tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141346252024-03-13T07:01:02.843-07:00Mostly MacrosMostly Macros™ From Spiders to Electronics and physics I started this site to show the world my passion for photography/science despite having serious life challenges. It is my hope to teach as well as to inspire others with life challenges to achieve goals.Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.comBlogger198125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-30544642985980166912014-11-26T18:21:00.001-08:002014-12-30T12:46:00.219-08:00The KF7DFP VTTC PICS --NEW PICS--<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A quick shot of the corona, the area where plasma is produced very quickly. I was amazed to find that the plasma dissipates and is produced very quickly. One photo in this sires was taken at 1/400th of a second. High speed video proves that the plasma changes very quickly--faster then ~1/120th of a sec. or so but is changing constantly. Every photo is different and changes to the circuit can produce different corona and sprite possibilities. The plasma appears fully in less then 1/100th of a sec. and it disappears in less then 1/60th or so from other tests. This article is still in work on so sorry about some of the spelling and other errors.<br />
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The finished KF7DFP VTTC. I call it the VTTC1200. This is a project I've been putting off for a long time but finally got around to doing. It took me about 2 days to wind the secondary, which can actually be removed and replaced with another type or coil. This is a very useful and interesting feature I thought to add. Not only does the beaker provide insulation, but also allows me to actually swap out secondaries to see how they respond. There are limits, but other secondaries with higher turn counts may be possible. This is a pretty dense hand wound coil, #32awg. I think there are about 3-5000 turns. I have not made a good estimate. Most of the energy is produced in the lower half of the coil where flux density is highest. <br />
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I've built several classic Tesla coils and smaller units, and even a "pulse coil" which ran on about 30kv. The photo on the top of my blog was taken from the pulse coil system. I decided to try a TV flyback before I got an NST. The NST version is on YouTube, I may also have the pulse coil on there too) channel="mostlymacros". It worked, but the output is intermittent and like all coils that use a spark gap-- really messy. My first SSTC design which I will publish here later was a success and stable, but not very powerful and I had problems keeping the single mosfet cool. I built it about 2 years ago. I have the components to do another SSTC and probably will eventually do something using a PWM and some kind of push pull mosfet drive. There are advantages that tubes have for some circuits over solid state however. So then again--if I can find some of the types I need--I might just stick with tubes. Tubes have properties that are very resilient, not to mention really good sound so they are making a comeback! Tubes or thermionic "valves" have some pretty amazing properties. I chose to use a tube because of the overload capacity and flexibility. I have made it a point to study tube design.<br />
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Sometimes I catch the plasma going straight up into the air in two lines mostly. Other times, I catch it just as it powers up (as seen here) and just after it shuts down as the plasma dissipates. Here, the initial surge can be seen in the large arcs that begin to form the cycle of oscillation. This is a frozen very short moment in time, most of these pics are not long exposures. They are actually settings not un-common for an overcast daytime shot. I kept my iso pretty high, just so that I can catch clearly the sprites that emanate from the plasma and bolts of electricity here. This coil from top to ground (across secondary) produces about 80-110kv peak. I may be able to reach 120kv, but I think I'm closer usually to 90kv. If you go by 1.1mm=1000v then I've got 100kv and more. I tend to think at 200ft above sea level this rule does not do so well, it seems more like 1.5mm per 1000volts. Measuring voltage by arc size is an old and difficult method that is often unreliable. However, provided your not too high above sea level, and that your under pretty typical conditions, an arc test from point to point in open air can give you an idea of how many volts you have. You can find out for sure approximately how many volts, DC or AC you have. However, in order to do this, your current must be high enough to be visible and this voltage must be able to create a visible arc in the air as the electricity jumps. What often people don't know, is that electricity does not just jump from point A to B via conductors like metal. It can travel when highly charged and/or as AC--through the air invisibly. If you took 1000 batteries and tied them together, just hooking up a loop of wire connected to nothing on either end of them would produce a small spark (arc) and momentary radio signals! Even though, apparently, there is no visible complete circuit. This is due to capacitance and electrical fields in the air. A coil of wire is usually seen as an inductor, but when it is connected to but one electrical pole, it acts as a 'lump' of capacitance. The charges trying to equalize, a spark is produced when something is "bonded" to it. It looks like free energy, but it's an electrical field that if one did this dangerous experiment, you could hear as static discharges in the battery pile. As can be seen here--it can also jump seemingly into nowhere. But this is because charges travel through the air without being visible. The heat that ionizes the air and burns it out as far as the power will allow in this coil. After a certain point and the circuit is completed by capacitance of electrical field in the air itself. This is why a screw driver connected to nothing will illicit a large arc--bigger then that seen in large flyback drivers! I have built big kv meters, (Up to over 250kv) but calibrating it can be difficult since finding a meter that can measure over about 50kv--is very difficult and expensive. So I used a number of tests to calibrate mine. For this coil, I generalized my location and other tests to come up with the ~100kv or so safe output max. If too much energy it put into the supply, either the tube will overheat or the coil will begin to arc on itself, so this is the limit for both this coil and the tube that powers it. The voltage is AC of course and radio frequency and thus we get the great coronas and sprites out of the top, they are incredible like unpredictable sculptures. <br />
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I started doing tube experiments as well as plasma tries with transformers and Model T Ford coils when I was about 11. The first real assignment with tubes I gave myself was to transpose simple circuits like a Hartley oscillators into tube forms from solid state circuits. In that case, a center tapped coil and variable capacitor for tuning. With a little math, the tank circuit resonant frequency can be figured out. Thus I was able to begin to build radios that listened or transmitted where I wanted them too! Then I moved into experimenting with other devices. Tubes are very forgiving within reason, and if something goes wrong you far less likely to lose the tube then an expensive mosfet. You can see what's going on inside, and keep an eye on things, they also are really tough--I've seen tubes get so hot they glow entirely across the plate but when cooled back down--they still ran fine again. I even pulled a few tubes out of an old TV that had been laying in the bushes for decades in Guam, fired it up and it worked until a typhoon wreaked my place and I lost most of my stuff. Years of harsh rain and sun did nothing to damage the glass sealed device. As fragile as they may be in shipping--they are really tough compared to the mosfets and transistors that replaced them. Tolerances can be looser, substitutions simpler, and some kinds of circuits just work better and can have a lot less components if built with tubes. Tubes have a lot of gain and bandwidth--the only thing that comes close to them in solid state are mosfets and a few other emerging technologies. The military is interested in tubes since they are virtually EMP proof. Russia kept making all there radios for fighter jets out of tubes at least into the 1990s for this reason. And for sound quality there's no comparison according to many, myself included, who say tubes have the best sound in the world for audio gear.<br />
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In 2010, I shattered my myth about tube plate voltage since every book I read talks about how important B+ needs to be pretty high voltage. Never under 45volts. I was able to power a 12AX7 tube oscillator with just 15volts! That's right, it was actually possible to get a sine wave and tune a tube Hartley tank circuit that had a plate voltage of only 15 volts. The circuit was built in a cascode fashion, which means that one triode was driving modulation into the 2nd triode which was an oscillator. Plate into cathode from triode 1 to triode 2. The 1st tube lost it's bias with audio and sound quality around 30volts or so, but the CW signal and sine wave remained strong and could be turned on or off at will with a plate voltage not much more then 12 volts! I could have used it as a local oscillator for a receiver. I never thought a tube circuit could run at such low voltage. The filaments were actually running a bit lower then specs, but electron emission can happen to the plate for an oscillator at very low voltages. I plan to do some more tests with this, this is especially true with smaller high gain signal tubes. In most literature about tube design--45volts is as low as you can go. I wonder what else you can do with them--cold cathode? Some tubes do operate if you use enough voltage--such as magic eye tubes and even TV CRTs-- but space charges and other issues get in the way of grid function so they are not good for much without a hot cathode unless they were designed for a particular function like a plate relay control. You can create wideband noise out of a gas discharge tube, or use one to turn a plate relay on and off. But if you want audio frequency amplification, gain and any radio projects--you pretty much do have to keep your plate voltage (or B+ battery supply) above 45 volts and towards the tube's intended voltage and filaments/heaters must be hot enough for the electrons to begin to "boil off" so that they can be grabbed by the plate. But they are very flexible as far as design goes and just how far you can push them. I have not posted my SSTC design yet, but I will say it is the simplest one I have ever seen. I was able to build a pretty good SSTC from a 555 timer chip by feeding just enough power back so that it became a resonant circuit through the timer. A strange and unusual way to use the 555 chip that I just decided to try, and it worked well with large mosfets like the IRFP260/460. The timer is basically a PWM, and when it has almost no timing capacitance on it--it will still oscillate! I found that they can go into several hundred Kc, so getting up to the resonant frequency of a air core primary was possible. I protected the mosfet as I always do with several parts, and the timer need only 50ohm 1/4W resistor and 0.47mfd capacitor or so to drive the gate and insure that the chip never gets totally shorted if something happens to the mosfet. I did not however get nearly as much power out of it as I do here with the tube system. And the mosfet was in constant danger of overheating or being damaged. Tubes are almost immune to this kind of transient high voltage and they can overheat, but you can monitor this if your using glass tubes. This makes them ideal for power RF amplifiers or Tesla coils that would have to be far more complex and/or expensive if done solid state. The corona on my SSTC was only about 1-2inches long and the mosfet was under a lot of pressure for many reasons so I could not run it for very long without letting it cool. I really had to only run it for a few seconds at a time but it was a stable viable circuit that I built twice. The corona on my VTTC here is about 4-5 inches with sprites up to 7+ There are many great SSTC schematics online, the concept is pretty simple but coil building and winding is difficult work sometimes since there are so many possible problems with arcing and induction that must be addressed. I did not find such an abundance of good VTTC schematics, but then again I did not look for very long. I designed this circuit myself. When I did finally check out other schematics online, I found many VTTC schematics to be pretty low-powered. This may be because the volts needed at currents this high are VERY dangerous. At 1000volts 2amps or so, you really don't get 2nd chances. And to run a larger VTTC voltages quickly get into the 2000+ range at 1 amp or more. The means of doing this is so dangerous that I hesitate to post it. You don't get burned, you don't get shocked--you get electrocuted! Lights out. The general voltage for the electric chair in many states was 2000volts at 2-4amps AC. I don't think I need to say more about why this is so dangerous! MOTs are very dangerous and often underestimated, this is why microwave ovens are setup so you cannot use them with the case off. The transformer core is one side of the 2000volt secondary and they are capable of producing 2kv (2000volts) at as many as 2-5amps if the electrical outlet powering them can handle it. I may need to use a 2 phase (240volt) outlet for my next VTTC as I will need a really big voltage. So safety is very important with VTTCs. There are tube transformers out there that can produce about 1200volts or more and can be found online in different places. Lots of old radio and other gear use them. The other way is to build an inverter supply that will convert 48Vdc volts into 1200volts at 1 amp or so at higher frequency--which makes it safer if it's up in the 10kc or above range--but still very dangerous!<br />
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I have also seen people using a MOTs to ballast another MOT. A bad idea. A shorted MOT pulls so much current (more then 15amps at 120vac) that using one as a ballast will do almost nothing for keeping current down or reducing voltage and danger. It's pretty much equivalent to using a wound up 30ft extension cord as a ballast. You can still get almost as many amps through it. MOTs are high-current specialized transformers that generate a great deal of magnetic flux, so much you can feel it with any metal near by. The primary is only about 130 turns or so if I recall, #10 or 12 AWG solid--this is really big wire for a primary and produces a very large magnetic field. The secondary is #28 or larger AWG so the current you can actually get out of a MOT far exceeds the 15amp limit on most home outlets. In a microwave they push it as far as about 1300watts. That's almost 11amps. These are so powerful that if you shorted it you'll be drawing something like 30amps from your outlet and most certainly kick a breaker off or blow a fuse. If not, the arc becomes very dangerous because it's energetic and large--not something to try, seriously. To ballast a MOT for less power, use an auto-transformer or a series of 100W incandescent light bulbs in parallel and then in series with the primary. This reduces current to reasonable levels that will not blow breakers or cause dangerous flash-arcs. It's still very dangerous, but if anything happens the excess current will light up the bulbs instead of running the MOT. The same can be done with other types of large tube transformers that may also produce high currents in similar ranges. You can see the idle current in how bright they get when it's on, as well as how much your using. It also helps to put about a 6-10uf AC capacitor on the primary, this reduces the impedance of it and lowers the idle current. If a MOT is left on without an AC cap, it will get quite hot eventually even if not pulling any load. Not to mention that left idle, a MOT can pull as much as 1.5amps or so at 120vac. That is enough to run a big TV. <br />
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I recommend an insulated remote momentary only switch as I did here that cuts all power to such a HV transformer virtually instantly. With the big tube transformers--you don't get a 2nd chance. These shocks are almost as serious as touching an industrial power line. There are some really great VTTCs shown on YouTube, some very powerful transmitting tubes and coils. A lot of watts are needed no matter how you do a VTTC/SSTC. My SSTC used 90volts out of several power supplies in series. I only built a prototype and never did build a permanent version of the circuit, but for a beginner coil builder who wants something simple--it would be a great start. So I will post it here soon once I draw it up in digital form, it's only in my notes now. It is easy to power with a 5A auto-transformer. A better source then a series of transformers. Under it's requirements, the voltage dropped to only about 50volts while it was running. The load on my 4amp laptop DC supplies and others together really was hard on them as well. I just bought an auto-transformer and put a bridge on it--creating a DC power supply. One can filter this and make it really nice, you can select your voltage and use it as a kind of "brute force" supply. There will be a drop in the voltage but compensation is as simple as turning it up at bit more. Auto-transformers make great power supplies since they give out even current from 2volts or so all the way to 120 or in some models, 140volts. They also are built in a way that accidental overload or over-volt is very unlikely since the dial must be turned for the transformer to use more power, and it's a pretty big dial. So you can trust that it won't short and suddenly dump 120volts into your circuit that can only handle 40V! As is the trouble with using a load and light dimmer for such a supply. The SSTC I first built did however let me show some of the fractal effects of plasma and arcs. How one AC arc can form a sprite on it's own. I dubbed this effect "arc flares". The coil here produces a fractal of plasma reflecting complex components of the AC/RF and the DC used to power it.<br />
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The isolated remote also acts as a key and is powered by the filament
supply transformer. It uses an SMA connector to a small switch I can
hold in my hand for photos. Don't want to get too close to this thing
with a camera though! The switch controls the HV transformer with a microwave oven relay. I also use an AC capacitor to reduce
relay arcing. The plasma draw comes out of a removable crossbow bolt tip. <br />
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A sealed jar becomes a pressurized chamber and then a partial vacuum when plasma is released into it. This is really amazing to watch, I can create all kinds of effects in the jar. Smoke gets obliterated, and gasses in the air from the smallest things cause changes to the corona.<br />
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The wave function is clearly visible in many photographs taken at about 1/20th to 1/10th a sec. This one was at iso800. Some pictures show very clear 3d sine waves. I have many more taken with a full frame camera that will soon be posted. This is as close as we can get to actually seeing a radio wave. It is not the actual wavelength of the coil but rather a product of a series of functions in the circuit. Basically, the closest simple analogy I can think of (albeit not entirely correct or comparable) would be to compare this effect to a guitar string that has been plucked and then rotated from the bottom at another frequency a full 360 degrees. It also kind of comes up out of the coil like a spring and gets recorded as it forms in the air on the camera's sensor. We see not only the plasma being produced now, but the plasma flowing off that is dissipating as other sprites start. The cycle happens very fast. Three frequencies are important here along with there harmonic components. 300khz (300kc), 60hz and 120hz from the diode bridge HV power supply. The plasma actually forms by building up as heat increases in the air. The arcs form sprites at semi-regular intervals. A number of variables exist here, but we are most probably seeing mostly the 120hz wave form in these sine wave sprites. We are also possibly seeing the difference between 120hz and 300kc. =2500hz, and of course the 60hz ripple as well. When a DC circuit has an AC component it's called "ripple". A set of electrolytic capacitors and filter chokes would eliminate these, but after running this unit with them and without them, I found allowing quite a bit of ripple here to be a good thing. It produces very interesting fractal paterns based on the many sine waves produced here. So in effect with a camera we can stop it fast enough to see the waves in action. The sweeping motion however is also there and visible to the naked eye but very fast. The corona is just as large as seen in this picture here, this is not a long exposure or something to make effects more dramatic.<br />
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RADIO RFI -- and PICTURES of wave function: <br />
So the wave we see most often in the coil is the 120hz and then sweeping at 300kc (300,000hz). This is the fundamental frequency of this coil. It also has many harmonics as does any oscillator so for more powerful coils, especially if your going to use it for long periods of time you should be careful to filter the 120AC line. Especially if your going to hook it to anything like a wire. This is a very powerful radio transmitter but lacking a matched antenna, unless you live near an airport you should be fine. I often operate it late at night and check how much I am creating harmonic RFI in broadcast band areas. Also, keep all electronics away from such coils! This thing can scramble the circuits on just about any digital device from several feet away! Filters on the 120V AC side can reduce the amount of RF that gets back into the power grid without diluting the DC ripple effect. A bifiar wound toroid would also work to modulate the grid if enough power was used, thus it could be modulated either via the grid or even possibly the cathode with a good enough driver. Filters are a good idea for large coils to reduce harmonics from being transmitted as radio interference. Since we are at 300kc, we are also harmonically putting out quite a powerful signal in the AM broadcast band (530-1700kc) and down into the long wave spectrum where a lot of Navigational beckons are. So keeping leads short and not using any long wires is a good idea. Don't send any Morse code! So once again, basically I deliberately allowed 120hz/60hz into the coils plate supply. The first design used a bank of capacitors and a 60hz filter choke, I quickly found that adding a bit of line frequency 60hz was good for creating large sprites and integral frequency effects. This is complex AC theory. Components of 120hz/60hz and 300hz+ are allowed into the oscillator and thus show up in the plasma sprites (the largest arcs visible) 'painting' an image of an actual waveform. This allows you to see the wave function exactly how it really is. In 3d. I've never seen this done before. I have seen other great coils, but seeing waveforms in the arcs I never noticed. You pretty much need to take a picture of it at normal speed to be able to see it long enough. Many of these shots were done at 1/120th a sec. Most of these pics are not long exposures. Above you are seeing what it actually looks like in real life. You can see the same thing by freeze framing an HD video of it. Most cameras shoot at 24-30fps. More professional cameras can go beyond that into 60 or more FPS so that slow playback is possible. This is very useful since we can see one event in 1/60th of a second which is exactly 1 cycle of 60hz. I was amazed when I captured it for the first time. This is NOT my best picture example--more are coming of this effect including the fractal pics that show some incredible images in them with even more detail then these. I have at least 5 more to post. It can take dozens of photos to get a good wave picture. <br />
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This was a longer exposure showing about 1sec if I recall. That is why the neon power light seems so bright. But you don't need along exposure to see the plasma as you can tell from the videos in the next article down. The coil is finally finished, I have everything worked out so that a number of<br />
different tubes will operate it. Some more common then others. You need a pretty big pentode power beam tube for this. The 6KD6 tube, a large TV horz. tube, was able to run this coil but got a bit too hot. Only for short times if you use that type of tube since the plate may become too hot. I'm using a larger type, the 27LE6. For looks, I moved the meter to a better spot on the board on the
panel's right side. It does not directly reflect plate or grid current, measurements are really difficult since there is so much of an EM field. It is an overall circuit current meter. I know what the reading should be depending on how far up I dial the power. So if anything is wrong I can tell if it is drawing too much power or not enough. I can also get some measurement of the oscillator's current efficiency and how well matched it is. If too un-matched, the oscillator will lock up or go into a really high frequency mode that is very hard on the tube and produces no arcs. The circuit includes a tuner that matches the primary so that loads on the secondary will not cause problems with the oscillation process. This is basically the same thing as SWR with a radio, there must be a good load on this--or it will pull more power and heat up the tube's plate. If this got too out of hand the plate would literally start to glow red, but that does not happen even under a lot of load. A circuit breaker prevents more then about a 1.5amp load. As long as I match it with the delta IE control--I can connect it to anything I want such as the experiment with the jar where the plasma flows down into it. And as I said already, I importantly added a remote control switch so
that I can turn the coil on/off very quickly and without fear of an RF
burn or shock. Touching ground or grounded metal switches when this is on can cause RF burns if your close to the coil. So an insulated switch is important. The tuner does not effect frequency much, the air
variable instead controls coil load impedance matching. This makes it
possible for me to connect the coil to items and experiments without
oscillator problems. An important idea for my design since I wanted to
do many experiments with this. I'm sure other people have come up with the
same concepts, but this schematic and coil design is my work. The
schematic is available on request only, since this is a very dangerous
project and I want more people who view my site and write comments! Please subscribe and more projects will be posted. Questions and such are always welcome, give me time to respond since I don't check my email all the time.<br />
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Turning up the power to over 1200volts on the plate, this coil can produce a lot of plasma. I can even use it to cook things such as roasting marsh mallows and other items, plasma is a lot of fun and at 300khz--I don't have to worry about ozone production under most conditions since a "clean" AC VTTC or SSCT will produce very little of it even if large arcs are drawn. I have not even smelled any from this coil. Getting exact measurements of current/frequency in the circuit is difficult however since there is so much RF present many devices don't work. Even analog meters have problems due to EM and flux densities close to the coil! I have estimated that the coil uses as much as 400-500W at peak operation. It's output being in the 200-350W range. I can safely (for the tube and other parts) only turn it up to about 1200volts at 1amp before I am in danger of completely overloading my tube and the auto-transformer that controls power. <br />
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60hz/300khz or 120hz/300Khz? --both--More about the ripple effect<br />
As I explained above already, since I used a diode
bridge in the plate B+ DC power supply design, we are getting a 120hz ripple in the DC output.
Basically, when you power a diode bridge with 60hz AC, you will end up
getting AC components out of it if you have little or no capacitance on
it or you draw so much current that the capacitance you do have cannot compensate. Since a diode bridge will allow something DC powered to operate
with current in either direction, when you change directions
60 times a second, it becomes a pulsed source of DC that is 2xF(ac) 120vac 60hz. I can't write much of the math here, I will just explain as best I can. So in
addition to RF AC harmonics from the oscillator, we have a 120hz signal--2x60 here. This is
because each cycle either way has a phase change interval. It is
difficult for me to explain in detail here, but this translates to a
120hz signal in the DC if your power supply is full wave. Most are, two diodes or a diode bridge will produce this effect. I am just learning the complexities of AC theory and AC mathematics here myself. So I hope I am correct in this theory. It is also based on multiple scope tests. If you are powering something that uses lots of
current but as I did here with only a small capacitor (in this case a
total of 4.7uf) you will end up getting components of both 120hz and
60hz in the output. Mainly the diode bridge produces 120hz if little or
no capacitor is used of current drain is so high the capacitor can't keep up. Thus, the frequency is multiplied once the diode bridge is under load. We can even
see this with a frequency counter if placed near the bridge or connected
to it. Since we are using really high voltage here--you want to be
sure your meter can handle it. I have a CatIII which means it's rated
for 1000 volts. Any more could damage the meter, but since the voltage
is so high--we can keep the coil and tube off with just the transformer
and supply idling and pickup the signal of both 60hz and 120hz from
the supply. 120hz will be prominent on the + side of the bridge.
Basically, we have a couple of sign waves that overlap to produce the waveform pics. There is also a question of timing. How fast does the effect get created? The plasma stays in the air after the coil is off but only for about 1/120th of a second or so.. I deliberately kept capacitors low and used no DC filtration for these frequencies so that the
supply would make a 'messy' output. This produces really big sprites when
ever the two fundamental sine waves converge with 120hz. I would say it's
120/300000 or basically, a 2.5kc (2500hz) difference exists between the
coil's fundamental operating frequency and 120Hz. The AC main 60hz frequency will also have
something to do with these incredible visible wave functions. There are
many factors that come into play here, it's a complex situation but
what results is a fractal series of sign waves and plasma effects from
the output tip, which is an AC load via capacitance. When photographed at high speed with my full frame
camera, it is possible to see just how amazing these effects are and
even measure them since I can set my exposure time exactly. Many more
and better photos will be posted soon.<br />
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<br />Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-54213192594912121792014-10-22T11:05:00.001-07:002014-10-23T22:04:50.788-07:00The Quad Flyback Driver --200KV from color TV flybacks!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ok, Here it is, I will post still pics later. This is a 200kv DC generator that uses 4 color TV flyback transformers in series. There are NO voltage multiplication circuits here. It is powered by my homemade CD-707 lab supply using a 1200W mosfet, IFXB100N50. It uses a lot of power and I am pushing the limits of flyback design here. I used to think 2 flybacks were a problem! Four of them was more then a challenge. Put in oil, and with enough insulation and testing, this circuit runs incredibly well. It is important that the driver can be tuned, and all primary windings are done in the same direction. Also, very large wire must be used--HV TV wire--even in oil, 200kv will arc through almost anything. I burned out a lot of wire before I found one that can handle it. It runs on about 22volts at 7.8amps (about 170W). Care must be taken not to overdrive the flybacks. A long in-oil capacitor bank prevents punching too much power through the integral flyback diodes and helps collect peak voltages. The voltage can arc over 7 inches! It might be possible to do more, but after a certain point the voltage on one side will probably blow through the flyback's insulation even in oil. So using more flybacks in this way may not work long, even in oil. To my knowledge I am the first person/lab to ever put 4 flybacks directly in series secondary connection on YouTube.<br />
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The diodes on each end must be protected since the newer color TV flybacks typically have 4 fast HV diodes in them, some more some less. They are arranged between separated windings to prevent arcing inside the flyback itself. Not just one diode as is often assumed. The early TV sets only had one thermionic diode tube for CRT HV system. Since the use of solid state diodes, most flybacks have at least 4 and as many as 8 or more in them. However, on the ground and hot sides, the last diodes have to handle a lot of power when in a chain like this. Keeping this circuit from overloading or damaging those diodes is possible but you don't want to overdrive them with too much current. Flyback failure can happen very quickly and without warning. Once a flyback fails--there is no fixing it. This can be from internal arcing, melted windings or diode failure. Under some conditions a DC flyback can even change to AC--usually if it's over powered without a load. This is rare however, I have only seen it happen once. Many people want to remove the diodes to get an AC output, this is practically impossible since these modern DC flybacks are made of very tough materials and cannot simply be melted away or cut apart. Even very strong acids are ineffective. Best if you want an AC flyback, buy one or wind one yourself. There is a video on my YouTube channel "mostlymacros" describing this. I wound up to 20kv high current AC flybacks myself. There are some companies still making them as well for various devices and they are easy to order last I checked.. Also a good resonant frequency must be found to get peak voltages out of this kind of system. This can be done with a PWM, a 555 timer will also work fine. I have many more pics will post later (a lot of disks to burn!). I also have other projects not yet posted, including an ion drive working model. Be sure to see my latest project below, the VTTC1000.Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-35831476650523651982014-10-22T10:38:00.001-07:002014-10-23T22:34:31.451-07:00A Power Beam Tube Tesla coil---First look<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything. That does not mean I have not been doing anything! This time, after my successful YouTube post of the 200kv Quad Flyback driver powered by my CD-707 (Not yet posted here but can be seen on my YouTube "mostlymacros" channel), I designed a Tesla coil around a large power beam tube. The top tip is a crossbow bolt on a coffee can as my capacitor. Features of my oscillator design include a stabilization coil, plate tune and (~I/E) control.<br />
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I kept the plate voltage, provided by a high current/voltage supply I built--to about 1000 volts for these tests as I did not want to damage the camera I was using. The coil can create sprites as high as about 5 inches or more. Making it capable of over 120,000 volts with full arc load across secondary.<br />
Tesla coils produce very powerful EM fields. This one operates at about 300khz (300kc) and operates as high as 1500 volts at about 1amp. I have yet to get a complete reading however since I must build a meter capable of handling the RF produced as well as the high voltages used. Newer digital meters have pathetically low voltage levels. I have only one cat. III meter/scope as can be seen in the YouTube Video--and it's too expensive to risk here!<br />
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Here is my video of the project, click here to view. Coil is not at full power yet and not complete, I will create another video when it is and upload. <br />
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I hand wound this coil entirely myself, as well as designed the circuits that drive it. You will not find the schematic for this online until I put it up there. However, there are quite a few VTTC/SSTC schematics online, almost none of which I have tested as I often do my own schematics. I designed it around a large power beam tube that was probably used for the bigger color TV sets back in the 1960s-70s. I also came up with an idea for isolation of primary from secondary issues using a large plastic beaker. Consequentially--I am able to run the coil with far more power and even replace or swap out the HV secondary! Really useful for testing. My schematic for this circuit is available on request (email me if interested). I only have a hand drawn version for now in my notebook. I will eventually draw it on CAD software, as I have done other projects on here. Be sure and watch the YouTube video. I know it turned out unexpectedly dark--sorry about that--next time I need to use the better camera! It looked great on my camera in playback. I usually use a relatively inexpensive camera for most of these videos/pics since I don't want to fry my high end one. <br />
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I don't like to get my good cameras too close to projects like this! Any kind of Tesla coil produces very powerful EM/RF fields and can produce several 1000 volts in devices near by so watch things like remote controls, cameras, laptops and memory cards. A metallic and thus somewhat shielded cameras is best. It is not complete yet, When I get the diodes for it's power supply (coming in the mail)-- it will be a self-powered unit that plugs right into any wall outlet. It can run on 120volts but requires a lot of power, as much as 6 amps in high settings on the 120volt side of things. About half what a regular microwave oven needs or so. Since it is an oscillator working with the feedback principle it produces a large amount of tuned RF at about 300khz, so you don't want to hook any long wires to VTTC/SSTC projects as they may create serious radio interference on nav. beakons and or other radio devices. Some filtration of the AC 120 volt side and/or HV AC side can help keep this RFI to a minimum. Thanks for checking out my site--Please subscribe if interested--I have been busy and will try to post more often. I have a backlog of cards to upload, about a half dozen videos and 100s of pics. So keep comming back! Thanks--G.Beasley KF7DFPGabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-848951180130719432013-11-27T19:46:00.000-08:002014-05-03T11:14:12.974-07:00I FINALLY DESIGNED AND BUILT MY LAB SUPPLY SYSTEM! Checkout the highlight videos--<img class="CSS_LIGHTBOX_SCALED_IMAGE_IMG" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nGnBHmF9e1s/UDrqFqnk-4I/AAAAAAAAACk/McnrK8fyBts/s1600/ZVS+2+flyback+schematic.bmp" style="height: 500px; width: 662px;" /><br />
PLEASE READ: The above schematic is a non-varrible version of the dual flyback ZVS. For best results use no more then 40vdc and large wires. Since the 2nd flyback acts very much like the resonent capacitor-- you can remove it and see if that works better. To start the circuit after it has been removed however you will need to place a 1000pf or so 2kv capacitor between one gate and the center tap of the primary. Otherwise the supply will not begin to oscilate. In this mode, operation above about 30volts will be difficult but at lower dc drive voltages the flybacks will produce higher outputs. The new schematic also replaces the zeners with a 5w 16v zener diodes (2N5353 etc). I hope you find this helpful. Build with short leads and place fly-backs separate from supply using large leads to connect the unit. Putting both fly-backs in mineral oil is a very good idea and will keep unwanted arcing. Use 8mm ignition wire for best results on the HV side. Keep output minimal, trying to push fly-backs to huge arcs and large ones is usually a death sentence for them. If you want fat arcs try winding your own or getting a larger type of transformer, the diodes and internal wire just cannot handle currents as high as many circuits show for long. Ignition coils are better at this.<br />
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I have been working on this for a while-- A a variable high current power supply. This is one of the prototype units working with mosfet drive systems and PWM options. See what happened when I hooked it up two ignition coils! Bipolar wired in series at over 70volts! The CD-707 is able to do this, but I need to save enough to get some new ignition coils first--these died after the voltage no longer was dissipated on the arc shown--they arced internally and were damaged. This was only because I moved them further apart. I got 100kv or more--but too far apart they arced inside. I cut one open to find out what happened and figured out some interesting things. If built you want to step up the power and make sure all is used in the arc so that it does not break the insulation internally. Ignition coils generally do not produce more then 20kv at lower current. With this driver, they are producing over 50kv each. It's not 500ma, probably close to 100ma however.<br />
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MY HOME MADE HIGH CURRENT AND HIGH VOLTAGE LAB SUPPLY=<br />
I went on to design and build the CD-707 (BELOW). My latest power supply for the mad-scientist lab :) lol. The unit is both a ZVS and a circuit I call the SPSv. A modified version of the push-pull ZVS that operates at higher frequency and also is far more flexible and in some uses power efficient. A 3rd mosfet makes it adjustable from 20-110kv with x2 good color TV flybacks. The current is impressive. I built the system onto two PC boards and into two metal boxes bolted together. The same high-current DC supply gives a 1200W PWM and a 400W+ ZVS/SPSv. This allows me to drive an impressive number of coils and high voltage transformers or other devices. Like the CD-1628 and the CD-303 in one unit, the CD-707 is my best yet. It is solidly built and I designed the over-current protection (shuts off supply if too much power pulled or part fails) as well as a 2 stage power on system timer for operation on both types of supplies. A remote control button is the isolated switch that turns on the system. First at only about 1/3rd power--then goes to full. When button off-- It steps back down to 1/3rd just before turning off entirely. Cooling and all control functions stay on, this is just mosfet power control for output to transformers. This type of circuit prevents damage to parts and accidents. In such high amp systems (as much as 8-10amps at 20-70volts here) the remote and power control had to be built carefully. This flexible driver has replaceable components and upgrade features as well as an audio input option for singing arcs on both the ZVS and PWM systems. PWM and ZVS outputs are in the back, remote and Audio input as well for 'singing arc' soon to be. --G.Beasley KF7DFP<br />
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Jacobs ladder on a AC industrial high frequency transformer and the CD-707 power supply--inside the box. My lab supply designed by:G.Beasley KF7DFP I may post still pictures and more info later as well as schematics--keep checking to see I have been busy with this project and other stuff for several months. Thank you for watching my site and if you wrote me and I did not write back please forgive me--I have not had a lot of time to be on line. Post questions to (alina n gabe at yahoo) address. (remove spaces) and NOT this site or comments.<br />
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ELECTRONIC LEVITATION with the DC 100kv supply box set to about 90kv. Watch entire video to see full power output of the CD-707 using 2 separate transformer systems! Resonant caps are fully built in and switchable, PWM has X3 separate bandwidths of operation for variable frequency with expansion possible. This HV supply can provide far better performance then units I have seen on line. It took a while, but I came up with good board layouts as well as the stuff I needed. The system is a great addition to my high voltage testing and is more then powerful enough to drive a medium sized solid state Tesla coil. (SSTC). Also the SPCv function from the ZVS circuit is soon to be complete. Basically no res-cap is used and the mosfets are controlled with a 3rd mosfet to produce a fully variable supply. A single 2 flyback transformer box with oil is all that is needed to produce 20-120kv or so. This makes it very useful. The new ZVS I designed mainly for 2 flyback systems (TV flybacks) is able to power other things as well and can be far more efficient as it respects the true AC created between drains. Higher voltage can be produced with flybacks at less current but still very useful. This is a complex topic for later. Email me for questions. And still pictures are coming as well as more videos including a MOT experiment. --G.Beasley KF7DFP<br />
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<br />Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-78000118745259088452013-07-28T17:54:00.003-07:002013-07-28T17:54:47.068-07:00PRAYERS<br />
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<img alt="" class="spotlight" src="https://sphotos-a-pao.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/945693_10201622992993658_712906606_n.jpg" style="height: 324px; width: 280px;" /><br />
I made this image a few weeks ago. I also came up with the saying.<br />
If you agree, please copy this pic and pass it on. New solid state<br />
Tesla coil coming soon and lots of pictures. Please visit again soon.<br />
--G.BeasleyGabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-7685259009695052522013-04-08T04:41:00.002-07:002013-04-08T04:47:21.792-07:00More of my strange experments with plamsa!For now, I'm just going to link you to some U-tube videos to show you what I have been working on.<br />
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I fried a fry with about 30Kv.<br />
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I got my home built PWM to run 2 ignition coils in inverted random to produce over 75kv!<br />
More still pics and info coming soon! I have plenty of projects I am planning to do, keeping the internet stuff updated can get old, especially since few people take the time to write and say if they like my videos and builds or not, let alone pictures. A few have, but if you have a moment--write me a comment or an email, and let me know that posting these videos of my accomplishment here is important. I am an inventor so I naturally tinker with new and old ideas. I have invented several things used in every day life for many people but did not get the credit as things just did not work out. Usually it comes down to money. I have had to be very inventive to build good projects on a low budjget and fix stuff you cant get parts for anymore.<br />
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<br />Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-88414793384982099542012-11-26T00:54:00.000-08:002013-04-08T04:46:46.763-07:00TESLA COIL BUILT!<br />
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"Meditation is power" <br />
The Buddha sits on my Tesla coil, enlightened also by the very high voltage arcing into the air around him. <br />
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<b>My TESLA COIL: </b><br />
My main goal for high voltage experiments has been to build tube lasers and eventually build a full Tesla coil. I want to reach a full foot long arc and get to more then 1million volts eventually. I still have a long way to go, but this is a good start. Mostly for me--it's about money and how resourceful I can be at building coils with very little of it. I have finally built a REAL Tesla coil that operates via an arc and capacitor combination. Not just a flyback or transformer setup in series. It was not as difficult as I thought it might be, and since my successful Coil Driver circuit was perfected I have been able to run a lot of things. I also learned a great deal about TV circuits and Flybacks. I have many projects planned, one is to build my own O-scope from scratch. I have done something similar before--back in the mid 1990s I built a "ocilograph" from scratch with a B&W TV but the picture was weak and I never perfected the drivers and amplifiers for it's deflection coil. I now know how to do so. This is one of my planned projects. I have used many means to drive flyback or LOPT transformers from old TVs to homemade AC ones. Hartley Oscillators to my take on the ZVS as I posted before--and now, my favorite, a flexible synthetic oscillator and mosfet combination. Simply a 555 and power mosfet IRFP260 was my obvious choice for getting the most out of flybacks without burning them out. Thus the Coil Driver 1628 was born, which I will explain later--powers a TV flyback and here thus the Tesla coil circuits. I am sure I am not the first one to ever use a TV flyback to run a 150Kv Tesla coil--however--I have never seen anyone do it on the Internet or anywhere else. I decided to power my coil with a large TV flyback (yes DC due to it's built in diodes)- as I had no choice. I simply had to-- on a very low budget put this coil and two others together with whatever I had laying around. The primary is made of old TV coax, the coil itself wound around an old plastic bottle. I built the adjustable arc chamber inside a pill container which surprised the very loud sounds it made (possible since the arcs are slow and thus not enough heat generated to melt the plastic--makes for easy adjustment of arc). Since my largest Tesla coils powered by flybacks run at a pulsed frequency rather then the more constant 60hz a NST (Neon Sign Transformer) will produce the heat generated is less and arc chambers that keep things quiet are more easy to make. I have since saved my pennies and ordered a 12Kv NST which I got and modified so that I did not have to worry about any GFI circuits and got a coil going over night with a new primary--again made of very useful old TV coax! I had to remove the darn GFI "smart" circuits because they will shut down an NST if it is used to power things like a Tesla coil since they produce many voltage and RF fluxes. I made short work of the GFI circuits only because I have a very good understanding of transformers and high voltage transformers. Do not attempt to remove a GFI from an NST unless you really know what you are doing it can be VERY DANGEROUS. It is better to buy a NOS (New Old Stock) transformer or transformer from another country that does not have the crazy GFI laws. Funny thing is, they don't prevent you from being shocked or fires from starting very well! I was surprised at this, it took several min before the GFI circuits did anything about serious fault problems and I was not even in "setup mode". My tests showed that with the GFI an arc could run for more then 10min with a load, plenty of time to start a fire or shock someone. The GFI circuits and the law to need them is a joke when it comes to the NST! I really despise big brother laws like that--and putting chips in everything to protect mainly adults from ourselves. This site is not about politics--however. None of these pictures show the coil powered with an NST--they are all with the coil powered using a large color TV flyback coil and my Coil Driver 1628 build.<br />
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So all of these pictures are of the flyback version powered by my Coil Driver which was built to drive flybacks and other transformers as well as figure out unknown and unmarked transformers. To make this simple as I can explain, the "PWR Coil Driver 1628" which I have named it since I built it--drives a large TV flyback which then drives an arc chamber. Then the HV is passed into 3-4 homemade capacitors (each about 1500pf 50kv) and then the primary of my Tesla coil--which is about 17 turns of shorted TV coax. I max out the flyback with my driver which has a lot of flexibility (it can be used to even control motors or power iron core 60hz transformers all the way up to small RF AC arc welding transformers) and thus get nearly 50,000 volts out of the large flyback. I am thinking of using another chip to drive the frequency range even higher--another timer chip that can go into the HF range in the future, this could be really interesting. I also am adding a singing arc system, either will be input to the 555 or a bifilar wound transformer on the mosfet's gate. I did that and it worked very well with the prototype version of my Coil driver. I will post videos of my singing arc later. So back to the Tesla coil--the flyback voltage (about 30-50kv) is then arced so that it can produce the discharges needed to power my Tesla coil with homemade capacitors. It has a primary resonance without capacitors of nearly 14Mhz! Really high! But that's just the freq. of the primary air core coil alone, not taking into account the caps in this resonant circuit or anything else. I have yet to calculate all of the math in my Tesla coil. At least I finally got a fully operational Tesla coil going and now I am finally posting it!<br />
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Much of my success was hours of experimentation and electronics intuition. As you can see I did not just find a how-to on the internet. I wanted to see if it could be done with a TV flyback and proved that it really could--and very well!<br />
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You can't keep a good scientist or photographer down!<br />
I
have to experiment and get ideas around my pain attacks and physical illness issues that are
a daily problem. But doing things when I can, I have spent as much
time as I can working on this and continuing my exploration of high
voltage electronics. I have over 20 years experience in electronics, --now combining my photography with electronics is one of the best
things I have ever done. It has been fun, but reminders of my physical
difficulties come up all too often. I don't like to talk about it much
in my blog. I just want to show what I can accomplish despite my life
challenges. Have fun looking at my plasma pictures!<br />
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Here is a corona shot--this is what it really looks like and soon a video will be up showing a bit more. Notice the big home made capacitors in the background.<br />
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<b>WARNING ABOUT ELECTRONICS!</b> <br />
If you are not
comfortable doing what you are with high voltage, you should NEVER do it
unless you are supervised by someone who is. This is VERY DANGEROUS
and experience is necessary. I have spent years reading and working on
many types of projects before I got here. Don't take shortcuts and if
you want to get into high voltage or Tesla coils--find a mentor who will
help you knowledgeable and trained in electronics. I am now a licensed
Technician in radio and have done everything from taking collage
courses to a mentor-ship in my pre-teen and teen years and then studying
on my own. It took me years to get good enough to do many of the things
you might see in my blog. So please, don't just try something you
don't understand. You can have lots of theory, but it does not really
prepare you enough for building the real thing. There are subtle
things, hidden and complex about electronics, especially in RF and high
voltage! It took me years working with other kinds of high voltage
stuff and many bad electric shocks--to get good enough to build this
stuff. I was lucky. I have seen destining U-tube videos. be careful
with electricity and always treat it with respect!<br />
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Many arc shots are not done with a ruler to show scale or size, I figured I should take a picture using this one which gives you an idea of how big my streamers are. I used a wooden ruler with a metal strip on the side A real pain! If you know what I mean--from experiments with HV! When you forget it's there you can quickly get shocked! However, not being plastic and having the metal strip made it great for showing streamer size.<br />
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"Glass is not an insulator anymore"<br />
To nearly 200,000 volts--glass is no longer really much of an insulator. The power goes through it almost as if it were not there. I could feel it too. It does act as an insulator, but not as much. This is not doped glass and to more normal voltages would seem a 'total' insulator. Glass jars like this are such good insulators they can be used to make capacitors which can handle up to 40-50,000 volts. Any higher then that however, and you risk punching holes through even a couple of millimeters of glass and creating an arc that ruins the capacitor. To 100,000volts and more, it's almost instantly penetrated by the flood of electrons.<br />
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Measuring arcs can be hard, to find the basic rough voltage of my coil, I use a hot-glue stick. This is because hot-glue is one of the best insulators I know. It will not react to high voltage even into the 100s of thousands of volts. So I lined it up with a ruler and marked off CM. My largest arcs are about 15cm when the coil is powered by the TV flyback and about 13cm when it's powered with my new primary and a 12Kv NST (no pictures of that are in this post). Arc measurement gives you some data on how many volts you have. At normal air and sea level--1.1mm=1000volts. So 9cm=about 100,000volts. This is when the arc starts and becomes visible--makes a crack or 'bolt' in the air and starts doing this often or constantly rather then just hissing. There are exceptions-- so this is not the best way to measure HV, but for a low budget it is simple and quickly gets you in the ballpark. Some conditions can change that seriously so you have to be careful how you measure it. Only when an arc STARTS and where it starts is where you measure--NOT how long you can draw it out! For higher current systems, 12kv can arc over 3 inches but only if you start the arc at about 14mm and draw it out. This is because the atmosphere is on fire and the lack of air lets the arc travel further then it would through normal air. The same effect can be seen if you try to send an arc through a camp fire or large flame, voltage will arc much further--several feet! Be careful!<br />
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The arc, such as in a Jacob's ladder happens when the air turns into a constant plasma from high current and high voltage --thus can it can arc as long as the air is hot enough to make a more easy connection due to the change in it. In a ladder, it goes up because heat rises. At the top, the two electrodes break that path and the bottom ones are closer together and again an arc begins--thus they become the path of least resistance again. As long as the air is on fire and thus is in a plasma state, the path of least resistance is the arc itself so the voltage will travel further because there is less air in the arc. Thus lower voltages can draw out an arc far further then they could produce if just in cold air. This mainly applies to higher current situations such as the direct output of a flyback or coil or NST and not most small/medium Tesla coils much since they produce smaller and thus outwardly 'cooler' arcs. They do produce plasma just less of it. That is what you see in the air as an arc. There are even smaller arcs that are so cold they are not visible to the human eye. Such arcs happen when you take a piece off of a tape roll, they can range from a few thousand volts to millions but special gear is needed to even detect it. Electricity is everywhere, even our bodies use low voltages to power our muscles. This is why they contract and move when we get zapped with static or some other voltage.<br />
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Testing arc size again, you can see the jars as capacitors glowing blue in the background as well as the arc chamber, the cardboard around it to act as a light block as the arc inside is nearly as bright as a camera flash. Yet this small arc chamber stays cool enough to use intermittently for hours and I took 100s of photos. It uses two screws and is only possible because of the DC flyback--which is in mineral oil to prevent unwanted arcing back to itself or it's primary. In some ways the flyback system has more options then the NST system which one of my next few articles will explain. They both use the same idea, of making an arc with high voltage and then running the same power across that arc through a capacitor or several and into a air-core transformer. The Coil Driver 1628 can be seen here too, it is the green box glowing with light from it's current limiting system and LEDs on the bottom left next to me. This is what powers the flyback which in turn powers the Tesla coil.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S0Y21x-0qwM/ULLoyKHmXtI/AAAAAAAAD7w/m3Wd3HasQk0/s1600/_DSC9190-UltraMicroTeslaCoil2a.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S0Y21x-0qwM/ULLoyKHmXtI/AAAAAAAAD7w/m3Wd3HasQk0/s400/_DSC9190-UltraMicroTeslaCoil2a.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
A "micro Tesla coil"<br />
Using smaller capacitors and a smaller coil I wanted to duplicate a Utube video I found showing a tiny coil with a large corona like this. I did it. The coil is kinda messy I admit but it was very impressive. I had to run it at a much higher frequency and only use 1 capacitor, but it produced more then 30-70Kv from about 10Kv (a homemade AC flyback ran it just as well as my large TV flyback). My guess from it's corona is that voltage spikes are far higher then the 1inch spark I got going to the light bulb. Different size coil+capacitor combos require different size arcs and thus frequencies to get a resonant circuit right. The most important thing about tuning your Tesla coil may well be the size of your arc and exactly how you create it. Because this makes the energy for the tuned circuit it drives which are your capacitors and the coil's primary in series (in most systems). A variable primary would be the best idea for medium to large coils, but that can be difficult and even more expensive to do.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-45E-bkQ1k7U/ULLo15qLRJI/AAAAAAAAD74/qhGs2KrhU84/s1600/_DSC9421_RulerT4CoilSL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-45E-bkQ1k7U/ULLo15qLRJI/AAAAAAAAD74/qhGs2KrhU84/s400/_DSC9421_RulerT4CoilSL.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Everything gives it's own mark when placed on the Tesla coil. A glow or "ora" of energy is given off. Especially where things are conductive. But at voltages this high, almost everything gets a reaction of some kind. This is again a ruler, this time side ways with it's metal side making a corona.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CJ67KrqFedk/ULLo4BBQNzI/AAAAAAAAD8A/Mcj-iSPkN38/s1600/_DSC9467-TeslaCoil4bLightBulbCoronaSL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CJ67KrqFedk/ULLo4BBQNzI/AAAAAAAAD8A/Mcj-iSPkN38/s640/_DSC9467-TeslaCoil4bLightBulbCoronaSL.JPG" width="546" /></a></div>
A clear light bulb placed on top of the coil which has a water bottle (metal) as a cap top. This made for a very strange effect of plasma and look I really like. Despite being all glass on the side, the high voltage went right through the glass and even around the bulb, high voltage arcs on smooth surfaces better then it does through just air--yet still it reached out into the air after all this resistance. The resistance between the glass bulb and it's top screw in connection so high it would be difficult to calculate in mega-ohms. A capacitance effect definitely transfers voltage in some cases here, much as RF can produce high voltage in things at a distance. Yet it still amazes me what high voltage does with things that are normally 'total insulators'.<br />
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<u><b>WHAT NOT TO PUT ON A TESLA COIL!</b></u><br />
<b>1--LIVING THINGS </b>respect all living things, do not kill. Generally, Tesla coils may seem like bug-zappers but due to there construction they are not good for it unless you want to burn out your parts and have short-circuits from dead bugs all over it! Some coils are low power enough or if insulated can be operated low enough to touch the arc, but many will cause a burn or shock if directly touched without protection. Very large coils can even be deadly if misused. All projects, and Tesla coils should be unplugged and shut down when you are not home so that unauthorized users cannot operate them and kids/pets carefully watched if one is being used in a home with them. DO NOT LEAVE A TESLA COIL ON UNSUPERVISED!<br />
<b>2--DO NOT PUT RADIO TUBES ON A TESLA COIL</b> it will probably RUIN the tube because the grids and other small wires may arc and blow out. Don't wreak tubes, they don't' make many of them anymore and we need them. Put them on Ebay and sell them to people like me! All radio/TV or vacuum tubes of any kind are worth quite a bit of money now days. If you put a light bulb on a Tesla coil remember that it may be ruined due to arcs through the glass--and a CFL bulbs may be destroyed because of the very high voltage (may stop working with 120v) <br />
<b>3--NEVER PUT ANYTHING LIKE YOUR CELLPHONE OR DIGITAL DEVICE ON OR NEAR A TESLA COIL!</b> Keep digital/electronic cameras at a good distance and memory cards as well. I warned you--try it and it will probably never work again. This is because these new devices are very sensitive to high voltages and Tesla coils and destroy parts from several feet away! Parts like Laser diodes are particularly sensitive to static electricity. Keep your electronic parts far away from your Tesla coil or HV power supplies. Before turning on--look in all directions where things are and make sure nothing that might be fried is near, from a laptop power supply to a guitar amp or a remote control--it could be wreaked by being too close to a coil! Just 10Kv near enough to our TV remote fried it not too long ago and it did not even arc into the thing, it was just too close to the wire.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-APE9NQngX2M/ULLo6wHv-UI/AAAAAAAAD8I/K7QWPckc1to/s1600/_DSC9471-TeslaCoilTapeTest4cSL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="346" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-APE9NQngX2M/ULLo6wHv-UI/AAAAAAAAD8I/K7QWPckc1to/s400/_DSC9471-TeslaCoilTapeTest4cSL.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Tape generates static electricity!<br />
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THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL BATTERY!<br />
This is a hack of all time--get a 6 volt lantern battery, and put a %50 off sticker on it. Then hook it to a Tesla coil for 5min. Now you will have a SUPER BATTERY! You can run anything with this new battery and it runs on zero point vacuum energy-- energy produced by the universe itself when there is nothing present at all. Particles try to escape the produced energy field and so once they pop into existence they are held in place by the 6Volts until they produce massive number of electrons! Just think--After this hack you will be able to power anything and never need to buy another battery again! Need AC? It will do that too! Just hook up an inverter. You get HUGE voltages at even more massive amperage out of a simple lantern battery that will run anything for years and years. Think of it--you never have to buy batteries or pay a power bill again. The universe will automatically adjust the battery for you, so when nothing is connected it produces very high voltages (as seen in this hack pic)! Keep it hooked to static-foam to prevent over-output. ;)<br />
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Just kidding--Of course! This is a 6V lantern battery on my Tesla coil. This was actually the 3rd coil I wound. I got more volts out of the 2nd one so now and in most of the pictures I use that one. The concept of zero point energy is real, but you of course won't get any from a lantern battery! I saw a bunch of videos on getting "free" or "cheap" batteries from other batteries. Trust me, lantern batteries do NOT have D or AA cells in them. They have an old type of "A" battery which is no longer sold by itself. Four of them. If you take one apart you will see what I am talking about. They are in a tar-like substance that holds them together, each cell does do well--puts out more power because it is larger then a D cell. It is 1.5 volts but won't fit any modern gear. You could use these cells to get less volts at higher power then a D cell, but they are far too long to be used as a D cell. Lantern batteries are NOT full of cheap batteries. I don't know how the idea started. Maybe there are some cheap batteries that use a number of AAs I can't be sure about every brand. 9Volts are similar, they have about 6 cells in them each 1.5 volts. These cells are a bit smaller then an AAA battery but close to the same power. You might be able to get 1 to work in a device that uses an AAA battery--but it is not worth the effort or danger of shorts and problems. Funny thing these Internet myths. Batteries of this type are pretty simple so this lantern cell I use a lot for testing circuits was not harmed a bit by putting it on the coil for these pictures. Rechargeable cells are getting "smart" with circuits in them and may react differently so I would not recommend putting most batteries on a Tesla coil.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VhYuIS-J9m4/ULLpFlTWpmI/AAAAAAAAD8Y/GNiXJVeu8vs/s1600/_DSC9523-TeslaCan!T3cSL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VhYuIS-J9m4/ULLpFlTWpmI/AAAAAAAAD8Y/GNiXJVeu8vs/s400/_DSC9523-TeslaCan!T3cSL.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
