Digital Images

October Full Moon Rising Over Cleveland 2014

2014-10-05T15:45:00.000-04:00

This is from last years December Full Moon Shoot

Ok the first of the Full Moon Rising Over Cleveland Cool Photo Ops is 10/8, 10/9, 10/10, don't worry if you can't make this one cause there will be events in November and December too.

More info on this event can be found here: October Moonrise over Cleveland Cool Photo Op

Now the question is where is the best location to shoot from and where over the city will the moon rise? Unlike the sun, the moon rises at different times and different locations every night. We will be shooting over 3 nights, Wed, Thurs, and Fri. Each night offers something different, so pick the night you prefer or go on multiple nights. Now here's some info on each night.

Wednesday 10/8 Meet at Upper Edgewater or Perkins Bluff around 6:00pm

Sunset: 18:57 (6:57pm)
Moonrise: 19:11 (7:11pm) 99.6% full. The moon will rise to the south of the Terminal Tower
Good Location to shoot: Upper Edgewater Park
Better Location: The Bluff over Perkins Beach
Best Location: Lakewood Park, from here the moon will rise more toward the center of the city, however I'm not sure what time Lakewood Park closes at this time of year. Also not as many people can shoot from Lakewood as they can from Edgewater. Note you will also be a lot farther away from the city and may need a longer lens.

The lighting of the city and of the moon may be the best on Wednesday, since the moon will be rising shortly after the sunsets. We will still have some light on the city as the moon starts to rise.

Upper Edgewater Shooting Location:

The light blue line shows where the moon will rise over the city from Upper Edgewater Park

Perkins Bluff Shooting Location:

Here you will get the moon rising a little farther North, but still south of the Terminal Tower

Thursday 10:9 Meet at Upper Edgewater or Perkin's Bluff around 7:15 to set up your stuff, get there earlier if you want to get the light of the setting sun shining on the skyline.

Sunset: 18:55 (6:55pm)

Moonrise: 19:50 (7:50pm) 96.9% Full The moon will rise at the horizon north of the Terminal Tower. Please note that we may have to wait 10 or 15 minutes to see the moon since it has to rise above the skyline so we may not see it till it's south of the Terminal Tower. Again the light blue line is where the moon will rise.

Locations to shoot from are Upper Edgewater and Perkins Bluff

On Thursday the moon will rise well after sunset so the city will be dark, the Terminal Tower will be lit up in various colors

Upper Edgewater shooting location:

Friday 10/10 Meet at Upper Edgewater Park at around 7:45pm

Sunset: 18:53 (6:53pm)

Moonrise: 20:32 (8:32pm) 91.6% Full the moon will rise more toward the center of the city

Locations to shoot from: Upper Edgewater park

On Friday the moon will rise more toward the center of Public Square and again well after sunset. Terminal Tower will be lit up.

So there you have it, pick the night best for you, remember to keep an eye on the weather!

Remember we are meeting at UPPER EDGEWATER Park NOT Edgewater Beach, the entrance to Upper Edgewater Park is at the Intersection of West Blvd and Cliff Drive.

Here is a map where to park and shooting locations.

Cool Photo Ops Road Trip Checklist

2014-04-20T11:51:00.000-04:00

Here's a Photography Checklist of things to bring along on a Photography Road Trip....

Cameras
Batteries and charger
Memory Cards, card reader and card holders
Tripods
Flash
Filters - Polarizer, ND Filters, Split ND filters, filter holders
Camera Bags or belt packs
Lenses - all lenses from wide angle to telephoto, macro, fisheye
Remote cable release
Flashlight
Rain gear - poncho, rain pants, rain cover for your camera
Hiking boots
Hat and jacket or sweatshirt
Computer, external Hard Drive, cables, power cords
Rocket Blower, Lens Pen, microfiber cloth, sensor cleaning kit
GPS, for the car, handheld for hiking, one for the camera if you like geotagging your photos
Sunscreen, Bug spray, sunglasses
Binoculars for spotting wildlife
Spare set of car keys
Water Bottle or for some people I know a flask!!!
Notebook, pen
Snacks

Well that's the list for now if anyone has anything to add let me know!

Now that you have your gear packed and ready to go, you may need ideas of fun places to take photos, a great resource is the Cool Photo Ops group on Facebook where we list fun places to take photos in Ohio and beyond. We also go on Photography Road Trips from time to time, the next big road trip is a trip to Blackwater Falls in WV on May 18 - May 22nd, everyone is welcome!

Join in on the fun here: Cool Photo Ops

Punderson Sled Dog Classic 2014 Cool Photo Op 2/22 and 2/23

2013-12-19T17:58:00.000-05:00

Photographers, Get your cameras ready

Now for something different the 2014 Punderson Sled Dog Classic taking place on Saturday Feb22nd and Sunday Feb 23rd 2014!

A lot of photographer's in the Cool Photo Ops FB group will be going on Saturday February 22nd, if you can't make it then you can always go on Sunday February 23rd. Join us if you want, everyone is welcome including family and friends.

Note: The conditions have to be just right for the dogs to race, even if there is snow they sometimes cancel the race if it's not safe for the dogs or racers.

Click the photo to go to Sled Dog Gallery

Hi Everyone a cool place to shoot this winter is the Sled Dog Classic at Punderson State Park on 2/22/2014 and 2/23/2014. The event is free for spectators. This should be a fun Photo Shoot, a lot of us went in 2010 and had a great time. You can see my photos at this link Sled Dog Classic Photos

Time : 9:00 am Races start at 10am on Saturday and 9:30am on Sunday
Place: Punderson State Park
Park Map: Punderson State Park Map
Directions: Click on the camera icon to get directions from your location. To view a larger map Click on "View Larger Map" below.

