Just Ducky

Posted by dkrashb on March 16, 2013

Sometimes black and white makes an otherwise uninteresting shots better, but not always

When we went to the Nature Center a weekend or two ago, we went to see the Red Wolves. But the only wildlife we saw were these two mallard ducks. Seeing a mallard is not exactly the most exciting birding event in the world. According to several sources (including Cornell), they’re the most abundant duck in the world.

These two really did not want their picture taken. They were paddling along serenely until I pulled my DSLR with the 70-200mm lens on it. It’s as if they knew what a hunter with a gun looked like and were confusing me with one. They made a bee-line for cover. I rushed the shot, trying to get a nice close up before they got out of sight.

This is a “traditionally” adjusted version–just nothing to get excited about

As a result, I didn’t get a chance to change any settings on my camera from the last shot I’d taken. Having been shooting in the treehouse just before this, I had the camera in full manual mode and set for a pretty dark scene. So, of course, my duck images came out pretty darn bright.

So, once again, I found myself playing with adjustments in Aperture to see what I could come up with. Nothing like a bad shot of a ubiquitous subject to make you feel like you can go crazy with the editing.

Playing with the “blur” brush, I applied it to the whole photo and then erased the blur where the ducks were. I’m not really a fan of this look.

An interesting side effect of going crazy with the photo editing was that it really demonstrated the superiority of the female mallard’s plumage. As I adjusted and twisted and played, the biggest challenge was keeping her from disappearing all together. With brown speckled feathers, the female just kept blending into the background.

I would probably like this if the female showed up better

Surprisingly, as I did a little reading on the mallard–a species I have taken for granted since the first time I through them bread crumbs when I was about 4 years old–I learned that sometimes the male is just as well camouflaged. As an “intermediate” birder (on a good day), I was a little embarrassed I didn’t know that the male mallard loses his flight feathers at the end of breeding season at the same time he molts into an “eclipse” plumage. For about 2 weeks, he can’t fly. The brown plumage provides cover while he’s vulnerable.

This was created mostly with the curves feature–but the colors just seem to compete with the ducks

Every time I think I know something, I learn something new about it. And when I’m sure I’ve exhausted all of the current information, usually new information is discovered if I wait long enough. Good thing I like to learn.

Oops–I slipped with the curves adjustment. But look at what happened to the male duck

Tisen is an avid learner, too. He has made more progress in his current hobby of “ground-dogging.” I can’t recall him ever seeing a groundhog, so I’m not sure exactly where he got the idea to burrow under anything, much less blankets, but he’s now added snorkeling to his repertoire of blanket-burrowing techniques. This is a welcome relief–sometimes when he gets himself completely buried, he starts sounding like he can’t breathe. I’m always relieved when we see his nose.

Tisen snorkeling from under the blankets

Loupe-less

Posted by dkrashb on March 15, 2013

Looking through a metal cutout on a treehouse door at an intricately carved post

Do you ever take a photo of something and think, “Oh, that’s really, cool!” only to be sorely disappointed when you look at the image on the big screen later? This happens to me more and more.

I attribute this phenomenon to a combination of 1) improving pickiness and 2) diminishing sight. I see what the image looks like in my head. I look at the relatively small screen on my camera or phone and think it looks pretty good. Then, I get home, look at the same image on my much larger laptop screen with my reading glasses on and think, “Oh, no!”

This is one of those lessons I learned and unlearned. After getting home with too many photos where I had missed focus and didn’t realize it, I invested in a loupe that is contained in a rubber “plunger” that goes over the screen on my DSLR. The loupe magnifies the image and the “plunger” part blocks the sun so I can see the image clearly.

I’d learned to use the loupe religiously. While I don’t bother taking it with me when I’m shooting birds or other wildlife–by the time I figure out how the image looks, the subject is gone–I’d come to depend on it in most situations.

But shooting with the iPhone erased this lesson. After all, am I seriously going to walk around with a loupe looking at my iPhone screen after every shot? Suddenly, I found myself shooting with my DSLR much like I’d shoot with my iPhone–no tripod, casually grabbing shots, and loupe-less.

As a result, I visualized something really cool when I took this shot:

But, when I looked at it with glasses on, I was sorely disappointed.

