Alstede Farms in Chester, NJ. Pickin’ Local!

Photography, Techniques Comments Off
Aug 272009

I don’t know if any of you have ever gone fruit picking before, but there is nothing else like it. Not only is it great for the environment that your food doesn’t have to be trucked from across a country, but it tastes fantastic! I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to have a fun day with the kids or spouse. Plus the fruit lasts so much longer and hasn’t sat in some vast refrigeration unit all year. If your looking for a website to find a place like Alstede Farm where we went check out this great site http://www.pickyourown.org/ It has been an invaluable resource in finding the best locations in one single place. Plus apple season is already beginning and I can’t wait to stock up on cider and cider donuts :-) !

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Taking the one hour trip out to Chester, NJ from NYC was worth it in every aspect. Last year we started to get interested in picking fruit during the fall apple season. This year we wanted to kick it up a notch (sorry Emeril) and find a farm that offered so much more. Alstede Farm for example had peaches, apples, red raspberries, yellow/golden raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and flowers all to pick your own. Plus the large farmers market style store they have filled with veggies, pies, cider donuts, and other hand made in house goods. Always call ahead to check what’s in season of course before you take the trip. Wouldn’t want to waste your fuel and time. The beauty of all of this too? It’s a great place for photography! There is hardly a place or moment I don’t bring a camera these days.

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Another great aspect is many places that are full fledged farms have farm animals for the kids to pet/feed. From pygmy goats and horses to cows and mules. They all make great subjects and quite domesticated in order to give you a fun time to make photographs. Don’t think because they are domesticated that it means they are easy to photograph however. Pointing and clicking will not be your only job. All animals have their personalities and it is up to us to capture it!

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Bessy here (probably not her real name) I was amused by. She was semi-friendly and had this way of standing at a slight angle as if she was leaning over.

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After the farm animals we moved onto the peach fields. They have rows and rows of the most gorgeous peaches I have ever seen. It’s nothing like I have experienced before; being a born and raised city boy. And who knew the climate was right in New Jersey? Most people think the only climate they have is for making pharmaceuticals. There are so many untapped farms just across the bridges.

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Walking to the apples we passed the corn fields (not pick-your-own) and I wasn’t sure how to photograph them. I knew there was an image in them, but not sure what to do with it all. There were these puffy white clouds on a hot summer day shinning through these fields of corn. You might notice that I used some post processing to make it come alive. Something I will discuss in a bit. This place however needs no post processing for inspiration however.

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A more alternative landscape view of the corn I tried out as well. This farm is not small. They provide free carts for you to tote around your delicious bounty. At the end of the day enjoying the fruits of your labor (bad pun) makes it all worth while. Photographically speaking this image above didn’t have anything crazy done to it. Use of a black point and dialing some contrast and saturation.

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On the way out we decided to check out the early apple seasons pickings. and decided to set up a quick still life. Two apples on top of a wooden step stool. You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. This setup was as simple as it looks. Two apples offset using a depth of field of f/8 while getting real close to the first apple. The key is moving in to get the shot. Otherwise if you back out it is just a scenic without giving any direction for your viewers eye to follow.

Now none of these photographs were untouched and out of the camera. Although it was a beautiful day, post processing can bring it all into focus for us. Remember though to do as much as you can in the field and in the camera. When it comes to post processing ‘when garbage goes in, garbage comes out’. My lens of choice was the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 for all of these. When shooting these I aimed to shoot with a cloudy white balance setting to give a bit of warmth to the overall scene. Walking into a bright scene I think under exposure as well as to saturate on such a bright day. Walking around with the polarizer is also a helpful tip.

When it comes to the images I first put them through Nikon Capture NX2 and do a black point, highlights levels adjustment, contrast, and saturation boost. For saturation I forgot to put my D70 (D300 is in the shop) in vivid mode. Shooting RAW however this is just a quick drop menu adjustment. Once I am done fooling around with Nikon Capture I move into photoshop and work with the Nik Plugins. Every image besides Bessy, Bessy’s landscape and the corn landscape has a Nik filter applied to it. I have setup a pop-up gallery to show you a before and after as you click through the images.

