Oldies but Goodies...

I've put a smattering of pictures I've shot the last few years with my point-and-shoot digital cameras on my new web site. You can find a quick photo album here.

I've also added a Flash illustration of a picture converted through Picasa's "Filtered B&W" effects. You'll get two black & white versions of the picture below:

Tonight's Sunset

I had to capture the pink sky tonight. The particular sunset rays here appeared during my son's first t-ball practice. I'd left my tripod in the car, so it's not as sharp as it could be. Still, it was a fascinating sunset!

More Dripping Water

I just can't stop coming back to this theme...

Fishing Lures, Last Day of Winter.

My father-in-law met us yesterday for a quick pre-season fishing trip (on a year-round lake). I shot over 750 pictures, filling up both my 1-gig CF card and my 512 CF card. I also finished off a barely-started roll of film (and shot 5-6 more frames on a new roll), which I've yet to develop.

Here are three of the pictures - obviously enhanced in the digital darkroom...

Mt Rainier

I used to take tons of pictures of Mt. Rainier, as I used to live not too far from some great places to document it year-round. However, since I moved south, I haven't had too many opportunities to discover local views of Mt. Rainier. Up until last week, that is. I found one current view that is just outstanding, provided you've got some good photo editing skills.

So, here are two versions of one picture I took and then manipulated in the digital darkroom. And here's a flash animation to show the various stages this picture went through in the digital darkroom. Enjoy!

More Photos

L&I Building Rotunda
Cropped tight to remove some foreground trees. I regret shooting this at ISO 500, as there's quite a bit of noise. Still, I like the reflections of the windows in the rotunda, as well as the strong frontal lighting.


Water Tower near Olympia Airport. Storm clouds behind it brought the water tower out. I burned every detail but the tower (and the tree branches in front of it) out, and cropped it as if I'd shot it on 6X6 square film.


Pretty much what I look at while daydreaming at work. Except, there's not a rainbow there every day...



Photoshopped picture of my building.


Stormy Sky from my parking lot at work.

Heh. CCD Dust...

Well, it didn't take me long to discover one of the pains of dSLR technology -- dust on the CCD sensor. I saw a bunch of spots on most of my images from the get-go, but I attributed it to dirty UV filters and cheap lens syndrome. But, after reading about the CCD dust problem on several web sites, including the "Cleaning your Sensor" article on byThom's web site I recognized that it wasn't the lens or filter's fault -- but I had a dirty CCD. So, I've ordered some brushes, and will clean the CCD the first chance I get. Unfortunately, though, I'll have to do it with the bulb setting (YIKES!), as I don't have the $75-100 that Nikon's proprietary AC adapter goes for on eBay. That kinda frightens me, but I'm willing to risk it.

There was some interesting lighting today while walking to my car to head home from work. Throw in some migrating birds, and it made for an interesting picture. Of course, I spent some time with the smudge tool in Photoshop LE (old version) to clean off the CCD dust. Still, I was able to try out my 'new' lens a bit, and although the foreground trees are out of focus, I'm quite surprised at how sharp the birds are. I converted the picture to black & white, because the color wasn't very interesting. Click for a larger version.



About this 'new' lens I got...

The 28-70 AF Prorokinon lens that came with my 8008s is OK, and served me thusly, but I wanted the cleaner optics that Nikon gives you. Obviously my budget is very much tapped out, except that I am going to start a lens fund. My first payment into this fund, though, went towards a Nikkor AF 28-80 3.5-5.6 G lens that was attached to an "As-Is" Nikon N75. I was at my local Pawn shop last week, kinda browsing for a Nikon/Nikkor lens, and I came across the N75 package. To make a long story short, I was happy to pay $45 for the package, and as an extra bonus, I even got a Nikon strap! And, even better, after troubleshooting a few things, I was actually able to get the n75 to work!

No, it's not the 17-55 2.8 that I'm currently coveting. But, for $45, it's definitely an upgrade to my Prorokinon. Oh, and by the way, I shot the most recent dripping faucet picture through that lens. I'm by no means an expert, but I can tell a difference in overall sharpness, and that's what counts!