Back from the Lens Doctor: EF 24-105 L

A while back, while photographing the Republic Steel East Thomas Plant and Wade Sand and Gravel in Birmingham, I had the misfortune of dropping my Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L lens from about should height and it landing lens first in the hard-pack road; actually, it wasn't even "dropping" it so much as it was the quick release plate disengaging from the tripod while it was slung over my shoulder and allowing gravity to do her worst. She did.

I began to notice in subsequent outings that the photos taken with the lens just weren't sharp. And the problem didn't improve regardless of focal length, aperture, or use of Image Stabilization. But in the words of the immortal GI Joe, "Knowing is only half the battle." The real issue was, what was I going to do about it. After a couple months of deliberation, I sent the lens off to Canon's repair center in Virginia. And they sent me quite the estimate; they could repair it for about a third of what I paid for it, which was not insubstantial. So rather than having an uber-expensive paperweight I ponied up the rubles. 

Upon the lens' return about 10 days later, I discovered, and I'm pretty certain about this, the lens now takes sharper photographs than when I first purchased it (used). And I learned a couple of valuable lessons through this experience:

• Buying used is not always the best alternative, even when you save several hundred dollars up front. If I had purchased the lens new, it would have still been under warranty when I dropped it and the repairs would have been covered by Canon; thus I came out about even in this thing.
• Don't rely on the quick release plate to stay mounted to the tripod. Take that extra couple of seconds to sling that camera over your shoulder or use the wrist strap.
• Canon's repair service has a really quick turnaround time, but I hope not to use again in the near future.

The subject of my first test shots was the closest cuddly thing at hand.

Darby wants to play ball. I want to test out my newly repaired lens.

YouTube's Instagram-like Video Editor Features

It's getting ever more difficult for casual video-makers to justify purchasing video software when there's so much freeware floating about. But even more than that, YouTube has made available a video editor that has options, similar in effect to those made available by apps like Instagram. It requires very little technical knowledge (though moderately more technical settings are available) and only desire to find a pleasing aesthetic, and almost instantly ("almost" in that it takes a couple of minutes [depending on the length and files size of the video] for the changes to take place and be viewable), you have a video with a little, or alot, more pop and pizzazz than you had before and likely would have had at all.

The above video was shot with my Canon T2i and EF 24-105 f/4 L, and is more-or-less straight out of the camera. The video below was altered using YouTube's enhancement features, including: "Stabilize", "Auto-Fix", and lomo-like color and vignetting changes. Enhancements can be chosen that are as subtle or outlandish as you like. Although there are significant limitations as to what's available, for the casual user, it will be more than enough.

Tranquil Scene at Newfound Creek, below Baines Dam, in Gardendale, Alabama

Water Lilies in the Lily Pond, Birmingham Botanical Gardens

Purple Water Lilies in the Lily Pond, Birmingham Botanical Gardens

Purple Water Lilies in the Lily Pond at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens in Birmingham, Alabama.

These purple Water Lilies were photographed on a rainy visit to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. While the precipitation was little more than a light rain as I got out of the car, it was rather steady as I set up for the first photographs of these lilies near the gardens' entrance.

Hurricane Creek at the William "Buddy" Rodgers Natural Area and Hurricane Creek Park

The William "Buddy" Rodgers Natural Area and Hurricane Creek Park are found in Vinemont, Alabama. Hiking and mountain biking are available on maintained trails, and plenty of opportunities of bouldering and climbing are also present. While hikers are encouraged to stay on trails, sometimes trailblazers are needed so that lovely photographs (like the one below) can be taken, when they otherwise would not be.

Hurricane Creek at the William "Buddy" Rodgers Natural Area and Hurricane Creek Park in Vinemont

Lily Pad on Flint Creek, Wheeler Wildlife Refuge

Lily Pad on Flint Creek at Wheeler Lake in the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge

Lily Pad on Flint Creek at Wheeler Lake in the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, near Decatur, Alabama.

This rather large lily pad was photographed while I was on a short spider-web-filled hike on the Flint Creek Trail in the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge.



Several photographs from a November visits to the Atkeson Trail in the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge can be found both on the blog, here, and in my Alabama the Beautiful gallery.

Crashing onto Rocks at Baines Dam

Baines Dam, Newfound Creek, Gardendale, Alabama

Baines Dam at Newfound Creek in Gardendale, Alabama.

Whereas earlier in the week, I exhibited an all-encompassing view of the waterfall that forms at Baines Dam on Newfound Creek in Gardendale, Alabama (here), here I have changed tactics.

The prior photograph used a long 15-second exposure to make the water look all silky smooth and created a different feel than this. 

