Reflections in Both Directions

I'm not sure what I was trying to take a picture of but I was using the window as a means of steadying the camera.  I wanted to keep the ISO as low as possible in a night shot.  What I got in return was a terrible, not savable picture that has since been deleted, however, this image was available and interesting.  I have the outdoors as well as the indoors at the same time.  How did I do this you ask....gonna tell you anyway even if you don't ask.  As I was taking the picture my wife, not knowing what I was doing, came into the room and turned the desk light on.  This illuminated the room so that a file cabinet can be seen, just the corner of the bookcase can be seen and the Madison Scout drummer images on the shirt I was wearing are even fairly clear.  If I didn't know better it almost looks as if I am playing a horn, pffsst.....not me.....percussion all the way.  At the same time you can see the outdoors, the street lights and roads are lit up as well as the shadow of a tree on the bank of the pond.  It's even clear enough that the algae that is floating is visible.  To the right of the street light  in the middle of the lens are a series of 5 dots of light that is caused by the double pain glass...it is the tower lights just a tad more the the right off in the distance.  Lastly, I really like my right hand supporting the lens...nanu-nanu, shazbot! beam me up Scotty.

Golden Hour

Golden hour is that special lighting and color photographers like to use.  It is just before sunset and similar to the blue hour which is in the mornings.  Neither of these two times prevail very long, minutes as opposed to, maybe all day.  You can watch the sun go up or down during this time and think you can see it move.  During the day the sun just sits there, anchored in one spot it seems, until you walk away for an hour or so and then look at it again.

Nice thing about these special hours is the lighting and what you can see differently.  Here are some shots from last night.  I little surprise was the addition of our first hatching of little Mallard ducks.  This hen had 10.  We haven't seen them yet today.  She's taken them to another pond or hiding in the taller grass.  The males bothered them when they showed up last night.

A fly taking a break
   
Ten new neighbors.

Gnats flying everywhere above a  cherry tree,                        

                                          

Moon rising from behind the trees.  This one is sometimes called the spring moon I believe.

Before and After....

You just have to love Adobe's Lightroom.  Other than the watermark this was totally done in LR(cc) or as a stand alone LR6.

I'm no expert by any means but I do believe this is pretty good for someone that isn't trained in photography.  I'm not even sure what type of photography I like or do best.  I tend to do more landscape but I like macro, however, I feel like I'm leaning towards more of an impressionist.  I like to try to save badly take photos, something I have no trouble in having plenty of.


Before

                                                                         

After                                

                                                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                                       

Spring....Time of New Growth

As if it wasn't nice enough, Spring is bringing out all its glory.  I'm glad this little tree is now on the north side of the house and not out in the open were it use to be.  We are suppose to get 40+ mph winds today and if it was where it use to be the few buds of flowers there now would be lost.  This time next week it should be in full bloom and stay that way up to almost June, short of the winds getting it.

I've done a little extra to it but I won't have to next week.  It will be hard to see the bark for the blooms if everything works out.

Foggy Mornings? Think Spring.

The ground hasn't really warmed up yet so when you get an unexpected rise in temperatures you get the morning fog.  It won't last long because the day before was warm so the ground picked up quite a bit of heat.

Just a Streak....Blink..Blink..Blink

I was playing around with lenses in the dark sky when I saw a light coming towards me from the east.  Even though these things are moving relatively slow at the distance from me they move very fast when you are working in the dark and trying to make adjustment.  Didn't have time to setup the tripod so this is hand held.  I trashed the head on approaches because of too much camera shake but you can see some sort of external lighting, maybe wing lights are present as well as each wing and tail marker lamps.  There were three planes in a row but I just couldn't get setup properly.  All from the east and all headed to Vandalia, Dayton International Airport.

A Clear Day But A Biting Cold

For some reason after you have a day or two in a row of mid 50's to low 60's a 35 degree or so day seems to be really cold.  This day started out looking like it was going to be nice.  Open the blinds and let the warm sun in.  There was a frost but it didn't last too long as that warm sun burnt it off pretty quick.  As it turned out, the day was cold and it stayed that way all day.  Good day to clean up the files in a computer.