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RifleDude View Drop Down
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    Posted: June/17/2020 at 14:38
I was driving along HWY 60 near Snook, TX at dusk and passed by a large field of sunflowers, so to demonstrate my sensitive, romantic side, I stopped and took some photos. These sunflowers were about 6 ft high.













Ted


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/17/2020 at 15:17
Big Grin   it's like Kansas!    
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/17/2020 at 15:19
Best Places to Live in Snook, Texas



Where the hell is Snook, Texas???      Big Grin







The Dismal Swamp - The Optics Talk Forums - Page 204






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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/17/2020 at 15:20
Johnny Carson Carnac Quotes. QuotesGram









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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dogger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/18/2020 at 08:38
Beautiful pictures as always Ted.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tejas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/18/2020 at 09:38
Amazing pics! Driven through that area a hundred times but I guess Iā€™m not as observant. Itā€™s cool you happened to be there with the sun in your favor. Share the technical details?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote RifleDude Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/18/2020 at 13:11
Originally posted by tejas tejas wrote:

Amazing pics! Driven through that area a hundred times but I guess Iā€™m not as observant. Itā€™s cool you happened to be there with the sun in your favor. Share the technical details?

Hey David,
The location is just north of Snook off HWY 60, a couple miles before you cross the Brazos River. My daughter lives in Bryan, so I was visiting her that day. I live in Brenham and I pass through Snook on my way to and from Bryan/College Station. There was an article in a local paper about the sunflower field because it was attracting lots of local attention from people wanting to stop and take their photos among the sunflowers. According to the article, 365 acres is planted in sunflowers, and the man who owns the property is raising them to supply product for the bird seed industry. 

On my way home following my visit, I passed by there late afternoon as the sun was low on the horizon. HWY 60 runs NE - SW through that section, and this field of sunflowers is on the west side of the highway. The field isn't fenced and the farmer said in the article that he welcomes people to come take photos. Indeed, a large crowd was already gathered there when I passed by.

As for technical details...
I was using an "old school" manual Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 lens on my Olympus E-M1 MKII camera. The E-M1 MKII has a micro 4/3 sensor, which gives a 2X effective crop factor. Thus, in terms of field of view, the 25mm lens is equivalent to a 50mm lens on a full frame sensor camera. This lens is entirely manual; it has no electronic communication with the camera body, so it will not autofocus, set aperture, or meter for exposure electronically through the camera body. You have to manually focus and set your aperture on the lens itself. I enjoy using this lens occasionally because it helps sharpen my skills by requiring me to pay more attention to my settings and light conditions, and it just feels "retro." It also gives me a little more creative control than a full auto lens. Given that I was facing west, and given that the sunflowers were head-high, getting in close allowed me to block a lot of the afternoon sunlight by the sunflowers themselves. This helped me meter on the sunflowers in shade and not the bright western sunlight. In a couple shots, I positioned myself so that the sun was peeking through the leaves of the sunflowers, giving me the nice sunbursts. Because it was approaching dusk and because there were objects in the far background (power poles, power lines, irrigation equipment) that I didn't want to be in focus in the frame, I selected fairly open apertures - f2.8 - f/4.0. This not only gave me a blurred background, keeping only the closest plants in focus, but it helped with the "mood" I was seeking in the photos. I used a pretty fast shutter - 1/100 - 1/200, along with ISO 200 to help get more saturated evening colors and also to help with the "afternoon sunset" mood. I shoot in RAW format, so I then processed in Adobe Lightroom, where I adjusted highlights, shadows, and lighting to emphasize the warm evening colors. 

Ted


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sucker76 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/18/2020 at 14:13
Originally posted by Son of Ed Son of Ed wrote:


Where the hell is Snook, Texas???      Big Grin













Snook is down the road from the oreo cows, of course. 

My grandfather used to live in Beaver Creek, which is also just down the road, and 'past the oreo cows on the left' were in his official directions to his house. 

I haven't been that way in a long time.  I hope the cows are still there. 


Ted, you amaze me again with your photo skills. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tahqua Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/18/2020 at 17:05
Great pictures, Ted
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/18/2020 at 18:53
I thought Ted's daughter was AT HOME! You mean she's BIG ENOUGH already to live somewhere else???

OMG!!!   We must be gettin' old!!!   
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/18/2020 at 18:54
I'm not....but Ted must be!!!   Bucky 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RifleDude Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/18/2020 at 19:49
Yes sir Eduardo... she graduated from college in Spring 2019, and today she is an RN at a hospital in College Station.

And...yes sir; I am indeed getting old... but on the bright side, not nearly as old as YOU!!! Heehee!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/18/2020 at 20:24
Originally posted by RifleDude RifleDude wrote:

Yes sir Eduardo... she graduated from college in Spring 2019, and today she is an RN at a hospital in College Station.

And...yes sir; I am indeed getting old... but on the bright side, not nearly as old as YOU!!! Heehee!


OMG!!!!   I thought she was a liitle girl!!!    
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/18/2020 at 20:26
I took a secret formula years ago....I only age 1 year for every ten years that go by......  Bucky
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tejas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/19/2020 at 12:12
No flash, shooting into the sun? I havenā€™t used a manual focus, non electronic lens in ages. I might could still do it, but not without a meter. Pics are amazing and sharp. Great job!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Kickboxer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/22/2020 at 07:43
Originally posted by Son of Ed Son of Ed wrote:

I took a secret formula years ago....I only age 1 year for every ten years that go by......  Bucky

he meant 10 THOUSAND years that go by...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Scrumbag Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June/22/2020 at 12:28
Great stuff!
Was sure I had a point when I started this post...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Karaoke Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August/26/2020 at 14:26
Beautiful photos!
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