Here you're looking right into the heart of the waterfall, and time is stopped at 1/500s or so to capture that foamy crashing and splashing onto the rocks at the dam's bottom, a continual beating that they endure incessantly and without complaint. Ever being worn down and smoothed out.

A Field of Black-Eyed Susans, Red Mountain Park

Imagine that we still live in a world with league-upon-league of wide-open prairies still in their native state. While your initial mental image may include tall prairies grasses, don't discount the possibility that those seemingly endless plains could be inhabited by Black-Eyed Susans. Tranquil. Breezy. Grasshoppers. Jackrabbits. Antelope.It's easy to get lost in this daydream. And if you enjoyed that short trip in time to an existence 150-years past, you have Red Mountain Park to thank. It's there that you can find this small field of Black-Eyed Susans.

Black-Eyed Susans at Red Mountain Park, Birmingham, Alabama :: Canon Rebel T2i, EF 24-105 f/4 L

Purple Passion Flower at Red Mountain Park

The Purple Passion Flower (Passiflora incarnata) is a vine that can grow to as long as twenty feet, and can become an invasive species. In addition to its bizarre-looking petals and sepals, the reproductive organs that arise from the flower give it a rather exotic appearance. The Purple Passion Flower blooms from June to September, and produces edible fruit from July through October.

In addition to its exotic beauty, the Passion Flower has had many uses. The roots can be used to make a tea or treat boils, earaches, and liver problems. The leaves can be cooked with other greens. The fruit can be eaten raw or made into a syrup. But perhaps most interestingly, the plant can be used as a sedative to treat hysteria and other nervous conditions.

UPDATE: Fred Spicer, the Executive Director of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, recently stopped by the blog, and offered some encouragement and further information, for which I am grateful. Here's what he had to say: "Enjoyed your photos, very beautiful. However, most ecologists reserve the word 'invasive' to describe organisms that act to decrease overall biodiversity in ecosystems other than those they evolved in. So native organisms, like that Passiflora, cannot be invasive. No doubt, that plant can be obnoxious, aggressive and unwanted in certain situations, but it will never be kudzu or Chinese privet or cogon grass, or dozens of other, truly heinous plants that are ecological and economic distasters. 'Opportunistic' is the preferred term for native organisms that can proliferate alarmingly, and, yes, sometimes in ecologically-altering ways. Nevertheless, that is extremely rare, and typically comes following human-caused disturbance which upsets otherwise natural controls on populations. Sorry if this seems pedantic! You do nice work."

Purple Passion Flower at Red Mountain Park, Birmingham, Alabama :: Canon Rebel T2i, EF 24-105 f/4 L

Thanks goes to the United States Department of Agriculture for the information they have made available on their website, regarding the Purple Passion Flower.

The Green Lynx Spider, Protector of Vegetables

Green Lynx Spider protecting my Peppers

The green lynx spider, whose scientific name is Peucetia viridans, is the largest variety of lynx spider to be found in North America. This species is primarily found in the southern United States but can also be found in parts of California.

Its eyes are prominently placed on top of its head, and it has long spotted legs that vary in color from green to yellow, and contain long black spines. A friend to farmers, the green lynx spider is a predator of pestilent insects. It is not generally aggressive toward humans, and its bite is harmless but painful. The green lynx spider also preys on honey bees.

Green Lynx Spider standing sentinel on my Tomato Plant

Neighboring Morris Avenue Facades, Birmingham

While the eastern end of Morris Avenue is a rather historic part of the city (photos from which are the subjects of other blog posts, here), significant portions of the western half are rather derelict (and truth be told, more to my photographic liking). Years of long use appear to have taken their toll on these buildings. Yet the grates and boards that bar entry from their weakened wooden doors appear to have been sufficient to keep out too many of the elements, both natural and human, in the form of graffitos and indigent folks, of whom there is no short supply with this building's close proximity the both the bus terminal and the old railroad tracks that split Birmingham's northern and southern halves. 

Lizards on the Run, or the Tale the Golden Monster

Among the communities of the Blue Tailed Skinks and Carolina Anoles, the legend of the Golden Monster continues to grow. She terrorizes stray lizards, not discriminating between young of old. Any who are so careless as to be found out in the open are subjected to her slow, torturous but playful manner of slaying them. When she trees one under a shrub, she begins to stamp her great, golden paw paw, attempting to drive out the victim through tremors and fear. Upon being captured, the reptile is paraded around the yard, loosely but securely held in her clenched jaws; often the monster executes more than one victory lap in search of the first location at which the playful terrorizing will begin. 

