Travel Theme: Flow

These photos were taken in a park near Virginia Tech.  We were in the Blacksburg area for a few days.  Blacksburg is a neat town, but the surrounding natural area is really beautiful.  I have chosen these photos to go with the theme, flow, which is what is featured this week at Where’s My backpack?:

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This first photo is perhaps not what you would normally think of as flow, but that is what the lines in the wood reminded me of.

Here are some more standard images of flow:

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ISO 1600 1mm 0ev f/5 1/40

For this hike I chose to take along my Canon Powershot instead of my 50D.  This was just a logistical decision.  We were doing quite a bit of walking to the waterfalls with children, towels, and lunch.  Sometimes, just having a small camera makes more sense.  I do have to say though, I wouldn’t mind doing the hike again with the larger camera and a tripod.

Cheers!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Curves

I was at the St. Louis Art Museum this morning, so I thought I would see what I could find for this week’s photo challenge.  The theme this week is curves, and here is my little gallery:

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ISO 800 7mm 0ev f/4 1/6

ISO 800 12mm 0ev f/5 1/8

ISO 800 4mm 0ev f.2.7 1/50

Curves are pretty easy to find in art.  I picked a variety of mediums to represent that.  Photographing art can be a bit of a trick.  For this outing I used my Canon Powershot.  A few weeks ago when shooting in a museum I used my Canon 50D.  The biggest difference between these two posts is really the weight of the two cameras.  Taking a point and shoot really is easier and the results aren’t bad.  Since I couldn’t use the flash, I did bump up the ISO to 800.  When shooting in a museum you do have to take a moment to think about the angle you want to shoot from.  Two big concerns for me are always glare and the background.  So, generally I try to get as close as possible and then sometimes crop the photo later.

How about you? what are your museum tips and tricks? feel free to leave them in comment section below.  If you have written a blog post about it, feel free to leave a link.

Cheers!

A Nest Update, Is there Enough Space?

When this nest was built, the first thing I noticed about it was that it was deeper than last year’s nest, but more narrow.  So, I was a bit concerned when I saw five eggs, I was wondering if there would be enough space for everyone.  It was amusing to see this photo when the adult robins were off the nest:

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You could fit a few more in there the way they are all crowded together.  It is a good way to keep everyone warm while Mom is away though.  I took this with my Canon Powershot on May 7th.  A bit later with my 50D, I got this shot:

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It looks like the food is being inserted directly into the baby’s stomach doesn’t it?  You can see a bit of leftover shell attached to the nest as well.  That is interesting to me because usually the adults get rid of all the shell pieces right away.

This next series of three shots were taken on May 8th, all with my 50D:

ISO 640 50mm 0 ev f/6.3 1/200

ISO 640 50mm 0ev f/6.3 1/200

Looks like a tug of war there!

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Looks like a couple of the babies are getting a bit squished.

Thanks to everyone who is following along, your comments are always appreciated.  If you are new to this story, here are some other installments: How I am getting these shots and some freshly hatched shots are here.  My first update is here.

Cheers!

Weekly Photo Challenge: From Above, A Nest Story

I was super excited this spring when a robin began building a nest outside our kitchen window.  I have written about how I set up my camera to get images of the birds.  For the series of images in this post I am using my point and shoot camera.  Never underestimate the usefulness of your camera that is “just” a point and shoot.  I took all of these photo with my Canon Powershot:

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This year’s nest with five lovely blue robin eggs.

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This robin was approximately two minutes old when I got this photo.  The mother had left the nest to discard the egg shells, I watched her leave and then got the photo.

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This photo was taken 8 hours later.  The feathers have started to form.  When I tweeted this picture, Chris at Learning, Running, and Creating, was the first to notice how clearly you can see the second robin making its way out.

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So, no surprise the next morning there were two in the nest.

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This photo and the next were taken this morning, and as you can see it was a busy 24 hours in the nest.

