Slipping Mississippi

The sun slipping into Minnesota, just past the Mississippi. This shot was taken from the Wisconsin side, atop the Lacrosse Granddad Bluff. Downtown Lacrosse city lights are in the foreground.
Shot with
- Nikon D700 camera, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens
- 200mm, f/22, 1/20 and 1/5 sec
- Camera supported on railing
Processed with
- Photoshop to combine 2 bracketed shots (one for sky, one for city)
- Minor removal of dust spots... time to clean the sensor!
- Color as shot... no adjustments.

Quercia Nut

The nut of an oak tree is called an acorn. The oak tree comes from the genera Quercus, and in Italian oak is called Quercia. For some reason, I like the word Quercia, especially when said in Italian. As we all prepare for Fall, I thought a quick shot of this nice little acorn would be befitting.
Shot with
- Nikon D700 camera, 105mm f/2.8 VR macro lens
- 105mm, f/10, 1/60 sec, ISO 1000, Aperture Priority
- Nikon SB800 flash (on auto) bounce flash off ceiling over left shoulder
Processed with
- Lightroom 3.0 (basic raw import processing, vignetting, crop)

Grilled Spider

This little arachnid was hanging out on our porch last week. I placed a black felt box behind the spider to get nice high contrast in the web. The spider was less than 1 inch long. He had a terrific web built between our grill lid and side plate. The web was destroyed in order for us to eat dinner.

This photo was taken about 6 inches away from his web. If you look closely, he only has 7 legs (missing a front left leg)! The 7 legs appear on all the photos I took. He seemed to have no problems spinning his web without that 8th leg.
Shot with
- Nikon D700 camera, 105mm f/2.8mm VR macro lens
- 105mm, f/8, 1/160 sec, ISO 800
Processed with
- Lightroom 3.0 (basic raw import processing)
- Photoshop to crop

Foggy Fox Sunrise

This is the 3rd photo from the Foggy Fox River series (see "Foggy Fox" and "Goose Hunt"). After all the geese flew away, I was left to admire the sunrise.

Shot with

- Nikon D700 camera, 70-200mm f/2.8 lens

- 80mm, f/8, 1/2500 sec, ISO 3200

Processed with

- Photoshop/cropping

- Slight contrast boost using curves (again, colors were as shot!)

Waukesha Sunset

Sunset during a drive home from work. Called Andrea and quickly grabbed the camera and got a few quick shots before the sunlight disappeared. The moon was a waning, orange sliver on the horizon. Mosquitoes were swarming. I rattled off 8 shots and received an equal number of bites.
Shot with:
- Nikon D700 camera, 50mm f/1.4 lens
- 50mm, f/2.2, 1/50 sec, ISO 1250, Manual mode
Processed with:
- Lightroom 3.0 to give dark vignette to edges, boost vibrance, reduce noise
- Photoshop to remove some dead pixels, slightly brightened