GPS Coordinates
latitude: 41.46118938889867
longitude: -81.21947765350342

View Larger Map

Sled Dog Photo Tips

This will be the second time at the Sled Dog Classic for me, here are some photo tips I learned from 2010

1. The best shots are taken with the Sled Dogs running toward you. Shots from the side are not as dramatic

2. Get down low at the dogs eye level.

3. Try and take some human interest shots of the dogs and their owners

4. Sled Dogs are cool, try and get some good portrait shots of them.

5. Try to capture the peak action.

6. Try to show how strong these animals are as they pull the sleds.

Well those are some of my tips, if anyone else has any tips to share, just click on "comments" below and leave your tips, comments and suggestions.

If you are going on the Sled Dog Classic Shoot or any cold weather shoot you want to keep your hands warm but still be able to use the controls on your camera so what do you do?

I'm going to try out my new Freehands Gloves, the index finger and thumb fold back so you can control the camera:

See a Sled Dog Classic Slideshow

December Full Moon Rising Over Cleveland Cool Photo Op 12/15 -12/20

2013-12-07T11:44:00.000-05:00

Hey Photographers are you ready to brave the cold weather and photograph the Full Moon Rising over Cleveland? Well here's your chance, we had really big turnouts in October and November, now you'll have a chance to get some winter Full Moon shots in December. The Moon will be rising near Browns Stadium and moving over the city from Sunday the 15th to Friday the 20th. The best days for fullness will be Monday thru Thursday with the actual full moon occurring on Tuesday the 17th. Everyone is welcome to join in the Fun!!! NOTE the shoot takes place at the Upper Level of Edgewater Park, the entrance is at West Blvd and Cliff Drive. Go here to sign up and see who else is going.... Cool Photo Ops Full Moon Shoot

More Full Moon photos can be seen here: Hunter Moon Rising and here: Beaver Moon Rising

As stated above the actual Full Moon will be on Tuesday 12/17 but since a lot of people work it may be hard for them to get out of work and down to Edgewater on time for the moon rise, that's why this event will start on Sunday 12/15 and continue thru Friday 12/ 20. Go on the day that's convenient for you. The moon will rise in different places over the city and different times each which I'll list below. As an added bonus on Sunday we will have an added Christmas Lights Cool Photo Op in downtown Cleveland. This is optional, join in if you want to.

ALL OF THE MOONRISE SHOOTS TAKE PLACE AT THE UPPER LEVEL OF EDGEWATER PARK. Do NOT put Edgewater Park into your GPS or you will end up at the main beach entrance. The Upper Level has a separate entrance at the intersection of West Blvd and Cliff Drive.

Here's a Google Map.....

View Cool Photo Ops December Full Moon Rise Over Cleveland in a larger map

Here's the Moonrise info:

Sunday: The moon will rise near Browns Stadium Meet at Upper Edgewater Park at 3:00pm
Sunset: 16:58
Moonrise: 16:01 The moon will rise about an hour before sunset, so on this night you will have more even lighting on the Moon and downtown buildings Full Moon 95%

Monday: Again the moon will rise near Browns Stadium Meet at Upper Edgewater Park at 4:00pm
Sunset: 16:58
Moonrise 16:48 The moon will rise 10 minutes before Sunset Full Moon 98%

Tuesday: The night of the Full Moon. The moon will rise again near Browns Stadium Meet at Upper Edgewater Park at 4:30pm
Sunset: 16:48
Moonrise: 17:38 The moon will rise about 40 minutes after sunset so it will be dark and downtown buildings lit up. Moon 100%

Wednesday: The moon will rise over Lakeside Ave Meet at Upper Edgewater Park at 5:30pm
Sunset: 16:59
Moonrise: 18:30 Moonrises an hour and a half after sunset Moon 99.7%

Thursday: The moon again rises near Lakeside Ave Meet at Upper Edgewater Park at 7:00pm
Sunset: 16:59
Moonrise: 19:25 Moon rises about 2 1/2 hours after sunset. Moon 98%

Friday: The Moon takes a big jump here and rises over Public Square between the Key Tower and BP Building Meet at Upper Edgewater Park at 8:00pm
Sunset: 16:59
Moonrise: 20:21 Moon rises about 2 hours and 22 minutes after sunset over the center of the city

So you can see while the sunset is pretty constant at about 5pm every night, the moon rise time and location changes a lot. From rising before sunset near Browns Stadium at 4:01pm on Sunday to rising over Public Square at 8:21pm on Friday.

Keep an eye on the skies and weather and pick the day or days that work best for you! Hope to see you there!!!!

Bonus Photo Op - Cleveland Christmas Lights - after the moonrise we will hop on the shoreway and into downtown Cleveland to photograph the Christmas Lights from various locations. Here are some photos from last year.... Click to go to the gallery

Moonrise Photo Tips and stuff to bring:
1. A flashlight so you can see what you're doing after the sun sets
2. A remote cable release if you have one
3 A sturdy tripod and DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT RAISING YOUR CENTER POST!!! Raising the center post is very unstable and will cause camera movement, its very windy by the lake and you will be using some long exposures, s I like to get a lot of the building and sometimes the Lake in focus so I like to shoot at an aperture of around F7 or F8, if you close down more you end up with some really long exposure times which would be ok and a still night, but o you want your camera to be as stable as possible.

For the best quality shoot at low ISO's of 100 or 200, if you want to keep the exposure times down you could go as high as 400 ISO.

if the wind is blowing it could cause some blurry photos. Shooting at wider apertures or even wide open is ok too, but you'll have less depth of field.

Anyway hope to see a lot of you down by the Lake for this Cool Photo Op! Everybody is welcome to join in the fun, bring family and friends if you want!

And if you enjoy going on fun casual photo ops like this then check out the Cool Photo Ops Facebook Group, where we post cool places to take photos in Ohio and beyond, everyone is welcome to join in the fun from beginning photographers to more experienced photographers the only prerequisite is Ya Gotta Have Fun!!!!!

