Ok - it looks like the photos from this last trip are going to take me a while to process and upload, so I figured I would share a quick sneak peek (or should that be peak) to whet your appetite.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10mm f/2.8 EX DC HSM Fisheye (borrowed), 30 sec at f/4. ISO 12800. Processed in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop CS5.

As you can see, I even need to go back and redo this one and get rid of that yellow color cast the sky has picked up (not quite sure where that even came from and how I hadn't noticed it before). But that is just one of the awesome things we got to see on this trip... if you're wondering, that's the Milky Way over Half Dome (the peak on the right side of the center valley).

More to come - albeit slowly more than likely.

- Bill

Too many posts without a spider... so here's a whole assortment to get us caught up... enjoy!

There. Now I feel better.

- Bill

OK - this will be a boring post for most folks, but what the heck...

As you may have noticed in many of the super-macro shots I've shared recently, I have some dirt spots on my sensor on my 7D. Sometimes I will fix them in Photoshop by simply selecting them and doing a content-aware fill on them - it works like a charm almost every time. However, the 7D has about 17 or more spots, and fixing each of them every time is time consuming and kind of annoying.

So I finally broke down and bought a sensor cleaning kit. I decided on the Visible Dust kit. It comes with an LED illuminated sensor loupe that allows you to look closely at your sensor to see exactly what the problem is, a brush type cleaner, swabs for wet cleaning of both the sensor and the focusing screen, and of course the cleaning liquid for wet cleaning.

There are plenty of great videos out there for how to clean your camera, so I'm not going to try and bore you with typing out all the instructions, but I will show some of the results...

Camera 1: Before	Camera 1: After Dry Cleaning	Camera 1: After Wet Cleaning
Camera 2: Before	Camera 2: After Dry Cleaning	Camera 2: After Wet Cleaning

A couple of things to point out here. First, for the first two test shots for both cameras, I used the sky, but by the time I was done with the cleaning, it had gotten dark enough that that wasn't a useful thing to shoot, so I just shot a piece of paper instead - the difference in yellow color comes from different color temperature settings on the cameras. Second, you will notice on the 'After Dry Cleaning' shots, there is a lot of smeared lines on the sensor - apparently I misused the cleaning brush and smeared lubricant onto the sensor. I don't necessarily think this is a problem with the product so much as misuse on my part. I will have to try again and see if I continue to have that problem. However, as you can see, the wet cleaning worked wonders on both sensors - the one still has a few tiny spots left on it, but compared to the 'Before' it is like night and day!

Oh, and even though I said I wouldn't bore you with the details, here is a quick rundown of what I did for the cleaning process:

1. Take test shot (smallest aperture possible, defocused, semi-long exposure, move camera during exposure, aimed at a relatively uniform bright surface - ie: the sky)
2. Use blower bulb to dislodge and loose particles
3. Use camera's sensor cleaning mode to lock up the mirror
4. Use LED illuminated sensor loupe to inspect the sensor
5. Drop the camera's mirror back into place
6. Use Actic Butterfly brush to dislodge additional particles from the focus screen and mirror
7. Use camera's sensor cleaning mode to lock up the mirror
8. Use Arctic Butterfly brush on sensor
9. Use blower bulb one more time
10. Take another test shot
11. Use Focus Screen Swab and cleaning solution to clean the focus screen
12. Use camera's sensor cleaning mode to lock up the mirror
13. Use Sensor Cleaning Swab and cleaning solution to clean the sensor
14. Take a final test shot

All in all, this ended up being not too bad. I was a bit nervous when I noticed the smears after the dry cleaning, but the wet cleaning was much simpler and easier than I thought. I was worried I would damage the sensor, but it seems that as long as you are prepared and cautious, it really isn't such a huge risk.

Now I just need to get around to doing the same on the 7D...

- Bill

A nice assortment of vertical oriented shots from The Wilds...

Enjoy.

- Bill

Ok - while we're on the B&W conversions, here's another from The Wilds. (mouseover for the original color version).

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 500mm, 1/100 sec at f/7.1. OS Mode 1. ISO 400. RAW conversion in Adobe Camera Raw, B&W conversion in Photoshop CS5.

I'm not as happy with this image as the one of the zebra. The large featureless sky takes up far too much of the background and simply is boring and distracting in my opinion.... but what are you going to do when the majority of your subject is up there?