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So now we are waiting for the last egg to hatch.  Hopefully all the birds will make it, but in all honesty, five is a lot for one nest.

So, you might wonder why I am taking this series with my point and shoot.  The answer is simple, space.  My Canon 50D does not fit in this space. Or, I guess to be more exact, it fits, but then can’t focus.  I have been unable to angle the 50D in a way that would allow for a picture.

Maybe you are wondering about how I get these shots with the grown robin parents around?  I spend a lot of time watching from inside.  My office has pretty much moved to the kitchen.  The adult birds have a pretty regular schedule.  Most mornings sometime after 7, and at about 4:30pm, they are out of the area.  I use that time to set up and adjust my camera equipment.  Also, for whatever reason, this year’s birds are pretty tolerant of me.  I eat my lunch outside near them most days, and they just stay on the nest.

Thoughts about this post? feel free to leave them below in the comments section. If you haven’t seen my photos from last year and would like too, you can click here.

I am also capable of saying things in 140 characters or less. I tweet about photography @marantophoto if you would like to follow along.

This post was written in response to the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge.  The theme this week is From Above.

Cheers!

Travel Theme: Multiples

The theme at Where’s My backpack? is multiples.  I have created a gallery below of a few photos that includes multiples.  I also have multiple cameras, so I have included at least one photo from each camera.  My oldest camera is a Fuji A900 which was my point and shoot (and only) camera for several years.  I am sad to say that it is now not working so well.  My newer point and shoot is a Canon Powershot 320.  I am still learning to use it properly. My DSLR is a Canon 50D.  I also have an iPhone.  Between those four, I have taken the images below:

ISO 250 17mm 0ev f/5.6 1/160 Canon Powershot

ISO 250 135mm 0ev f/5.6 1/60 Canon 50D

ISO 1000 4mm f/2.8 1/10 iPhone

ISO 200 135mm 0ev f/5.6 1/400 Canon 50D

ISO 100 22mm 0ev f/13 1/150 Fuji A900

Cheers!

Travel Theme: Transportation

I couldn’t resist dragging this photo out of my albums when I saw that transportation was the theme this week at Where’s my backpack?

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Recognize this car?  It the same type of car driven by the father in the movie A Christmas Story and is on display at the house which is now a tourist trap.  A great place to visit, if you have the chance, I have blogged about it before. Never heard of the movie? Check here for details and then do yourself a holiday favor and watch it.

Cheers!

Travel Theme: Circles

Circles are the theme over at Where’s my backpack? this week.  I have a few to share:

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ISO 100 11mm 0ev f/5 1/160

ISO 250 135mm 0ev f/9 0.6s

ISO 2000 28mm 0ev f/3.5 0.5s

Four photos, three cameras, I could have called this post.  The coneflower was taken with my iPhone.  The cactus with my Canon Powershot.  The other two were taken with my Canon 50D.

Cheers!

Black, White, and Grey

It’s becoming a bit of a habit for me to post something about my Design class on Tuesdays.  Here is my latest assignment:

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Here’s the assignment. Take a picture of a rubber plant.  Then use black, white, and grey to represent it.  The black and grey papers were created using ink on bristol board.  The white is just regular bristol board.  I used the fisheye function in my point and shoot camera to distort the leaves a bit because I thought it would be more interesting.  This project was a bit of a bust.  For starters, the ink made the paper hard to cut in any interesting way and that was just annoying.  I could go on but I won’t, the project is finished and turned in, so it’s over.

Cheers!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Geometry

Geometry, that was my favorite math in high school, and it is also the topic of this week’s photo challenge at WordPress.  I don’t do a lot of architecture photography but this shot is a picture of a stairwell in the St. Louis Art Museum that caught my eye.  I think it fits for this week’s challenge as well:

ISO 1600 4mm 0ev f/2.7 1/40

I took this photo with my point and shoot.  I tried the shot on a few different settings, but my favorite was this one using the blue tone in the black and white setting.

Cheers!