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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat. (Part 2)

Cont...

While most shot the light with the Temple in the background I decided on the path less taken and shot with my back to the structure.


The was a "Life Size Naivety" With an ever popular with the kids. Camel.

Most of the shots were taken on a tripod, ISO 800, manual exposure set around F22/ 15 sec.


We had a wonderful time shooting the light and then came the really important question. "Where are we going to eat?" Which turned out to be a "5 Guys" in nearby Bethesda. Last but not least. we visited the Apple store to say bid a Good Yule to the big guy himself.

Merry Christmas to all and to all Good Night!


Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat.


Kind of a slow start to this years Yuletide Photo collection. Hopefully those activities will accelerate in this final weekend before the holiday. Tonight's trip was to Jeff Revell photowalk at The "Festival of Lights" at the Washington DC Mormon Temple, where 1/2 million colored light decorate the grounds and buildings. First Stop was the Visitor's Center to meet the other walker. The night was rain/snow free but seasonally cold. Perfect for the lights/


While there lots of other visiting for the exact same reason as us, local church members make a point of greeting all who came.

The lights were nothing short of amazing. Have to end this post right now, can't drop any more images in the blog, have to find out why.


Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Fly Like an Eagle, Thunder round the track (Part 1)

Last Saturday (12/11/10) was a day of extremes to say the least. A pre sunrise departure found me heading northbound to Conowingo Dam to join with other from the Central Maryland Photographers Guild for what has turned into an annual visit to photograph the migrating Bald Eagle(s) at the dam. We were greeted by cold, damp, weakly lit conditions, that while not ideal, for some in out party, were evidently tolerable to the Eagles, as they were plentiful and flying and feeding frequently.

And it's time to head home for part 2 of the adventure. Stay tuned.

As Photographing migrating Eagles is to me very similar to "Ice Fishing" (Cold/Long periods of inactivity broken by much shorter spells of frenzied activity. and little-to-no worthwhile results) This year trip was no exception, & I joined the "When's Lunch Time? discussion very early-on in the outing. Which turned out out to be Woody's Crab House in North East Md. which, while not providing a magician, did serve up a mean "Fish&Chips"..
But I digress a bit. As luck would have it, the best images of the day was two eagles fighting over a fish no more then 20 feet in front of us. I raised my second camera with the 28mm - 90mm knowing I could best those "big lens boys" who were struggling to find the birds in their 800mm viewfinders. As I raised the camera expecting to see a viewfinder filled with eagles I was rudely reminded that I had just put the lens cap back on only seconds ago anticipating the group leaving for lunch. Skunked again! Eagle shooting Ice Fishing samo samo.
Oh well lunch done, and a quick visit down to street to St. Mary Anne's Episcopal Church established in 1709.

And now it's time to head home for part 2 of the adventure. Stay tuned.


Sunday, November 14, 2010

Gettysburg, why the fascination?

Over the years I visited the Gettysburg battlefield maybe over 100 times. And with out fail, on each return, I see it in a slightly different light. Over the last few weeks I've been fascinated with capturing sunrise images, which of course, means.

  • Checking the weather forecast.
  • Getting up at 0 Dark 30, & making the 45min drive.
  • Picking the spot to be when the sun come up and hoping it works.

Sometime it's over here.



" A Monument to the Solders and Sailors of the Confederacy" Warfield Ridge. Gettysburg Pa. B&WOther days it's some where else.

But the end state walking (yes walking is involved) around the park, seeing it in early morning "magic light, always adds to my sense of what went on here so many years ago and the sacrifices men of both sides made for their cause. Which of course adds yet again to my fascination with the place.

Two of the big helps have turned out to be a pfd copy of the Official Park Map, which is stored on an ipod touch, and of course, my AMOS AGL3080 Geotagger, which allows me to pin point exactly where each images is taken, which is referenced to above said map.
.... To be continued




Sunday, October 31, 2010

Guns of Glory, Days of death, Sunrises Sunsets

Hints on taking quality images at the historic Gettysburg National Military Park , Gettysburg Pa. Of course home to the famous 3 day, American Civil War battle in the summer of 1863.
1. If at all possible avoid the July 4th holiday weekend, Summer, weekends in general, holidays in general, way to crowded for anything other then snap shots unless you luck out or plan ahead to beat the masses.
2. Try to get there early, real early. As the , or at least, one of the most visited Civil War Battlefields it quickly fills up with visitors. The park opens at 6:00 am, closes at 10:00 pm (summer) 6:00 am - 7:00 pm (winter). By 9:00 am the flood gates are open, roads and key locations are descended on by hordes of "Stop, jump, snap & back onto the next site" visitors. As with so many parks these days most visitors never leave their cars, unless at one of the more noteworthy areas.
3. As the main battle site offers both open farmland, and rocky wooded hilly vistas. Part of the lure is the over 1300 (seems like nobody really sure) monuments ranging in size from the imposing Pennsylvania Memorial, to small almost invisible unit and company markers located off the beaten path, almost everywhere at the site.


