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This Week at the Lake – 23/52

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I struggled to pick a lead photo this week. I like the photos I got this week but nothing really seemed to pop.

I started the week of at the lake on a Tuesday lunch time visit. It was about 100 degrees though so I did not stay long. I saw an owl on the side of the road on the way in but was unable to get a shot of him. The only thing I got in Tuesday was this:

On Thursday I went before work. Usually I get a lot of photos when I visit in the morning, however, that morning I did not get much. I came across a doe and fawn but it was 6am and dark in the woods. Everything came out blurry. The only shot I liked from that day was this one:

On Friday, I dropped my son off at school. I wanted to be there to pick him up so I took the day off rather than go to work for only a few hours. So, with my son in school and my daughter in daycare, my wife and I headed to the lake. We hiked the lake trail and took the south lake trail back to make a loop. It was the first time I’d hiked the south lake trail.

We saw an owl…

The background in this is awesome!

The fawns are getting big and losing their spots…

In the middle of the woods, there is a bench with a plaque that says “Play Ball”…. I don’t get it. This was on the South Lake Trail

Another week down! I would like for it to cool down some but that gets me thinking about winter – I’m not sure how I’ll make it through winter….

Thanks for looking!

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Murfree Springs Wetlands – The Ducks

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More for my Murfree Springs Wetlands series. The last post for this series featured the Night Herons that can be found there, this post will feature the Ducks!

All these shots were taken this summer at the Murfree Springs Wetlands, in Murfreesboro Tennessee

Thanks for looking!

Lemonade Splash!

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I’ve seen some really great “Cookie Splash” shots on flickr and I’ve been wanting to try it.

Now, I don’t drink coffee (or even own a coffee cup) so I had to think of something else. Being so hot lately, I decided on using a nice refreshing glass of Lemonade.

I also don’t even own a flash, so I had to do it outside in the sun to get the fast shutter speed.

I really liked the splash on this one but I wish there wasn’t so much motion blur. After this shot I upped the iso to get an even faster shutter speed (from 1/2000 to 1/4000)

This was my last attempt, I actually threw the lemon into the glass (instead of dropping) to try to get a huge splash – The lemonade shot straight up

I really had fun with these – I’ll probably be doing more soon!

Setup:
The settings for these shots are virtually the same
Exposure: 1/4000s at f2.8
ISO: 400
Focal Length: 108mm (far enough away to not get splash on the lens!)
Put the camera on a tripod, set it to “Burst” mode (In this case I did a 6 shot burst)
Hold the drop item over the glass, when the burst starts drop or throw the item into the glass – easy as that!

Murfree Springs Wetlands – The Night Herons

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I’ve decided to try to post more series, my last post was the start of my Back Yard Fun series (that one for Humming Birds) — So here’s another series I will start – photos taken at the Murfree Springs Wetlands, at the Discovery Center in Murfreesboro.

Most everyone already knows how much I enjoy Radnor Lake, another spot I visit frequently is the Discovery Center in Murfreesboro (much closer to home!). There’s a playground there so the kids love it, and there are always Ducks, Herons, Birds, Dragonflies, Flowers….. All sorts of things for a photographer to shoot.

In this post, I’ll feature the Night Herons. All the shots were taken this summer:

Back Yard Fun – Humming Birds

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I have so many pictures that I don’t really know what to do with! I’m going to try to make a few more posts here for some of my “Random” shots. This is one series I’ll be posting over the next couple of weeks – Back Yard Fun. Because there are so many, I’ll break it up into groups

This first group is Humming Birds. We are lucky enough to have several humming birds this year (I’ve counted as many as 4 at one time). They’re pretty easy to get close to. I usually just pull out a chair and sit and wait. They always show up soon!

Here are a few:

This Week at the Lake – 21/52

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A very short week for me – I was traveling for work during most of the week. Unfortunately I was only able to visit Radnor Lake for 30-40 minutes on Friday.

I tried some different processing on the shot above, including adding textures. I think it turned out alright but I’m hoping for a much better week next week!

Here are some others I got:
This guy seemed to want his picture taken

A macro lens would be fun to use with these guys! There are tons of them at Radnor

My obsession with shallow DOF continues! I’ve also been converting more to black and white lately

Probably my favorite from this week – I like the simplicity and the light on the leaves.

So that’s all I managed in the short time I was there.

Thanks for looking!

