Quick test to make sure everything is, in fact, wired up correctly.

The International Space Station is the brightest track beginning at the bottom left of the frame (north) and tracking to the upper right (east-southeast). There's a very bright track in the left side of the frame with no indication of navigation lights, so I think it's a satellite of some kind. Very bright, don't think I've seen one like that before.

There are several satellites. One brightening at intervals, which suggests it's rotating as it orbits, I think. There may be two small meteors. There are the usual aircraft, though the morning isn't as "busy" as the evening.

(Larger version here.)

Okay, it was the photo prototype, not the template. Easy fix. And it was the Automator application that exports the image from Photos that needed the folder updated.

I should review all my January posts to in December to figure out what to do right next time.

Anyway, the last image is pretty small. Here's a 125% crop screenshot from Photos. The 75-300mm zoom is considered a "kit" (low-end) lens. Does fine for me.

Since I'm usually shooting backlit subjects on my morning walks, I use spot-metering. This doesn't work well for subjects in full sunlight. The exposure is right for the bird, but the sky is way underexposed and it's tough to get the color right. At least, for me it is.

I need to pay more attention to exposure.

Not putting this up on Flickr because I'm not pleased with it. Same bird was on the same tree yesterday, but all the shots I got yesterday had a limb growing out of its head. This morning I tried to pay a bit more attention to composition, but it was a busy background no matter what.

I can erase all those limbs, but that poses its own challenges with the sky. I've found it has to be the last thing I do.

This is sharpened in Topaz SharpenAI and I suppose many people might feel as though it's over-sharpened, and they might be right. I'm just still kind of amazed, so here it is. It's not a great photograph, but I love seeing the hawks and I'm still delighted I can get a shot like this, so I'm sharing that joy.

I hope.

(Wherein I discover I haven't updated the AppleScript that exports the image from Photos to the local Images archive for the site. It still exports and posts correctly, because the export template in Tinderbox is pointing to the old folder as well. I'll have to do some repairs to get everything aligned properly again. Sigh.)

<img src=“https://nice-marmot.net/Archives/2023/Images/P1020009.JPG" alt=“A couple of shadowy figures. The “walking man” in a crosswalk traffic sign, and my long shadow in front of it.">

A couple of shadowy figures.

When we were in Charleston, I tried to do "street photography," except for people. Got a couple of people, but mostly environmental stuff. But I'm with family and there's a lot of family interaction going on, so I'm unable to really focus on making images. It's kind of "run and gun" so whatever works is mostly just luck.

Anyway, on my morning walk, I can be a little more deliberate. I'm mostly doing it for the exercise, so I have to keep moving. This image struck me so I figured I'd try for it. Not sure I achieved much, but I'm happy with it.

Figured I might as well test this too. So far, so good.

Unremarkable shot, but I liked the colors. Carried the 12-year-old Olympus E-M5 with the 14-150mm zoom.

Figured I might as well test this too. So far, so good.

Unremarkable shot, but I liked the colors. Carried the 12-year-old Olympus E-M5 with the 14-150mm zoom.

The E-620 arrived yesterday. It's remarkable how fast stuff gets delivered from KEH. They're in Georgia and I'm in northeast Florida, so I'm probably in the sweet spot. It's free delivery, and it arrives virtually overnight.

It was as described, looked barely used. Maintenance menu indicates 4096 shutter activations (2^12!), which suggests it did receive a fair amount of use, so well cared-for I guess. Plenty of life left in it.

Did some tests in the office and image stabilizer works, though it's important not to expect very much much, 3 stops maybe.

Took it on a walk this morning with the 14-42 kit lens, though early clouds kind of diminished the target set. This was just kind of a grab shot. At ISO 500 there was some visible noise, and f5.6 is wide open at this focal length. But Topaz SharpenAI cleaned up all the noise and eliminated the softness. A little menu clicking in Photos is all that's required.

Like the E-420 and E-500, this is a "just for fun," body. They're all a very audible and tactile experience as you hear and feel the focusing motors, the mirror flips and the shutter activation. It's quite the production.

I leave it to the viewer to discern any meaning in the title and context of the photo.

Perhaps it's the season, but I spoke with a couple of my neighbors I hadn't met before, Pete and Tammy. I see Pete often as he's running, so there's little time for much more than a wave and a hello. But they were out walking this morning, and the camera prompted them to stop and say hello and mention the stunning amount of wildlife they see behind their house. They see a bobcat quite often, even to the point where they know it's a female and she's had a kitten, and they're both active behind their place.

It turns out they're relatively new to the neighborhood, arriving in '22; and they're from Clifton Park, where Mom lives! They're young, I think. Still in their 50s. I hope to get to know them a little better and perhaps take advantage of the invitation to investigate their backyard.

Since I wasn't sleeping, I figured I'd set the E-M1 Mk3 up out back and look up at the sky for me. I used interval shooting, and had it create a timelapse movie at the end.

The movie is unremarkable, and I only got one meteor.

I think the LiveComposite images are more interesting. I don't do video and I don't feel as though I want to learn how. I'll probably stick with LiveComposite from now on.

There was a glitch with the image showing up at micro.blog last time. We'll see if that repeats with this one.

I stumbled upon flickriver for the first time today, despite the fact that it's been around since 2007!

It has a little facility that allows you to create a "badge" with tiny thumbnails that takes you to my flickr account. The one I created initially was for my most "interesting" photos, presumably as determined by the number of "favorites" they received. Since I've only recently been actively posting and curating to flickr, most of my "interesting" photos are from a long time ago, and may not be genuinely interesting.

