Piperbarb's 2013 Project 365

[piperbarb]

9-4-13:

Just before I left for work this morning, I looked out the window and saw one of our happy herds of deer on the back lawn. I grabbed my camera, and took a few photos of the one yearling (the rest had moved off to the side to eat the blueberry bushes ). When I looked at my results, they were very, very dark. It was one of those oops moments. Somehow the camera got switched to manual so the two yearling shots below were shot at ISO 400, 1/200th and f/8. I was able to rescue them to some extent but they are really noisy and not as sharp as I would have liked.

Oh My!


Mom! Wait for Me!



After I realized my photo faux pas, I made my corrections. By that time, this one had joined the rest of its group. I shot this at about 1/50th sec at f/5.6. Yes, it's really rather soft, focus-wise, and compositionally, it could be better, but I just thought it was a sweet photo.

The Clan

 

[piperbarb]

9-5-13:

While outside this morning with the dog before going to work and a new school year with a new batch of students, I noticed the clouds. The sky was clearing, indicating a beautiful day ahead. Here are two photos of the morning's clouds. I converted the photos to B&W and like the more dramatic effect.

Looking West


Looking North

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

9-5-13:

While outside this morning with the dog before going to work and a new school year with a new batch of students, I noticed the clouds. The sky was clearing, indicating a beautiful day ahead. Here are two photos of the morning's clouds. I converted the photos to B&W and like the more dramatic effect.

Looking West
View attachment 51086

Looking North
View attachment 51087

And teachers are all SO EXCITED to get to go back to school after the summer off. I know my wife is. She has 170 sick days banked and wondering if she can call in that many days in a row. only two more years till she retires.

 

[piperbarb]

And teachers are all SO EXCITED to get to go back to school after the summer off. I know my wife is. She has 170 sick days banked and wondering if she can call in that many days in a row. only two more years till she retires.

I have four years to go. I know how she feels.

 

[piperbarb]

9-6-13:

It was such a beautiful afternoon today that I took advantage of it and enjoyed being outside after work. First, I do love reflections and saw this one in the passenger-side window of Spousal Unit's car.

Late Summer Reflection



After all the humid, hazy days we have had lately, it was nice to see a bright, sunny late afternoon...

Later That Day


Finally. I have some very confused forsythia bushes. They are starting to bloom and below is the proof. By the middle of October, these crazy bushes will be covered in yellow flowers, although not as many as in the spring. When I tell people that my forsythia also blooms in the fall, people think me a little daft. That may be, , but they are still blooming!

Confused

 

[piperbarb]

9-7-13:

Walked out to my car this morning, and this guy was just sitting on the roof. I think he thought he was camouflaged. The first photo was done with available light, while the second, I used the on-camera flash.






The heron is back. I have gotten photos of this guy twice in one week. Wow! At least this time I had my 55-200mm zoom lens, and the heron didn't decide to fly off as soon as he saw me. One thing I have noticed, though, is that they always seem to look grumpy.




He did decide to hunker down and "hide" for a few minutes once he saw I wasn't leaving.

 

[Marilynne]

9-7-13:

Walked out to my car this morning, and this guy was just sitting on the roof. I think he thought he was camouflaged. The first photo was done with available light, while the second, I used the on-camera flash.

View attachment 51224




The heron is back. I have gotten photos of this guy twice in one week. Wow! At least this time I had my 55-200mm zoom lens, and the heron didn't decide to fly off as soon as he saw me. One thing I have noticed, though, is that they always seem to look grumpy.

View attachment 51226


He did decide to hunker down and "hide" for a few minutes once he saw I wasn't leaving.



View attachment 51228

View attachment 51229

They're all good, but I like the ones with the reflections best.

 

[piperbarb]

They're also good, but I like the ones with the reflections best.

Marilynne,
Thanks. So do I. I love photos that have reflections in them. I think of the four heron photos I posted today, I like the third one best because of the reflection, even though heron looks extremely grumpy.

Also, note that the first grasshopper photo shows some reflection of the critter on the roof of my car.

 

[piperbarb]

9-8-13: Part 1

A group of went to the Endless Mountains Fiber Festival in Harford, PA today. On the way to picking up one of the group, guess what we saw... Yup.... Vultures! There was a rather large group of them just sitting on the roof of an abandoned barn. Here are two photos of the many I took this morning.

Squadron Command Headquarters



​

 

[piperbarb]

9-8-13: Part 2

Now, on to the festival. A bunch of us go every year. It is a lot of fun and if one is a knitter or handspinner, it's a must to go to.

