Straits State Park was the first major stop of the trip and it was my favorite campground. The park has three campgrounds the upper campground and two lower campgrounds. The lower campgrounds have a view of the Mackinac Bridge. If you are a tent camper, they have about 6 sites right on the water with a completely unobstructed view of the bridge, but no electricity. These sites do fill up fast, we were only able to be on the water on a Sunday night, so if you’re interested, I recommend booking as close to that 6 month window as possible. If you are not a tent camper, or you can’t do without electricity, there are some spots just on the other side of the road that have a good view and there is a small park, which was right next to our site, where you could set up your tripod. Chris has an awesome shot of our tent lit up at night with the bridge in the distance. That photo will be up on the site on Friday.
Straits State Park also has a bridge viewing area away from the campground if you’re not looking to camp. The park is also home to the Father Marquette Memorial which is on the other side of I-75 and also features a bridge viewing area. The bridge is definitely the biggest attraction at this park.
About the Photo:
This photo was taken during sunset from our tent site on the water. It was a single RAW exposure with basic edits done in Lightroom. I also used a graduated filter in Lightroom to darken the sky.
Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 55-200mm kit lens on a tripod
Date Taken:
June 26, 2016
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. To book your stay at Straits State Park, visit the Michigan DNR.
Pin This!
I have just returned from my Epic Michigan Road Trip and I am excited to begin recapping my trip with you! It was a long trip and I’m still trying to figure out the best way to organize my posts, but let me give you a brief overview of my trip! We camped this trip after and setting up and taking down camp 8 times, we can now do it so efficiently; its awesome! I can’t wait to go camping again!
Day 1: Hartwick Pines Campground
Days 2 & 3: Straits State Park, visiting Mackinac Island
Days 4 & 5: McLain State Park, visiting the Keewenaw
Day 5: Bay Furnace Campground, visiting Munising
Day 6: Aune Osborne Campground, visiting Sault Ste. Marie
Day 7: Hoeft State Park, visiting the Lake Huron Coast
Day 8: Rifle River Recreation Area
I want to give my review of Hartwick Pines Campground now because we got in late and left early so I don’t have a photo of it, but I don’t want to neglect it. I had visited Hartwick Pines once before but I had never been to the campground. Hartwick Pines is a large state park located off of I-75 in Grayling, Michigan. It features the largest old growth White Pine forest in the lower peninsula. One of the biggest draws to the park is the logging museum. The campground is small and we got the last available site for Friday night. I was pleasantly surprised that the site was secluded, wooded, and quiet (until the guys in the site next to us came back at 1 am, but I don’t think that’s indicative of the park). Of all the parks we stayed at, they had the nicest, most updated bathroom facilities. I would highly recommend this campground to anyone and I have a feeling we will be back for a longer stay!
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. To plan your visit to Hartwick Pines, visit the Michigan DNR.
Happy Birthday America!
This is the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Construction began on the hotel in 1886 and is a National Historic Landmark. Its 660 foot porch is the longest in the world. The hotel features 7 suites designed and named for U.S. First Ladies: Jacqueline Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, and Laura Bush. Two movies were filmed here: This Time for Keeps from 1947 and Somewhere in Time from 1980. I thought all flags were appropriate for Independence Day!
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For more information about The Grand Hotel, visit GrandHotel.com.
Once again, I am embarking on a Photo a Day Project this summer. I enjoy this because it forces me to look for interesting subjects in the every day. Also, I like to use this project to learn new techniques and editing styles. Back in 2011 I tried a Project 365 (where you take a photo a day for a year) and that was just too much for me. First off, it is very hard to start a project like this in the winter. I don’t know about you, but I don’t find all white landscapes very inspiring. Not to mention, I really don’t enjoy spending time outside when its below zero. If you’re looking to try something new and get some inspiration, I highly recommend trying a photo a day project, whether you have the dedication for a 365, that’s up to you.
About the Photo:
This guy comes by my house all the time but I’ve had a hard time capturing him. I know how fast he moves, so I knew I fast shutter speed was in order, so I used my 50mm lens because it is the fastest in my arsenal. Because Mr. Chippy was sitting in the shade, I upped the ISO to 800 and got a shutter speed of 1/500. The D3100 doesn’t have great noise performance so I had to do some noise reduction in Lightroom to smooth out the green.
Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 50.0 mm f/1.8
Date Taken:
June 8, 2016
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page. To make sure you don’t miss any of my photos during the summer, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see what’s in my camera bag, check out my gear page!
Over and over on the blog, I preach that the gear does not make the photographer. One simple way to elevate your photography is by upgrading your photo editing software. When I got started in photography, I used Google’s free editing software, Picassa. Its inexpensive and enables the photographer to make very simple changes to a photo (i.e. exposure, contrast, simple color adjustments, crop). It is good for basic snapshots, but doesn’t really do what a serious photographer needs. Photoshop is expensive, so my first upgrade was to Photoshop Elements ($74 on Amazon). While it is a step in the right direction, it is not easy to use. And, like Picassa you have to save a copy of every photo you edit which takes up a lot of space on your hard drive, not to mention its a pain when you want to re-edit a photo. Then, I hear about Adobe Creative Cloud, a $9.99/month subscription service in which you get Lightroom and Photoshop. I signed up for a 30 day free trial and never looked back. Lightroom is so much more user friendly than Elements and its Library function is a godsend in photo organization. All three of these programs have RAW editors, but I definitely recommend Lightroom. If you’re not interested in a subscription service, you can purchase Lightroom 6 on Amazon. Of course, you do need Photoshop for more advanced edits. I’ll have Chris write on that later.
About the Photo:
This was a single RAW exposure with basic edits done in Lightroom. In a future post I will detail what I mean when I say “basic edits”.
Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 55-200 kit lens, handheld
Date Taken:
June 3, 2016
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page. I have started my summer photo a day project again this year. To make sure you don’t miss a single day, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr!
When I saw the topic for June was street art, I was worried. This really isn’t a topic I photograph often. Before my last trip to Ludington, the only street art I’ve photographed was the post card painting in Key West (below). I remembered that when I visited Ludington last year, they were working on a park downtown with these vibrantly colored, locally inspired, murals. I had to stop and snap some photos for the travel challenge. I like this one, which depicts the SS Badger, the car ferry that transports passengers from Ludington to Wisconsin (Manitowoc, Wisconsin for you Making a Murder fans).
My mom & I in Key West
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page. I have started my summer photo a day project again this year. To make sure you don’t miss a single day, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To plan your visit to Ludington, check out VisitLudington.com.
Last summer I visited the Detroit Zoo for the first time in 13 years (and wrote an article about my experience, which can be read here). While I was there, I saw a new building being erected with the sign saying “Future Home of the Polk Penguin Coservation Center” and I could not wait to check it out! I literally checked the zoo’s website monthly, waiting for an opening date! Penguins are one of my favorite animals to photograph and it was so hard to do in the old penguin house (which was the first ever building built for specifically for penguins) because the glass was so smudged and it was so dark (not to mention the smell). I finally got to check it out and I was impressed! It was a much more immersive experience; you don’t just look at penguins, you are transported to Antarctica. And the coolest part, you go in a glass tunnel at the bottom of the tank (I don’t feel like I’m describing this well, photo below) and you can see the penguins zoom around above you!
About the Photos:
This was a single RAW exposure edited in Lightroom with the Improve Photography 2016 preset B&W Light. While the new exhibit seems lighter with all the blue lighting, it is still pretty dark from a photography perspective, meaning you’re going to have to open up your aperture and push your ISO to be able to get fast enough shutter speeds to freeze the penguins’ motion. I had my kit lens as fast as it will go at f/4.5, my ISO at 800 (I know my camera does not have great noise performance any higher than that), and I was able to get the shutter at 1/125, which was fast enough to make the penguin look like he was flying! Also, by converting the shot from the blue color cast, that no amount of editing was able to tone down, it almost looks like he’s not flying through water, but through the air.
The bottom photo was a JPEG taken with my iphone and uploaded to Instagram. This is not an art photo, I just want you to understand this exhibit.
Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 55-200 kit lens, handheld
Date Taken:
June 3, 2016
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page. I have started my summer photo a day project again this year. To make sure you don’t miss a single day, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To plan your visit to see the penguins, visit DetroitZoo.com.