The Filament in this light-bulb was knocked loose by the Tesla coils power. Here you can see it just arcs where ever it can, and a screwdriver is not enough to insulate you from this kind of power.<br />
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Nor is a CD case. This reminded me when it was live of the displays the Borg had on Star Trek. Those used a gas, probably nitrogen like what is in the light-bulb. Sorry it's a bit blurred, most of these photos were taken quickly at a slow speed to capture as many arcs as possible. I later perfected the camera settings but often found it hard to hold the bulb steady even for a 1sec exposure. You can feel the jolts of power from this coil! I would not say it hurts, it all depends. The phone book is a great insulator for that and made arcing fingers possible even for my wife to try.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lYoHWdoLgYQ/ULLpKIz6kxI/AAAAAAAAD8o/GF4SN5GsBus/s1600/_DSC9549-Tesla4CoilwithStaticBoxandBulbSL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lYoHWdoLgYQ/ULLpKIz6kxI/AAAAAAAAD8o/GF4SN5GsBus/s400/_DSC9549-Tesla4CoilwithStaticBoxandBulbSL.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
This is a static-resistant box used for electronic parts. It's empty but because the plastic was made to be conductive made for an interesting effect on the coil. All four corners turned into arcing points of light and the power shot up like lighting to the bulb from any place it was. This is another means of insulation from the full-blown power of the coil but not as effective as a 3inch phone book.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bffLIpF-SyU/ULLpMn-NPdI/AAAAAAAAD8w/2u8HBXwEWsQ/s1600/_DSC9621Tesla4CoilCokeCaninRegularAirPlasmaSL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bffLIpF-SyU/ULLpMn-NPdI/AAAAAAAAD8w/2u8HBXwEWsQ/s400/_DSC9621Tesla4CoilCokeCaninRegularAirPlasmaSL.JPG" width="372" /></a></div>
Glass again is NO problem for the coil! The glass arced right into it. This is really what it looked like. All these pictures are real attempts at getting exactly what the human eye would see with a very expensive camera. NO PHOTOSHOPPING Or additions have been made. The expensive digital SLR was for obvious reasons at a distance and using a long lens. If you were standing in the room, these images are very much what you would see. The only difference was the pulsing effect that happens when you run a Tesla coil off of a DC TV flyback. So about 4-10x a sec the lightning flashes. A video will soon be up, I just have to get it transferred from u-tube. I can also shoot 1080p at broadcast quality but I have yet to master uploading such large files to u-tube.<br />
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This shows yet another effect, I wanted to catch what happens when a corona of UV light forms from tiny arcs that the human eye cannot see and then arcs form on the other side of something. This happened here because the can is very flat and thus not likely to arc, where as the bottom of the bulb is more pointed and quickly started streamers into the field of ion-charged air making for a cool effect. The power however, is still coming from the Tesla coil. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TbvpAW97kFc/ULLpTtbRq8I/AAAAAAAAD9A/68k4-W7XUTA/s1600/_DSC9750_First250kTeslaCoilSL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TbvpAW97kFc/ULLpTtbRq8I/AAAAAAAAD9A/68k4-W7XUTA/s400/_DSC9750_First250kTeslaCoilSL.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
I started to think of capacitors for the top of my coil, it is very important for medium sized coils. In order to get good streamers and arcs you need a good top capacitor. I was shocked at prices on line. $60 $80 so I was going to have to come up with something on my own--and they did not even give you the projected value or size sometimes of the ones they were selling. It's just a hunk of metal! That is an insane price. I figured pie tins would be perfect, I finally ended up with coffee cans and pie baking pie tins. These worked out great when placed top to bottom or top on bottom they nearly look like a store bought cap! Finding the right capacitance is very important, it has to be just big enough and not too large, or not too small. This can cut your arc sizes almost in half if you do it wrong. I found that adding another coffee can added a full inch to my arcs! So tiny changes can mean a lot. Also the charges being at the top of the coil must be able to cover the secondary. This way, coils that are likely to arc back on themselves from primary to secondary will be less likely to do so since the same charge is present across the entire top of the coil out to the radius of the secondary. This can be very important in keeping unwanted arcing from happening.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KkjqKanEEj0/ULLpY0C80DI/AAAAAAAAD9I/8vbhHybTYq0/s1600/_DSC9751-PowerSpriteCapTesla4SL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="381" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KkjqKanEEj0/ULLpY0C80DI/AAAAAAAAD9I/8vbhHybTYq0/s400/_DSC9751-PowerSpriteCapTesla4SL.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
A picture of it really running--when I had things setup right my arcs get as long as 15cm! Streamers start to come out of everything!<br />
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The longest arc picture. This was taken with my 4th coil. This coil is the longest but had primary and secondary problems--this is why I have insulation on it as can be seen. The primary was really messy, but it still pulled off an amazing arc. My current coil I mainly use is slightly less powerful but works better with the NST system and also has a lot less loss. And it looks neat! I wound this one's primary out of stranded wire I tripped from a vacuum cleaner cord! It was too small and looked terrible. My voltage however, was really high on this coil. I think I will rewind it and come up with some more TV coax or something like it to do the primary further out then I did this time. It does show how messy you can make a Tesla coil and that it will still run. You can see all the parts of the set in operation here. From my capacitors to the arc-gap which is nearly dead-center in the screen, to the TV flyback which is in oil to prevent unwanted arcing, and the coil driver I built lit up in green on the left next to me.<br />
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Lights off for this one, I put a nightlight bulb on it with a spring and balanced it. I saw discharges all over the bulb and inside then again as seen before the bulb put streamers out at the top. This looked really cool and made for a good picture.<br />
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Here is where I put my finger to the coil through a phone-book. The phone-book made enough insulation (for a short time before it burned through and made tiny holes that started shocking me!) to make lightning bolts come out of my fingers! Tesla coils are a lot of fun, you can see where the power tries to find a way through all around the book if you look close.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m2ZfzntQQJw/ULLpo82CD2I/AAAAAAAAD9o/Nw-LyFWto7I/s1600/_DSC9835-WifeCanThrowLightningBolts!SL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m2ZfzntQQJw/ULLpo82CD2I/AAAAAAAAD9o/Nw-LyFWto7I/s400/_DSC9835-WifeCanThrowLightningBolts!SL.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
My wife wanted to try this one, she put her finger a few inches from the book and without even making contact a good number of bolts came out of her finger. We could just feel this hardly--not that bad. Many NST coils are too powerful to do this with or it would be more difficult. My flyback system has some advantages so I am keeping the primary and arc chamber I need to run it. All of the pictures in this post and on my site so far were shot with the flyback system--a color TV flyback (very large) is used to power the Tesla coil in the same way an NST does in most systems. I don't use saltwater capacitors however--I have done fine with large ones made using 2 layers of Aluminum foil, one inside and one outside with a top connector.<br />
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Here I put my whole hand down and it began to arc-- I guess the phone-book has some use after all!<br />
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WATER AND ELECTRICITY usually don't mix well! As it is clearly conductive! Less then 600K in most cases so high voltage spreads fast through even really clear and clean water. Not only does it go through the water here--it also goes through the glass. This was amazing to see and even more impressive to see live rather then in a picture. Once again the bulb is blurred because I always moved it a bit, tended to move it during the exposure time. I could have set for faster exposures at higher Iso levels to match the human eye but I was so into getting these first coil shots I just let it go knowing I'd get good enough shots. Most of them were about 1-4sec. or so at iso3200 or 6400. The camera I am using can go far higher then this even without serious noise!<br />
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I wanted to see how fast I could light a flame with this. YEAH if you have Gas in your home--check everything before you run a Tesla coil!!! This will spark off anything that could lite in the air. I was able to light this lighter by just holding down the gas button. The lighter would lite just getting close to the coil when streamers started to form near the flame where there is a small amount of metal.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kO35Hxhgg00/ULLp6Lg0tKI/AAAAAAAAD-I/sN9pNpesCec/s1600/_DSC9888CokeCanCoronaT3cSL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="361" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kO35Hxhgg00/ULLp6Lg0tKI/AAAAAAAAD-I/sN9pNpesCec/s400/_DSC9888CokeCanCoronaT3cSL.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
A coke can placed on the coils top capacitor which is a coffee can. Streamers come out of it in all directions and there is nothing grounded near by or anywhere close. It would do this anywhere it was setup. Streamers like this is one way of knowing you have well over 100kv or 100,000 volts in your Tesla coil.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sCuGsZvtWEQ/ULLp-p9bucI/AAAAAAAAD-Q/GdVZxyUqqHs/s1600/_DSC9997LightningOnWaterTeslaCoilT3cSL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sCuGsZvtWEQ/ULLp-p9bucI/AAAAAAAAD-Q/GdVZxyUqqHs/s400/_DSC9997LightningOnWaterTeslaCoilT3cSL.JPG" width="352" /></a></div>
LIGHTNING WILL ARC across water! As you can see if you zoom into this shot of arcs going into a jar full of regular non-salted water. The arcs cut across it probably because of the fact that a field of distributed energy is almost equal across the top of this water. Since the voltage comes from the bottom through the glass. A capacitance sets up between the water and the can charging all of the water equal moved or hit by an arc. This should be happening in nature as well as long as the water is very flat, especially with voltages in lightning. (sometimes billions or even trillions of volts!)<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u-XWrL7QbLc/ULLqCaVi29I/AAAAAAAAD-Y/3EREsYQCods/s1600/_DSC0047150kv14cmT3cSL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="395" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u-XWrL7QbLc/ULLqCaVi29I/AAAAAAAAD-Y/3EREsYQCods/s400/_DSC0047150kv14cmT3cSL.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
One last stream here to show. This one was almost 6in long. I am shooting for 12 inches. A foot. My ultimate goal is to run a 1megavolt coil. 1,000,000 volts. So now you know why it is a myth that there are 2 million volt stun guns fitting in a pocket and costing $100 bucks! Look at what it takes just to get several hundred thousand volts and how much gear! You could make this smaller, but just one HV capacitor that can handle voltages in the range of my driver costs over $100. Making millions of volts takes a lot more then a 9v or rechargeable batteries usually have and also requires a lot of gear that takes up space. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e7KB7dScWgo/ULLqL-q1XrI/AAAAAAAAD-g/pQWDYDUZOqs/s1600/100_8287-KF7DFP-PWRCoilDriver1628SL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e7KB7dScWgo/ULLqL-q1XrI/AAAAAAAAD-g/pQWDYDUZOqs/s400/100_8287-KF7DFP-PWRCoilDriver1628SL.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
KF7DFP's Power Coil Driver 1628--connected to a TV flyback in mineral oil--<br />
With multiple frequency possibilities, built solid enough to be able to be thrown into a backpack and taken anywhere there is a way to power it, and with a remote SMA control port--this is my coil driver. It will turn a power transformer into an inverter that will power a 50W light bulb OR even a big CFL. It can also power DC and even some AC motors! It will also power high frequency coils at or way above human hearing. Four range settings and 2 potentiometers control the frequency. Built in static and kickback protection for parts and the DC is provided by 2 switching supplies built under the box. A Hi/Lo switch gives 16 or 28volts output direct from the mosfet and the whole system is grounded making it possible to run things like ignition coils as well without kickback damage or unwanted arcing. Features I added such as a 220nf res. cap. for some flybacks can be switched on and off as well as a "Turbo mode" for extra output when using certain projects like the Tesla coil. The relay remote control also acts as an overload protector and this driver also has a ballast to protect flybacks from being over-powered when not in Turbo mode. It also protects the mosfet and visually shows you current draw with any transformer you are using--even in turbo mode! The Turbo mode switch kicks in a capacitor across the 50w 12v ballast bulb which becomes a charge discharge circuit with the lamp (a resistor). This almost doubles the possible output of the supply. A forced air CPU fan cools the whole thing and makes it possible to use this driver almost continuously without fear of mosfet damage! It will challenge any ZVS. I have built ZVS systems before but have a problem with grounding them since they use a 2 phase system of powering things, also frequency sweeping to find resonant frequencies is not possible. The 555 driving a good mosfet built right does not have such problems--so I chose to build this coil driver around that chip. Just in case of unlikely overload and part damage, the 555 and even main power 7812 regulator is built into a socket so that they may be replaced if there is a failure. It also has quick replacement for the mosfet and the 12V ballast bulb. Not that it has been needed! I am really impressed with the system. I got the idea for a ballast bulb and started saving parts and money on parts right away! I made this circuit a really useful system for many high voltage and transformer experiments. It can put out over 60-200+ watts and powered all the Tesla coil pictures you saw above. The schematic in full is below--this is for REFERENCE ONLY and I take NO RESPONSIBILITY for any misuses or abuse of this design or anyone who builds it. BUILD AND USE ELECTRONIC PROJECTS AT YOUR OWN RISK.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CiQEHCcRby4/ULLqPZZzo7I/AAAAAAAAD-o/8F8E_NYZwqk/s1600/100_8345-HomemadeACFlybackCoil10KvSL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CiQEHCcRby4/ULLqPZZzo7I/AAAAAAAAD-o/8F8E_NYZwqk/s400/100_8345-HomemadeACFlybackCoil10KvSL.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
A homemade flyback coil running a plasma display--powered by my Coil driver. The florescent light bulb is actually "burned out" but rescued from a dumpster ones that won't start anymore continue to glow for a very long time when exposed to high voltage. This one simply lights up when near any AC voltage such as the output of this homemade flyback wound around a TV flyback core.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uSe3UPTtFcw/ULLqUyMtVQI/AAAAAAAAD-0/aBG3MqHtQhM/s1600/100_8491_BestDesktopTesla2SL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uSe3UPTtFcw/ULLqUyMtVQI/AAAAAAAAD-0/aBG3MqHtQhM/s400/100_8491_BestDesktopTesla2SL.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
My VERY first successful Tesla coil project. This idea came from a desktop Tesla coil I saw on line and wanted to reproduce. After some effort, I did. The corona can be amazing and only shows up on the last winding.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y86QJTzwoss/ULLqdrNAC-I/AAAAAAAAD-8/erfK34sclVo/s1600/100_8902-NewBestCoil-3c-withTowerSL.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y86QJTzwoss/ULLqdrNAC-I/AAAAAAAAD-8/erfK34sclVo/s640/100_8902-NewBestCoil-3c-withTowerSL.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
The Tesla coil 3c. This is the coil the produced almost all the pictures in this post. It's primary shown for very high voltages used powering it with the TV flyback which is powered by the Coil driver. I put it on a wooden board with hot-glue to hold it and then remove and put back coffee cans at will to change top-capacitance at will.<br />
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My Coil Driver--in action!<br />
Powering a color TV flyback in mineral oil up to about 45-50KV! A very large output for a flyback--only usually practical if put in oil and powered by a really good driver. A homemade winding of about 14 turns is used to power this one. The light from my current limiting ballast system shows as I draw and arc. This was cut down even more with aluminum foil since the bulb is cooled with the mosfet. Fan shown on top and micro-switches to turn on and off different functions. Yes it works to put a metal lid on the jar--as long as you use hot-glue to seal it and keep it neutral. If it becomes grounded you might have problems. I have several flybacks in metal lid jars--no problem with them has happened. Mineral oil is the best way to run a flyback and does not require you to break off leads or anything. The flyback becomes more efficient and no more unwanted arcing. It's hard to believe until you try it. A flyback that has been in oil can even be dried out and taken back into operation outside the oil if needed. This was my idea because I had so many flybacks that arced back on there cores or on the bottom pins. This is a way to eliminate all of that!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2Ao874DdOZQ/ULLqw1q5rII/AAAAAAAAD_M/4Ki6u-RWQVA/s1600/100_8500-MicroTeslaCoil2bPoweredbyFlyback-Plasma30kv+ouput.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2Ao874DdOZQ/ULLqw1q5rII/AAAAAAAAD_M/4Ki6u-RWQVA/s400/100_8500-MicroTeslaCoil2bPoweredbyFlyback-Plasma30kv+ouput.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
A plasma bulb display with the high frequency micro-Tesla coil.<br />
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The KF7DFP PWR Coil Driver 1628 schematic (power supplies not shown, can by any DC plug in supplies that are ground isolated or batteries.) Test for ground isolation by testing if (+) or (-) shorts out the supply when connected to ground--this may be eliminated by not grounding some switching supplies. Build your own supply or use DC supplies like laptop supplies without a ground connection. <br />
<b> THIS ALONE WILL NOT POWER A TESLA COIL! It powers a flyback which then powers the arc and capacitors that power the Tesla coil. Just a note for those who are beginners--I call it a "Coil Driver" because most HV transformers are called "coils". It's the power supply that you can use to power the stuff that runs a Tesla coil, basically. </b><br />
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<b>NOTE ABOUT THIS CIRCUIT:</b> <br />
Using a 12v 50W light bulb as a current limiting resistor (even when
your power voltage is way higher then 12V)--will save you the pain of a
lot of blown parts! A car headlight will work fine, for larger systems
put 2 in parallel or series. I learned that started back with my first
ZVS circuits. It acts as a 2nd fuse and moderator for anything you hook
it up to and if the mosfet shorts it won't blow other parts by shorting
them too. They only short into the bulb. With the turbo mode on, this
becomes a bulb with a correctly polarized capacitor on it--which means
nothing to DC--so the bulb will still save you! It was purely my idea
after several mosfets and flybacks were painfully lost. Please credit
me with it if you feel you have learned something useful here.<br />
<br />Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-88815725759362055612012-06-26T03:02:00.001-07:002014-10-22T12:23:56.970-07:00100,000 VOLTS! 2 FLYBACK ZVS!<div style="text-align: right;">
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MY WORK CONTINUES ON "Mostly Macros Imaging" but I will begin posting here again as long as this blog stays well. I will just keep my new blog as a backup and transfer at least my main first post onto this one. I have a lot of work to do. I have been working on electronics and photos of my projects--I have built many in the past few months! I have taken 100s of photos which have not yet posted. It is a lot of work and so it will take a while before I am ready to post them and I have this blog problem fixed. There have also been some family issues that have been difficult in recent times--I will somehow transfer the posts and post many more pics of my electronics, including my TUBE (6L6 GC) flyback driver. I am building my timer mosfet driver into a clean and small package as well. I will update this blog as soon as I can starting with the posts done in my other blog. I have also not contacted some of my friends lately, please forgive me for that I have a lot going on.</div>
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MOSTLY MACROS IS BACK--NEW BLOG ALSO CREATED 10-13-2012</div>
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The most important news here is that I got a call today saying this site was BACK on line! After a serious crash and then blackout--I assumed that my blog was basically history. I could not even access my Google account. In turn I made a new blog called Mostly Macros Imaging which I may import or continue to use I am not sure. I may just put a link into this site. I will wait and see if this site remains stable. It is very possible that Goggle simply had an error that they did not tell me about which may have had something to do with the anti-virus program that claimed many blogs were fake. I do not know, but if this site keeps stable--I will continue to post. I had figured that all these years of work and pictures were gone. It all came back and it looks like Google got the problem fixed! It will take me time but I will at least post a link or move the articles from my new site into this one. I am not sure how I am going to handle this yet. </div>
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NORTON ANTIVIRUS SERIOUS NOTE: I plan to put more electronics in my
site--and articles--as well as new photos. However I was shocked to see
that blogspot experienced a SERIOUS PROBLEM WITH NORTON. It says that
my blog and most other blogs as well are "counterfeit" or something to
that effect. With a huge warning and some people even say they cannot
access there site at all. I had to shutoff Norton. This is a BIG DEAL
effecting 1000s of bloggers. We are mad a NORTON and hopefully they
will have the problem fixed soon. They are
apologizing--for what may be a serious problem which they claim was
fixed but keeps happening for me at least. I am sure that means they
will fix it soon. They say it was a total error-- blogs are very safe.
Unless you click on a link--you can't get a virus by going to one. </div>
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WARNING! DO NOT attempt to build ANY high voltage devices unless you have experience in electronics and high voltage. These devices can be unpredictable, far more complex then they look on paper and of course, very dangerous. These pictures and basic schematics can be found on the internet commonly and are for educational purposes only. I am an electronics technician with over 20 years experience. Attempting to build a high voltage circuit without the help of an experienced technician could be dangerous or deadly. Other hazards exist with high voltage as well. I will not be held responsible for any use of the knowledge posted on this site. It is up to you to be safe and smart with any experiments you conduct.</div>
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LOOKING FOR OLD TUBE TV SETS--HIGH VOLTAGE--MY GOAL-UPDATED 10-13-2012</div>
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I have not been posting pics because I have been working. Working on some really AWESOME circuit power supplies. One is my variation on a simple but effective 40-50Kv (40-50,000 volt) oscillator which uses a flyback or LOPT transformer from an old color TV or computer monitor (the bigger the better) to produce high voltage. Sometimes very high voltage, a large flyback from a large tube TV can produce as much as 50kv if it is driven right. This can be used to run experiments, drive plasma generators and many other things such as singing arcs and Jacobs ladders. You can also build circuits that will double or even triple voltages such as voltage multipliers and Marx generators to simulate lightning. So to merge my two great interests of electronics and photography I built three main kinds of power supplies for extensive testing. Each has it's advantages and drawbacks. The first one is a relatively simple 1 transistor Hartley oscillator (HO) circuit that requires a transistor you will almost certainly find in the TV you pulled the flyback out of. It is rated for high voltage, so unlike many of the schematics on line which call for a tortured 2N3055--you won't have burn out issues if you treat the circuit right. The 1 HV NPN H.O. transistor circuit can handle the current and voltages used since these transistors are rated for at least 1000volts! The Hartley circuit can handle input DC voltages as high as 24volts or so, going higher may burn out the transistor without serious modifications to the circuit. Attempts at running it as high as 35volts destroyed the transistor instantly even with current limiting measures. The flyback is driven to do several things in a TV, it runs the horizontal control for the magnetic yoke as well as generates the high voltage for the tube. It even often provides the filament voltages needed! It's the heart of a TV and does lots of stuff. With the right circuit however, it also makes a great HV power supply. You can order these HV Horizontal control transistors on line, and they are far more efficient then a 2N3055 in this kind of circuit. These can be very efficient circuits if you get the resonance right as they operate using a feedback winding. However, generally speaking they would not be my first choice for highest voltage outputs or amperage. They are however quick and easy to put together with just a few parts and alligator clips. You will want to use a good heat sync. See my schematic for part numbers. I could get VERY technical about all of these circuits as I have been experimenting with them in depth for most of this year. The articles on my new Blog "Mostly Macros Imaging" (I still don't know when/how I will make them visible on this blog but they soon will be) give a bit more depth to some of the experiments I have been doing. One of them explaining how I built my own flyback able to produce about 10kv and the complexities of coil/transformer winding. I have learned a great deal about designing high voltage generator circuits with my final goal being to build a 500kv-1million volt Tesla coil.<br />
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But I do not just plan to build it, like these other circuits, I plan to understand it's design and take part in that design entirely. So I started off here with the most basic HV circuits and then moved on to the ZVS--a great circuit for lots of applications and many would argue, the best. It's biggest limit being that when it is used with re-cycled TV flybacks, it cannot be grounded to earth. The 2 phase pulse system is very efficient but makes it impossible to put a grounded load on the circuit or even a lot of mass without serious kickback. Using oil may be the key to fixing this problem--I am now working on that and just began using it very effectively. Mineral oil is the key to all your un-wanted arc problems! Most recently the synthetic drive circuit which is a 555 timer or other chip that drives a power mosfet has grabbed my attention. It is not as efficient as a ZVS but can produce close to ZVS power outputs and has a very wide list of applications. The same circuit can be used to control a motor, drive a flyback (or even 2 if done right), even drive an old 110 to 20V line transformer backwards to produce 110V again--making an Inverter. I was able to build my own inverter this way powerful enough to light a large CFL and even a 60W incandescent light-bulb! I was also able to get it's frequency so close to 60hz I got a clock radio to keep time! Although I admit I would need filters and more stability to get it to really keep time well since cheap clock radios have poor oscillators for keeping time and require a true AC very clean sign wave. But it does work, just keeps time a bit fast and of course the radio works fine. Learning the abilities of each circuit and how they work as I go along has been a fun and amazing process. I knew about these circuits but this is the first time I have really put energy into building them and studying them carefully. I am not without HV experience and of course have a good background in general electronics--but I have never jumped into high voltage this deeply until now. No matter what you know on paper or in theory, nothing is like actually building the circuit yourself and learning it's possibilities, pitfalls, and options first hand. This is what makes you truly knowledgeable about a subject. Hands on experience is very important with all learning. However when it comes to high voltage--often the operative words are "hands off"! The main thing slowing my Tesla coil down right now is money--my budget is very low so getting the things required is difficult and will take me at least another year, possibly more. Looking up things on line as I go I have also dispelled a number of myths--yes you CAN hook 2 flybacks in series. However--you may not be able to unless you use a ZVS since frequency and isolation is a factor in doing this. And the biggest problem of all with flybacks in series is the HV diodes which are usually impossible to remove. After you get to about 100kv--the diodes run the risk of being destroyed. So unfortunately I cannot hook 3 or 4 flybacks in series--DC flybacks anyway--without most likely blowing out one or more of the HV diodes in the flybacks. One will fail and the flyback is useless. This limit makes most large TV flybacks probably limited to about 80-100kv. I learned this all too well when I got a 12cm arc going (at least 120kv!)--it looked a half a foot long! It only lasted 30sec or so. I now use an idea I came up with a long time ago to protect circuits on all my high voltage drivers. Just 1 50W 12V light bulb on (+) of your DC input will save you a lot of money and grief as well as show you what is going on in your circuit. A car headlight insert or those lights you can buy at nearly any store work great. This gives you a solid 4amps to work with before it lights up and starts to take some of the current away. If it does--something is wrong, and since you can get 3 for $8 or so--these little bulbs are cheap compared to mosfets lost due to ZVS meltdown! Even if you power supply voltage is 50V--you can use just 1. Going higher I might run 2 in series, but even if it does turn all the way on your bulb will act as a fail-safe and visible fuse. Great for trouble shooting. Desk lamps and other devices use these little 12v 50W bulbs--they often come with a small reflector built in. If you want more power you can get 100W by putting 2 in parallel. They have saved me a lot of money and effort in trouble shooting and I will mention them more later. One of two flybacks in the ZVS failed when I bypassed my current limiting. After testing the flyback in a number of ways (even building a resonance jar that will produce a voltage in any coil placed in it) I found the only thing that made sense for it's failure were those pesky diodes and that one of them just shorted inside the flyback once it reached it's peak voltage or got too hot. I miss the days of tube rectifier HV. You got an AC or DC flyback and it was YOUR CHOICE when you took the TV apart. I sure wish I could find more of those today! That circuit is later--first--check this out. </div>
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A WORD ON SO CALLED "MILLION VOLT" STUN-GUNS-- the companies lie! </div>
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This is a Jacob's ladder making a plasma wall--pretty cool! However--we are not even getting started with arc size. This is about 40kv. About 40,000 volts. Most large flybacks can be pushed to 35-40,000volts without damage. The same more or less--as most stun-guns and Tasers. Which also use HV didoes and capacitors to produce a "punch". I have bought about 6 stun guns over the past 15 years from several different companies and tested them. Now days, they are saying they have as much as "7 million volts"! Police, security--and everyone else--should know that this is a LIE! For reasons I can only speculate they lied after they actually lowered the voltage from nearly 60-100kv in some units to about 40-50kv in most quality units now. These companies decided to do this after complaints created by "kickback" which was impossible to control due to those large voltages arcing so easily. You got shocked at the same time you shocked anything else. Not cool! Lower voltage however does NOT mean the stun-gun will be less effective against an attacker. Actually using less voltage and higher current at a good pulse rate is a better idea--and this is why all pretty much all TASERS are 50,000volts. However, how could they go from saying 100,000volts to 40,000volts!? It sounds bad. People would ask "where can I get the high voltage" when they really need to think about current, voltage, and frequency--as these matter far more then voltage. But most people think that voltage is everything. Not true at all. You can get 500,000volts from a Snuggie or blanket in the dryer! IT does not kill you because it's current is very low. So I guess a need to counteract useless fear over lower voltage prompted by bad kickback problems with the higher voltage models--they just started lying sometime in the late 1990s or so. This is simple--and I need only say it once but everyone should know this--the best STUN GUNS you get will only give you about 50,000volts--even if it says "7,000,000volts". The same (usually less) as you get from a police Taser. So cops should NOT be arresting people because they are selling or having these "million volt" super-stun-guns. They are not any worse then they were before, no new magic has made it possible to get millions of volts and there is no reason to even try. I own several of these stun-guns and I tested them myself. I have been stunned with them as well, so I know! I have also been a security guard. So trust me when I say from an electronics standpoint--they are just trying to sell bigger and better models and the only way to get to people is to tell them they have "millions of volts" now. Tests show that often these new even very expensive stun-guns put out only about 30-50,000volts. Giving a comparable shock and CURRENT to that of a police TASER. This is important--since this issue has caused arrests when cops thought that you could make or they are selling "super stun-guns" that are thousands of times more powerful! The only way to make a "super-stun gun" is to build it yourself and it would have to be very clever. For millions of volts--something about the size of a small bag or briefcase holding large capacitors, voltage multipliers and a driver like a ZVS. It takes serious technical knowledge to do that. The parts for ANYTHING that can make millions of volts cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars--so doing it is very difficult and requires usually a very large coil like a 3 foot or more TESLA coil hooked up to very serious vacuum capacitors. So lets get that MYTH about "million volt" stun-guns--out of the way! It just is not practical or possible in such a small package. Not at any useful current level anyway. Most smaller, cheaper or 9v powered stun-guns I am sad to say, will only give you a hard-buzz and are not likely to knock out anyone let alone repel a mad and angry attacker. If you get one--and I do carry one myself--get a rechargeable powerful one--and it may say "7 million volts" but it's really about 40 or 50,000volts which is the same as the police units. Why they chose to possibly harm business with this lie I am not sure. I recently saw an episode of a show like Cops about this- the cops were afraid of these units and talking about them as if they were very dangerous. I can't stand it when people are not informed. It is simply a lie to sell more units. And the lower currents they usually put out are less then police TASERS. Some of the lower priced models are ok, and will disable someone if put in the chest or neck area. However--make sure you test it on your leg--and do not buy a DOUBLE UNIT--they tend to go into high-frequency oscillation and loose there kick if both units come into contact with something. This is no good! The rechargeable ones seem to be the best--but I can promise you that none of them are a million volts. Lower still in current, over a million volts is produced when you take tape off a scotch tape roll! This amperage is so low it takes special gear to measure it and you don't feel anything. But it can fry sensitive electronic parts. Many problems would exist with a million volts in a box that small in a viable form--for one thing the diodes need to be larger to handle voltages like that, the coil has to be big enough to produce it at any viable current--and voltage multiplication capacitors at those ratings are very expensive--even in China! So if you get one--be sure to buy an expensive unit and know that it's only about 50,000volts. 40-50kV is all you need--at the right amperage--to bring someone down. The electric chair uses only about 2000 volts (at very high current) to kill someone. So why all the hype about higher voltages? Current is what kills or harms. If you live in a state where they are legal, you also might want to brag only about your stun-gun being 50kv--and not have the sticker on it that says is "millions of volts". Some cops might think it's illegal. This is all so stupid, since it's really the current and frequency of stun guns and TASERS that bring people down, stun, hurt or could kill--NOT the voltage. Even so, although it is possible the flybacks in some produce up to 100,000volts or so--arching several inches, it's really not a good idea to attempt to use that kind of voltage in such a small package with cheap parts and tiny batteries. I knew this all along but even so ordered several different units and tested the voltages just to be sure--I was right. The highest voltage I have ever seen from a Stun-gun was far less then what my ZVS produces--at far less current. Way less then half the current. To sum this up, they decreased the voltage in recent years in order to prevent problems with higher voltage systems in small packages--kickback getting to you. So I guess they had to compensate by saying the voltage was higher to make people think they are more powerful. They did increase the current in some units to better levels. Notice how the prongs in recent years on most stun-guns have gotten closer together? There is no need to make laws or be afraid of these things--they are very useful for repelling attackers without harming them permanently and should be legal in every state. Voltage lies continue to keep this from happening in some states.</div>
