Dream Tomorrow, Live Today, Cherish Yesterday

Topaz Tuesday - Mt St Helens

Sony NEX-7, 18-200, f/10, 1/1250, iso 200

I flew to California last weekend for a business trip, left early in the morning. Luckily I sat on the right hand side of the plane and I had a tremendous view of Mt. St. Helens. The Sony is my "light travel camera" so that's what I had on me. I fired off several frames, aiming for a high shutter speed, given we were scooting along at 425mph or so.

When I looked at the image on the monitor, the blown out mountain was spectacular, but overall the image had that dull cast one gets when shooting through miles of atmosphere (not to mention a pair of plastic & glass airliner windows).

Could Topaz B&W Effects II come to my rescue? I was looking for a dramatic scene, and I settled on the Dynamic Grunge II preset, then visually worked a couple of sliders (contrast in particular) to zero in on my perceived treatment. I played around with the exposure, I didn't want it to look like a nighttime scene. But OTOH, this was 7 am in early Spring.

This Topaz BWE software is fantastic. As much as I love Lightroom and live there all the time, for B&W, Topaz really does it for me.

Compare for yourself, the SOOC image is on the Continue link below. Comments happen to be free today, so help yourself!

Whacked

Sony NEX-7, 18-200mm, f/7.1, 1/500, iso 200

Most often, when titiling my images, I use the first word(s) that come to mind. Like in this case.

Bucket List

Canon 5D Mark II, 16-35mm F/2.8, f/6.3, 1/500, iso 200

Yes, this is on my bucket list, for sure. How about yours? Or, already crossed it off?

Up and Away!

Canon 5D Mark II, 16-35mm F/2.8, f/8, 1/500, iso 400

Took in my first balloon festival over the weekend. So much fun, great event for photography!

Wednesday with Words

A friend of the blog emailed me recently to say that my flying pictures reminded her of a song. She sent me the song and I really loved it. So I thought I'd try something different and put some pictures to the lyrics. Here goes.

 

want to pack your bags something small
take what you need & we disappear
without a trace, we'll be gone, gone
The moon & the stars follow the car
& then when we get to the ocean,
we're going to take a boat to the end of the world...
all the way to the end of the world
oh and when the kids are old enough
we gonna teach them to fly

You & I we're not tied to the ground,
not falling but rising like, rolling around
eyes closed above the roof tops
eyes closed we're gonna spin through the stars
our arms wide as the sky, we gonna ride the blue
all the way to the end of the world,
to the end of the world

oh and when the kids are old enough
we gonna teach them to fly

we can always look back at what we did
always remembering you & me baby
But right now it's you and me forever girl
you know we could do better than anything that we did
you know that you and me we could do anything

 

 

 And here is a wonderful version of the song on youtube:

 

You and Me.

 

 

 

 

 

"Dipping" the Wing

Canon 5D Mark II, 35mm F/1.4, f/7.1, 1/1600, iso 160

If you know me, and the blog, you know I love love love flying in small planes. This Piper Cub replica is quite small. It was really a thrill to be flying out over the ocean. And to get my shots I was always having my pilot buddy Ben "dip" the wing to one side or the other.

"Dipping" the wing took on a new context out there. Was kind of wishing I had another term to use?

 

Above it all

Leica M9, 90mm F/2.8, f/3.4, 1/500, iso 160

This wasn't taken from an ulltralight plane, but it feels like it was, to me. I have a couple of books by photographer pilots that fly ultralights and do photography fairly close to the ground.

I can't imagine a better place than here for that kind of work. Don't worry, it's on my (long) list!

Flying Fun Friday

Canon 5D Mark II, 400mm F/5.6, f/5.6, 1/2000, iso 250

Long time readers know I have taken lots of airplane pictures, and many while flying myself. I haven't been close to a C-17 for a long time though. These pilots were evidently in a holding pattern and flew by our house several times. Doing a little investigation, they are from the local McCord AFB (wikipedia page).

In a couple of shots, at extreme magnification, I can actually make out the copilot!

Topaz Tuesday - Sky Captain

Canon 5D Mark II, 70-300mm, f/45, 1/100, iso 160

It's common for planes with floats to be flying in my backyard. I have yet to get a nice closeup when they go by though. But a few days ago I saw this guy out in the distance. I thought "big sky, little plane." He was all surrounded by big cumulous clouds. If you have done any flying, you know these are the most dangerous kind. Inside these clouds is destruction waiting to happen.

When I viewed the image on my screen, I still had that "big sky, small plane" feeling, but none of the sense of foreboding that I felt looking up at him in real time. So I felt it would make a nice Topaz Tuesday Black & White effects project.

I tried some different presets, then settled on Underexposed I. I then used the sliders to boost both the whites, blacks, and contrast. I wanted it to look real, but scary. And I love all the sky, but I had to make a choice for the 700px wide dimension here on the blog. If I showed my whole sky, you probably wouldn't pick out that it is a plane. So it is a crop.

On the continue link below you can see the original color image, pre-cropped.

Dream Gig

Canon 5D Mark II, 400mm F/5.6, f/6.3, 1/1250, iso 400

We just passed the three month mark living here on Bainbridge Island. Our "backyard" is a busy place. All manner of watercraft have passed by, from a tiny inflatable boat to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier.  Last night we had another one of Bob's "Dream Gigs" - a luxury yacht shoot using a helicopter.

You see, I love yachts. And flying. Especially in helicopters. It's a bit hard to see in this light, but the photographer is hanging out the open door of this Robinson R44 heli. I have actually done this in a differenty type of heli, and it is a real thrill. And then this yacht is something to see, isn't she? Next time, please pick me to do this shoot. I'll gladly work for free!