Blooming Sunset

We had another awesome sunset this evening.  I didn't go out at first.... but once the sun went all the way under, it just lit up the clouds to the point I needed to go out and take a photo.  The tree in our backyard of course became the subject again.  This time though, the leaves are blooming out in full force.

 

Date: 05/30/2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: EF-S 18-200mm f/2.5-5.6 IS
Exposure: Manual
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/30 sec
Aperture: F/5.6
Focal Length: 28mm

Photoshop was a slight WB adjustment.

Flowers on the Hill

On the hill behind the cabin, we have an old lawn roller that is rusting away.  The neat part was the two grouping of flowers that were positioned by the roller.  

Date: 05/29/2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: EF-S 18-200mm f/2.5-5.6 IS
Exposure: Manual
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/13 sec
Aperture: F/13
Focal Length: 32mm

Photoshop was a minimum of  WB tweak and a little bit of cropping.

Foggy Bridge

On our way home for the weekend, it was a nice sunny day until we get up to the Mackinac Bridge to cross northward.  As we approach, I see it is blanketed in fog, so we had to make an emergency stop to try to photograph the bridge in the fog. 

Several lessons learned -

1) In fog, any dust will stand out in the photo - I really need to clean my filters...
2) Why these bayfly bugs hatch, they are everywhere, maybe some of my "dust" are these bugs (I know it is some dust, since I looked at the filter since I got home),
3) Bugs are annoying when photographying, I should have had long pants on :-P

I was not thrilled with how the photo turned out.  It's not bad, but it didn't "wow" me. 

 

Date: 05/22/2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: EF-S 18-200mm f/2.5-5.6 IS
Exposure: Aperture
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/125 sec
Aperture: F/16
Focal Length: 150mm

I did a little cropping, but the big help of Photoshop was the "spot" tool, to help me get rid of the dust/bugs that were dotting the photo originally. 

Mackinac Bridge

We traveled to lower Michigan for the weekend for Kerry's Grandpa's memorial service.  On our way over, I had to stop and try to get some cool photos of the Mackinac Bridge.  We stopped and had supper to give the sun a little more time to go down to get that better light for photographs.

 

Date: 05/20/2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: EF-S 18-200mm f/2.5-5.6 IS
Exposure: Program
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/250 sec
Aperture: F/11
Focal Length: 50mm

This was originally taken as a vertical photo, but I cropped it, since the trees below and the blank sky above did not add anything.  Did some minor spot removal - not sure at this point if it was dust or bugs, since they were having a big bug hatch.

Backyard Sunset

This is why I like Denmark and our backyard of an open farmer's field (and HATE the fact they may be selling it as housing lots this summer!!).  Color in the clouds this evening was amazing.  I had to take a photo, and the tree in our backyard with the clouds and color background provided the perfect photo for the day.

Date: 05/17/2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: EF-S 18-200mm f/2.5-5.6 IS
Exposure: Manual
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/80 sec
Aperture: F/3.5
Focal Length: 18mm

Very minor editing in Photoshop - straightened out the horizon some, and a little cropping, but that is it.

Sunset Sky

We had rain today, but as the sun was setting, the clouds broke enough to let some awesome colors through. I quickly dropped what I was doing, grabbed the camera (with the Macro Lens that was on it), and went outside in my socks on the wet patio.  In the end, I think the photo was worth it :)

Date: 05/12/2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Exposure: Shutter
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/125 sec
Aperture: F/5.6
Focal Length: 100mm

I did some minor cropping in Photoshop.  Along with that, I did play around with some of the coloring to punch up the yellows a bit.  Nothing too much, just enough help give the picture the wow I seen when I was taking the photo.

Reflections

After the eagle was scared away by somebody driving past, the light outside was too amazing to simply go back in the house.  So with my pajama pants on, I wanted over to the pond because I thought I heard some geese honking. 

The geese were not there, but the water was as flat as a mirror!  It created awesome reflections of the gazebo and tree!

Date: 04/24/2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Exposure: Program
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/160 sec
Aperture: F/5.0
Focal Length: 105mm

I did not do any post editing in Photoshop.  This is the JPEG that came out in my RAW+JPEG format.

Ripples of Snow

I will admit, the photo did not turn out like I wanted.  The sun was setting this evening with awesome colors reflecting in the snow.  I hee-hawed around for a while,since I was pressed with time trying to get my homework done before we leave for Easter, and quickly realized I was running out of time.  I ran out, setup the tripod, snapped a few shots, and hoped for the best.  I'm a little disappointed in the results, but again, learned a great lesson about waiting and rushing....

Date: 04/20/2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: EF50mm f/1.4 USM
Exposure: Program
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/320 sec
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 50mm

Photoshop involved a crop.... that was it so at least I got the color balance right in my rush....

Breaking Storm

It's April in Wisconsin.  This means snow is a real possibility, and, unfortunately, we experienced it today.  Well, after spending all day cooped up doing homework, I noticed the snow stopped and you could actually see sunlight.  A quick walk outside and I was back in grabbing the camera, lenses, and tripod.

 

Date: 04/16/2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: EF-S 18-200mm f/2.5-5.6 IS
Exposure: Program
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/50 sec
Aperture: F/5.0
Focal Length: 18mm

When I got home, I did a bit more Photoshoping than I normally do.  It started with a crop, since this was actually taken as a vertical photo.  After straightening the horizon, I then applied gradient filters twice.  Once to darken the sky and lighten the ground, and then another one at the bottom of the ground to lighten the farm/house and the bottom skyline.