There are many opportunities to use both the long and the wide lens.


As a relatively local visitor, I know more or less my favorite shots and focus on trying to get them. Download the Park map, Do some research. My favorite area of the park are in the wooded areas Around the "Wheat field" "Peach Orchard" "Devils Den" "Little Round Top" "Big Round Top" and the "High Watermark" "Copse of Trees" areas, and the Soldiers National Cemetery. Unfortunately all of which are on everyones hit list. Pick one get there early, Sunrise is great, especially in the open areas. High sun as always, is a problem for me.

Western facing sites such at Seminary ridge and Little Round top can be rich with shots close to sunset.

In closing it you can, visit the park and shoot away, but please cameras only, no bullets this time.
To those planing to visit in the future GburgInfo offers a wealth of information.


Thursday, October 21, 2010

Toying with the technology.

I've become totally enamored with applications that can share with others.
Example is an image of one of the performers in the recent Bellydancers Passionate for Pink Performance on 101610. Image is hosted on Flickr. Just opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. Maybe not new to all, but new to me.


Sunday, October 17, 2010

Bellydancers Passionate for Pink" performance at McDaniel College's "The Theater on the Hill" Westminster MD. *Update*

*Update 102210*
Added as non HD, lower resolution version of the Passionate for Pink video. Less choppy and kinder on lower bandwidth users on the "Middle Eastern Dance" Page.

Attended Bellydancers Passionate for Pink" performance at McDanies College's "The Theater on the Hill". The selfless dedication of organizer Nawal Qalbi, her staff, & all the performers involved in this production must be commended. Their efforts were so very apparent, and so very heartwarming.
Had a Great time, shot some great Images (633 to be exact) & HD Video that I will be assembling into a movie presentation shortl. As I noted the images, considering the venue impacts, came out OK, but choosing the music for the movie is going to be a bit of a challenge. Seeing as I'm officially on vacation both the images and the slideshow locations should be posted within the next few days.
(update- 101810 ) I've posted a link to the images on the "Middle Eastern Dance" Page.
(update- 101910 ) Posted Video on the "Middle Eastern Dance"
(update 102110 )
Just received a list of all the stage performers.

emcee Wendy Holthause!

Act One:

- Amerabic Magic
- Gilda
- Makeda Maysa'
- Sindyanna
- Nomadic Sisterhood
- Nawal Qalbi
- Jahzaal
- Aliya's Kismet Dancers

Act Two:

- Nawal Qalbi
- Shalaya
- Tydirah
- Sindyanna
- Amyfae
- Nomadic Sisterhood
- Nina Amaya
- Eva Nadira
- Amerabic Magic

Will be including this in a V3 release of the video(s)


Thursday, September 16, 2010

Balancing the white, at night #fb

Last Saturday Night I traveled up to Delta Pa the catch the last motorcycle night race of the season for the BCATRA. As I was having some problems getting the outputs wanted with the flash so I mounted the 50mm f1.2 and went flashless. The images were closer to what I wanted, but as there were two types of major illumination sources I was having problems getting the white balance set. That is until my friend Craig over at Craig Thoburn Photography gave me a hint on how to solve the issue in Aperture 3. Shot with a 50mm f1.2 no flash @ 1/650sec.


Saturday, September 11, 2010

Photo Exhibition Kick Off Party

The CMPG had a kick-off party for it's Photo Exhibition at the Penn Camera's Laurel MD location. A fine time was had by all who came out and as noted by our President." I hope that you all noticed that we had more of our membership at the Penn Camera opening than at any of our meetings.
Maybe we need to have free food at our monthly meetings." Shamelessly displayed is my "CMPG members selection vote winner"


Monday, September 6, 2010

Craigs roof top pano #fb

Over on flickr my friendCraig has just posted the most spectacular rooftop panorama of Vegas shot with....drum roll.... an iPhone4. Amazing shot by an amazing guy.


Sunday, September 5, 2010

Falling behind, Web Updates #fb

All this talk about Sunflower fever has forced a small setback in my plans of having all the images online tonight. Maybe tomorrow night.


Sunflower Fever

3 weeks ago I didn't even know MD had sunflower fields, but thanks to the gang over at CMPG (www.cmpg.org. ) I became caught up in sunflower mania. Which it turns out isn't such the bad thing. Caught the sunrise over this field this morning. I'm really addicted. Might give it another shot tomorrow.


Saturday, September 4, 2010

Web Update 3 #fb

Maybe, just maybe, about 3/4 of the way. Now it's just all about getting the graphics in the pages. Hopefully I can start turning off pages over at Fdphotovideo by tomorrow night.


Web Site Updates (Sat PM) #fb

I've updated the basic structure to the(a) final format. Some content has been put in place. Links should work. Next is to populate the site with images. This go around I'll try to go with a flash solution that will allow easy updates at a later date, something that proved somewhat troublesome over at FdPhotovideo.com with fixed images. Not there yet but getting closer. "Small Steps Ellie, Small steps" (Contact 1997)


Web Site Updates

Just a quick post to capture that moment when one (me) realizes that the intended end state is a littler harder to reach then anticipated. Or "Gee" this website is going to be a little harder to populate then I realized. But that said I have made great strides this morning to add content to the design. Still not ready for publishing, quite yet.


