105. Terrain - June 14-20, 2014
Kevin-
This is Moraine Lake, like Lake Louise another glacier fed lake in Canada’s Banff National Park, situated in the Valley of The Ten Peaks. This was a challenging shot for me, because of the chilly temperatures and because I had to carefully walk out on a rock pile to capture it, and find a way to make certain that the camera, the tripod and/or I didn’t fall into the very cold lake.
Nikon D4s, tripod mounted. 24-70mm f/2.8 Nikkor set to 32mm. ISO 100, f/18 @ 1/6 second. A polarizing filter and a soft, split neutral density filter were used. The distant part of the lake gives you a feel for the wonderful color of the water.
This is Moraine Lake, like Lake Louise another glacier fed lake in Canada’s Banff National Park, situated in the Valley of The Ten Peaks. This was a challenging shot for me, because of the chilly temperatures and because I had to carefully walk out on a rock pile to capture it, and find a way to make certain that the camera, the tripod and/or I didn’t fall into the very cold lake.
Nikon D4s, tripod mounted. 24-70mm f/2.8 Nikkor set to 32mm. ISO 100, f/18 @ 1/6 second. A polarizing filter and a soft, split neutral density filter were used. The distant part of the lake gives you a feel for the wonderful color of the water.
Paul-
Preface: Big Ambitions, Insufficient Time
With a theme like “Terrain,” the flatlands of Nebraska at once posed a challenge and no challenge at all. “Beauty on a horizontal scale,” as I am fond of saying. So, it was my intent to rent an ultra-wide-angle lens and head into the back country—which is ostensibly 30 miles west of either Omaha or Lincoln. Rolling prairie, wind-bent grasses, jackalopes…here I come.
Nope. For a week without any official work to do, I was awfully busy getting all my pochards in a row for the start of my new job—which initially involves a trip to Kentucky. The prairie will have to wait. But it’s still on that informal calendar tucked away in my hind brain.
Exposition: I fell back on Plan B. As Kevin (and perhaps Byron) knows, there is a first-rate miniature golf course near my house. It’s called Adventure Golf and the family that owns it has allowed me to take pictures of the beautiful flora and lovely landscaping from time to time. To my knowledge, this is the only miniature golf course left in Lincoln. The next closest is 35 miles due south in Beatrice. After that, you have to go north to Omaha. (Both Kevin and Byron can attest to that.) I digress…
Adventure Golf sports two 18-hole courses—the Red course and the Blue course. The Red course has several holes that look deceptively simple but will leave you with an embarrassing high number on your scorecard at the end of the game if you take too much for granted. It’s much more difficult than the Blue course. The Blue course has several holes that look deceptively simple but will leave you with an embarrassing high number on your scorecard at the end of the game if you take too much for granted. It’s much more difficult than the Red course.
And after all of that, there’s this: Number 14 on the Red course. I call it the volcano hole because the words I often want to use can get you thrown of the course. (Family owned, remember?) Kevin has played this hole, too. From the relative safety of Minnetonka, I don’t know what words he would use. The physics and finesse of the thing is pretty simple: Hit the ball with just enough speed to carry it over the top--nothing more, nothing less. Because “more” or “less” results in starting the nail biting process over again. I’ve seen grown men weep on this hole. Animals shy away from it. Local authorities won’t even talk about the thing.
Personally, I’ve aced it many times. I have also not aced it many times (and that’s all I’m going to say about that). So, here is the “terrain” I have opted for this week’s theme. Oh, the golf ball? I rolled it up-slope a few times and snapped off shots hoping one might be good.
Denouement:
All in all, this hole is like a broken heart: If you’re going to play the game, you’re going to have to face this eventually. But once you’ve gotten past it, once you know you can survive it…well, it still sucks. Royally.
Our story so far: Shot at 1/60 sec.; f/29; ISO 1000; 18-55mm lens set at 46mm, 2/3 EV, handheld. The photographer tossed the ball about as well as he normally putted it on this hole. And regretted not using a lower shutter speed.
Preface: Big Ambitions, Insufficient Time
With a theme like “Terrain,” the flatlands of Nebraska at once posed a challenge and no challenge at all. “Beauty on a horizontal scale,” as I am fond of saying. So, it was my intent to rent an ultra-wide-angle lens and head into the back country—which is ostensibly 30 miles west of either Omaha or Lincoln. Rolling prairie, wind-bent grasses, jackalopes…here I come.
Nope. For a week without any official work to do, I was awfully busy getting all my pochards in a row for the start of my new job—which initially involves a trip to Kentucky. The prairie will have to wait. But it’s still on that informal calendar tucked away in my hind brain.
