366 Snaps Outtakes

Though Di Bédard's reminded me that cats aren't obligated to pose , last April Fool's Oreo was quite cooperative and I had several pix to choose between for 366 Snaps.... This one's been worked over in Photoshop Elements, mostly using Find Edges, while last year's shows PSE's Spotlite effect. Just because I could. ========== I changed cameras, of course, for April's project pics. To my FujiFilm F200. Not my favorite camera. I'll talk about why presently. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 18 Title of " roll :" Oreo of course [misleading: I took more pix of Taffy. and there's other stuff] Other photos taken on 4/1/2012: Later in the day I, as usual, took pix (38 this time) in the garden.

When I first moved here, Mulliken's Methodist church shared its minister and ministry with Sebewa, a small place--not really a town--north and west of our village. A year ago today I made a scouting trip--'twas an intentional effort to expand my range of photographic subjects for 366 Snaps . I was a bit surprised to discover that this stretch of Keefer Highway had been paved, since the last time I looked it was gravel. We're probably talking fifteen years, though. Last April 2 was bright , and I was fighting with my still-unfamiliar camera, so virtually all the trip's pix were overexposed. But I found some useful ideas, and would follow up on them later in the year. ========== The railroad tracks I photographed for 366 Snaps are part of the CSX (former C&O/Chessie, former PM) line through central Michigan. The line used to get fairly heavy traffic from both CSX and SOO, originating from Chicago for the Detroit tunnel and on to Toronto. (Or back.) These days the traffic seems to be mostly local. The pic was snapped at Dow Road, which is the Eaton County extension of (Ionia County's) Keefer, a couple miles south of Sebewa. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 34 Title of " roll :" Bright Sunshiny Sebewa Other photos taken on 4/2/2012: As usual, I took the Nikon 1 into the garden. This was the day's best shot .

As I've explained before , Mulliken's library was/is one of my default photo subjects. Besides the convenience of its next-to-the-post-office location, I find this apparently-plain building's a fun photo subject. ========== The FujiFilm F200EXR was designed to be good at low-light photography. A year ago I devoted 36 images to testing that thesis, with mixed results. A few of the results were interesting , but few were very good. The best were taken downtown. The 366 Snaps picture was of the Masonic Temple's door, with the corner of the fire station in the foreground. I thought it worked pretty well. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 36 Title of " roll :" Home & Downtown Other photos taken on 4/3/2012: I was still playing with the Nikon 1. For some reason I shot a whole lot of pix of a tufted titmouse using the 10-30 lens. That mostly didn't work out, but I did get this .

An old barn, perched on a hill at the corner of Eaton Highway and Oneida Road. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . 366 Snaps project discussion for April 4 .

This is another view of the farmyard I photographed on November 29 . I don't remember ever seeing a silo knocked on its side quite like this; if they're not deliberately taken down they usually outlast everything else, or rot away from the top. ========== Purchased a shirt at Gander Mountain a year ago, then bought m'self breakfast. On my way home I took Eaton Highway out of Grand Ledge, something I'd not done in years. As I discussed in a comment under the November 29 photo , things had changed since my last venture down this road. Like the Sebewa trip a couple days before, this was a conscious scouting trip. One of the challenges facing a photo-a-day photographer is boredom. Shooting the same subject-- or even the same photo --every day is an option, of course, but most of us grow stale without some variety. I was seeking some new photographs, not just for this day but prospects for other days. I imagine I'll be discussing this right to the end of the year. ========== "We've straightened the creeks and call 'em drains." So I labelled my 366 Snaps photo. This is generally true hereabouts--the local stream's called "The Mulliken Drain"--but I need to confess that the drain in the photo goes by Freyer Creek. I've long wondered who decided to rationalize Eaton County's drainage system, when they did it, and how they funded it. Doubtless he was a county drain commissioner. Mayhap someday I'll check into it. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 17 Title of " roll :" Eaton Highway, mostly Other photos taken on 4/4/2012: Joan called me when she got to work, reporting turkeys courting in a field on Cochran. Then I spent the morning shooting pix of birds in the yard . All in all, over three hundred photos, all with the V1. This time I used the long lens.

