13 months ago, they called it a 100 year storm. It was the ice storm that paralyzed my home town and left many without power for weeks. Our house didn't have electricity for 3 days. So is the storm that hit us this past weekend the next 100 year's storm? Here are a few pictures I snapped this time around.



The ice actually measured more that 1 inch in diameter.



It was both beautiful and horrifying. There was an inch of ice on everything. Springfield sits in the midst of tree covered hills. Driving to work everything was gorgeous from a distance. However, up close the devastation was apparent.



Last year I lost two trees. This year I was more fortunate and only lost approximate 1/3 of a large tree.



Brrrr...


Edit: My proofreading skills deteriorate at 3:00 AM...sorry!

thats some pretty good ice. There was one like that in northern NH & ME a few years ago like that... took out most of the birch trees.

It is surely one of nature's miracles ... that something so incredibly beautiful can at the same time have such devestating repercussions. Lovely shots!

Cher

np: Crazy Man Michael - Natalie Merchant, The House Carpenter's Daughter

I have no photos to post tonight, just this.

Okay, so this package came in the mail today. OMG!! It's the DSLR. It took me a couple of hours to screw up the courage to even open the dang thing!!! Yup, I must admit that I'm more than a bit intimidated by it. But ..... it's beautiful!

So, here's what I got, the body 2 lenses (14-45mm & 40-150mm), a kit that came with bag, remote, cleaning cloth and 2-year extended warranty, I also purchased a magnifying view finder after reading that the one that comes with the camera was a bit hard to use, and as I use the viewfinder for taking photographs rather than the LCD screen, I figured it worth it. The best thing is that I truly lucked out with this; I got everything, new, for under $800. Tax returns are great things, no?

The Li battery is currently being charged. I'm eating dinner (and posting here ) and will be reading up on this new-fangled camera.

Anyone have this model or know anything about it? Heck, I'll even settle for some advice. I hope I haven't bitten off more than I'm ready for.

Here's a photo and review about the camera:



If you want to read a review and view other photos, click here.

If it's not so cold tomorrow, I may try and get out and about a bit. For sure this weekend.


Thanks for reading!

Cher

ummm, i think, in your excitement, you forgot to share that info with us.

Talk about a kid at XMas, huh!!!

Anyway, I've now posted a photo of the camera and a review.

Thanks for not laughing TOO hard, Bill. That has to be a classic!

Cher

sweet, cher!!

i was talking to an artist/wedding photographer the other day... he uses one of those as a back-up camera at weddings. he seemed to like it. other than that, i don't know much about it. dpreview.com is a good site.

i'm thinking of switching to Canon... they're a little better on the ambient type lighting of which i'm a big fan. i've had a lot of trouble getting good low-lite shots in some circumstances with my nikon.

anyhoo, i hope you like to read cher. that manual will become your best friend. good luck!

p.s. that's a good range of lenses to start with. a nice wide angle, and a bit of a zoom lense. my zoom is a 200 mm, any bigger... i think i would have to use it on a tripod.

Kylie's right-- dpreview is a good place to learn about things. Another site I use alot is Fred Miranda. They have a great user-review system, but they only cover Nikon & Canon bodies and lenses. Also third party lenses that fit those bodies.
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/

And you can occasionally find some great used equipment at KEH. They are very selective on what they buy and sell, and I've found some great goodies here:
www.keh.com

B&H also sells good used stuff online. I haven't used them as often as KEH, but you can sort things on their website according to price. Sometimes there is a good deal.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

Less frequently I use Calumet and Helix. But other than that I stay away from on-line camera places. There are some real crooks out there.

I got out briefly this evening and managed to take a few shots with the E-500:


Bridge Reflection1, e-500


Flooded Reflection, e-500
Keep in mind that these were taken in Auto mode as I've not had time to read up in the manual and work manually yet.

I couldn't get any shots of the eclipse with the E-500, so I pulled out the tried & true SP-550UZ and took these:


Lunar Eclipse, with flash


Lunar Eclipse3
If you look, you should be able to see Saturn below and left of the moon and the star Regulas above it forming a triangle with the moon.

Thanks for looking!

Cher

cher fwiw, the flash has absolutely zero effect when shooting a picture of the moon. most "built in flashes" have a distance that maxes out @ 15-20', even the best "on camera" units max out @ 25' to maybe 50'. and ummm, the moon is further away than that. ('cuz, you know...if the flash had "worked" it would have filled in the shadow on the moon. )

the only thing a flash will do in this type of situation/setting is automatically set your shutter speed & aperature to what ever the "flash sync" settings are (usually 60th or 125th of a second @ somewhere around f4.0-f8.0) for the situation.

I realize this, but for some reason, the flash popped up, so I shot anyway. I'm thinking that I must have hit the flash button as I had fingerless gloves on at the time I was shooting.

Thanks anyway, Bill.

Cher

I didn't get to go outside to see the eclipse with my dearest b/c he's out of town. I tried to get some shots, but I left my tripod in the car and I got tired of standing with the window open... it was so cold. And that's no good for hand-shake. Haha.

A tripod was definitely necessary for my eclipse pictures, although I was only outside for about 15 minutes durning the peak of the event. And even then, I still couldn't focus about half the time.

"It was so cold ..."

Boy Howdy was it ever. I had the shakes bad. Most of my shots were worthless.

Cher

Taken with the E-500.

Thanks for looking!

Cher

Nice action shot, Cher!

What is that??????????

Melting snow/ice sliding off the roof of an open air shelter house at our city park.

