Travels with Charlie, Basil, Logan...

I was sitting having some coffee after doing chores that I decided to 'take a hike' off the farm.

On a whim I texted my neighbor to see if she was busy or not. *Would you, Logan, and Basil like to go to the KVR for a hike? It is ok if not.*

The weather was going to change again on Saturday, the forecasters had predicted a rain/snow/icy wintery mix with the possibility of up to half an inch of rain before it changed.
I figured things would be a mess over the weekend and with the temperatures starting to rise, this might be one of the last nice days to hike.

Text back *Sure we are up for it!*

I set everything up for Rich and got him up so he could have his breakfast and meds. I put his lunch in a microwave dish and he said he could warm it up.
It was a go...

I picked up my neighbor and we headed towards the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. Logan was happy in the back seat where Charlie kept alternating between his 'car' seat and sitting next to Logan.

We decided to search for an ice cave. Logan was thrilled and the trail was packed and easy to follow.

This trail is one of my favorite trails in the KVR. It is an out and back, not too difficult, yet it has a diverse change of scenery.

Dogs are allowed to be off leash on the trails except during nesting season for the birds.

Someone had fun writing in the snow along the trail.

 And then we added a note too.

Ice Cave!

It wasn't one of the huge ice caves, but Logan and the dogs were impressed and had fun smelling everything. There I am with my cat face mask on and the Skunk Hat ... of course!

The Ice formations have become rather popular to see and the Reserve ahad to post a sign to people who hike there to *Be Nice to the Ice*.  Basically they don't want you disturbing these beautiful creations. No climbing on them or breaking them. I had to give the ice a hug.
I was being Nice to the Ice!

We explored the 'cave' and then headed down and around the deep snow to the second place that generally has a huge Ice Fall.

Logan and Basil are walking on top of an ice fall that is buried under the snow. The time to photograph this 'fall' is when the snow cover is nearly gone.

Like last year:

Same place just below the formation with my friend Daryl holding Charlie.

The temperatures climbed up and I told Logan to lead the way out of the little steep area. He was game and the steep climb was on!

Back on the trail we hiked to the end of Wintergreen trail where it dead ends on a tree covered bluff.

It was time for snacks and some hot chocolate.

On the way back over one part of the trail, Logan stopped to listen to the water traveling deep under the snow and ice pack.

I took a shot of the ice below us. Amazing blue ice...

And to top things off, Logan left the next travelers with a reminder that he had been there....

Late that afternoon, Charlie slept on the couch and dreamed of more adventures along the Wintergreen Trail.

And all was good in his doggy dream world...

I imagine that Basil had to have a rest too....

Thank you Lauren and Logan for the great adventures!

Somewhere over the Rainbow & photo manipulations

Last night after the third or fourth rain shower flowed through, we had rainbows appear in the eastern sky.

I ran out barefoot to capture some shots.

It was quite beautiful and to the naked eye, I could count several of the primary colors.
We were lucky enough to have a double rainbow!

The sky kept changing so rapidly before the heavy clouds moved in and gave us an early night.

I was pretty happy with how the FujiFilm FinePix HS30 EXR handled the panoramic scenes.  This was converted to B&W for dramatic effect using Corel PaintShopPro Ultimate 6X, along with Topaz plug in Filters.

I then used CS2 to take the same photo and edit the color version to see what I could do to make a striking difference.  The rainbow colors inspired me so I took a 'rainbow' gradient and swiped it into a blank layer above the color photo.

I changed the layer to 'Overlay' and reduced the opacity a bit.

It was a fun exercise in manipulation of photos.

Here is the original:

The effect may not be exceptionally realistic, but using gradients can help a 'edit' colors in a most interesting way.

Then there is the texture and lettering edit.
I decided to take a decent sky photo and just mess a bit with it, adding textures, colors, and finally text.

I think the rainbows last night inspired a little creativity in me this morning!

What kind of camera do you have?

I'm often asked this question.