  • The main photo as you started to read this post has a combination of polarization, tonal contrast, and then the sunshine filters from Color efex 3.0. The tonal contrast filter gave contrast to all the green (originally) and the sunshine truly put it into the perspective that I saw that day. Bright sky shining down on all the delicious fruit.
  • The peaches photograph was a combination of saturation and the tonal contrast filter that just made the texture and ripeness of the fruit really come off the page. Just that simple.
  • The close up of the corn was the use of applying a filter twice. I applied the tonal contrast filter twice along side a polarization filter. I do have an alternative view in the gallery that uses a glamor glow on top of all of that.
  • Lastly the apple photograph has a simple tonal contrast filter run through it with a polarization filter.

You might ask why I used the polarization when I already used a polarizer. Well a polarizer in the field cannot be duplicated on the computer. You can’t add what wasn’t there in the first place.When testing the filter I happened to like how the polarization filter spruced the skies up a bit more and decided to keep it. For the end result you can be the judge. Now go out there and pick fruit!.. I mean take photographs! :-) (do both)

Posted by Jarred at 12:12 am Tagged with: , , , , ,

Making .PSD and RAW files visible in Windows (Vista)

How-To Comments Off
Aug 202009

Hey everybody. I don’t know if you have done this, but it sure makes my life a heck of a lot easier. Especially if you don’t label each individual photo or file as to what it’s specifically about. I did some google searches and wanted to find a way to make the blue .PSD files from photoshop visible as a thumbnail showing me what it is actually of. I have done this for the RAW codecs for quite some time now, but not .PSD. Unfortunately I don’t have a before picture, but the after picture is something like this:

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As you can see this makes life a heck of a lot easier. I don’t want to take credit for this as I am merely a messenger when it comes to the .PSD codecs. I looked for all sorts of info and got lots of complicated options. This site here provided the zip file to download with the proper .dll file and where to place it. It’s three easy steps and a restart to get it to work. It took a restart for me, but maybe not for others. If you can find your programs file folder in you C:\ drive this should be a piece of cake for you. Just to quote the directions so you know what you are getting into:

The solution is very simple and takes less than a minute to implement. You don’t need to even reboot Windows. The change is immediate.
  1. Download the file, photoshop_thumbnails.zip (62kb)
  2. Copy psicon.dll to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Shell – if this folder doesn’t exist create it
  3. Run Adobe.reg
  4. You now can view PSD files in Thumbnails view within Windows Explorer.

And a direct link to the download can be found here (you will get a prompt to ask where to put your downloaded zip file.)

As for the RAW files Microsoft has been generous enough (shocker I know) to put out these ‘preview handler’ codecs for multiple camera formats including: ArdFry, Canon (Direct), Nikon(Direct), Olympus (Direct), Panasonic (Direct), Pentax (Direct) and Sony(Direct). The link to the site with all the information is here. What’s real nice is these are all put into nice little .exe self installer packages making our lives easier. Now with that I hope this quick tip has made your lives just that bit more easier as well.

RAW Thumbnail previews

An example using RAW files.

*Always make sure your computer is backed up and be careful when editing the registry. Use at your own risk.*
Posted by Jarred at 3:45 am Tagged with: , , , ,

Shootin’ Hoops

Photography, Sports Comments Off
Aug 182009

A bit of a change of pace for myself, but I enjoy all aspects of photography so I gave it a try. Dina’s nieces are quite good bball players in several of the local basketball leagues. Their family is nice enough to invite me out and allow me to shoot. Plus they get free photographs :-) . Win, win.

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Although I’d like the frame a tad lower then it is I love how it speakers her personality in this shot. You obviously don’t know her, but she has a 19yr old’s attitude in a 9yr old’s body.

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Unfortunately I arrived a tad late to the first game so I was a tad biased toward her sister. She plays tough and gives it her all. I have been watching her play at games for over two years I’d say now and it is amazing how she has improved. From these images of you can see she plays real fierce and with great passion. Giving it her all not letting anyone get in her way.