This made for a good time with the Aperture curves feature. I still don’t have the shot I imagined, but I felt free to modify to my heart’s content since I didn’t like the image. It’s fun to feel like a kid again.

While I wile away the time adjusting photos, Tisen takes cuddling in a blanket to new heights. When we settle down for the evening, my husband and I each take our place on the sofa in front of the TV.

We sit down and Tisen stands on the floor and stares at us. We call him up on the sofa and he blinks. Then, when I pull the blankets out of the closet, as soon as I throw one over my husband, Tisen jumps up on the couch and immediately ducks his head under one edge. Tonight, Tisen burrows his way under the blanket, up onto my husband’s lap and leaves only his tail end visible.

I cannot resist putting the Camera! app to the test. Its flash feature allows you to turn the “flash” on so that it stays on while you frame the shot and shoot–really handy when trying to capture my ground-dog burrowing in the dark.

Tisen is in there somewhere–not sure how he’s breathing though

Thrown a Curve

Posted by dkrashb on March 14, 2013

Getting crazy with the Aperture curves feature

After playing with my Hipstamatic images for the past several days, I finally remembered that I’d taken a few shots with my DSLR the same weekend. I pulled out the memory card and downloaded the photos.

I seem to have had some difficulty switching from the square frame of Hipstamatic back to the rectangular frame of the DSLR–there were many extraneous things in my DSLR images.

I thought about talking about how the DSLR images were technically better images than the Hipstamatic images, but really, they’re not from an execution point of view. If you want to compare megapixels and talk about sharpness, well yes, they are. But, that’s not better execution; that’s better equipment.

A more conservative adjustment

In any case, instead of trying to prove you can take technically better photos that still don’t look as appealing as what might be considered a flawed photo, I thought I’d try taking one image and doing a lot of different edits with it. I chose a DSLR image because of the better resolution and because it’s in RAW, both of which help images stand up to more edits.

This is the Hipstamatic image that I spent about 30 seconds creating:

Hipstamagic

By comparison, this is the original image from my DSLR (no adjustments/edits):

It’s not quite a fair comparison because of the differences in composition, but it’s the best I can do.

Now, what can you do with a not very exciting image of a treehouse? Well, Hipstamatic has already done a lot of editing for me. But I decided to push Aperture a bit to get a better idea of what kinds of things can be achieved in this relatively simple editing tool.

I don’t advise this exercise be started within 2 hours of bed time. It’s addictive.

This is what happened when I started playing with the separate RGB channels in the curves feature

For most of the effects, I used only one adjustment: curves. I tweaked a bit in saturation, highlights, and levels. But I literally spent an hour playing with dragging a curve around into crazy shapes just to see what would happen.

By the way, I didn’t sit down thinking “I think I’ll play with the curves feature tonight.” This idea all started when I was adjusting an image and I accidentally pulled the curve too far in one direction. The photo did something interesting and I liked it.

The curves feature is truly like coloring. Maybe scribbling is more accurate. Whatever it is, it’s fun. I don’t often say that about photo editing.

Tisen cuddles Skunk on the sofa after a walk

Tisen has resurrected Skunk from the bottom of the toy bin lately. This may be my doing–sometimes when he wants to take Big Dog or Squirrel on a walk (both of which trip him when he carries them), I make a quick substitution. I think he had forgotten he had Skunk. I like that the two of them together make a stripe pattern against a swirl pattern, but both in black and white. Tisen seems to have discovered Skunk also makes a great pillow.

Hipsta Park

Posted by dkrashb on March 13, 2013

I like the rocks Hipstamata-sized. The first time we saw these rocks, a guy had just fallen off of them and broken his ribs.

Sunday afternoon, looking for something fun to do, we decided on an easy, short walk that Tisen could accompany us on. Pat suggested Signal Point, but I felt the distance we could walk and the view we could see without any physical strain was too limited. The easily accessible overlook is less than 50 yards from the parking lot.

Coming back up the steps from Ochs Overlook toward the New York Peace Monument

Coming back up the steps from Ochs Overlook toward the main loop

I suggested we head up to Point Park instead. Point Park has what is probably a half-mile loop that’s flat and affords views from many directions. Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama are all visible from Point Park. The view of Moccasin Bend is hard to beat. And, there are monuments, canons, and interesting rock formations that would all allow me to continue my Hipstamatic spree.