Upon finding that spot, she lays down and lets the victim loose; as he tries to burrow or scurry away, she paws at him, reigning him in. Perhaps she even lets him stray far enough to hope of escape, only to pounce, and cart him to another part of the yard. She will then let him go again, only to roll on her back and nip at him while upside down or roll over him, smothering him in golden fur. But eventually, their tailless bodies are broken between teeth or beneath a paw. Either their will or ability to live, or both, is extinguished. Occasionally, one will be so bold as to defend himself, biting back, attaching himself to the monster's sensitive lips, but even that only serves to hasten his all-too-certain death.

A few have been rescued and survived. But for the others, all that remains is scales and skeletons, the rest having been claimed by ants. For the most part, the skinks and anoles have begun to make themselves scarce. They are not safe on the ground or under shrubbery, but only high up on walls and fences. And even when they're out, they're skittish, scurrying with abandon from anything that is large and moves, particularly Darby, my golden retriever.

Blue Tailed Skink on the Run :: Fultondale, Alabama

Misty Morning in a Fultondale Wood

On a misty, rainy morning in June, a neighbor allowed me access to the woods behind his home for the purpose of photographing this scene. On most days, it's a nice enough scene, but on this day, the climactic conditions come together to make it particularly appreciable. My favorite part of this photograph is its low-key nature that perfectly reflects the mood of the morning.

When I walked out my front door to walk up the street to the neighbor's house, there was a light drizzle, but little more. But as soon as I set up my tripod and got everything ready, the bottom seemed to fall out of the clouds. I wasn't worried about the lens as much, because the EF 24-105mm f/4 L is largely weather-sealed, but the camera, a mere Rebel T2i, is not. Nor is most of the other equipment that was in the bag (also not weather-proof). But I kept shooting nonetheless, because the lighting was just right, and in the end, everything turned out alright - particularly the photograph. 

Flowers from the White Trail, Moss Rock Preserve

For my third visit to Moss Rock Preserve in Hoover, Alabama, I set out on an out-and-back along the White Trail from the trailhead across from The Preserve. With Darby along for the hike, we planned to get in a mild three-to-four mile hike. Our turnaround point was to be the Frog Pound, which as it turned out was little more than a muddy bog due to seasonably dry conditions. After passing Boulder Field, our next major landmark was Tunnel Falls, more aptly found to be Tunnel Trickle on this occasion. But despite, the arid conditions, there were a good number of flowers about.

These are a couple that I photographed using the "Macro" (1:2 Reproduction) functionality of the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L lens I have recently acquired. These were taken handheld, made possible only because of the Image Stabilization on the lens; even still I would have been better off with a tripod or monopod, because with macro it's easy to miss that critical focus point with the slightest movement of man or plant. And had I not missed focus on several other photos, I would be able to offer more photographs exhibiting the colorful, though not exotic, flowers hikers can look forward to.

Cuddled Up at Moss Rock Preserve

While I was hot and sweaty from hiking, and had been fighting insects and briars, others were spending their afternoon at Moss Rock Preserve in a much cozier manner...cuddled up in a hammock.

Moss Rock Preserve, Hoover, Alabama :: Canon Rebel T2i, EF 24-105mm f/4 L

Fultondale Auto Salon

For most of my eight years in the area, this building has appeared to be largely unused or used only for storage. Over the last few months, a new-and-used market has opened within the buildings the other storefronts attached to this building. The Fultondale Auto Salon has not been here for a while but evidence of its existence will probably remain for some time to come.

Fultondale, Alabama :: Canon Rebel T2i, EF 24-105mm f/4 L @ 35mm, 1/400s @ f/8, ISO 200

Bent Boards and Rusted Roofs :: Rural Farmstead in a Sub-Urban Setting

Because of the urban sprawl that is the Birmingham area, with its large hinterlands, northern Jefferson County is a not incongruous melding of sub-urban and rural settings. In many instances, it's as though neighborhoods sprung, unwittingly, amongst farmsteads. This property is such a place, hosting a modern home in addition to dilapidated barns and outbuildings.

Canon Rebel T2i, EF 24-105mm f/4 L @ 50mm, 1/200s @ f/4, ISO 200

I hesitate to mention the exact location of these photographs since I did not have permission to be on the premises photographing the buildings. I went with the intention of getting permission, but the landowners weren't home, and my feet carried me across the field nevertheless.

People Watching at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta

As a rule, I'm not much of a street photographer, or photographer of people. First of all, I'm a little too timid for it. Additionally, it's not something you see much of in Birmingham, so people seem wary of having their photo taken by strangers on the street. But Atlanta is a whole different animal. Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park is a hotbed of activity for tourists and homeless folks alike.

So Sunday morning, I set out from the hotel to walk around with my new (well, new to me) Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L lens, attached to my Canon Rebel T2i. With this lens being an equivalent of about 170mm on an APS-C sensor camera, it gave me a lot of working distance when photographing folks candidly, like this family here enjoying a moment together by the Olympic ring fountains or the fellow below dozing gently.