Photo: Barren Branches

Photo: Barren Branches

Dead branches on a tree at night, lit with a flashlight.

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/50, F2.5, 50mm, ISO1600, 2012-03-11T01:39:30-04, 20120311-053930rxt

Location: Thripp Residence, Ormond Beach, FL  32174-7227

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.

Photo: Across the Ice

Photo: Across the Ice

Ice on the roof of my step-mom’s car, Jan. 19, 2006. The temperature on the surface is colder than the air temperature, which is why your car can have ice on the windshield in the morning even if it’s 35 degrees Fahrenheit.

For lighting, I used a flashlight. :grin:

Fujifilm FinePix A360, 1/2, F2.8, 5.8mm, ISO119, 2006-01-19T04:39:57-05, 2006-01-19_04h39m57

Location: Thripp Residence, Ormond Beach, FL  32174-7227

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.

Photo: Sunshine 6: Decay

Photo: Sunshine 6: Decay

Photo of an autumn leaf with the sun as a light source. The coloring on this decaying leaf was unique. I guess it was being eaten by bacteria or something?

Fujifilm FinePix A360, 1/400, F2.8, 5.8mm, ISO64, 2006-01-18T17:12:35-05, 2006-01-18_17h12m35

Location: Thripp Residence, Ormond Beach, FL  32174-7227

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.

More of the Sunshine series.

Photo: Autumn Leaves 7

Photo: Autumn Leaves 7

Yellow leaves on a Chinese Talo tree, Dec. 31, 2005. This would be “Winter Leaves 7” if Florida’s winters weren’t like other states’ autumns.

Autumn Leaves 3-6 weren’t very good, so I’m not going to post them. :smile:

Fujifilm FinePix A360, 1/111, F4.0, 11.9mm, ISO64, 2005-12-31T16:16:31-05, 2005-12-31_16h16m31

Location: Thripp Residence, Ormond Beach, FL  32174-7227

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.

Photo: Fire

Photo: Fire

Our wood burning stove on Christmas day, 2005.

Fujifilm FinePix A360, 1/7, F2.8, 5.8mm, ISO100, 2005-12-25T22:57:25-05, 2005-12-25_22h57m25

Location: Thripp Residence, Ormond Beach, FL  32174-7227

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.

Photo: In the Light

Photo: In the Light

A deciduous tree against a crisp blue sky, two days before Christmas 2005.

Fujifilm FinePix A360, 1/526, F2.8, 5.8mm, ISO64, 2005-12-23T15:31:27-05, 2005-12-23_15h31m27

Location: Thripp Residence, Ormond Beach, FL  32174-7227

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.

Photo: In the Darkness

Photo: In the Darkness

A deciduous tree in the winter at night in the moonlight.

Fujifilm FinePix A360, 1/1, F2.8, 5.8mm, ISO200, 2005-12-16T02:24:47-05, 2005-12-16_02h24m47

Location: Thripp Residence, Ormond Beach, FL  32174-7227

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.

Photo: Broken Dreams

Broken Dreams

A mailbox someone ran over. Your dreams of regular mail delivery have now been dashed… the mailman won’t bother with this piece of junk. Buy a new mailbox!

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm 1:1.4, 1/1600, F2.2, 50mm, ISO100, 2009-01-28T13:45:25-05, 20090128-184525rxt

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.

Photo: The Tired Tree

The Tired Tree

I crouched in the dirt below this barren winter tree, camera pointed straight up, to capture this shot. The sky was white and overcast. The tree is old and tired from all that heavy Spanish moss weighing it down. :silly:

This looks like something from a horror movie, where the tree falls on you and kills everyone… I had to be careful framing this, as there were more youthful palm trees to the left and right which I had to exclude. This is often a great perspective, and it was critical not to cut off the branches at the top of the frame or else the tree wouldn’t seem complete. The branches to the left don’t matter. The trunk at the bottom-right doesn’t extend much passed the frame, but by not including its edges, the tree seems more impressive.

I converted to black and white and added a slight amount of contrast in Photoshop. No vignetting needed at the top, though I darkened the bottom corners. If you look at the source file, you’ll find it’s remarkably similar to the final. The sky really was bright like that and the tree was black against it. I shot in color mode (always do that for versatility), but the source file looks black and white because there was little color in the scene. I think I set the camera to cloudy white balance, appropriate for the bluish clouds. If it was sunny out, the neutral gray point would be closer to yellow, necessitating a lower color temperature (5200 K vs. 6000 K) to match the scene. If I shot this at tungsten white balance (3200 K), it would look really blue, but if I was under incandescent or tungsten lighting (yellow), the scene would look normal. Lower white balance temperatures are for yellow scenes, higher white balance temperatures are for blue scenes, because color temperature represents the color output of an ideal black body radiator at that temperature. 273.15 degrees Kelvin is 0 Celsius, 5200 Kelvin is 4926.85 Celsius which is 8900 degrees Fahrenheit. A black body radiator gets bluer at higher temperatures, say 7000 K, and yellower at lower temperatures, say 3200 K. When you set your camera’s white balance to 3200 K, tungsten, you’re telling it to set the color a black body radiator at 3200 K puts out as neutral gray (yellow). At 7000 K (shade), blue colors are neutral gray. So something that appears blue at 3200 K white balance will appear yellow at 7000 K white balance. An object that would appear blue at 7000 K white balance will be much bluer at 3200 K, and an object that is yellow when the camera is set to 3200 K white balance will be much more yellow when the camera is set at 7000 K white balance.

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 28-135mm, 1/500, F5.6, 30mm, ISO100, 2008-11-04T11:53:02-05, 20081104-165302rxt

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.

Photo: White Christmas

White Christmas

Christmas is here early! The trees are frosted with ice.

Actually, this is Daytona Beach, Florida, where it doesn’t get cold enough to frost the trees over. I saw this tree in the parking lot at the grocery store; the stark contrast with the background caught my eye. There was a streetlight right near it.

I didn’t have a tripod with me, so I had to hold the camera. The first thing I tried was setting the camera on the ground pointing upward, but I couldn’t get the right composition. My 28-135mm lens only goes down to F3.5, and I didn’t want to go above ISO800 to avoid too much grain, so I held the camera by hand pointing upward, really still, and fired off ten shots. This was the best one. It came out clear even though I had to use a 1/3 second shutter speed due to the darkness. The image stabilization gyroscopes in the lens helped.

Most of the leaves have fallen off this tree. Winter must be here!

Merry Christmas everyone. It’s just 34 days away.

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 28-135mm, 1/3, F3.5, 28mm, ISO800, 2008-11-19T18:04:58-05, 20081119-230458rxt

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.