Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/3500 sec, ISO200 “Big Cloud” Cedar Park, 2019
I have to follow up yesterday’s sunburst post with another sky photo. The clouds the past couple of days have been great. When my Mom visited last week, we joked about how nice the clouds were, but she said that in Los Angeles, they don’t have many clouds. Come to think of it, I don’t have any particular memories of the clouds in Southern California (I was born and raised there), but I do remember when I traveled to Hawaii, the clouds there were simply amazing! And while Texas clouds aren’t quite as stunning as Hawaii’s, they can be beautiful, and the scale just seems bigger. I guess this is where I insert the comment about everything being bigger in Texas. 😆
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/16, 1/300 sec, ISO200 “Sunburst” Cedar Park, 2019
I love taking cloud/sun/sky photos, and my Fujifilm X100T makes it a breeze! In fact, any camera with an electronic viewfinder (EVF) can help because you won’t be looking directly at the sun, which not only is safe for your eyes, but the live-view allows you to can make exposure adjustments and see what the photo will look like even before you press the shutter button. Compared to my old DSLR and film cameras, using live-view feels like a bit of time-travel.
For today’s photo, these are the pertinent settings:
Circular Polarizer – Main effect here is the lens flare and used as an ND filter. I don’t think the polarizing effect was strong because of the angle.
F/16 – Stopped-down aperture gives a pronounced sunburst effect.
-1 Exposure Compensation – To keep the highlights from getting blown out.
Lightroom Preset – Basic color adjustments, bringing down the highlights, and adding a little grain.
Our trees are getting way too overgrown, and I thought that instead of hiring the tree people to come out again, I would trim the branches myself. Honestly, the trimming is not the most difficult part of the job – it’s the disposal of the branches that is the real pain in the butt. I read great things about this Ryobi chainsaw, though, and figured I could use it to not only trim the limbs that are high up (without using a ladder) but also to cut the fallen branches into smaller pieces which I could then simply throw in our trash bin. (we don’t product much non-recyclable trash, so the bin always has plenty of room)
My goal is to be able to trim a little bit here and there, just enough to fill the trash bin, and if I do that every couple of weeks, I could get the trees under control. So for the first “test-run”, I cut down a few of the smaller limbs, then trimmed those smaller and filled up the bin. It took only about 40 minutes, which is a lot quicker than I thought! I estimate, though, that I only did maybe a sixth of one tree, so it would take many 40-minute sessions to clean up the two front trees.
“Tree Work” Cedar Park, 2019
Operation of the Ryobi Pole Saw is really easy. It runs off a lithium battery so it is convenient and quiet. You don’t need to fill the chainsaw with gas, nor attach a long extension cord. You do have to add lubricating oil which can get a little messy but other than that, it’s very simple to use. I had to say that cutting the felled branches into smaller pieces isn’t as easy as I was expecting, so maybe the trick is to make multiple cuts while the branch is still attached to the tree. But I think the easiest solution is to get a small hand-chainsaw like this one but that’s another $99. We’ll see how it goes the next couple months before I decide if I need that, though.
And of course the cats loved trying to get into the box the saw came in. I think it was a little too tight a fit, though!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/90 sec, ISO6400 “Tight Squeeze” Cedar Park, 2019
I hope you had a good day.
またね～
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My camera & photos
I use a Fujifilm X-series camera for most of the photos on this site and my Instagram. Why not pick one up for yourself?
