I headed into Lithia Park to try my first pictures shooting in RAW. The above isn’t one of them. I took the same picture in RAW and could not get it to look anywhere near as good as this. I took a bunch of others in both JPEG and RAW mode too. Same result. All look far better in non-RAW mode. The processing of the RAW images is a huge hassle too. Just to load one takes a few minutes and then the manipulation can take pretty much as long as you want to spend on it.

Some people don’t shoot in RAW because it takes a few seconds to save it to the memory card (as the RAW files are huge). That isn’t a problem with the LX3. In fact, I think you can take something like four or five pictures a second even in RAW mode. But my initial experiment in RAW will not likely have me using it again anytime soon.

This photo is of Ashland Creek in Lithia Park. The little kid’s playground is just off to the left.

Posted on March 12th, 2009 under lithia park, nature. Tags: lithia park, lx3, raw vs. jpg jpeg, trees, water. Comments: 5

Yesterday was a good day for taking photos in Lithia Park as it was raining and yet there were spots of blue sky. The rain is good for photography as it keeps the people away while at the same time making the moss extra green and the rocks a richer, darker color.

This picture looks much better (on a big screen) if you maximize your browser and then click on it.

Posted on March 4th, 2009 under lithia park. Tags: lithia park, trees, water. Comments Off on Lithia Park in the rain

Another one from the archives today. This is from a couple of Octobers ago.

Posted on January 20th, 2009 under lithia park, nature, only in ashland, places. Tags: autumn, lithia park, water. Comments: 1

I know it’s only January, but I can still dream, right? Today’s photograph is from the 3rd of July 2007. The kids are playing in Lake of the Woods, a little over a half hour east of Ashland. In the background is Mt. McLaughlin.

Posted on January 19th, 2009 under nature, places. Tags: lake of the woods, mountains, Mt. McLaughlin, summer, water. Comments: 3

The Great Salt Lake (in the distance) from a Fruit Heights neighborhood… The “mountain” in the lake is Antelope Island State Park.

Posted on January 3rd, 2009 under places. Tags: clouds, houses, skywatch, snow, utah, water, winter. Comments: 3

As each day gets a little darker and colder than the last this time of year it is fun to dip into the archives and remember what it’s like to go fishing in the nearby Rogue River in August.

Posted on November 30th, 2008 under nature, people, places. Tags: clouds, ryan, skywatch, summer, trees, water. Comments Off on Fishing in the Rogue River

I was digging through some old pictures and found the above one from a trip we took to the Southern Oregon Coast more than four years ago. The beach house we rented was in Bandon. Those aren’t pictures you see on the walls. Those are windows. My kids seemed more interested in the TV, but I couldn’t stop looking out the windows.

Posted on November 26th, 2008 under people, places. Tags: bandon, beach, ellie, people, ryan, water. Comments: 5

Here is the little guy I talked about in yesterday’s blog entry. He was living out on this big rock in the ocean. There was grass (or maybe it was just moss) on the top of this rock but no trees. I’m not sure what he lived on. I doubt he scampers back into town on a regular basis since the rock is only connected to the beach for a brief part of the day. Even then it is probably a 40-yard scramble over a bunch of jagged rocks with water flowing between them. Then it’s another 20-yards of beach to the trees.

I suppose you could say he is a mini, non-human version of Ted Kaczynski, living life on his own terms, bucking the trends that his predecessor squirrels followed. I didn’t notice any manifestos or bombs in his possession however.

Posted on November 14th, 2008 under nature. Tags: beach, brookings, water, wildlife. Comments Off on Sea squirrel

At low tide on the Oregon coast you can walk out onto some of the large rocks in the ocean that are surrounded by water when the tide is higher. I took the above picture from one of those rocks. I was quite surprised to find a living friend out there who didn’t have wings and can’t swim (as far as I know). I’ll show you him next time.

Posted on November 13th, 2008 under nature. Tags: beach, brookings, water. Comments: 1