So I thought I'd explain what I do have and what I carry with me most every time I step out of the door.

I have a plastic Sanyo P&S camera that I picked up at a Big Box store because I needed a carry along that I could stick in my pocket and it would not be a big deal to lose it...not much $ to replace it.

I have an old Pentax Optio W60, which is one of my favorites.  You can take it out on rainy days, freezing temps, drop it in the creek, drop it off a mule...and it won't bust up.  I have sent it in once for repairs.  This little gem takes fantastic macro shots.  Think fungi!  It also fits in the breast pocket of a shirt or cargo pants pocket.

Yes.
I have DSLR's.  I have a nice Olypmus E420 that I picked up for a steal as Olympus was discontinuing that model.  I find it nice and lightweight compared to the Nikon D40 or my newer Nikon 3100.

These cameras don't go with me unless I am really out hunting photos.  And even then I carry a pocket camera and generally my FujiFinePix HS30EXR.
This camera can go from ultra zoon to a 1cm macro in no time.  No lens changing in the field!  
It isn't THE best camera of its kind, but it suits my purpose.  I think some other brands would take 'better' photos, but this one had the super macro feature which is something I really wanted.

 

I can go from this shot of the acorn above to this shot of a mule below in just a few seconds.

 

 

Sometimes the photos are a bit 'noisy' and sometimes the colors may be a bit off.  But any camera will do that to you.

I've had the Fuji for just about a year now and I've taken 4,700 photos with it.
Not all were fantastic, not all were winners.
But compared to my other cameras, this one goes with me everywhere as it is the most useful to me.

It doesn't do well in low light though, thought I'd add that.
But you can compensate with a light tripod and a lower ISO.

Well off to run some errands and then if the rain lets up, I think I'll take out my camera bag and see what goodies I can find.

 

Comparing Cameras and more snow melt!

I hope Neal who left a comment can see this or will read this.  He asked a question regarding the FujiFilm HS30.

This shot was done with the FujiFilm FinePix 30EXR.
I used a ND Filter X4 with a ND Filter .6 added.
Here are the settings:
Exposure:     1/10 of a second
Aperture:       f/11
Focal length: 38.33
ISO:                200 could have gone with 100
I used a tripod with a the delay option to avoid camera shake.

Here is somewhat the same shot with a Nikon D40 using a telephoto lens and a ND filter 1000X which means the filter is black and hard to see through, allowing for much longer exposures in bright sunlight.

The colors are different because of course the cameras are different.  I left the tripod in the same place.
Here are the settings for this shot:
Exposure:     13 seconds 
Aperture:       f/25
Focal length: 200mm
ISO:               200 
The Nikon D40 does not go below 200 ISO and I took the zoom to its highest level.
I have a remote for this camera so I used that.

Both shots were shot in their RAW format and processed with the software that came with the cameras.
I then used Adobe Elements 5 to process them.   

The next two shots come from my Nikon D3100, the camera is faster and has more focal points than the D40.
The first shot was shot in Program Auto.

  
You can see the movement in the water here.
Exposure:      1/100th of a second
Aperture:        f/5
Focal length:  55mm 
ISO:                 100

Same place now with a ND .6 filter.  The day was heavily overcast so I didn't need much of a ND filter to help slow down the exposure.

Exposure:      1/6th of a second
Aperture:       f/22
Focal length: 55mm
ISO:                100
I left the lens at the same spot and just added the filter.  I tried to get the very same shot, but inadvertently moved the tripod while putting on the filter.

Lastly, for those who enjoy not only photos but videos, I brought along a Point of View video camera called the Drift.  It can be attached to a car, or a helmet.  In this case I carried it and was able to catch yet another small 'flash flood'.

The video was compiled in Windows Live Movie Maker which is not very difficult to do and is fun.
   

RAW and JPEG

For many years I resisted shooting in RAW format.  I argued that it took too much time, too much space, and too much energy.
Anyone could shoot .jpeg and make it look good.

