09-03-12 25,600

This photo is ugly in many ways. It lacks contrast, it's subject is less than perfect and it is more than a little grainy. But consider this: it was shot with my Canon 5D III at its highest "normal"* ISO setting of 25,600. It was so dark where I took this, I couldn't read the writings on the buttons on the camera. I grew up in a photographic world where 400 was considered a "high speed" film. The 5D III's sensor is 64 times more sensitive than that!When I bought my Canon 5D several years ago, I told my wife that I would never need another digital camera. It was a beautiful, high resolution camera. But then I learned that one thing that improves with each upgrade of the DSLR is it's ability to take better and better photos in lower and lower light. So when the 5D II was released, you know what happened. And now I have the 5D III, which is a beautiful high resolution camera. Maybe this one is the last camera I'll ever need?*There is an extended setting that allows for 102,400 ISO, but I'm not brave enough to try that.Canon 5D III 1/13s f/4.0 ISO25600 102mm

09-02-12 Camera Blur

I know enough about sports photography to know that this is no "money shot" because there is way too much blur. I'll leave sports photography to the sports pros.But I also know that if it's done right, blur can add a sense of motion and action to a photo and I think this photo is a good illustration of that. So, while this photo would never make the sports pages, it does make my blog. :-)For those who care, Watertown won the game. (1996 KiYi Days)Canon 5D 1/80s f/2.8 ISO1000 200mm

09-01-12 A Quiet Moment

I've been a little wordy in the photo blog lately. So I'll spare you today. This is Elise B in a relaxed moment in my studio a few years ago.Canon 1DII (?) 1/250s f/8.0 ISO100 58mmPlease take the "A Photo A Day" survey!

08-31-12 Hauptbahnhof, Berlin

I had some time in the main train station of Berlin a couple years ago and so I told Deb I was going to go looking for photos. I think I could spend all day in a place like this, surrounded with fascinating architecture and busy people.Sometimes when I take a photo I imagine that no one else has done so before. I'm a bit of a pioneer who is trying to show the world something that its never seen before. Yes, that's grandiose, I'll admit.This photo isn't one of those photos. I'm guessing many photographers have snapped a photo similar to this. So why publish it? Because even though it may not be unique and "new," I like it. And often that's enough for me.Canon 5DII 1/320s f/8.0 ISO320 70mm

80-30-12 Variations On A Theme

Yes, another sunflower shot. They are looking east, incidentally, away from the setting sun. And, yes, they look east all day and all night long. When I was a kid someone told me that they actually turned so they always faced the sun. That would be a form of heliotropism, so my high school biology teacher would say.But sunflowers aren't that ambitious.Canon 5DIII 1/80s f/7.1 ISO100 200mm

08-28-12 The Art of Seeing

So here's a variation on my themes from yesterday: spider webs and seeing. And here's a quote that every photographer should keep in mind:

"Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others."Jonathan Swift

Canon 5DIII 1/160s f/4.0 ISO200 100mm

08-27-12 Dewey Web

When I looked outside yesterday and noticed that our town was enveloped in a thick fog, I figured I would find something unusually photogenic . So when my wife and I went on our morning walk, I did something I don't normally do - I took my camera.Initially, I was disappointed because it was actually too foggy to get much of anything. But then I noticed hundreds of spider webs on fences and plants along the walkway. The webs were coated with beads of water because the air was so humid.I must have taken 30 photos before catching up with Deb, who was walking ahead. But I wasn't satisfied. So I went back a little bit later, this time with my macro lens and tripod. I took another 50 photos and this one is one that I liked.I especially like that each one of the beads of water is a little lens, which reflects the brown and green terrain behind the web and the foggy white sky above. Of course, because it is a lens, everthing is upside down.And, if I hadn't taken my camera, I wouldn't have seen the webs. What's the moral of this story? When I carry my camera, I am a photographer. And when I'm a photographer, I see the world a different way.

08-26-12 Golden (As seen at the Arrow Education Foundation Fund Raiser)

I'm no expert on sunflowers but it seems to me that they go from coming out of the ground to full flower in a fairly short time. And, sadly, they go from full flower to drooping to done in a short time, too.This field is east of Pierre, which doesn't narrow things down much since there are several sunflower fields east of Pierre. We were heading to Lake Oahe, Deb was driving and, after watching several fields go by my window, I said, "Stop. I've got to take some photos."The challenge with photographing sunflowers is something like the challenge of photographing a public building such as the Berlin Hauptbahnhof mentioned yesterday: how do you get a unique picture of something that so many others have photographed? (I just did a Google search for "sunflower pictures" and got 19,000,000 hits!).For better or for worse, this photo is my attempt at something a little different.Canon 5DIII 1/2000s f/2.8 ISO100 35mm[maxbutton id="8"]

08-25-12 Yucca

There isn't much that's real green along Lake Oahe in central South Dakota in late August. But the yucca plant seems to be well adapted to drought conditions and so in some places, that's all that is green.Sometimes, due to erosion along the shores of Oahe, you will see yucca clinging to soil cliffs and if you study them, you will see that they have roots that go down more than 10 feet. That's how they survive.Many South Dakotans have deep roots and that's how we hang on, as well.

08-24-12 Love's Padlocks

Quit reading this and click here.Now you know what these padlocks are all about. These padlocks were affixed to a bridge in Ljubljana that was constructed with lovers in mind because it had cables that made it convenient to affix your "love lock."Canon 5DII 1/125s f/6.3 ISO320 58mm

08-23-12 Refuge

This photo could have been captured anywhere in the western world, I suppose, though its not something you'd see in our small town, mainly because they would feel like they would stand out.This photo was taken in a busy section of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and the woman was so enthralled by her book that she wasn't aware of my camera, which once again turned by into a bit of a voyeur.Canon 5DII 1/125s f/4.5 ISO320 102mm

08-22-12 Take Me Back To Ljubljana

It's not that the beer is so good in Ljubljana, Slovenia, that I would love to go back there. I want to go back because it was such a charming place. But the beer helps.Lasko beer, incidentally, is produced by the largest brewery in Slovenia and the symbol on the glass and can is the Zlatorog, or "White Stag." I never saw the white stag in our travels through the Slovenian countryside. But I did see several Laskos.