I'll probably replace it with this one, which offers tiny thumbnails of my most recent public photos:

<img src=“https://nice-marmot.net/Archives/2023/Images/IMG_2218.JPG" alt=“The opposite of crepuscular rays, these “sunbeams” appear to converge away from the sun, over a suburban streetscape.">

It's cloudy and windy here again today. I didn't have a new photo to send to Mom, so I looked back "on this day" a couple of years ago. This is actually from December 15, 2021.

I wanted to make sure I spelled "crepuscular" correctly, and I discovered that these are actually "anti-crepuscular" rays. The beams of light appear to converge opposite from the sun.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 09:55 Thursday, 14 December 2023

Experimental test. Should wind up on the Sights page.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 09:09 Thursday, 14 December 2023

It's cool this morning, so I'm wearing jeans. I've learned that I don't like wearing jeans while biking. Not that I ever wear biking shorts either. I'm usually just in shorts! I have some synthetic lightweight hiking trousers I can wear when it's windy, I guess.

Anyway, I learned it again this morning when I biked to the garden. This time I brought along the Olympus E-500 with the 25mm/f2.8 pancake mounted. I have something of an irrational affection for that lens. Having bought one back in the day when I was shooting four-thirds dslrs, I sold it when I went strictly mirrorless.

Then I bought another copy after I looked at some of the images I'd taken with it. It's got kind of a "look," I guess. It's irrational. I like it.

Then, of course, I bought an E-500 dslr, because it has the Kodak CCD sensor and it was sprinkled with magic CCD dust made by the elves of Rochester, NY.

Anyway, I like the combo. Small. Lightweight. Simple. Gives a very mechanical vibe with the mirror slap and the noisy focusing motor.

Put a few up on Flickr. SOOC, because why not?

The only spider web I saw. There were a lot of those crazy webs on the low bushes. I don't know if those are spiders or some other insect. But I should have seen dozens of these.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 10:03 Sunday, 29 October 2023

I rode my bike to the garden and brought along the Stylus 1s. I really need to start carrying the OM-1 or E-M1 Mk3 with the 40-150mm/f2.8 mounted. The Stylus slips into the little handlebar bag that holds some tools, a mask and a beer koozy (I was a Boy Scout. "Be prepared.") with enough room left over for a compact camera.

The larger cameras would require me to put a bag on my bike, which I do when I'm riding it to the pond to look for birds. It's a little more effort, and I'm really trying to combine getting some kind of fitness activity in quickly here, with visiting the garden and maybe getting a few shots. But maybe plants and insects are as worthy as birds in terms of effort.

This is a jpeg straight out of the camera, because I'm lazy and it turned out just fine I though.

Speaking of spiders. Saw this one in April 2020. Haven't seen once since. Of course, I hadn't seen one before either. But I was hopeful and looking forward to seeing more of this amazing spider.

Since sunrise is at a such a late hour (7:24 a.m.), I figured we might as well take advantage of it and drive the golf cart down to the kayak launch and see what there was to see, and potentially photograph.

Wasn't spectacular. There were two young men putting their kayaks in to do a little fishing. Noise travels far on the water this early in the morning. Heard two boats long before we ever saw them.

Was glad we used mosquito repellant.

I mean, stuff like this...

This is a crop of the preceding image. Otherwise, straight out of the camera.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 06:21 Tuesday, 24 October 2023

But 400mm does let you do this.

I took the E-M1X to the airshow on Saturday because I was going to use the mZuiko 100-400mm zoom. It turns out that I might have been better served using the mZuiko 40-150mm/f2.8 with the MC1.4 teleconverter.

This shot is at 218mm, which is only slightly longer than the 210mm of the 40-150 with the teleconverter. The challenge is keeping the aircraft in the frame at 400mm.

The E-M1X handles the 100-400mm nicely and has subject recognition for aircraft, which I would say isn't really essential in an airshow. The subject is usually the only thing in the sky.

This shot is un-cropped. It'd probably be better at 3:2 where I could center the formation vertically, but I'm not that fussy usually.

Beautiful morning today, 60-something degrees, not a cloud in the sky. Saw not one but two little blue herons this morning. This one let me get the closest.

There I was, sitting in my recliner, engrossed in reading a new book, Sunburst and Luminary, An Apollo Memoir, by Don Eyles. Vague notions of lunch intruding at the back of my mind.

Suddenly, "BZZZZZZTT! Thwap!" Again, right to my immediate right.

Daylight and a sense of what surfaces might have yielded that sound gave me a clue where to look, even if I didn't know what I would find.

Cautiously pulled my little radio back, and there he (or she) was. A lost shield bug. I'm guessing they're not great fliers.

After snapping a few candids, I coaxed it onto my hand and took it outside. It seemed to like my hand, as it didn't want to let go over the garden. Gave it a nudge and it fell into the dirt, hopefully to live whatever a fulfilling life is to a shield bug.

Checked Mitzi's flight progress. Time remaining in flight is greater than the time remaining for the departure of her connection. Another night alone.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 13:10 Friday, 29 September 2023

Aunt Carol, who is 88, chatting with Mom at her birthday party.

Fixed one automation. Now trying to figure out the Forklift sync, because of course that doesn't work. I know the source folder changed, and I corrected that, but it didn't sync the image.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 06:23 Wednesday, 27 September 2023

Caitie doesn't like the way I photograph people. This shot was taken during an exchange we were having regarding my artistic choices, and she approached the lens while making her point.

I'll have to remember that trick.

Took a lot of pics for Mom's birthday. It was cloudy and cool, but it didn't rain.

I like this one.

Having only seen my first cattle egret around here a month ago, here's another one this morning. This one seems to need a bath. Kind of came up on it unexpectedly, so I zoomed and shot quickly thinking it'd fly away. So framing isn't ideal. I needn't have worried, but I didn't take my time and frame it up nicely.