Bouquet of colors

Posted on 11 July, 2016 by Eric

We recently took a family trip to Montreal and Boston — so along with other things, it gave me a chance to put Olympus’ (relatively recent) “Live Composite” mode to work on Boston’s Independence Day fireworks.

For those of you unfamiliar with this, “Live Composite” is a feature of their OM-D cameras that allows you to do something like a long exposure — but without the usual risk that brings of overexposing parts of the image. You set up your exposure settings, start “Live Comp,” then it only updates a part of the image if it has become brighter than before — so you wind up collecting sort of a “high water mark” for each pixel / color.

It’s easier to use than I’ve described it, as for the results, you can see for yourself:

This was my first real experience with Live Composite — I’ll definitely be writing more about it in the coming weeks…

Moraine Park

Posted on 28 April, 2016 by Eric

Looking to the west in Rocky Mountain National Park…

This shot looks up Moraine Park (a glacier-cut valley) to the continental divide. The peaks here are relatively low — only getting up to a bit over 12,000 feet above sea level (Colorado has many “14ers,” 14,000 foot tall mountains, further south).

Scenes from a Colorado overflight

Posted on 23 April, 2016 by Eric

We recently did a bit of family travel — on our way from Denver to Phoenix, we were fortunate enough to have relatively clear skies and a late afternoon flight. Perfect for some aerial twilight photography of various spots in Colorado and the four corners region of the U.S.

First up for you, Colorado Springs (top of frame) seen over the snow covered Rampart Reservoir, not far west of town.

Colorado Springs is one of those places I normally see while driving through (in this case, on I-25) — from that perspective, the mountains form a wall to the west of the city. But from above, the fact that the mountains are essentially a (tall) rumpled plateau is much more evident.

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Spirits of the Ancestors

Posted on 8 March, 2016 by Eric

A muted, somewhat ghostly shot for you — from Upper Antelope Canyon in Arizona:

A few things to note if you want to visit either Upper or Lower Antelope Canyon for photography:

Only the upper canyon has nice, wide alcoves like this; also, it’s easier for people with mobility issues to move in, thanks to its relatively-wide sandy floor.
You need to move fast (and get a little assistance from your guide) to get a shot of an alcove that doesn’t have other people in it — this is particularly true for the upper canyon.
It helps to visit the upper canyon in the winter — you can see light rays in various places in Summer, and since this is well-publicized, the place is even more crowded then.
The upper canyon has a two-way pedestrian flow (as opposed to the lower canyon, which has an entrance on one end and an exit on the other), so there can be jostling as people try to go their separate ways.

The Super Blood Moon

Posted on 4 October, 2015 by Eric

I don’t know why it took me so long to post it, but here’s my favorite among the shots I took of last Sunday’s supermoon lunar eclipse (near the deepest part of the eclipse):

We didn’t have time to run off anywhere for a unique local point of interest in the frame, I shot this straight off the deck over our garage. Still, I like it — even with (maybe because of) the traces of clouds below the moon. The clouds swept through just after the eclipse started, and I was afraid they’d ruin the whole show, but they moved out just in time.

Thor’s Hammer

Posted on 5 August, 2015 by Eric

A particularly photogenic “hoodoo,” Thor’s Hammer is one of the marquis sights at Bryce Canyon National Park, in Utah:

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Just fast enough

Posted on 20 June, 2015 by Eric

Dinosaur National Monument includes a very nice driving tour of some historic sites — including ancient petroglyphs. I was hiking along a short trail to see one of the petroglyph sites, when I came around a corner and came face-to-face with this little guy:

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Indoor peak

Posted on 3 May, 2015 by Eric

On our trip to Iceland this January, we got to see a new perspective on a subject we’ve had earlier experiences with — lava tubes. Formed when lava flows crusted over and subsequently drained, we’ve walked through some in Hawaii — but never previously seen one in a colder clime.

So this is what happens near the Arctic Circle where there’s a lava tube “skylight” (localized collapse of the tube’s ceiling). Continue reading →

The Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 lens for butterfly photography — a user experience review

Posted on 16 February, 2015 by Eric

Some months back I purchased an Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 lens (officially, the M. Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm F2.8 Pro lens) and MC-14 1.4x teleconverter for my E-M1 body. I’d given them some exercise on a road trip previously, but when an opportunity came up for a “Tripod Session” at a local butterfly pavilion, I thought I could give them a real workout on the facility’s residents.

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Convoluted

Posted on 13 January, 2015 by Eric

An HDR view from Upper Antelope Canyon, near Page (Arizona), converted to black and white:

I’ll be posting a longer comparison of Upper to Lower Antelope Canyon at a later date. For now, let’s just say that a walk through the Upper Canyon is a crowded experience — even in the “off-season,” even on a “Photo Tour.” So taking shots facing the sky is a good plan. In any case, the canyon is a unique experience, and always a reliable source of geological abstracts.