room table with the reddish table cloth and a almost black back ground. I manually focused on the front edge of the scale to be within my accepted depth of field. When I looked at the image in Lightroom at 100% magnification every thing was nice and sharp. Because I need glasses for both reading and distance I sometimes go crazy trying to see if the focus is on. Well as my optometrist said it goes with the turf.
The exif data is as follows: Image taken on January 18, 2009 at 3:03PM with my Nikon D-90, Both Manual Mode and Manual focus, WB-Auto, ISO-320, Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 lens, 1/3 second at f/8, Spot metered and no compensation, Tripod mounted.
Enjoy

Theme # 99 "Film"

Remember the old days of 35mm film. I do and many of us here at the Village can reminisce about the old days. My first camera was a Kodak box camera. It used 120 Black and White film and was about the size of a small shoe box with a fixed lens and shutter and I believe a small Fresnel glass type view finder on two different sides of the camera. One for portrait and one for landscape type images. I probably got this when I was around 8 or 9 years old.
The image above is all 35mm both slide and print film. I think I am starting to get better at this . This one took fifteen minutes to gather all my old relics containers and another 15 to set every thing up, five shots later here we are. Very little post processing just crop and a few minor tweaks in LR-2 framed in PSE-7.
Exif data is as follows: Nikon D-90, Auto WB, ISO-200, Matrix Metering, 35-70mm f/2.8 lens, shot at 52mm 1/60sec f/13. Tripod mounted and flash fired at -.7 comp.
Eddie

Theme # 279 "Shadows"

I went out on my deck this morning and saw these diagonal lines which to me appeared intriguing. Got my camera and tried to compose so not all the vertical posts whose shadows were the subject would compete for the purpose of this photo. It was cold 18degrees and windy. I'm still not that chipper with my bout with the whatever. So I quickly grabbed off 5 or 6 shots. The image was taken this morning January 16, 2009 at 10:31AM. Nikon D-90, w/35-70f/2.8 lens at 70 mm 1/100 sec.@f/11. Matrix metering, auto WB, ISO-200, hand held, no exposure comp. There is some thing about this image that sort of baffles me. Like a optical illusion. It appears to me that the image when I look at it, it appears to be slanting down to the right. I even took my ruler and measured the two corners height but every thing is square. Beats the heck out of me. I thought it might still be the illness as I had a high fever for a few days but I think its a optical illusion. There is also a slight blue cast in the lower shadows but I could not remove that cast with post processing.
Eddie

Theme # 282 Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

Now where could I get a sign like this. You guessed it at a fund raising dinner for the one and only "NRA". Just in case if you don't know what NRA stands for it is the acronym for the "National Rifle Association". I am a life member and like previously stated enjoy the shooting sports. It's actually a Duck's Unlimited sign and they probably donated it. I won this great memento in one of the raffles. The only thing I don't quite understand is that my wife got more then a little annoyed when I hung it up in the nice formal living room. It didn't last ten minutes. So now it's in the basement where I keep all my reloading supplies and 49+ years of accumulation.
This is another one that took too many shots. I kept getting reflections from the windows and had to wait till the light was right.
The image was taken today January 14, 2009 at 1:46 PM. Used my trusted Nikon D-90, Captured in RAW format, matrix metering, Aperture preferred, auto WB, ISO-200, 24mm f/2.8 lens, 4 sec @ f/11, tripod mounted, no flash, no exposure compensation.
Enjoy

Theme # 73 "Cutlery"

I haven't been feeling too well the past few days so here I am again trying to play catch up. My wife had some kind of virus and guess where I caught it from. Well nothing I can do about it now so life goes on.
I tried so many different shots of different pieces of silverware and just could not get it down. Finally I said to my self "keep it simple" and got rid of all the extra hardware and picked three forks. The background I chose is a festive holiday place mat. This beautifully wooden boxed silver set of eight was given to my wife and I as a wedding gift back in 1959 by my father's mother and sister.
I probably took 10-15 RAW shots to get a couple of keepers. I don't have a true Macro lens so I tried every one out to try and get everything in focus. I ended up shooting practically straight down at the forks to keep it in one plane for focus clarity. The image was taken today January 14, 2009 at 1:35PM.
Exif data is as follows: Nikon D-90 with a Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 lens, zoom @ 35mm, Matrix metering, no exposure comp., 2.5 sec @ f/11, ISO-200, WB -auto, no flash and tripod mounted. Enjoy

