A Rock in my Path - Frontenac State Park in Minnesota

A Rock in my Path - Frontenac State Park in Minnesota, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

A Rock in my Path - Frontenac State Park in Minnesota

We went hiking on the bluffs and then down through the forest. The wet earthy smell of the forest was great and the temperature was perfect. The ferns, moss, rocks and granite made for a very intriguing setting.

A Winding Curvy Road in Devil's Lake State Park - Wisconsin

A Winding Curvy Road in Devil's Lake State Park - Wisconsin, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

A Winding Curvy Road in Devil's Lake State Park - Wisconsin.

As we drove through the park, I hopped out, setup my tripod in the middle of the road and photographed this scene. I had to yank my tripod out of the way of an oncoming car at one point! It has just finished raining and then misting earlier and the air was fresh with the moist humid forest air and the smells of the forest.

It is great to be alive - view at 'Great River Bluffs State Park in Minnesota'

It is great to be alive - view at 'Great River Bluffs State Park in Minnesota', originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

It is great to be alive - view at 'Great River Bluffs State Park in Minnesota'

The air had a bit of crispness to it but the sun was warm. A deep breath in through your nose revealed the scents of the forests. I really enjoyed these scenic views.

Devil's Lake in Devil's Lake State Park - Wisconsin

Devil's Lake in Devil's Lake State Park - Wisconsin, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Devil's Lake in Devil's Lake State Park - Wisconsin

Here is another view from our momentary stop at the lake. There were hundreds of swallows swooping down over the lake surface and eating bugs! Lots of birds high in the sky as well.

Natalie and Danielle

Natalie and Danielle, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

While we hiked throught the forest, Natalie and Danielle shared an earbud a piece while listening to their mp3 player. Lots of giggles and laughs were heard from them as we walked.

Family Photo at Great River Bluffs State Park in Minnesota

Family Photo at Great River Bluffs State Park in Minnesota, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Family Photo at Great River Bluffs State Park in Minnesota

While hiking on the trails, we came to this lovely view.

Clear View of the Mississippi River Basin from "Great River Bluffs State Park" in Minnesota

Clear View of the Mississippi River Basin from "Great River Bluffs State Park" in Minnesota, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Clear View of the Mississippi River Basin from "Great River Bluffs State Park" in Minnesota

We finally bought a state park pass. We would never have seen this park, but I missed my turn and the GPS routed us by the back road and I saw this small state park in southern Minnesota. We bought a state park pass and hiked through the trails to vistas like this. It was a wonderful afternoon for hiking and for photos. The sun was hot, but under the canopy it was cool and crisp.

Approximately 20 miles southeast of Winona at the junction of U.S. Highway 61 and Interstate 90. Park entrance is accessed off of County Road 3. Coming from the west or southeast via I90, take exit 266 and follow park signs. Coming from Winona, south on Hwy 61 (just past mile marker 15), take a right on County Road 3 for 4 miles to the park entrance.

At Devils Lake in Devil's Lake State Park , Wisconsin

At Devils Lake in Devil's Lake State Park , Wisconsin, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

At Devils Lake in Devil's Lake State Park , Wisconsin. During our visit to the Wisconsin Dells, we went driving Sabbath afternoon a bit. We stopped here on the shore while I photographed the scene. The next photo I took was a family photo.

Wilderness Canyon Zip Line at the Glacier Canyon Lodge at Wisconsin Dells, Wi

Wilderness Canyon Zip Line at the Glacier Canyon Lodge at Wisconsin Dells, Wi, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Wilderness Canyon Zip Line at the Glacier Canyon Lodge at Wisconsin Dells, Wi

I attended a conference here and while we were here we rode the zip line. Exhilirating! The first step off the first run sure is a leap of faith! Unfortunately, we road it while it was 35 degrees and rainy. BRRR! The last day of our trip, we took this photo and it had already warmed up some.

Strobist: Pop up flash in commander mode triggering. SB-900, SB-800, SB-600 at full power 1/1 into a 45" Impact white shoot through umbrella at camera left and above.

Fresh Strawberry Growth

Fresh Strawberry Growth, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

The flowers on the strawberry plants show that it will soon be time to eat lucious red strawberries!

Fresh Evergreen Growth

Fresh Evergreen Growth, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

While walking around outside at Julie's place, I amused myself finding various things to photograph.

Natalie

Natalie, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Natalie with her Sabbath Dress on. We were about ready to go to church at Sunnydale in the Sturgeon, Mo area. We were staying with Kevin and Julie.

Spring Blossums on a Red Bud Tree ( Cercis canadensis ) in Missouri

Spring Blossums on a Red Bud Tree ( Cercis canadensis ) in Missouri, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Spring Blossums on a Red Bud Tree ( Cercis canadensis ) in Missouri.

We went to visit family in central Missouri. Many red bud trees were finished, but this large particularly vibrant tree was still covered in blooms. I stopped the van, jumped out for 5 minutes to photograph it before we finished driving through town to Julie's place.