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This ark is about 1 and a half inches long and was produced by a relatively simple system of using a large Color TV fly-back coil. Tube TVs require high voltage to produce an electron beam to light up your screen and draw and image on it. This voltage varies, but most fly-backs can produce more then the TV uses. So you can get about 35,000 volts out of even a small one. Fly-backs are far better then ignition coils for raw voltage. Ignition coils force you to ground one end to the input and are already in oil. This is good, but upper insulation makes it very difficult to push them as hard as you want. They are also built for low frequency and higher current making them more dangerous to humans. The low frequency part makes using them for plasma displays very painful! Typically you only get about 10-30kv out of an ignition coil before it starts arcing through it's insulation. You could put one in oil and probably get 100kv out of it if you pushed it hard enough, but there is a danger of damaging it or melting the wires. They are very good for anything you want to have arcing all the time as they were built to handle shorting out at high voltage and high current. It takes some interesting circuits to drive them and I don't want to get even more technical here--if you want info email me or look it up on line, a 555 timer system with a large power mosfet would be a great choice. They are small Tesla coils but cannot be run at high frequency so they are not much fun for plasma displays. Like flybacks, despite ignition coils being low frequency--they are built for a DC and they will NOT operate at AC line voltages/frequency--like 60hz. They require a higher frequency. Flybacks are a great choice for lots of things but the older the better. If you can order an AC flyback on line or get one from a really old all-tube TV--you got it made. Often these connected to a large tube which rectified the voltage into DC. SO this cap is your output rather then a suction cup for the tube. Ground was often just the chassis. These AC flybacks are an awesome find, a few companies also still make them. The new ones have diodes embedded in there coils. This makes the newer ones (made after the 70s or so) only good for some applications. Since the diodes cannot be removed. However, the older all-tube TVs and some other TVs use a tube as a rectifier or external diode, this small tube will have a cap on it and be connected to the fly-back--this means you are lucky and found an AC fly-back! Keep it and treat it with respect and care! They are hard to find now days and great for making plasma displays and other stuff. IT is nearly impossible to remove the diodes from most modern fly-backs. However, arcs and many projects can be produced even with them in place and for some projects the DC is preferable to AC. I use the arcs for photos and plan to post many more now that I have the power systems built. This is one of the first schematics I drew of my 1 transistor Hartley design. It came from an internet design which I modified to include a better transistor and use the flyback's internal windings rather then winding your own external ones. There are some very serious reasons why you should NEVER break off those pins on the bottom of your flyback or cover them up! The arcing can be controlled by using hot-glue or better yet MINERAL OIL. Just submerge the entire thing in it, and run leads out of the jar it's in with hotglue to seal it up as much as possible. Good Tupperware containers work for this, I will show this later. This lets you run flybacks as high as they can go without any arcing that is not wanted and do things like run them in series. My new power supplies have flybacks in oil just to make it more easy to control and use.<br />
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Here is the schematic. Sorry about the light, I draw my schematics in pencil and don't have the software to make them on computer yet. I have been hand drawing them for 20 years so I'm used to it. This was my prototype basic schematic right out of my notebook--lacking lots of details or really nice drawings--so forgive the possible things left out but I assure you if you follow it it will work. I found that you need at least 5W-10W resistors for the 220ohms and be sure to get a high voltage transistor from an old TV--you will clearly see it, usually it' marked with it's contacts and most of them are NPNs. It will be connected directly to the fly-back in the TV which is drives. So it's only natural to build the driver out of the transistor from the same TV! Just because part of a TV died, does not mean the rest of it is. Dead fly-backs and driver transistors are relatively rare. The driver transistors are so difficult to turn on it takes less then a 10k to turn it on! Once this circuit is going, hooking it to a power 20W 8ohm resistor is a REALLY good idea so that if anything is wrong you wont' fry everything. Then use a good supply, regulated or high amperage--to run it. Don't run it above 24-26volts. I HAVE TRIED and trust me the transistor will fry unless you re-design the entire circuit. Be SURE to use a heat sync and remember--the wires in the secondary (high voltage winding) of a fly-back are thinner then a human hair! if they break or short--that's it. So don't arc it into oblivion if you want to keep it going. Check temperatures and only run large hot arcs for a short time. You will have to find the leads here--this kind of circuit does not work very well with an external winding done yourself. The hardest part about building this circuit is probably finding the right leads to use. You need the primary coil--usually off by itself shown on the bottom left--and then you need the feedback coil--one of the other coils in a fly-back that will work as one. This makes for some great output. You can wind your own--but as I say it's better to use the fly-back's windings as they are setup really well for this kind of driver. You just need to locate them by experimentation. Polarity of BOTH sets is very important and must be right, so use a large resistor to find out if your circuit is working and find the leads without damaging anything--like a 50ohm, and an EMF meter--and then alligator leads to see when it starts to oscillate and produce a bit of high voltage. If the secondary is wrong a tiny high voltage may come up--be sure to test both directions while in a test mode (using a 50ohm series resistor) Then kick up the voltage and remove the 50ohm current limiter. You will either hear a sound and get almost nothing--or get lots of high voltage and hear a sound. If you hear a sound and get no high voltage--reverse BOTH of the primary coils polarity and you should get things running. The high voltage should hiss and then draw and ark--you will also need to short out the two pins usually close to the focus module. This is a large coil that is connected to the secondary and thus must be hooked up. This is true with every flyback I have seen. In fact you find ground by seeing what pins arc together first at the lowest power input, short them and then solder on a wire and that's your HV (-) . As far as using homemade coils--for feedback they will work fine in fact playing with this you could get to the resonant frequency of the flyback and produce a really high output--but wind the whole thing? It works, but not very well. If you wound A LOT of turns on it maybe--but it's best to use the fly-backs built in coils for this one. Kickback volts will happen depending on your load and setup--use a 10k and 0.1uF cap for that in several places and or large MOVs. There are other ways but this transistor is so tough that you can operate it for a short time with the leads arching from emitter to base to collector! I've seen it! You will want to KEEP ALL ELECTRONICS including your phone and laptop--AWAY FROM THIS CIRCUIT and any other parts you intend to ever use again. IT produces a very active electrostatic field due to the low frequency oscillation it makes. So it can fry things at a distance. Don't get your digital camera or laptop too close! Once is all it takes.<br />
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THE AWESOME ZVS! (Zero Voltage Switching) driver--> <br />
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Several names are attached to this circuit which in itself is also pretty simple if your not a beginner. This circuit was apparently designed by Vladmiro Mazilli according to the internet. It is basically just a push-pull mosfet oscillator with a lot of advantages and uses. There are several versions including the one shown here which is my take on it. I changed several component values and added a 2nd fly-back in series--breaking what many on line said was impossible. And this is not just an effect due to 2 identical or lucky fly-backs--I have tried this now with 2 other fly-backs and it works just as well! The ZVS may be the most powerful, versatile and trust-able, circuit for high voltage production. Great for lots of stuff. It produces lots of current, and lots of voltage from a fly-back or as I have proven is possible--two. On this circuit you want to keep things to about 22-40volts and no more unless you change values. At that voltage range you will have a lot of fun! I found that hooking 2 fly-backs in series is just a matter of frequency and making sure that your ZVS is setup for it. There is only 1 ZVS driving both fly-backs the ballast 12V 50W lamp which is in my schematic--I will add here soon. I will put my schematic up in full later when I have it properly photographed. As you can see, power is just pumped into the flyback with a coil of wire, 3x3 or 4x4 turns should be fine. Keep leads short and neat, despite what my circuit looks like! See my finished supply--the CD-707 for a full system that works well. This one is the prototype only. The capacitor MUST be directly connected in the system. In other words--if one wire is 1in going to one drain, and the other is 3 inches--it may not work! One must experiment and build a clean circuit if you want it to be stable. Depending on lots of factors including your DC supply voltage and frequency--more turns might NOT be better. I find 3x3 to be more then sufficient at AWG #22 hookup wire. Just be sure to use large insulated wire, it will get hot even if you do. One flyback homemade winding is center tapped and goes into an RFC. Be sure to chose a powerful one (2amps+), a 100mH I got at Radio Shack worked fine. This choke the drain capacitor and the resonant frequency of the coils you use direct the operating frequency which can be quite high. Unlike other kinds of driver's--the ZVS automatically will tend to operate towards the high end of a coils resonant frequency and pulls little current when nothing is being used. It's a very efficient circuit. It also does not create very much low frequency static/harmonics and does not use any part of the flybacks own primary except the ground end of the high voltage--so connecting them in series is easy since the homemade primary coils are isolated from the flybacks windings electrically. Use a strong wire with good insulation and put in an oil filled tub as a separate unit to contain the HV DC electrical field for best results. Out of oil they are limited to the flyback's insulation capability. Regular mineral oil available at almost any drug store will work. Kickbacks can burn through this insulation so be sure to use hot glue at the bottom to cover the core so that arcs do not get into it and thus make it through your insulation on the primary wire if you are not going to use oil <br />
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I have lots of advice but I can't put it all here. The complete computer-drawn schematic for this will be shown later. My version became different from the version I got off the internet and drew on my notebook, but that is a start and that will work for one flyback. First off, if you get those $3 Chinese bread boards--remember--each terminal is not like in the USA! The terminals for power on top and bottom are only connected together every 2 x 2. So you have to put in jumpers or you might spend hours wondering why your circuit does nothing at all! I tested every part and only when I'd tested everything did I figure this out! The capacitor is around 0.22uf and remember it gets HOT! Use a large one HV AC cap. and short leads. Find the right one, at least 200v. 0.2-0.7uf My biggest peace of advice is to get a large current limit device--like a car front headlight--the 12v 50W ballast bulb. You can find them in many places that are small now days so they won't take up lots of space. They pull about 2-5 amps--so your circuit won't even be very limited unless it has a problem. This circuit needs some serious amps to get going--most on line articles say "lead acid batteries"--like car batteries-- laptop batteries would be great but they must be modified first. Laptop batteries may overheat or switch off, possibly even blow fuses if used with this circuit. I use a Variac that is fused and bridge rectified to give me a large choice of voltages but do not go too high! Above about 40% or so could damage flybacks! They die very fast. As I say--this 12v ballast bulb saved me more then once--to make sure you don't destroy all your components when you have a failure. Experimenting with a new circuit there always is one problem at least!--use a 12volt car head light or desk lamp 50w 12v and your good to go. If it glows at drawing an ark then it's at the right time and you will know when your circuit is running well, it will glow slightly like a radio tube in normal operation--even at 45volts. If something is wrong, it will light up really bright or even blow out if your using really high voltage and no other current limit systems--I use a good 3ohm 25w resistor at least too--ceramic so it can stand higher levels to protect everything a bit more. It is not only a valve to stop wires from melting (and at these amps needed they can!) but it will stop one burned out part from cascading into another and burning it out. The whole thing would have gone up in smoke twice now had I not used this method. If you really want to see it fly and possibly fry, and add about 2cm to you already insane 8-10cm arks--remove it for a moment. But watch temperatures. The 2W 470s should really be 5W. I changed that to 1k as they overheat quickly. Whoever designed this circuit should have realized that. The Zeners are there to protect the mosfets from exceeding 20volts on the gate. Thus they can be as high as 18 volts or so. I use 1N5353 There are lots of cool things about this circuit but it requires lots of power, so I built an 4 level power supply for it. Here I have 4 settings from about 10kv to 100kv on the system in a relatively small box for this many required amps. 2 switches control the DC output. (In this case I am not using a Variac) Current limitations should be used for high voltages over about 100kv (10cm sparks that START at 10cm NOT draw out to 10cm!) you run into problems that might fry smaller fly-backs. Don't push things too far or too long, using one flyback, I would not exceed an operating voltage of about 24 volts. I am not sure you can push more then 2 fly-backs at once. If you could you might be able to get a foot long arc, but I am afraid that may not be possible due to limits of flyback construction due to those HV diodes. For unwanted arching at the bottom--use hot-glue. Or just submerge both of the fly-backs in transformer mineral oil. It can be removed and it is nearly a perfect insulator, non-toxic and has no odor. So it stops arching very well. Hot glue is also a great insulator, I use hot glue all the time and it's really cheap. I would NOT break off any leads to stop arks as someday you may want to use those flyback leads in another circuit and really regret it. Start out at about 22volts, no more. If you start too low the circuit may not start to oscillate on it's own. Keep leads to the hart of the circuit--the capacitor across both Drains (0.22-0.7uF 224-704-capacitor code numbers ("XX4"=0.X)--short. Many of these can be found in computer monitors and tube TVs. This part must be in good shape and checked heat, the circuit will do nothing without it. And be sure to use a heat sync on your Mosfets. I use IRFP250s and have gotten used to them. There are several kinds with different prices and sizes, do not use smaller power mosfets without checking specs! IRFP250, 260 and 460 all work well. Mosfets are actually also STATIC SENSITIVE so make sure they don't get too close to the HV. The diodes are FAST diodes--you can order them on line. 400+volts or more. (example:UF4007 --NOT 1N4007!)<br />
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Here we go-- 100,000volts or more. Better pictures to come as they are already on my alternate site. It is difficult to tell without about 300 mega-ohms. I am working on that to get really accurate high voltage measurements. I currently can measure only up to about 40kv. The output here is near maximum but it will put out a bit more if I pushed it too far which might fry a flyback. Use 2 large (30+ inch tube TV) ones if your going to use 2. Be sure to get a good idea of what you can do with 1 flyback first! I got the idea to prove and see if it could be done since I read so many people on line saying it could not. You just have to take some special precautions and do things right. Problems have already happened once. My arcs for a very short time reached nearly 15cm-cold start!--but one fly-back stopped. It took me hours to figure it out but when I did I was surprised after seeing so many high current large arcs pulled on U-tube out of sometimes small flybacks. I have heard of other people blowing up flybacks, but usually it's from charging them with the wrong kind of power (like a 12v transformer or even line current!) --or using a ZVS to push them way too far or just letting it arc to itself or the core. Often these videos are done however, without a ruler or stuff to really show size, so I thought I would prove my 3-4 inch ark--with one. <br />
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Here is another picture. The ark is less then 2 inches from the ruler. Showing how long it is to some degree. The picture below is even better.<br />
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Here we see the ruler being shocked with two arcs, this is because as you might know--old style wood rulers have a metal rod at the end of them for drawing lines. This metal was a quick find for the HV which made it there very fast at 100,000volts! This would be a "super-stun-gun" but look at how large it is! You could not fit it in your pocket! You can't run something like this off 9V batteries for long. This thing pulls at least 2-5amps at 40volts with the car headlight as a current limit 12v 50W X2-- and 3ohm power resistor. So the power draw is about 80W+--most probably 150-300W or more with less current limits. As I say, be careful, even with current limits, running this for more then 1min or so is pushing the flybacks hard if arcing. This is built for momentary things like photography, not Jacobs ladders and stuff--but you can build a ZVS for that which will do great. I even put a relay on it for a small hand operated on-off control. This lets me arc on or off for photos when I want. I can also hook a CDS cell up to the control board and have it turn on or off with lights. A simple circuit could also turn it on or off with an IR remote although interference from the arcing makes that difficult to do. RF control is possible if you use FM or UHF--as long as the arcing does not create too much RFI. Arcs this big are serious and really show power. You can feel it. I would not want to be shocked by this, it probably puts out 1ma at full voltage but if loaded ma will increase to as much as 50 or more at less volts but still 10s of thousands. That could be enough to kill if you got hit with the full current. It is always good to have an isolated safe switch that requires you to push it in so that if you are shocked you will shutoff the device automatically. Just be very careful around ANY high voltage and unlike these pictures--use some HV cable for hooking things up--as it quickly arcs through the insulation on these kind of leads. You can get HV cable at auto parts stores. Ignition wire cable works great. A simple bifilar-wound toroidal transformer placed on power or one on each gate of the mosfets will modulate it and create a huge singing arc! I am not sure how long things will hold up if current limits were taken off, temp is good, but the fly-backs are taking a lot of power. I wanted a big spooky old movie arc, so I came up with a new kind of ZVS for what I needed. I chose 2 fly-backs that use a small electrolytic capacitor and current limiters to produce less current put more volts--it works great. This is the largest high voltage supply I have ever built (as of 2012) and I built it from scratch. For an updated schematic--stay tuned to my site. UPDATE: And my other sites articles will soon be here. I will also be adding more pics at higher resolution of the arks and things arching into stuff as well as the DC plasma and particle photos I built this for!<br />
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This is the basic schematic I started from on line. I drew it again fast--and have yet to complete and photograph a full version of my ZVS system. My revision now includes a redesign of this circuit that allows for more power and a variable output. The CD-303 and CD-707 homemade lab supplies. UPDATE: I have now drawn on computer my version of this circuit for running 2 flybacks and it will soon be posted here with more pics. It differs in serious ways from this one, but the basic principle of a ZVS is the same. You can get large and awesome arks with this circuit. This is right out of my notebook. There are also many on-line resources--just Google "ZVS driver" for those articles. Click to view schematic better. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.</div>
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And here is the prototype in full operation!Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-44991067028833285242011-12-29T21:30:00.000-08:002011-12-29T21:39:58.852-08:00Occupy --The last sign in the park-- a new year dawnsHappy Holidays everyone! A new year comes, 2012. Some say it's the end of the world. End or not--I will keep shooting and shooting spider macros and learning more about spiders. 2012 is no different then 2000. And we all know how that went. I will also post events that my lens captures but don't get me wrong because of the Occupy photos and videos--I am a freelance journalist/photographer and NOT here to write a political blog about my views. I will post what I photograph and experience and to some degree that alone should show you what I believe.<br />
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Back to macro basics-- since I got my D7000 I have a load of new images I need to post. Until I get some stuff done first I will not be able to post as much as I want too.<br />
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"Foggy building UFO"<br />
I shot this the night we covered Occupy Portland closing. The parks were closed and fenced off, they seemed cold and smaller without all those people. I will put more pics of that night up soon but suffice it to say as photos below show, little actual damage was done to the parks by protesters. I was really amazed at how cleaned up the park was and how little impact the demonstration seemed to have. The turf is replaced every year anyway--and it nearly did not look that bad. I expected far more visible damage. I encourage anyone who is interested in the Occupy situation to not just see it on the news and then judge the parks as being "trashed". If you actually seen it for yourself you may well not agree with what some media outlets said about things. I don't agree with all the varied and sometimes differing opinions we heard down there but I think it is an important right to protest and speak your mind to the government and the world.<br />
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And people say I take too many pictures! I don't know why there are 3 dishes and at least 5 security cameras on this building. I snapped this shot while riding the Max transit line and only this side of it is visible. One thing everyone should remember-- there is no such thing as not being photographed. Sometimes people also get mad at me for taking a picture with them in it. Almost always this is because they happen to be in the photo--not because I want to put them up on line or have a picture of any particular person. In this day and age, when everyone has a cellphone with a camera and security cameras everywhere-- no matter what you are going to be photographed weather you know about it or not and weather your like it or not. I ask when ever feasible but sometimes people over-react and asume I am photographing them. I understand the fears people have, but please don't take it out on photographers! I say this--if you don't want to be photographed--don't go to a public event such as Occupy Portland! I respect the wishes of people who say they do not want to be posted or photographed and have proven it many times. Clearly--many people do not.<br />
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"HAM RADIO OPERATOR" --this is my station--KF7DFP-- this is NOT a CB or those family radios.<br />
I have not been talking much on Ham radio because I have been busy and I have power supply issues, but I am a licensed technician class radio operator. These are my main radios. A Kenwood 2M all mode TR9000 (Left) and A Radio shack TRX-10 (right). I also often use my portable, the VX-7R, 6m, 2m, 220 and 440Mhz transceiver with very wide TX/RX. My call-sign is KF7DFP and I usually listen on 144.2 USB 2M SSB. And on 10M 28.388-28.4 USB.<br />
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This is me and my new D7000. Almost 2 years saving to get this camera. It's not only a full 14bit 16.1 MP DSLR, it's also a full functioned 1080P video camera with pro inputs and other awesome features.<br />
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I have not seen this many birds in a while! I shot this from the Max in Portland.<br />
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Some Details of a spider I found. She is also at the top of this post. I have yet to look up this spider exactly. She was one of two that I found in a restaurant. They repelled down after ballooning into the wrong place. I photographed them and then released them in a better spot.<br />
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For these shots I let her walk on my bed but in future shots I will be shooting some spiders against a new background to show just how much I trust spiders and why people should not be so afraid of them.<br />
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This little spider was fast but my camera and I were faster and I got some cool shots of her before letting her go. I have been taking pictures of spiders through the winter and trying to find out more about the some species that live through the winter.<br />
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The size of this spider next do a quarter.<br />
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Abdomen and thorax details.<br />
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More details, I can get even closer and more detailed then this with some of the new macro setups I have been testing.<br />
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The start to all our travels, this is the Max transit system. Two lines run through Portland and a couple other lines run to other areas. A bus ticket will get you a ride on both buses and this electric train.<br />
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A Fall spider--she is building one of her last webs but may live into December if she does not get too cold. <br />
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Another shot of the same spider, she's a bit cold now but just a little sun and she will make repairs to her web. Spiders are born knowing how to make perfect webs, but over time they also learn how to make better/different ones and save time in repairs. This is the same species that shocked the scientific world when they built webs without gravity in the space shuttle. This was done after some experimentation on the part of the spiders but successful.<br />
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This was quite a find. My wife is holding up a heart shaped peace of a water melon which incredibly naturally seemed to fall out of the melon. I know it looks cut on purpose or with a tool, but this was a total accident. <br />
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My wife holds up the heart shaped melon. <br />
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"The Portland Building UFO"<br />
The night Occupy was doing a vigl for loosing the parks, there was cold fog and it made for some awesome building shots. I don't know why this building has such huge spot lights on it-- they are not strong enough to be able to see the ground. <br />
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Lit by the same huge flood lights powered by portable generators, the 2 previously occupied parks are now fenced in. I have many important pictures I will eventually post on this site of that night once I get them ready to post. The parks were as I said, in really good shape and had I not known what had gone on there just a couple of days before-- I would never have guessed and wondered why the parks were closed down and fenced off!<br />
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Fences completely surrounded the downtown parks when we were last down there. There was almost no visible signs of any gathering of people. It was almost spooky.<br />
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"The Last sign"<br />
After photographing the parks from many angles which I will post soon on this site looking for any sign that there had been anything going on at the parks-- I finally found one sign that remains. Somehow the Fall leaves had covered it up or something and thus it was missed by cleanup crews and those who helped cleanup the Occupied park when they left. Giving the amount of security, fences and lights-- I think it is amazing the sign was there. They probably spent more money on fencing off the park then they will actually need to "fix it" after all the "damage" was done. I was told that every year the turf has to be re-done anyway due to mud build up and leaves. I am glad that the Occupy movements are happening and people are standing up for there rights and the rights of the oppressed. People should pay fair taxes and there are many things about our society that seriously need to change. The people who work the hardest do NOT make the most money--and the criminal justice system is a mess--two name just two major problems I want to see changed.Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-14223926549547805362011-11-16T23:47:00.001-08:002011-11-23T22:52:46.419-08:00First Dishes of the Revolution -- Occupy Portland<br />
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<b>"Occupy Interviews 1"</b><br />
Produced/edited by: Gabe Beasley<br />
Interview questions asked by: Alina Beasley<br />
WARNING! This movie has been rated by me as "PG" due to some mild language content. <br />
First Interviews taken at Occupy Portland. Here and see what a few people at the Occupy movement had to say in there own words, why they are there, and what they think of it. I am just learning movie making so bare with me as I learn and perfect my technique and use the video abilities of my camera. I have A LOT more to add, these videos take HOURS to upload and photos take hours to process for this site. If I interviewed you you will be on this or one of the next movies on this site and my YouTube site "Mostlymacros". <br />
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<b>"FIRST DISHES OF THE REVOLUTION" </b><br />
An on site documentary by Gabe Beasley<br />
THIS is a PEACEFUL MOVIE showing the atmosphere and attitude one usually would have experienced. I made this video to show what it might be like to take a walk through the Occupy camp during this time. I did not know anyone down there yet and was met by a peaceful and awesome people. I want to show this side of things in contrast to the constant media and YouTube buzz of videos with bad language, brawls and other sensationalism that is posted too often. That JUNK misses the point! Most of it was and is a peaceful protest and usually people were NOT yelling at each other. This was and is a very peaceful movement with important and serious messages. I am not only impressed by most of the serious Occupy movement but ALSO by the Portland Police who showed far more respect for free speech here in Portland then was shown in many other cities around the world.<br />
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<b>IMPORTANT ART NOTE: </b><br />
Some art in this movie was done
by unknown artists, signs, and beginning sign) If you do know who did
the sign at the beginning of this movie PLEASE email me as I want to
give them credit for there art which made the opening screen of my first
documentary possible). <br />
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<b>OCCUPY PORTLAND -- RECENT EVENTS -- MOSTLY MACROS</b><br />
I Really enjoyed and agreed with most of the stuff I saw
at Occupy Portland and my wife and I can be seen in this video as we got involved in the protest. When I was not taking pictures I was protesting as well. I
really think it's time that corrupt people are shown what they have done
and big changes are made in the way our government and the
super-wealthy do things. We all deserve a chance and fact is we don't all have one. There are just too many unfair situations
going on. Not only to human beings and not only in the USA. All over
the world, injustices need to be heard and not simply ignored as another
'phase' to be put down. Because it WILL NOT go away.<br />
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"Golden Bee" 2006<br />
I took this shot with my Kodak DX7630 back when I got going in digital. It was actually shot with a compact camera to which I had added a homemade closeup lens and a flash reflector to make shots like this possible without a hot-shoe for an external flash.<br />
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MOSTLY MACROS will be changing but for the better--some things will not--I am just adding more "Independent lens" Journalistic content.<br />
I have often pledged to not
talk about politics in Mostly Macros but for this I have made an
exception because I feel there are important issues that need to be shown. As an totally independent jornalistic
photographer I want to show the facts as much as I
possibly can since the mainstream news media so often fails at this. At Occupy Portland I took 1000s of still pictures, night and day, dozens of videos, and
several interviews my wife really helped me with. In time, many will be
posted here and or on Flicker and YouTube but I want to start here as this is my main site. Sorry about the delay if I interviewed you and you don't see it yet. Because of budget problems I am using a very small and slow Netbook (Intel Atom 1Ghz processor--equiv. to about a 2003 computer) to process my pics and even compile some videos. It took me over 4 hours to make the 12min movie "First Dishes of the Revolution" and another 3 or so to upload it to my YouTube channel. This is my first YouTube video and I plan to make more but until I can get a regular laptop with Win7 and more then 1GB of RAM it will take time. I hope that eventually I will be able to afford a full laptop/notebook that has enough memory and a fast enough processor (about $500 cost) to work with video files and my huge RAW files which are often larger then 20mb with my Nikon D7000. I am a true struggling artist and trying to save but I have to take into account other costs (life) and have not yet been able to save up enough for a computer that can handle my needs. Even though a pretty basic laptop would do it. We are still recovering from our house burning down in 2009. I am hoping that eventually my photographic and artistic works will be more recognized and I want to go into documentary film making. As for Political opinions go, that's not really what Mostly Macros will ever be about. I may say my opinion on some issues--but generally I am here to show what I photograph--the facts and report. Some people may say things which I do not agree with in videos--but that does not mean I will not show the interview. I want to report on the issues I take interest in and photograph them. I also want to do artistic/photographic projects and even get into documentary film making. It is not my intent to make another political blog or news and views site.<br />
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There are many opinions in the world and many at Occupy--I do not agree with everything everyone is saying--but it is time for corruption to end and the poor should not pay for it. I know this is not a simple issue. The spider/nature and artistic shots are NOT over! I will be doing a number of articles about spiders and other pictures as time goes on. I am just announcing here that I plan to open Mostly Macros up a bit to some political situations, declare it to also be a jornalistic blog. I have a lot of work to do on it, but given time I think this will be a good looking blog. I will continue to try to keep Mostly Macros as G-RATED as possible. If there is content in videos or articles that I think will be a problem (such as bad language in an interview) I will post serious warnings before and under the video. I have still not decided if I will post such videos in this site as I want kids and schools to be able to continue to use it for information and projects on insects and spiders. Once I get a laptop that will let me edit videos I will be able to bleep out bad language in them. If a video does have such language there will be plenty of warning and NO VIDEOS on this site will have other types of questionable content. If you read this please leave a comment about content issues, your opinion matters!<br />
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Incredibly this small Intel Atom powered Netbook was able to
cut my movie down from 720p HD which was HUGE to a smaller and more manageable
480p video. It was shot originally in wide screen HD but had to be cut
to 4:3 in order to bring it down in size so that I could work with it on
this computer (I can't watch even 720p HD on this computer direct from camera). This video
took 4+ hours to process with this computer and it will take similar
amounts of time to get other videos ready that I made at Occupy
Portland. Give it time--and they will be up there. Thank you for checking out my site and don't forget there are lots of pictures on this site! If you want to link or have any questions please email. I will try to respond to comments in time. --G.BeasleyGabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-458926674572479112011-10-18T19:08:00.000-07:002011-10-18T19:31:18.934-07:00OCCUPY PORTLAND -- Pictures SET 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have over 1,700 pictures from Occupied Portland Oregon that I took
during 2 days and part of the night there. In my opinion it was a great
event and these 'Occupations' are bringing out serious and solid social
issues that MUST be changed sometime in the future. Being here was both an awesome experience photographically and in hope for our country and world's future. I don't believe in all these ideas, but many of them I do. I am breaking my long-held non-political stand on Mostly Macros. HOWEVER This does NOT mean I am no longer going to show you the spider pictures and articles I do or other nature shots I will continue to publish. While this is going however--my lenses are on Occupied Portland as the mainstream News media seems to want to act as if it means nothing and does not exist.<br />
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Not changing them
and not listening to the people will eventually not become an option.