Throughout the day, there are presentations and demonstrations. The next few photos are the before and during of the camelid demonstration. For people not familiar with fiber animals, camelids are critters such as llamas, alpacas, and camels, of course.

Below are two alpaca photos.

The Portrait


This guy was getting a halter put on so he could be led into the demonstration area.

Getting Dressed


This next photo was during the demonstration. The llama was not amused at all.

I'm So Annoyed I Could Spit



If it's made from animal fiber, it can be sold at the fiber festival. The critters in these cages are not taxidermied, they are needle felted from animal fiber.

Life Imprisonment



Okay, here is a photo of a recently shorn Shetland sheep, just the kind of critter you would expect to see at a fiber festival.

I Feel Undressed


Finally, a whole lot of processed wool and other animal fibers available for sale. The roving and combed top is ready to be spun. This is a very dangerous table for me to pass by. The people who process and sell this fiber also make excellent maple syrup and other maple sugar products. Yum!

White on White

 

[piperbarb]

9-9-13:

Not a lot of time today to get any interesting photos, but I did get one of a part of Spousal Unit's man cave.

Man Cave Corner


If you're wondering, Gary did do the two paintings on the walls.

 

[piperbarb]

9-10-13:

The 16 GB RAM I ordered as a birthday present came in the mail today, about 9 days early, but that's just fine with me. I installed it and what a difference it has made. My Macbook Pro and I are very happy campers. It will definitely make post processing faster and more fun.

Before...


After...

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

9-10-13:

The 16 GB RAM I ordered as a birthday present came in the mail today, about 9 days early, but that's just fine with me. I installed it and what a difference it has made. My Macbook Pro and I are very happy campers. It will definitely make post processing faster and more fun.

Before...
View attachment 51736

After...
View attachment 51737

When I went from 8GB to 24GB in my new PC I could really tell the difference. Have fun editing now.

 

[piperbarb]

When I went from 8GB to 24GB in my new PC I could really tell the difference. Have fun editing now.

Don,

Thanks. I definitely will. I already noticed the difference.

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

Don,

Thanks. I definitely will. I already noticed the difference.

What I enjoy is being able to have bridge open, This site open and be working on a 7 frame panorama in Photoshop at the same time and all be fast. I have dual monitors so I can have two screens to watch at the same time. So much better than my laptop.

 

[piperbarb]

What I enjoy is being able to have bridge open, This site open and be working on a 7 frame panorama in Photoshop at the same time and all be fast. I have dual monitors so I can have two screens to watch at the same time. So much better than my laptop.

I'm a laptop person. I like the portability. I am willing to give up some computing power for that portability. Sometimes I wish I could have many multiple hard drives installed and all that, but portability wins out every time. I do have a 17" Dell XPS quad core I7 running Ubuntu Linux which, by definition is portable, but the most it travels is from my office to the living room or out on the porch. It's my Macbook Pro that goes with me a lot of places. I've pretty much maxed the poor thing out with a 1TB drive and now the 16 GB of RAM. About the only thing I could do is switch the hard drive for an SSD but I think the SSDs are still too pricey for the amount of storage one gets.

 

[Don Kuykendall_RIP]

I had gotten rid off all my desktops several years ago and had been using a Sony VAIO for a while and while it does a great job I really needed to go to two large displays and a lot more horsepower to really get the most out of PhotoShop. With my new desktop I have a much faster processor now. A Quad Core running at 3.2GHz

I still use the laptop much of the time when I am just surfing while watching TV but anytime I am working on photos I move to the Desktop.

 

[piperbarb]

9-11-13:

With all the crazy storms this afternoon and evening, getting some photos was not easy. I did get a couple, though. The first is a view of Choconut Creek about 45 minutes after the rain stopped. You can see all the silt flowing downstream.

The Bend



Later in the evening, I was returning home after running some errands. Just sitting at the red light with my camera next to me. I picked it up and took a few photos.

Night Lights


Both photos were taken with my D7000 and AI 35mm f/1.4 Nikkor (pre-autofocus days ). I love that lens, but I don't use it all that much.

 

[piperbarb]

9-12-13:

Another pouring rain afternoon after work. On the way home, it did stop enough for me to snap a couple of photos of the neighborhood heron. No, that is not a real swan in the background, just a fake one. The people whose pond this is keep the plastic swan along the bank of the pond because it is supposed to keep the geese away. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.

Did I Tell You How Beautiful the Weather Is?


Harumph!

 

[Roy1961]

Barbara, i always laugh when i read your "Spousal Unit's man" remarks.