Pat agreed and we headed up to the mountain. The one disadvantage of Point Park is that they do charge an entry fee. I don’t mind paying the entry fee–I want to support the park–but it does add up throughout the year given the number of times we take visitors up there. When we got there, I stopped in the Visitor’s Center to ask if they have an annual pass. The volunteer on duty didn’t know of anything specific to the park, but told me about the $80 annual pass to all federally managed lands. He told me it included access to Yellowstone and gave me a pamphlet.

Looking down the trail at the museum at Ochs Overlook

While it was tempting to get an annual pass for all federal land, when we started trying to come up with a list of places we would use it in the next year, we couldn’t really think of $80 worth of places we would get to in the next 12 months. We decided to wait and went to the park entrance to pay. When we got there, there was actually a ranger staffing the ticket booth. Usually you pay a machine.

I mentioned to him we’d thought about buying the park pass, but had decided to wait and he informed me that there is a $20 annual pass for just Point Park. He called the Visitor’s Center volunteer for us and sent us back to pick one up. When I got back to the Visitor’s Center, the volunteer was still on the phone with the ranger who was giving him instructions on where to find the pass. We made it through the process, got our shiny new pass and headed back to the entrance.

View of Moccasin Bend from Ochs Overlook

The same ranger was still on duty. When I handed him the new pass he had facilitated, he looked at it, looked back at me, and said, “We don’t take those here.” Gotta love a ranger with a sense of humor!

We took a nice spin around Point Park, walking out to Ochs Overlook at the point and enjoying the spring weather. The bright sunshine created an interesting haze in Hipstamatic.

Mocassin Bend doesn’t actually fit in the iPhone frame from Ochs Overlook. This is the “bend.”

Afterwards, we headed home. After a shower, Pat did a little more work on the computer with assistance from Tisen.

Tisen helping Daddy on the computer

Hipsta-pick

Posted by dkrashb on March 12, 2013

Distant view of the bluff and Hunter’s Museum from the Walnut Street Bridge

Choosing is the hardest thing about digital photography. Because it’s digital, most people take far more images than they would shooting film, me included. The more you take, the harder it is to choose.

Using the iPhone helps–I worry about my battery dying more with the iPhone than with my DSLR (and I usually have a spare battery fully charged in my pocket for the DSLR). Taking a dozen shots of the same subject with my iPhone seems excessive and risky. Had I been shooting with my DSLR, I probably would have shot at least 50.

Taking a dog on a casual shoot also helps limit the excess. When Tisen gets restless, shooting becomes more difficult (because I’m holding his leash while I shoot) and it quickly becomes evident that it’s time to go home.

Hunter’s Museum, switchbacks, and Silhouette People

Sometimes limits on the number of images you can shoot is a good thing (usually about the time you download all of the images to your computer and start going through them). Sometimes it’s a bad thing. Like when you are on your way back from a shoot and the sun does this spectacular burst through the clouds and you stop to shoot it and your battery dies.

Most of the time, I wish I had fewer images to choose from. Sometimes the choice is obvious. Some images just don’t work. But often, there are subtle differences between several shots that make it excruciating to try to choose between them. I often just close my eyes and point.

Hunter Museum and Silo-like thing in foreground

In today’s examples, I had a hard time picking between the image of the Hunter museum that shows the switch-back trail going down the slope in the foreground (one of the things about the riverfront I find amusing) and the image that includes the silo-like structure in the foreground. I particularly like the silhouette people on the overlook at the Hunter Museum in the first example. But the silo-thing is such a part of the landscape, it’s hard to resist.

I wanted to include a shot that shows the historical part of the Hunter Museum as well. Since the word anachronism seems to be among my favorites of late, the museum itself is an example with its modern design surrounding a 19th century mansion. But, I needed to cross the glass bridge to get a good angle of that and I didn’t think Tisen was up to it.

McLellan Island under Veteran’s Bridge and a Surprise Duck Tour boat

The second subject is McLellan Island, split by Veteran’s bridge. The surprise element (surprising to me) is the Duck tour boat (aka, DUKW) that suddenly appeared. Truly, it must be spring!

