Blog: Photos

Most of these posts were originally posted somewhere else and link to the originals. While this blog is not set up for comments, the original locations generally are, and I welcome comments there. Sorry for the inconvenience.

New neighbor

2024-04-18 from Dreamwidth

Tags: Life, Photos

A nest appeared just outside my back door a couple weeks ago. I saw an occupant early on, and then not for a long time, so I wondered if the nest were abandoned. Earlier this week I started seeing a bird in it again; I've tried to be careful in coming and going but she always flies away. This happened in the same spot several years ago and we eventually had a family of young robins, so I'm hopeful.

I managed to snap a picture of mom earlier today:

Image without description

Later I saw her fly away, startled by some small sound I guess, so I quickly confirmed my suspicion, holding a camera up at arm's length and shooting blind:

3 blue eggs

Yay, incipient chicks!

Eclipse

2024-04-09 from Dreamwidth

Tags: Travel, Science, Photos

That was amazing. The difference between "most" and "total" really is significant.

We joined friends on a resort island in Lake Erie -- words I never expected to hear in the same sentence -- for a couple days. We had some clouds but they didn't impede seeing the main event.

I saw the "diamond ring". I might have seen a bead but I'm not sure. I saw the sun's corona with a big "black hole" in the middle with my naked eyes. I saw the "sort-of sunset" all around. So neat! Read more…

Skies over Pennsic

2022-08-14 from Dreamwidth

Tags: Photos, SCA

This isn't the Pennsic entry; this is the "you can see nice things when there isn't city build-up in your way" photo post. :-) Mostly sunsets, interesting clouds, and the full moon. Read more…

Neat clouds

2022-06-22 from Dreamwidth

Tags: Photos

We had a storm around dinner time. It passed, and I was treated to a really nifty sky right around sunset. I've never seen that shade of purple, and the "condensed puff" of the clouds is pretty neat.

I took these pictures over a span of about five minutes, starting ten minutes after nominal sunset. There are still bright spots in the sky, where it looks like the sun might be shining through, which I assume is caused by some sort of atmospheric refraction or something. Just...wow.

These pictures are straight off my cell phone, no alterations. Read more…

Living Treasures Animal Park

2021-09-12 from Dreamwidth

Tags: Life, Photos

We recently visited Living Treasures Animal Park, right off the PA Turnpike. It's nearby for us, but we'd never heard of it until we got a recommendation. It's a family-run cross between a small zoo and a petting zoo, with care for the animals being a top priority.

They have typical domesticated animals that kids (and others) can interact with. I call this first one "pet me!" and the second one "feed me!": Read more…

How it started / how it's going

2021-08-01 from Dreamwidth

Tags: Life, Photos

Remember this tomato plant from the end of May, when I thought the cage was overkill but they didn't have the next size down? Read more…

Considerations in remodeling

2021-07-11 from Dreamwidth

Tags: Life, Photos

When choosing a floor tile, it's important to consider contrasts with key components:

light floor, dark cat

A little more photography

2021-01-04 from Dreamwidth

Tags: Photos

During Chanukah I tried taking some better pictures of the candles, as I mentioned then. Here are a few more successes from later days. Read more…

Learning to use the manual camera settings

2020-12-13 from Dreamwidth

Tags: Photos

When I've taken pictures of the chanukiyah in the past, I've usually been disappointed by how blurry the flames look. Photographing flames in a darkened room is apparently challenging -- it's not just me. I asked a question about it a while back on the Codidact photography community and got some interesting advice.

I've been experimenting this season. Here's one from tonight that came out decently well:

photo, 5 candles, window reflection

The camera settings were:

Shutter speed: 1/90
ISO: 1600
Exposure: 0 (I don't know what this means; it's a scale from -2 to +2)

The other settings I have available are named:

White balance: (scale of pictograms of sun, light bulbs, etc)
Interval(s): scale from 0 to 60
Focus: picture of flower, 25/50/75%, picture of mountain

I left those set to "auto".

I can make guesses (based on the scales) about white balance and focus, but "interval(s)" has me stumped.

Garden thief!

2020-08-02 from Dreamwidth

Tags: Food, Life, Photos

On Tuesday I hit peak tomato, harvesting 22 (!) cherry tomatoes. There were several more that were almost ripe that I expected to pick the next day.

But the next day they were gone, all of them. I found the half-eaten carcass of one green tomato on the ground. I couldn't tell what ate it. I wonder if it was the rabbit I saw when I went out Tuesday evening to harvest some basil.

rabbit on steps