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Case and point here seeing her go for the hoop. I love watching athletes that can drive into the paint and cut through the defense. A true testament to what kind of shooter you are.

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“Can’t hold me down..oh no..” Haha, a bit of a ‘gangsta’ tune going on here, but from this lightly panned shot I think it helps to complete the picture. While panning I slowed the shutter to the low hundreds area as my minimum shutter speed. I wanted to keep it that way, but I felt I was missing many shots that weren’t always left to right and made for panning. Although I like the look as it gets rid of a lot of the junk in the background (I lack a fast enough lens at the moment.)

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This image gives me that in game feel. As much as you might like the ref in this shot, he drove me nuts through most of the game. As you could Imagine the next frame would have him blocking the frame itself. We have to work around it all though. As I am sure any of the big sports photographer will tell you.

Now when it usually comes to shooting these games they have all been spent indoors. Not at your nice well lit gymnasium either. It was in your local gym. Lighting was horrid and I had resorted to shooting with a 50m f/1.8 or my 17-50mm f/2.8 always shooting wide open with the ISO maxed out. Shooting outside was such an improvement. Even though there was a tough shade spot, the camera performed really well. I opted to use ISO auto; which is something I never use on a regular basis. If your curious where to find it in your menu system; it’s under the tab that looks like a camera. Not the pencil mode. Where I thought it was for a good minute or two. What’s great about ISO auto is its simplicity. You set your minimum shutter speed and the ISO you don’t want it to surpass and your set. What I like best is it works at ISO’s I wouldn’t dream of and makes them look so clean. A big part about getting that color noise in your images is dependent on exposure. Improper exposure will bring more noise and the matrix metering looking for that 18% gray helps to avoid that.

I used my 50-500mm on a monopod. Not an ideal sports lens, but that 10x zoom was incredibly convenient. Allowed me to shoot portrait or zoomed out. One thing I learned was the orientation varies per sport. I found that with basketball I am not a fan of the horizontal film plane. Where in baseball horizontal is more realistic to me. I found when I shot horizontally with basketball I cut off feet and heads more often then not. Never capturing the real action shots I wanted. I don’t know how long they will be playing outdoors, but I would definitely be interested in shooting again.

Posted by Jarred at 10:37 pm

Wandering the border.

Photography Comments Off
Aug 132009

No, not the Mexican border. The New Yawk/New Jerzee border is more like it. Me and Dina wanted to get out and do something. Being inside can drive a person nuts. As a compromise between me wanting to photograph water and her search for mammals as motivation we met in the middle. We started our tour at Wawayanda Lake State Park, moving on to Sterling Lake State park, trans-versing Harriman State Park and finally finishing up at Rockland State Park. There was a trip to Whole Foods on the way home, but that doesn’t count. Our goal at Wawayanda (probably an indian Native-American name, but still quite funny) was to search for black bears. The entrance fee to the Park is 5$. I showed up at a back entrance that was supposed to be open at 8am, but the ranger took their sweet time so I had to find the main entrance. Thankfully a local shared some info with me. Asking locals and really help. Especially when it comes to the rhythm of an area. I will warn you not to travel up Cherry Ridge Rd. to Laurel Pond Rd. as it is private property though (as the GPS recommended.) That wasn’t the biggest problem. It was more that it was the private land of a shooting club who doesn’t take kindly to trespassers. Hearing the rounds go off through the morning air wasn’t all to comforting. We made our quick U-turn and heading for a different entrance :-) . You can drive through some of the park, but the majority of it is trails. We were taking our time and looking from the car using it as a blind. Black bears scare real easily and normally aren’t found along trails. Cars are an object many animals get used to to break up the human figure. Unfortunately we had little luck. I definitely want to keep searching and am constantly looking for new locations.

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Although Wawayanda (origin of the saying ‘wild wild yanda’?) has a pretty lake shore with lots of tourists and a nice facility, my interest laid with this pond in the back. Ignored by the public and left alone in its natural state (The way I like it :-) .) I snapped with this my point and shoot real quick. The light was becoming real tough as the sun rose above our heads.

