New Camera Toys

Stino is in town right now. I will blog about the visit next weekend. For now I wanted to do a quick post on some new camera toys I have been playing around with. I recently bought a 64x ND filter (B&W) and a Holux GPS logger. We took a trip out to Silver Falls with Stino. I have taken plenty of photos there before, but this was a good chance to practice with my new filter and try out the GPS. The GPS worked okay, but I lost reception a few times. I think in heavy tree cover I need to be a bit more careful about where the GPS is sitting. The filter, on the other hand, worked out great. For those of you who don't know, ND filters basically darken what is coming into the lens, allowing you to take longer exposures (which is nice for waterfalls and rivers during the middle of the day). The 64x ND is a pretty aggressive amount amount, but I am happy with it. I kinda wish I would have stacked my Polarizer on top of it (next time). Most of these shots were shot around f/9, so I think the polarizer would "work" still, but I am a bit worried about composition and metering, as it was already difficult to see what I was taking (since the view through the viewfinder also darkens), auto-focus had a hard time a couple of times, and I had to clean up the exposure in post processing a bit more than usual.

Time for some photos.

First off, South Falls. Perfect example of where the Polarizer would have helped a lot (cutting down on the mist reflection):


Here is one that turned out a bit better (although I should have taken a shorter exposure). This is from the side of Lower South Falls. Note that there is basically no vignetting despite the photo being taken @ 12mm with the filter. Hopefully that will hold up when I stack on the polarizer.


This one turned out well. Unlike the last one, the long exposure (6s) was not too long (IMHO). This is the bridge below Double Falls and above Lower North Falls.

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Haircut, Teeth, and More

Clara turned 8 months old a couple days ago. So, I have wrapped up the 7 month album and started a new 8 month album. Clara is starting to get her first teeth in now and she got her first haircut (too much hair in the eyes and food in the hair). She is still not too interested in crawling, but manages to get around just fine by rolling and scootching. We went on our first hike about a week ago, and are planning to do more now that the nice weather is getting rolling. I also started a separate album that will be home to hiking photos from this year. I also got a little GPS logger that I am going to geotag some of my photos moving forward. Let's dive into some photos:

Clara and Mom at Wahclella Falls:



First tooth coming in:



First Haircut:


Playing in her dress from Grandma:

7.5 months old already?

Clara is 7.5 months old now. It is amazing how time flies. She is now sitting in a high chair eating food, rolling all over the place, babbling at us (mamamama, papapapa, dadadada), and sitting up on her own. She is still not crawling though and does not yet have her first teeth (both of which makes Mom happy). She sleeps "okay" at night. Some nights are great, others she wakes up once or twice. All in all she continues to be a pretty easy baby though.

I finally got around to processing a bunch of photos this past weekend. I finished up my 6 month album and started my 7 month album. I also have a small album of photos from Amy's Wedding and started another album with misc spring photos. Below are some of my favorite from these.

Summer is right around the corner, which means I will hopefully start have some more exciting photos than just Clara in the house. We have 3 camping trips planned, a trip to Hawaii, at least 1 backpacking trip (for me), along with a bunch if visitors (parents, Stino, Rohini, Laura, ...) so it should prove to be a fun and busy summer.

Clara shortly after starting to eat food:


Clara and her blanket:


Clara sick, but still happy:


Family photo before Amy's wedding:


Clara in the backyard:


Clara with Mom:


Clara with Dad:


And some tulips in the backyard: