Author Archives: bobshank

A New Use for My Old Laptop Hard Drive

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Earlier this year my laptop died. Yep; dead as a door nail. Kaput.

I was not happy since I spent much of that day working on a presentation only to get home and not be able to even turn on my laptop. Huge bummer! I feared the worst at first thinking my hard drive bit the dust. That wasn’t the problem. This laptop wasn’t even two years old when it failed. I was frustrated and angry, vowing never again to purchase an HP laptop.

Two very good things came out of this tragedy. First, I made the decision to buy my first Apple, a MacBook Pro, which I am extremely happy to own! I was worried about compatibility issues and the learning curve, but was pleasantly surprised to quickly realize neither of these two issues was going to be a problem. Sweet!

The second good thing that came out of this laptop failure was only realized recently. The laptop still had its hard drive intact. I knew that it was not damaged because I was able to safely copy everything off of it and install all the files on my new MacBook Pro. I also saw an advertisement online for the OCW external hard drives. They are enclosed in a hard plastic case with a heat sync to disipate any heat. I also saw they offered a kit to convert your own laptop hard drive into an external drive.

I was not sure if my exact drive would work, so I got onto an online chat with one of the reps. She was very helpful and looked up the model of my hard drive. Very quickly she got back to me, reporting that my drive would indeed work. Awesome! So, I purchased the kit and waited for it to arrive at my front door.

A few days later it arrived. I got to work with the kit. I had to remove one piece from my hard drive that helped hold it in place in the laptop. Then it was just a matter of inserting a few screws to assemble the drive in the hard plastic case. Now, with a USB wire I can attach the drive to my computer as an external hard drive with over 300GBs of space available! (Source: https://www.nettoyersonmac.fr/avis-onyx/)

I use this external hard drive to automatically create a backup when I am importing photos into my laptop with Lightroom. I also keep my favorite LR catalogs on this drive so they are with me wherever I go. I really like this new use for my old laptop hard drive!

Merkle Turtles

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Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary in Maryland was a very fortunate find for me. I came upon it when I was searching for something to do while my wife and daughter went to Six Flags. The internet search located this spot quickly and I was pleased to see it was less than 30 minutes away from the amusement park. I would much rather amuse myself in nature any day of the week rather than be forced to endure an amusement park! My wife, knowing this and being the sensitive, loving wife she is, suggested that I find something to do while they enjoyed the park.

I looked over the Merkle website, which was helpful, but I still wasn’t exactly sure what I might find there. I knew taking my bike seemed to be the prudent thing to do since the “Critical Area Driving Tour” was only open to cars on Sundays. Taking the mountain bike was indeed helpful and I saw wildlife immediately! This place is awesome!

Today I am posting some photos of the turtles I saw at the sanctuary. There were a lot of turtles to be seen but they were a little shy. They were mostly sunning themselves on the logs when I came upon them. Being patient was imperative and eventually some of the turtles accepted my presence if I didn’t move much.

As you can see in the one photograph below, some of the turtles have some green algae on their shells. This makes them more difficult to spot because they are well camouflaged with this accessory. I also saw several turtles in the river but they were farther away and stayed in the water. One of the photos below shows the head of one of these turtles.

The Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary was a great location to visit. The trails are well maintained and there is plenty of wildlife to see. I will definitely be going back there again!

Free Lightroom Slideshow Templates

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Lightroom 3 enhanced its slideshow module in some big ways.

The beauty and power of the new features in the slideshow module allow users to quickly apply a template, some of which are already included with Lightroom. This provides a very good starting point but then you can customize the slideshow in a number of ways to display your photos exactly the way you want to display them. Customizability and flexibility make the slideshow module not only helpful but extremely useful, too!

With this in mind, I created some custom slideshow templates that I use often.

The first one creates a simple black background, enlarges the photograph to most of the screen, and places a nameplate or the name of your business on the bottom. I prefer the black background because I believe it allows the photograph to be highlighted without distraction. I believe this so strongly that even my website has an all black background. This first slideshow template is pretty simple and basic but sometimes that is exactly what a portfolio needs. This template is great for wedding receptions, showing proofs to clients, and displaying a slideshow online.

The next two templates are very similar. I use one or the other when I show photos in a teaching situation where I want to display the metadata for each photograph.