November Full Moon Rising Over Cleveland Cool Photo Op

2013-11-10T18:11:00.001-05:00

Photographers are you ready to photograph the Full Moon rising over Cleveland? Well you'll have your chance 11/16 through 11/19. Go on all the days or pick the day that best fits your schedule. I'm planning on going on Saturday the 16th and Sunday the 17th. I'll use 11/18 and 11/19 as makeup days if the weather doesn't cooperate on Saturday and Sunday

So how do we know where the moon will rise and where we should shoot from? We'll use the great FREE program The Photographer's Ephemeris, it's a great program for planning your photo shoots for Sunrise, Sunsets, Moonrise and Moonset. It's also great for seeing the angle of the sun during other times of day. The desktop version is free and there are apps for smartphones.

Here's when will meet up:
Saturday: 4pm
Sunday: 4:30pm
Monday: 5:30pm Optional
Tuesday: 6:30pm Optional

Note: Saturday and Sunday are the best night, and that's when I'll be there, Monday and Tuesday are optional and I'll be there if the weather was bad on Saturday and Sunday.

We will be shooting from Upper Edgewater park, the entrance is at the intersection of West Blvd and Cliff Drive. DO NOT program your gps for Edgewater Park or you'll end up in the lot by the beach and fishing pier. I will have a google map with directions at the bottom of this post. Here's a photo of where to park. Park where it says "Park Here". If the lot fills up then park in the Overflow lot. We will be shooting from the bluff where the red balloon is.

This weekend the moon will be rising a little north of the city and at different times each night, lets look at each night and see where the moon will rise and at what time....

Saturday 11/16
Sunset: 17:06
Moonrise: 16:40 97.3% Full Moon

Saturday will be the day for the best balanced light between the moon the city since the Moon will rise about 26 minutes before the sun sets. The moon rise is at 16:40 and sunset at 17:06 so there will be some nice sunlight on the city as the moon rises. The Moon will rise over Lakeside Ave. which is a little North of the Key Tower, we won't see the moon exactly at 16:40 since the moon will have to rise above the buildings in the city. It will be twilight so there will be blue in the sky and the buildings lit with the last rays of the Sun. It should look something like this only the Moon will be to the left of Key Tower...

Saturday Moonise - Click for large view

Sunday

Sunset: 17:05

Moonrise: 17:21 Full Moon

Sunday is the actual Full Moon, the Moon will rise over the RR tracks South of Browns Stadium. The Moon rises 15 minutes after the Sun sets so it will be dark when the moon rises.

Sunday Moonrise - Click for large view

Monday

Sunset: 17:04

Moonrise: 18:05 99.9% Full Moon

Tuesday

Sunset: 17:03

Moonrise: 18:53 98.2% Full Moon

On Monday and Tuesday the moon rises well after the sun sets and will rise farther to the North over Browns Stadium. If the weather is bad on Saturday and Sunday or if you couldn't make it over the weekend you could try and photograph the moon on these nights.

Monday and Tuesday Moonrise - Click for large view

Moonrise Photo Tips and stuff to bring:

1. A flashlight so you can see what you're doing after the sun sets
2. A remote cable release if you have one
3 A sturdy tripod and DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT RAISING YOUR CENTER POST!!! Raising the center post is very unstable and will cause camera movement, its very windy by the lake and you will be using some long exposures, so you want your camera to be as stable as possible.

For the best quality shoot at low ISO's of 100 or 200, if you want to keep the exposure times down you could go as high as 400 ISO.

I like to get a lot of the building and sometimes the Lake in focus so I like to shoot at an aperture of around F7 or F8, if you close down more you end up with some really long exposure times which would be ok and a still night, but if the wind is blowing it could cause some blurry photos. Shooting at wider apertures or even wide open is ok too, but you'll have less depth of field.

Anyway hope to see a lot of you down by the Lake for this Cool Photo Op! Everybody is welcome to join in the fun, bring family and friends if you want!

And if you enjoy going on fun casual photo ops like this then check out the Cool Photo Ops Facebook Group, where we post cool places to take photos in Ohio and beyond, everyone is welcome to join in the fun from beginning photographers to more experienced photographers the only prerequisite is Ya Gotta Have Fun!!!!!

Here's a map of shooting locations and where to park:

View Cool Photo Ops Oct Full Moonrise Over Cleveland in a larger map

Great Places to Photograph Fall Colors in Ohio

2013-09-29T14:15:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone, well it's that time of year again that all photographers like, Fall Color season and the question always gets asked.... "Where's the best place to take fall color shots?" I'm going to list some of my favorite spots and I hope you will contribute you're favorite spots as well. Best place to post your favorite spots would be on the Cool Photo Ops Group page on Facebook

The only other question is WHEN to go shooting, every year the leaves peek at different times, you can use this site to see when the best time is to shoot in Ohio

Ohio Fall Color Report

At the bottom of this post I'll have a Google Map with direction to all the sites posted, included will be GPS coordinates in the Decimal Degree format, if you use a different format make sure you convert before entering the info in your GPS.

Conkles Hollow in Hocking Hills

While the whole Hocking Hills State Park is great for fall colors, my favorite place is the rim trail at Conkles Hollow. When you enter Conkle's Hollow head up the stairs on your right to get to the rim trail, there's lots of cool overlooks once you get up there.

