JHillmer.com

2011 - a Very Busy Year

2011-07-31T16:04:00.000-05:00

I've neglected my blog and web site, and it's not because I don't have material to post, I've just been backlogged with material and buried. That's a good problem to have, but I feel guilty not posting. 2011 so far has included trips/events:

to Arches National Park, Utah
to Canyonlands National Park, Utah
to Joshua Tree National Park, Califorina
to Australia's Kuranda - Rainforest, Cairns (Great Barrier Reef) and Sydney
to New Zealand (North Island)
to Florida (family outing in Orlando, and time on Sanibel Island, including J. N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Tarpon Bay)
a High School graduation for one of my daughters
and short amounts of time in Illinois, Colorado, Nevada, and Seattle Washington (with one more short trip scheduled late this year to Miami)

Opening Day, Deer Season

2010-12-13T01:01:00.000-06:00

I dropped my daughter off at an event that was far from our home, so I took my cameras with me, and ventured out into the nearby country side and woods. I knew it was opening day for our state's gun (deer) hunting season, but I had no idea so many cars and trucks would be out in the wooded area where I had hoped to find wildlife; it was crawling with orange vested people, so I stayed in my car and just looked from the road. I did see one buck running fast across a field, I saw a few red-tailed hawks, but other than that, I came up empty.

I saw this one man positioned on top of a ridge, sun rising on him, with his buddies trying to drive deer his way. The composition and lighting yielded me this:

Canvas on Demand, Really Nice!

2010-11-19T16:46:00.001-06:00

I recently tried Canvas on Demand, and printed one of my favorite deer shots on canvas, mounted on 1.5 inch stretcher bars. The results really look nice. I selected the 16 x 20 inch format (finished size). Since I wanted the canvas wrapped - and I wanted to see the print on the edges, I cropped the shot to a size of 19.25 x 23.25 inches (per their instructions) and I used a 300dpi resolution. The original shot is a bit soft, it was snowing, so I though the canvas media would really make this come to life, and wow, it did. (I'm not sure that a really super sharp focused photo would end us as sharp on canvas, so you might want to experiment before doing a large expensive piece) This is the shot that I used (it's not a photo of the final canvas product):

A Different Kind of Sunset

2010-09-28T01:18:00.000-05:00

While I was shooting pictures of our daughters' high school marching band at their football stadium, the local NBC affiliate's chopper stopped by, sat down on a soccer field, and later took off. Here they go, into the sunset!

San Diego Sunset

2010-08-25T22:43:00.000-05:00

From my room on the 29th floor of the Bayfront Hilton hotel, San Diego, California (while attending an IT conference), looking west through a thermopane window - I saw the sun setting, and grabbed my longest lens (Canon EF 100-400mm L IS USM) and aimed dead center on the sun (to set the lighting), then focused on the palm trees on the hill, and shot away. This is cropped about 50% and post processed a bit in Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 to deal with some of the flare/reflection that either the window created, or the fact that I was looking dead center into the sun - the original shot had a small reflection of the sun on top of the sun - floating in the sky, that needed to be removed. Final product:

Where have I been?

2010-08-03T23:32:00.001-05:00

It's been awhile since I've posted to my blog, and it's not because things have not been happening. Early in May, I was in Las Vegas for a technology convention, but for a day and a half, I spent time at Bryce Canyon National Park, and then also a little time at Zion National Park. In June, our oldest daughter was married, and the last week of July I spent in San Diego. So I've been keeping busy with my cameras, but just have not found time to post updates to my web site (www.JHillmer.com) or here. In August, I'm helping a high school band group with their "band camp" and that includes shooting them too.

I just got back a nice shot from my Bryce Canyon collection, one that I had printed and mounted at Nations Photo Lab as a 20x30 inch, and then double matted and framed at a local framing store in town. It really looks nice. Here's a small version of the shot:

Spring in Wisconsin

2010-04-14T20:48:00.005-05:00

It's been a warm spring in South Eastern Wisconsin. For the past two weekends, I've had a chance to get out and hike some of your State and County areas in search of wildlife. Take a look at the recent updates to http://www.jhillmer.com/! Here's a sample that includes a Sandhill Crane taking to flight right over a pair of Bufflehead Ducks.

Redtail Hawk, outside of Lena, Illinois

2010-03-29T00:12:00.002-05:00

Taken while driving my family back from a wedding shower for my daughter. Taken just before it took to flight.

Cedar Waxwings in Texas

2010-03-20T16:20:00.003-05:00

I live in SE Wisconsin, and each fall we see the Cedar Waxwings for a few weeks as they migrate through feeding on the ripe cedar berries (and others). While we see them from time to time in the summer too, fall is when they are easy to spot. Then, they disappear as the fall turns to winter here, and they look for food in other southern states. I had a business meeting in Dallas Texas last week, and I found many of them there, feeding on berry trees that were near the hotel I was staying at. It was nice to see them again!

