Bozeman Walkabout - Lindley Park

Last week, I had a chance to join @craigdugas in a photo walk in the neighborhood around our @schedulicity offices after work. I chose not to carry a tripod, which meant shooting higher ISO on many shots than I'm normally comfortable using given the noise issues with my Olympus e500. Nevertheless, we had a great time and took a lot of pics. Good times. Here is a shot of the biking/running path that winds through Lindley. Taken with my 14-45mm at 38mm; 1/25sec at f8. Raw file post-processed in Lightroom.

Bridgers Panoramic - Bozeman, Montana

I've been playing with panoramic photography a bit lately, primarily because my wife wants a large photo to hang over our fireplace. I shoot an Olympus e500: the 8 megapixel sensor of that camera is a bit restrictive when it comes to enlargements. The lighting for this shot is nothing earth-shaking, but the sunflower field does lend some visual interest overall. I took 16 separate frames (all shot portrait with a good bit of overlap), post-processed the first in LightRoom and synched those settings to the other 15 images, and then combined them using CS4's panoramic function to create a composite PSD that is just over 1GB. Cropped and exported as .jpg, the resulting high-quality file is just 37MB. The sample shown here is a lower-quality .jpg I exported for the web.

4-Wheeling near Miller Trail - Cooke City, Montana

It was a beautiful day yesterday - we took the opportunity to go 4-wheeling between Miller Trail and Daisy Pass in the mountains above Cooke City, Montana. With such a late spring/summer this year, the wildflowers are still in full-bloom even though we're near the end of August. The Bannack Trail was as muddy as I've ever seen it this late in the year - there are enough mud holes it reminded me of early June! No complaints, though - we've had a great fire year in Montana. Taken with my 40-150mm at 48mm; 1/40sec at f8. Raw file post-processed in Lightroom.

Moon Over Abandoned Homestead - Bozeman, Montana

I don't pretend to be adept at night photography and I seldom continue shooting after sunset. Tonight, however, we were still at the site of our photo shoot after the sunset had faded. The half moon over this abandoned homestead seemed like an appropriate shot to attempt, and I'm happy enough with the results. Shot at 40mm with my 40-150mm lens; 30sec at f8. Raw file post-processed in Lightroom.

Rocky Mountain Road - Bozeman, Montana

There's not much traffic on the road 20 miles north of Bozeman at 8.30PM. The vistas we're given in Montana sometime seem unfair - I can't imagine wanting to live anywhere else. I couldn't agree more with Steinbeck when he wrote, "I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love."

Taken with my 40-150mm lens at 40mm; 1.3sec at f8. Raw file post-processed in Lightroom.

Fence at Sunset

Another shot from a photo drive I took tonight with friends just north of Bozeman, Montana. Shot with my 14-45mm at 40mm; f8 for 1/25 sec. Raw file processed in Lightroom.

Abandoned Homestead - Bozeman, Montana

My friends Craig Dugas, Eric Barnes and I went out for a photo drive earlier tonight. The local photo shop - F11 - had conducted a photo shoot at this abandoned homestead a few weeks ago, but we were unable to attend. So tonight we used the directions they provided for the shoot to find our way to the site. Although the directions were circuitous, we finally found our way after driving way too fast on a few sketchy backroads (we were racing the setting sun, you know!). We were rewarded with a great sunset - here is one of my favorite shots of the night. I mounted my FL-50 flash to open up the details of the abandoned house but still get the incredible sunset happening in the background. I am pretty happy with the results. Raw file finished off in Lightroom with minimal post-processing, sharpening, and crop.

Bannack Alpenglow

After an afternoon digging crystals at Crystal Park in the Pioneer Mountains, we rolled into Bannack just after 7pm. I love shooting in Bannack but with just over an hour before sunset, I had to choose my targets carefully.

I took this shot as I was trailing the family back to the car. If you know Bannack, you'll recognize that I'm facing east - another valuable example of how you should always look behind you during a sunset to make sure you're not missing the best show over your shoulder. This is the main street in Bannack - you can see the old Meade Hotel (the tall brick building) on the left. I used a little fill flash to open up the tree framing the shot. Post-processed in Lightroom.

Great Deal on Callaway uPro Golf GPS!

If you're serious about golf, you either already own or are seriously considering a golf GPS system. Used to be that Sky Caddy was the only game in town (I own an SG5), but this year seems to be a breakout year with several new models available from Garmin, Golf Buddy, Callaway, and others.

I like my SG5, but was under-impressed with the paltry 3 month warranty and annual subscription fee required. I'm intrigued by Callaway's uPro, which you can pick up at Golfsmith for less than $299 through the end of July 2009. Here's how:

1. Sign up for an account at ebates.com. It costs nothing to join, but you'll get 5% cash back from Ebates when you click through to Golfsmith from their site.

2. Sign in at ebates.com, find Golfsmith in the list of stores, and click the link. This will automatically get you 5% cash back on your Golfsmith purchase (you'll receive the payment later directly from Ebates - read about how this works).

3. At Golfsmith, search for "Callaway uPro Golf GPS". Callaway is offering a $100 rebate through 7/31/09. Right now, you can also use code EPS926PRE to get free shipping.

Here's how the Callaway uPro deal breaks down:

Golfsmith list price: $399.00
Ebates 5% cash back: $19.95
Callaway rebate: $100.00
Shipping: $0.00

Final out of pocket: $279.05

The uPro carries a 6 month warranty - not great, but better than the three months I have on my Sky Caddy SG5. Certain credit cards automatically double the warranty for anything you purchase - if you're fortunate enough to carry such a card, use it to extend your warranty to a full year at no additional cost.

Callaway also uses a different business model than Sky Caddy - instead of a yearly subscription, you pay for each course you download. If you tend to golf the same courses, this will save you money. The cost per course is $10, although buying in bulk brings the per course cost down.

I'm trying to talk my league partner into buying a uPro - I'll give some feedback on the device once I get to play with it. If you've got experience with it, I'd love to read your comments!

It Ain't Called 'Big Sky' for Nuthin'

To create this panoramic, I stitched together seven separate shots taken at the Headwaters State Park in Montana. I sometimes marvel how blessed we are to live in a place like this.