Bald Eagle Gazing out of frame

Bald Eagle Gazing out of frame, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Bald Eagle Gazing out of Frame.

Jon, Carrie, my family and I walked through Oxbow park. I photographed this bald eagle when it turned its head towards us.

Morning sunrise over the path

Morning sunrise over the path, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by ...

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by ..., originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by - with acknowledgement to Robert Frost.

I got up early and got Brent up too. We went for a ride over the frost hill tops through the cold crisp air of an April morning. The day would reach 70, but it was only 33 at the time. We rode on the four wheeler through the fields, over hill, over dale and around the woods until ... until we came to this spot to rest. And it struck me that this might make for an interesting photograph which I then made. The path passed through the trees and on yonder in to the back 40 (or 400 acres) and just at that moment the sun was rising behind a corn silo at the horizon. Turkeys gobbled in the distance, a deer went running with white tail flashing.

And I was with my son photographing and riding through nature. Beautiful.

Vertical Lone Tree

Vertical Lone Tree, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Here is a vertical view of the lone tree. Driving the back country roads from my parents to Jon and Carrie's house, I stopped, jumped out and shot this one on a tripod before heading to their place for lunch.

Lone Tree Landscape

Lone Tree Landscape, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Here is a landscape view of the lone tree. Driving the back country roads from my parents to Jon and Carrie's house, I stopped, jumped out and shot this one on a tripod before heading to their place for lunch.

A Purple Flower Emerges

A Purple Flower Emerges, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

On our walk through the forest we saw a variety of wildflowers. Here is a fragile new purple flower bursting forth from the leaves.

Mossy Green Carpet on Rocks

Mossy Green Carpet on Rocks, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Mossy Green Carpet on Rocks - When Becky and I went out for a walk, we saw this collection of moss on a hillside facing North West. I brought my camera and tripod back out and made a few photographs. 3 Shot HDR made by bracketing -2,0,+2 stops in aperture priority mode.

Feeling Tired

Feeling Tired, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

The chicks are now 7 weeks old. Their feathers have really matured. I made a roost for them in the chicken coop. This one was falling asleep while I shot a few frames with my 85 mm lens using an f/1.4 aperture for shallow depth of field.

Close up of Giant Strawberry

Close up of Giant Strawberry, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

The store started selling giant strawberries before the snow has even melted off the ground. Before we could eat them, I had to claim right to photograph them first. They were just as good as the look.

Strobist info: SB-900 into 60" Impact white shoot through umbrella camera left and above. SB-800 into 45" Impact white shoot through umbrella camera right and above. SB-600 bare pointed at white styrofoam board behind strawberries providing diffuse backlight. Triggered with pop up flash in commander mode setting power out put for two front flashes to full manual 1/1 output.

Giant Strawberries

Giant Strawberries, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

The store started selling giant strawberries before the snow has even melted off the ground. Before we could eat them, I had to claim right to photograph them first. They were just as good as the look.

Strobist info: SB-900 into 60" Impact white shoot through umbrella camera left and above. SB-800 into 45" Impact white shoot through umbrella camera right and above. SB-600 bare pointed at white styrofoam board behind strawberries providing diffuse backlight. Triggered with pop up flash in commander mode setting power out put for two front flashes to full manual 1/1 output.

Family Photo for early 2010

Family Photo for early 2010, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Larger size here - farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4402208697_5091a4f2d9_b.jpg

Sabbath morning before church we made this family photo. We planned the previous night on doing it in the morning. We got up extra early to shoot it. I had the video camera out with the intention of recording it but I forgot to turn it on! We shot with it tethered into a laptop and went through several arrangements/poses. Out of about a hundred this was the best with everybody having good smiles etc.

This was shot in our main living room. The camera was about 20 feet away (shooting with the 85 mm really requires some distance). We were about 5 feet in front of the white backdrop. I had the flash in the 60" umbrellas at about 7 1/2' in height angled down at us and across. It was about 7 feet away from us to try and provide consistent light on everyone. I didn't want to go to full 1/1 power output on my SB-900 (because of recycling time) and so to keep it at 1/2 I increased my iso to 320. This allowed me to blow out the background with 2 flashes at about 1/8-1/4 power output and shoot at f/7.1 which resulted in about 3 1/2 ' depth of field (calculated with my handy dandy iPhone DOF calculator). I flipped the focus switch to manual after getting focus and never flipped it back. Fortunately, everything came out alright, but we did move around some and focus could have got off.


Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200) [+]
* Aperture: f/7.1 [+]
* Focal Length: 85 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 320 [+]

Strobist info: SB-900 into 60" Impact reflected umbrella camera left slightly and above. SB-800 and SB-600 behind us and shoot at white satin back drop to overexpose to white (one left one right). Triggered with pop up flash in commander mode.

Adobe Lightroom for initial processing. Adobe Photoshop for layers and curves this and that. Adobe Lightroom for cropping.

A fuzzy baby chick named Coca

A fuzzy baby chick named Coca, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

A Fuzzy Baby Chick named Coca.