America and indeed the world, may well be at a crossroads. This to me
even though I was not born yet in the 1960s, is the greatest protest for
civil-rights and liberties, justice, and accountability as well as the
fight against greed since that time. <b> I have a set of mostly SIGN pictures that I WILL release soon. This set 2 of pictures will have most of the expressed political views and artistic signs made by the protestors during Occupation Portland while I was photographing it.</b><br />
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NOTES: I DO NOT NECESSARILY AGREE WITH ALL SIGNS OR STATEMENTS MADE
HERE! I will add text later if I am interested in a specific thing to
agree with. Otherwise consider this simply what I viewed through my
lens. Journalism as I think it should be done showing whatever I
see--not just tiny snippets of what I want to see. Opinions were often
common but a very wide number of views and issues are being represented
by the Occupy movement in general throughout the world. I hope it is a
peaceful revolution that will enact some serious change and spark some
well doing in a now obviously desperate nation and world. Inequality
and oppression cannot remain in place forever, such things cannot be
ignored.<br />
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(2) IF you wish to have your photo removed please email me--(email on sidebar of this blog) IF you wanted to be on my blog and have not seen your shot yet--PLEASE WAIT--I have lots of pictures and work to get these up.<br />
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<b>THE BEST PICS I GOT ARE YET POSTED HERE!</b><br />
<b>MORE WILL BE UP SOON--LOTS OF WORK SO JUST GIVE ME TIME!</b><br />
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(3) I HAVE MANY MORE PICS TO POST! This is only the first
installment. I have the protest march, and many other events and
activities I think should be shown. These are NOT the best pictures or
the pictures I picked. They were just the first ones to fall on the top
of my JPEG pile of over 1700 shots from that day. There is far more to see and come about OCCUPY PORTLAND.<br />
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(4) To view full size of any image double click on image. USE BACK ARROW on your internet explorer (such as Firefox) to get back to my site.<br />
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Here is my wife, doing a really great thing on the protest walk October 15th. She really helped me by watching my camera gear while I took shots and did the full protest walk. She's the best wife in the world for understanding my ideas and photographic life. <br />
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This is a married couple who were just married yesterday, hailed as "the first married couple of Occupied Portland". I promised I'd post there picture on my site. (Contact me if you see it and I will add your names--email me your names! :)<br />
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Normal pictures. Even at a high ISO, taking shots in near-darkness is not easy. So I got out my tripod and went for night-shots turning night--into day. <br />
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This shot was taken just a few seconds after the above black dark shot showing how dark it was in camera terms. With long exposures, you can get incredibly detailed shots of anything that stays still. However, if people move in the picture--the movement can be seen in an interesting and artistic ghost like way. Night-shots can be better then day-time shots. So I have a number of them more I plan to take and post of Occupied Portland.<br />
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<br />Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-58446251987504836172011-09-28T14:13:00.001-07:002011-09-28T15:25:37.371-07:00MATING SPIDERS!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S7fM-1t_c7s/ToOaByV24nI/AAAAAAAADcU/P5n7wtx8U0Q/s1600/_DSC1150.JPG"><br /></a>You ever wondered how spiders make love?<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3PONLPYE2Yg/ToOOnRyWTLI/AAAAAAAADbs/8FLVexEtOp4/s1600/_DSC1052-1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 293px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3PONLPYE2Yg/ToOOnRyWTLI/AAAAAAAADbs/8FLVexEtOp4/s400/_DSC1052-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657522362348096690" border="0" /></a>This is a rare site let alone shot! Spiders in that act of mating. Spider sex has been stigmatized for years. Many people assume that spiders all act like black widows and kill there mates. This is not true at all. As these spiders showed me and my wife on a lucky day a few weeks ago-- the male and female get along very well and go their separate ways after mating.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L5Iz0I9D6Nw/ToOOQCkr_1I/AAAAAAAADbE/mg-XXKwHXyU/s1600/_DSC1048.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 386px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L5Iz0I9D6Nw/ToOOQCkr_1I/AAAAAAAADbE/mg-XXKwHXyU/s400/_DSC1048.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657521963127275346" border="0" /></a>These two will get along great and part their separate ways when done. But mating can be hard for a nearly blind predator. Some species actually commit suicide as the male moves his body into the females mouth and forces her to bite him, others it can happen by accident--but this species Araneus diadematus is down right loving when it comes to mating. Other species like the big-jawed spiders that live over water lock there jaws in a kiss while mating to insure they will not bite one another. There are many species who take precautions and mate killing almost never happens. This pair mated twice while we were there giving me the chance to take some rare pictures. Spiders even have a gentle side. This is the same species that amazed scientists by building perfect webs in space after hours of practice and experimentation on the part of the spider, proving that not all there actions are programmed at birth!<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Cw-go277iyQ/ToOOQDOaknI/AAAAAAAADbM/pcQksTUEIA8/s1600/_DSC1043_A_diadematus_MatingDanceSL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Cw-go277iyQ/ToOOQDOaknI/AAAAAAAADbM/pcQksTUEIA8/s400/_DSC1043_A_diadematus_MatingDanceSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657521963302294130" border="0" /></a>This is one of the most common and certainly the most commonly seen spiders here in the Portland Oregon area. However, just getting a chance to see spiders mating is an incredible thing. I have only observed it about 4 times in my life. Photographing it twice now. So this does not happen very often. It is the right season, to see mating spiders you definitely have to think about that. Late summer early fall is a good time. And you must be very still and not frighten them as when any 2 predators come together--a serious amount of careful communication is needed to make sure intentions on both sides are clear--mate and not meal!<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dThoHGNLdmc/ToOOQVnoG4I/AAAAAAAADbU/3D90lERRBVc/s1600/_DSC1042_A_diadematus_Male%2526FemaleSL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dThoHGNLdmc/ToOOQVnoG4I/AAAAAAAADbU/3D90lERRBVc/s400/_DSC1042_A_diadematus_Male%2526FemaleSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657521968239876994" border="0" /></a>They come together slowly, the male and female strutting the web with signals of substance. The female is far larger then the male here, but either spider could deliver a deadly bite to one another. We watched the entire thing twice as I fumbled to get my gear ready for a good sequence of shots and just see this at the same time. It is a rare site, let alone picture! In this species there is no bondage, but in some species the female actually gets wrapped up so that the male does not get bit while mating. In this case, she simply assumes a very submissive pose and the male recognizes that very quickly. He comes in slowly ready to run but confident and soon will embrace her.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-75nKX6ScQvQ/ToOOQRW1TWI/AAAAAAAADbc/_LQT5L4PbrI/s1600/_DSC1047.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 319px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-75nKX6ScQvQ/ToOOQRW1TWI/AAAAAAAADbc/_LQT5L4PbrI/s400/_DSC1047.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657521967095696738" border="0" /></a>The moment just before, she is in a submissive pose. The male who has his legs out--knows this and is ready with the two organs that look like 'boxing gloves' near his mouth. These are the palps. Males and females have them but they are enlarged in males so that the male spider can deliver sperm. The male must insert his palp (usually) into the females sex organ the epigynum. This is located on the abdomen, her underside which she has exposed here in this photo.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h9mYIMKkKqc/ToOOQvJeAJI/AAAAAAAADbk/ux-8NCuWUys/s1600/_DSC1052.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 312px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h9mYIMKkKqc/ToOOQvJeAJI/AAAAAAAADbk/ux-8NCuWUys/s400/_DSC1052.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657521975092707474" border="0" /></a>Here he is getting ready and she shows no signs of hostility so all is good. This was amazing to see. Someday I will have 2 SLR cameras and be able to do stills as well as HD video of this kind of thing without missing anything. He holds her in an almost loving way and she for the first time since she was a spiderling, lets another spider touch her.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NAQhuyTBP7A/ToOOno9Fl5I/AAAAAAAADb8/MqgweOPKf4Q/s1600/_DSC1056.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 350px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NAQhuyTBP7A/ToOOno9Fl5I/AAAAAAAADb8/MqgweOPKf4Q/s400/_DSC1056.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657522368567154578" border="0" /></a>The whole thing is over very fast. He delivers his package of prepared sperm that he put into his palps in a sperm-web (a small silk area made for transferring sperm to his palps before mating). She will store his sperm and he will go off to possibly mate again or mate with another female. No hostility was observed with these two. I was actually surprised by how nice they were to each other. Some species even give the female an offering of food, while other males are born to die--with no mouth--they live for only one reason which is to mate and die in the process. This is not the majority however. Garden spiders are mild tempered and a good thing to have in your garden. They are also called the "Cross spider" because some color variations seem to show a clear cross shape on the back.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ctYXJE0RpIg/ToOOndeEH9I/AAAAAAAADb0/2_rMLOK498g/s1600/_DSC1054.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 278px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ctYXJE0RpIg/ToOOndeEH9I/AAAAAAAADb0/2_rMLOK498g/s400/_DSC1054.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657522365484244946" border="0" /></a>After mating was done the male just walked out of the females web and she maintained her submissive pose until he was out of her web. Once this was done she took to tidying up her web taking some debris which had fallen into it while she was mating and removing them. That was funny to watch.<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x3vdD5_7Uq8/ToOOnu9hzzI/AAAAAAAADcE/8Akk-xkfzgM/s1600/_DSC1057.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 370px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x3vdD5_7Uq8/ToOOnu9hzzI/AAAAAAAADcE/8Akk-xkfzgM/s400/_DSC1057.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657522370179616562" border="0" /></a>I was fighting the sun when I took these shots, my flash and the sun crated some lighting problems that I did not have time to correct. I got this shot just as I was fumbling to setup my gear for a day of shooting and finding the Triangle spider (article below). The male probably made his sperm web last night to make necessary preparations for transferring the sperm to his mate. He was in very little danger from the female with this species, despite the fact that she was in need of a meal herself. She can wait until she has had some good meals before she lays her eggs.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6-Rdfzp43Fg/ToOOn-BUimI/AAAAAAAADcM/h325kvyRSXg/s1600/_DSC1128.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 364px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6-Rdfzp43Fg/ToOOn-BUimI/AAAAAAAADcM/h325kvyRSXg/s400/_DSC1128.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657522374222056034" border="0" /></a>(Orange A. diadematus)<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S7fM-1t_c7s/ToOaByV24nI/AAAAAAAADcU/P5n7wtx8U0Q/s1600/_DSC1150.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S7fM-1t_c7s/ToOaByV24nI/AAAAAAAADcU/P5n7wtx8U0Q/s400/_DSC1150.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657534912391471730" border="0" /></a>(Dark, Brown A. diadematus)<br />The two we saw mating were the Brown variety of the same species. There is also this kind which lives side by side and even a 3rd which seems related to the shamrock spider. I am not sure if this is a "race" of the species that does not often interbreed or if the color differences are just a genetic tag like eye color in humans which can be one or the other. The only way to find out is more observation and research. Both colors have the same webs and share the same name. They also build small areas to hide from the sun during hot days and make an egg sack. This large female has probably already mated and is ready to lay her egg-sack. They only live one year and lay one egg in their lifetime.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-75nKX6ScQvQ/ToOOQRW1TWI/AAAAAAAADbc/_LQT5L4PbrI/s1600/_DSC1047.JPG"><br /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cD8ji1E15uM/ToOaCGaA-II/AAAAAAAADcc/VlUGUyBA6V8/s1600/_DSC1471.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 281px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cD8ji1E15uM/ToOaCGaA-II/AAAAAAAADcc/VlUGUyBA6V8/s400/_DSC1471.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657534917777619074" border="0" /></a>NEXT POST WILL BE: the 'Lynx' spider<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L5Iz0I9D6Nw/ToOOQCkr_1I/AAAAAAAADbE/mg-XXKwHXyU/s1600/_DSC1048.JPG"><br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h9mYIMKkKqc/ToOOQvJeAJI/AAAAAAAADbk/ux-8NCuWUys/s1600/_DSC1052.JPG"><br /></a>Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-8319458109128654462011-09-28T12:30:00.001-07:002011-09-28T15:53:10.643-07:00THE ILLUSIVE TRIANGLE SPIDER<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bgiDgZrJzxk/ToN222317WI/AAAAAAAADZc/Xx6y6H0U8x8/s1600/_DSC1288.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 335px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bgiDgZrJzxk/ToN222317WI/AAAAAAAADZc/Xx6y6H0U8x8/s400/_DSC1288.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657496241722223970" border="0" /></a>This is the hard to find Hyptiotes or Triangle Spider. It is a member of the only kind of spiders that do not have poison glands. Uloboridae. This is actually true, a non-poisons spider! A common held myth (even among experts!) is that all spiders produce toxic poison. The Uloborids do secrete some digestive enzymes into there pray but lack the traditional venom glands.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E5r3xX0Narc/ToN22Ue3DGI/AAAAAAAADZM/g8-fe1hjHpo/s1600/_DSC1153.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 330px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E5r3xX0Narc/ToN22Ue3DGI/AAAAAAAADZM/g8-fe1hjHpo/s400/_DSC1153.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657496232490634338" border="0" /></a>This spider can be very hard to find. I frist discovered it in Oregon in one place back in 1994. Hopeing to find it again, I returned to the same small forested area near a park and incredibly found one doing very well. What amazes me, is that I have been unable to find this species or any of it's relitives anywhere else here. There is a state park less then a mile from this small forested area which is in danger of being developed. If it is--this species which lives in a 'island' of forest may be gone forever in this area. This is very unlikely, but not impossible. I have not<br />conclusively identified it completely or proved that it is isolated to this area but these kind of things can and do sadly happen.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nSpW6nPtgkc/ToN3T7CWn4I/AAAAAAAADaU/aDInkmSDT3M/s1600/_DSC1418.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 288px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nSpW6nPtgkc/ToN3T7CWn4I/AAAAAAAADaU/aDInkmSDT3M/s400/_DSC1418.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657496741056257922" border="0" /></a>I took extensive photos before I released the spider hoping I will be able to use them to identify it and find out if possibly it exists on this small island of forest for a reason. To protect the species I am not going to tell where it is right now. For all I know it may have survived and may actually be stuck on this island of green surrounded by buildings and development. The area was logged once, but the wooded area has not been logged since at least the early 20th century--I am sure this forest area is likely well over 100 years old. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ASDuCYvKkdo/ToN3p7AL4-I/AAAAAAAADac/oWG5p3vwKdM/s1600/_DSC1270.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 378px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ASDuCYvKkdo/ToN3p7AL4-I/AAAAAAAADac/oWG5p3vwKdM/s400/_DSC1270.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657497119004287970" border="0" /></a>Spiders, just like all other species are put in danger by development. Sometimes a species will survive one logging cycle and live on in the area when plants and trees grow back. But not one after the other over and over. I have spent a very long time looking for this species somewhere else to confirm it is not just on this small island of forest. I have yet to find it anywhere else. It seems unlikely but not impossible. Spiders often have sporadic populations where some species live in certain places but no longer can exist where humans are due to there habitat needs or other issues. If I fail to find this spider in the near by protected park--I will definitely take steps to alert people to the fact that this spider may be holding out there and once that land is cleared--so will be the spider. I admit this is highly unlikely, but not impossible.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3HBygkXxulc/ToN3TecXwVI/AAAAAAAADZ8/NwGglgenSIg/s1600/_DSC1298.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 361px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3HBygkXxulc/ToN3TecXwVI/AAAAAAAADZ8/NwGglgenSIg/s400/_DSC1298.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657496733380755794" border="0" /></a> The tiny and hard to see Triangle spider has to be spotted among the many very common webs of the Linyphiinae species. The Linyphiinae make upside down webs and are probably the most common spider found through out the forested areas of Portland and the Northwest. (Below)<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cpAwYXtga5w/ToOCGKawUMI/AAAAAAAADa0/1gJDFHl3kfM/s1600/_DSC1098.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cpAwYXtga5w/ToOCGKawUMI/AAAAAAAADa0/1gJDFHl3kfM/s400/_DSC1098.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657508599294873794" border="0" /></a>The "Money Spider"--the British name for it. Here often called the Dome spider. This is the most common species of visible spider. Since silk is everywhere from these spiders which often make webs on top of each other. It can be very hard to spot the Triangle spider in all these webs. We nearly gave up and found it only towards the end of the day. (Below--Dome Spider)<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7TZJ-4eljYY/ToOCGYF80AI/AAAAAAAADa8/1ozMJDZN9nQ/s1600/_DSC1110.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7TZJ-4eljYY/ToOCGYF80AI/AAAAAAAADa8/1ozMJDZN9nQ/s400/_DSC1110.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657508602965708802" border="0" /></a>Close up of a Linyphiinae species. Very common in Forest Park and most all forested areas here in the Northwest. I may be jumping the gun here--but I have done surveys of many areas around where the Triangle spider lives and over the years never found it anywhere except this one small forested area. I hope to get an email proving me wrong and that this is a common species. Virtually gone is the large yellow Argiope aurantia in this area-- I used to find them everywhere as a kid and plan to try to locate populations again out in Beaverton where they possibly held out. Most of their habitat has been decimated and worse off poisoned by weed and insect killers. However the species is not extinct and thrives in other places in the US such as Northern California. But here in the Portland area you are very lucky to see one. I hope that is not the case with the Triangle spider. The Argiopes are large spiders and require large insect pray, this may be one reason why they are so hard to find. They also in some areas live in patches where you may find lots in one place and none in another.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3-yRWz53J9c/ToN3Tqsj0SI/AAAAAAAADaM/KNDwvlOCyZQ/s1600/_DSC1452.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 286px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3-yRWz53J9c/ToN3Tqsj0SI/AAAAAAAADaM/KNDwvlOCyZQ/s400/_DSC1452.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657496736669880610" border="0" /></a> A North American spider Field guide puts this family of spiders in North America but I do not think that it is not the same species as shown in the guide and I know it is not due to sexual dimorphism (large changes in colors or looks between male and female animals often leading to people thinking they found a new species). Was it brought in and got introduced to this area of forest? Is it a last hold out? I don't know, but 16 years later I found out it was still there and thriving. I hope that they don't cut down this last spit of land anyway--it could make a nice park and it is more then big enough. They made another area a park near-by--but I hope this land remains the way it is. It has a rich and diverse spider population even better then the nearby official park. Human activity is going to cause problems. I don't like it when they start paving the trails and changing the environment of a park. The point is a natural area--NOT a place to drive golf carts!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t8CFFEczeXQ/ToN3Tqtp4eI/AAAAAAAADaE/sgKetzQ7Jzo/s1600/_DSC1422.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t8CFFEczeXQ/ToN3Tqtp4eI/AAAAAAAADaE/sgKetzQ7Jzo/s400/_DSC1422.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657496736674472418" border="0" /></a>I wanted to catch every angle and way this spider acted. This is the typical pose when she sits on a twig or branch holding onto her web or to disguise when there is no web.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c_r17dvzQ4A/ToN3TLdLD4I/AAAAAAAADZ0/0EG50kL46zY/s1600/_DSC1286.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 282px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c_r17dvzQ4A/ToN3TLdLD4I/AAAAAAAADZ0/0EG50kL46zY/s400/_DSC1286.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657496728283844482" border="0" /></a>This little spider can RUN! I had to move my large camera with big flash gear on it very quickly to try to get a good shot of this spider. I do not leave them in the refrigerator like some people do because I think it is cruel and can also be very dangerous to the spider. If you forget it will die. So I do my best to catch shots on the move and wait for the spider to stop to catch a breath.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nSpW6nPtgkc/ToN3T7CWn4I/AAAAAAAADaU/aDInkmSDT3M/s1600/_DSC1418.JPG"><br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1aQOBYY2Qy8/ToN2237RB-I/AAAAAAAADZk/Tr5JdL1WcQ4/s1600/_DSC1263.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 348px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1aQOBYY2Qy8/ToN2237RB-I/AAAAAAAADZk/Tr5JdL1WcQ4/s400/_DSC1263.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657496242005018594" border="0" /></a>Usually I either don't capture a spider at all--or catch and release on scene so that the spider is not displaced from it's habitat. In this case however, I had to leave since it was getting dark so I chose to take this spider back to take detailed shots of it. I wanted to get eye shots and other details that may be very important to exact identification.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v5Gq8YlSY84/ToN22mx_EyI/AAAAAAAADZU/2_56Wv07RX4/s1600/_DSC1170.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 371px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v5Gq8YlSY84/ToN22mx_EyI/AAAAAAAADZU/2_56Wv07RX4/s400/_DSC1170.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657496237402690338" border="0" /></a>(Blend in perfectly)<br />This is how I found this spider--the Triangle spider is appropriately named. She makes a 'Pizza slice' shaped triangle of an orb web that often looks like another spiders dammaged web until you look close at the detail. I was able to get good shots before I captured her, this is exactly how she sat with her web on her legs. She holds it tight and waits for an insect to fly in. They blend in incredibly to the foliage around them looking like a stem or a bit of bark or even a berry as shown here. Another reason why this spider is so hard to find. The spider is just to the right of the middle of this picture--camouflage that is truly incredible.<br /><br />--Web drawing coming soon--<br /><br />I realized that being deep in a forest it was very hard to get good shots of her web. You have to bounce a wireless flash off the web at the right angle. You get the idea about how it makes a perfect section of an orb web only. Just a slice of a pizza. How this came about I have no idea. She then holds it from the tip with the other sides secured to foliage.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d2vfGrmpNCI/ToN23ZIVA9I/AAAAAAAADZs/TY_XvaJ0hLo/s1600/_DSC1271.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 310px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d2vfGrmpNCI/ToN23ZIVA9I/AAAAAAAADZs/TY_XvaJ0hLo/s400/_DSC1271.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657496250918175698" border="0" /></a>Back when I started doing survays of spiders in High school I would note the technique of each species and in each area--as they can vary--that spider uses to escape when afraid. This technique can tell you something about the most common predators in the area of that species. One common technique shared by many web building spiders is to turn into a ball and drop down very quickly onto the ground. DO NOT PICK UP a spider in this position! You may hurt the spider and also the spider is afraid and thus likely to bite you. This spider is totally harmless but in some species it is a bad idea. The best protection against spider bites is to ware gardening gloves. This 'drop technique' makes it very hard for a predator like a bird or bat to find the spider once it's in deep grass or leaves. Here is the spider after it dropped in its' escape position.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qtw5PuusKhQ/ToN3qIYJ5YI/AAAAAAAADak/8gGyXjRGx88/s1600/_DSC1081.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 282px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qtw5PuusKhQ/ToN3qIYJ5YI/AAAAAAAADak/8gGyXjRGx88/s400/_DSC1081.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657497122594481538" border="0" /></a>(Spider Moss farm)<br />I found this hanging while taking shots of other spiders on our trip. I thought it was interesting.Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-88865536252482595162011-09-11T13:12:00.000-07:002011-09-11T14:32:07.262-07:00Hit and run at 122nd and Burnside<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--HZvQ9KfbwA/Tm0XHS1i9PI/AAAAAAAADYc/QxByDa0ZWPo/s1600/_DSC1319.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--HZvQ9KfbwA/Tm0XHS1i9PI/AAAAAAAADYc/QxByDa0ZWPo/s400/_DSC1319.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651198521502790898" border="0" /></a>When my wife and I heard the crash we were frightened. It was loud and less then a block away. We could make out the rear headlights of this mini-van from our deck. I grabbed my camera, and ran down to get some shots. I do consider myself somewhat of a journalist when ever my lens comes across something I think needs to be shown or happens. This crash, apparently ignored by most of the media happened right next to our building and did a lot of damage. I want to note here, normally I show spiders and shots of wildlife on this site. However, if something near by happens that is important for any reason, I will post it.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zs9oYacHEj8/Tm0XVzwhqdI/AAAAAAAADY8/IgfgVeN9WbQ/s1600/_DSC1348.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zs9oYacHEj8/Tm0XVzwhqdI/AAAAAAAADY8/IgfgVeN9WbQ/s400/_DSC1348.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651198770858273234" border="0" /></a>As you can see it hit the dental office with almost enough force to go through the building. What is even more outrages is that the person driving this car ran the instant the crash happened.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vslsID2BtpU/Tm0XHjGJToI/AAAAAAAADYs/eajTdO_Fz1U/s1600/_DSC1326.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vslsID2BtpU/Tm0XHjGJToI/AAAAAAAADYs/eajTdO_Fz1U/s400/_DSC1326.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651198525867380354" border="0" /></a>Thankfully, despite these serious pictures there were apparently no injuries. There very much could have been. I can't believe someone would crash their car this bad and not only walk away but run away the instant it happened. After talking to the police who had arrived about the same time as I did, I gathered the car was recently bought privately and the only occupant of the vehicle ran off. Obviously, the person who ran from this accident was probably wanted or intoxicated. I am sometimes outraged by how many anti-smoking commercials and campaigns there are out there while liqueur & booze commercials seem everywhere and drinking hard is encouraged. The impact of alcohol on people's lives these days is often very downplayed in popular culture. While smoking continues to be the target by many people as the worst thing you can do for your health or around your kids--people continue to die from alcohol poisoning and crashes like this. You do not need to be driving anything to die from alcohol at a young age. Few people know or understand this. The MANY diseases that alcohol causes are rarely mentioned. Drinking the way many young people do today is more dangerous then smoking. Even if you don't ever drive drunk. The health consequences of alcohol consumption rarely mentioned by anyone and incidences seem to go ignored by pop culture. I don't think that's a good message.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZB36B7cnMaA/Tm0XHtkvprI/AAAAAAAADYk/2LDuna-fAbo/s1600/_DSC1323.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZB36B7cnMaA/Tm0XHtkvprI/AAAAAAAADYk/2LDuna-fAbo/s400/_DSC1323.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651198528680076978" border="0" /></a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>I am just glad that nobody was hurt in this crash and hope that the person who drove this car is apprehended by the police. This was totally irresponsible. We could hear them doing some kind of burnouts or something before this crash. (who does burnouts in a mini-van!) I seriously was afraid that a family might have been in this car. Thankfully there was apparently only the driver who ran on foot. I heard several stories of what they looked like but they seemed to conflict probably because there were other people walking in the area at the time. One person who was on the sidewalk nearly got hit.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cXJRN86Hurg/Tm0XHHH1zYI/AAAAAAAADYU/IV2qyzktNiY/s1600/_DSC1318.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cXJRN86Hurg/Tm0XHHH1zYI/AAAAAAAADYU/IV2qyzktNiY/s400/_DSC1318.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651198518358297986" border="0" /></a>The engine block was almost smashed into the cab from the force of this crash. It's incredible it did not just keep going right into the dental office building. My wife and I are glad we live on a higher floor level!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5k4FgwSvqQE/Tm0XH4rYMxI/AAAAAAAADY0/hyOz9AClVKI/s1600/_DSC1332.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 352px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5k4FgwSvqQE/Tm0XH4rYMxI/AAAAAAAADY0/hyOz9AClVKI/s400/_DSC1332.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651198531660690194" border="0" /></a>This happened right next to the Max stop at about 122nd and Burnside around midnight. Obviously, airbags probably saved the driver's life. Young people need to understand that alcohol must be respected. Knowing your limit and when it is time to quit. Taking a stand also of coarse not to drive or be in dangerous situations while drinking. I do not know if this driver was intoxicated but I would bet they were and that might also be why they ran.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rZJTwRTu_Wg/Tm0XVxRuRrI/AAAAAAAADZE/5XXRuBXv-OA/s1600/_DSC1369.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rZJTwRTu_Wg/Tm0XVxRuRrI/AAAAAAAADZE/5XXRuBXv-OA/s400/_DSC1369.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651198770192205490" border="0" /></a>I usually don't like to bring up "issues" like alcohol on this site but this one hit too close to home. Literally, in this case. The police towed the car about an hour or so after the crash. Since it was over labor day weekend, I had a hard time getting in contact with local media. After calling 2 news papers and 2 more TV stations I gave up. The phone either rang and rang or I got no call back despite the fact I was the only one there with good shots of the incident. I really want to learn more about how to contact the media and if you can get payed for pictures of local news. I have had a hard time finding clear avenues online about this. My search was frustrating. I guess these days with most people having smart-phones and stuff they are flooded with pictures and you may need the 'apps' to make it easy. I don't have a smartphone. So I just put these shots here showing what happened. I would be very grateful if anyone in the news industry would write me an email letting me know about what to do in this area when I have some footage or video that might be wanted by the news media. It's not so much the money although we really could use it. Even if I do not get payed for shots I would like my shots published where ever they can be.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">COMING SOON!</span><br />Soon I will get back to publishing amazing new pictures I got. A species of triangle spider I found here in Oregon, and a rare event-- the garden spider shown in my articles, Araneus diadematus in the process of mating! That is rare site let alone shot to get. I was very lucky recently. I should have it up in a couple of weeks.Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-86695965530516186622011-08-31T18:29:00.000-07:002011-09-11T12:52:54.648-07:00Bricks and toylet paper -- the yard next door! :)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lQ0jPAdH_aI/Tl7kiF3zb4I/AAAAAAAADX0/ZDVKXAqHr7w/s1600/_DSC0871_FirstHitSL.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lQ0jPAdH_aI/Tl7kiF3zb4I/AAAAAAAADX0/ZDVKXAqHr7w/s400/_DSC0871_FirstHitSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647202257112100738" border="0" /></a>OUCH! I think anyone who owns a car dreads this. I first want to start of by saying -- I DID NOT DO THIS -- and I do NOT know who did. I don't even know who owns the car. I asked the many small kids in the area who were walking around if they knew what happened but they were very tight lipped about it. I spotted this relatively new car totally TP'ed from my apartment yesterday. You don't see this everyday so I had to go take some shots before the cops showed up or it got cleaned up. I was loosing daylight quickly so I had to go back to my apartment to get batteries for my flash.<br /><br />For kids of all ages out there--DON'T TRY THIS--you might end up in jail because this is vandalism. Joke or not it could be very dangerous.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4vjUFDvVpqs/Tl7kicxqCnI/AAAAAAAADX8/j_xGpIsMzwM/s1600/_DSC0899_2ndHit%2521SL.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4vjUFDvVpqs/Tl7kicxqCnI/AAAAAAAADX8/j_xGpIsMzwM/s400/_DSC0899_2ndHit%2521SL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647202263260334706" border="0" /></a>Less then 15min later I came back with fresh batteries in my flash and noticed that there was even more toilet paper on the car! Someone had not only come along and done this while it was still light outside, they did it while I was walking back to get batteries! I could have caught them in the act on video had I known! As for the post-it notes, I looked carefully without touching the car. No message was written on the post-it notes. And incredibly, the cops never showed up as far as I know. The car was cleaned up by a couple hours later.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O9yHwUoecIk/Tl7kieSR33I/AAAAAAAADYE/skXmpf3mg4A/s1600/_DSC0880_TPedCar2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O9yHwUoecIk/Tl7kieSR33I/AAAAAAAADYE/skXmpf3mg4A/s400/_DSC0880_TPedCar2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647202263665598322" border="0" /></a>It was not just TP! Although no serious damage seemed done, there were rocks, grass and post-it notes all over the car. Someone obviously wanted to tell someone something but did not write it on the notes! Either that or it was a practical joke. Somehow, I think the message theory is more likely. What amazes me is that they were still doing this when I was down there and I did not even know it.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aRW2rRXxYsA/Tl7kiGurOhI/AAAAAAAADXs/6yVXpZOM_zo/s1600/_DSC0853_TPedCarSL.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aRW2rRXxYsA/Tl7kiGurOhI/AAAAAAAADXs/6yVXpZOM_zo/s400/_DSC0853_TPedCarSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647202257342249490" border="0" /></a>This was the scene when I first got there without my flash batteries. Most of it had been done. I was surprised to see that the car had not been scratched, no tires damaged and no obvious serious stuff luckily for the owner--whoever they are.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gsegNr5-kp0/Tl7kihE2vGI/AAAAAAAADYM/2OCowOw8bd0/s1600/_DSC0897_CarTPedEvenMore%2521SL.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gsegNr5-kp0/Tl7kihE2vGI/AAAAAAAADYM/2OCowOw8bd0/s400/_DSC0897_CarTPedEvenMore%2521SL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647202264414600290" border="0" /></a>In the end my presence here with my semi-large sorta professional camera and flash became a bit too noticeable and I got out of there. Someone clearly came back and did more damage in the less then 15min it took me to get back down and take the flash photos!<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">TRACTOR PULL</span></span><br />CLICK on picture to see details-- use back arrow (<--) to return<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Di4DpuGh57c/Tl7g3PvoA4I/AAAAAAAADXc/w2W-va47HS8/s1600/_DSC9385_GoingandSMASH3.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 351px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Di4DpuGh57c/Tl7g3PvoA4I/AAAAAAAADXc/w2W-va47HS8/s400/_DSC9385_GoingandSMASH3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647198222492894082" border="0" /></a>After a nearby house burned down I thought it was a good idea that they tear down the houses next door. People were going in them and vandalizing them as well as using them to abuse drugs. But when they did, this excavator had an accident and I happened to catch it in one shot. I did a burst of pictures showing the situation. (below) The 60 year old home had a chimney which came down right on the windshield of the excavator! Here you can see the moment of impact almost exactly as well as the tempered glass shattering.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pyDUokXba8Q/Tl7g28idBAI/AAAAAAAADXU/SOq-JphTFgw/s1600/_DSC9384_Going2.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 375px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pyDUokXba8Q/Tl7g28idBAI/AAAAAAAADXU/SOq-JphTFgw/s400/_DSC9384_Going2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647198217337373698" border="0" /></a>"Falling - - -"<br />The moment before the crash as gravity propelled the heavy brick chimney towards the windshield of the excavator. I was too shocked to do anything but keep shooting. I did not get this on video. However I took a very fast burst which captured each step of the fall. Don't worry, the guy driving this tractor was not hurt.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Dt9Gl7RmIMI/Tl7g21bEBDI/AAAAAAAADXM/FY4uaRE7nv4/s1600/_DSC9381_Going0.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Dt9Gl7RmIMI/Tl7g21bEBDI/AAAAAAAADXM/FY4uaRE7nv4/s400/_DSC9381_Going0.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647198215427327026" border="0" /></a>"Houses Revenge"<br />I have several other frames almost showing a movie of this crash but this is where it started. He must have moved something wrong and there was no time at all to move out of the way.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h0CxGz0suxE/Tl7g3dFvoKI/AAAAAAAADXk/8iEJnbcYGSI/s1600/_DSC9391_SMASHAftermath2CSM.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 336px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h0CxGz0suxE/Tl7g3dFvoKI/AAAAAAAADXk/8iEJnbcYGSI/s400/_DSC9391_SMASHAftermath2CSM.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647198226075328674" border="0" /></a>"Just another day on the job"<br />I was careful not to show his face here. You can clearly see the broken safety glass as well as a brick inside the cab! What a mess! What amazed me was not only was he not hurt, he simply cleaned out the mess quickly and got right back to work as if nothing had happened. This guy really is a hard worker and dedicated to the job!Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-44043485090258280722011-08-31T17:57:00.000-07:002011-08-31T18:29:01.211-07:00Spider season<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BPH2rkUtxsw/Tl7Zba7A9BI/AAAAAAAADWc/nOqJCyIPkHc/s1600/_CSC7959_JumperEyesSL.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BPH2rkUtxsw/Tl7Zba7A9BI/AAAAAAAADWc/nOqJCyIPkHc/s400/_CSC7959_JumperEyesSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647190047875724306" border="0" /></a>A small Jumping Spider (Salticidae) on a hedge near our apartment. Two of there eight eyes are stereoscopic like ours. They can judge distances and have the best vision of all spiders. They are harmless. Some species in tropical areas will bite if harassed but from personal experience the bite is not nearly as painful as a bee-sting. 99% of spiders are HARMLESS to humans and spider hysteria still grips the USA. Recently, a poor species of harmless louse spider was featured as a "brown recluse" on a news program. I was shocked but it was too late for me to say anything. They did not even have anyone on hand to identify a captured spider. The press showed it and the "bites" that the woman suffered were probably a skin condition aggravated by scratching. People get a condition or painful sore and often see a spider and that's it. It's not fair and ignorant. Without spiders, we would be knee deep in dangerous insect species, many of which carry truly deadly diseases. They way people treat spiders often reminds me of a witch hunt in the dark ages.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-roBSaRN-LhQ/Tl7ZbnSWMII/AAAAAAAADWk/REwGjmHQyrc/s1600/_DSC0194_WebsiteSL.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-roBSaRN-LhQ/Tl7ZbnSWMII/AAAAAAAADWk/REwGjmHQyrc/s400/_DSC0194_WebsiteSL.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647190051194810498" border="0" /></a>"Website"
<br />Another benfifical species I have featured many times, Araneus diadematus the most common species of spider in much of North America and the first species of spider known to build webs in outer space. Several of them were taken up in the Space shuttle and to the amazement of scientists they built perfect webs without gravity. Adapting by learning they soon figured it out by trail and error in this strange environment. This cast doubt on the idea that fixed programming--instinct--is the only thing even invertebrates know. They clearly can learn.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B2e5hD_4TAI/Tl7Zb4HMCqI/AAAAAAAADW0/UJzmGflZJ6o/s1600/_DSC0184.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B2e5hD_4TAI/Tl7Zb4HMCqI/AAAAAAAADW0/UJzmGflZJ6o/s400/_DSC0184.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647190055711410850" border="0" /></a>This male of the same species has his legs set on a nearby female. He will pluck out a code specific to his species letting her know he's interested and keeping her from seeing him as a meal. For this species, the male is not eaten by the female and the usually part ways without incident after mating.
