Photo of the Day........Boeing B-17G Liberty Belle

As you can see I'm not yet tired of playing with the B-17 images. 

I just picked up a sheet of translucent plastic for the light table and very soon I will start testing again.  So the subject will change if you bored with airplanes.

Photo of the Day..............B-17G Liberty Bell

Another view.

Photo of the Day............B17-G Liberty Belle at Springfield Branson Airport

Nose Art.

Photo of the Day......B-17G Flying Fortress WW2 Bomber Liberty Belle

Liberty Belle was parked outside the hanger so I HAD to take some photos.  If you want some history on Liberty Belle please follow this link.  http://www.libertyfoundation.org/history-libertybelle.html   You can count on me posting more photos of of this lovely lady. 

Picture of the Day...........Branson Airport from 3000' MSL

This photo turned two year sold as of August 23rd.  I took it while returning from Little Rock Air Force Base where I got to fly a C-130J Super Hercules Air Force Transport Plane full motion flight simulator.   It is the Branson Airport before it was open.  You can see there are no buildings yet.  Behind the airport is the city of Branson, MO and behind that Table Rock Lake.

The problem with taking photos from a small airplane is the plastic windows that distort and wash out the contrasts.   Sometimes you can open the window but this time that was not an option.  

 

Photo of the Day...Interesting Effect

Got this interesting effect when shooting tests against the flourescent light diffuser. 

I will be getting a translucent white polycarbonate backdrop for the next tests.  It should be just right but I have to figure out how to put a radius bend in it.  Either I'll figure it out or break a few trying.

Photo of the Day..........First attempt

I built a makeshift light table for the adverstising assignment.  I used what materials I could come up with cheaply which consisted of PVS conduit elbows fittings and a flourescent light fixture diffuser.  The PVC table was a good idea it works reasonable well.  The flourescent light diffuser was not a good idea.  I attempted to use paper to provide more opacity but the texture showed through and smoot even lighting did not happen.  The table is good.  I need to find a sheet of 1/8" to 1/4" translucent white plastic sheet to make the light table work as intended.   Here is the light table and the first attempt.  It is quickly obvious that the diffuser and paper is not going to cut it. 

Did I tell you that one additional draw back using the flourescent light diffuser is it melts.  the bottom light melted the plastic where the objects were sitting and it started to sag.  

Photo of the Day............Earth and Moon

This is a photo of the Earth and Moon taken by the Messenger Mercury spacecraft 114 million miles away.  Amazing isn't it?

Photo of the Day......................Menger Hotel San Antonio, Texas

I am sorry there haven't been any posts the past few days.  I've been busy preparing for my final photo assignment.  I am building a small light jig for still life/advertising shots.  Hope to have it ready by the weekend.   So here is an archive shot of the courtyard through door glass at the Menger Hotel in San Antonio.   An historic hotel built in 1859.  

   

Photo of the Day........Ruby Throated Hummingbirds

What a fiesty bunch of little stinkers.  As the Hummingbirds passed back through this week they have been tanking up on suger water and fighting big time.  I will never figure out how they even maintain their body weight, what little it is, from all the fighting they do. 

I had the unbelievable experience of holding one in my hand.  It got trapped in the garage attracted by the red garage door  red release pull handle.  I waited for him to tire out and then gently grabbed him from his perch.  He went quiet in my cupped hands and I genuinely could not feel him in there.  I walked over to my wife so she could see and opened my cover hand.  He looked about and flew off in an instant.  I was left standing there thinking to myself.  "I held a hummingbird!"  

I decided to try to stop hummingbird wings in mid flight.  No blur.  I set the shutter to it's highest speed [1/8000-sec] and the adjusted the apeture to maintain the proper exposure and after increasing the camera speed to ISO 1000 I froze the wings.  But, stopping the wings also depended upon the angle I photographed from.  I have only processed one photo but I wnat to share it with you.  The one hummer is going inverted.  Does any other bird actually go fully inverted like Maverick and Goose?  I am not sure another bird can. 

CANON EOS 40D W/CANON EF70-200 F/2.8l IS USM LENS  F/3.2 1/2500S ISO 1000

Photo of the Day........Was it Friday the 13th?!

I would love to blame it on Friday the 13th., but I can't point a finger at Jason.   After setting up for the Persied shower I took a couple test shots and ignored the results.  The first rule of photography.  FOCUS! FOCUS!  FOCUS!  I didn't set the focus.  The first rule of any endeaver is CHECK, CHECK AND RECHECK!  I never checked much less rechecked.  Infinity is infinity, but with cameras infinity is infinity +/- Getting a meteor in the sensor it about 80% luck and 20% skill and I lacked both last Friday the 13th.  So here is a meteor from Friday.   And, to save face, at least a little, a meteor from the 2007 Perseids.  

I don't want to talk about it!

 

                                                                    Before my camera keep such  good records
On a serious note.  I want to comment on the worsening night sky conditions.  This problem has grown worse every year from my own back yard, but it's not just a Springfield problem, it is a world wide problem.  As we feel the need to wrap ourselves in a false security blanket of more and more light we are losing touch with our natural world.   We talk about chemical pollution a lot but we never talk about light pollution and sound pollution both of which are destroying our health just as the chemical pollution is.   

Photo of the Day...............Waiting for passengers in KCHT

After telling some flying stories yesterday I thought I'd post some flying photos while I prep for my next unit of photo assignments.

Photo of the Day...........................DFW Layover

Photo of the Day............................Behold Eck

There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to... The Outer Limits.

Photo of the Day...........................Amazing Photos

Instead of me posting something I took how about some photos taken by the old pros on film that amazing is insufficient to describe them.   This is the photography I admire the most. 

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2010/07/26/captured-america-in-color-from-1939-1943/2363/

Photo of the Day.................Tractor in Aurora Missouri

An International Farmall H model tractor built sometime between 1938 and 1952 taken on July, 11, 2008 in Aurora Missouri.  Is the internet wonderful?!  No way I'd have known that on my own.  The famous last words, "If I had this to do over:.  I would have taken more time at it.  Shot more angles and would have removed the pallets!   Considering it's an old tractor and next to an old building I decided it go black and white.  And, I would have used  whole different camera settings and a tripod. 

EOS 40D EF-50mm f/1.4 USM f/14.0 1/125s ISO-400 [2008.07.11]

Photo of the Day.....................Snow Capped Ball in Copper Coil

Photo of the Day..................Cessna 175 Float Plane

Still cleaning up the files, so again, an oldie from the past.  I captured this Cessna 175 east of Vancouver British Columbia in the late afternoon in February of 2008.    I'm not sure how this is going to work till I insert it, but lets see.   Frankly I don't know why there is so much color.  I know that clouds have a lot of subtle coloration that become enhanced during sunset, maybe there was rain aloft to the West between the setting sun and the clouds that created a dispersed spectrum.  Because it is dispersed I am confident I can rule out chormatic aberration from the lens, but I am not going to rule out an affect from the photo sensor.   

                              Canon EOS 40D Canon EF100-300mm f/5.6 1/5000 ISO-100 [2008.02.13]