The first of these two templates shows the date, camera, ISO, exposure, and the focal length of the lens. This data is displayed on the right side of the photograph. The nameplate or name of your business is displayed on the lower left.

The second of these templates simply adds the title of the photograph underneath it. The metadata is still displayed on the right and the nameplate is moved to the lower right. You need to add a title to each photo you want to use in the slideshow. This is accomplished in the library module under the metadata section on the right panel. If you don’t add the title then <empty> will be displayed where the title should be showing.

These slideshow templates are just a starting point. You can download them and use them as they appear or you can enhance them even more to include exactly what you prefer to display in your slideshows.

You can download the templates here.

Give it a try and see just how powerful the slideshow module is in Lightroom.

Create! Show! Enjoy!

Butterflies

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A butterfly. A beautiful butterfly. You see it floating along in all its majestic beauty. Doesn’t it look beautiful? Now, just try to photograph it!

Have you ever tried to photograph a butterfly? If you have, I’d like to know what worked for you? I was photographing osprey last week when some butterflies came along and grabbed my attention. I was waiting for the mother osprey to go out on another fishing expedition, so turning my attention elsewhere was not a problem. I thought, gee, there’s a butterfly, that should make a good photograph. Little did I realize how difficult this was going to be for me!

Butterflies are small and don’t sit still for very long. They float around from one spot to the next and focusing on them is a real challenge. I knew that chasing a butterfly is counterproductive and decided to simply stay in my position and let the butterflies come closer to me. This worked fairly well if I remained patient, but focusing still was not easy. I had many more out of focus photos than keepers. Are there any secrets or tricks to the trade when photographing butterflies?

Here are a few photos of my attempt at butterfly photography. I am not really completely happy with any of them. They are an attempt, which is a good thing, but now I have a strong desire to try this kind of wildlife photography again!

My First River Otter

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Last week I was photographing an Osprey family and having the time of my life!

Those who know me well will contend that I am not the most patient person in the universe. As a matter of fact, some say that I am rather impatient and a few will even say I am the most impatient person they ever met! Okay, so I can be a little impatient at times–I confess. However, put an animal in front of my camera and me  and I can patiently photograph the animal for a very, very long time–all day in fact.

So, there I was, patiently photographing this osprey family, when I saw movement in the water below me. At first I assumed it was another turtle because I spotted several of them before this. This was not a turtle. I immediately saw it was brown and furry and it was a river otter. Fortunately, I was quick to point the camera on my tripod in the river otter’s direction and snapped a few photos. It was over just as quickly as it began. I photographed my very first river otter!

My fear was that I made a mistake during this small window of photographic opportunity. Was the otter fully in focus? Did I get the exposure correct before I clicked the shutter release? Even by looking at the LCD panel on the back of camera was not very helpful in answering these questions because the sunlight was so bright. I just had to wait to see the images later on my computer screen.

These three photos answer the questions I asked myself and are the first three photographs of river otter  in my widening wildlife photography gallery.

More Seagulls – The Ring-Billed Gull

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This is interesting. I took a ton of photos this week and a bunch of the seagulls. I’ve been doing some research since my blog post yesterday to find out exactly which species of seagulls I photographed. The research is almost as exciting as photographing them!

I discovered through my research that these gulls are the Ring-Billed Gull. They are perhaps the most common gull seen today. They do migrate and actually spend a lot of time inland. In fact, some never even see the ocean. They are also sometimes referred to as “fast food gulls” because they can often be found scavenging at fast food restaurants. They are also sometimes referred to flying garbage men because they often eat garbage left behind by humans. They are mostly scavengers but also eat fish and other small aquatic animals.

Their primary identification mark is the black ring near the front of their bill, hence their name: Ring-Billed Gull.

Females produce between 2 to 4 eggs that are laid on a hollow on the ground sometimes filled with grass or debris. Both the male and the female take turns sitting on the eggs to incubate them. Eggs hatch anywhere within 21 – 28 days.

So, yeah, I learned a lot more than I figured I would about these gulls all because I captured these photographs. Fascinating!

Seagulls

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Tuesday was a day of adventure. It started out at Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary and ended at Sandy Beach State Park. Birds from osprey to seagulls were the subjects in front of my camera and I had a blast!

