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August 4, 2010, a Wednesday
near Red Feather Lakes, Colorado, USA
— Photographed hummingbirds and processed images
We took it easy this morning. I had my usual breakfast while prepping the hummingbird setup in the RV, then went out around 9:30 to photograph the hummingbirds.
Female and immature male Broad-Tailed Hummingbirds came while I was there. The clouds dissipated while I was out, so we rigged up a tarp to put the feeder and background in the shade so that the light from the flash setup was significantly brighter than the ambient light in order to get the stop-action benefit of the short-duration flashes. That worked for a while, and I was able to get a nice image of a female backing away from the feeder (left) when another female approached.
I went back in the RV around 11:00 after the tarp was no longer working. I left the setup in place because J wanted to be able to go out and shoot if clouds returned to provide naturally low light. I worked up a blog entry.
I had lunch around noon, and the lunch meat and cheese was past it's prime. :( I prepped the RV to move and downloaded the images from this morning. J went out around 12:20 to get ready to photograph the hummingbirds. It started to rain as I was getting the RV off the ramps, so I hastily took down the hummingbird setup. The flash shoe atop one of the PT-04TM wireless flash triggers has started to come loose, so I think I'll use the tiny ball heads designed for flashes to secure the flash to the top of the light stands and then use PC cords from the PT-04TM wireless flash triggers to trigger the flash instead of the hot shoe. The flashes on top of the light stands have to point down, and the way I had been mounting them using just the PT-04TM wireless flash triggers, those flashes put the most stress on the hot shoe. I left in the RV around 12:50 and J stayed at our campsite to take pictures.
I went to the Bellaire Lake Campground to dump into one of the pit toilets. After I pulled up, and before I started to get things ready to dump, I checked to make sure that it was in fact a pit toilet — it wasn't. While we could dump using our Flojet Macerator Pump into a regular, flush toilet, it's not as convenient because it's best to insert our hose down through the trap. So, I left and ...
Went to the Bellaire Lake Day Use Area to use what I knew was a pit toilet there. The rain had stopped and the dumping went well. Then I started to take on fresh water using a Water Thief to attach a hose to the faucet that didn't have threads. The faucet was also designed so that the handle had to be held open, so I got to hold the Water Thief on the faucet at the same time I was holding the faucet open. I don't think they really want RV's to fill up there. :) It started to rain lightly. Dark and ominous clouds were approaching, and I finished taking on fresh water just as a hail storm, with pea-sized hail, started.
I returned to our boondocking spot around 2:20 and it was still raining hard. I though about leaving the RV tilted until the rain stopped, but it was leaning towards the fresh water input and overflow lines, and I didn't want to leave the RV like that too long because of the odd design of that plumbing. So, I suited up in full rain gear to go out to set up our ramps and then got the RV leveled. J came in the RV and made some Bear Creek Creamy Potato Soup for herself and I processed images for a stock submission. J left in the Jeep around 6:22 and I processed some more images for a stock submission.
I had dinner at 6:50 of Mountain House Jamaican Style Chicken & Rice. It's freeze dried backpacking food that was left over from when we used to tent camp. They're designed to serve two, but I had always supplemented my serving with a generous amount of trail mix, and I ate about 1.5 servings tonight.
I processed more images for a stock submission. J returned around 8:10 and I continued to process images for a stock submission. One of my favorite images that I processed today was of a bare tree at sunrise at St. Mary Lake in Glacier National Park in August 2008 (left). The image was created by combining three exposures by hand in Photoshop to capture detail from the bright peaks to the dark foreground.
Female Broad-Tailed Hummingbird
Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado, USA
Canon EOS 1Ds Mk III, 500 f4, multiple flash,
1/125 sec, f19, ISO 320
1/125 sec, f19, ISO 320
I went back in the RV around 11:00 after the tarp was no longer working. I left the setup in place because J wanted to be able to go out and shoot if clouds returned to provide naturally low light. I worked up a blog entry.
I had lunch around noon, and the lunch meat and cheese was past it's prime. :( I prepped the RV to move and downloaded the images from this morning. J went out around 12:20 to get ready to photograph the hummingbirds. It started to rain as I was getting the RV off the ramps, so I hastily took down the hummingbird setup. The flash shoe atop one of the PT-04TM wireless flash triggers has started to come loose, so I think I'll use the tiny ball heads designed for flashes to secure the flash to the top of the light stands and then use PC cords from the PT-04TM wireless flash triggers to trigger the flash instead of the hot shoe. The flashes on top of the light stands have to point down, and the way I had been mounting them using just the PT-04TM wireless flash triggers, those flashes put the most stress on the hot shoe. I left in the RV around 12:50 and J stayed at our campsite to take pictures.
I went to the Bellaire Lake Campground to dump into one of the pit toilets. After I pulled up, and before I started to get things ready to dump, I checked to make sure that it was in fact a pit toilet — it wasn't. While we could dump using our Flojet Macerator Pump into a regular, flush toilet, it's not as convenient because it's best to insert our hose down through the trap. So, I left and ...
Went to the Bellaire Lake Day Use Area to use what I knew was a pit toilet there. The rain had stopped and the dumping went well. Then I started to take on fresh water using a Water Thief to attach a hose to the faucet that didn't have threads. The faucet was also designed so that the handle had to be held open, so I got to hold the Water Thief on the faucet at the same time I was holding the faucet open. I don't think they really want RV's to fill up there. :) It started to rain lightly. Dark and ominous clouds were approaching, and I finished taking on fresh water just as a hail storm, with pea-sized hail, started.
I returned to our boondocking spot around 2:20 and it was still raining hard. I though about leaving the RV tilted until the rain stopped, but it was leaning towards the fresh water input and overflow lines, and I didn't want to leave the RV like that too long because of the odd design of that plumbing. So, I suited up in full rain gear to go out to set up our ramps and then got the RV leveled. J came in the RV and made some Bear Creek Creamy Potato Soup for herself and I processed images for a stock submission. J left in the Jeep around 6:22 and I processed some more images for a stock submission.
Bare Tree At Sunrise
Glacier National Park, Montana, USA,
August 2008
August 2008
Canon EOS 1Ds Mk II, 16-35 (at 16mm),
0.7, 1.5, & 3 sec, f16, ISO 100
0.7, 1.5, & 3 sec, f16, ISO 100
I processed more images for a stock submission. J returned around 8:10 and I continued to process images for a stock submission. One of my favorite images that I processed today was of a bare tree at sunrise at St. Mary Lake in Glacier National Park in August 2008 (left). The image was created by combining three exposures by hand in Photoshop to capture detail from the bright peaks to the dark foreground.