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Moon and stars over I-5 as Ashland becomes consumed in fog
Just a few minutes after I took this photo I, too, was engulfed in fog. Strangely, the temperature didn’t change, nor did any wind kick up, but just a couple hours the fog was completely gone. How does that happen?
Fog over Ashland, Oregon
We have had many foggy days these past few weeks. Actually, the fog usually departs sometime in the morning.
View from the giant boulders on the White Rabbit Trail on Thanksgiving Day 2011
We met up with some friends on Thanksgiving morning for a short hike (under a couple miles round trip I think) in the Siskiyou Mountains. The drive to the parking lot on Ashland Loop Road was spectacular. The valley was filled with fog, but as we neared the top of the road the sun began to eerily peer through the fog-surrounded trees. The scene looked like something out of a vampire movie. Unfortunately, I was driving, and there would have been a revolt had I pulled over to take pictures of the magical view.
We headed out on White Rabbit Trail (crowded on this day for once) until we came to the large boulders. The view below of the foggy valley was amazing. I was wishing that I had my ultra wide angle lens with me at the time. Alas, today’s photo is the best I could do at 18mm (on a DX).
We get lots of foggy sunrises in the winter and spring seasons. This one is from yesterday. There probably won’t be many more in the next 8 months. I like ’em, in part, because no two are the same.
The fog freeze in yesterday’s picture was actually from December. The actual fog freeze (hoar frost) in Ashland yesterday never did thaw, a first. When I woke up this morning the continuing fog and freezing temperatures had furthered the spectacle. The fog lifted for a bit for the sunrise which I captured here.
Note that this is not a pine tree; nor has there been any snow. The branches on these Japanese Maples are smooth as can be in the winter. The prickliness is completely from the frozen fog. (Maximize your browser and click on the image for the full effect.)
After 36+ hours of continual fog freeze, things finally broke today just before noon. I walked around campus while the trees seemed to be raining. The “rain” was thick though, sort of like sleet. The trees completely gave up all of the frozen fog within about 10 minutes. I have seen snow melt from trees, but this was very different. I doubt I’ll ever see anything like that kind of “tree rain” again.
Several times, since moving to Ashland more than 10 years ago, we have experienced a “fog freeze” where it will get foggy and then the temperature drops to below freezing. The plants and trees turn white until the temperature rises above freezing when the frozen fog that has clung to them melts.
This year the fog freeze has happened at least twice already, including today. Sometimes, if you are lucky, the fog will lift to reveal blue skies. The fog freeze usually melts very soon once blue skies appear so you have to be quick to catch the beauty of the white trees with blue sky background.
I took this photo out the window of my office on the SOU campus.
I’m not sure if this is Rime Frost or Hoar Frost. Does anyone know the difference?
After dropping my daughter off at school last week, on a very foggy morning, I captured these wild geese in front of the barn near Ashland Middle School. For the same view, on a much clearer day and panned back a bit, see this photo.
A fog was hanging over the valley as I woke up last week to this scene.
This morning I decided to do a side-by-side camera comparison to see if I need both an LX3 (Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3) and an S3 (Canon PowerShot S3 IS) or if I can do away with one. I took both cameras outside and set them next to each other on my deck railing. The first thing I noticed before even taking the pictures is that I like everything better on the LX3. It is much smaller, lighter, has a better view screen, features a higher-quality casing, includes a much better lens cap, and just feels better in every way.
Next I took a picture with each at the widest angle setting possible.
The above is the LX3 result on wide angle.
The above is the S3 result on wide angle.
The most obvious difference is the wide angle on the LX3 is wider than that on the S3. While this is great for landscape photography, it also provides some benefits for indoor and portrait photography. For instance, I can take self portraits of the entire family (four people) without a tripod with the LX3. I can barely hold my S3 camera outstreched with one hand (due to size and weight) for a self portrait, let alone have it capture more than two people in the image.
The second difference in the above two photos are the colors are a bit better with the LX3. Perhaps this is just because the LX3 captured more of the grass than the S3, but, to me, the greens of the grass look greener in the LX3 picture. The red-green distinction of the tennis court is also nicer looking in the LX3 photograph. The clouds also look a bit better in the LX3 photo. Maybe that is because they aren’t quite as close, but they seem less grainy in any event.
Conclusion: For landscape photography I’m usually going to get better results with the LX3.
Next, I zoomed both to max (3.6X for LX3, 12X for S3) and got the following:
The above is the LX3 result on 3.6X optical zoom. (The manual says it can go up to 4.5X optical zoom, but my settings must not have been right to get to 4.5X.)
The above is the S3 result on 12X optical zoom.
These images aren’t very comparable given the difference in zoom. I should have done a photo with the S3 at about 3-4X zoom for better comparability. However, on maximum zoom the LX3 photograph is far crisper and clearer, the colors are much better, and the image isn’t even remotely grainy like the S3 image on 12X zoom.
I haven’t needed to take many pictures with 12X zoom. Most of the times I have used maximum zoom on my S3 the results have not been good. The images are usually blurry and/or grainy like you see here (even though the camera was at rest so there were no jitters on my end). Is 12X zoom nice to have on occasion? Yes. Is holding on to my S3 for those rare opportunities worthwhile? Probably not… So if you are looking for an S3 at a good price…