Marsh Madness in Horicon

2010-03-06T00:46:00.001-06:00

I took the day off in recognition of my 52nd birthday and with cameras in hand, I spent a few hours in and near the Horicon Marsh State Wildlife area (Wisconsin).

While the marsh was still frozen and covered with snow, geese where already stopping over, and a number of sandhill cranes were seen (and heard) well overhead on their way north. In a small wooded area, I found this cardinal signing back and forth with another one. I also spotted a few redtail hawks and a red-bellied woodpecker, and heard my first robin this year.

Canon Service Center - Great Results!

2010-01-19T02:47:00.003-06:00

Unfortunately, a year or so back, I dropped my Canon 100-400mm IS lens, and while it didn't hit the ground hard, the filter shattered which in the end resulted in a very small nick in the external glass of the lens. The rest of the lens appeared to still function fine, but after months of use, I noticed that when IS (image stabilization) was engaged, the auto-focus was way too soft. In time, I stopped using the IS. After hearing that Canon's Service center did a nice repair job for a friend of mine, I decided to try them too. Sure enough, I'm very happy with the results.

Go to Canon's web site, surf to the support page for the EOS cameras and ask for a quote. Since my lens was out of warranty, they were not able to quote a repair price, but they said if I mailed it to them (at my cost) they would email me with the cost of the repair, and on my approval they would perform the repair in 7 days, and return it to me at their cost. If I didn't like the repair cost, they would also return it to me at their cost. The repair cost was reasonable, given what they probably had to do to fix the IS and auto-focus, and they also replaced the front glass, and shipped it back, and it works great! I recommend this same approach if you are not happy with the performance of your lenses too!

Christmas Shopping at Amazon?

2009-12-01T00:19:00.003-06:00

With all the Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers, when I saw Amazon reduce Adobe's Dark Room 2 to $124, I could not pass that up. I already have CS4, and Photoshop Elements 4 and 7, so Light Room should be a nice complement for my work-flow. We'll see!

Milwaukee at Dusk

2009-11-20T23:13:00.003-06:00

My youngest daughter and I had some time to kill while in Milwaukee this weekend (she was at an Honors Band event at UW-Milwaukee) so for dinner, we drove through down-town and admired the Christmas lights, ate, and then drove back north along the lake-shore. Near the Marina, I saw this reflection in a pond and pulled over to shoot. Too bad I didn't have a tripod, but I still like it. Canon 40D, handheld at 1/4 sec, f/2.8, 33mm, iso-400.

Cave Photography, Anti-Landscapes?

2009-11-16T22:53:00.004-06:00

We have a few caves in the state of Wisconsin, with the best known being Cave of the Mounds, which I've enjoyed many trips to. This past weekend, I chaperoned an 8th grade Middle-School's Science Club to this cave, and shot a number of pictures of their adventure. This cave is known for having many colors, but with cave lighting, it was a challenge to capture it well. Here's one of a small section that was dripping with water.

No Birds, but a Great Pair of Cattails

2009-10-27T01:15:00.002-05:00

This shot was taken at Loew Lake, in the Loew Lake Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forrest (Wisconsin) this past weekend. The lake is next to impossible to get to. The hiking trails don't go near the lake because it is surrounded mostly by thickets and brush and rotting trees in a marsh. But from the bluff near the lake, I heard very loud and clear duck/goose noises coming from the lake, which was barely visible. I wanted to see what they were, and what they were doing, for some possible good pictures. I decided to just do it, and made my way through the mess with only getting a little wet. When I got to the lake, I found the bird noises were coming from 4 duck hunters who had a boat and blind set up. Well, no wildlife to take pictures of, but the cattails with the fall colors behind them looked really nice to me.

Fall in Delafield, Wisconsin

2009-10-24T19:24:00.006-05:00

I was out looking to see what was happening today, and found a nice spot for a "car-shot" in a nearby State Park. My intention was to pose next to it, an updated self portrait, I guess, but I didn't have all the components for my tripod with me. Oops. Then I headed to Delafield (WI), to the Bark River, and to Nagawicka Lake. I spotted some Cedar Waxwings picking at a berry bush, and then I saw 4 swans quite a ways out on the Lake (where the Bark River flows out of it). The swans were too far away for a good shot, so I drove around the Lake and found a home-owner who allowed me access to the Lake, and then I saw them, 2 parents and 2 juveniles, Mute Swans. The home-owner said they'd been there all summer, raising their young.

