Scattered Thoughts . . .

I go through spurts of trying to get nice crisp shots of the moon and I think I'm nearing the end of one such spurt. (Which means I will soon spare everyone of these rather boring moon photos!) Full moons are the toughest to shoot because the light is so bright and yet flat. By flat, I mean that the sun is shining on the moon so straight-on that there are very few shadows being cast by all the large features on the moon's surface. It is this lack of shadow that makes for a very 'flat' image. For instance, if I hold a tennis ball out in front of me with one hand and hold a flashlight next to my ear shining on that tennis ball, we won't see any shadows on that tennis ball. If we don't see shadows, we don't see depth.  If I hold the flashlight out in front of me, next to the tennis ball which is also in front of me, we will see a big shadow around one side of the ball as well as little shadows showing the texture of the fuzzy tennis ball. There is much mo

I just thought I would add another shot of the moon here... I had been outside the other night digging my car out of the snow so I could work on it yesterday. It was cold and crisp that night and our snowy landscape was eerily illuminated by the bright, almost-full moon in the sky.  When I finished digging out the car, I went inside and grabbed my camera... swapped lenses for the appropriate lens... and headed back out into the cold. Physically demanding activities like shoveling snow really do a number on me nowadays... obviously, it affects my spinal injuries but it also affects my mast cell disease in various ways which rate from just annoying to dangerous. When I emerged from the house with my camera in my hands, I quickly realized that I had tremors in my hands and couldn't keep the camera as steady as I would like. This is one of the annoying symptoms which can really drag down my photography. Regardless of the shaky hands,  I felt the need to take advantage of the h

Loading up the cars on another final night at the lake house... Every year, we always dread one particular night. As this night approaches, we would prefer that time stands still so this night could never come to be. This dreaded night is our last night at the lake house until the following year.  Putting aside all the work that must be accomplished in packing, cleaning up and securing boats, loading up cars, and cleaning the house, it is always a bit depressing knowing that it is our last night at the lake and we will be headed back to civilization and the real world in the morning. This is now the time of year when we start planning for the upcoming summer at the lake house. As I begin thinking about all that must be accomplished in getting ready for this year at the lake, I can't help but remember our last night at the lake.  Two things always stand out in my mind about this dreaded night... The first image which seems to be etched into my mind is one of the cars being

For years and especially the past few weeks, I've been agonizing over getting my hands on the best telephoto lens I can afford on a very limited budget. Our time at the lake house is quickly approaching and this is where I use both my widest lenses and my longest lenses... wide for full-view landscapes and long for zooming into wildlife. I have the wide end covered but the long end has always been a problem. There are great lenses out there but spending as much for a lens as I would need to spend to purchase a good car is not an option.  That leaves me with only a few low cost options... Rather than spend more money I don't have to spend, I decided to do a quick and very unscientific test this morning with four camera bodies using the best lens paired for that body. I have to say that the results were a bit surprising in some areas.  This unscientific test was shot in quite poor light as it was snowing.  My target was the little airplane on a mileage sign in our driveway