September 2015 - Laughing Frog Images

The Lunar Eclipse

Posted on September 30, 2015September 29, 2015 by Kurt

Like millions around the world, I set out to photograph the lunar eclipse Sunday night.

Like some of those millions, there were clouds in the image I envisioned.

Like some of those millions, the “blood moon” portion of the evening’s show was really a view of clouds faintly backlit by the moon.

Nonetheless, out came the “Mother Pod” – that’s my really big, heavy tripod that I picked up about 20 years ago to hold two cameras at once for night railroad photography.

If you saw it, you’d understand why it has its’ name.

Out came the camera and the big lens and the 2X extender and the cable release.

And it all got put together.

And I stared at the clouds with my camera, lens, 2X and cable release in front of me. And stared…

Finally, the clouds showed some promise of breaking up. Just a bit. Well, not really, but enough to shoot between some of them.

So, I started to shoot.

And I remembered how much I like digital even though I still miss Kodachrome. A SD card just doesn’t smell the same as a roll of Kodachrome, but that’s another story.

And I shot. And shot. And shot. “Film” is free, and I get fairly instant feedback, so why not?

I missed the early part of the lunar eclipse due to the clouds.

All in, I took about 140 shots between clouds (or so I thought) of the last third of the event in about 40 minutes until the clouds reclaimed the sky.

Most of them looked good on the screen on the back of the camera. (Who hasn’t been there before?)

And then I downloaded them and looked at them on the screen.

First, let me say that there are clouds out there that you can’t see in front of the moon. Didn’t know that at the time.

Anyway… I got about a dozen to a dozen and a half “good” images of the lunar eclipse.

Good thing film is “free” these days…

The lunar eclipse images are in the moon gallery on Laughing Frog Images.

Check them out and think about the possibilities for that bad patch on your wall or a gift for someone worthy…

Enjoy!

Technical stuff: raw images exposed at ISO 1000, f16, 1/160 or 1/250 second.

The exposures of images 1-3 were equalized using the Light EQ function in ACDSee Pro 8 to bring out the detail in the surface of the moon and to compensate for the uneven lighting.

Absent this action, the lower part of the moon is washed out from the sun’s light.

Fall foliage is coming

Posted on September 24, 2015September 23, 2015 by Kurt

Fall foliage is coming. To some of us anyway.

For me, this fall means I get to watch my leaf turn! Well, it’s not quite that. There’s more than one leaf!

But it’s not like Pennsylvania where I’m from, or fall in New England.

One of my favorite places to visit in the fall is New Hampshire. If you haven’t had the pleasure, put it on your bucket list.

Great food, real maple syrup, and color. Lots of color.

Glen Junction Restaurant just posted on Facebook that their pumpkin pancakes start this Saturday. With maple cream…

That’s really what got me going about fall foliage…

Colors can be different from valley to valley, and from the bottom of the valley to the top of the mountains. It’s a good thing digital film is cheap!

There’s a gallery on Laughing Frog Images devoted to fall foliage in New Hampshire. Coincidentally, it’s called fall foliage in New Hampshire. There’s more to be added to that gallery, and maybe this will get me going on that.

The image below is of Silver Cascade in Crawford Notch along Route 302 in New Hampshire.

I’d love to tell you how hard I worked to hike in for this shot, and what it took to haul my camera bag and tripod in. But, I’d be lying. You can park along Route 302 and take this shot from the safe side of the guardrail.

This image was made with a Fuji S9000, 1/80s @ f7.1, ISO 80, in Fuji’s raw file format. Yes, I used my tripod and a cable release!

Processing was done in Perfect Photo Suite 9.5, and it was cropped to a 1:2 format to remove the gray sky and rocks in the foreground. It’s amazing what a simple crop can do!

There’s another image of Silver Cascade taken at about the same location in the gallery, but I left that in its’ original format so you can crop it yourself.

If all of this makes you think about a last minute trip to New England to check out the foliage, here are two posts from 2014 to check out:

A Week in New Hampshire

A Weekend in New Hampshire

And, if you can’t make it, do the next best thing and shop Laughing Frog Images.

Moonbeams

Posted on September 22, 2015September 21, 2015 by Kurt

I struggled for a title for this post.

Beam me up. E.T., phone home. We’ll leave the light on for you. I was all over the board with phrases from pop culture.

And then, simplicity hit me.