Click on the photo to see more Hocking Hills photos

Mt Jeez

Mt Jeez is located across from Malabar Farms and offers great views of the farm and the valley below, it's located SE of Mansfield
Mt Jeez is located up a gravel road off Pleasant Valley Rd. RT303
GPS: 40.653240, -82.386633

Click the photo to see more of Mt Jeez

Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Cleveland MetroParks

There's lots of great place to take Fall Color photos in the CVNP and Cleveland MetroParks, I'll list a few of my favorites here:

Bridal Veil Falls and Tinker's Creek Gorge Overlook

Get great shots of the Tinker's Creek Gorge then head down the road and get some shots of Bridal Veil Falls

Click the photo to see more of Bridal Veil Falls

Tinker's Creek Nature Preserve

Don't confuse this with the Tinker's Creek Gorge above, this is a totally different park. The parking lot for the nature preserve is pretty small, it might hold about 8 cars and that includes handicap parking. The Seven Ponds hiking trail is great for fall color photos, with all of the ponds you can get some great shots of the leaves reflecting in the water.
Click the photo to see more of Tinker's Creek Nature Preserve

Well there's a few for starters, other great places are Blue Hen Falls, Brandywine Falls, Sylvan Pond, Rocky River Metropark, North and South Chagrin Metroparks and many more.

Here's a Google Map of the sites listed above:

View Fall Color Cool Photo Ops in a larger map

I'll be posting more fun places to take Fall Color photos on the Cool Photo Ops Facebook Group so be sure and check it out. Everyone is welcome to join in the fun!!!

Cool Photo Op - October Full Moon Rising over Cleveland 10/18 to 10/20

2013-09-24T19:00:00.000-04:00

Wanna get a great shot of the full moon rising over Cleveland? Well you'll have you're chance from October 18th to October 20th. Last Saturday some photographer friends and I got the moon rising over Cleveland from the upper level of Edgewater Park, if you missed out on that Cool Photo Op you might want to meet up with us on one of the days the Full Moon rises over the city in October.

Here a a few shots from last Saturday....

If you'd like to try getting some photos like those then please join us for the October Cool Photo Op of the Full Moon rising over Cleveland, you'll have three chances to get the moon rising over Cleveland from Friday October 18 to Sunday October 20th each day the Moon will rise in a different spot over the city and there are better locations to photograph the moon from depending on the night. Once again we will use the great program The Photographer's Ephemeris to determine where the best location to shoot the Full Moon will be.
This program is great for planning your shoots and the desktop version is free!!! Anyway lets look at each night and see where we want to shoot the moon from.

Friday 18th
Sunset: 18:40
Moonrise: 18:30

The timing of the sunset to moonrise is perfect on Friday, the sun will set 10 minutes after the moon rises, that means the city will be lit with low evening light as the moon is rising, remember the the moon rise time of 18:30 is at a flat horizon, we will have to wait a few minutes for the moon to appear from behind the tall buildings of downtown. Now where will the best location be???? Well looking at the Photographer's Ephemeris Map the best location would probably be the bluff over Perkin's Beach which is just to the west of Edgewater Park. As you can see from the map below, from Perkins Beach the Moon will rise to the North of the Terminal Tower. If you wanted you could take some shots from Edgewater like we did last Saturday however the Moon would rise behind the Terminal Tower and by the time we would see it would be to the right of the Tower which is still a nice shot. I'm going for the Perkin's Beach location on Friday myself. The light blue line is where the moon will rise.

Location: Perkin's Beach on Friday Night

Saturday
Sunset: 18:39
Moonrise: 19:05

On Saturday the moon rises about 25 minutes after the sun sets, so the city will be dark except for the lights in the buildings and you can get some cool shots of the Terminal Tower lit up. The Moon will rise further north on Saturday. North of the Key Tower to be exact. Best location on Saturday is from the Bluff in Edgewater where we took the photos from last Saturday. Since the moon rises more North of the city on Saturday we will have more hang time of the moon over the center part of the city. Here's the map:

Location Upper Level of Edgewater Park on Saturday Night

Note: You could also shoot from Perkin's Beach on Saturday, but the moon would rise a little farther North of the City about where City Hall is.

Sunday
Sunset: 18:37
Moonrise 19:44

I look at Sunday as the makeup date if the weather doesn't cooperate on Friday or Saturday. On Sunday the moon will rise a little farther North than it does on Saturday when shooting from the Upper Level of Edgewater Park.

So there you have pick the date and time that's convenient for you, I plan on going on both Friday and Saturday, the lighting and location of the moonrise will be different on both days so you'll get a nice variety of photos if you go both nights.

Moonrise Photo Tips and stuff to bring:

1. A flashlight so you can see what you're doing after the sun sets
2. A remote cable release if you have one
3 A sturdy tripod and DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT RAISING YOUR CENTER POST!!! Raising the center post is very unstable and will cause camera movement, its very windy by the lake and you will be using some long exposures, so you want your camera to be as stable as possible.

For the best quality shoot at low ISO's of 100 or 200, if you want to keep the exposure times down you could go as high as 400 ISO.

I like to get a lot of the building and sometimes the Lake in focus so I like to shoot at an aperture of around F7 or F8, if you close down more you end up with some really long exposure times which would be ok and a still night, but if the wind is blowing it could cause some blurry photos. Shooting at wider apertures or even wide open is ok too, but you'll have less depth of field.

Anyway hope to see a lot of you down by the Lake for this Cool Photo Op! Everybody is welcome to join in the fun, bring family and friends if you want!

And if you enjoy going on fun casual photo ops like this then check out the Cool Photo Ops Facebook Group, where we post cool places to take photos in Ohio and beyond, everyone is welcome to join in the fun from beginning photographers to more experienced photographers the only prerequisite is Ya Gotta Have Fun!!!!!

Here's a map of shooting locations and where to park:

View Cool Photo Ops Oct Full Moonrise Over Cleveland in a larger map

Full Moon Over Cleveland from Edgewater Park 9/19 to 9/21

2013-09-16T20:53:00.002-04:00

Hey Photographers, there will be a Full Moon rising over Cleveland this week, the actual Full Moon will be on Thursday, but will be 99.7% full on Friday and 97% Full on Saturday. So what day is the best to shoot the Full Moon, well that the depends the best time wise is Thursday, but the best location wise is Saturday. Lets look at this using the Photographer's Ephemeris.....