Exposition: I fell back on Plan B. As Kevin (and perhaps Byron) knows, there is a first-rate miniature golf course near my house. It’s called Adventure Golf and the family that owns it has allowed me to take pictures of the beautiful flora and lovely landscaping from time to time. To my knowledge, this is the only miniature golf course left in Lincoln. The next closest is 35 miles due south in Beatrice. After that, you have to go north to Omaha. (Both Kevin and Byron can attest to that.) I digress…
Adventure Golf sports two 18-hole courses—the Red course and the Blue course. The Red course has several holes that look deceptively simple but will leave you with an embarrassing high number on your scorecard at the end of the game if you take too much for granted. It’s much more difficult than the Blue course. The Blue course has several holes that look deceptively simple but will leave you with an embarrassing high number on your scorecard at the end of the game if you take too much for granted. It’s much more difficult than the Red course.
And after all of that, there’s this: Number 14 on the Red course. I call it the volcano hole because the words I often want to use can get you thrown of the course. (Family owned, remember?) Kevin has played this hole, too. From the relative safety of Minnetonka, I don’t know what words he would use. The physics and finesse of the thing is pretty simple: Hit the ball with just enough speed to carry it over the top--nothing more, nothing less. Because “more” or “less” results in starting the nail biting process over again. I’ve seen grown men weep on this hole. Animals shy away from it. Local authorities won’t even talk about the thing.
Personally, I’ve aced it many times. I have also not aced it many times (and that’s all I’m going to say about that). So, here is the “terrain” I have opted for this week’s theme. Oh, the golf ball? I rolled it up-slope a few times and snapped off shots hoping one might be good.
Denouement:
All in all, this hole is like a broken heart: If you’re going to play the game, you’re going to have to face this eventually. But once you’ve gotten past it, once you know you can survive it…well, it still sucks. Royally.
Our story so far: Shot at 1/60 sec.; f/29; ISO 1000; 18-55mm lens set at 46mm, 2/3 EV, handheld. The photographer tossed the ball about as well as he normally putted it on this hole. And regretted not using a lower shutter speed.
Jerry-
I went close up into the world of insect terrain and photographed some black ants in the backyard. The ants were kind of spread out so I tried the sugar cube in the hopes they would swarm it, and I managed to get one to pose. Ants are really kind of frantic, constantly moving and hard to focus on so I got lots of blurry pictures. I set the ISO high and the F stop to 22 but when that close it was hard to get much depth of focus. While photographing this one on the "monolith", I noticed an ant battle going on nearby between the big black ants (like the one in my photo) and the tiny brown ants. Maybe later I can send some of those to you. Ants get very nasty.
Nikon D750 with Nikon 105mm Micro. ISO 1600, 1/250 @ f22.
I went close up into the world of insect terrain and photographed some black ants in the backyard. The ants were kind of spread out so I tried the sugar cube in the hopes they would swarm it, and I managed to get one to pose. Ants are really kind of frantic, constantly moving and hard to focus on so I got lots of blurry pictures. I set the ISO high and the F stop to 22 but when that close it was hard to get much depth of focus. While photographing this one on the "monolith", I noticed an ant battle going on nearby between the big black ants (like the one in my photo) and the tiny brown ants. Maybe later I can send some of those to you. Ants get very nasty.
Nikon D750 with Nikon 105mm Micro. ISO 1600, 1/250 @ f22.
Byron-
I grew up in west central Minnesota. The terrain there is as flat as, well, Nebraska. So I thought for this shoot I would go somewhere that had a different type of terrain. I ended up in Red Wing, MN. It is in the northern part of bluff country. This picture was taken atop a bluff overlooking the city. The terrain includes the mighty Mississippi. This is another example of a place that normally is seen while driving past on the way to somewhere else. But as a destination there are some cool things to do here.
ISO 100, 55mm, f/8, 1/320 second
I grew up in west central Minnesota. The terrain there is as flat as, well, Nebraska. So I thought for this shoot I would go somewhere that had a different type of terrain. I ended up in Red Wing, MN. It is in the northern part of bluff country. This picture was taken atop a bluff overlooking the city. The terrain includes the mighty Mississippi. This is another example of a place that normally is seen while driving past on the way to somewhere else. But as a destination there are some cool things to do here.
ISO 100, 55mm, f/8, 1/320 second
Deron-
Nothing special, but I saw this seen on Hwy. 8, on my way to Descanso, 30 miles east of San Diego. The layers of terrain are what caught my eye.
Nothing special, but I saw this seen on Hwy. 8, on my way to Descanso, 30 miles east of San Diego. The layers of terrain are what caught my eye.