Moonbeams.

Sometimes, simple is better.

I suspect that each of you that looks at this image will see something different, and perhaps feel something different.

Yes, this is in fact light from the moon.

It’s just after 11PM on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It’s cloudy, but the moon is out there, fighting for a chance to be seen.

And I’m out there with a tripod and cable release seeing what I can make of it.

Moonbeams.

This isn’t something you see every day.

Apart from the occasional laughter of revelers on the beach, all you could hear were the rolling waves hitting the sand.

I wonder if the revelers saw what I saw? All I can say is that I wasn’t fighting for space to set up my tripod…

I made over 20 images of varying durations in my attempt to capture the moment.

(Good thing digital film is essentially free!)

You can see pleasure boats far out on the horizon. How can I say that they were far out?

Well, the exposures ranged from 10 to 60 seconds, and their light trails are not that long. They were out there…

You can see the moonbeams coming through the clouds much like the rays of the sun poke through on a cloudy, rainy day.

You can see where the cloud layer was thinner or broken – that’s where you can in fact see the clouds back lit by the moon somewhere up there.

The water looks like anything but water. That’s the result of the long exposures. It’s probably not how you’d envision the Atlantic Ocean looking.

But after all, it’s getting towards midnight and these are long exposures to capture the moonbeams.

There came a time when it occurred to me that there was no one else out, and that it might be time to head in.

Hoping that the images captured the moonbeams as I saw them, it was time…

So, I packed up, folded up, and picked up and called it a night.

You can find the rest of the moonbeam images here in the moon gallery on Laughing Frog Images.

Enjoy.

If you’re so inclined, leave a comment as to which one is your favorite and why.

Technical details: Tripod, cable release, Nikon D7100, Tamron 18-270mm zoom, ISO 800, exposures from 10 to 60 seconds, f8.

Little Green Bucket.

Posted on September 18, 2015September 13, 2015 by Kurt

When I was working on Stories at the Princeville Pier (the previous post), I couldn’t get my mind off of the little green bucket.

The original color image was simply washed out as I was deliberately shooting into the sun to be able to work with silhouettes in the final image.

I was fine with that.

But the little green bucket was calling me.

I had to do something with that little green bucket…

So, it was back to the digital darkroom.

This time, I opened the image in ACDsee Pro 8 and did something I’ve never done before.

I’d read about it many times, but this was the Frog’s first time removing color from an image.

Using the Advanced Color Feature, I removed all of the color from the image except the greens.

The only evident color in this image is the little green bucket.

Yes, there’s a little left in the water.

But your eye is drawn to the little green bucket.

Depending on how you’re viewing this post, you might be doubting me right now. If you’re doubting me, click here.

Both images – Little Green Bucket and Stories – are in the coastal and beach scenes gallery on Laughing Frog Images.

Thanks for visiting.

Princeville Pier

Posted on September 16, 2015September 13, 2015 by Kurt

When I saw this shot of Princeville Pier, I didn’t see it in color.

I took it in color, but I didn’t see it in color.

Not that there was much color in it. They say you’re not supposed to shoot into the sun for a reason…

Lost yet?

I saw a some stories at Princeville Pier that could be told in shadow.

I saw a man pondering the rough surf in the harbor.

I saw two children. Little boys testing mommy’s mettle.

One brave and adventurous – that’s the one on the left that wanted to help the small rocks get back into the water. He’s deep in his follow-through after one such effort.

One has his bucket and shovel, but slightly more timid. He wanted to play in the sand, but was not so sure that the cold water was worth it…

I’m not so sure that males ever grow out of testing females, how we do it and who we test just changes throughout lift. But I digress…

Stories. In silhouette. In black and white. At Princeville Pier.

I saw this as being a black and white, with the people silhouetted against the water.

I was shooting dead into the sun, and I knew I wasn’t going to get any detail of the people in the foreground, but I knew (hoped) that the shot would work in black and white.

So… off to the digital darkroom I went.

The color raw file was opened in Perfect B&W within Perfect Photo Suite 9.5.

I darkened it a bit to bring out the detail in the sand in the foreground, and also to emphasize the silhouettes.

I wanted it to be a bit gritty, especially the tree and hill detail across the harbor, so I selected a film profile that mimic’s Kodak’s legendary Tri-X Pan film.

I adjusted the shadow detail to bring out the detail in the columns supporting the pier.