A year ago I wandered around the house just taking random photographs. This was the best of those pix, but since it would have been the daily photo project's third cat in just over a week, I went with something else. The "something else" was a picture of the model warship that lives on our dishwasher. It claims to be H.M.S. Victory, but it really doesn't look anything like Nelson's flagship. That pic has an odd mix of light and dark, and of sharp and soft edges. It came out pretty much like what I intended when I framed the shot, and I rather like it. ========== Most of the outtakes I've been posting were processed in Bibble Pro on the day they were taken. I tossed them into a folder named "366 Outtakes," from which I'm mostly extracting this project's images. The Taffy photo does not fit that pattern. Because the bulk of the outtakes were processed the day they were taken, they usually followed whatever processing protocol I was using for most photographs at the time. In this case, the Victory photo was processed using Bibble's Andrea plugin to look as though it was taken with FujiFilm Neopan 400 and printed on Kodak Polymax II paper, as I discussed on March 3 . ( Just so you know: I can tell you this because Bibble tracks the last changes I made to any specific photo, not because I remember these details. I really need to expand on this, but that's not happenin' today.) Since I post-processed Taffy's photo just a couple days ago, it didn't get that treatment. Instead I just used a few tricks I'd learned to improve its sharpness and ignored the Andrea plugin completely. Had I processed it similarly to the 366 Snaps pic, it would definitely have a softer look. Over the course of the year I got a lot of practice using Bibble, and (as I've noted before) have substantially changed my workflow. For the record, both pix were subsequently "improved" in Photoshop Elements by applying Unsharp Mask and adding the skinny frame. Bibble's equivalent features are weaker than the PSE offerings, so that's my general practice. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 27 Title of " roll :" Assorted Stuff Other photos taken on 4/5/2012: I tried again to photograph the courting turkeys. And shot a few flower pix. Flower pix, most of you likely already realize, are going to be an ongoing theme in this space.

"Books and Flowers" I called the folder I used to file the day's daily-project pix, which pretty much describes the group. Except that this tree--one of three white pines I planted twenty years ago--sneaked into the set. I was still fighting with the camera, as most of the outdoor shots were badly overexposed. The overexposure worked fine for the tree, but didn't flatter the daffodils and tulips. ========= This particular camera has a damaged sensor, which basically forced me to frame all my April photographs on the assumption that I'd be cropping the pic. You can see just a hint of the damage in the upper left corner of this image. The damage is not the reason I dislike the camera. But it is the reason I stopped carrying the camera around. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 22 Title of " roll :" Books & Flowers Other photos taken on 4/6/2012: I took my V1 to the Lansing Lugnuts Opening Day game . Also on this date: I posted a sort-of-review of my Nikon 1 V1 . I'd fully planned to do a followup in July or August, but life intervened. By the time life had settled down a bit, I didn't see the point of writing anything detailed about a product the manufacturer was clearly phasing out.

When I tell someone from Lansing where I live, a common response is "I've eaten at Farmer's Tavern a couple times." There are certainly worse things a town could be known for. The atmosphere's friendly, and the food's decent. Everyone likes the place. There's a picture postcard of downtown Mulliken , apparently from 1909, which shows a bustling place lined with shops on both sides. Main Street's not like that any more. Most of the storefronts are gone, and it's unusual to see the street lined with vehicles. Downtown's main attraction for outsiders these days is Farmer's Steakhouse, a cute establishment liberally decorated with, well, junk. There's a stuffed bear, eccentric photographs, musical instruments, large and small toys, old 45s (what else would they be but "old"?), odd implements--well, you get the idea. The interior walls and rafters are covered with stuff. The decorations are surprisingly well-arranged and attractive, and the effect's captivating. And they change often enough to keep things interesting. They also overflow into the restaurant's central courtyard. This jeep lives in that courtyard. I photograph the grounds and building regularly. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 12 Title of " roll :" Farmer's Tavern Other photos taken on 4/7/2012: I took my V1 along on what I'd taken to calling the Daily Flower Census; shot 29 shots. Then Joan and I headed for Lake Michigan and wandered around Hoffmaster State Park., where I shot pix of tree roots . Postcard photo link borrowed from the Mulliken Historical Society's page on MiGenWeb . There's a color version of the postcard out there somewhere, but I didn't find it this morning.