Thursday, September 2, 2010

BCTRA Sumer Short Track Series 2010 Wrap-Up

Just posted the BCTRA 2010 Timonium Wrap up Slideshow/video.

Baltimore County Trail Riders Association (BCTRA) Summer Short Track Series. Race 4 081310 @ MD State Fairgrounds Timonium MD
You can view this and all the 2010 videos and all the imbedded images at www.fdphotovideo.com/motomania


Wednesday, September 1, 2010

And life goes on.. #fb

Effectually lost the use of one of the Drobo units while upgrading to a bigger drive. They say not, but trying to export the latest FotoMagico slide show is resulting in a "internal error". Seeing as most of the data lives on this unit, my guess, the rebuild is causing it. I'll have to wait until the rebuild is done and the lights go green (about 7 hours) before trying the export again. In the mean time... Lots of other stuff to do.


Monday, August 30, 2010

Workflow is back.. Testing B-T-F post #fb

Have no idea what froze up the system while attempting to Geotag Sundays images from Delta Pa. Aperture 3. But things are more or less back to normal. I noticed while geotagging the entrance to the Delta Fairgrounds is in MD all the rest in Pa.

While we're at it, lets test a Blogger to Twitter to Facebook post


Sunday, August 29, 2010

Workflow is not working

Went up to Delta Pa. today to shoot the BCTRA motorcycle races. Even thought it was hot and dusty, had a great time and retuned home with about 1000 images. The problem at hand is so far it's taken over 2 hours to D/L from the cards. Import into Aperture 3, and Geotagging. I hate to let the program do it's thing overnight. Plus I shot the images, I want to see them!


Saturday, August 28, 2010

Still more advances

Science moves on.. This afternoon I was able to send a calendar event to this twitter account . Can calendar blog posts be far away. Don't think so,


55th Combat Camera

55th Combat Camera on Vimeo
This team of Army Combat Photographers/ Videographers HQ's is right down the street from my day job. Cutting edge under fire while making sure the batteries are charged & cameras at the ready.


Friday, August 27, 2010

Happy Birthday (of a sort)

Just noticed this Site has now been in place for one whole month. Maybe it's time to really start to pour in content. Just saying.


Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Story Behind the Image - Hill County Water Garden


This image was shot about 60 miles west of Austin Tx at the Westcave Wildlife Preserve Headquarters, late on a Sunday afternoon, prior to a weeklong business conference. If memory serves this was one of the first images purposely shot just for decoration during the "Awakening" Period .


Wednesday, August 25, 2010

CMPG Aug meeting

I think perhaps one of the central themes that is most important to any photographer is peer-to-peer interaction to help foster understanding and help build technique. Tonights critique of images at the Aug meeting of the Central Maryland Photographers' Guild was one of those nights.


Changes are in the wind

Just changed the entry page of www.dougmillerphotos.com to a blog style, As I think out where I want to go with this, that might be a better overall choice


Blogger to Twitter 2

And it worked!


Blogger to Twitter

fingers crossed. 3 2 1 launch!


Video inserting attempt

Baltimore County Trail Riders Association Summer Short Track Series Race 4

A video I made from images shot at the race.


Still testing

Still testing Blogo functionality


Neuschwanstein the trip home

A close friend posted an image of Castle Neuschwanstein on her flickr site which made me remember this image I shot on a long, cold, wet, walk down from the castle on a earlier that week. Neuschwanstein the trip home


Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Small move forward, then backwards

Still looking for a slick way for tweets to go right into blog entries. Then I can tweet right to facebook and here

Monday, August 23, 2010

Another test

Just another attempt to post images

A good days work

I like to think just getting one image to post is.some kind of a milestone event. All this effort just to have a blog page updating over at dougmillerphotos.com. Is being able to post from an iPod, feet up in air while enjoying a hot cup of tea pushing the blogging envelope?

Penn Camera Winner - try # 12334

Imagine my surprise when one of my submitted images was selected for the CMPG's Penn Camera Display


Just asking

Trying to install BordersFX in Aperture 3... Something is really slowing the computer to a crawl


New test this time with image

This is a blog test with imbedded image


Lets try another test

This time I'm using Blogo software last time it was eco.


Penn Camera Display image attached

I guess injecting images need a bit of work



Penn Camera Display - Winner! 2

Well that didn't work very well, Somehow the image and the text were stripped from the message. Using Ecto, maybe time to hit the books.




Sunday, August 22, 2010

Things are moving along at the speed of light

Wow after fighting with it all afternoon I was finally able to configure my idevice to connect with bloger

First Light

As many know, when a telescope is used for the first time the output is known as "First Light".  That stated this will be this Blogs first post/ "First Light".  Can't wait to see where it takes us.