The one subject I didn’t shoot with Hipstamatic was the sculpture “High Four” with Tisen. I couldn’t quite get far enough away while holding Tisen’s leash to get it framed the way I wanted, but I’m happy I got a shot of the two of them together in any case–Tisen was very cooperative. Next time, I will bring a matching scarf for Tisen.

Tisen being a cooperative model with "High Four"

Tisen, being a cooperative model, smiles with “High Four”

Hipsta-vising Old Haunts

Posted by dkrashb on March 11, 2013

Looking up the slope from the North Shore end of the Walnut Street Bridge

I may be suffering from Hipstamatic addiction. I started thinking about all the riverfront scenery we haven’t been frequenting this winter and how great it would look in the tintype style. So, Tisen and I took a longer walk than we’ve taken in a while and headed over to the Walnut Street bridge. It was the perfect day for it. The warmth and sunshine caused a growth spurt in the tourist population roaming the bridge. Had I not been walking Tisen, I would have blended right in taking pictures with my iPhone.

The Walnut Street Bridge has been a frequent subject for many-a-photographer. I’ve shot it so many times from so many angles, I keep thinking there aren’t any images left to capture. But, I had never shot it with Hipstamatic!

Looking downstream from the North end of the bridge provides a nice view of the Delta Queen

According to Wikipedia, it’s “one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the world,” but when I tried to verify this, I quickly found 2 longer pedestrian bridges within the united states and 3 in other countries. So, maybe it’s within the top 10 or so, but I couldn’t find an official list in the amount of time I was willing to spend searching.

According to my GPS, it’s about a half a mile long, which is consistent with Wikipedia’s measurement of 2,376 feet–264 feet shy of a half mile. It’s historical significance is more interesting, but part of it is quite sad. I’ll skip the gory details–those of you who are interested can find more information here.

Lookout Mountain looms in the background behind the Tennessee Aquarium

The happier state of the bridge began when a group of citizens in Chattanooga decided the bridge should be saved when it had been closed and abandoned for so long that it was a dangerous eyesore (this is hear-say information). Now, it’s an awesome walking bridge.

As we made our way gradually across the bridge, greeting the occasional neighbor and exchanging smiles with strangers, Spring suddenly struck me. By this, I mean I was suddenly overcome by that special joy that only happens when you get out in the sunshine on one of the first really warm days that kick off the season and know that winter is almost over. Exhilaration. That’s the word.

Looking through the bridge trusses toward the bluff and the Hunter Museum

One of the unique aspects of the Walnut Street Bridge is the slope. The North Shore end is just above the river while the Downtown end is up on the bluff, so it’s a pretty steep climb.

Tisen definitely felt the climb. He seemed very happy to stop and let me shoot for once. Every time I paused to shoot, he paused to pant, standing perfectly still. I guess this means I can’t blame him for my misfires.

At the risk of falling once more into the “Always Perfect” pitfall of loving my subject so much I think every photo of him is worth sharing, I took this late last night:

Tisen and Daddy napping on the sofa (Daddy with a pillow over his head)

Photo Fails: Part II

Posted by dkrashb on March 10, 2013

Continuing from yesterday’s post, here are a few more examples of obvious photographic failures and how to avoid them.

Foreign Objects in the Frame

Holding Tisen’s toy while shooting downward resulted in a blue blur in the frame

How many images have you seen with someone’s finger in them? This is especially a problem with smart phone photography–it can be challenging to hold the camera steady while tapping the screen without getting a finger over the lens. Using an app that allows you to use the “Volume Up” button to take the shot on the iPhone 4S or 5 is a great help with this. In this example, I was shooting with my DSLR while holding Tisen’s toy, Jack. Lesson: don’t hold a dog toy while shooting at a downward angle.

Choosing a different angle kept the toy out of the frame (as did setting it down on the ground while shooting)

Bad Angle

Tipping treehouse with corner of railing in the foreground doesn’t work

This could have gone in the Hipsta-Tilt post I did a couple of days ago–the tree house is not vertical. But, not only is the tree house looking like it was built on the side of a hill, but I managed to get the end of the railing in the frame as well. Particularly because the rail is very light compared to the rest of the image, it immediately draws the eye away from anything you’re intended to look at. The fix here is pretty obvious, but with an iPhone, it can be hard to hold still. Setting the phone on the rail might have been a good way to avoid this (and might have added a really cool element to the image if it captured the rail running towards the treehouse diagonally).

