Fall Colors 2011

The fall color change peaked about 7-10 days ago, so I thought I would post these photos before winter sets in here in the Ozarks.  The colors were not as vivid as they have occassionally been in the past, but they were still beautiful.

As an aside from the colors, do you notice the loveseat at the end of the pasture, just at the base of the cedar trees?  I discussed this loveseat project in a post here, and provided plans in a post here.

While I was hiking around the property taking fall pictures, I ran across this small group of deer.  They are quite prolific on our land, and sightings are common.

Yellow, rust, orange and pink seem to predominate this year, while the bright scarlet reds were pretty much limited to the sumacs growing on the fringes of our fields.

To continue my aside, notice the park bench under the trees?  Would you believe it -  I wrote about this convertible park bench/picnic table in a post entitled A Benchtable, and posted plans for the Convertible Bench/Table here.  And can you spot the bluebird house as well?  This is one of the 100 that I built to create a bluebird trail on our farm.  Guess what – posts about the Bluebird Trail can be found here and here.

This is a view that encompasses a couple of our pastures.  The colors here have been more brilliant in the past, but they were acceptable this year.

Looking out across some of our wooded areas reveals the multitude of colors that engulf the countryside.

Another hillside surrounding one of the pastures, where you see red cedars (the green trees) in the foreground, and mixed hardwoods on the hill.

Finally, one more view of a hillside surrounding another of our pastures.  All-in-all, it was a pretty colorful fall.  While the weather conditions didn’t provide the most spectacular colors we have witnessed here at La Esperanza, they were delightful nevertheless.  I hope you get a chance to come enjoy the fall colors along with Retta and me someday.

Astounding Results From 36X Optical Zoom

A little over five years ago I posted examples of the field of view of a 10X optical zoom lens set at it’s closest wide angle setting and at it’s longest telephoto setting.  The post was titled “The Power of 10X Optically Zoomed VR Mega-pixels“.   I recently updated my camera to a 36X Optical Zoom Vibration Reduction model, and of course immediately had to test out what 36X zoom meant in visual terms.  So I took the camera outside and shot this picture, at the full wide-angle setting (Note – clicking on picture will open to a larger size):

While still standing in the same position, I decided to zoom in on something that I knew was off in the distance, but you probably cannot discern in the photo above.

Now, by zooming in a bit, you can see the martin house in the distance.  But I still had more to go, so I continued zooming in and took another photo:

And then I realized, the lens is still not zoomed out to the max, so I continued on:

Scroll back up to the first photo, and then back here to compare.  That is a pretty incredible zoom range.  In the first photo, the martin house is just barely visible.  In the last photo, you can see individual blades of grass sticking out of the nesting cavity.  Before being too critical of the last photo for being a little soft in focus, be aware that these photos were all taken HAND HELD!

For another example, here is a picture of my patio, taken with the camera attached to a tripod:

See the black smoker pit at the rear of the patio?  I zoomed in full to the top of the smoker, and this is what I saw:

With a tripod, the results are truly astounding.  And what is more astounding is that this huge zoom range is contained in the small package you see in this next photo:

It will be interesting to see how this powerful zoom actually performs as I put the camera through its’ paces on some photo-outings.  The proof, they say, is in the pudding.  I’ll be sure to let you know.

Eye-Fi Wi-Fi Goodness

If you love convenience, then you probably cherish sliced bread.  I mean, really, is it that difficult to get out a knife and cutting board and slice a couple of slabs from the loaf before making a sandwich?  No.  And yet we all buy sliced bread.  It’s just so darn convenient!

Similarly, if if you love convenience, then you will probably cherish an Eye-Fi wi-fi SDHC memory card for your camera.  After an easily accomplished initial one-time setup, your photographs will automatically be uploaded from your camera to your computer, and optionally to web-based photo sharing and storage sites.

This chart describes the process.  The following photo shows the various models of Eye-Fi memory card that are available.

No more card readers, no more USB cords, NO MORE WIRES!  Just pictures transfered quickly and easily from your camera to your computer.  What could be better?  Sliced bread?