Theme # 328 "Tie The Knot"

We "Tied the Knot" on December 5, 1959. One of the best decisions I ever made. It will be 50 years this coming December. That's almost a lifetime. I was 21 and the bride "Eveline" was 18. To give you an example of the financial world at that time, our wedding cost $500 band and catered affair at a local facility. The Photographer was a whooping $50 and no limos. We had somewhere around 100 guests. And paid for it ourselves. The money wasn't flowing like these days and weddings were very simple affairs. Personally I think its got out of control to spend $40-$50,000 on a wedding. I know I'm old fashioned. A friends daughter recently got married ($50,000+) and within 6 months got separated and then divorced. Supposedly he was a control freak.
I took this 8 X 10 out of our album and scanned it into my PC.

Theme # 9 "Advertisement"

I figured I'd try and play catch up today and post another image. Cold as heck out there today and I have a bad cold and sinus condition so I decided to stay indoors. I scanned this 1942 add from one of my old 1942 NRA Magazines that some how managed to survive all these years. My Dear wife has threatned me many times that she will kindly throw them out for me. Like I said in a earlier post I am a incurable "packrat". The interesting thing about this add is the header words which I will repeat if not legible in the image. I quote:
Washington, Jan.28.--(U. P.) The American flag still flies over Midway Island today because that tiny outpost's marine garrison dished it out--hot and heavy. The combination of American courage and good markmenship was too much for the Japs and so their first assualt on Midway, on the night of the December 7 attack on Pearl Harbor, failed".
Enjoy, Eddie

Theme # 1 "One Hundred"

Another one of my obsessions is Shooting. I have been deeply involved in the shooting sports since I was a kid. Long Island back in the 40's was all country, woods, open land, and farms. I probably got my first BB gun when I was 5 or 6 and my first 22 when I was 10 or so. I did a lot of hunting in my early years but as I aged I mellowed out and never hunted animals unless I put it on the table for a meal. But as the above 100 patch says I am involved in the shooting of Trap, Skeet and Sporting Clays. I also shoot rifle when the time allows but not in competition. While in the US Navy I was also on the ships rifle team and we used to beat the heck out of all the "Grunts" on board our ship. I have managed to collect my fair share of awards. A few years ago I was involved in a shot gun competition of shooting 50 Trap, 50 skeet and 50 sporting clays targets. Well there was a 5 way tie for my class so we had a shoot off. Each person would shoot at a target and if one misses he is out. I over heard one of the participants remark "look at that guy with a pump gun". Yep that was me shooting a Old 1950 vintage Winchester Model 12 Trap gun. Well there is a old saying in the shooting world beware of the shooter, shooting a Model 12 as he probably knows how to use it. Well I won the shoot off and nicely, politely told the person who made that remark if he ever needed any lessons I would be available for a nominal charge. He didn't say a word not even congrats. The patch is sewed on my shooting vest so I pressed it down real nice and scanned it into my PC using my Epson 4180 scanner.

Did a little cropping and added a frame.
Enjoy

Theme # 255 "Red"

Its been snowing outside just about all day so figured I would again pick a inside type topic. It's the Christmas and New year time so my wife got some Poinsettia's for decorations around the house. Believe it or not this particular Poinsettia was the smallest one that we had. I would say a 4" pot. But it had such a beautiful center that I chose this one for this image.
Since one of the purposes that we are all posting is to learn and sharpen up our techniques I'll bore you with the details providing another senior moment doesn't set in. I positioned the flower on my living room couch with a nice green table cloth for my background. Side lighting was coming from the right side a little bit in front of the plant. Because the outdoor light was so poor and diffused because of the snow I used fill flash at around -2 full stops. I did not want the flash to wash out the vivid colors. This meant that in Post processing I would have to increase my exposure which is what I did. My Exif data is as follows:
Image taken on January 10, 2009 @ 3:37 PM. Nikon D-90, RAW capture, Aperture Preferred mode, Auto WB, ISO-200, 18-200 VR lens at 34mm-1/60th sec f/5.6. Note VR is off when shooting from tripod. Fill flash used at - 2 stops. Post processing was done in Lightroom 2.2 and framed in Photoshop. I know that you will start to notice that a lot of my images are vivid and saturated but that is the way I see and perceive the world. I hope you enjoy.
Eddie

