Devil’s Lake Hike

Last weekend I drove out to Devil’s Lake State Park, a popular state park north-west of Madison, WI. I originally wanted to get out there for sunrise, but it is a two hour drive out there, and I ended up getting up around sunrise, rather than two hours earlier. It was still a good trip, since it let me scout for another one I hope to take in a few weeks, as the leaves start to turn. I’ll take a little more time to plan that one, and make sure I get on the road in time for sunrise.

I parked on the south side of the lake, so it was a new area for me, basically turning around at the same point I normally do, but in the opposite direction.

devils-lake-DSC_2915
Balancing Rock

This image really captures why I shoot raw and like Capture One. This image is the lowest exposure I took to create an HDR, so the majority of the image was a couple stops underexposed. I ended up just bringing the exposure up by .7 of a stop, and added a lot of highlight and shadow recovery in Capture One, giving me an image that I think works as well as a traditional composite HDR image.

I didn’t take a closer picture of the balancing rock, because climbers were using it to anchor ropes, which kind of messed up the shot.

Devil's Doorway
Devil’s Doorway

Another shot of The Devil’s Doorway. I think I like the lower angle in my previous shot, but this is a cool place to come and try some new angles and new ideas. It is often worth going back and revisiting places and subjects you have photographed before, and see how the changing conditions, seasons, or your own evolution as a photographer effects your images.

While I was here, a couple came up, and the woman was going to take a picture of the man with her iPhone. I offered to take one for them, so they could both be in it. She looked at me, with a DSLR, camera bag and tripod, and said “I don’t know, it doesn’t look like you know what you are doing.” I took a couple pictures for them, which they were very grateful for.

devils-lake-DSC_3004
One of the Potholes

Devil’s Lake’s Potholes were probably formed by water sometime around the last ice age. Very different to see the smooth, flowing shapes in the normally very angular quartzite.

devils-lake-DSC_2995
Sunlight on a plant

The sun was catching just the sprig at the end of this plant. It ends up losing some of the context it had in real life, but I think the picture worked.

devils-lake-DSC_3021
Playing with off camera flash for close-up photography

I saw this little plant, and decided to try to use my flash off-camera. Fun little exercise.

Road America Trip

My wife’s family has been involved in auto racing for many years, but we have not been at the track for the last few years. She wanted to go up to Road America to watch the IMSA Tudor United SportsCar Championship races, so we went up for the festivities Saturday, August 9th. Most of the day was practice and qualifying for the main events Sunday.

One of the most interesting cars there was the Deltawing car, one of the prototype division cars. The front wheels are quite close together, and very narrow.

roadamerica-DSC_0004
The Deltawing Prototype in practice
roadamerica-DSC_9444
The Deltawing team working on the car in the paddock.

The tires on the left are for the front wheels, the right for the rear wheels. I am a little surprised it performs as well as it does, with such narrow wheels, and it’s almost tricycle layout.

roadamerica-DSC_9448
The Deltawing’s tires, showing the difference between the front and rear tires.

Yes, I am an Aston Martin fan. They are (in my opinion) the most beautiful cars in production today. And James Bond drives them.

roadamerica-DSC_9484
Nose of the Mantella Autosport Grand Sport division Aston Martin V8 Vantage.
roadamerica-DSC_9607
The TRG-AMR Grand Sport Aston Martin V8 Vantage
roadamerica-DSC_0133
For more power, the TRG-AMR Aston Martin V12 Vantage

And who doesn’t like a Ferrari?

roadamerica-DSC_0173
Ferrari F458 Italia engine
roadamerica-DSC_0167
Cleaning the nose of the Ferrari

And what is racing without a few crashes? Not something you want to see happen to a driver, but it is part of racing.

roadamerica-DSC_0243
Spin
roadamerica-DSC_9743
I Fought the Wall, and the Wall Won
roadamerica-DSC_9430
One of the great things about open cockpit cars, at least from the perspective of the wrecker drivers.

 

EAA Airventure 2014

For the second year in a row, my wife and I went the EAA AirVenture airshow in Oshkosh. For anyone unfamiliar with it, the AirVenture is about a week long event that brings in pilots and airplanes from all over the world. During that week, Whittman Regional Airport claims to be the busiest airport in the world, based on airplane movements.

The show is a great chance to see a wide variety of aircraft, from home-builts to some of the largest planes in the world, to current and historic warbirds, and see them both up close and personal, and flying.

They also have some other things around, like this Morgan 3-wheeler. The Morgan was driven by Richard Hammond in one of the episodes of Top Gear, and happens to be powered by an engine made by S&S Performance, here in Wisconsin.

A Morgan Three Wheeler. The engine is made by Wisconsin based S&S Performance.
A Morgan Three Wheeler. The engine is made by Wisconsin based S&S Performance.

Speaking of the biggest planes in the world, the size of the C-17 is incredible. This shot captures the scale of the tail over the crowd waiting to tour it. (Corrected, previously said C-5)

The massive tail of a C17
The massive tail of a C17

The first performer at the air show itself was Sean D. Tucker, in the Oracle sponsored Challenger III biplane.