While not perfect, the railing running diagonally and the nearly straight treehouse come closer

Bad Timing

My subject is over shadowed by the finger of my husband trying to catch a marble that rolled out of the frame

The end result isn’t so different from Foreign Objects, but the problem is different. Rather than a finger slipping over the lens or something I’m holding hanging into the frame. this is a case where I captured the motion of my husband’s hand instead of the motion of the marble. This particular set up required trying over and over until figuring it out. But, when shooting a large object moving from left to right (or vise versa), the best solution is to find the subject through the lens when it’s still pretty far away, pan with it as it approaches, and take the shot when it’s in front of you. I haven’t tried that with my iPhone yet–maybe that’s what I’ll do tomorrow?

No finger in the frame and a marble in motion was what I was shooting for

Always Perfect

My blurred and under-exposed baby still looks perfect to me

My final photo is perfect. This is called “always perfect” because sometimes we are so emotionally attached to our subject that we think every shot of them is perfect. There’s nothing wrong with that, but maybe we shouldn’t make our friends look at 500 pictures that are out of focus and mostly look the same. 🙂

Better exposure (right eye visible) and more in focus (at least the eye is sharp) make for a better image, although the background is distracting

Photo Fails: Part I

Posted by dkrashb on March 9, 2013

Professional photographers often take hundreds of photos to get the one image that really works. But how often do we get to see the ones they discard?

I, as an amateur, am willing to share my mistakes. For today’s post, I chose problems even the most inexperienced eye can spot–these apply whether you’re shooting with your smart phone or a DSLR. I will have part 2 to this post tomorrow–couldn’t get it down to my 500 word limit.

Clumsy Errors

These occur when I do things like trip over my dog while trying to take a shot. This image falls into the sub-category “improper camera holding while not shooting.” This image happened by mistake when I accidentally put my finger on the shutter button while carrying the camera.

This is what happens when you shoot accidentally

To avoid this, for my DSLR, a cross-shoulder strap holds the camera so I don’t have to. With my iPhone, I end up with pocket shots. To avoid this, I turn off the screen before I put the phone back in my pocket.

Blown Out Sky

This also has “uninteresting subject” and “crap composition” going for it, but let’s focus on the sky. This happens when the shot is exposed for a dark subject and the sky is so bright that the camera cannot handle the difference in the light levels. It’s often hard to avoid. This is particularly challenging if you’re shooting with a smart phone app that doesn’t have exposure control, but sometimes you can get it to expose on something that’s halfway between the darkest and lightest parts of the image by tapping on the screen in the case of the iPhone camera.

Among the many problems with this image, the sky is over exposed (“blown out”)

The other option is to use HDR. It combines multiple exposures into one image. On the iPhone, Pro HDR does this for you automatically. The default camera app also has an HDR setting in the 4S and 5. If you choose this option, it’s imperative to hold the phone as still as possible.

Inappropriate Use of Flash

I see this all the time. ALL the time. This is an iPhone shot of a fortune. It was funny, but you can’t tell because the flash overexposed the subject. Hint: Turn the flash off! When you use it, use it on purpose. Otherwise, it will fire in situations when it will do you no good (like flashes popping in the audience of an arena) and even situations when it will ruin the shot (often seen when people stand squarely in front of an aquarium and try to get a shot of a fish through the glass). If you need the flash, turn it on. If you don’t know if you need it, turn it off.

I wonder what my fortune was?

Got Cravens?

Posted by dkrashb on March 8, 2013

One end of Cravens House with a leafless tree against background clouds–can you spot Pat and Tisen?

After our little adventure at the Nature Center (yesterday’s post), we drove up Lookout Mountain a couple of miles to Cravens House, part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

Cravens House is not spectacular from an architectural perspective, but the history of the place, the view, and the fact that it’s a trailhead for many great trails more than make up for the lack of creative design.

We thought it would be a good destination to walk around with Tisen for a half hour or so, expecting to walk through the woods until we tired and then turn around and come back. We were not dressed for serious hiking. I had on my typical casual outfit, including a winter coat perfect for going to a casual dinner. The exception was my hiking boots and rolled up jeans–just in case there was mud. Pat also was dressed in his casual gear meaning a T-shirt, sweatshirt, and corduroy jacket that isn’t exactly warm.