Seagulls are common birds that elicit thoughts of the beach and the ocean. They are often seen by everyone visiting the beach and yet are fascinating to observe. While our daughter, Lydia, was swimming in the bay, I spent some time with gulls. They were not very happy to have me chasing them around, so I just casually moved down the beach hoping to get closer to some gulls as I went. This strategy worked much better and before long I was composing seagull photos and clicking the shutter release. This was great photography to me because the subjects were all around. All I had to do was be cautious about the backgrounds and shoot away. This is relatively easy wildlife photography!

How many of you go to the beach? How many of you have photographs of seagulls?

As the evening wore on, I found myself trying harder to get quality photos of the gulls. My wife shook her head and actually laughed at me when I got down on my stomach to take some low-level shots of two gulls. Hey, I was taught that eye-level to the subject is the goal, so I didn’t think this was so outrageous! Actually, I do prefer low-angle shots. For example, when I shoot a baseball game I almost always wear knee pads and kneel along the first-base or third-base side of the field. This low-angle perspective helps focus attention on the player, which is exactly what I want to focus on.

The gulls at Sandy Point State Park made beautiful subjects; don’t you think?

Plebe Summer

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Spending several days at the United States Naval Academy is a treat any time of the year. There is so much history, architecture, and more! I prefer the hot summer days mainly because this coincides with Plebe Summer–the six weeks new midshipmen endure their initial training at the Academy.

I was privileged to see a lineup before lunch on Monday and the Brigade marching on Monday evening. The photographs here that I captured during the marching maneuvers show some of the facial expressions, which show some of the wear and tear of Plebe Summer. There are a few light-hearted expressions, too, which goes to show that at least some fun is sometimes had even in the midst of a grueling hot summer evening for the Plebes.

These young men and women are going facing tough times this summer and over the next four years. All of it, however, is designed to prepare them for their commission upon graduation. I am so proud of these men and women. Their willingness to endure tough times, better themselves, and work as a team in protecting the freedoms our country stands for are just some of the reasons I respect them. It truly takes a special breed of person to be so willing to endure so much. We all could learn a lot from their dedication, commitment, and courage!

Look through these photographs. Study the facial expressions. Imagine the tough conditions these young men and women are enduring. Think about their commitment, dedication, and courage. What do you see in these photographs?

[slideshow]

Ospreys

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My time spent at Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary in Maryland was well worth the time and effort. I had a blast, saw and photographed a lot, and will try to get back there again. It was very hot but wildlife sights and sounds were abundant!

My research on Ospreys taught me that most of their diet is fish. In fact, about 99% of their diet is fish. The parents fish by flying high in the air to spot a likely meal and then dive bomb the water to snatch the prey with their long talons. They will then turn the fish head first so they are more aerodynamic when they fly back to the nest. An average of three eggs are laid each year and both the female and the male are involved in keeping the eggs warm until they are hatched. The nest I photographed the most this week contained two juveniles and they looked hungry most of the time!

I was able to capture some decent photographs of this Osprey family and some of the flying action of the mother on her flights to find fish. In the last photograph you can see the mother and her two hungry young chicks.

Dragonflies and a Groundhog

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Today I was photographing in Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary, which is located in Marlboro, Maryland. Denise and Lydia were at Six Flags, Maryland, but since I am not one who enjoys amusement parks, I was encouraged to leave them alone. It was hot; real hot!

The dragonflies didn’t mind the heat at all. They were flying around, chasing each other, and once in a while landed on a stalk of grass. I was not able to catch any in-air flights, but I did get a lot of photos of the dragonflies.

Later on I found a groundhog where I first saw a nice den. These critters can do an awful lot of damage to farm equipment like wagons when a wheel is swallowed up by one of these dens. Here at the wildlife sanctuary the groundhog is left alone and allowed to keep his deep-holed den. I first spotted him when I was quite a ways from him–maybe about 30 yards. I slowly, ever so slowly and casually, move quietly closer. One slow step after the other brought me closer and closer. I don’t know if wearing my camo shirt helped or not, but he didn’t move as I inched closer. This groundhog seemed like a model of sorts as it was positioned on his haunches looking around.

Here are some photos I captured today.