Theme #269 "Sculpture"

The Title for this sculpture is "Pink Lady". The credit for this piece of fine art goes to my Uncle, Michael Barkin. He was married to my mothers sister Martha who now at a ripe old age of 96 resides in a nursing home in California. Uncle Mike passed away probably around 20 or so years ago. His work has been displayed in Fine art galleries in Florida, Michagen and elsewhere. Both Mike and his wife were art teachers in Brooklyn, New York many years ago. The marble used for this piece was hand picked by Mike in Italy. I believe in a town named Carrera which is known for its fine pink marble. My Uncle told me that the infamous Michelangelo picked marble from the same area. Uncle Mike died from complications of enphesima caused ironically from fine dust resulting from his sculpture work.
I must admit that capturing this image was no easy task. I tried to use natural side lighting coming in the living room window. To make a long story short after about twenty different shot trying various lighting and lenses I figured I must have at least a couple keepers. The marble is so finely surfaced that reflections of natural and fill light came from all different angles and places. It is very hard to see if the JPEG image on the camera display is a real keeper. The histograhm tells me about exposure but not focus or fine detail. That said I did post processing in Adobe Lightroom-2.2.
The Exif data is as follows: Image was taken on January 8, 2009 @ 2:45PM
Nikon D-90, with a 35-70 mm f/2.8 lens. Aperature priority mode, Matrix metering, WB-Auto, ISO-200, 1/60 sec f/11 and zoom at 70mm. Fill flash was used with compensation -1/3 stop. Tripod mounted.

Theme #249 "Rain, Rain, Go Away"

It' such a gloomy, dreary day I just had to use this theme. We had about four or five inch's of snow on my deck but it has been pouring rain here all night so only a little left. I stepped out from the family room door and onto a covered sort of breeze way and immediately saw these opposing diagonal lines which I thought were interesting. This 365 challenge will teach me to be more cautious when I click that ole shutter. Meaning that I should really see the image in the view finder not when post processing. I hope I don't bore you with a little history about my deck but I find it interesting. My property slopes down ward from the road meaning I'm on sort of a steep hill. From where this picture was taken on the right we are at ground level. If I turned my camera to the left to show the rest of the deck you would see that the tree tops appear almost half way down to ground level. The whole deck is filled with diagonals different levels, and a octagon shaped piece on the far left. That part is around 35 ft. above the ground. I designed this deck in 1992 and had a friend of mine build it at a bargain of all bargains price. We love the deck because in reality it's my back yard.

About the image, you will note the verticle distortion of the ballesters I believe that was caused because I shot this at 18mm ...so the pronounced distortion. If I had used a mid range zoom setting the distotion would not have been so pronounced. I think! But because of the intense rain I did not venture off the breezeway.

The exif data is as follows: Image was taken on January 7, 2009 at 1:05pm, using my Nikon D-90 with my 18-200mm VR lense. I shot in RAW, ISO-200, WB-Auto, Aperature preferred , Matrix metering(no compensation), 18mm,1/60th sec. f/6 . Hand held And no flash.

In my estimation nothing special but interesting and helps the learing process.

Thanks for viewing.

Theme #182 "Memories of Childhood"

Well finally here is my first image for 2009. It appears I have some catching up to do. But a little pressure never hurt any one. This Xmas Tree stocking was given to me by my mother and father in 1937 for my first Christmas. I was one day old. Yes one day. I truly treasure this memento of my early childhood. I also have my sisters stocking from 1935 and who knows maybe it will fit in another category and be posted further down stream. My mother who now is 91 gave these treasures to my wife and I about 15 years ago when she knew that she was starting to fail and slow down. I'm a clutter bug and have boxes and boxes of things from the past when I was young and also from when my children were young.

This was taken with my Nikon D-90 on January 6, 2009 @ 9:53 PM. Exif data is as follows: Aperture preferred mode, Matrix metering, WB-Auto, ISO-320, Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens, @70mm f/7.1, 1/60 sec., Flash SB-800 bounced off to the right and ceiling to give it a soft effect. I used my Bogen 3001 Tripod and Giotto ball head. I used Lightroom for post processing.

"If Only Windows Could Talk"

I am uploading this image for practice to see how everything looks.

Eddie