strictly scenic: March 2009 Archives

Now, this is somewhat foreign territory for me here, as I'm not a techy. I generally take pictures, and leave the technical things to those who enjoy spending most of their time in front of a computer.

But in a recent weekend drive around Lake Ontario, I was just cruising, taking in scenery and stopping for pictures. At this farm in Ontario, I asked the somewhat puzzled farmer if I could take pictures in his barn.

As is typical, about two dozen cats were busily keeping the mouse population to a minimum. This cat decided to stay where it was, not scattering like the others. Being a white cat (or at least, off-white), facing away from the sun, hit hard with shadows, getting both the shadows and highlights were a problem.

Shooting raw images allows much more leeway in manipulation than jpegs. As fellow YDR photographer Paul Kuehnel and tech extraordinaire explained it-- it's like making a cake. A 16-layer cake has more 'information' than an 8-layer cake. Thanks for the visual. Now I understand. For more detailed information about shooting raw images, click here.

The downside is that it takes longer to download, and on late-night deadline, that's sometimes a concern for us. You won't be able to store as many pictures on your card.

Shooting raw, I was able to bring out the detail in the white cat and still hold shadows.

It's just a barn with a few stars on it. Not a big deal to some people.

But to some people, including Fawn Grove native Dr. Robert Barr, the Star Barn near Middletown is big, both literally and figuratively. Built in the 1870s as a showplace barn, it has sat for the past 37 years as a storage shed. If it had feelings, I'll bet it would be embarrassed.

The Daily Record is doing a story or two about the barn, and since most people see it as they're driving from Harrisburg to Lancaster along route 283, I tried to show traffic zooming past. Or maybe at night, while on the way home from work.

On this day, it was a clear blue sky. A nearly full moon was sneaking up from the eastern horizon. It was the perfect set up for a moon/sky/steeple picture. Just then, a gigantic black cloud came over trees, blocking the moon. So much for planning.

As it turns out, the clouds were a blessing. Consider this formula for taking pictures of the moon-- use the reciprocal of the ISO you're shooting for the shutter speed (1/400 for ISO 400, for example) and set the aperature at f11-16. You'll get detail in the moon, and not just a white blob in the sky. After all, the light you're seeing from the moon is bright sunlight.

Obviously, with that long exposure, the barn would be way underexposed. So, there were two choices-- get detail in the moon (which was not the story) and not the barn, or get the barn with a much slower exposure and get a big white blob in the sky.

Our eyes can see and handle the difference in light, but not cameras. It was going to be one or the other. When you see huge detailed moons hanging over a well-lit mountain range, it's almost certainly a double exposure, or some lab trick.

But, here came the clouds. Darn, I thought, no moon at all now. But I was wrong. Using a long exposure for the night-lit barn, breaks in the clouds filtered the moon just enough to give proper exposure and detail. Couldn't have planned it better. And the long exposure gives the moving clouds a kind of feathery, soft touch that adds to the picture. And the reddish sunset didn't hurt either.

Who said "I'd rather be lucky than good."? Was it baseball pitcher Left Gomez? I'll second that.

Yorkers have grown accustomed this winter to waking up and seeing a dull, rather dreary winter scene. No snow unless you live at Ski Roundtop.

But that changed Monday morning. Winter finally came, and made everything beautiful again. It was a snow day, thrilling most students. After collecting dust in the garage, my newest toy, a snowblower, cleaned off a few driveways and sidewalks. But not everyone was happy.

Our garbage man couldn't be blamed for grumbling as he slogged over snow mounds, dragged cans through snow. Maintenance workers had to plow or shovel.

Birds were searching hard for food, including this robin, which scarfed down berries from a holly bush. At this time of year, most food sources are gone, so be sure to keep your feeders full of seed. To see the types of seed you should be using, click here.