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Port Jefferson and Bridgeport
29 May 2010, Saturday

25 May   26    27    28    29   30    31 May    01 & 02 June 2010          Tech Details

Today we took the Port Jefferson Ferry to Bridgeport to see the P. T. Barnum Museum.

We spent today entirely on foot. We parked our car in Port Jefferson, and walked onto the ferry. Therefore I only brought one fixed 50mm lens, knowing that I probably wouldn't use any other lenses even if I brought them, but that if I brought them, I would definitely have to carry all of them all day and all night.

I was glad that I only had a 50mm lens, because it was perfect for every shot. It saved me from carrying and changing lenses, also saved me from having to twiddle zoom rings. All I did was shoot without any of the bother. It's really sad that the first thing I wanted to do from the first minute I bought my first SLR in 1973 was buy more lenses, instead of learning how to use the one with which it came. It only took me 35 years to learn this, and many people take even longer.

 

Books, Port Jefferson, Long Island, 10:22 AM.

Books, Port Jefferson, Long Island, 10:22 AM.

Canon 5D Mark II, ISO 50, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Professional exposure (P) mode chose 1/200 at f/6.3.

This is a grab shot as we headed to the ferry. I straightened it slightly in Photoshop's Lens Distortion Filter.

 

Port Jefferson, Long Island, 10:58 AM.

Port Jefferson Harbor, Long Island, 10:58 AM.

Canon 5D Mark II, ISO 50, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Professional exposure (P) mode chose 1/250 at f/7.1.

This is a grab shot from the ferry. I straightened it slightly in Photoshop's Lens Distortion Filter.

The composition is based on a big, loose "V." It starts on the left, runs through the big boat at the bottom, and goes back up and to the right along the walkway.

 

Green, Port Jefferson Ferry, Long Island Sound, 11:21 AM.

Green, Port Jefferson Ferry, Long Island Sound, 11:21 AM.

Canon 5D Mark II, ISO 50, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Professional exposure (P) mode chose 1/250 at f/7.1.

This is all about shapes when compressed into a flat image: white, green, dark green and gray.

 

Green, Richard Meier, Bridgeport, Connecticut, 12:23 PM.

Green, Richard Meier, Bridgeport, Connecticut, 12:23 PM.

Canon 5D Mark II, ISO 50, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Professional exposure (P) mode chose 1/60 at f/3.5.

Goodness gracious, this is the same green-and-white as the previous shot!

In a perfect world, I'd burn-in (darken) the top left to keep your eyes from running off, but I'm too lazy. I also probably should crop off some of the green at the bottom so that the tree footing on the left sits in a corner.

 

P. T. Barnum Museum, Bridgeport, Connecticut, 3:22 PM.

P. T. Barnum Museum, Bridgeport, Connecticut, 3:22 PM.

Canon 5D Mark II, ISO 50, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Professional exposure (P) mode chose 1/250 at f/7.1.

The vivid red rock got too hot, so I made this shot with -1/3 exposure compensation.

Believe it or not, P. T. Barnum served both as Mayor of Bridgeport as well as as a member of the Connecticut legislature. The museum is from 1892, built right after his death, and yes, still has its real, live 4,000 year old mummy.

 

Bridgeport, Connecticut, 3:59 PM.

Bridgeport, Connecticut, 3:59 PM.

Canon 5D Mark II, ISO 50, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Professional exposure (P) mode chose 1/400 at f/9.

As I often do with the 5D Mark II in harsh daylight, I used -2/3 stops exposure compensation to keep the highlights from getting too far lost. In this shot, the reflection from the sun was blinding.

 

Steps, Port Jefferson Ferry, Long Island Sound, 5:09 PM.

Steps, Port Jefferson Ferry, Long Island Sound, 5:09 PM.

Canon 5D Mark II, ISO 50, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Professional exposure (P) mode chose 1/160 at f/5.6.

I straightened this slightly in Photoshop's Lens Distortion Filter.

 

Bow, Port Jefferson Ferry, Long Island Sound, 5:41 PM.

Bow, Port Jefferson Ferry, Long Island Sound, 5:41 PM.

Canon 5D Mark II, Auto ISO 200, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Professional exposure (P) mode chose 1/400 at f/8.

The white-and-green theme returns! This is a different part of a different boat from this morning at 11:21 AM, but it's the same image. I normally wouldn't repeat something like this, but I repeat it here so you can see how when you get on a roll, you keep seeing the same thing.

 

Light across the Bow, Port Jefferson Ferry, Port Jefferon, Long Island, 5:54 PM.

Light Across the Bow, Port Jefferson Ferry, Port Jefferson, Long Island, 5:54 PM.

Canon 5D Mark II, ISO 50, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Professional exposure (P) mode chose 1/125 at f/5.

This shot, as usual, is all about the light. When you've got good light, it makes anything look good.

Yes, it's more green and white. I guess today was green and white day.

 

Since we were driving home along Nicholls Road, right past my Alma mater, we stopped by. Oddly, I haven't been back since I graduated, so it was great to get to walk around and see a little bit of the campus, and hear that some of the people I worked with back when I was going to school are still there.

Funny, but looking back on how much of what I learned in getting my BS in Electronic Engineering degree I use today, it turns out that I got more out of working on The Statesman newspaper, than I learned in all of my intended course of study. (I already knew the engineering material before I went to school; I only attended to get the degree on paper.) It's also while working at The Statesman that Matt Cohen talked me out of my Minolta SRT-102 and X570 cameras and into the Nikon system in 1983, which never helped me take better pictures, but many of you probably find my Nikon information more helpful than Minolta information today.

Even more fun, I discovered that The Statesman, for which I was a photo editor for several years, has had all its back issues scanned and placed online. It's going to be a hoot to go back and read them all again, and see all the credits and articles by the people with whom I used to work. I've always been particularly proud of this issue from 1983. Oddly, Statesman hasn't gotten with the times, and only seems to be available in print, not online, for current issues.

Zebra Steps, SUNY Stony Brook, Long Island, 8:42 PM.

Zebra Path, SUNY Stony Brook, Long Island, 8:42 PM.

Canon 5D Mark II, Auto ISO 1,000, Canon 50mm f/1.8, Professional exposure (P) mode chose 1/40 at f/2.

This is a hand-held grab shot, made with the same camera settings I've been using all day. With the way I set-up the 5D Mark II with Auto ISO and everything else, I can point-and-shoot in any light. It grabbed ISO 1,000, and Pro-mode auto (P) grabbed 1/40 and f/2 as it needed. Perfect.

The Zebra Path (Kim Hardiman, 1981) is black-and-white. The white looks orange due to the sodium lights in the foreground, while the mercury-vapor lamps in the background look white. I left the white balance as-is, since removing the orange would make the rest of this image too blue. I like it orange, and if I didn't, I could change those stripes back to white in Photoshop.

I don't miss my tripod. Yes, not much is in focus, but so what: the image is about the broad graphic elements, tend they are unchanged regardless of the level of sharpness. I focused on the part that needs to be sharp, which is the glint of the light in the highlight in the middle of the path.

 

NEXT DAY > >

 

25 May   26    27    28    29   30    31 May    01 & 02 June 2010          Tech Details

 

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