Thursday:
Sunset is 19:28
Moonrise is 19:25

So this is ideal lighting the moon will actually rise a few minutes before the sun sets so you'll get the last rays of the sun lighting the city at the moon rises. Now for the downside the location of the moonrise will be south of the city as we see below. The light blue line is where the moon will rise on Thursday

Full Moon Rise on Thursday - moonrise is south of the city.

Friday
Sunset is 19:27
Moonrise is 19:58

The sun will be setting 31 minutes before the moonrises which isn't as good for the lighting as Thurday but the moonrise will move farther north but still be south of the Terminal Tower

Full Moon Rise on Friday - Moon rises closer to the city but south of Terminal Tower

Saturday
Sunset is 19:25
Moonrise is 20:33

Now the moon will rise a little more than an hour after sunset, however this is the day for the best location of the moonrise. The moon will rise on Saturday over Public Square.

Full Moon Rise on Saturday - Moon Rises over Public Square

So there are your Moonrise options, Thursday is the best for the light, but the worst for the moon's location and Saturday is the best for the location of the Moonrise, I think I would go for Saturday for the best photo of the moon over Cleveland. The only other problem is the weather, you sure don't want to go if the sky is cloud covered.

As you can see the Photographer's Ephemeris is a great tool for planning your shoot and the desktop version is FREE, get it here.... The Photographer's Ephemeris they also have apps for smartphones

Hey Photographers if you like going on fun casual photo ops, then you might want to check out the Cool Photo Ops Facebook Group where we post fun places to take photos in Ohio and beyond. Everyone is welcome to join in the fun.

Next Cool Photo Op is the Ravenna Balloon A-Fair

A Day at Sandy Ridge

2013-08-31T12:19:00.000-04:00

I've been on vacation for the past week and last Thursday I decided to go to the Sandy Ridge Reservation in North Ridgeville. Here's a description of Sandy Ridge from their website....

Sandy Ridge Reservation is a 310 acre wetland and wildlife preserve located in North Ridgeville. The park opened in 1999 and has quickly become a favorite of outdoor enthusiasts and one of the most popular parks for birding in Lorain County. The reservation lies on level, soggy ground flanked to the north and south by ancient beach ridges and consists of forests and open lands to explore.

I thought maybe some of my photographer friends might want to join me, so I posted a Spur of the Moment Cool Photo Op at Sandy Ridge on the Cool Photo Ops facebook group. By the way if you're not familiar with the Cool Photo Ops group, it's a group where we post cool places to take photos in Ohio and beyond. Everyone is welcome to join in the fun and post photos and let other photographers know of great places to take photos, family and friends can come along too. To join just go here: Cool Photo Ops

Well quite a few photographers saw the post and decided to join me, here's some photos of our adventure at Sandy Ridge (Click on any photo to go to a gallery to see more photos)

Photographers exploring Sandy Ridge

Egrets in Flight Caterpillar

Slideshow

Everyone had a great time and got some really great photos.

The next Cool Photo Ops coming up are:

Historic Zoar Civil War Reenactment

Ashtabula Covered Bridges with Eileen Findak

Two Fun Photo Shoots in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park

2013-08-20T22:05:00.003-04:00

Hi Everyone, well last Saturday was a busy day for me, I went on two shoots in one day, first I got up at the crack of dawn and met up with some photographer friends at Kendall Hills for the Cuhahoga Valley Photo Society's summer photo walk. Some of us walked down to Kendall Lake to shoot the sunrise while others stayed at the top of the hill to catch the sunrise. The photo walks are a lot of fun, they have them 6 times a year and usually take place somewhere in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. If you like outdoor and Nature Photography you might want to check them out. Cuyahoga Valley Photo Society

Here are a few shots from the photo walk

Here's a link to some of the photo walks I've been on over the years with CVPS..... Photo Walks

After I left the CVPS photo walk I headed to the Fitzwater Rail Yard off Canal Road, this is where they work on the train that runs through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Here a met up with 18 other photographers from the Cool Photo Ops facebook group and the Northeast Ohio Photographers Google community. We had a great time exploring the buildings where the work on the trains and also exploring the trains themselves. In a couple of weeks 35 of us are going to a night photo shoot at Fitzwater when the 765 steam engine is going to be there.

Here's a slideshow of the Fitzwater shoot. Click on any of the photos on this page to see more photos in the galleries....

If you like going on fun photo shoots like these then check out the Cool Photo Ops group on facebook, where we post fun places to take photos, everyone is welcome to join in the fun!!!

Some Cool Photo Ops coming up in August

2013-08-05T21:27:00.000-04:00

Here's some Cool Photo Ops coming up in August.... Click on the Headings for more info

Civil War Reenactment at Hale Farm August 9-11 10am -5PM

Thousands of visitors and re-enactors flock to Hale Farm & Village annually for this popular summertime event—one of the largest Civil War reenactments in Ohio. Meet soldiers and civilians. Hear the sounds of battle and smell the gunpowder. Shake hands with President Lincoln or shop for a hoopskirt. Don’t miss the excitement!

Admission:
General admission is $10.00 for adults, $5.00 for children 3 - 12 years of age. Members of the WRHS and children 0-2 years old are admitted free.
Group admission rates available. 330-666-3711
Special admission rates are $6.00 for handi-capped/mentally challenged adults, $6.00 for handicapped/mentally challenged children, $6.00 for chaperones (varies), and wheelchairs are no charge.
We gladly accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express in the Visitor Center Admissions area. If you are onsite making purchases or paying admission and a gate opened specifically for the event, we can only accept cash.

Directions:
Hale Farm & Village is located at:
2686 Oak Hill Road, Bath, Ohio 44210 .
Telephone: (800) 589-9703, out of Ohio (330) 666-3711.