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xWsqpsJNIV8/Tl7ZbjTp93I/AAAAAAAADWs/dohyLWzyJ7Y/s1600/_DSC0216.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xWsqpsJNIV8/Tl7ZbjTp93I/AAAAAAAADWs/dohyLWzyJ7Y/s400/_DSC0216.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647190050126559090" border="0" /></a>The same spider from another angle.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BPH2rkUtxsw/Tl7Zba7A9BI/AAAAAAAADWc/nOqJCyIPkHc/s1600/_CSC7959_JumperEyesSL.JPG">
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2RzRqMRjRCc/Tl7Zb9KiBoI/AAAAAAAADW8/DYD2Cd9smIg/s1600/_DSC0691_HotSpideronHotdaySL.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2RzRqMRjRCc/Tl7Zb9KiBoI/AAAAAAAADW8/DYD2Cd9smIg/s400/_DSC0691_HotSpideronHotdaySL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647190057067611778" border="0" /></a>"Hot Spider"
<br />This spider is of the same species as those featured above. She is VERY hot. An interesting observation I have made all over the world is that many very different species of orb web building spiders change how they sit in the web on very hot days. It was about 90 F when I took this picture. They seem to attempt to get there body out of the sunlight at least to some degree by changing there posture. I am surprised she has not chosen to go to a hiding place in the shade. Maybe there is not one, or maybe since she is in need of a good meal she wants to be ready for any insect that comes by.
<br />Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-69457276475811689312011-01-07T14:54:00.000-08:002011-01-07T16:48:01.583-08:00HAPPY NEW YEARS PORTLAND!<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaR9NrmTI/AAAAAAAADTY/CyTLP9cZZ38/s1600/_DSC4282_HighwayToPortlandESL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaR9NrmTI/AAAAAAAADTY/CyTLP9cZZ38/s400/_DSC4282_HighwayToPortlandESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559581898292566322" border="0" /></a>For new years my wife and I spent the cold days here in Portland at a hotel near the Loyd Center Mall. I got up early despite the cold (about 20 degrees Fahrenheit) and snapped (or rather opened my shutter and lens cap) for a number of long exposures after I finally found a good spot overlooking a bridge. We can't afford a car so I was on foot the whole time and really got chilled for these shots. This was a 25sec expsosure. These shots are not easy to do, especially in the serious cold.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaRiyjJFI/AAAAAAAADTI/WD0dJHF0sE4/s1600/_DSC4291_RiverofLightsPortland2011ESL.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaRiyjJFI/AAAAAAAADTI/WD0dJHF0sE4/s400/_DSC4291_RiverofLightsPortland2011ESL.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559581891199444050" border="0" /></a>Here is another 25sec exposure done with the D90. I was a bit concerned about it being so cold. With windchill the camera was totally frozen by the time I took these shots but she did well and I did not have any problems. Luckily, it's the only camera I've got! I was truely having a good time despite mild hypothermia while I took these shots. The first time you can make an image you have been wanting to do for a long time is quite a high. I was lucky to find such a great spot to capture both city lights and the cars going in and out early in the morning on foot.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebc3J8BVI/AAAAAAAADV4/wp6stjIDErQ/s1600/_DSC3919_NewYearsPortlandESL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebc3J8BVI/AAAAAAAADV4/wp6stjIDErQ/s400/_DSC3919_NewYearsPortlandESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559583185156441426" border="0" /></a>NEW YEARS IN DOWNTOWN PORTLAND<br />These were also semi-long exposures taken at high ISO. Most of them I keep under 3200 to avoid serious problems later. The D90 is really good at dealing with noise however all the way up to high iso levels. This was the scene at Pioneer Courthouse Square in down town Portland just moments after the new years countdown.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeakeRef7I/AAAAAAAADUI/baiFQs3-aOo/s1600/_DSC3916_2011.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeakeRef7I/AAAAAAAADUI/baiFQs3-aOo/s400/_DSC3916_2011.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559582216404500402" border="0" /></a>The group of people on the right were doing countdowns every several minutes or so. It seems not everyone's clock was set right. With cellphones today most people are aware of the exact time. My wife and I really wanted to be down here for the moment but at the exact moment according to the atomic clock in Colorado (Coordinated universal time) we were on the train. Everyone was actually nice and lots of cheering on the train was captured by me in HD video but it's too large to post here for now.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebdXz1goI/AAAAAAAADWI/Bp3mmgimHzM/s1600/_DSC4244_MaxLineESL.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebdXz1goI/AAAAAAAADWI/Bp3mmgimHzM/s400/_DSC4244_MaxLineESL.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559583193922110082" border="0" /></a>This is the kind of train we were on, a long exposure of it going by. I think this was about 10sec exposure or so. Making the train seem transparent as lights made an impression on the sensor before the train arrived to put it's own imprint there. This is the light rail system here in Portland. Usually a great way to get around the city as long as it's not crowded.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebdMlx7kI/AAAAAAAADWA/SPVXjUUYGQk/s1600/_DSC4230_PortlandScupturesandMaxTrak2011ESL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebdMlx7kI/AAAAAAAADWA/SPVXjUUYGQk/s400/_DSC4230_PortlandScupturesandMaxTrak2011ESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559583190910365250" border="0" /></a>The same morning I shot those highway overpass long exposures I also shot this exposure also probably 20-25sec of the area. Simple lights turn night into day and darkness into light. When doing very long exposures (30sec+) one can almost turn night into day anywhere with a good digital SLR. Often the white balance will be a compromise to this making for off colors. You can compensate sometimes with lots of work but I usually just try to make pics as I actually see them as best as I can. To me this early in the morning cold and by myself for this walk--these artistic statues seemed a bit creepy!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebcrbLPBI/AAAAAAAADVw/15ZUfAOOTKw/s1600/_DSC3946_BeerCanFall2011ESL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebcrbLPBI/AAAAAAAADVw/15ZUfAOOTKw/s400/_DSC3946_BeerCanFall2011ESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559583182007516178" border="0" /></a>Skipping back to downtown Portland Oregon--here you can see a funny but real situation that happened. I have to admit I did not see quite as much drinking as I thought I would, these guys however spilled a beer can out the back of there SUV and there was even a man riding inside it as well when they took off without latching there back door. A low profile cop car they had clearly not noticed beeped at them when they did this but there was too much traffic and stuff going on so I guess the cops let it go. I wish I'd got it on video but a series of stills showed what happened. Drinking and driving is serious no matter what time of year it is. They are really cracking down everywhere. In California it is now as 12,000 dollar fine for just your 1st offense. I am glad they are clamping down on it. The only way to beat the Breathalyzer test is to not drink and drive.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebcmScItI/AAAAAAAADVo/cKXr9nElRyw/s1600/_DSC4023_PortlandLightsWideESL.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebcmScItI/AAAAAAAADVo/cKXr9nElRyw/s400/_DSC4023_PortlandLightsWideESL.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559583180628697810" border="0" /></a>Here are some of the lights in Portland with my lens at 18mm wide angle. They were beautiful but it's a white balance nightmare sometimes. I generally try to make it look as much like what I actually saw when I was there as possible. Some photographers go to great lengths to balance everything to white for an unrealistic view of how the lights really look. Learn how to use your manual settings. White balance is actually not new to photography. Film cameras also have to deal with color variations caused by electrical and artificial lighting situations. I also shot some pics downtown with my Nikon FE 35mm SLR.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebJTGg98I/AAAAAAAADVg/SnwuHf542Xg/s1600/_DSC4217_TheManbehindtheCameraLyodCenter2011ESL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebJTGg98I/AAAAAAAADVg/SnwuHf542Xg/s400/_DSC4217_TheManbehindtheCameraLyodCenter2011ESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559582849060894658" border="0" /></a>This was a 25sec long exposure I walked into and then stood still for so that I would get imprinted by lights behind me into the shot. This makes for a ghostly image that looks like a double exposure. That was a cold morning!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebJZotcBI/AAAAAAAADVY/vj6O6frU-Es/s1600/_DSC4060_StrangeAperationsPortlandESL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebJZotcBI/AAAAAAAADVY/vj6O6frU-Es/s400/_DSC4060_StrangeAperationsPortlandESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559582850814930962" border="0" /></a>Another ghostly effect created by the lens and long exposure. People walking through blocking light in some places and just being in certain places for slightly longer times can make for interesting art. No modifications were done to this photo--it's straight off the camera and it's sensor. Take a closer look at the strange creations both on the left and in the middle by clicking on it. Use your browsers <--back arrow to return to my blog site. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebI5610dI/AAAAAAAADVQ/Y3IotTKKwrs/s1600/_DSC4026_PortlandNight2011ESL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebI5610dI/AAAAAAAADVQ/Y3IotTKKwrs/s400/_DSC4026_PortlandNight2011ESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559582842301043154" border="0" /></a>Another 18mm wide shot of Portland streets. It would have been brighter and lower ISO (thus higher definition) had my tripod not been found to be broken when we arrived at the hotel! That was a big bummer holding back many of the night-shots I wanted to do for the 1st of 2011. I was lucky to find a good tripod that can handle a heavy camera for less then $30 at the local Ritz Kits Camera store at the Loyd Center Mall and thus able to take those overpass pictures. It's almost impossible to shoot exposures slower then about 1/8th sec. even if your in a meditation state of mind (and even with image stabilization in lens or camera) without a tripod. Essential gear for exposures lasting half seconds or longer. $25 or so can get you a solid good tripod for all kinds of shots. Beware of really cheapo stuff.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebI8AJvoI/AAAAAAAADVI/UV5wIub6hUE/s1600/_DSC4025_NewYearsPortlandLightsESL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebI8AJvoI/AAAAAAAADVI/UV5wIub6hUE/s400/_DSC4025_NewYearsPortlandLightsESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559582842860191362" border="0" /></a>Another Portland shot downtown of the lights and light-rail (Max line) with people in the distance. It was cool that night but I took over 300 exposures. At the time I shot these I had no tripod so I improvised as much as I could and used an image stabilized lens. I got pics to turn out ok occasionally as low as 1/5th a sec but that's rare and after years of learning how to hold a camera very still.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebISjBHMI/AAAAAAAADVA/tp65Mslpl3M/s1600/_DSC4017_Goodbye2010ESL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSebISjBHMI/AAAAAAAADVA/tp65Mslpl3M/s400/_DSC4017_Goodbye2010ESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559582831732137154" border="0" /></a>It looks like most people did not like 2010 much. It was another year, lots of people suffering. This popular news paper was all over town.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeayqn4GVI/AAAAAAAADU4/8oILoEhW1tc/s1600/_DSC3997_NewYearsMorning2011ESL.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeayqn4GVI/AAAAAAAADU4/8oILoEhW1tc/s400/_DSC3997_NewYearsMorning2011ESL.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559582460237846866" border="0" /></a>I didn't want to upset this guy who was watching me take pictures so I only took 2. I had to take long exposures at this point because of low light and lots of people in the area so not enough time to get my settings perfect. If you have a DSLR with auto ISO this might be a good time to use it--I find that comes in very handy but only if you turn it on! This guy was trying to catch some sleep just a few moments after the new year started. Showing the reality of so many people's lives these days. There is a recently publicized conception that giving money to panhandlers is not a good idea--I disagree. These people have nothing and no control over there lives--I think if you can it's always a good idea to give to them. If you have lived a life without living like this you can't understand what it's like or what it means and the truth about why people end up like this you won't ever really see unless you do yourself.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeayNvodSI/AAAAAAAADUw/YXOsLrKTIzc/s1600/_DSC3981_Longexp2011ESL.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeayNvodSI/AAAAAAAADUw/YXOsLrKTIzc/s400/_DSC3981_Longexp2011ESL.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559582452485748002" border="0" /></a>I lacked a working tripod at this point so I put my camera on a news paper box and managed to catch a few shots of cars passing by on that new years night. It was nice, everyone was talking to strangers and the spirit in the air was good. Why can't we make every day that hospitable to strangers??<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeayIp8HRI/AAAAAAAADUo/CW7-TknM2jE/s1600/_DSC3978_Ghostsof2010ESL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeayIp8HRI/AAAAAAAADUo/CW7-TknM2jE/s400/_DSC3978_Ghostsof2010ESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559582451119693074" border="0" /></a>Another long exposure with a ghost image. Honestly, I'm not sure who this is. Me, or maybe someone walking by. Or maybe a ghost--who knows. I was not aware this would be in this photo which I shot to capture the subtle effects of passing cars and there lights as you can see in the background.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeak-j5X_I/AAAAAAAADUQ/A9Y220Z-23s/s1600/_DSC3917_PortlandSquareNewYearsESL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeak-j5X_I/AAAAAAAADUQ/A9Y220Z-23s/s400/_DSC3917_PortlandSquareNewYearsESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559582225071693810" border="0" /></a>After we got there just about 3min after 1200midnight the countdowns continued and I just went into taking as many night exposures as possible without a tripod.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeakOeMm9I/AAAAAAAADUA/W3AZ5mqyE8k/s1600/_DSC3913_PioneerCorthsSquarePortland2011.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeakOeMm9I/AAAAAAAADUA/W3AZ5mqyE8k/s400/_DSC3913_PioneerCorthsSquarePortland2011.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559582212162886610" border="0" /></a>I lit up the whole area with my SB-600 Nikon flash. I actually could have done a brighter shot had I noticed that my flash was not stopped down to -2.7 as it was flashing on it's display. I did not notice until later that I forgot to get those settings right in all the stuff going on. A large flash and the right settings can light up a very big area of people.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaxp6G2RI/AAAAAAAADUY/ylUq0gYcV34/s1600/_DSC3930_TreeturnedOffPioneerPortlandESL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaxp6G2RI/AAAAAAAADUY/ylUq0gYcV34/s400/_DSC3930_TreeturnedOffPioneerPortlandESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559582442866006290" border="0" /></a>They turned the tree off and my flash was not fully charged when I took this shot. They turned if off only about 5min or so after midnight. Maybe 10 at the most. One guys shirt reflected my flash so much he looks like he's got a glowing suit on. Once again my flash settings were low as I did fail to check them before shooting during these. On a complex camera there's a lot you have to get right and when lots of stuff is going on its' easy to do everything from leave the lens cap on to forget a simple setting change you made. I make it a point (usually) to set everything back to a sort of "neutral" state for "general photography" when I'm done shooting and backup my gear so that I am ready as I can be and nothing is stopped down or offset in a way I may not expect. It's always a good thing to do. Also--when shooting in cold temperatures bring your camera back inside in a plastic bag so that it warms up without serious condensation. Most of all do not ever remove the lens or change lenses when going from a cold or warm environment very quickly. The last thing you want is condensation on the sensor.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaj-SDsJI/AAAAAAAADT4/N4weyvwzE8I/s1600/_DSC3856_PayphonesStillExistESL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaj-SDsJI/AAAAAAAADT4/N4weyvwzE8I/s400/_DSC3856_PayphonesStillExistESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559582207817003154" border="0" /></a>Yes payphones are still around, being used, and incredibly going strong. But what shocked me most about this was the entirely un-protected Trimet LCD HD TV screen! Sadly vandalism of such devices or attempted theft is very common. This TV was very vulnerable and not enclosed in anything. And since when did you need an LCD HD TV to show bus schedules??! Jese--my wife and I don't even have the money for one of those. And we have spent more then enough to buy one on tickets since we moved here yet we have not been checked once. Not even once. So we could have gotten away with riding without a ticket and actually bought one of these HD TVs! I just think there is something wrong with this whole situation. I get upset when they don't check after I spend what builds up to 100s and then 1000s of dollars slowly in bus passes and nobody checks when your riding the Max. Then this is what they spend it on?? Come on. This high end TV is just being used to show bus schedules-- it won't last a year like this with the kind of vandalism that goes on. Why spend that kind of money especially without an enclosure to protect it from jerks?? Every time we get on that light rail it costs about $5 because there's no way to buy ticket that will last long enough or cover all "zones" to get where we usually need to go. I hate to see technology and money wasted. This TV does not stand a chance out here.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeajpN8lSI/AAAAAAAADTw/oZ69Er5tUtg/s1600/_DSC3835_FirstLightPortlandESL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeajpN8lSI/AAAAAAAADTw/oZ69Er5tUtg/s400/_DSC3835_FirstLightPortlandESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559582202162615586" border="0" /></a>This is one of the first shots I took when we got to our hotel. The Portland skyline. I love doing night-shots but shortly after I took this one and planned to do longer lens shots I realized my tripod was broken and just in time. Had I not figured out what was wrong the camera could have been damaged.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaSytjvII/AAAAAAAADTo/Np2evoXo-yg/s1600/_DSC4249_PortlandAM2011ELG.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaSytjvII/AAAAAAAADTo/Np2evoXo-yg/s400/_DSC4249_PortlandAM2011ELG.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559581912653347970" border="0" /></a>Another 25sec exposure I took when I got to the bridge showing traffic going into and out of Portland. I was hoping I'd get a place like this to take pictures and I got lucky just by getting up early enough and taking the time despite the cold to take the shots. Full resolution shots and prints are available of all these shots if anyone is interested. Just email me. I only post 640 res. on here.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaSVZT5BI/AAAAAAAADTg/P60y4uteIr0/s1600/_DSC4259_ColdExposure2011morningESL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaSVZT5BI/AAAAAAAADTg/P60y4uteIr0/s400/_DSC4259_ColdExposure2011morningESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559581904783795218" border="0" /></a>And here was a shot I took with remote. This was 1 of 3 tries needed. I had to stand still without moving at all in the cold for 25sec or the exposure got blurred. Yes it was cold but it was well worth it!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaR9NrmTI/AAAAAAAADTY/CyTLP9cZZ38/s1600/_DSC4282_HighwayToPortlandESL.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaR9NrmTI/AAAAAAAADTY/CyTLP9cZZ38/s400/_DSC4282_HighwayToPortlandESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559581898292566322" border="0" /></a>Again full sized high resolution files and prints are available of these shots-- just email me if your interested. All in all we had a good trip and New-years day morning these shots made it well worth while for me when it comes to photography.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaRnDBDPI/AAAAAAAADTQ/c4zPL-Qz_7o/s1600/_DSC4284_PortlandSkyline1ESL.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaRnDBDPI/AAAAAAAADTQ/c4zPL-Qz_7o/s400/_DSC4284_PortlandSkyline1ESL.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559581892342254834" border="0" /></a>At different apertures I can control the brightness and other factors all the way up to nearly turning night into day. Long exposures are fun but require some knowledge of photography and gear. We had a great time and hope everyone enjoys looking at these pictures as much as I do! Happy new years to all and lets make it a better year! --G.Beasley<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TSeaRiyjJFI/AAAAAAAADTI/WD0dJHF0sE4/s1600/_DSC4291_RiverofLightsPortland2011ESL.jpg"><br /></a>Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-34847548769755939042010-12-25T00:41:00.000-08:002010-12-25T01:38:46.531-08:00Happy Holidays everyone! --Shots fired close to home<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TRWvUX5iGhI/AAAAAAAADSI/QJcs9C5GE2I/s1600/_DSC3289_SnowEastPortland12192010.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TRWvUX5iGhI/AAAAAAAADSI/QJcs9C5GE2I/s400/_DSC3289_SnowEastPortland12192010.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554538479978945042" border="0" /></a>Yeah that's right. It was snowing here but it only lasted long enough to setup my camera and shoot a few shots with both digital and 35mm. The only sunny day we had, incredibly, was the<br />day of the shooting. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TRWwB77i4iI/AAAAAAAADSw/CJ5qf7vbXx0/s1600/vlcsnap-2010-12-17-09h32m17s196.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TRWwB77i4iI/AAAAAAAADSw/CJ5qf7vbXx0/s400/vlcsnap-2010-12-17-09h32m17s196.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554539262745174562" border="0" /></a>Usually I would not post this kind of picture on my site. Then again, I post journalistic shots often. I am not going into detailed speculation about what happened. Only to say that a good friend of many people in this building and a man died at about 4am a few days ago. Darrel Dwayne Furgaican (forgive my spelling if that was wrong). Yes, that was the same apartment complex I live in. In fact, he had just moved in with his girlfriend to the unit right next to ours. Our door is on the left of this picture. I have respect for most cops. I have known a few and I think sometimes they get a bad wrap when they may not deserve it. Every cop I've met so far has treated me with respect and sometimes even let me off on a few things. All it takes though is one jerk. I have been lucky I guess. I do tend to side with the cops even though I know the system is a mess. In this situation I am not sure. My wife and I as well as the entire building were evacuated just a few moments after I was told to stay in my apartment. These shots are frames taken from a secret video I made as when we were finally allowed back into our apartment. We were taken to local Trimet buses to keep us warm and interviwed by the police there. I think this was a tragic situation. If you think it even could be the cops!-don't reach for a weapon of any kind! What puzzles me was how many shots were fired --20-- between two officers. There were five people in that small apartment. Bullets were found sprayed all over the place. One even hit the door jam. I was amazed at how inaccurate the firing was almost as if at random. Maybe he was running, we may never know the true story. All I know is I think police should examine a situation more careful and give a subject with a weapon a chance to give up before they simply open fire or pursue alternative means--especially taking steps to insure that not only does he have a real gun but that he really intends on harming someone. I don't want to get too political on this site but I will say what I want. Mainly I will say is that it was very sad and difficult for everyone involved and I feel terrible for his family. This is not that bad of an area. Things like this happen to much. Police should think sometimes a bit more before they chose to use deadly force. My wife and I knew him, he did not do so well when he was drinking but he was always as nice guy to us. Giving me the very table I put my computer on for free. He was not a potential cop killer or really violent man. But it is a fact that his very accurate replica BB gun had them fooled right up until the CSI investigation my wife and I actually heard through our door. He had used magic markers to make it look more real and possibly enlarged the barral. That is not a street smart idea. The cops shown here are CSI and security at the time. THEY ARE NOT the cops who were involved in the shooting.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TRWvfpbXx2I/AAAAAAAADSo/Q-OJ4c7pb5E/s1600/vlcsnap-2010-12-17-09h33m46s80.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TRWvfpbXx2I/AAAAAAAADSo/Q-OJ4c7pb5E/s400/vlcsnap-2010-12-17-09h33m46s80.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554538673662838626" border="0" /></a>My wife and I were woke up to rapid gunfire at arround 4 am exactly. I smelled gunpowder in the hallway and got a bad feeling. After hearing some well yell "he's bleeding, he needs paramedics " I looked out the door to see shell casings all over the place and a flashlight dropped on the floor. 9mm casings and a police issue flashlight. Quickly a man in serious black fatigues yelled at me to STAY IN MY APARTMENT SIR! So I closed the door. About 5 min later we were evacuated without hardly time to grab or prepare a camera. When we left our apartment there was two cops with a bullet shield, pump 12 gauge and a AR15 type assault rifle still aimed at the apartment. From this I can only asume they may have had trouble getting the rest of the 5 people out of there and been unsure of what or who was in there. We were on buses kept warm by idling engines for about 4 and a half hours. All in all, I think the CSI guys did a meticulous and professional job on the scene because I spent a great deal of time listening to them at my door and I heard allot of details not revealed to the public for a while.<br /><br /><br />This was a sad situation. AGAIN the POLICE IN THIS PICTURE ARE NOT the same police who fired the shots--I want to stress that. They are part of the CSI team or for security reasons. He had a BB gun that looked real and apparently showed it to the police or something. They claim he pulled the fake weapon, some say it was suicide by cop, others an tragic accident. No matter what it was--I feel sorry for everyone around and most of all for his family who were moved back into the apartment less then 24 hours after he died in it probably nearly instantly from 3 gunshot wounds. I have many more pictures of the buses and us in them as well as the close to 50 cop cars that showed up here and the media scene but I'm not sure if I will get around to posting it. The whole thing just was a waste that did not have to happen in my opinion.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TRWvUlNq_xI/AAAAAAAADSQ/eXTh4WrD-0Q/s1600/_DSC3280_SnowEastPortland1219.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TRWvUlNq_xI/AAAAAAAADSQ/eXTh4WrD-0Q/s400/_DSC3280_SnowEastPortland1219.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554538483553074962" border="0" /></a><br />I have a great many pics I wanted to get out before the holidays but family matters and other stuff has kinda kept me from working on too much. Here are a couple of shots I snapped recently. It snowed for a short while here in East Portland a few days ago only to melt. It was nice while it lasted. I have a backlog of pics I am working on that will be added soon. I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and and the best of New years. Everyone is settling in for this most difficult Christmas. I want to thank my mom for the chance to let my wife and I stay at a hotel in Portland for the weekend and get out of here for a while. We will almost surely be totally broke--but at least we get to stay in the motel room! If anyone is interested in macro shots or other photography please contact me at the email addresses on this site. We really need the money right now. Merry Christmas.Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-23027202752202801722010-11-13T12:48:00.000-08:002010-11-13T14:52:22.402-08:00Harvestmen and the Lady!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN77Tr8UhnI/AAAAAAAADQg/gV-WGLG5lEQ/s1600/DSC_2199_HarvestmenPerspeciveECSL.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 310px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN77Tr8UhnI/AAAAAAAADQg/gV-WGLG5lEQ/s400/DSC_2199_HarvestmenPerspeciveECSL.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539140907344103026" border="0" /></a>My wife and I were walking back from the store as things got colder and colder this winter. My eyes met this incredible sight! It is rare to be able to get a number of usable shots of a scene with 2 species in the frame. Even more rare have it happen naturally! I got several dozen usable shots at F16-F32 ISO L1.0 (100) to 400 all with my Nikon. D90 DSLR. These two posed for me and even moved sometimes and as you will see it got even better!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN77UbsykyI/AAAAAAAADQ4/QM2aZre-Uuc/s1600/DSC_2183_HarvestmenandAphidwithLadyESL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 337px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN77UbsykyI/AAAAAAAADQ4/QM2aZre-Uuc/s400/DSC_2183_HarvestmenandAphidwithLadyESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539140920163865378" border="0" /></a>Using a wireless external flashgun like the SB600 or better, or a macro flash ring (I can't afford one they are $400!) might be best but a wireless flash can be very good for macro shots. In this case I just shot with my flash on M 1/1 very high output so I can shoot at a distance at F22+. Just when I thought this shot could not get any better, a tiny yellow aphid joined the party! These kinds of shots nature photographers dream about getting! This day incredibly they did happen in real life naturally and she stayed put long enough for me to take dozens of shots with different light, angles and lenses. This shot is not a setup shot at all. I don't think I could set one up like this! 3 species in one shot is rare to naturally find. I got lucky and was tired from lots of shooting but had plenty of energy when I saw this <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">harvestmen</span> just laying here. The cold weather made them easy to photograph. <br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN77TxvQCKI/AAAAAAAADQw/QOgxuexfEqY/s1600/DSC_2168_HarvestmenandLadyRestedECSL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN77TxvQCKI/AAAAAAAADQw/QOgxuexfEqY/s400/DSC_2168_HarvestmenandLadyRestedECSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539140908899895458" border="0" /></a>The ladybug is in no danger here. This is a deceptive shot. The "spider" you are looking at is not a spider at all! It is actually one of the 3 main species called a "daddy long legs" called a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Harvestmen</span>. Order: <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Opiliones<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN77T1F5TuI/AAAAAAAADQo/0iRXcUu-odE/s1600/DSC_2162_HarvestmenlegplacementECSL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 310px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN77T1F5TuI/AAAAAAAADQo/0iRXcUu-odE/s400/DSC_2162_HarvestmenlegplacementECSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539140909800181474" border="0" /></a><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Harvestman</span> do not spin silk, have only 2 eyes and only one main body section. They also do not mate in the same way spiders do. They are related to spiders but often scavenge on plant material and even already dead insects or other animals.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN8IcRG5vTI/AAAAAAAADRo/uz0waAfN2Ak/s1600/DSC_2114_UnlikelyAllies1ECSL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN8IcRG5vTI/AAAAAAAADRo/uz0waAfN2Ak/s400/DSC_2114_UnlikelyAllies1ECSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539155348410711346" border="0" /></a>"Lady and the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Harvestmen</span>"<br />I dream about finding shots setup like this, usually don't!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN8IxuDUoCI/AAAAAAAADRw/ZGkoNOZFOpI/s1600/DSC_2117_ShelteredCreaturesCSL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 330px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN8IxuDUoCI/AAAAAAAADRw/ZGkoNOZFOpI/s400/DSC_2117_ShelteredCreaturesCSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539155716957577250" border="0" /></a><br />They also tolerate each other and do not appear to be afraid of each other as they often can be found sunning in large groups and run into each other all the time. There two eyes are up on a turret at the top of there head, you can see them if you click on this shot to see it full screen. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Harvestman</span> are difficult to identify and there are few books seriously devoted to them but this is probably a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Mitopus</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">morio</span>. At least <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Mitopus</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">sp</span>. In the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Phalangiidae</span> family. They have no silk glands so obviously spin no web and although they have similarities to spiders, they also lack venom and any kind of serious bite. Mild mannered with 1 body section and 2 eyes no silk ability I often jokingly call them the "humanoid spiders". They are truly harmless. The ladybug is in no danger of being eaten.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN8Jll5ob6I/AAAAAAAADSA/wiMMomsoogU/s1600/DSC_2061_PhalangidaHarvestmenEPSSL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 309px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN8Jll5ob6I/AAAAAAAADSA/wiMMomsoogU/s400/DSC_2061_PhalangidaHarvestmenEPSSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539156608122646434" border="0" /></a>Here is a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Harvestmen</span>. NOT a Spider, but a close Arachnid relative. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Opiliones</span> and below is it's other daddy long legs counterpart which actually is a spider.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN8ANcXbwgI/AAAAAAAADRg/kb8au1m92O8/s1600/DSC_1616.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 315px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN8ANcXbwgI/AAAAAAAADRg/kb8au1m92O8/s400/DSC_1616.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539146297641779714" border="0" /></a>This IS a SPIDER<br />Here is your average other daddy long legs. This is the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">true</span> spider version. Often said <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">rumored</span> falsely to be the most <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">poisonous</span> spider in the world. This is not at all true in fact they are harmless and helpful to humans and I have yet to see a study on there <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">venom</span> toxicology. Notice the two <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">separate</span> body sections of this female long bodied cellar spider or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Pholcus</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">phalangioides</span> I shot down stairs in this building. They are very common in homes and the daddy long legs often seen shaking in the corner to avoid being seen.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN8AL6mkITI/AAAAAAAADRA/_KOmqzMeSgg/s1600/DSC_2074_HarvestmenWalkaboutICSL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 328px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN8AL6mkITI/AAAAAAAADRA/_KOmqzMeSgg/s400/DSC_2074_HarvestmenWalkaboutICSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539146271398568242" border="0" /></a>In obvious contrast here is another picture I recently took of a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Harvestmen</span>. (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Opiliones</span>) Since there genitalia differ from spiders I am not certain if this is a male of the same species seen with the ladybug (top picture in this article) or if it is a different species. I need to do some more research on Harvestmen and really want to find some books on them.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN8ANOCHE1I/AAAAAAAADRY/_rTcEj08wRI/s1600/DSC_2104_OpilionesCloseup4colorCSL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 279px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN8ANOCHE1I/AAAAAAAADRY/_rTcEj08wRI/s400/DSC_2104_OpilionesCloseup4colorCSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539146293794247506" border="0" /></a>I shot most of these with several extension tubes and a 50mm lens to take detail shots of these <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">harvestmen</span> hanging out on a fence. Here you can see other differences, this one is probably a younger member of the group.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN8AMbEyDUI/AAAAAAAADRI/yR6YEHMypyU/s1600/DSC_2092_HarvestmenActualSizeandHabitatCSL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 341px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN8AMbEyDUI/AAAAAAAADRI/yR6YEHMypyU/s400/DSC_2092_HarvestmenActualSizeandHabitatCSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539146280115244354" border="0" /></a>This is NOT a SPIDER (read above captions)<br />Some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Harvestmen</span> get a lot bigger then this, they often have mouth parts similar to the Camel Spider which is also NOT truly a spider. This is my finger but it is in no danger as they are not aggressive at all.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN8ANC2YbkI/AAAAAAAADRQ/lg3m_XrRGxA/s1600/DSC_2051_OpilionesCloseUpECSL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN8ANC2YbkI/AAAAAAAADRQ/lg3m_XrRGxA/s400/DSC_2051_OpilionesCloseUpECSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539146290792263234" border="0" /></a>A closeup showing the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">palps</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">chelicera</span> which are different then those of spiders. (seen facing down in this shot) 2 eyes on a small turret on head can also be seen.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN77S4JxqrI/AAAAAAAADQY/Hi6LEuNLw30/s1600/DSC_1893_ColdMushroomsEOSL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN77S4JxqrI/AAAAAAAADQY/Hi6LEuNLw30/s400/DSC_1893_ColdMushroomsEOSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539140893441895090" border="0" /></a>We also found some interesting and large mushrooms on this walk, some of these actually grew in just a few hours, larger then they were when we first found them!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76kv3vcvI/AAAAAAAADQQ/X-dqQnNXSYs/s1600/_DSC2342_LeaningForestECSL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 309px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76kv3vcvI/AAAAAAAADQQ/X-dqQnNXSYs/s400/_DSC2342_LeaningForestECSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539140100944786162" border="0" /></a>"The <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">mushrom</span> Forest"<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76kS6WFQI/AAAAAAAADQI/6Um29R829hA/s1600/_DSC2333_Forest2ECSL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76kS6WFQI/AAAAAAAADQI/6Um29R829hA/s400/_DSC2333_Forest2ECSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539140093171078402" border="0" /></a>"<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Harvestmen</span> bar stools"<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76kIwCm3I/AAAAAAAADQA/o7ZReGn3kN0/s1600/_DSC2339_MushroomFlowersESL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76kIwCm3I/AAAAAAAADQA/o7ZReGn3kN0/s400/_DSC2339_MushroomFlowersESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539140090443504498" border="0" /></a>"Mushroom flowers"<br />These are actually the same kind of mushrooms but the wind and time has damaged them interestingly.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76jHj_DyI/AAAAAAAADPw/jAVMeJHDvUw/s1600/_DSC0190_Araneus_diadematusECSL.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 316px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76jHj_DyI/AAAAAAAADPw/jAVMeJHDvUw/s400/_DSC0190_Araneus_diadematusECSL.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539140072944635682" border="0" /></a>I had to throw another spider in here somewhere. I recently have become interested in this common species the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Araneus</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">diadematus</span>. I have made some observations about it and other species I will talk about in a future article.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76Ka7PlEI/AAAAAAAADPo/xCU5UBy1baw/s1600/_DSC2328_LoneMushroomECSL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 310px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76Ka7PlEI/AAAAAAAADPo/xCU5UBy1baw/s400/_DSC2328_LoneMushroomECSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539139648645731394" border="0" /></a>"Lone mushroom"<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76J6oIL0I/AAAAAAAADPg/ae4fZpGGgxk/s1600/_DSC2321_LoneShroomCESL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 310px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76J6oIL0I/AAAAAAAADPg/ae4fZpGGgxk/s400/_DSC2321_LoneShroomCESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539139639975620418" border="0" /></a>This one popped up alone as well. It is very small not even standing an inch tall.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76JggCKzI/AAAAAAAADPY/F-fU5ENDflM/s1600/_DSC2322_SnailCloseupECSL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 310px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76JggCKzI/AAAAAAAADPY/F-fU5ENDflM/s400/_DSC2322_SnailCloseupECSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539139632962349874" border="0" /></a>Of all the interesting things I have recently photographed--including a number of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Harvestmen</span> pictures most of which I have not posted and some other spider pics I promised but have not posted yet--this ranks very high as well. This tiny snail required an old 210mm 35mm manual lens to capture it. The heavy lens setup is over a foot long and can be <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">cumbersome</span> but really gets the detail when it comes to close shots.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76JHUtbhI/AAAAAAAADPQ/3JcRIKpHfus/s1600/_DSC2318_ExploringSnailCOSL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 308px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76JHUtbhI/AAAAAAAADPQ/3JcRIKpHfus/s400/_DSC2318_ExploringSnailCOSL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539139626203966994" border="0" /></a>With my flash mounted on my camera again using a laminated reflector that Velcros to my flash I was able to get these pictures at F22. This snail was only about 3-4mm long total. It was half the size of the eraser on a regular pencil! So small you could fit about 3-4 of them at least on my smallest fingernail!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76IwxyQ3I/AAAAAAAADPI/2vcIgn9vxbs/s1600/_DSC2304_MicroSnail1CESL.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 310px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TN76IwxyQ3I/AAAAAAAADPI/2vcIgn9vxbs/s400/_DSC2304_MicroSnail1CESL.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539139620151903090" border="0" /></a>The colors here were hard to match. For me it is rare to find a snail like this so small and still alive. Often you can find shells, but the living creature can be hard to find. Is it a baby or full grown? How old is it? What species? I do not know but the iridescent colors were amazing. I<br />am lucky I've figured out how to use my limited budget lenses to shoot so close and with such detail this kind of thing. On a serious note here--even tiny snails can be dangerous as they can carry salmonella, parasites and other diseases. Snails and slugs should never be handled for this reason. Be sure and click on this picture for a larger view--use the "back" arrow in your <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">Internet</span> browser (top left of your screen) to get back to my site.<br /><br />WHAT KIND OF BATTERIES DO I USE?<br /><span style="font-size:85%;">A WORD ON GOOD BATTERIES--AA-NiMH 2500Mah--Being a photographer and a licensed Technician class radio operator I am qualified to talk a bit about this subject as well as experienced. Some people don't realize the power of NiMH--they almost always outlast ALL those other batteries. For years rechargeable AA batteries were not up to quality with Alkaline and Lithium. NiCD batteries lasted about half as long back in the old days. Now, in the past 10 years batteries have taken a quantum leap. They often seriously exceed them especially when used in high-power demand electronic devices. Don't waste money and the environment on buying AA batteries. Try the NiMH rechargeable batteries. With a small $20 inverter you can also recharge them in your car or even buy solar chargers. These are not the old NiCDs. I never know when I'm going to find something like this recent shot so if I can at all afford it make sure I have a backup camera battery and extra charged batteries for my SB600 flash. I nearly only use NiMH rechargeable AA batteries. You can get them up to 2500mah so they last far longer then even quality Alkaline/lithium batteries. 1700-2500mAh are great for flashes and even powering DSLRs with battery grips. I used to be able to run my Rebel XTI (Canon 400D) for 2 months or more--500 pics+ before I had to recharge! I got a battery grip that let me power the camera off of If I remember right, 6 or 8 AA NiMH batteries. My Canon XTi ran great for years like that and it was a high-energy 10mp DSLR. Sadly, it was destroyed in our house fire and like everything else not covered by insurance. The higher the mAh milliamp hour) number--the longer the batteries will last per cycle. They can even often exceed lithium non-rechargeable batteries (which get very expensive!) for camera and electronic gear. In my opinion and experience from compact cameras to pro-gear--flashes to just about any device like a long range 2 way radios--the AA NiMH battery is the best format for powering devices. AAA powered devices often do not nearly last as long as they are only 700Mah or so. Also--never buy a compact digital camera just powered by 2 AA batteries! You will spend more on batteries then anything else! However, I've had great experiences with every compact camera I ever used that used 4 AA batteries. I still use one that is 12 years old! Extra power goes a long ways. I point this out because people not only waste money by buying lots of AA batteries for stuff and not using rechargeable (cost pennies or less to recharge) they ruin the environment by doing so. Every year millions and millions of toxins go into the ground and air because of not using and recycling rechargeable batteries.</span><br /><br />More pics <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">coming</span> soon-- Mother, eggs and babies--The life of a dedicated American mother spider and more Harvestmen shots!Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-1161480576228541682010-10-23T01:13:00.000-07:002010-10-29T00:24:15.843-07:00SPIDER SEASON 2010 COMEBACK !<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I really wanted to make a sort of new look to Mostly Macros. For one thing I changed the intro picture and I will probably start doing one article at a time on one subject at a time since that is how blogger sets things up now. I have some personal stuff to take care of but I eventually want to start putting up more pictures. I also wish to join local photo clubs and learn more about art and photography sometime in the near future. I also plan to do more on line once I get a new full featured computer. That may be a while, so for now emails and responses as well as posts may be a bit slow. I apologize for that and hope nobody takes it personally. I guess I kinda got caught behind in technology everybody has all these avatars and large social networks being on a low budget I do not even have a cellphone at this time.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ9nVyLXXI/AAAAAAAADMc/_bMN5qsI04M/s1600/DSC_0951.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ9nVyLXXI/AAAAAAAADMc/_bMN5qsI04M/s400/DSC_0951.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I want to first apologize for not updating my blog for a long time! I know there are some people here who do read or at least look at the pictures! I am very glad for feedback and comments. Please keep them coming and be sure to email them to me or leave them as comments here as I need to rebuild my Facebook account. When my only laptop crashed I was without much of a computer to spend the time necessary to prepare and post pictures on this site the way I would like to. I finally saved enough for a Mini HP Netbook which is just powerful enough setup photos for this site and move them off my camera but I cannot yet edit them with Photoshop as I still do not have a computer powerful enough to run even an older version. Money is tight right now. Without needlessly going into personal detail, we have had one thing after the next come up. I also feel bad because due to current situations I have not been keeping up with emails either. Sorry about that--I did not forget about you-- if I don't email you quickly again, please don't take it personally there is a lot going on in my life right now. Back to photography--</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMKAfAIb6fI/AAAAAAAADO4/tGUdyx7G_Ww/s1600/DSC_0947.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="331" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMKAfAIb6fI/AAAAAAAADO4/tGUdyx7G_Ww/s400/DSC_0947.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> This spider is probably related to the Tetragnathidae. They often have huge jaws and are found near water. My wife and I walked up to Forest Park where I shot most of these pictures. This species is known for locking jaws during mating. I got some great shots of this female. She did not have a web and was just wondering around. These pictures were taken with my D90 using a 50mm manual lens at usually F16-F22 and extension tubes. I have found that shooting down below ISO200 can sometimes produce great detail even in newer digital cameras.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ9qIgBITI/AAAAAAAADMg/VXPuXkyDV-Y/s1600/DSC_0953.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ9qIgBITI/AAAAAAAADMg/VXPuXkyDV-Y/s400/DSC_0953.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This species often elongates it's body to blend in. Here it can be seen in most of these shots on a typical wire fence link. These species are yet another virtually harmless species.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ9sSA-aRI/AAAAAAAADMk/BNwOC2qcPqY/s1600/DSC_0950.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ9sSA-aRI/AAAAAAAADMk/BNwOC2qcPqY/s400/DSC_0950.jpg" width="395" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The power of macro can be seen here as a link in a regular fence seems to be a large metal wire. Eyes are visible here, be sure and click on picture for larger view and use your back arrow to return to the site. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ9wyiqP8I/AAAAAAAADMo/FTQzOjs3uCE/s1600/DSC_0956-3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="381" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ9wyiqP8I/AAAAAAAADMo/FTQzOjs3uCE/s400/DSC_0956-3.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> These are all the same spider shot up at Forest Park. Blogger has changed the way pictures are uploaded so in the future I will probably do individual articles on individual species or subjects.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ91PpUjHI/AAAAAAAADMs/O3O8XPGUsgg/s1600/DSC_0963.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ91PpUjHI/AAAAAAAADMs/O3O8XPGUsgg/s400/DSC_0963.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A combination of cropping can often make good results but using a macro lens or a series of extension tubes and a good diopter lens can produce really nice super closeups. I recently discovered a new way to use my extension tubes to get even closer. </div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ94bzh4BI/AAAAAAAADMw/6sHl-gIIH7g/s1600/DSC_0960.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ94bzh4BI/AAAAAAAADMw/6sHl-gIIH7g/s400/DSC_0960.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I just kept shooting shot after shot, using an SB600 external flash in manual mode. I often compensate for not being able to afford a macro flash by adding reflectors made out of aluminum foil laminated with clear packaging tape and secured to my flash and camera with strong Velcro. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ962x8EUI/AAAAAAAADM0/hLwE2gLqsjQ/s1600/DSC_0967.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ962x8EUI/AAAAAAAADM0/hLwE2gLqsjQ/s400/DSC_0967.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A typical pose for a Tetragnathidae, often found hanging like this near a loose orb web over water. A really interesting species. Be sure to click for larger view and use <-- back arrow in your browser to return to this site.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ99mVTWPI/AAAAAAAADM4/TLUGoYuQU0E/s1600/DSC_0965.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ99mVTWPI/AAAAAAAADM4/TLUGoYuQU0E/s400/DSC_0965.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> Another closeup, I can even get closer then this but I need to use other equipment I did not have with me in the field. I shot this on a sunny day right out in the open in the park. It looks like it was taken at night or in the dark because my f-stop was so high that only flash light was visible. Most of my macro shots are done above F22.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-AeD_ETI/AAAAAAAADM8/kr72-2N06uc/s1600/DSC_0978-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-AeD_ETI/AAAAAAAADM8/kr72-2N06uc/s400/DSC_0978-1.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here you can clearly see the chelicera and the clearly female palps. Male spiders have bulbs that look like boxing gloves (almost all species of spiders) on there palps.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-C34iLWI/AAAAAAAADNA/UDk-h_Ex0LQ/s1600/DSC_1005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-C34iLWI/AAAAAAAADNA/UDk-h_Ex0LQ/s400/DSC_1005.JPG" width="400" /></a></div> Another comprehensive view, I got so many great shots of this spider I was not sure which ones to post and had to leave many of them out. I still am trying to find out what I can do with my work on spiders--what site I should post them on--and where to go if and when I shoot something that might contribute to science. I have a lot to do on the internet!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-PG54BkI/AAAAAAAADNI/IXs_8rIB9cg/s1600/DSC_1016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-PG54BkI/AAAAAAAADNI/IXs_8rIB9cg/s400/DSC_1016.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I was holding about 5 pounds of camera and my wife was great because she was watching out for me as I took these pictures which require complete concentration. So she was very helpful watching some of my gear and the area where I was shooting. Even with live-view, often I find myself with macro shots looking through the old view finder as I am used too. When ever you have a large expensive camera that is not insured and your on a really low budget you get nervous about what people might thinking. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-VRaRBnI/AAAAAAAADNM/B-1gzHaQiRg/s1600/DSC_1082.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="346" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-VRaRBnI/AAAAAAAADNM/B-1gzHaQiRg/s400/DSC_1082.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is another species, probably a Linyphiidae, there is a few species here and I want to find out more about them. They are one of the only species I've ever photographed mating. Luckily people are usually passive when your a photographer and do not get upset thinking your photographing them or something. I have a funny story I will tell you in an the next article I post that happened right here. Shooting spiders often looks strange because you go into shady places to find them. In parks however, this is usually not a problem but you never know what else might happen or people might think when your taking pictures. I lost count how many times I've had my ID ran by the cops! I understand that--it's protocol if you walk around with a camera. But really, usually people who are doing drugs or planning crimes are not walking around using large complex and expensive cameras! I wish I had some kind of shirt or "pass" so people know I am a photographer and not a criminal. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-YdpVYKI/AAAAAAAADNQ/Ya63Miprv1k/s1600/DSC_1079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-YdpVYKI/AAAAAAAADNQ/Ya63Miprv1k/s640/DSC_1079.JPG" width="515" /></a></div> Another shot of what is probably a Linyphiidae.<br />
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</div> The famous and well known garden spider--Araneus diadematus. There are variations in abdominal colors which I am interested in as well as shades of body color. Could this be "races" of the species?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-h5ozbeI/AAAAAAAADNc/lYPIkJkQkhk/s1600/DSC_1083.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="341" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-h5ozbeI/AAAAAAAADNc/lYPIkJkQkhk/s400/DSC_1083.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Many of these shots were done with an older Zoom lens. 70-210mm. I really like Nikon because the older 35mm manual optical lenses. I don't have any but I have read and been told even the auto-focus lenses from the 80s operate on the higher end Nikon digital SLRs. (D90 and above). I often get great results using the manual older sometimes bargain lenses. They can lack depth of field because they max out at F22 or so, but that is usually enough for a great spider picture. Canon unfortunately changed there format so it is not possible to use older Canon non-digital lenses. This was one serious reason that after I lost nearly all of my gear in our house fire last year-- I decided to start over with Nikon as my SLR system. I saved for almost a year after the fire on my budget to get a D90 but it is a camera I would definitely very much recommend. I have been told that the optics in the older 35mm lenses are often higher quality then the optics in the new and even very expensive digital lenses and I believe it. So the manual focus part and manual adjustment might be worth it! Don't get me wrong, I loved my Canon cameras which performed very well. There are just many more lens possibilities with Nikon which can make it a good choice especially if you want to take awesome pictures and don't have the money for expensive new of gear. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-n4an28I/AAAAAAAADNk/NA_nXADe8dE/s1600/DSC_1111.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-n4an28I/AAAAAAAADNk/NA_nXADe8dE/s400/DSC_1111.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>This one is obviously and definitely a Linyphiidae. They spin the glossumer (spider silk strands seen in the summer sunlight) seen in the summer time and are probably the most common spider in this area and one of the most common spiders in the temperate world.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-p0jnHqI/AAAAAAAADNo/kvhBtDYsg_s/s1600/DSC_1114-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-p0jnHqI/AAAAAAAADNo/kvhBtDYsg_s/s400/DSC_1114-1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Linyphiidae from another angle, they build an upside down dome shaped web where they catch many types of insects that we consider pests. They are totally harmless to humans in and in fact I have never even heard of someone being bit by one.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-skW-cEI/AAAAAAAADNs/qY5s2m4Z1Yk/s1600/DSC_1093.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-skW-cEI/AAAAAAAADNs/qY5s2m4Z1Yk/s400/DSC_1093.JPG" width="400" /></a></div> I am not sure but I think this is also a Linyphiidae species.<br />
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My wife was really great being there for me while I spent hours taking these pictures in Forest park. I love it there and spent many summers with my grandparents up there. By the time I got to this species I was a bit too tired to take lots of descriptive shots. My new lens system should allow for better shots that will let me definitely identify more species I photograph or at least get closer.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-7WL4wTI/AAAAAAAADN4/XZZgAWL0ruI/s1600/DSC_1395.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ-7WL4wTI/AAAAAAAADN4/XZZgAWL0ruI/s640/DSC_1395.jpg" width="584" /></a></div><br />
The webs of Araneus diadematus are among the most well known and seen this time of year. These in the sun looked awesome. It should be noted that this species is also harmless. Getting bit from what I have heard is not only very difficult but if by some chance you do get bit it's not even as bad as a bee sting. I have never heard of anyone having a serious reaction to this very common and non-aggressive species which is critical in controlling the mosquito and fly population.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ--Z_AfmI/AAAAAAAADN8/UskmSzEYY8w/s1600/DSC_1390.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="391" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ--Z_AfmI/AAAAAAAADN8/UskmSzEYY8w/s400/DSC_1390.JPG" width="400" /></a></div> Side view of a probably ready to lay eggs female Araneus diadematus.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ_DitKniI/AAAAAAAADOA/1i_Mm_X3xOA/s1600/DSC_1386.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ_DitKniI/AAAAAAAADOA/1i_Mm_X3xOA/s640/DSC_1386.JPG" width="528" /></a></div><br />
I really liked this large female, she had made a really good living catching insects here near by a lunch place my wife and I ate at. I took some ultra close up shots of her and noticed like some others both here and in other spots--she has slightly different body colors.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ_F6V2h1I/AAAAAAAADOE/qUA9i3NPwFk/s1600/DSC_1380.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ_F6V2h1I/AAAAAAAADOE/qUA9i3NPwFk/s400/DSC_1380.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Some extra large shots of the Araneus diadematus with pray. She had no problem walking about with her catch and doing a few things while I took some closeup shots.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ_JNCXdmI/AAAAAAAADOI/QEyWjYKQIOc/s1600/DSC_1378.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="327" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ_JNCXdmI/AAAAAAAADOI/QEyWjYKQIOc/s400/DSC_1378.JPG" width="400" /></a></div> A new lens configuration I did not know I could use lets me shoot close pictures at subjects at even further distances with my gear. Instead of being 1 or 2 inches away I can shoot quality close up macro shots in a "teli-macro" kind of concept from up to more then a foot away.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ_TTAWEJI/AAAAAAAADOQ/rUis7BadOtM/s1600/DSC_1372-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="345" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ_TTAWEJI/AAAAAAAADOQ/rUis7BadOtM/s400/DSC_1372-1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div> This makes detailed shots like this far more easy. She did not seem to mind however even when I got close. I noticed her color was a bit shifted. Some are more red then others. She is very healthy and almost certainly ready to lay her egg sack.<br />
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I got lucky here and was able to get a good shot as she moved by waiting and watching her for over an hour and a half. Notice the color differences. This is the exact same species but she almost seems to have some colorations similar to that of the related species the Shamrock spider.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ_b9lh7gI/AAAAAAAADOY/63a-CHR5uow/s1600/DSC_1369.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ_b9lh7gI/AAAAAAAADOY/63a-CHR5uow/s640/DSC_1369.JPG" width="544" /></a></div> She gripped her pray and holds it. Some people think how spiders eat is gross. Killing with venom and then enzymes that break down tissues so that mostly the pray item can be drank down. We feed cattle the remains of slaughtered cattle (forced cannibalism which causes mad cow disease), raise them in horrible conditions with no room to move, milk them until they bleed, feed them with toxins and groth hormones, prod them with electricity--not even alow them to mate naturally and we somehow think that we have the right to say "spiders are gross". If people knew the truth behind most foods they eat and how bad it really is--they would think spiders are the humane ones. I'm sorry if that makes some parents upset by me mentioning this morbid topic--but people need to know the truth about such things and not judge other animals. By far human beings can be the worst and most disgusting animals of all. When I first heard how they treated cows and other animals I refused to believe it--then after doing research and seeing things for myself I had no choice. It's sad but true--spiders are far more human with there pray then we are.<br />
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More views, I could not get enough of how this female seemed to enjoy the sun and posing for my lens.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ_nChQEdI/AAAAAAAADOk/u1jvYMuNeVo/s1600/DSC_1356-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ_nChQEdI/AAAAAAAADOk/u1jvYMuNeVo/s400/DSC_1356-1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div> I thought I'd ad a few views here showing some of the best shots--maybe a few too many but I really liked this spider. She moved around a lot for me so that I could photograph her without me having to do anything.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ_ra4xJyI/AAAAAAAADOo/F4Nrrp8N3xk/s1600/DSC_1343.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMJ_ra4xJyI/AAAAAAAADOo/F4Nrrp8N3xk/s400/DSC_1343.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>Araneus diadematus with pray. A beneficial and harmless web building spider.<br />