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Only a Couple in Texas

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I was recently in the areas of Dallas and Austin Texas. It was my first time in Texas so even though it was a business trip, I brought my camera. Unfortunately (as I assumed would happen) I did not have time for photography. Not even our hotels were very interesting. I never even saw the Austin skyline until I was on the way to the airport to leave. I spent most of the days in conference rooms and the afternoons touring houses (I work for a home builder Drees Homes)

The only chance I got was after dinner on Monday in Irving, Texas (just out side of Dallas). The skies looked great so I walked across the street from the hotel and found an office building to include in the photos:

The next morning I got these from the window of my hotel room:
The skyline in the far distance on the left is, I believe, Dallas

Austin really seems like a great city, I would love to visit again with my family when I can spend time doing photography…..

This Week at the Lake – 20/52

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A little something different for my main post for Week 20. The first black and white photo that I’ve chosen to lead off with. I really liked the light and shadows in this – and of course I love that shallow depth of focus (dof). It may not be as popular as some of my others but it really clicked with me for some reason, probably one I will print.

Here are the other shots from Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday:

Monday

Help needed in identifying this bird! Please tell me if you know!
EDIT – Thanks to Matt Hansen for the ID! This is a Yellow Billed Cuckoo

For this one, I was really trying to get a “Deer in the Woods” look, not just a portrait. I think it turned out alright, something I will continue trying to get

Wednesday

Thanks to the nice couple on the bridge who helped my identify this as a Green Heron

Thursday

Friday

Wow, lots of photos this week!
Thanks for looking!

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Franklin, Tennessee

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Earlier this week I stopped by Franklin, Tennessee after work to get some photos. Before this, I had zero shots of the downtown area of Franklin.

I got lots of shots, we’ll break it up into categories…

HDR
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There were so many people and cars it was hard getting most of those shots. Once I found a composition I wanted I would have to wait several minutes to get it with no cars…

Black and White
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Downtown Franklin is well suited for Black and White photography

Color
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Most of these color shots looked so good in black and white also, but I needed to throw some color in there!

This Week at the Lake – 19/52

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Hope you like the new look here! I’ve been wanting a wordpress template that would put my photos on an all black background and I’ve finally found it! I think it looks much better now….

Week 19 has come and gone. This week I visited Radnor Lake on Wednesday (noon), Thursday (noon) and Friday (early morning).

Wednesday I used my lunch break from work to go to the lake. Usually when I do this, I have to set an alarm on my phone to tell me when to head back to the car. Well, on Wednesday, I was walking around shooting, finding owls and deer, off in my own little world. I remember thinking to myself “seems like I’ve been here a while but I must have more time – my alarm hasn’t gone off yet!”. Shortly after, I suddenly realize the phone is not in my pocket! I headed for the car as quick as I could. Finally I got to the car, there was my phone buzzing away! I had been there for about an hour and fifteen minutes (would still take almost fifteen minutes to get back to the office)! Yikes! Luckily no one was looking for me and I didn’t really miss anything important, I don’t even think anyone noticed…

The skies were great that day so I wanted to get a good lake-scape
This is the same spot that I got the images from for Week 13 and Week 16

I then headed to where I normally see the owls and sure enough…
(I think he’s trying to hide from me 🙂 )

(These are all the same owl)

Also while standing there (waiting for my alarm to ring!) I saw this fawn and her mother cross the path

On Thursday I headed to the lake despite the HOT temperatures (and made sure I had my phone with me)
It was so hot I decided I was not going to walk far or stay long. I parked at the west entrance this time and headed up the lake trail. I didn’t go very far and I came across another owl – I had never seen one in this part of the park before

On Friday, I was able to go early in the morning – getting there just after 6am. I was walking along the lake trail and had made it quite a ways without getting many pictures. I saw lots of deer but nothing was coming out right for me. It was so dark this morning because of hazy/cloudy skies that almost everything I took was blurry. The shutter speeds were 1/20, 1/40 (even at 800 ISO).

I was walking along the path and I heard a bunch of birds being very noisy. There was a small tree nearby with a canopy of branches right on the side of the trail. I ducked under the branches and looked up – there was a Barred Owl that was no more that 10 feet away! I took a couple shots before he was spooked by some people walking.
This is only at 70mm – quality is not that great because it was very dark under the tree. 1/20 shutter speed at f2.8

He flew to a nearby branch where I got a couple more shots before he left

I then started back towards the car. On the way back I saw another Doe with a Fawn. I did everything I could to get a decent shot of these two but nothing seemed to go right. I followed/stalked for at least a quarter mile.

I then watched them emerge from some brush and there was a second fawn. I don’t think it belonged to this doe because she walked off with the other fawn and this one stayed. He came very close to me at one point.

He then wandered off and I headed to the car.

Thanks for looking!

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