Cool Photo Op - D-Day Reenactment Conneaut 8/16- 8/17

Here's a great event suggested by Robert R. Schleimer...

Join us for the largest D-Day Conneaut ever!

Once again D-Day Ohio, Inc. will invade the Lake Erie shores of Conneaut, Ohio, and stage the largest D-Day (1944) living history reenactment in the country. Featuring nearly 1,000 reenactors from across the US and Canada, spectators witness men, women, and their machines perform a living tribute to the veterans of WWII through dress, mock battles, and living history displays.

Come join us at this Admission FREE event and experience what many call the most realistic and educational D-Day reenactment showcasing the WWII era.

The event occurs within the beautifully kept grounds of Conneaut Township Park, in Conneaut, Ohio. Just off Interstate 90 (Exit 241), 5 miles west of the Pennsylvania border, Conneaut is just about half way between Cleveland Ohio and Erie Pennsylvania. There's plenty of free parking with speedy shuttles. *Entry is free but donations of any size are always appreciated.

And for you Train lovers Duane Zen Loya event:

Fitzwater Train Yard Tour 8/17 9am - 12pm

Click the header for more info

Go here to see the latest Cool Photo Op Events

and remember to check out Cool Photo Ops Facebook group, where we post cool places to take photos everyone is welcome to join in the fun and if you hear of any cool places to take photos please post them in the group.

The New Smugmug

2013-08-03T19:25:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone, for years I've been hosting my photos on Smugmug, it's a great place for displaying and selling your photos, they don't compress the photos the way some sites do and you get unlimited uploads. Well Smugmug just got a lot better with new easier ways to customize your site to make it your own. In the past when you wanted to customize your site you had to know how to code CSS, HTML and Javascript, with the new site you drag and drop and change settings and colors in a dialog box and for those who want to use CSS and HTML for even more customizing you can. You can add slideshows to your homepage and other pages, you can display your galleries in many different ways, you can have a map page to display geotagged photos, you can have search and keyword pages. I have a combination search/keyword page on my site. They added a cool way people can search for photos using a rotating keyword cloud. You can check it out here.

If you want to sell photos Smugmug makes it easy to do that to and you can set your own prices if you have a Portfolio or Business account. For more casual users who just want to share photos with family and friend the Basic or Power user account are for you.

Here's a comparison of the different accounts: Smugmug Features

I recently redid my site in the new format and you can check it out here Digital Images by Ron Skinner. Feel free to explore the site and let me know how you like it.

Smugmug also interacts well with the social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and many more. You can create FB Albums directly from Smugmug with their "Publish to Facebook" feature. You can quickly post links to your photos by sharing them with one click to FB, Google+ and Twitter

If you'd like to try Smugmug out free go here: Smugmug Trial
That link should insert a coupon code to get you a $5 discount on your account or you can just insert this coupon code if you decide to sign up.... aUvDzphm1l71Y

They even make it easy for you to put stupid photos of yourself in a blog like this one:

Well there you have it if you're looking for a place to host your photos or maybe even sell them then check out Smugmug. Check out my site to see what you can do Digital Images by Ron Skinner

and if you like what you see try it out here: Smugmug Trial

And for you photographers that are looking for cool places to take photos, check out the Cool Photo Ops Group on Facebook where we post fun places to take photos every week. Everyone is welcome to join in, but ya gotta have FUN!!!

Some of the events coming up in the next few weeks are Civil War Reenactment, D-Day Reenactment, A tour of the Fitzwater Train Yard tour in the CVNP

New Cool Photo Ops and Creative Challenges Facebook Group

2013-01-05T15:05:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone, a lot of times I get asked "Hey Ron any good photo shoots happening this week?" I'm sure a lot you get asked where you're going to photos this week too, so I thought I'd create a group where people can post Cool Photo Ops, so if you know of any cool photo events that you or your photo group is having or if your just going out to shoot on your own and would like to let your photographer friends know where you're going feel free to post it on the Cool Photo Ops and Creative Challenge group on Facebook

Also feel free to post photos from your photo adventures.

I also want to have Creative Photo Challenges from time to time, where we can see how creative we can be with our cameras and lenses. For example going somewhere and shooting only with your widest angle lens. If anyone has any Creative Challenge suggestions feel free to post them

What the Cool Photo Ops and Creative Challenge Group is about....

A place where photographers share Cool places to take photos and to also have Creative Challenges suggested by group members to help photographers learn new photographic skills.

We want to be more than just another photo group where people post their photos, we want to encourage people to be creative and try new techniques with their photography and most importantly have fun with photography. If you're new to photography we encourage you to ask questions.

So in keeping with the goals of the the group, we'd like you to to keep these guidelines in mind.....

Cool Photo Ops posting Guidelines:

1. Please post Cool Photo Ops and Events that you think other photographers would be interested in attending. If you go to one of the photo ops feel free to post photos of the event and let others know how you liked it.

2. Feel free to suggest Creative Challenges that are fun and help people learn more about their cameras and lenses and photography techniques. For example taking all photos with a wide angle lens for a day, or taking panning photos, or as one member suggested shooting in manual mode for a day. Remember to share your photos taken during the challenge.

3. Photo Posting..... We encourage posting photos, but instead of just posting photos, lets share some info about the photos to help our fellow photographers, for example

Where the photo was taken
Techniques used: selective focus, panning, filters used, lens used, HDR etc
Time of day taken or best time of day to be at a location

So in general when posting a photo also post information that would be helpful to other photographers.

One more thing, remember when you're out taking photos to HAVE FUN! :)

Here's a Cool Photo Op on the upper rim trail in Conkle's Hollow in Hocking Hills

Ron on the Conkle's Hollow Rim Trail in Hocking Hills

Let your friends know about the group, oh and this is a photo free zone post as many photos as you like!!!

Everyone is welcome to join the group, only requirement is to enjoy taking photos and getting out there and having fun!

