“Stamp”

When I was a young boy one of my “Hobbies” was stamp collecting.  So when I saw this theme on the list I figured I’d try to get a Macro shot of one from my collection.  My stamp albums were in my son’s closet and I had to dust them off.  First time I had them out in over thirty years.  Brought back some fond memories.  I remember getting on the Long Island Railroad and going into Manhattan to the stamp exhibition held in the 34th St. Armory back in the late 1940’s or early 50’s.  This stamp is the oldest one that I have in my collection.  It dates back to around 1857 or so.   If I had it cataloged correctly it was printed by Toppan, Carpenter & Company from 1857-61.  The post office black cancellation looks like it came from NY and dated May 1860.
Exif Data is as follows:
Nikon D-7000 1/28/2012 6:52pm
Lens: Nikkor 105mm f/2.8D Macro
Focus mode” Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering Mode: Spot
Aperture: f/13
Shutter Speed: 1/25th sec.
ISO-200
White Balance: Auto
Tripod mounted and auto shutter release

Travel

The Cross Island Ferry connects Orient Point, NY and New London, Connecticut.  This image was taken at the Orient Point Ferry terminal.  It wasn’t very crowded as the tourist season is over and it’s too cold to go for just a ferry ride.  It was a beautiful, sunny and mild winter day with temperature above 60 degrees.  The sky was a beautiful blue, no clouds and to me hopefully make  a good  candidate for B/W conversion.  I used Adobe Lightroom to process my RAW file and then used Topaz B&W Effects to convert to B/W.  Added my frame in PSE-9.
Exif data is as follows:
Nikon D-7000, 1/7/2012 3:32pm, RAW file
Lens: Nikkor 12-24mm f/4G shot at 24mm
Focus Mode: AF-S
Aperture: f/16
Shutter speed: 1/250 sec.
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp: -1EV
Metering Mode: Matrix
ISO: 200
White Balance: Auto

Agriculture

Took this shot yesterday at Fink’s Farm Stand in Wading River, NY.  They use it as a sort of road side advertisement for their farm stand.  I think they did a good job as you just cannot drive past without looking at the old vintage truck and taking notice of the farm stand.  The colors are very vibrant and glossy and you can see how they just quickly sprayed the paint on (even on the tires).
I took this shot late in the afternoon and did not expect to see all the glare on the fender and door. My in camera histogram did not show any blown out highlights so I did not pick this up when taking the image. My exif data is as follows:
Nikon D-7000 1/05/2012: 4:01pm
Lens:Nikkor 12-24mm f/4 G
Focal Length: 14mm
Aperture: f/18
Shutter speed: 1/250 sec.
ISO: 400
Exposure Mode: Manual
Focus Mode: AF-S
Metering: Spot
White Balance: Auto

My Photographic Vision ……a year of images for 2012

Welcome everyone to my “Photography Blog” for 2012.  I plan and hopefully will complete at least 52 posts during the year,  and if time and energy allows get as close to 365 as possible.  My “Header” image was taken last year while camping in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  I sincerely hope you will come back and visit in 2012 and enjoy my photography.  Constructive critique and comments are always welcome.