Fall Colors in Baraboo, Wisconsin

2009-10-20T20:37:00.012-05:00

This past weekend, I had an enjoyable time helping to chaperon a group of Middle School students, a Science Club, to Devils Lake State Park, near Baraboo, Wisconsin. It was a bit cold at first, but with the hiking trail that we chose, one of the more difficult ones, I got warm in a hurry. The fall colors were really nice, though I suspect they will peak in about one more week. The kids had a great time, and no one got hurt or lost, but my knee has been acting up ever since the "climb"

Cedar Waxwing Birds - Feeding Time!

2009-10-13T00:19:00.003-05:00

This past weekend, my Brother-in-Law mentioned that he had seen Cedar Waxwing birds feeding off the nearby trees. I went over to investigate, but they were not there at the time, so I headed out of town to a State Park, and sure enough, I found a dozen or more of them, feeding off the cedar tree's berries. I've updated my web site with my favorites from the weekend (JHillmer.com) and here is a link to a slide-show with about 10 bird shots feeding.

Cedar Waxwings

Full Moon, Over Historic Waukesha

2009-10-04T00:15:00.006-05:00

A few times each year (quarterly?), Waukesha Wisconsin holds an Art Crawl along Main Street in the Downtown area. This evening, I spent a little over an hour walking through the art studios and enjoying the nice autumn weather. It was nearly a full moon, but a bit cloudy. However, as I walked past one of the older historic buildings (that houses Martha Merrell's Books and Cuddles) I saw the chance for a nice shot. I drove home and got my cameras and tripod, and when I got back, here's the result (shot with a Canon 40D using a Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens, with the shutter open for 3.2 seconds, f/4.6, ISO-100, zoomed to 28mm).

Marching Band Material

2009-09-15T23:16:00.005-05:00

While my hobby is Nature and Wildlife photography, I have also been a high-school Marching Band's photographer for a few years. This past weekend was a lot of fun, getting group and sectional shots of the kids, while also looking for material for a glossy program that is being put together for a show we will be hosting in two weeks. Candid and group shots are provided to the band members and their parents using a semi-private site, so I usually don't display their shots elsewhere. I will include a few here that I like from the weekend, as they capture the mood and event, without focusing on the individuals. One of these will be on the cover of the program that we sent off to the printer today, the others are just shots that I like.

Golden Gate Bridge - in Fog

2009-09-10T23:17:00.003-05:00

At the end of August, I spent a few days in San Francisco on business, and had a few hours to myself one late afternoon. The Bay-Area was fogged in as usual, and while I took a few shots of the sea lions and local birds, I had fun trying to capture the Golden Gate Bridge with fog, sun-down, pelicans, and without getting too much salt water near my camera. To help with this, I took a short 1 hour tour out from Fishermen's Wharf, around Alcatraz Island, and then back. Here's one of my favorites from the evening.

Canon EOS 7D DSLR - Wow!

2009-09-05T16:47:00.003-05:00

I was not in the market for another camera, but news of the Canon 7D that was just announced caught my eye! As of today, Amazon is not yet showing it but others are listing it as "not available yet" and other sites suggest it will be on the street by the end of this September.

See more at: Canon's Site, or check out for one of my favorite review sites, dpreview.com

Canon's site says msrp will be $1,699, so it will be interesting to see what the internet sites offer it for, and if this new model causes any price movement on the Canon EOS 50D, or to the Canon EOS 5D Mark II (I've been thinking that might be the next one for me, but the 7D could be interesting too).

ShiftN - Free Perspective Correction

2009-09-03T21:59:00.003-05:00

I'm sure there are other ways to address Perspective Corrections, but I found ShiftN, a free (for personal or commercial) use tool. Pictures taken with a wide angle lens, sometimes get a bowed effect that can look funny, especially when objects in the shot make it obvious that your wide angle lens did a number on the perspective. A week or so ago, I took some shots for a work-related function at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The shots were for business reasons so I'm not showing those, but here's one of the "Hill-Climber" that is outside of the museum.

This was shot with a Canon 40D using a Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM, at at focal length of 23mm. The flag pole in the actual shot was pretty bowed. ShiftN helped me correct that. The background buildings aren't perfect, but this is better than the original.

NWF selected one of my shots

2009-08-22T19:41:00.007-05:00

A while back, I posted a few pictures on Flickr, and made them part of a National Wildlife Magazine's group (the National Wildlife Federation's Wildlife Gardens Group). Soon after, the National Wildlife Federation contacted me and asked to use one of my Cedar Waxwing (see below) shots in a screen saver they were putting together. I agreed, and you can now get that for free. You can go to their Wildlife Habitat Screen Saver page, or you can directly download it by clicking here: screen saver.