Sean D. Tucker's Challenger III Biplane
Sean D. Tucker’s Challenger III Biplane

Sean after his performance.

Sean D. Tucker after his show
Sean D. Tucker after his show

An aerobatic rated Beechcraft Bonanza, a 6-seat general aviation aircraft. Doing aerobatics in this is kind of like entering your minivan in a drifting competition. While it can’t do some of the crazy stuff purpose built aircraft like the Challenger III can, it is definitely a  high performance aircraft.

An Aerobatic rated Beechcraft Bonanza
An Aerobatic rated Beechcraft Bonanza

The B-24 Liberator “Diamond Lil,” one of the earliest B-24 still flying. It is one of the aircraft owned and flown by the Commemorative Airforce. As a bit of history buff, especially interested in the World War II era, I love seeing these old planes fly, and even get a little choked up seeing them, knowing what they, and the crews that flew them, have seen in combat.

B-24 "Diamond Lil" in flight
B-24 “Diamond Lil” in flight

The US Coast Guard came and ran a demonstration of water rescue techniques, except the swimmer couldn’t dive from the helicopter, since it was over ground. This is the swimmer initially being lowered from the helicopter, after which the helicopter moved off, to allow the swimmer to do his work, then circled around and picked the swimmer, and would have picked up the victim with one of a number of options, such as slings or stretchers.

The Coast Guard demonstrating rescue techniques.
The Coast Guard demonstrating rescue techniques.

A V-22 Osprey shortly after takeoff. The Osprey has a pair of tilting nacelles with turbo-prop driven rotors. The aircraft can either take off vertically, or with a short takeoff roll, which allows for an increased capacity. Once the aircraft is in the air, the rotors are slowly rotated forward, and the plane transitions into fixed-wing flight.

Osprey shortly after takeoff
Osprey shortly after takeoff
The engine nacelle on an Osprey VTOL/STOL plane.
The engine nacelle on an Osprey VTOL/STOL plane.

The final show was the Air Force Thunderbirds. They were not flying last year for the airshow due to budget cuts, but were back in the air this year.

The Thunderbirds were a great show. They seem to like scaring the audience by getting you to look at part of the team, and then another plane come and buzz the crowd, traveling fast enough to almost outrun their own sound, so you don’t hear them until they are right on top of you.

The Thunderbird Arrowhead Formation
The Thunderbird Arrowhead Formation
All the Thunderbirds flying in a Delta Formation
All 6 Thunderbirds flying in a Delta Formation
Thunderbirds solo planes perform a Reflection Pass
Thunderbirds solo planes perform a Reflection Pass

The EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) was founded in 1953, and it’s first permanent home, after the founder’s basement, was in the Milwaukee suburb of Franklin, where I live now. They moved to their current location in Oshkosh, WI in 1983. The facility includes the EAA Museum, which houses over 200 aircraft.

I joined the EAA while we were there, since it was only $10 more to join and use the member discount than just getting tickets, and it will allow me free admission to the AirVenture museum, and a subscription to Sport Aviation magazine.

I am looking forward to visiting the museum, and more visits to the Fly In in the coming years.

Like what you see? Follow me on Twitter for updates.

Milwaukee Art Museum

The Milwaukee Art Museum at night.
The Milwaukee Art Museum at night.

One of the first photos with my new D610. 28mm f/4 PC-Nikkor, 30 seconds, f/11 (I think, no EXIF data from this lens).

For the long exposure, I am using a Manfrotto tripod and ball head, then using an ML-L3 wireless remote, setting the camera in Remote mirror-up (Menu > Shooting Menu > Remote Control Mode > Remote Mirror Lockup) were the first press of the shutter button locks the mirror up, and the second fires the shutter.

Comparing Capture One Pro and Express

I have been using Capture One Express as my primary RAW processing program for a while now. The workflow works well for me, and I like the results. After looking at some of the videos on Phase One’s youtube channel, I started thinking about upgrading. I currently have a demo version of Pro set up on another computer, and thought I would post a comparison of the two versions.

Disclaimer: This is a comparison of the main features, there are other options and features not covered here. Phase One offers a 60 day trial, and when you start the program it asks which version you want to run. Download the eval version, and use this as a guide to the available features.

Screenshots are from Mac for C1 Express or Lightroom, Windows for Pro.

Common Features:

A lot of the features are common across both Pro and Express, including: Continue reading “Comparing Capture One Pro and Express”

More Tractor Photos

These are photos of some tractors owned by a father and son that attend our church. They collect Minneapolis-Moline tractors, and were out there working on them while I was shooting, so I got a chance to hear some of the history of the machines. All the photos are with my D100, and the 60mm f2.8D Micro-Nikkor, unless otherwise noted. RAW processing in Capture One Express.

Tractors-DSC_1264
Engine of a Minneapolis-Moline Jetstar 3 tractor. 18-55, ISO 200, 1/750th at f/5.6.

Continue reading “More Tractor Photos”