Go here to join: Cool Photo Ops and Creative Challenge group

A Trip to the Columbus Zoo

2011-08-22T12:31:00.001-04:00

Back in 2011, I went on a Photography Road Trip to the Columbus Zoo and had a great time photographing all the animals the Columbus Zoo has to offer. It's fun going and checking out other Zoos, a lot of times they have animals that you normally don't see at your local Zoo. In the older part of the Columbus Zoo they still have a lot of fences that you have to shoot through, one photography trick to use to make the fence disappear is to shoot with a large wide open aperture of F2.8. I really enjoyed spending the day at the Columbus Zoo, check it out if you get a chance.

Orangutan at the Columbus Zoo ( Click the photos to go to the Columbus Zoo Gallery)

They have lots of colorful birds at the Columbus Zoo

I think they have the animals trained to stick out their tongues at Photographers from Cleveland!!!

To see the photos nice and large you can view the Columbus Zoo Slideshow

If you are looking for cool place to take photos in Ohio and beyond you might also like to check out my Cool Photo Ops Blog

A Fun Time at Parade the Circle 2011

2011-06-14T10:13:00.001-04:00

On Saturday June 11, 2011 I had another fun time photographing Parade the Circle in University Circle. Every year in June they have a Parade full of colorful costumes and great music. This was the 22nd Annual Parade. This is always a great photo op for photographers and if you get there early you can photograph the parade participants getting ready for the parade in the staging area. I arrived around 10am and headed to the staging area located on the top level of the Art Museum Parking garage and ran into a lot of my photographer friends from some of the areas camera clubs. After taking hundreds of photos in the staging area I ventured out to the parade route to scope out a good spot to photograph the parade. I wanted to find a spot where I could get shots of the parade headed straight toward me and I found it near the Botanical Gardens where I was joined by fellow photographers Troy Vodila and Dan Flocke. It was a great spot to photograph the parade but unfortunately there wasn't any shade and I got burnt to a crisp!!! All in all its a fun event to photograph, and I encourage you to check it out next year!!!

Cleveland Hoop Dance Click the photo to go to a Parade the Circle photo gallery.

CPS photographers at Parade the Circle, the best looking guy in the photo is the puppet!!! LOL

Go here to see a Parade the Circle 2011 Slideshow

To see photos of Parade the Circle from earlier years go here: Parade the Circle Galleries

You might also be interested in checking out my Cool Photo Ops Blog where I list cool places to take photos.

My Adventures at the Miller Park Nature Preserve

2011-06-08T20:01:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday Dona and I ventured out to the new Miller Park Nature Preserve in Avon Ohio. Miller Park is part of the Lorain County Metroparks. The preserve has a 5000 square foot Conservatory. It was a hot day and was even hotter in the Conservatory but it's a cool place to take photos. After spending some time taking photos in the Conservatory, Dona and I enjoyed a great lunch at the Conservatory's Orchid Room Cafe, then went back and took even more photos.

Here's a description of Miller Park from their website:
Located on Route 83 in Avon, Miller Nature Preserve rests on 78 acres of wooded land in the heart of Avon. Much of the property was donated by longtime Avon resident, Buddy Miller in memory of his late wife Alice Fowles. A Visitor Center is nestled between trees and the winding French Creek and includes a café, a gift shop and a demonstration kitchen for cooking classes. The highlight of this preserve is the 5,000 square foot conservatory, the first in Lorain County. Bring your family and friends and camera to capture the beauty inside and outside.

Click Photo to go to Gallery

Google Map of Miller Park.... Click the blue icon to get directions

View 2739 Center Rd in a larger map

Here's a google map

Where's the Photos??????

2011-03-03T18:40:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone, part of the fun of photography is sharing your photos with others, as a photographer I like seeing other photographers work. I love going on photo shoots to interesting places with other photographers and then seeing what photos everyone comes up with. Unfortunately a lot of times you never see what the other photographers came up with. How many times have you been on a photo shoot with one of the areas photo clubs where there are 20 to 30 photographers taking hundreds of photos, Most times after the shoot you never see any of the photos and I don't understand why. What is everyone doing with their photos? In the old days the photos ended up collecting dust in a shoe box, these days it appears that the photos languish on the photographers home computers never to be enjoyed by anyone else. To me part of the fun of photography is seeing what everyone comes up with when they go on a photo shoot to the same place. It's fun to see the different ways each photographer "sees" the subject. In today's modern society and computer age you would think most photographers would be posting their photos, but sad to say, if they do post them they never give anyone the link to their site. For example on Facebook I have over 400 friends and at least 200 of them are photogaphers but I only see the photos of nine or ten of the same photographers posting photos or links to their photo sites. Often I'll check the "Fan" pages on Facebook of the areas Photography clubs after they go on a photo shoot eager to see if anyone posted photos from the shoot, most of the time I'm disappointed to find that only one or two photographers posted any photos. I'll even check out the Flickr sites, there you'll see a little more activity, but it's usually from the same 9 or 10 photographers. So my question is "What does everyone do with their photos?

A photo from the Volvo Graveyard Shoot - Click photo to see more

Dolly Sods Wilderness, West Virginia

2011-02-27T09:26:00.000-05:00

A few years ago I went on a vacation to West Virginia and one of the places I explored was the Dolly Sods Wilderness. Here's a description of Dolly Sods from Wikipedia:

Dolly Sods is the highest plateau of its type east of the Mississippi River with altitude ranging from around 4,000 feet (1,200 m) at the top of a mountain ridge on the Allegheny Front to about 2,700 feet (820 m) at the outlet of Red Creek. The highest point in this immediate area is Mount Porte Crayon, at 4,770 feet (1,454 m), in Flatrock-Roaring Plains.