This is only one of many monuments commemorating units who fought in the civil war, many of them from the Union

When we got out of the car, the wind blasted us, immediately making it feel 15 degrees colder than lower down the mountain. Snow flurries started falling from the gray, gray sky. Tisen gave us a look when he hopped out of the van that seemed to say, “Really? We drove all the way up here for this?”

We made our way across the wind-blasted lawn, the only ones out and about at this elevation. We made a circular lap past Cravens House, then past the giant monument in the lawn and over to an odd looking half-modern, half-historical log cabin. We paused behind the cabin, seeking shelter from the wind while Tisen sniffed.

The more historic looking end of the log cabin

Tisen has a funny habit. Well, he has many funny habits. One of them is quite funny to watch, but has been very challenging to catch on camera. He backs up to a bush, hunches up his back like he needs to heed the call of nature, and then sways his rear end back and forth under the tree branches, giving himself a good scratch. He decided the shrubs behind the cabin represented the perfect opportunity for a good scratch.

A little more of Cravens House with a more visible Pat and Tisen

This was about the time a car pulled into the parking lot and a man and a dog got out of it. They’d come for a game of fetch. The man was even less prepared for the cold than we were–he had no jacket at all.

The man didn’t see us until his dog came running over. He apologized profusely, but the dogs greeted each other with proper dog etiquette and hit it off. We asked if it was OK to let Tisen off his leash and soon, the dogs were chasing each other around the yard. It made me sad that we don’t have a yard for Tisen to run around in. He got the most exercise of all of us and completely stopped noticing the cold.

A less happy Tisen won’t hold still for a picture when we took him for a post-romp bath

Huff and Puff

Posted by dkrashb on March 7, 2013

Before the treehouse, another house on stilts provided a nice subject for tintype

Last Saturday, we decided to find something interesting to do that didn’t involve too much physical effort. I suggested we go to the Chattanooga Arboretum and Nature Center to see the Red Wolves. The Nature Center has one of the few red wolf breeding programs. We have been to the Nature Center a few times, but we’ve never seen the red wolves.

I decided to take my DSLR with the 70-200mm lens, figuring we’d be pretty close to the wolves in their exhibit area, but I might need to zoom in.

The treehouse with its tree coming through the roof

We took Tisen with us, although he’s not allowed in the nature center because it’s a wildlife preserve. We figured we wouldn’t be there very long and he could hang out in the car. Then, we’d take him somewhere he could get out and romp around a bit.

I put my DSLR around my neck, my iPhone in my pocket, and grabbed my wallet when we arrived. We headed into the visitor’s center where we learned it would cost $10 each for our 20 minute visit to see the red wolves. We decided to buy an annual family membership–it was a much better deal.

We headed down the boardwalk towards the Wildlife Wanderland exhibit. Along the way, we discovered a really cool treehouse on stilts in a wetland. Of course, my 70-200mm lens was too tight to get a good shot. So, there I was, standing on the boardwalk with my expensive gear hanging around my neck while I used my iPhone to take Hipstamatic shots of the treehouse. It reminded me of a photo someone shared on Facebook of a professional photographer standing on a sidewalk with 3 cameras, extra lenses, and various other equipment hanging off of him holding up his iPhone to take a picture.

The treehouse at the end of the boardwalk

The treehouse made a good subject for the tintype effect because of its setting. But the contemporary angles of the roof, like the Tennessee Aquarium in earlier posts, create an anachronism in this old-fashioned style.

After exploring the treehouse, we moved on down the boardwalk to the canoe launch. That was truly modern. They have a dock that has a mini-canal in the middle of it to make it easier to get in and out of the canoe. They also have a rack full of canoes–we’ll have to give those a try when the weather gets warmer.

Up close look at the crazy angles of the treehouse–love the diagonal window

Next stop: red wolves. When we got to the junction leading to the Wildlife Wanderland, there was a chain across it with a “closed” sign hanging from it. I guess we’ll have to take advantage of our new membership to see the red wolves–at least we won’t have to pay $20 every time.

When we returned to the car, Tisen was barking. This is rare. Usually he sits in the front seat and looks out the window quietly. I’m not sure what got him barking, but he was happy to see us.

Tisen the cuddly wonder

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