Lens Envy – Revisited

My second post in early March discussed my “lens envy” for those with professional-level lenses. A friend let me borrow his Canon EF 70-200/2.8L IS II USM lens to shoot a basketball game. Being able to go down to f2.8 and the higher quality glass made a big improvement over my commercial zoom lens.  I have coveted this high-quality lens ever since - putting it on my wish list for ‘someday.’  That someday has finally arrived! We decided it was time to get it after getting a gallery of my football photos posted by the newspaper.  Last Thursday it arrived and my lens envy is gone!! (Although I am sure at some point in the future I will want additional lenses. But that is for years ahead.)

  

The initial shakedown of the new lens was at the Tuscarora v Broad Run High School football game on Friday September 1^st. It lived up to all my expectations. The quality of the images was much better than my other lenses, especially in the stadium lighting.  Shooting at 200mm, as opposed to 300mm with my old lens, yielded better images of distant action that could be cropped and used. 

Something funny happened late in the game.  A couple parents were on the sideline taking photos.  One I knew and another was usually nearby.  We were comparing images off and on to see if anyone captured a key play. I was helping the one I knew with getting her settings right for the conditions, when the other woman walked by an muttered, “Now I have lens envy!”  All I could do is smile and think, “I’ve been there!”  

Seeing Your Photos in the Newspaper

It is always a thrill to see one of your photos published in a newspaper or online by a media outlet. My first time was the winter before last when I sent a photo of the star of the girls’ basketball team driving for a layup to our local weekly newspaper.  They used it in their online article about the game. It was a big thrill and gave me some confidence to try it again. 

Fast forward to this past winter and the girls’ basketball coach asked me to be the team photographer.  The result was several photos being used in online articles and photo galleries as well as several being published in the print edition of the paper. The largest displayed were about 4”x4”.  It was very rewarding to see, and much welcomed by the girls.

The Tuscarora High School football season kicked off on August 25^th with a home game against King George.  The Huskies won 35-0 and I got some great photos. I sent some to the Loudoun Times Mirror and they used one of the photos to illustrate their Week 1 review of the football games in their online version. They also published it in the print edition on Thursday in an article about the upcoming game of the week.  The best part for me was the photo was printed in 5x7 format under one of the same size by their pro.  This was by far the best recognition of my photos.

My photo on the bottom

The photo the paper selected was not my favorite from that night.   I was lucky to get it between players and referees running down the sideline. I liked it, but felt there were several more with better action.  But, after seeing the paper use it to illustrate their article I started to realize the context of the photo in use is as important as the quality of the photo itself.  

The image they used was cropped from what I sent to them. This also taught me a lesson about what I should do before sending the pictures – crop to focus on the action.  I have been looking at my action photos with a different eye since then.  There is a lot of action to come this season!

Coming in for a Landing

The birds have flocked to our feeder this summer. It took a while for them to find it.  But once they did - they have been quite active. So have the squirrels!  There were 3 on the deck yesterday.  Earlier this summer we had a family of cardinals - Mom, Dad, and at least two young ones.  They seem to have moved on. Now it is purple finches and sparrows.  
 
 

I grabbed my camera to see if I could catch a few of the birds flying around the feeder. I set the shutter to rapid burst – 7 frames a second and played around with my settings.  I used a polarizing filter and a -1/3^rd stop exposure compensation.  My initial settings were f16 (aperture priority) at ISO 1000 because it was a bright sunny day.  The shutter speeds ranged from 1/125 sec to 1/160 sec, which was too long to freeze the birds in flight. 

My second set was done at f5.0 at ISO 2000.  The results were better – shutter speeds changed to 1/2500 sec.  Still some blur on the wings, but some came out okay.  Finally, I changed to f5.0 at ISO 4000 and had much better success. The noise increased, but at least the images captured the birds without blur on the wings.  More experiments to come!

The Beautiful Glory of Morning Glories

Purple Morning Glory on our deck

Morning glories greet the day with their blue hued petals facing the rising sun. They survive until afternoon when they curl up and begin developing seeds that will replenish the flower bed in the next year.  

My Mother grew blue Morning Glories when I was young. She still grows some, but not as many. I grew some off our back deck for several years. Most were blue ones. But I also planted some red and purple ones as well. The blue and red varieties were behind the main part of the deck and created a green and blue curtain that partially shielded us from the outside world.  Eventually I stopped planting them every year. The blue and red ones kept returning every year but the color deteriorated in each generation until they eventually only displayed a reduced number of small white flowers.

Backlit Morning Glory

Purple Morning Glories are another story. They were planted around the gazebo and climbed up the lattice below and intertwined in the deck railing. Each year, several of the plants come up and continue to present the same deep purple as they always did.

One thing about Morning Glories is the different color patterns you see depending on how you look at them.  Looking straight on like the one in the upper left gives you the reflected color. But a whole different color pattern emerges when it is backlit by the bright sunlight as the other pictures show. Backlighting helps bring out the structure of the flower and gives a different color entirely.   

The Cardinal!

A couple of cardinals have been visiting our deck recently. Usually it was the female enjoying our bird seed. Well, a couple weeks ago the couple turned into a family of four. It looks like the young ones are a male and female. As the picture shows, the male is very bright red - cardinal red you could say. 😏




The two young ones don't have their color yet. One looks very disheveled. My friends and I call it the awkward teen! It won't be long and they will disappear. So, I'm enjoying it while I can.

Purple Finch

Purple Finch on my deck

Canon EOS 70D, ISO1000, f6.3, 1/4000, -0.3step

My bird feeder is starting to get more visitors. Last Friday I had a couple purple finches hanging out on the deck. I slipped the sliding door open and was able to get some pictures before it took off. The Audubon field guide information online says they are declining in the northeast. My Mother gets a lot at her feeder in Pennsylvania. 

THE GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH

German Reformed Church, Fannettsburg, PA
Canon 70D f7.1(-1/3) 1/800sec iso200 29mm

Just about a mile north of my hometown Fannettsburg, Pennsylvania is this old German Reformed Church. Built in 1844 of local limestone, it served congregations for many years. For several decades, it has been used for one annual service in mid-June. A different priest or minister presides each year.  This year the ceremony is on my birthday, so I plan to attend.

WWI Grave Marker
Canon 70D f7.1(-1/3) 1/400sec iso200 55mm

Many of my ancestors or their relatives are buried there. My great uncle Lynn Mort (My Mother’s Father’s brother) is one of them. He died of the Spanish influenza during World War I, or ‘World War’ as it says on the marker. An American Legion post in California named after him wanted a picture of his tombstone for a ceremony. .