We received our shipment of baby chicks from McMurray's. This is a 1-day old baby chick. This is Danielle's baby chick - named Coca. The chicks were hatched on Saturday afternoon and arrived at the post office in Rochester by noon on Sunday. We made a second trip into town just to pick them up. We transfered them to the little swimming pool we have and dipped their beaks in water and showed them the food. The kids and Becky spent about 2 hours sitting there playing with them! Lots of 'peep peep peep ...' in the air!

Strobist info: SB-900 into Impact 60" reflected umbrella camera left and a bit above. SB-600 into 45" Impact shoot through umbrella camera left and behind chick. SB-800 into Wescott 43" shoot through umbrella camera right and behind chick. Fluorescent light banks left and right (4 foot, 2 bulbs, 40 watts each, 5000k color temp). Triggered with pop up flash on my D80 with commander menu setting power output. 150 watt equivalent CFL bare flood light bulb to right of chick for a bit of orange side light (at - 2 to 3 ev).

Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60) [+]
* Aperture: f/4.0 [+]
* Focal Length: 85 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 160 [+]

Natalie's fuzzy baby chick

fuzzy baby chick, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

We received our shipment of baby chicks from McMurray's. This is a 1-day old baby chick. This is Natalie's baby chick. The chicks were hatched on Saturday afternoon and arrived at the post office in Rochester by noon on Sunday. We made a second trip into town just to pick them up. We transfered them to the little swimming pool we have and dipped their beaks in water and showed them the food. The kids and Becky spent about 2 hours sitting there playing with them! Lots of 'peep peep peep ...' in the air!

Strobist info: SB-900 into Impact 60" reflected umbrella camera left and a bit above. SB-600 into 45" Impact shoot through umbrella camera left and behind chick. SB-800 into Wescott 43" shoot through umbrella camera right and behind chick. Fluorescent light banks left and right (4 foot, 2 bulbs, 40 watts each, 5000k color temp). Triggered with pop up flash on my D80 with commander menu setting power output. 150 watt equivalent CFL bare flood light bulb to right of chick for a bit of orange side light (at - 2 to 3 ev).

Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60) [+]
* Aperture: f/4.0 [+]
* Focal Length: 85 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 160 [+]

Fuzzy Yellow Baby Chick

Fuzzy Yellow Baby Chick, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Fuzzy Yellow Baby Chick.

We received our shipment of baby chicks from McMurray's. This is a 1-day old baby chick. It is a Buff Orpington. After I took a few photos, this one promptly laid a nice little present on my black cloth! The chicks were hatched on Saturday afternoon and arrived at the post office in Rochester by noon on Sunday. We made a second trip into town just to pick them up. We transfered them to the little swimming pool we have and dipped their beaks in water and showed them the food. The kids and Becky spent about 2 hours sitting there playing with them! Lots of 'peep peep peep ...' in the air!

According to Wikipedia:

The Orpington is a breed of chicken named after the village of Orpington in Kent county England, which was made famous in part by this breed. Belonging to the English class of chickens, it was bred to be an excellent layer with good meat quality. Their large size and soft appearance together with their rich color and gentle contours make them very attractive, and as such its popularity has grown as a show bird rather than a utility breed. Being rather heavy, they are unable to fly,[3] so they work well as backyard birds. Due to their build they do well in very cold climates. The fluff of their feathers allow rain water to penetrate their feathers, so they must be kept out of the rain. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buff_Orpington

Strobist info: SB-900 into Impact 60" reflected umbrella camera left and a bit above. SB-600 into 45" Impact shoot through umbrella camera left and behind chick. SB-800 into Wescott 43" shoot through umbrella camera right and behind chick. Fluorescent light banks left and right (4 foot, 2 bulbs, 40 watts each, 5000k color temp). Triggered with pop up flash on my D80 with commander menu setting power output. 150 watt equivalent CFL bare flood light bulb to right of chick for a bit of orange side light (at - 2 to 3 ev).

Taken with a Nikon D80.

* Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60) [+]
* Aperture: f/4.0 [+]
* Focal Length: 85 mm [+]
* ISO Speed: 160 [+]

Hole in the Snow

Hole in the Snow, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Brent and I went out for a long trek through the snow. Here is an interesting snow formation we found. Any ideas?

Carl and Becky

Carl and Becky, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

Before church one Sabbath, Becky and I made a few couple portraits. This is the one we liked best.

Strobist info: SB-900 into 60" reflected Impact umbrella camera slight left and above. SB-800 into white 45" shoot through umbrella behind left. SB-600 into 43" shoot through umbrella behind right. Fluorescent strips left and right for slight rim light.

A Sunny July Morning in Minnesota

A Sunny July Morning in Minnesota, originally uploaded by Carl's Photography.

A Sunny July Morning in Minnesota.

While it is the end of January when I'm posting this, my thoughts are on days like this. The morning likely was still somewhat crisp and cool at 7:30 am when I took this. The day would get warmer into the high 70s or low 80s.

This is a single image made facing west with the sun to my back. Tonemapped for HDR effect and then massaged in Photoshop.