I photographed an alien!!

Here it is a few days after Halloween and I convinced the grandkids that secretly their grandmother was an alien. A few days ago I talked about a process known as High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. HDR is a process where you take three photos of an object and merge them into a single photo. This process creates a very detailed picture. Much more detailed than any one of the single photos. Well today I decided to play with this process on a flower arrangement the wife had on the counter. So while she was reading papers in the background at the kitchen table I was taking the photo. When I process the pictures using the HDR process you could see a blurred image of the wife with three arms. You see the process works if the objects are still. In this case the flower and vase was still but the wife was moving her arms in the background. So if you look closely you can see she has 3 limbs.

FA-14 Superhornet fly over the Detroit River

It was beautiful July day and I had wanted to go to Belle Isle to shoot the hydroplanes during the time trials and this was the last day to see them for free. Wanted to take the grandsons but they had their own plans so I threw my camera equipment in the saddlebag of my Harley and rode off to Belle Isle by myself. I didn’t have much time because I had plans for the evening so the intention was to go take some quick pictures and get back. When I arrived at Belle Isle the hydroplanes were in between heats and all the boats were out of the water. I waited for about an hour and when it didn’t seem that there was going to be another run soon I decided to leave. As I was coming to the bridge over the Detroit River I heard a roar in the sky and I quickly saw a jet streak across the river at tree top level. So I pulled over to see what was going on and was about to leave again when it streaked passed me a second time. Now I wondered if it would do it a third time so just to be ready I pulled out the camera. Sure enough a few minute later I could hear it in the distance and before I could ready the camera it had streaked pass me again. I thought I was going to miss this opportunity so I got ready. I could hear the jet off in the distance so I steadied myself but before I knew it the jet zoom past me before I could take the picture. Frustrated I hoped that I could at least capture one shoot but the jet snuck past two more time before finally capturing these 5 shots.

Capture One PRO Review

Capture One PRO Review

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Autumn is Here!

It is such a beautiful autumn day I decided to take the grandsons to explore the new park here in Southfield on 10 mile and Inkster. So of course I took my camera with me in hopes of getting shots of the nice autumn foilage. I was somewhat disappoint. Although the park is really nice there was no diversity of trees. Mostly ash and some maple and some white pine but all the autumn leaves were yellow. No oranges, reds or any other colors that may have made for a truly colorful shot. But all was not lost I did find some interesting shots.


There was this tiny mushroom pushing up among the fallen leaves.

Some decaying trees.

Decaying plants.

Still some signs of growth.

The photo above was taken using a process called High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. Basically you take a minimum of 3 photos. One shot is taken with camera setting the way you would normally. One shot is underexposed and the other is overexposed. Combine all three photos and you get HDR. No. It not a disease but it can be contagious. It is a good application for shots that are difficult to take because you have bright spots and dark shadows. So you combine three 3 photos and you get a shot that averages out everything. You pickup things such as the reflection in the pond and the trees along the bank that would be difficult to get in any one of the three shots. Because everything is averaged out the colors are a little muted but the up side is you get detail that would be hard to come by any other way. And it still make for an interesting picture.

Ford Piquette Auto Plant

Here are photos taken at the Piquette auto plant Ford's first plant where the Ford Model Ts and the all the previous models were built.  Yes there were other models before the model 'T'/ The models B, C, F, K, N, R, S were all manufacturered at this plant. The plant was built before Henry Ford started manufacturing automobiles on assembly lines. The cars built at this plant were all hand made on a stationary platform. The interesting thing about this photo is that from inside of the Piquette plant you see the former GM Headquarters building on Grand Blvd.



Of Course the GM Headquarter is now downtown Detroit and Ford World Headquarters is in Dearborn. You also see the making of the wooden body of a Model 'T' Ford. The Piquette plant was built in 1904 and has since been turned into a museum. Here is a picture of the outside of the plant.


The following pictures are of a Model 'T' Ford and the chassis.




These photos were taken in the summer of 2008.


If you want to know more about the Piquette museum here is the website: http://www.tplex.org/

Buffalo Soldiers and Yosemite National Park

One of the things I like about taking pictures is the sense that you are recording something that has the potential of lasting for generations. Pictures are little slice of history that my grandchildren and great-grands and great-great-grands can see for years. In the past as African Americans we didn't control how our history was being written. We didn’t have the resources to publish books or take photos. Our history was never truly taught in public schools and what bits and pieces we did learn came from stories that were past down by our ancestors and is often forgotten or just doesn't seem important as time past. So much has been lost but thanks to a resurgence of interest in our history and the discovery of old information through technology some of the history is finally being rediscovered.  I ran across this movie clip about former slaves and black freemen who were part of the U.S. Cavalry that fought and served our country in the old  west. In fact did you know that African Americans soldiers comprised up to 20 percent of the cavalry that patrolled the west in the late 1800s and early 1900s? Bet you never saw any of them represented in any movies about the west. Look at this clip and I hope this is as educational for you as it is to me.

Reflections

Well here it is just weeks after I started this blog and I finally think I almost got it the way I want it. I have added a number of gadgets that help display some of my photos. I've added two galleries and a photobook. Today’s pictures are of Detroit Ford Stadium during the Superbowl week of 2006. It was a wonderful time downtown was full of people, lots and things to do, places to eat and drink. It was great week for Detroit. It is great to have memories to fall back on during these tough economic times. But there is hope that times will get better. It hard to think they can get worse. I hope you enjoy.



And finally I want to direct you attention to my favorite websites list on this blog. Take special note to these two site: THE Pharmacy link and the Modaddy link. These are businesses owned by my brother and his wife. So check it out.