For what seems like the first time all winter, there were finally some northern lights worth bundling up and braving the cold over. Unfortunately, they were shortlived, so I only got a couple pictures, and the light cloud cover interfered a little, but overall, I'm just happy to be back outside taking some pictures.

Wishing Everyone a Happy New Years!

Down at the forks for the fireworks and assorted New Years revelry. Wandered about taking some random grab shots of the people and buildings.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays Etcetera!

This picture is a HDR created from eight different exposures. I bundled up against the cold winter night, and trekked out into the forest with two strings of Christmas lights and the UPS battery backup from my computer. After setting up the lights, I took a variety of exposures at f/4.0 ranging from 1/8 of a second up to a full 30 seconds. I then combined them using FDR Tools, cloned out the lights leading to the UPS (hidden behind that stump next to the tree) and then did a little contrast/color correction in Lightroom.  I'm pretty pleased with how well it turned out - hope you enjoy it!

For the first time in what feels like months, the clouds finally broke and we had some blue skies and sunshine. I decided to capitalize on this nice, clear (and cold!) day by grabbing my camera and giving my new 24-120 VR a workout.

After bundling up, I ventured out into the forest near my house and wandered around getting some shots of the winter onslaught.

By the time I made it home, my jeans were soaked halfway up to the knee, my cheeks were rosy red and I had lost my glasses in a snowdrift (temporarily) but every time I grab my camera and go for a walk I have a good time.

Oh, and picture #4 is actually an HRD composite of four separate images at varying degrees of exposure. One of these days I might actually invest in Photomatix so I can do decent HDR images.