A Day Outside
Thursday, May 25, 2012 I wake around five. Why? I wonder. Then I remember. Today I am going to spend the day outside, and I wanted to be up before the sun. My sorely neglected photography course inspired this plan. I do not have an alarm clock, but if I think beforehand that I want to get up early, even if I didn't really mean it, I often do.
Once again, I begin this with a warning. The reason I'm doing this post is to think through my pictures and for easy comparison, so if it's boring, remember I warned you. In fact, I recommend you don't read it. This time, even many of the pictures are boring. However, I shall attempt to be strict at how many I include, for my own practice as well as to keep it as short as possible. Also, because it took me so long to finish and I'm bored of it, it's probably not well-edited.
However, if you're interested in the chickens, there may be something of interest for you.
5:14 I finally make myself get up, dress, and gather my things. I am outside by 5:23. I note the lighting; I think it's already lighter than my glimpse from the window when I woke, enough to easily see. I make sure the time on my camera is correct-it's on military, saying it's afternoon.
5:25 I take the first picture towards the east. I decide to attempt to make these pictures accurate to the present light, not the best exposure. It takes ISO (image sensitivity) of 1600, the highest my camera goes, f-stop (or aperture) of 2.5, and shutter speed of 1/15 of a second to approximate the light in the scene. I am using the 50mm lens, which has no zoom but the aperture goes much lower than the kit lens and even the zoom.
Hearing the roosters crowing, I go to the magnolia tree and see Diffidence on a branch above my head.
I hear crowing far away, and think Roman must be in the back of the house. As I turn away, I jump at the sudden crowing close by. Roman is a few branches away from Diffidence, crowing.
5:29 The light is more directional. Settings about the same.
5:35 Inside, I put a bagel in the toaster and cannot find my sister's watch. I take my things outside.
5:42 It is much lighter outside. Shutter speed of 1/40 is bright towards east. I notice shadows towards the west. I also hear lots of birds and the peacock, and notice cars going by.
5:45 With f-stop 2.5 and ISO 1600, to portray the lighting accurately, the van shadow is 1/30 shutter speed.
The tree to the east is 1/80.
The little tree to the west is also 1/30.
5:49 I remember I have a bagel in the toaster and go inside. I grab water, my bagel, and the atomic clock.
5:54 Shutter speed of 1/500 is accurate to the east, so I lower ISO to 400.
Now f/2.5 and shutter speed of 1/100 is accurate.
I notice the first movement of the chickens. There is a tiny amount of fog. The light seems directionless, with a slight emphasis to the east.
5:59 1/160 accurate.
6:00 I decide to wander around the house. I like the clear, cool lighting. (In this case, I mean cool in its literal, not slang, usage.) I like the daylight setting with it. The shadows are only noticeable if you're paying attention, and there aren't any cast by the house.
Melons and (the surviving) pea plants in the garden
Looks like we'll get lots of yellow raspberries this year!
I found a yellow flower in the sandbox.
I thought it looked cool (now that's in the slang sense) against the burn barrel.
6:07 1/400 is accurate to the east.
1/160 is accurate of the van. It's shadows are more noticeable.
1/100 is accurate to the west.
6:11 1/500 is accurate. I notice light to the northeast and northwest.
6:15 I am still hungry, and Grandma brought us strawberries-real fresh ones, not store, if not quite perfectly ripe-so I go in to prepare one of my favorite snack/breakfast type dishes: strawberries, yogurt, and graham crackers. It's delicious, and when you have strawberries that are not quite right-sour or overripe, for example-it's a great way to use them up.
6:23 ISO is at 400. F-stop accidentally left at 2.2 rather than 2.8. East is accurate at shutter speed of 1/1600.
Van shadow and west both accurate at 1/400.
There's a noticeable bright spot where the sun is coming up, the pink is spread more, and the chickens are about.
I decide to experiment with white balance on my delicious food. (The graham crackers are separate because I wouldn't be eating it straight through and I'm picky about the degree of sogginess allowed.)
Daylight
Auto
Daylight is very close to auto and perhaps the best setting.
Shady
Cloudy
Shady gives it a warm appearance, though I generally don't prefer that. I like the look that cloudy gives.
