Photo-A-Day -- September 2013

jimo · September 2013

Shot this rose from my yard with available light, no flash, or reflectors, and a bit of Photoshop magic.

Pickerel · September 2013

Self-group portrait just above treeline on Katahdin. Stopped way down to get the white blaze on the foreground rock in reasonable focus. (I feel like I may have posted this one before, since I put it many places, but I didn't see it here.)

D800 - AF-S 24mm f/1.4G - f/16 - 1/125 sec - ISO 100

SquamishPhoto · September 2013

D800 • 70-200mm f4 @ 78mm • f8 • 1/60 • ISO 125

donaldejose · September 2013

Squamishphoto: quite dramatic! Tell us how you did the background lighting.

The wilds of Pennsylvania.

D600, 105mm Nikon DC lens.

SquamishPhoto · September 2013

Thanks, donald.

I have a studio grey background that has allowed me to play around in post to make the background seem dramatically different. Later Im going to see if I can make the same grey background appear bright white via a similar technique.

Pickerel · September 2013

@donaldjose I really wish Pennsylvania was wilder, at least the part the Trail runs through. It is probably the least exciting state on the Trail, only cutting across the southernmost ridges of the mountains in more or less a straight line from near Waynesboro, PA to the Delaware Water Gap. While I ran into some nice locals and know plenty more from all the time I have spent folk dancing in PA, they were much more commonly unfriendly - I had more bad experiences with locals in PA than in any other state. The nicest part of the section through Pennsylvania is probably the Delaware Water Gap, with the area from Pine Grove to Boiling Springs as the runner-up. There is potential for better hiking in Pennsylvania, but the Trail does not approach the nicer terrain in the state. (Same thing with New York - just nicks the corner and don't even think about anything like the terrain or beauty of the Catskills or Adirondacks.)

Coastalconn · September 2013

Fantastic shots everyone! Really awesome month on PAD!
As you know I can't get enough of my Ospreys.

D300 * Tokina 300 F2.8 @ F4(F6.7) with promaster 1.7x TC, ISO 400, 1.200th handheld

henrik1963 · September 2013

Minimalistic little thing. Maybe he build it from things he found in his fathers garage? He came close enough for me to snap him with my 70-200 2.8 VRII at 200 mm - well I did crop :-) Amazing what you can do with a D800.

Msmoto · September 2013

It is a Schweizer 300CB made in Horseheads, NY.

henrik1963 · September 2013

@Msmoto: I think it´s a cool little thing. Just like a lot of other minimalistic machines - Lotus super7 comes to mind :-)

Benji2505 · September 2013

donaldejose · September 2013

Squamishphoto: I did recognize the studio background was gray but I was interested in the background lighting you used to nicely separate the background from the subject. Did you put a light behind the subject aimed at the background or did you somehow achieve the separation effect in post processing? If a PP technique, what is that technique?

Pickerel: Yes, PA has been settled far to long to have any nice wild areas in the SE section where the AT runs through the state. Even the mountains (hills?) which do exist were logged over long ago. Just small pockets of undisturbed land here and there. For that reason I have never hiked any section of the AT in PA. I have been on sections of the AT in Maine, New Hampshire, VA, and North Carolina.

Costalcon: You must have very steady hands! Great shot. Your results exceed the what most people would presume to be the limits of your equipment.

Benji2505: Now that is close! Great shot.

autofocus · September 2013

OK, I'll add a bird today as well. Downy Woodpecker at my bird feeder today. He was competing with four baby Red Squirrels that have decided to take up residence near the feeder.