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Adobe Chester County Downingtown Marsh Creek State Park Photo Manipulation Photography Software

Manipulation Monday

Here is a little something for this weeks “Manipulation Monday”, which is a combination of (3) images taken here in Downingtown earlier in the summer.

Fireworks over Marsh Creek State Park - Manipulation Monday
Fireworks over Marsh Creek State Park – Manipulation Monday

On a technical side, the (3) 16-bit RAW images where combined in Photoshop CS6, on my new computer, which did not even flinch when dealing with the 500MB file!

In monitoring the scratch disk space, it was bizarre for me to see that I still had 10GBs of free space available!

Guess I’m going to have to work on that…

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the image!

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4th of July Adobe Chester County Downingtown Holidays Long Exposure Photo Journal Photography

2013 Downingtown Fireworks

Some images taken during the 2013 Downingtown Good Neighbor Day Fireworks held July 4th!

Many thanks to all those that helped to put on this wonderful performance!

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astronomy Blogging Chester County Downingtown Lakes Long Exposure Marsh Creek State Park Photo Journal Photography space Sunsets Tone Mapping Water

Hot Dam Night

I have always enjoying looking up into the night-time sky, and following the rhythms of our solar system is something I follow daily online.

Lately, I have been keeping my eye on the rare alignment of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury in the west-northwest about 30 minutes after sunset. The next time this will happen, is in 2026.

Being Friday night, I had to go out and try to see this!

The whole week has been hotter than normal for this time of year, and I hoped the cover of night would help.

The dam parking lot had two other cars when I arrived, and as I unpacked, a jogger going downhill, turned and entered the park.

MCSP Sunset & Fishing
MCSP Sunset & Fishing

Because of the heat and humidity, I packed my equipped vest into the daypack, and threw it over my shoulder, along with my camera and tripod, and headed into the park.

Heading down the hill, it got darker because of the overhanging trees and leaves, but the light grey colored maintenance road made it easier to follow with the ambient light.

When I got to the opening at the bottom of the dam, and I could see I was a little late in getting there, but I still had time.

I took the steep dirt path through the tall grass to the south-eastern corner area of the lake. The ‘flea and tick season’ phrase kept repeating itself in my head.

I finally reached the dirt road at the top, panting heavily and thinking that I should have brought along a second water bottle, while the jogger I had seen earlier, passed by me, and off into the increasing darkness.

Once setup, I could see that most of the sky was clear, but there was a thin bands of clouds, hovering in the distance, just above the treetops, in the northwest sky, right where my compass was aimed at 300°.

I was a little bummed, but as the 30 minute mark began to approach, I did see a bright spot right where it should be, and not moving. Could this be one of the planets?

I took numerous pictures of the sunset, and rising ‘planet’, and then started to focus my attention on the various fishing boats with lights, motoring silent around the lake.

Light Fishing at MCSP
Light Fishing at MCSP

As one boat crossed in front of me, I heard –

“You can not take his picture. He is in the witness relocation program.”

Followed by chuckles from the boat.

Responding back, with a smiling tone, I said that my camera did not have the resolution, and that they were going to fast.

Little do they know… Tee hee…

I also followed the various airplanes crossing my vision. It did not seem like a very busy night, especially compared to other times I have stood in the boating parking lot, staring up into the night sky on other photography expeditions.

As 9:30 approached, and fending off the mosquitoes was becoming impossible, I packed up, crossing over the rest of the dam, turning sharply to my left, and down the diagonal road.

Jupiter and Venus over Marsh Creek State Park
Jupiter and Venus over Marsh Creek State Park

Walking next to the marshy area, I saw fireflies signaling their presence, and at the bottom, I could see that I was going to need my headlamp, as I started back into the darker section of the road. I had not been here before at night, so I did not know what I might encounter.

When the light flashed on, I was greeted by a thin fog that reflexed back the bright light, making it more difficult to see. I turned the lamp down, be it did not help. Maybe next time, I’ll get the headlamp with multi-colors.

Finally, I reached the brown swinging gate at the top of the trail, and headed into the parking lot, where I threw my gear into the car, and headed home.

Note to Self – Next time, bring two water bottles and bug spray…

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Updates

After processing several series of images, it seems that I might have ‘caught’ Venus and Jupiter in my captures, with Jupiter being just too faint to see with the naked eye.

We’ll try again in 2026!

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Adobe Announcements Chester County Downingtown Gadgets Online Life Outages Pennsylvania Personal Photo Journal Photography Rants

A Time I Logged Off the Internet 001

I wish to dispel a myth…

For years, folks have accused me of NEVER logging off the internet…

I DO!

At LEAST once a week, during the spring, summer and fall!

You want Proof?

A Time I Logged Off the Internet 001
A Time I Logged Off the Internet 001

How is that?

I setup my camera in the far corner of my yard, and used my iPod Touch and TriggerTrap to record the “session”…

Then in Adobe Photoshop CS 5.1, I combined over 30 individual images into a composite, which you see above.

This was very painful, and required a lot of RAM and numerous files… and ‘Yes”, I’m still 32-bit…

But the end result, I have ‘proof’ that I have done ‘work’ outside of the internet!

I am still working on a proposal to ‘off shore’ this task to non-terrestrials…

Details to follow…

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Chester County Downingtown Events Photography

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