Florescent
Incandescent
Florescent and incandescent were just for fun.
Flash
Custom
I am surprised when I take it with the flash setting. I may like it better than daylight.
For custom, you choose a photo to set the white balance to-I do it to one taken with auto. Sometimes it works well, and other times it gives a really funny color.
Auto
Shady
Cloudy
6:34 I can't expose the tree and sky accurately at the same time.
Shutter 1/400 on van and to the west.
6:42 Where the sun is coming up it is bright.
I notice the sky to the west is blue. I have a hard time getting an accurate color.
6:46 First glimpse of the sun above the trees.
6:49 Sun is almost visible.
6:50 Sun appears over the trees. Eric leaves for work.
6:51 The sun is fully visible. There are long sun patches and shadows.
6:54 I barely manage not to drop my camera while I finish my yogurt.
6:56 For east, shutter speed of 1/4000, f-stop 4.5, and ISO still 400. It's too dark on the tree.
With f-stop of 3.2, the tree is accurately exposed, but the sky isn't as cool.
6:58 1/500 is accurate for the van shadow.
1/1000 is accurate for the east, meaning it is now brighter there.
7:00 The shadows are more pronounced. At this time, I feel more like taking a nap than continuing.
7:04 The passing vehicles are getting louder, and the shadows are sharper. Amy comes out, and I acquire a watch from her.
7:08 Apparently, though it is pleasant, the cooler morning air finally is getting to me, for my hands are a bit cold, and putting on the shirt I had prepared feels good.
7:09 The sun is bright on the dewy grass. I test different white balance settings on the sun.
Auto
Daylight
Shady
Cloudy
Tungsten
Florescent
Flash
7:14 I test more colors on the most available subject, Amy.
Daylight
Shady
Flash
Cloudy
Florescent
Tungsten
7:18 The chickens came around me, and I decided to take portraits of them.
This chicken is named Kissin' Kate Barlow-after a character in Holes-but nobody really remembers it. The kids (by this I mean the youngest three) call her Miss Whitey, as Kristen named her, but I think of her, though we didn't really name her this, as Notrella the Second, after our special chick that one of our hens hatched but which died. Miss Whitey looks a lot like her, the only two white ones we've had besides the meat ones.
Deanna likes this picture but hates this chicken. This is because she thought Notrella Jr. was a rooster because of the wierd sound she was making.
Roman-more about him later.
7:23 Van shadow accurate exposure 1/1600. ISO still 400 and f-stop 2.5.
West shutter speed 1/4000, f-stop 2.8.
7:26 Back to the chickens:
Cloudy
Tungsten
Daylight
Amy had the idea of someone sitting in this little spot of light, and when I told her she looked like an Indian, she crossed her arms.
We named a chick Lily St. Regis. We forgot its name while it was still young, which is fine, since it turned out to be a rooster. We called it Featherfoot because of...well, the feathers on its feet. Featherfoot has a strange crow, but he's pretty interesting to look at.
Diffidence was in a straight run, which means he shouldn't have been a rooster. But he was, and though Diffidence is Giant Despair's wife, it's a word and generic enough to work for a rooster. His crow makes me think of the fair, but Roman's does not. I'm not sure why, unless it's just that I'm more used to Roman's.
I already told you about Notrella, Jr. She's an Auracana.
Miss Hannigan was named after the woman in Annie. Even as a chick, she was fast and small. She was the first to fly out of the baby pool, the hardest to catch, and sort of a loner. When we put them in a pen outside during the day, she was usually among the last to be brought back in. Besides her skinniness, she's easily identifiable by her big floppy comb.
I looked up her name recently so I remember it: Thenardier, the innkeepers in Les Miserables. She is a Barred Rock if I remember correctly, the same kind as Diffidence.
These chickens are the hardest to tell apart, even when they were chicks. Their coloring is different, but not memorably. We had three of these brown Aracanas. I called one of them Floushy Face to distinguish it.
(Floush is apparently a word we invented. It basically means flayed, spread out, fanned out-basically what it sounds like. Doesn't it seem like a word?)