And here’s the finished product.

Thoughts?

You can find this image in the coastal and beach scenes gallery on Laughing Frog Images.

The original image was made using a Tamron 18-270mm zoom on a Nikon D5100. Exposure was 1/2500 second at f13, ISO 1000.

30th Street’s Solari Board

Posted on September 14, 2015September 7, 2015 by Kurt

The Solari board is an interesting creature.

They’re a form of display board that I most closely associated with railway stations before I started to research them. One of the more known Solari boards was at Grand Central Station in New York City. The first time I remember seeing a Solari board was in an old black and white movie that had a scene in a railway station. No, I don’t remember the movie… just the board updating.

Compared to a digital display, a Soalri board has a personality and some intrigue about it.

How is that possible?

Well, check this out Solari board updating itself and tell me if there’s personality and intrigue in a Solari board compared to a LCD or LED display!

Sorry for the wiggle – this is hand held video taken of the Solari board at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor. Yes, I know, I preach tripod use… but sometimes, you just can’t travel with a tripod…

Why do I say it has personality?

Well, it has sound and action. It doesn’t flicker – it’s very straightforward and direct. It’s not like looking at a television or computer display to be told where to go or when to be there.

Why do I say it has intrigue?

Well, it’s like a carnival or casino game in that you don’t know what it’s going to say until it stops and is silent.

According to our friends at Wikipedia, there are exactly eight (8) Solari boards left in the U.S. You can learn more about Solari boards, which are covered on Wikipedia in an entry called “Split-flap display” by clicking here.

This video is also posted on the Laughing Frog Images YouTube Channel.

The original video was shot in 4K format on a Lumia Icon. It has been downsampled and reformatted for posting on YouTube.

Astrojet

Posted on September 10, 2015September 7, 2015 by Kurt

There was a time when air travel was civilized. There was a time when there was a degree of decorum about it. There was a time it was an event.

And then, there’s now…

American Airline paid homage to those times back in 2000 with the resurrection of the Astrojet livery applied to a Boeing 737 and 757. It’s not paint – the aluminum is polished and the stripe and lettering are decals.

I’ve never seen the 757, but I’ve seen the 737 three times and flown in it once from LGA (La Guardia, New York City) to ORD (O’Hare, Chicago). This is the first “good” image I’ve been able to get of the 737 Astrojet. It’s at Gate D38 at DFW (Dallas – Fort Worth) International Airport.

The Astrojet livery honors the image applied to American’s first jet aircraft, a BAC (British Aircraft Corporation) 1-11.

Admittedly, the Astrojet didn’t feel any different than any other plane, but it did make me think back to when flying was something special in my life and not a regular occurrence.

It also made me think back to the black and white pictures of early air travel – men and boys in suits, women and girls in dresses. Dignity and decorum. I’ve got to guess that the boarding process back then was different as well – orderly lines and civilized entry as opposed today’s cattle call and “What do you mean Group 4 isn’t first?”

Or, maybe the pictures were just figments of the public relations department’s minds? Maybe it was as crazy as it is today? Nah. I have to believe that it was more civil. I remember it being more civil even just 20 years ago. Now, it’s rush-rush-rush and that look of “obviously you don’t know that I AM more important than you and I deserve to be in Group 1, not Group 4!”

Perhaps the only fun I find in air travel anymore is to watch people who try to defy physics by trying to shove a bag that simply won’t fit into the overhead bin. They seem to think that if they push hard enough, or wiggle it, or turn it around, it’s miraculously going to shrink and fit. And then, they get mad at the Flight Attendant because their bag doesn’t fit. I see this play out on almost every flight I’m on.

There also should be a rule that if you can’t lift your own bag over your head, you shouldn’t be allowed to carry it on and try to place it in the overhead bin. Just saying. And no, for those of you that think this statement only applies to females, you’re wrong. Been there. Seen that. Almost been hit by dropped bags more times than I can count.

This image of the Astrojet can be found in the commercial section of the planes gallery on Laughing Frog Images.

Lumia Icon on Auto setting, jpg image created from the dng (raw) image.

Power versus Persistence, Part 2

Posted on September 8, 2015September 5, 2015 by Kurt

It has been said to the Frog that perhaps the image of Power versus Persistence was in fact a bit too ominous or haunting.

In looking at it, I can see that perspective.