I have not put a lot of shots on Flickr, because I have my own site, www.jhillmer.com, but I added a few today so that I could enter a few more shots into the National Wildlife Magazine's “America the Beautiful” contest.

Pencil drawings that will amaze you

2009-08-20T19:05:00.003-05:00

I'd like to pass a web site on to you, a site that is owned by a distant relative of mine. www.bjurstromstudio.com is where David Bjurstrom displays and sells his art, mostly western subjects, many nature works, all done in pencil. Take a look, you will be impressed.

So, who is David? David is the son of my dad's cousin, who is the daughter of one of my grandmothers sisters. Complicated? Maybe, but I'd love to get one of his prints someday, and I'd love to see one of his originals in person too.

To respect his copyrights, I am not attaching any pictures of his prints, but click the link and you'll see for yourself!

Second White Squirrel in our yard

2009-08-15T11:16:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, and again today, a second white squirrel appeared in our back yard. We know it is the "2nd" because the "1st" was there too! For over a year, we've enjoyed watching a white squirrel who frequents our yard about once a day. We feed birds and squirrels, but in the past, it's been only gray squirrels, so the white one has been a lot of fun to watch. This past spring, we saw a second white one about a quarter mile away, but now, as of yesterday, they both appeared at the same time in our yard. The second one is smaller (younger?). They don't appear to be traveling together. I don't yet have one picture of the two of them at the same time, but I will work on it. This shot was taken next to a picnic table leg.

Experimenting with Facebook

2009-08-13T23:56:00.004-05:00

I played with Facebook tonight, and created a page for one of our cats, Ash, and you can become a "fan" of him.

Ash on Facebook

Looks like we will finally get some rain

2009-08-07T12:51:00.006-05:00

It's been a really dry summer, and finally today rain is on its way. I had the day off so before it started getting wet, I visited a county park and a state park to see what I could see. Not much out there today - I found a few small birds, some wild flowers, and this butterfly. I'm behind in posting pictures from the past month to my web site (http://www.jhillmer.com/), so maybe this weekend I'll catch up on some of that.

High-School Band Camp

2009-08-07T00:04:00.003-05:00

Usually, I shoot nature, wildlife, landscape scenery subjects, but I've also been helping our high-school band program with still and video photography. Shooting people, especially teenage kids, is a lot different than my normal material.

I've tried to make sure that my shots are fun, and tell the story of their events, and provide a time-line from the beginning of each year through the development of skills and performances to the end of their year. I hope I've earned their trust, in that I don't shoot stuff that they would not be happy with. All shots are kept on a semi private site for the students and their families.

This week, a two day band-camp was held, and I had fun shooting the event again for them. Good luck to the Waukesha South High School Band kids and their staff as they begin the journey again.

Wildlife, on the way home from work

2009-08-05T23:36:00.012-05:00

On Monday and Tuesday, one of my children was involved in "band camp" - a few days at high school in the summer, where they begin preparing for the fall marching season. I like to stop in and help, or at the very least shoot some pictures so that they can see later in the season how far they progressed. I went to work those days - but had my cameras with me for the afternoon camp. On the way home, I drove through Whitnall park (a park in Milwaukee County) and I found a few deer, a ground hog, and then later on the way home, a pair of sandhill cranes. I will add these to my web site, www.jhillmer.com soon, but here's a preview of one of the deer and the cranes.

Spent Fri at EAA in Oshkosh

2009-08-01T12:30:00.007-05:00

Annually, the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) sponsors the world's largest airplane gathering, in Oshkosh Wisconsin. The week long event attracts people and planes, many were experimental or homebuilt, from all over the world. Thank you to Computer Associates for hosting me at the event.

Of special interest to me this year was the double decked Airbus A380 that flew in for the week. It was on display, though the lines to get into it were a bit long. I watched it take off on Friday, as it headed back to Milwaukee and then on to its next event. The other craft that was incredible, was the White Knight 2, the carrier plane for the future Space Ship Two. The space pod was not attached at this time, but the plane looked really great.

I recently purchased a Honda CR-V, so when I saw that Honda has a jet too, the HondaJet (hondajet.honda.com), I had to check that out, and I got a HondaJet T-Shirt that matches my car's color, but the $3+ million tag on the jet was more than I had in my wallet.

Blog site up and running

2009-08-01T12:10:00.004-05:00

Thanks to Google, I've added a blog site in connection to www.jhillmer.com

My intention is to post events and or locations that I will go to, or have been at, that will have some connection to the photo's that I take. While generally, I shoot nature, wildlife, and landscape photography, I also shoot some other events - sometimes to help with school groups, sometimes because its fun to learn how to capture other subject materials, and sometimes just for fun.