Some days I'm just a lousy photographer, and last year one of those days was Easter. Usually the bad photography days don't make it to Flickr, but since I was committed to posting something each day I found something to post. Since I've managed to commit m'self to another year's daily pix, I've found another to post today. Both are decent images--in fact, the apple blossom's quite fine--but gosh I shot some stinkers a year ago. Our flowering fruit trees--one of the best things about spring--were out early last year. It was definitely something to celebrate. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 27 Title of " roll :" Around Mulliken, Around Home Other photos taken on 4/8/2012: We went to Joan's mom's for Easter, as usual. I took the Nikon 1 V1. I shot 36 pix. A couple could likely be salvaged in post-processing; the rest were painfully bad.

Taffy occasionally takes refuge in a very small covered cat bed that lives in the corner of the living room. This is about what you can see of her when she's stuffed herself in.... ========== Day 100. Although I nearly always have a camera at hand, in a typical year I take photographs on about 100 days. So taking on a photo-a-day project involved, roughly, tripling my usual output. At least by that measure. I didn't really expect to fully complete the 366 project. It's easy to miss a day just to everyday distractions. Of course I didn't know in advance that I'd nearly miss on September 6 and September 23 , but I certainly did know there would be such days. And there were many days where I had to fit the photography into a busy routine, despite adopting project rules that encouraged me to take the pictures early in the day . Retirement turns out to be less helpful than I may have expected. All in all, I'd have been pleased if on December 31 my counter had shown 360/366. ========== Daily photo: There's likely been someone who's filled their 365 project with numbers that matched the project's daily counter. I figured I could do it for one day. The Facebook copy of the M100 photo spawned a discussion about exactly where the sign was. It's in downtown Grand Ledge . ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 22 Title of " roll :" M100 [a mis-characterization; they're miscellaneous pix] Other photos taken on 4/9/2012: The Daily Flower Census accounted for 42 photographs. In the evening I shot well over 500 pix at the Grand Rapids ballpark.

I'm not entirely certain why, but a couple of our Christmas decorations hung around past Easter last year. This ole snowman's part scarecrow, and so ugly you can't help but like 'im. If you look closely, you can see evidence of the camera's damaged sensor (lens?) near the pic's upper right corner. ========== Finally I spent some time experimenting with this camera's controls and figuring out why I was having such difficulty getting satisfactory images. Fundamentally it's a disconnect between the designer's objectives and the way I want to use a pocket camera. We weren't a good match. I bought this camera to replace a FujiFilm F10 I'd simply worn out. The F200EXR was a successor occupying the same slot of the FujiFilm product line, and at first glance seemed a lot like the camera I was replacing--much the same size, and sporting a similar menu system. It didn't take me long to decide I'd made a mistake. The camera's got a fully automatic mode--that's the EXR in its name--which is adequate, and likely many users just let the camera make all of the decisions and were satisfied with the results. I don't work like that. Which leads to my main problem with this device: Generally speaking my default camera shooting mode is aperture priority. With this camera changing the aperture is quite simply a pain, involving mislabeled buttons ( the EV control as an aperture selector makes sort of an abstract sense, but it's hardly obvious ) and unexpectedly difficult selection methods. I want control of my photographs; I don't want to fight the camera for that control. Anyway, a year ago today I sat down to reacquaint myself with all of these things. I'd continue to have difficulties--as we'll see in a couple days--but at least I'd know what I was doing wrong. I have other complaints about this camera, by the way. The most annoying is that the F200EXR doesn't work well as a true pocket camera, as it's far too easy to turn the camera on by accident. Other reviewers have expressed concerns about the camera's color rendition--which is actually just fine, but un-Fuji-like. And not a concern for this black and white project. It's certainly fair to say my problems with this camera are more my expectations than the camera's capabilities. Knowing that doesn't help at all. ========== My 366 Snaps photo was of our wine rack, and the tea boxes Joan's stored behind it. I notice one of us had destroyed the wire basket/wrapper encasing the Coppola Claret, but hadn't opened the bottle. Probably there's a story there, but I've forgot it. My February 24 outtake was similar . I'm not sure either's better. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 32 Title of " roll :" Around Home, Around Mulliken Other photos taken on 4/10/2012: The daily flower census--again with the V1--consisted of 30 pix, mostly of apple blossoms. We had lots of apple blossoms last spring, but a late freeze did in the apples. (Not actually late , of course; the real issue was that the blossoms were early.)