To get to Dolly Sods I had to travel up a narrow 1 and a half lane road, it got pretty scary at times and I prayed no one was coming down as I was going up, since there wasn't much room to pull over. Once you get up there you travel along Forest Road 75

The view from Dolly Sods is great and there are a lot of trails to explore, since I was there by myself, I stuck close to the road.

It is also very windy at Dolly Sods and you'll see all the trees branches pointing to the east

One interesting fact is they used Dolly Sods during WWII for training and they warn you live bombs could still exist in the area.

I Could of been Killed!!!

Click any of the above photos to go to the gallery.

Click here to see a Dolly Sods Slide Show

Click here to learn more about Dolly Sods on Wikipedia

Chippewa Lake Park Photos

2011-02-26T09:16:00.001-05:00

It's sad to see a lot of America's old amusements parks being torn down, over the years we've lost Euclid Beach Park, Geauga Lake Park and Chippewa Lake Park. Here are some photos of Chippewa Lake Park. I hope they bring back fond memories for you.

Ferris Wheel - Chippewa Lake Park

Click the photo to go to a Chippewa Lake Photo Gallery

Click this link to see a Chippewa Lake Slide Show

The Mansfield Reformatory X

2011-02-23T19:42:00.000-05:00

Here's something eerie, did you know that when light shines through the windows of four different rooms at the Mansfield Reformatory that an X is formed on the floor in the hallway!!!! Scary Stuff!!!!

Click any of the photos to go to the Mansfield Reformatory Photo Gallery

To see a slide show go here: Mansfield Reformatory Slide Show

Photographing the Monster Jam

2011-02-21T14:16:00.000-05:00

I photographed something new this weekend, the Monster Jam at Quicken Loans Arena. The Cleveland Photographic Society arranged for it's members to photograph the event. We were given Media Passes and were able to go down on the arena floor and get some up close shots of the Monster Trucks. We had the floor to ourselves for a little while but before we knew it, swarms of kids and their parents joined us on the floor to meet the drivers and get their autographs. During the show, thanks to our Media Passes we were allowed to roam around the Arena and get photos from various vantage points as long as we didn't get in anyone's way.

Before the show started the lighting wasn't very bright and I was worried about how I was going to get some good photos of the trucks in action, but once the show started they turned up the lights, I still had to crank the ISO up to 800 to get a high enough shutter speed to get sharp photos of the moving trucks. A Shutter speed of 1/250 seemed to do the trick. I experimented with slower shutter speeds between 1/100 to 1/250 to try and get tires blurred and the trucks sharp. If I used too slow of a speed the trucks became unsharp, somewhere around 1/125 to 1/160 of a second gave me the effect I was looking for. Sure a lot of shots didn't come out, but that's the fun of photography, trying different stuff and see what works and what doesn't work, that's how you learn.

Click the photo to go to the gallery
To see a slide show go here: Monster Jam Slide Show

Photo of the Day - Wing Walker - Air Show Photo Tips

2011-01-27T20:17:00.000-05:00

Air Shows are a lot of fun to photograph, but they can also be quite a challenge to photograph due to the speed of the planes. A few things you can do is use a higher ISO, fast shutter speed and panning to capture the planes in flight. While this plane wasn't flying anywhere near the speed of the jets, I used an ISO of 400, a shutter speed of 1/1600 of a second, and panned the camera as the plane flew by. It was taken with a 70-200mm F2.8 Nikon lens with a 1.7 teleconverter. This is a husband and wife wing walking team. What I like about the photo is the pose of the Wing Walker and the way the pilot's hat is blowing behind his head. The Air Show comes to Cleveland every year over the Labor Day weekend. Check it out if you get a chance.

Wing Walker
Click Photo to go to Gallery

To see more Air Show Photos go here: Air Show Galleries

Cleveland Photographic Society, 125th Anniversary Exhibition

2011-01-22T10:28:00.001-05:00

The Cleveland State Art Gallery will be hosting the Cleveland Photographic Society's 125th Anniversay Exhibition from January 21 to March 12. On Saturday January 22nd you can meet some of the photographers from 2pm - 3:30pm. Check it out if you get a chance.

The Gallery is located at 2307 Chester Ave, Cleveland Ohio

Go here for more info Cleveland State Art Gallery

Monday, January 21 – Saturday, March 12
CSU Art Gallery, Gallery C
CPS AT 125: Cleveland Photographic Society, 125th Anniversary Exhibition

Here's the photo I have on display:

Dueling Rhinos

The Frozen Lighthouse Photos - 15% Off

2011-01-19T21:17:00.003-05:00

The Cleveland Frozen Lighthouse may be gone but photos of the Frozen Lighthouse can be purchased here The Frozen Lighthouse and from now until 2/1/2011 you can save 15% on all photos in the gallery by using the coupon code: lighthouse during check out. Just go to the link and select the photos you like, you can change the size and choice of lustre, metallic or glossy by clicking the "Change Product" button on the right side of the screen.

To purchase a photo go here: The Frozen Lighthouse Save 15% on Frozen Lighthouse photos until 2/1/2011- use the code: lighthouse during checkout.

To purchase a photo go here: The Frozen Lighthouse Save 15% on Frozen Lighthouse photos until 2/1/2011- use the code: lighthouse during checkout.

Historic Glendale Cemetery

2010-07-06T14:18:00.006-04:00

On a very hot and muggy Monday morning Dona, Troy, Joanne and I ventured to Akron, Ohio to check out Glendale Cemetery Glendale is Akron's oldest Cemetery and was established in 1839. There is a very beautiful Chapel there and a road lined with Mausoleums. We didn't have the best lighting conditions when we were there, it was bright and sunny, but we made the best of it and took lots of photos. If you get a chance I recommend exploring Glendale for yourself. You can find out more about Glendale here: Glendale Cemetery.

Civil War Memorial Chapel

Click photo to go to the gallery.

Glendale Cemetery Slide Show - click to go to photo