Floushy Face's name was really Madam de la Grande Bouche, the wardrobe in Beauty and the Beast. I'm not sure which one she is-the top one, I think. The other two brown Aracana were named Azelma and Dulcinea (from Man of La Mancha-and if you've listened to the song you can't think of Dulcinea without sort of singing it). I'm not sure which one is still alive, but the boys call them Floushy Face and Floushy Face Bareback. Lovely, huh?
7:36 The cat makes her first appearance.
7:40 The sun is slightly to the north. I put the camera battery to recharge, as I forgot to last night. Then I study for a while on the chair in front of the garage. Okay, I admit it; I am falling asleep. Amy's friend comes to pick her up. I take a nap on the driveway.
8:03 I retrieve the camera battery and take pictures of the sun.
8:28 It is quite warm, and the shadows are shortening.
8:38 I can't get the van and its shadow accurate. Tree to the west is 1/1250, f/4, ISO 200.
This time I actually do study, and then I water the flowers in the front.
9:49 The sun is high now, and the shadows are sharp. I take up the camera again, this time to take pictures of the nasturtium and the violas under the Japanese maple tree.
I experiment with the effect of different placement of the lines of the trellis.
Thus far, I had been using the 50mm lens. I switched to the zoom and compared.
Previous photo with 50mm lens
Similar photo with the zoom lens
Though the 50mm photos were taken with an aperture (lens opening size) of 3.5 and the zoom with 5.6, they accomplish almost the same thing, with the zoom lens actually having less detail in the background.
10:13 A truck backs into our drive, and a man gets out. It's our compost! We used all of our compost up, so we bought a truckload. I tell him to dump it in the center of the drive-all of the vehicles have been moved for the purpose.
We are left with a huge pile of compost-and what could be more fun?
It is beautiful, dark soil, and now I understand why Mom was excited about it.
Of course, racing ensues...
and all is fun until you take it too fast and fall on the blacktop.
10:26 I take Kristen inside to clean her up, and of course she thinks she needs a band aid.
10:35 The shadows are very short. I work on moving plants from the front of the house to the side, two sections we're redoing.
11:28 It's cloudy, so the light is even, but there's still a slight easterly direction to it, and the shadows are soft. Mom calls and I talk to her.
11:50 The wheelbarrow's wheel is deflated, and I attempt to work the air pump.
12:02 The sun is slightly to the southeast. I get my leftover Chipotle, saved for the ocassion, move headquarters to under the apple tree in the front, and have lunch.
12:24 I don't feel like returning to work, so I relax and do some writing.
12:33 The sun is almost overhead, but the shadows are slightly to the west.
The van is accurate at 1/4000 shutter speed, f-stop 3.2, and ISO 200.
To the west, 1/1000, f/3.2.
1:00 I call Dad, and I figure out how to fill up the tire, and do some more writing.
1:37 The sun is almost directly overhead. While it's cloudy, the van shadow is accurate at 1/2000, f/3.2, and ISO 200.
When the sun is out, shutter speed is 1/1250 to the west.
1:44 I return to working on the front, and the boys help me fill the wheelbarrow with compost to put in the bed.
3:11 The shade is now to the northeast. The van is accurate at 1/4000, f/4, ISO 200.
1/1250, f/2.8 to west. That's a wider aperture, so it must be getting a bit darker with the shadow.
3:22 I water and take a break for strawberries.
3:30 Return to work on front garden.
4:50 There are shadows to the east, getting long, and slightly north. The light is warmer in color. I take pictures of the boys playing in the compost.
Van: 1/4000, f/2.8, ISO 200.
West: 1/1000.
As I often do, I take pictures of the most available subject, in this case, my Bible.
When the wind flips the pages, I spend several minutes trying to capture the page turning.
5:08 I spend some more time testing colors, different white balances, and differences between getting close with a low aperture and zooming in from farther away.
Shade
Daylight
Florescent
Cloudy
Tungsten
Flash
Custom
Sun
Shade
Cloudy
Florescent
Tungsten
Flash
Auto
Custom didn't work very well!
I like either daylight or auto still, and use mostly daylight.
5:28 I do some Bible study, water blueberries, plant, eat supper, and email.
6:27 I take pictures of the chickens.