Then I ran into an issue with the color of snow during the winter.  And believe me, winter is my favorite time to be out with any camera.

I added Topaz Plug-ins to my Adobe Elements 5 and Photoshop 7.0 [very old versions].

I was able to transform this .jpeg blue cast snowy scene from this:

To this:

I thought it was good, but unless I went to black and white I had a hard time of getting rid of the blue tinge.
I used to argue that it just made the scene colder looking.  But the snow and sunlight was fooling my camera.

I knew that from somewhere back ages ago when my dad was helping me with photography.  He didn't have the benefit of digital and the aid of a 'digital darkroom'.  
After reading this  article by PCWorld regarding 5 tips for shooting in the Winter, I decided to switch my cameras over to RAW+JPEG mode.  This way I could compare shots.

Now don't get me wrong.  I also love my little point and shoot cameras.  They are easy to carry around and sometimes you can be extremely surprised by getting it right with one of those.  Here is a shot from my cheapo Sanyo Pink Fugly camera.

Anyway I'm going to use the very same shot and show samples of different processing.  I used the Fuji Film Fine Pix HS 30 EXR for this shot.  I shot it in RAW+JPEG.  I 'developed' the RAW shot in software that came with the camera.

There are may arguments for buying and using Adobe Light Room, but I haven't tried it yet.  I've been told once I try the trial version ... I'll just have to have it.

Here is the .jpeg shot:

Pretty, but the color is quite blue-grey.  The only way to fix this would be to convert to black and white.

Here is the .RAW shot converted to a .TIFF, then saved to a .jpeg for this post:

Pretty nice right?  But the snow looks flat to me.  And I'm not known for leaving things just as is so I monkeyed with it the Topaz Plug in called Adjust 5.


Here is the shot after Adjust 5:

Nice, but let's try something else.  Lets use a 'fake' HDR process and run it through a program called
Dynamic Photo HDR.

Here is is with Dynamic Photo HDR single image processing:

I think the shot shot and processed in the RAW format made my life a lot easier.  I didn't have to work so hard on the shot to remove the blue cast and bring the brightness to the correct level.

I could have worked hard in Elements to achieve what I did in minutes to get that first shot.

I also like what was done with it in Topaz and in DP HDR.  But that is just my personal opinion.  The shot I developed from RAW was correct, but I like a bit more 'oomph' to my snow scene and reflections.

I did some test shots using the Nikon D3100 and the jpeg's nearly turned out as correct as the RAW shots.  The Nikon D40 gets a nod from using RAW and after going out for a bit today, we'll see if I can get rid of that 'fantasy' blue with the Olympus E-420.  [That is the first shot that is shown on this post.]

I love carrying my FujiFilm FinePix HS 30 EXR!

I know, this is probably going to sound stupid.  But really everyone should carry a camera with them.
OHHHH, wait!  People like my son and his wife who have smart phones [who doesn't these days?  :)  ME!] would be carrying a camera with them at all times.

Okay, let me rephrase this then.  Carry a cool camera that has magnificent zoom lens capabilities.

I have started carrying my FujiFilm FinePix HS 30 EXR with me in the car.  Yesterday on the way to town I pulled over twice and grabbed that camera.
Once for this:

And once on the way home for this:

I think they are the same pair.  I shot both of these photos through my old Cavalier's windshield and they actually came out pretty good for going through the scratched and pitted glass to attempt a focus on far away objects!

Later on I went for a walk with Morris and Dixie.  I used the FFFP HS 30 EXR again to take a panoramic shot with Morris in it.
The shot turned out okay, but I have to laugh as Morris was moving so there are three shadows of his back in this shot!

I'm quite excited about the snow fall STILL!  The trees are still laden with heavy snow and I'd like to get some shots before the winds come up and blow it off.  

It is fairly cold outside.  21 degrees F, or -6 degrees C with a wind chill too.  Although I can usually avoid winds if I stay in the woods.