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There was a muskrat hanging out enjoying the local vegetation. Unfortunately his interest in letting us get closer never happened. Not even a look to say hello.

As the day moved on I decided Sterling Lake would be our next destination. This was a park that has a close proximity to Harriman and I wanted to scout it for the up and coming fall season. Sterling lake is a large park with a beautiful center. The kind of center that shows where a lot of our funding went ;-) . It was a fantastic example of what they should be though. Loaded with all sorts of info, electric cars for transport and a huge scenic view from a deck looking out onto Sterling Lake.

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The view from the deck. It was the perfect day to just stand and take it all in.

After visiting the visitor center we learned about Eagle Lake. More like eagle pond to me, but there were a ton of dragonflies and a pair of male mute swans. I am making the assumption of two males based on their behavior fighting over territory.

One male got a tad too close and the other went for him. Looking to clamp down and give a bite to remember.

After grabbing some lunch (We used ShopRite’s prepared meals for a cheap buy. Sure was tasty.) we headed on to Harriman. Harriman is a favorite park of mine. It is only an hour away and has a myriad of lakes that each hold their own unique beauty. Do keep in mind when driving through the park that the road is closed between Little Long Pond and Lake Kanawauke. It’s been closed for a while and I have no idea as to when it will open. There are however bathrooms/a nature house and a great set of foreground materials. Here are some HDR and normals shots taken at the location:

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This HDR was shot over a 5 shot range. I underestimated it as you might tell from the clouds. Overall I really enjoyed the image. There is something about this stone nature center that feels very ‘of the landscape.’

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Using a 9-shot, 8-stop range was close to being not enough. The outer ledge stayed quite hot, but stayed just under the radar. This is Lake Kanawauke seen from the small nature center.

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Although the sun was high; the light fell evenly. Noon light can be harsh and is definitely a no-no for photographing people.However when the light falls evenly over a landscape it can be very capable of a strong image. There was no wind which I really was looking for as these puffy clouds set in. I used my polarizer to take off a lot of the harsh reflections and the rest just fell into place.

Rockland State Park was a destination we went to in search of deer. On our way there we saw a yearling. She must have been just a few months old. So adorable, yet packed way back into the woods and without an image to be made.

So don’t forget to venture to new places. You might be surprised at what you may find, locations revealed for a future shoot, or just spend quality time with someone you care about. With a GPS unit in hand it also makes the wandering a bit more care free :-)

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Two spiders found at Rockland State Park mating or so it appears. Any suggestions? This was shot at a slow speed to maximize depth of field, might have been better off boosting the ISO for a little more speed. An awesome interaction to observe…at a distance; haha. (click for a Zoomify image)

Posted by Jarred at 2:30 am

Creating a ground pod cheaply and simply

How-To 2 Responses »
Aug 042009


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I’ve always read about getting lower to utilize how fine the depth of field can be with a super telephoto (usually 200mm+.) By getting lower and getting eye level with your camera is key. It puts the film plane parallel with your subject making the area of ‘acceptable focus’ appear closer together. In my want to ge a ground pod I did my usual Google search. I saw one model for 100$ and another for 200$. I don’t know about you, but this seems like an awful lot of money for something I may or may not use often. At least yet. It was hard to find too many how-to’s out there. In search of motivation however I came across this page here. It was exactly what I wanted and eagerly set to work to figure out what I would need.