Recognizing that a picture speaks to different people differently, I asked “what would be different in your ideal image of Power versus Persistence?”

The common answer was along the lines of the untold story in the shadows.

So, off to the digital darkroom I went.

This time, I went to ACDSee Pro 8. Why, when the original was created using onOne Perfect Photo Suite 9.5? Well, I really like the Light EQ feature in ACDSee Pro 8 – there are nine (9) separate channels available to adjust an image. Sometimes, I use this feature to rescue an image from long ago, and sometimes I use this feature to fine-tune an image as I did in this case.

I worked on bringing out the detail in the roots and branches while not washing out the water and the waves.

As I was working on the image, I realized that I was telling a story that the original image left untold. The gnarled roots are part of the story of Power versus Persistence. You can see the tops of the roots – this is where the land once was. Power, aided by the wind, has slowly gnawed away at the sand. Persistence has dug deep and reached out to anything it can to resist power and stay alive. Persistence isn’t giving up, but you can see that Power is slowly winning. There will come a day, perhaps in my lifetime, and perhaps not, that Power will prevail. I don’t know how long the battle of Power versus Persistence has been going on, but I hope to be able to check in on their status from time to time and see how Persistence is faring.

It’s another of nature’s stories playing out before mankind.

Both versions of Power versus Persistence are available in the coastal and beach scenes gallery on Laughing Frog Images.

It would be interesting to see your comments on which version of Power versus Persistence you prefer and why.

PH&D RR – Two Books and HoboFest

Posted on September 8, 2015September 7, 2015 by Kurt

Well, for those of you seeing this basic message for what amounts to be the third time, I do so very humbly apologize.

If it seems that I have not quite figured out how to do an advertisement and/or boost a post on Facebook – you are absolutely correct!

Nor can I figure out how to do a Facebook update with hyperlinks – so I apparently have to do another blog post so that it shows up on Facebook as a post, and from there, I can boost the post.

Dishwasher issue? Hang a door? Need to hang cabinets? Fix a roof? No problem.

Facebook? Apparently, that’s a problem.

I have simply been trying to get the news of the books and HoboFest out there to the world to help out the Port Huron and Detroit Railroad Historical Society, and I have come to the conclusion that it simply won’t work if I try to include the cover of the book in the post. Even though I did the exact same thing. In the recent past. With the cover of the first book. Go figure….

So, for those of you who are seeing this for the first time – there’s an important (at least to me!) message below.

For those of you seeing it for the second or third time, I again apologize and fully accept that I am not yet understanding and literate in the ways of Facebook.

Rest assured that there won’t be a fourth try at this.

********************************************************************

The Port Huron and Detroit Railroad Historical Society will have the both of the Frog’s books – “Port Huron and Detroit Railroad and Connections in Color, 1982-1984” and the “Port Huron and Detroit Railroad in Black and White, 1984” – available at their 2015 HoboFest, September 11-12 2015.

All proceeds from the books available at HoboFest go to the Society for their maintenance, restoration and preservation activities.

HoboFest event details can be found by clicking here. The Society also has a webpage and Facebook page.

These books are the first two creations in the “Through My Lens” series, and show the PH&D as I saw it from my first visit in 1982 until the last run on December 13, 1984.

To the best of my knowledge, these are the only two books ever published that focus on the PH&D.

The color book includes images of the PH&D from Tappan Tower to St. Clair, as well as the GTW, CN, and Chessie System (C&O/PM) in Port Huron.

The black and white book also covers the line from Tappan Tower to Sr. Clair and features photographs from the cab of PH&D Alco S-2 #60 and caboose #62 on a St. Clair run. Also included are topographic maps of the PH&D with photo locations, PH&D forms and a look at train orders from the Grand Trunk Western. Way back when, paper, not computers and smartphones ran the railroads, and it’s not often you can see how things used to be.

Can’t make HoboFest, but you still want the books (as only a complete set will do)?

Information on the books and the books themselves are available at Laughing Frog Images (click the “Get Our Books!” link at the top of the page), which takes you to the CreateSpace estore. For each book purchased through Laughing Frog Images, we will make a $5.00 donation per book to the PH&DRRHS.

The book is also available on Amazon, but due to the associated costs of selling through Amazon, there is no donation made to the Society.

PH&D books at PH&DRRHS HoboFest

Posted on September 7, 2015 by Kurt