Tag: truck

Around the Town in Castle Pines

Tom T. Hall did a great song, a classic, titled “I Like Beer” … and I do!  🙂  My current favorite is a local beer, Fat Tire Amber Ale, brewed by New Belgium Brewing Co. up in Ft. Collins, Colorado.  However, I do occasionally drink some Bud Light … once in a blue moon.  Actually the Blue Moon beer is quite good, too.

We’ve cut back to just one car, so when my wife is using the car I end up going for walks around our small community.  What surprises me is how different things can look from one day to the other.  Something that I walked by without even seeing a few days ago might make an interesting photo today, at least for me.  And, of course, with the change in the weather from winter to summer (overnight, it seems), there are some things like the blue umbrellas that weren’t even there a day or two ago.  I guess that’s one thing that keeps photography so interesting, the endless variety and continually changing landscape.

Inside one of the local automated car washes, done in HDR with the Sony NEX-6.  (Three exposures with ± 3.0 EV. )  This was not done with the Auto HDR, but I took the three shots and processed them in Nik HDR Efex Pro and Lightroom 4.

The top and bottom two shots in this post were all with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 and Olympus 14-150mm lens.

I headed over to the Circle K to get a cold drink refill and saw they were also refilling the gas tanks.  It was such a colorful truck I couldn’t resist.
I liked the quote that you can see just above the umbrella:  “Take these words, like seeds, and sow them that they may grow your mind.”

Old Ford Truck – HDR

Near my home, is this old abandoned Ford truck sitting forlornly by the road. It looked pretty sad with no headlights, bullet riddled windshield, and paint so oxidized it was barely still red.

Luckily, the light was literally spot-lighting it at that time, so I took 3 quick bracketed shots with my Nikon D7000 (2-EV spacing).

Later, I combined the 3 images into an HDR using Nik HDR Efex Pro. Then, with another Nik program, Silver Efex Pro, I converted it to a black and white, tweaked the micro contrast and was done…well, except for some minor sharpening and noise reduction in Lightroom.

NEX-7…I’m Loving It!

 I’ve only had the Sony NEX-7 for a couple of days, but I’m liking every part of it. I’ve read a lot of “rave” reviews and, mostly in forums, a lot of negative comments. But, from my perspective, it is a terrific camera!
It has 24 Megapixels with excellent higher ISO capability, 10 frames-per-second, lots of in-camera processing features (my favorite is the auto hdr), and size…it is so small and light! With the 16mm pancake lens it will fit in my pocket.

Some naysayers say that with the larger lenses like the 18-200mm, the size is no longer a factor, but it’s still much smaller and lighter than a normal DSLR with an 18-200 zoom on it, so I can live with that.
Sure, there is a shortage of E-mount lenses available (for now) but there are several adapters that allow you to use many amazing lenses made by other manufacturers. In fact, the Sony alpha-mount adapter even adds phase-detection focusing to the mix!
The other thing is the “Tri-Navi” control system. You pretty much have to try it to appreciate it, but it gives you very quick access to most of the settings you would use while shooting, like:
  • program shift, exposure compensation, and ISO
  • Image quality and auto-HDR settings
  • focus and metering
  • white balance
  • and more
All without ever having to take your eye from the viewfinder…very nice!
And, speaking of the viewfinder, this new EVF (Electronic ViewFinder) is truly amazing. I know, it’s not on a par with a good optical viewfinder in all situations, like bright contrasty light or in low light situations. However, it gives you something that not even the best optical finders can provide – WYSIWYG. In general, what you see in the viewfinder is what the image will look like on your computer. Adjust the exposure or white balance and, instantly, you see how that image will look with those settings. In my opinion, that is very important! Some say, “Pro photographers don’t need that”. Well, maybe not, but I bet even the pros will get more and more enthusiastic about this capability as it is improved and more cameras have it.
These images are from Sedalia, Colorado. They were shot, using the auto-HDR feature of the NEX-7 with a total of 6 EV spacing in 3 images. Then most of the processing was done with Lightroom 4 (beta) and the Spicify preset in Topaz Adjust.
These were with the new 18-200mm E-mount Sony lens and I’m very happy with it – great color and sharpness.
Thinking of switching cameras? I don’t think the NEX-7 would disappoint you! 🙂

Old Ford F600

I found this old Ford tow truck in Sedalia, Colorado. I couldn’t tell for sure, but it looks like it may still be in service.

Taken with the Sony A77 w/Sony-Zeiss 16-80mm, In-Camera HDR.
Processed with Topaz Adjust, using the Spicify filter.