Here are a list of the items I used:

  • Drill using a 3/8th bit
  • Incredibly cheap skillet with the ability to remove the handle
  • metal washers with a 3/8ths hole in them
  • rubber washers with at least a 3/8ths hole
  • 1  3/8th 1″ hex bolt
  • 1 3/8th threaded nut
  • Gorilla glue
  • A weight or set of clamps
  • Safety Goggles and gloves

The reason you see 3/8th being used for the bolt, washers, nut, and bit is because the thread that my ball head uses to connect to a tripod is of the 3/8ths standard and not the 1/4th you are used to when mounting your camera to its quick release plate. So do make sure to check that. You will also want to experiment with the amount of metal washers you will use and that will directly effect the length of the hex bolt you will use. I brought the ball head with me to the hardware store to make sure how many washers I might need. At only 24cents or so a washer I got a few extras. In order to figure how many washers and the length of the hex bolt you will need will depend on your neck comfort. Put the ball head on the floor and lay down with your equipment attached. Peer through the viewfinder and see how your neck feels. This will tell you if you will need it higher or lower. This will help you in determining proper height. You might be laying low for a while and you wouldn’t want to ruin your neck.

When looking for a skillet  you want something that isn’t hard and anodized. The cheaper the better. Remember to look for a screw near the handle so it’s removable. It might leave a nub, but to me it makes no difference. Aluminum was my pan of choice and the drill bit went right through. I price shopped to find the cheapest skillet. I noticed single pans seem to go for around 15$. I lucked out at JcPenny where they had three skillets at 7,9, and 11 inches together for 15$. I went with the 11inch skillet for the best in stability. A nine inch diameter just felt too small in order to support larger lenses. Don’t rush purchasing everything if you want to save some cash. Take advantage of sales wherever possible. More particularly with the skillet.

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The first thing I did was glue one of the washers along with the bolt to the skillet. I wasn’t sure if the gorilla glue would hold up as there is a lot of force when screwing in the ball head, but so far so good. The key is using Gorilla glue because it expands filling spaces and creating a fantastic seal. Now when using the glue be careful to not get it on your skin, fingers or anywhere else, but your project. Also remember that a little goes a long way. This glue will expand 3-4x its original size. Plus always follow the directions to get the best seal.

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An example of how little it takes. This expanding glue really helps too as it will fill the grooves that are on the bottom of your skillet (if your skillet has them.)

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Now you can keep all these items loose, but personally I don’t want to fumble with all that. I want a solid piece I can deal with.

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I wanted to glue the washers together this way with a little glue. Not too much as there isn’t that much space between the washers. Make sure to clamp them and that the 3/8ths hole stays clear and straight. I decided not to glue the red washes you see above to the metal as I may want to change them or find a better solution for washers in the future. These are  a tad thick, but all I could find at the time. I am on a quest to find flatter and wider ones. It doesn’t appear to effect my stability of the lens on my ground pod if your curious.

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The order in which they are stacked goes: a rubber washer first, then the metal washer stack and finally one more rubber washer. I did this feeling there would be better grip.

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You could carry around a wrench if you want. They are dirt cheap at any hardware store. I happen to have a bunch of them laying around. I tossed it into the trunk of my car in case I need it. The Gorilla glue has held up so far and I haven’t required it. I haven’t tried to twist until the glue may give, but I did not spare it any mercy making the ballhead fit snugly.

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Your final product. I have found it to work great. I didn’t want to post this until I had some sample images. It slides perfectly and not having a round headed bolt doesn’t appear to be an issue in the sand. Possibly an issue on hard surfaces? I can’t imagine it would be too bad as it is still low lying.

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This ruddy turnstone was hanging out amongst the terns on the shore at high tide.

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A parent common tern has caught a fish and waits to feed it her young (blew that opportunity.)

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One of the young terns still in their immature plumage. You can see the bill turning from black to an orange. The chicks will wait on the shore as their parents go out to find food.

As I hope you can see in these images the benefit of getting low to the ground through use of the ground pod. It’s even better if you have a faster aperture lens and longer focal length. Instead of paying 100-200$ you can make this ground pod for around 30$. That is on the expensive end too if you don’t have some of the tools needed. For drilling a hole you might be able to find a metal or machine shop to do it for you for cheap as well. The great thing about this is that whether you are using a wimberly head, or a modern ballhead they all have panning abilities that can still be used. You lose no functionality from being on a tripod to my knowledge and all for such a cheap price and a days work. I hope this helps you to get out there and give an extra edge to your images!

Posted by Jarred at 3:09 pm Tagged with: , , , , ,
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