From the monthly archives: "August 2011"

Broken

Today’s Photo:  Broken

In the South, there seem to be an over abundance of inoperable vehicles located in yards.  I haven’t had the pleasure of traveling the back roads in other parts of the country, so I don’t know if this is the same elsewhere.  These vehicles sit …Continue Reading Here…

Support©2011 Just Shooting Memories (all rights reserved)

Today’s Photo: Support

I saw these old bridge pilings when I was driving around on July 3rd trying to decide where to take firework photo.  If you missed them, you can find one of my lightning and fireworks or just check out my fireworks gallery at Flickr.  So, I was driving around and decided to see if I could find something worth while for a few shots.  I knew of Cooper’s Furnace …Continue Reading Here…

The Door to the Castle

Today’s Photo:  The Door to the Castle

This is the back door to the Smithsonian administration building.  Also commonly known as the Castle.  I had a fun time taking photos in the flower garden just behind the castle.  If you ever have the chance to make it here, make sure you explore the sides of the garden.  There were lots of cool things to find that were not readily apparent from the central area of the garden.  In fact, you can see one from a previous post, Flower Petals for the Lady. …Continue Reading Here…

I have been in a very cold mood lately. Not as in my attitude, but as in “I can’t wait for winter”. However, I have to confess, the weather was not too bad here. I can only have Irene to thank for our lower than usual temperature and nice cool breeze. On the other hand, my heart goes out to all those who have been affected by this massive storm.

Today’s Photo: Fishing

I love to go fishing and I don’t get to do it as much as I want to.  However, I must say that I hate to take the fish off the hook.  I don’t know where this fear comes from, but it is there none the less.  I guess that has to go along with my fear of heights, but I love to rock climb…go figure.  I took my daughters for the first time several weeks ago and they were successful little fishers.  Enough so that I had to take a few photos of the event.  This is one of my wife and daughter sitting patiently.  Of course, I think the shutter speed was cranked up to around 1/2000th of a second because I know they were not still that long.

Just after this photo, the little one actually caught a good size large mouth bass.

Fishing©2011 Just Shooting Memories (all rights reserved)

Today’s Photo:  Snowy Night

I love the cold.  I love it even more when it snows.  There is just something cool (pun intended) about it.  Maybe it is just because we don’t get snow in the south much or because we don’t get the amount of snow from when I was little.  Whatever it is, I love the cold weather.  Now add to that night photography and you have a magical mix.  I used to live on the Cartecay River in North Georgia.  Across the river, our neighbor always had lights on at night.  I was able to capture this one night visiting my parents with the snow and the lights.  It looks like a winter carnival land with the lights reflecting off the snow.

I took a photo earlier in the day of the flag which hangs on the back deck: The Cold Flag.  And don’t miss last Saturday’s Daily Photo.

Snowy Night

HDR Software

I currently use Photomatix as my HDR tone mapping software.  I ran across Photomatix in March 2010.  I had never seen a photo processed as an HDR until then.  I thought it was pretty cool at the time and I used the trail version until the fall.  I tried several free versions of HDR processing software as well as several fake HDR techniques before settling on Photomatix.  I have not found anything simpler.  I am always looking for tools to add to the tool belt, so if you know of something for me to check out, leave a comment.

Today’s Photo: The Cohutta Overlook

This is this was the very first HDR photo that I took.  Now, this is not the earliest in my catalog of photos which I have gone back and processed as HDR.  This was the first I purposely used auto-bracketing with the intent of making an HDR image.

This shot is from near the top of Fort Mountain.  I took the girls on a late winter hike.  The end of March to be more precise.  It was good to get out of the house for a little while after the winter began to break.  Across this valley, is the Cohutta National Forest.  One of the best places to go in North Georgia.  In fact, Fort Mountain State Park is a great way to experience it with out the hassle of forest service roads.

Only about an hours drive from here is the start of the Appalachian Trail.  A couple of months ago, I made a hike to the top of Blood Mountain for Sunrise.  And while you check that out, don’t miss last Friday’s Daily Photo.

Cohutta Overlook

What do you think of black and white photography.  I have tried to specifically compose photos for a black and white composition, but they never seem to turn out.  However, I have found numerous photos which worked well as black and whites.  The only thing I can think of is that I may not have enough light?

Today’s Photo:  The Firebird

This car show was pretty neat.  The show was in the parking lot of a local strip mall.  I had to go to the store and when I went in, the parking lot was empty.  I came out about 30 minutes later and the parking lot was full.  This was not a small show.  There were probably 100 – 200 beautiful classic cars there.  I found this Firebird sitting just about at the end of a row of cars.  Funny thing is, it was right beside a Smart Car.  Muscle by Minimal.  No offense Mr. Smart Car…I prefer the Muscle Car.

I have found several other cool cars including the Orange Crush.  And don’t miss last Thursday’s Daily Photo.

THe Firebird

I found a good blog on photography, Improve Photography, not too long ago. I have enjoyed the wealth of useful information I found there enough that I submitted a post of Five Ways to Maintain Your Photographic Enthusiasm.

If you found this site from Improve Photography, thank you for visiting. If not, you need to stop by Jim’s site Improve Photography.

Adventures in Astrophotography

I was too excited about this to not post it tonight.  I have tried, unsuccessfully for a couple of weeks to get a good astrophotography time lapse.  It has been frustrating to say the least.  Whatever you do, make sure you check everything and then double check it again.

I wanted to post this to Vimeo, but had trouble with the video jumping when it was in the small player. However, I have added my first successful attempt to YouTube.

Today’s Photo:  The Saturn V

In honor of posting the star time lapse, I decided to post a photo of one of the rockets that took many of our finest one step closer to the stars.  The mighty Saturn V rocket is such a beautiful sight standing at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.  This place is even cool enough to have two of them.  One is standing in front of the center while the other is inside a huge room in the Davidson Center for Space Exploration.  The rocket outside is held off the ground by supports so that you can walk underneath it and see the five massive rocket engines of the first stage.  All I can say is, I can’t wait for the United States to have an active space fleet again.

I also got to go to the Udvar-Hazy building of the Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. and see the shuttle Enterprise.  And while you check it out, don’t miss last Wednesday’s Daily Photo.

The Saturn V

Today’s Photo:  Building Reflections

I love reflections.  They are such a challenge to capture just right.  Most of the time, one image can not capture the entire range of a reflections as well as the object of the reflection.  That is where HDR helps out.  When you are able to capture a much larger set of exposure values, the ability to get the building in the proper exposure range and still have the reflections exposed properly becomes much easier.

I found this building in Chattanooga, Tennessee over the weekend.  We stopped for dinner and drove past this building afterward.  It was just the right time of day to get the building with a decent sunset reflection.  I took a shot of this building about 30 minutes later with the landscape lighting.  You will just have to wait for it.

I have taken several other photos with good reflections over the past few months including the Camaro SS.  Don’t forget about last Tuesday’s Daily Photo while you are looking around.

Building Reflections ©2011 Just Shooting Memories (all rights reserved)

While I was writing this I discovered that I did not make the Flickr photo for yesterday’s Daily Photo visible to the public.  I have corrected it and you can now click on the photo to view it large.  I highly recommend it.  The amount of detail you can see in that little airplane is amazing.

And for anyone wondering, I did not make it to Downtown Chattanooga.  However, I will be attending the Worldwide Photo Walk there on October 1st.

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