Another car wash photo. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . 366 Snaps project discussion for April 11 .

My entire photographic plan a year ago today was to take photographs in the car wash. I'd previously tried this on February 7 ( here and here ), but hadn't posted those pix to 366 Snaps . ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 26 Title of " roll :" Car Wash Other photos taken on 4/11/2012: 24 pix in the day's daily flower census, of most everything. The set included my personal favorite of my apple blossom shots .

On Keefer Road, not far north of the railroad tracks. A year ago I made a return trip to Sebewa . I had a specific photograph or two in mind, but neither worked out. The entire set shows evidence that I was in a hurry, though I've forgot the cause. ========== Somehow I'd never previously noticed Weippert's Mill , which was built in 1876, perhaps because it's only easily visible when there's no greenery. So I took an image, managing to overexpose a photograph of a deep-in-the-woods structure despite the shadows and shade. Apparently I'd forgot everything I'd learned about the camera a couple days back. The pic worked out all right, though--it just looks oddly processed. Since I do that all the time, everyone seems to have assumed I did this on purpose. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 24 Title of " roll :" Sebewa Other photos taken on 4/12/2012: Though I was still having difficulties with the FujiFilm camera, I was getting comfortable with the Nikon 1. At least in the garden, where I took 41 flower pix.

This is the same photo as that I posted to 366 Snaps a year ago, but a different treatment. It looks like the original version used my then-usual Neopan (film) printed on Polymax (paper) imitation using Bibble Pro's Andrea plugin ; this version imitates Ilford on Ilford, which was once my film camera norm . But rarely with this high contrast. You'll see this setup again. ========== This photograph is an outtake (well, an alternate take, I suppose) from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 15 Title of " roll :" Meadowbrook Cemetery Other photos taken on 4/13/2012: Pretty much the usual thing: 42 flower census pix using the Nikon 1.

A year ago I shot one of my stranger photo sets--most were oddly framed, and many were poorly executed. But the best were interesting. This one's of the blankets and pillows on our sofa. ========== My daily photo was of a door and exterior wall at the Roxand Township fire station, and of the sign by the door. I like the sign, and the wall's geometry. Mulliken's fire station burned down in 1992, a spectacular side effect of a thoughtless prank. The fire was a disaster for village records--both the township hall and the archives in the town library were wiped out--but the new fire station's a far more attractive building than the old pole barn it replaced. Because, like the (new) library , it's a convenient downtown subject, I photograph the fire barn regularly. I'd posted a photo using it as a frame to 366 Snaps a few days before this one; I'd add another outside door to the photo-a-day set a few days on. Then I'd capture the place again in June. I suppose there's a lesson for daily photo projects in there, somewhere. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 28 Title of " roll :" Miscellaneous Stuff Other photos taken on 4/14/2012: The day's flower census consisted of 41 photos. I posted a couple .

The curb, at the end of our driveway. The newspaper delivery guy left these marks. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . 366 Snaps project discussion for April 14 .

This photo's from last Tax Day's daily flower census and isn't really a 366 Snaps outtake. But it's pretty.... ========== It rained a year ago. Since last spring was warm and dry, the rain was more welcome than, say, yesterday's weather. My photo-a-day effort consisted of 19 similar pix, of which I posted the best. Unsurprisingly, the trellis returned to the photo stream that day. ========== This photograph is not an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . It was, however, taken the same day. Number of project photos taken: 19 Title of " roll :" April Showers Other photos taken on 4/15/2012: 51 flower census shots, with the Nikon 1, mostly of apple blossoms. Our apple trees were glorious last spring.