- Bill

Just a quick post today. As I said before, I didn't come back with too many great shots from the Grand Prix this year. I took this abstract of some air in-take openings on the side of what I think was an Allard (but I'm not sure). I threw a quick B&W conversion at it to remove the distracting colors in the reflections (mouse-over for original).

Technical Data: Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Tokina AT-X M35 Pro DX AF 35mm f/2.8 Macro 1:1, 1/100 sec at f/8. ISO 400. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

I'm still not quite sure what exactly draws me to this image, but I like it. It might be able to be improved upon, so perhaps I'll have to look at it again next year before the PVGP and try it again.

- Bill

Ok - normally I would leave a poll up for a little bit longer as the top post, but I just couldn't wait to post this...

Yesterday, on my walk home from work, I found what I believe is an ant-mimic jumping spider Sarinda hentzi). I've been searching for one of these for years - I can't begin to count the number of actual ants that I've given a second glance to to try and find one. As you'll see, it is a wonder I even found this one.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing and cropped (top left, bottom left) in Adobe Camera Raw.

As you can see from the image in the top right, this little girl (I think it is a female, but I'm not 100% certain) is only 2mm in size. Yes, that is a ruler showing the mm scale that it is climbing on. Adults can grow to between 5-7mm, so this is obviously a juvenile - you can also tell this by the semi-transparent nature of its legs (remember the other spiderlings?). All of these shots were taken at 5x magnification, and the two on the left were cropped even more.

I'm not sure why these little spiders do this mimicry to look like ants, but they do a very good job of it. As you can see in the image on the top left, it will often hold its front two legs up to its head much the way an ant's antenna look. I don't know if this helps them to catch more prey or to be more likely to be ignored by other insects and spiders (ants can usually put up a very good fight and rarely travel alone, so picking on an ant isn't always wise).

Regardless of why, I find this little spider incredibly fascinating, and I am so glad to have been able to finally see one first hand. However, I'm sure this means I will spend many more seconds of my life looking at ants a second time to count how many legs are there... :)

- Bill

Ok - I guess I couldn't wait any longer to get to these photos from The Wilds, and we're going to jump straight to my favorite one of the set.

The Wilds is a wild-life conservation center associated with the Columbus Zoo. It is about 1.5 - 2 hours away from Pittsburgh in an old strip mine location. The layout provides for some different opportunities for photography - with the usual way to tour the facility being in safari type vehicles through the large, wide-open areas where the animals roam free. So fences aren't a problem, and you can get some more natural behavior out of the animals.

I spent the day with my longest lens - my Sigma 150-500mm - mounted on my camera. Many times it was a hindrance with the 150mm end being a bit too long when the animals were close, but when they were further off, it gave me some great images...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM at 500mm, 1/120 sec at f/6.3. OS Mode 1. ISO 100. RAW conversion in Adobe Camera Raw, B&W conversion in Photoshop CS5.

I don't know what all to say about this image. I love the composition, the simplicity of it, the nicely blurred background and main subject isolation. The only complaints I have with it would be the fence post that is just below the zebra's mouth, and the focus is ever so slightly off (actually it may have been vibrations from the vehicle motor).

But I can't decide which version I like better... color or B&W. So place your vote below and let me know!

- Bill

Ok - we'll take a break from the spider (just for a little while) since it is that time of year again... Time for the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. Unfortunately, I don't think I came back with very good shots this year. I don't know if I am getting stale in what I shoot there and I need to switch things up, or if I was a little too relaxed about things, or if conditions just weren't ideal. One thing I did do differently this year is to take my Anscoflex II which I recently built a contraption for to take TTV photography. Here is one of the results:

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D TTV Anscoflex II, Tokina AT-X M35 Pro DX AF 35mm f/2.8 Macro 1:1, 1/25 sec at f/8. ISO 100. Tripod and handheld. Raw conversion and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

Stay tuned for more posts from the PVGP as well as from our trip to The Wilds!

- Bill

So my two sets of spiderlings have grown up and were ready to be released. I took a handful of photos of them as they were leaving, and it definitely looks like even spiders have that awkward adolescent stage where they just aren't quite grown into their bodies yet. Check out just how almost comedic these little guys and gals look...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX in ETTL mode. ISO 100. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

I have a bunch of photos that I've finally gotten through processing, so hopefully I can get some more frequent posts up over the coming weeks.

- Bill