Cher

I've not been out too much lately taking photographs---but on Saturday---the stars aligned for me---meaing I had enough time, the weather conditons were right and some good subjects presented themselves--so here are a few of the photos I took on that day of winter scenes in Greene and Clark Counties, Ohio. The first series are from around the Cliffton Gorge area, including a few of the historic Cliffton Mill itself, the mill dating back circa 1802, one year before Ohio became a state. The final ones were of scenes along the backroads of southern, rural Clark County that lead to the home of some relatives I was going to visit.

Ah, I see it now... couldn't get my tiny brain around that for some reason.

Let me just say that all of you take some AMAZING photos. I don't post any myself because I figure you all know what a blurry thumb looks like already...

Wallows


Wallows, Reflection


Wallows, Reflection2


Wallows, Seedhead


Wallows, Seedhead2

Taken with the e500.

Beautiful shots Mike and Cher. Txo

Thanks, Trudes.

Chutes & Ladders1


Chutes & Ladders2


Chutes & Ladders3

Taken with the e500.

Thanks for looking!
Cher

Nice.
I really like your Wallows photos. Very nice... very SLR.

Thanks, Kylie, for your very kind words. Still just playing around with it but REALLY loving what I'm achieving so far!

Cher

Solar Power
EXIF data:

Camera: Olympus E-500
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: -7/10 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode

Thanks for looking!
Cher

mucho gorgeoso mi amiga

Gracias! And sadly, that's about the extent of my knowledge of Spanish. Glad you enjoyed it.

Cher

Spiked
EXIF data:

Camera: Olympus E-500
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 150 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/10 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode

I desaturated this photo a bit as I thought the original was just a tad bit too warm:


Frenzy
EXIF data:

Camera: Olympus E-500
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 150 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/10 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode

Thanks for looking!
Cher

I could not sleep tonight--we are in a blizzard warning here---so naturally--I had to go outside and try to take a few pics---they were taken around 3:30 a.m. or so--they are just of the driveway leading to my condo and the back patio area:


















When it gets daylight and they do some plowing--I think I will go out and take some photos to document this weather event---

Looks like we dodged the bullet yet again. We maybe ended up with a couple of inches, and while it was lovely going out and about yesterday afternoon in the midst of it, I was really hoping to wake up to a nice covering of white this morning. No such luck. I'm getting ready to head out and just see what I can find to photograph today now that we have a bit of sun.

Good photos. Looking forward to more.

Cher

My dad, hamming it up:


EXIF data:

Camera: Olympus E-500
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/4.2
Focal Length: 25 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/10 EV
Flash: Flash fired, auto mode

A few from the snowstorm:


Happy Tina


Sideview Mirror Shot


My Air Condtioner


Down The street At Sunset

How much did you all end up getting, Jeanne? Nice photos, BTW!

I think in my neighborhood, the snow averaged out to about 8 inches, but it was hard to tell because so much of it drifted. Some of the drifts in my yard were close to 3 feet high. Some of the suburbs were reporting up to 13 inches. Lucky for me the snowplows came down my street this afternoon, so I ought to be able to get to work in the morning.

Barn1

How 'bout a self portrait?




There's more on Myspace. Check it out. And thanks again to everybody who supported the effort.

OK.... I have begun to use medium format film. What fun! I love it!

This is only one pic that I have taken using 120mm film. Yep, I said film. I developed the film and printed the photo.
It was taken using a very cheap Holga 120n camera. I like the medium format so much that I bought a cir. 1956-60 Yashica-D camera off of ebay. Pics from that will be posted soon.

Tina, Whatever that means regarding your camera...I like it. This photo is beautiful. My dad was a commercial photographer back in the day and developed all his own stuff in a darkroom. (We're talkin' 1930's, 40's, and 50's.) Txo

holga's are sort of legendary bad (in a good way) cameras that have developed (yes, a pun) quite a cult following. personally, i've never played with one but the results seem pretty cool.


the yashica-d was a cool camera too. the 2 1/4 square (120mm) TLR (twin lens reflex) format is great to work with.

sweet. very old school.

I walked around a historic part of an old town and played with photoshop today. maybe too much?












to make a lawn

(To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,—
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do
If bees are few.
-Emily Dickinson)

Awesome shots Marianne....You are a woman of many talents. I like the photoshopping...subtle.

thanks, Trudes! =)

Definitely cool camera.
I like the style of the format, the look of it. And I like the retro-ness of the camera itself.
The one I bought from ebay is in awesome condition, leather case and all!
Will post a couple of pics from it this afternoon.

Tina - I have 2 Holgas myself. One flash the other not. I LOVE playing with them. I need to get them out and play some more. Thanks for the reminder.

Great photo, BTW.

I'm not sure which version I like best:


Heartwood
EXIF data:

Camera: Olympus E-500
Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 150 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/10 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode


Heartwood, b&w
EXIF data:

Camera: Olympus E-500
Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 150 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/10 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire, auto mode

And here's a recently purchased piece of Dominican amber:

Full shot (click on the full-size option if you want to view the crane fly):



Cropped (again, click on the full-size option to view the crane fly):



I took the amber photos with the e500 with a set of macro filters (+1, +2, +4).

Thanks for looking!

Cher

np: Sally Ann - Natalie Merchant, The House Carpenter's Daughter

Nice close up of the amber, Cher.

Oh, I like the color version of the cut tree. I love the browns in it.

Sweet camera(and shot) Justina!
I have a Holga... man, I need to get that out. It's fun to play with.

Bring that Yaschica to CST!! I'd love to see it.

Tulips


Daffodil

Thanks for looking!