6:36 The sun is at the top of the trees, casting long shadows. The east is accurate at 1/200, f/2.8, ISO 100.
Van shadow is 1/1250.
West 1/320.
6:41 Believe it or not, my memory chip is getting filled up, so I start going through my pictures. Then I take pictures of Kristen and the chickens out in the yard.
When you go out in the yard, it is not long before the chickens come, sometimes running, sometimes slowly, nonchallantly; and if you don't have anything for them, they start pecking the ground, as if they don't want you to know they are interested in you.
If you have food, they get excited. I ate a sloppy joe for supper, and though I tried to keep it away, Diffidence (the gray rooster with the spiky comb) came up to me and took a bite out of it.
You also cannot be out long before you are joined by Villain, quietly slinking up to you, meowing and persistent until you either scare her off or pet her, and this results in many pictures of her. Her dislike of the chickens is quite amusing.
Seriously, would you want to be under these eyes?
Kristen wouldn't. She has a difficult time keeping her sandwich from Diffidence's quick snatch.
7:02 Eric is home. I eat some strawberries.
7:10 I go through pictures more but stop to take some of Kristen.
7:15 The sun is still up, but because of the trees is appears cloudy. To the east, it is accurate at 1/800, f/2.8, ISO 100.
The van is accurate at 1/400.
West accurate at 1/160. The shadows are very light and has direction but it isn't strong. I like the cloudy white balance better than daylight now.
I take pictures of Kristen and the dirt.
7:25 I go through more pictures. Eric works on his car.
7:52 East accurate at at 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 100.
Van shadow 1/250.
West 1/160.
8:00 I take one more full set of white balance photos.
Auto
Shade
Cloudy
Florescent
Tungsten
Flash
Auto
Custom
Daylight
Shade
Cloudy
Daylight
8:15 The chickens start to roost in the trees.
Kristen in the magnolia tree:
This innocent-looking rope? You may think it's just from kids who enjoy climbing trees. Nope; it's from kids who enjoy getting back at a threatening rooster. They found the branch he likes to roost on, tied the rope to it, and shake him off when he goes to roost.
Kristen asks me to come to the dirt pile and take her picture, so I do.
She wants me to race her from the car to the top of the pile, and if I take a picture and don't come, she gives me this look:
Racing is tiring!
Cars ought not look like this...
Notice the smoke coming from the wheel:
Kristen asks me to get a drink, and deliberately pours some of it on me. She thinks this is funny.
She does not like the smell of Eric's car, and when I tell her I do, she makes this face:
It's hard to take her picture while she's on top of me since she's so close.
Talking to her occupies her so that she cooperates.
And it makes for interesting photos.
8:40 The sun isn't visible, and there's a pinkish orange in the sky. I go inside to check the weather times, and am amused by finding that the sunrise was around the time I noticed it, and that noon was after 1:30, about when I noticed the sun directly overhead.
8:45 I go through pictures some more.
8:58 There are no light beams any more and the light seems almost directionless, though there are shadows slightly to the east.
9:00 To east, ISO 400, shutter 1/80, aperture f/3.5.
Van shadow: 1/40.
West: 1/15.
9:04 I set the camera battery to recharge. I can see the moon near the trees towards the west. It's time to start cleaning up, and I have a popsicle.
9:10 I eat a popsicle as I go around, observing the light.
9:20 I retrieve my battery. The moon is higher now.
9:21 To the east, it's accurate at 1/10, f/2.8, ISO 1600.
9:24 Van shadow shutter speed is 1/5. It has difficulty focusing.
9:28 To the west, shutter speed is 1/8, but it won't focus.
9:29 I take pictures of the moon.
9:32 To the east, 1/20, f/2.8. Difficulty focusing.
Van: 1/8, won't focus.
9:36 The light seems directionless, though there are still short shadows to the east. It is still a bit yellow to the west and purple to the northwest.
9:45 One last white balance test in the light from the window.
Shade
Florescent
Tungsten
Flash
9:51 I return inside. I take my last few pictures when I see Kristen sleeping.
9:55 I quickly wash up.
9:59 I end my lovely day inside with some Sherlock Holmes and looking over my pictures.
11:06 I prepare for bed.
And that is my day outside.