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Here is where the Araneus diadematus gets interesting. This is another one found just a short distance away eating a bee-mimicking fly. This one clearly has a darker skin pigment. I want to figure out how and exactly why they have different colored markings in the same species that can change so much sometimes they nearly look like a sub-species.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMKAAVJwxOI/AAAAAAAADOw/wyoJC0w1F54/s1600/DSC_1400.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMKAAVJwxOI/AAAAAAAADOw/wyoJC0w1F54/s400/DSC_1400.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Three Araneus diadematus webs stood out in the afternoon sun. This is a harmless and beneficial species, I can't stress to people enough that they are not only harmless but should be left alone and treated with respect because they help keep the mosquito and fly population under control. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMKAcxwHnOI/AAAAAAAADO0/ifM-GW3AyYQ/s1600/DSC_0943.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMKAcxwHnOI/AAAAAAAADO0/ifM-GW3AyYQ/s400/DSC_0943.jpg" width="302" /></a></div> Another one, this one photographed at Forest Park. The markings do change and appear different yet again in this one.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMKAm9q5JRI/AAAAAAAADPA/_Ynw8PfNoBI/s1600/DSC_1016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/TMKAm9q5JRI/AAAAAAAADPA/_Ynw8PfNoBI/s400/DSC_1016.JPG" width="400" /></a></div> I was going to delete this from the post but I thought I'd show one more time one of the more interesting spiders I found on a walk with my wife to Forest Park.<br />
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Yet another view of probably a Linyphiidae again. With new lens configurations eyes can be counted and I will be better able to identify species. Next article will be about an American house spider with babies I recently photographed. She has laid 3 egg sacks. They are not as common so whenever I find one I get excited. coming soon next time to Mostly Macros. I want to thank my wife for her on going support and help in my efforts and photography.Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-77321438132171877982010-09-03T05:20:00.000-07:002017-06-27T20:15:32.446-07:00CHANGES SOON! I WILL BE ABLE TO ADD TO THIS SITE AGAIN<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Panoramic view of downtown Portland. Fuji S1500 compact superzoom was used for this one. More pictures and more comments of interest are on there way. Writing on this site I must minimize things. I will start a new one for other interests. Questions, comments and fanmail are welcome at: olngwb@yahoo.com I get TONS of junk mail so if I don't get back to you in few days it's not your fault. Please send me another. Take care and I thank everyone for there encouragement.<br />
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A blast from the bast.. a shot I took in 2007 probably with my old Canon 10d 6mp DSLR.<br />
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THERE SHOULD BE LOTS MORE NEW PICS HERE!<br />
There are lots of pics I want to show you but my laptop total died! I'm currently using my wife's computer as a backup but she does not have the necessary room for me to run my photographic software on her computer. About a month ago, my main and only laptop computer.. a duel processor duel core HP dv9139us COMPLETELY CRASHED dead as a door nail. I can't even get the screen to come on. The system simply re-boots over and over again never finding a boot disk no matter what boot disc you put in it. I used Linux and Windows and even ordered the system restore disk from HP. Useless. The computer seems to have a problem with the motherboard that will cost over 400 bucks to fix. Put short.. at $599 a pop I'd be better off just getting a new one since I have other problems with the computer. It already had some kind of damage.. one USB slot died, and so did one color on the external monitor port. Hardware failure confirmed. So the motherboard has been in trouble for some time. After talking to HP and reading on line I have concluded that the system was possibly meant to crash in 3 years time. Literally dozens of models and 100s of people have had this problem yet HP does NOTHING about it! So that is what it feels like. Could it be that the latest laptops have built in BIOS problems that inherently require you to use Windows or have your computer crash?? OR is this HP trying to justify selling a good laptop with a terminal problem built in on purpose?? I am not big on conspiracy theories but it makes me wonder reading all the info. Was this computer built to crash in about 3 years so I'd buy a new one?? I don't know.. but whatever happened it's left me without a computer with enough memory to work with my images and therefor I won't be posting much for a couple of months or more. I don't know how long it will take for me to save up for a new laptop but it's top on my list. Just letting my readers know.<br />
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COMMENTS ARE BEING REMOVED the system has been abused. Due to the obvious abuse of the comment system on my blog.. I am going to turn OFF the RECENT comments view as it seems to be next to impossible to keep people from using my site for illegal adds and other ridiculous junk. Until the system is cleaned up more.. I can't afford to have what is in essence my face on the Internet covered with junk comments that could say anything. I'm turning them off. You can thank the fools that post stupid junk like recently seen from adds about adult material to chat about computers that has nothing to do with my site or anything on it. Please use the comment bar nicely or email me.<br />
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A shot I took right after the fire with my Fuji S1500 compact zoom at very high ISO and a long exposure.<br />
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COMEBACK EXPECTED with LOTS of new pictures in a couple of months or so. <br />
When I do make my comeback in a couple of months I plan to do so with LOTS of pictures. I've been taking them and editing them in camera and just copying them to external hard drives.<br />
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"No personal space" Fuji S1500 pic <br />
Is Siemens going to build us any more Max trains?? We need them. It is nearly impossible to ride in many places during rush hour.<br />
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Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-8852453121963480532010-04-27T17:38:00.000-07:002010-04-29T22:16:46.683-07:00Dust on the lens<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S9d0XjpQ3CI/AAAAAAAADKU/Xf1Mq8rQOws/s1600/Screenshot10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S9d0XjpQ3CI/AAAAAAAADKU/Xf1Mq8rQOws/s400/Screenshot10.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>"Dust me or how much time do you spend looking at me?"<br />
D90 slide from movie<br />
This photo shows 2 things, 1 that there's a new dimention to what I can do with video and 2 of course, we have a lot of dust here where we live. We are not sure why. Click on this photo to see how detailed it is. I will show you more later that were taken with the D90 in Video mode. Effectively it opens up the sensor completely and takes an image at about 24 frames a second. This is a high definition image so one still has about the resolution of a 2 mega pixel camera (I have a 2 mega pixel camera, an expensive one from 1998). Really amazing when you see things from frame to frame. And great for getting that shot of something that you don't want people to know you are photographing or something that you don't have time to setup the shot for. I think this feature to shoot HD movies in AVI format really is a tool for the still photographer! One who needs to shoot LOTS of frames just to have the right shot of something. Although focus is manual and quality is very good. Pictures that can be extracted from an HD source are good enough to be printed as stills. And so hidden photographs can be taken and moments frozen in time can be animated. This live-view option of taking HD movies with sound is supposed to add a video element to still photographers.. well in this case it lets me do even more still shots. As a still photographer having a video option in my camera was something I just thought might be interesting but really had no baring on why I chose to buy the Nikon D90. I chose it because it met several professional need specks and because it has virtually the same image processing sensor and system as in the award winning D300 and D2x. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S9d0Ppj1HfI/AAAAAAAADKM/N3NHrFZgjcI/s1600/Screenshot14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S9d0Ppj1HfI/AAAAAAAADKM/N3NHrFZgjcI/s400/Screenshot14.png" width="400" /></a></div>When you want a quick picture.. hit high-def video record.<br />
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Taken from a high-def video shot with the Nikon D90<br />
This form of image processing to get 2mp quality out of a 12.5mp camera why?? Why would video be important in a still camera..? I shot the above as other police cars drove by and captured this one drive right through this thourghfare. I wanted to see if the images really were 2mp quality.. good enough to say print in a news papor..post on a blog..or even print as a picture. Sure enough as long as the camera did not move it was taking streams as if the camera has a mode insteat of shooting 4.5 frames or so a second.. it could switch to shoot 25 frames a second. Not quite as controllable or as high resolution as regular photos but none the less that's what the camera is doing. <br />
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There are lots of power wheel chairs on the Max train. I've seen 100s of them and you see new one's every day.. but this one was by far the Largest.. Jese look at the size of those motors and this guy is riding in stile. I did not want in those close quarters to take my large camera at photograph him obviously right in front of everyone and not ask his permission. So I opened the shutter and hit record. I was able to get several perfectly in focus frames from a quick swipe of the camera that did not look like I was trying to get a photo. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S9d0jk52pHI/AAAAAAAADKY/ZmDgQoses3w/s1600/Screenshot5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S9d0jk52pHI/AAAAAAAADKY/ZmDgQoses3w/s400/Screenshot5.png" width="400" /></a></div>"Power chair city"<br />
Nikon D90 slide from AVI<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S9eBX0yjdJI/AAAAAAAADKg/kJRVnB2EQ94/s1600/Screenshot6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S9eBX0yjdJI/AAAAAAAADKg/kJRVnB2EQ94/s400/Screenshot6.png" width="400" /></a></div> These images were not even modified. Just taken directly off the video footage from the high definition video. Click on image to see a still from a high-def film.<br />
Now as a photographer I can get pictures while blending in and get good ones. The D90 is the first camera I owned that for the first time I truely feel it can nearly "see" just as well as I can... for so many reasons in terms of taking pictures quickly and not missing a shot or even taking undercover shots. <br />
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And also awesome is using the high def movie mode to shoot with the old late 70s early 80s Nikon auto and even auto focus (Nikons prosumer SLRs can operate older lenses that requre a gear in camera) lenses with the F-stop control ring. You can set the Irus operating the D90 as a video camera by positioning a box anywhere on the screen.. also you can change the f-spot. So what does this lead up too?? No matter what you will get the shot if you are afraid you will miss something or want to take a somewhat covert picture.. just run the camera in video mode. Then I just use a simple frame by frame movie player to make still images of the movie. I just find the one's that are in the best focus and save that frame as a JPEG. It's really simple but it definitely adds a new dimension to taking photos. I knew I could do this with consumer cameras but the quality would be really bad. I did not know that my D90 had the quality to do this either.. it does as you will see. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S9dzpKN9cnI/AAAAAAAADKI/9cFn-qwcNYs/s1600/DSC_1805.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S9dzpKN9cnI/AAAAAAAADKI/9cFn-qwcNYs/s400/DSC_1805.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Walks of life"<br />
Nikon D90 EFS 18-105mm lens<br />
And this photo I wanted to make sure I posted. When ever I doubt taking pictures and finding new things in them I look at this one. There are so many moments going on at the same time in this picture it's like several TV channels. From the girl up front to the family on the side there are alot of things happening here. I thought that was interesting.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S9dzZtuS1YI/AAAAAAAADKE/0JbeX-T7ND8/s1600/DSC_3148.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="342" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S9dzZtuS1YI/AAAAAAAADKE/0JbeX-T7ND8/s400/DSC_3148.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Allready broke in"<br />
And this door got SMASHED in. I don't know how or how many times.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S9dy4A96wKI/AAAAAAAADJ8/TolJoG5ZIP0/s1600/DSC_3451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S9dy4A96wKI/AAAAAAAADJ8/TolJoG5ZIP0/s400/DSC_3451.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>This is long exposure spanning seconds.<br />
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"Train of Motion"<br />
D90 18-105<br />
Another long exposure<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S9dyhiilgXI/AAAAAAAADJ4/-srNmwvdpVE/s1600/DSC_3494.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="388" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S9dyhiilgXI/AAAAAAAADJ4/-srNmwvdpVE/s640/DSC_3494.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>"Two things happening at once"<br />
I thought that would be the right idea behind this. Clearly the train is gone.. or is it?? This is a long exposure that let in more light from the building then the train blocked or created thus making this effect.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-54362740351401503722010-03-31T21:19:00.000-07:002010-04-29T22:40:37.057-07:00Trash Comments<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S7QQwEx0jkI/AAAAAAAADIE/2g0VfJ3Qhgc/s1600/DSCF5683-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S7QQwEx0jkI/AAAAAAAADIE/2g0VfJ3Qhgc/s400/DSCF5683-1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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I want to apologize for a problem that has been ongoing with this site. Comment scams. You have probably noticed the really trashy spam comments that have been added to my site. These are advertisements and links to sites that I have no connection to. They are down right vandalism and usually are about subjects which have nothing to do with my site. It really makes me mad when someone tries to advertise some type of adult toy or drug on my site. This site was set up as a g-rated environment and it's going to stay that way and get a bit cleaner. I will begin reviewing comments on a regular basis and I have taken measures to insure that if someone posts a comment here, they have to authenticate it. I will take stronger measures if this on line VANDALISM does not stop which may make it impossible for anyone who does not have a Google account to leave a comment. I hope it does not come to that.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S7QQ47DK4TI/AAAAAAAADIU/akxnX4-qfR4/s1600/DSCF5576.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S7QQ47DK4TI/AAAAAAAADIU/akxnX4-qfR4/s400/DSCF5576.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Nobody likes an eye-sore!<br />
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I truly appreciate the hundreds of real comments left about my site. They are like fan-mail to me and make me feel really good about what I'm doing here. I also enjoy answering people's questions if I can. Please feel free to leave a comment about this site, my articles.. or my pictures how ever you feel about them. Just please don't leave links to trashy sites or ads for adult products. If you wish to write something for this site as a comment or email me directly you can do so by emailing me at= <br />
a/l/i/n/a/n/g/a/b/e@yahoo.com <br />
(the / slashes have been added here to prevent spam systems from getting our email address off this page) <br />
--or you can use my old address olngwb@yahoo.com<br />
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Thank you, <br />
Gabe Beasley (site admin)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S7QRNzC1FWI/AAAAAAAADIk/4dpqXJZdO8o/s1600/DSC_3504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S7QRNzC1FWI/AAAAAAAADIk/4dpqXJZdO8o/s400/DSC_3504.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>This is the way my site should look. Here is me and my wife during a night time shoot I did a few nights ago. I took this long exposure (10sec approx.) by remote control with my D90. I've got more night-time shots as well as a whole project I've been working on for months. From "gutter-punks" to "shopping cart people" I want to show the many diverse ways people live and express themselves here in Portland Oregon. Look for that soon here on mostly macros.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S7QXMHVrosI/AAAAAAAADI0/XA3BzxNfUA4/s1600/Picasa+Edits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S7QXMHVrosI/AAAAAAAADI0/XA3BzxNfUA4/s640/Picasa+Edits.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Photographing in Portland and at home I took every picture on this site except the one taken by my wife about a year ago. The drug needle was laying out in the open like this when I found it. It's bad enough to do drugs but to just throw your durty needles down like this is a health hazard. The other more awesome pictures include a wide angle lens shot done with my super zoom and a few of a 1929 Radiola tabletop AM radio. It was a gift from a ham radio friend of mine. It works great and was one of the first AC operated AM tabletop radios made in the USA. Also shots from Mount Hood Community Collage where my wife had an apointment and other stuff from last year. To view close-up click on picture and then use your back arrow to return to my site.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S7QXbg1En9I/AAAAAAAADJE/RUjDzhTwvQM/s1600/Beasley3_20101.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="507" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S7QXbg1En9I/AAAAAAAADJE/RUjDzhTwvQM/s640/Beasley3_20101.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
These are two Collages of pictures I created composed of multiple images. The first one is just a mix of pictures I've taken over the past couple of months. The one above is 4 pictures in one. These cardboard signs I found laying on the ground where a lot of homeless people hang out and pan handle. Take a look at what some of these signs say! On the bottom of this shows a photo of homeless people waiting in line in down town Portland. Probably for food. Don't think I'm just a cold photographer behind the lens who does not care. <br />
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I myself have been homeless. I slept under an overpass in Portland not far from where these pictures were taken. When I was 18 I left home and went on an adventure ending up homeless and hitchhiking. I was lucky and finally came to my senses after getting pneumonia got off the streets. Many people however don't get that lucky. Some people actually chose to be homeless and live on the streets, others are forced there because of hard times. I don't want anyone thinking I'm making fun of these people.. I'm just showing you what I've seen through my lens. Awareness of social problems is the first step towards doing something about them. People should know what it's like and realize that every day with a roof over your head and food in your stomach is a blessing. Sadly, mental illness and drug abuse are among the biggest causes for homelessness. Another common cause is the fact that it's next to impossible to get a job if you have any kind of criminal record. This problem is ridiculous. I swore not to get into politics in my website blog but I think anybody who thinks and ends up writing something ends up writing about how they feel eventually. If people just knew. I mean really knew and thus could do something about the messed up stuff that happens in this world. Lets say you make one mistake in your life. Once you have a felony.. even if it's not violent.. nobody will hire you. You can't work. So how are you supposed to live? I think this is a gross injustice something should be done about. If you get out of jail and can't get a job because you were in jail what's the point of getting out?? Nobody will hire you so what can you do?? As one person put it.. our criminal justice system is criminal. It's discrimination on a hideous level. I think forgiveness for one dumb mistake should be the rule not the exception. They make it next to impossible. That leads to desperation, substance abuse and homelessness.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-80894506129072763662010-03-25T16:57:00.000-07:002010-03-25T17:05:41.183-07:00Portland Saterday Market-- The D90 comeback<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vzc0N1H7I/AAAAAAAADHk/oZe3uAWsPdQ/s1600/DSC_1985.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vzc0N1H7I/AAAAAAAADHk/oZe3uAWsPdQ/s400/DSC_1985.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Art day"<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>I went to Portland Saturday Market with my new Nikon D90. I got the D90 because it meets some critical professional requirements and it turned out to have some incredible features. It's an awesome camera. I was thinking of getting the D300s but in further research found out that it's not really worth the extra money unless you shoot allot of video. The D90 has the same imaging systems and sensor as the D300s. I'm mostly all a still photographer so the D90 with nearly 5fps was plenty of pro-cam for me. Iso flexibility that none of my other cameras came close too. I never dreamed I'd be able to shoot at 3200iso+ on a regular basis and get really good shots. It's an awesome camera that outperforms everything I had before the fire. It took me nearly 6 months to save up enough for it on our income.. but it was well worth it. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjesnc0YI/AAAAAAAADFE/083kcGtUmuc/s1600/DSC_1753.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjesnc0YI/AAAAAAAADFE/083kcGtUmuc/s400/DSC_1753.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Sitting around" <br />
There were LOTS of people there.. people where having fun too. Including news cams and other photographers. The Portland Saturday market is a place for fun, meeting people.. selling stuff.. buying stuff.. taking pictures or doing arts and music.. just about anything you can think of during the spring and summer months is going on down there. It's fun for the whole family and definitely worth checking out.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjReoV2rI/AAAAAAAADEs/t7bdN8q70xk/s1600/DSC_1719.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjReoV2rI/AAAAAAAADEs/t7bdN8q70xk/s400/DSC_1719.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Tents of people" <br />
The Nikon DX format-image sensor is truly awesome. I'd say it's definitely medium format film equiv. I can crop stuff as small as 1/15th the image and still get a nice 8x10 print. The D90 truly is an awesome camera. I did not miss a shot because of waiting for the buffer and I won't have to worry about that any more. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6v5Kybs_YI/AAAAAAAADHs/ywKNytBGG3I/s1600/DSC_1981.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6v5Kybs_YI/AAAAAAAADHs/ywKNytBGG3I/s400/DSC_1981.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Where's my Baby?"<br />
Take a close look.. that's not a kid in that stroller. Where's the kid.. where's the parents??<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6v5YA54aHI/AAAAAAAADH0/Ms2b7Maymkk/s1600/DSC_1842.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="333" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6v5YA54aHI/AAAAAAAADH0/Ms2b7Maymkk/s400/DSC_1842.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Cross walk"<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjNnVL69I/AAAAAAAADEk/yhzCEnx7dmQ/s1600/DSC_1682.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="351" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjNnVL69I/AAAAAAAADEk/yhzCEnx7dmQ/s400/DSC_1682.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Look at the photographer" <br />
As you can see from these shots there were lots of different kinds of people there. I caught some of them at there best, some who wanted to be photographed and some who might have not. I should mention.. if anyone requests that I do not photograph them or that I do not post there photo.. I honer there wishes even though I don't have too. That is one of the many differences between a photographer and a paparazzi. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjlwi4KHI/AAAAAAAADFM/nPZqNs14A_0/s1600/DSC_1769.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjlwi4KHI/AAAAAAAADFM/nPZqNs14A_0/s400/DSC_1769.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Ready to save!" <br />
Two bullhorns blasted with fundamentalist Christian extremism. It was too much for me and a few other people who yelled back at the "your going to hell" church of the screaming Bible people. Don't get me wrong.. I'm a Christian myself.. but these guys went a bit too far.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vj_5CFVzI/AAAAAAAADFs/J9W38Zw-psI/s1600/DSC_1832.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vj_5CFVzI/AAAAAAAADFs/J9W38Zw-psI/s400/DSC_1832.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Fountain of fun" <br />
The weather was great and the water cycles so the kids can play. With the D90s large format sensor.. I can make a panorama out of any picture. It has twice the resolution of my Canon 10d which was destroyed in the fire. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjsbChLEI/AAAAAAAADFU/ySoLUPseKzw/s1600/DSC_1771.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjsbChLEI/AAAAAAAADFU/ySoLUPseKzw/s400/DSC_1771.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Jump!" <br />
With a fast frame rate.. I the camera does not miss a moment. The kids were having lots of fun.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vk2pkyWFI/AAAAAAAADG0/yk10ft0YYjE/s1600/DSC_2065.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vk2pkyWFI/AAAAAAAADG0/yk10ft0YYjE/s400/DSC_2065.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Cool Kid"<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vk6i_XhVI/AAAAAAAADG8/pchmAX88oug/s1600/DSC_2088.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="275" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vk6i_XhVI/AAAAAAAADG8/pchmAX88oug/s400/DSC_2088.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Big kid" <br />
Not just the kids were having fun.. some older kids jumped in as well!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vi4RBWPjI/AAAAAAAADD8/LkJytO1QU9k/s1600/DSC_1629.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vi4RBWPjI/AAAAAAAADD8/LkJytO1QU9k/s400/DSC_1629.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Action shot" <br />
This girl was amazing.. she gave a show for me and another photographer. She really knew what she was doing.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vi-G_uufI/AAAAAAAADEE/31b3FYlnJTw/s1600/DSC_1639.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="375" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vi-G_uufI/AAAAAAAADEE/31b3FYlnJTw/s400/DSC_1639.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Hula Girl" <br />
The D90 can shoot almost noiseless shots at up to 3200iso. Leaving for freedom I've never had before in taking pictures. This day however was sunny and most of these shots were at F3.6-5.6 with an AFS 18-105mm Nikon lens. I can go as low as iso100 with the D90 or as high as 6400 or so giving a great range of creative possibilities. I shoot most daytime stuff at iso200. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjEi-Kv0I/AAAAAAAADEU/H-7ors0T2-w/s1600/DSC_1641.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="305" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjEi-Kv0I/AAAAAAAADEU/H-7ors0T2-w/s400/DSC_1641.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Hula girl 2" <br />
She really put on an awesome show. On her bag there's a small sign saying "Free hugs". <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjJ1ADm8I/AAAAAAAADEc/nE4Kyz4JHmI/s1600/DSC_1654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjJ1ADm8I/AAAAAAAADEc/nE4Kyz4JHmI/s640/DSC_1654.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>"Hula airborne"<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjA2fnofI/AAAAAAAADEM/lg54kUXqmFQ/s1600/DSC_1635.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjA2fnofI/AAAAAAAADEM/lg54kUXqmFQ/s400/DSC_1635.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Free hugs" <br />
These guys were right behind the hula girl. The sign says "Free hugs". I had a good time at the Saturday market and everyone seemed to be having a good time as well. No fights, drunks or people getting arrested that we saw.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjY41f7EI/AAAAAAAADE8/mQTkjFDpeFM/s1600/DSC_1730.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vjY41f7EI/AAAAAAAADE8/mQTkjFDpeFM/s400/DSC_1730.jpg" width="372" /></a></div>"Church of the screaming Bible" <br />
These guys were on a mission. With a bullhorn screaming about how we are all going to hell and Gods really mad at us. I really don't think that's a way to win people's respect. Sorry to say but you just sound stupid or crazy or both when you scream through a speaker on the street about anything.<br />
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"The cross walk Saturday market" <br />
This is a panoramic shot made from one print. I am a bit afraid that I processed this at minimum resolution to reduce file size on line. In short that means this set of pictures was a bit lower in quality then they should have been. Next time I proses them there should be more resolution. Don't forget to click on any image to see the full screen view. Use your back arrow to return to my site. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vkbUft76I/AAAAAAAADGM/Z0JlE3Wm69k/s1600/DSC_1971.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vkbUft76I/AAAAAAAADGM/Z0JlE3Wm69k/s400/DSC_1971.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Art class" <br />
Photography and music were not the only arts in progress that day, several people were drawing or painting the schenes with cherry trees in bloom.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vkiBPGQ5I/AAAAAAAADGU/XR5TNkUVyiI/s1600/DSC_1977.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vkiBPGQ5I/AAAAAAAADGU/XR5TNkUVyiI/s640/DSC_1977.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>"Musical expression" <br />
This thing sounded weird. I'm not sure what they were playing but it was not your typical Australian sound. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vkogzTnFI/AAAAAAAADGc/Wxm94dbosgQ/s1600/DSC_2020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="275" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vkogzTnFI/AAAAAAAADGc/Wxm94dbosgQ/s400/DSC_2020.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Bad photo day"<br />
I cought some people at there best.. and others deffinately not so much.<br />
:-) This shot was actually an accident. Many pictures are not discovered until you review and or prosses.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vkrLD2h_I/AAAAAAAADGk/FGK0DnMHuDk/s1600/DSC_2031.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vkrLD2h_I/AAAAAAAADGk/FGK0DnMHuDk/s400/DSC_2031.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Photographing cameras"<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vkv_7-_zI/AAAAAAAADGs/2VyEkiyK1aU/s1600/DSC_2046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vkv_7-_zI/AAAAAAAADGs/2VyEkiyK1aU/s400/DSC_2046.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"On the grass"<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vvsTw0U8I/AAAAAAAADHU/PSezkW66rU8/s1600/DSC_1805.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="321" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vvsTw0U8I/AAAAAAAADHU/PSezkW66rU8/s400/DSC_1805.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"The moments"<br />
Just take a look at this picture and see how many things are going on in it. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vlWPqabwI/AAAAAAAADHE/7NFikx3jrYc/s1600/DSC_3330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vlWPqabwI/AAAAAAAADHE/7NFikx3jrYc/s400/DSC_3330.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"Portland lightrail"<br />
My wife and I took the Max light rail train from our home in East Portland to the oldtown stop down town for the Saturday market. I took this shot a couple of days lator visiting my grandma.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vlg2xcFFI/AAAAAAAADHM/yaE8DrT3cD0/s1600/DSC_3192.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S6vlg2xcFFI/AAAAAAAADHM/yaE8DrT3cD0/s400/DSC_3192.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>"City scope"<br />
This was a great day to get other photos so I drove around looking for places to take pictures and found lots more I've not posted yet. Down town Portland and some of the down town city life. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14134625.post-48686746399362078572010-01-07T17:03:00.000-08:002010-01-07T17:05:13.692-08:00FOREST PARK 2010<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S0Z7e31Nu1I/AAAAAAAAC-0/44XKxYkV4AY/s1600-h/DSCF4643.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kVksvcxnsfg/S0Z7e31Nu1I/AAAAAAAAC-0/44XKxYkV4AY/s400/DSCF4643.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">From forest park to the mall. Images taken Christmas 2009. <br />
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</div>Gabe W. Beasleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10633946838279357894noreply@blogger.com3