# The Pope and other delights.



## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

It was a crazy day.

They warned everyone that there was going to be nasty traffic.

They were right.

Sweet riding though.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

Awesome pixxors. Do I detect some lens envy on display in photos 3 and 4?

/ it's my First Pope First!


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## eddy (Jun 5, 2005)

Wow. So that's the pope. Millions of people lining the streets to watch the pope go by in the popemobile. 

Was that the extent of the "parade?" How fast was the popemobile going? I wonder if he has a seatbelt. The rear tire runs way low with that glass cage on the back. Those nuns look seriously young.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

*Not really.*



Creakyknees said:


> Awesome pixxors. Do I detect some lens envy on display in photos 3 and 4?...


I've got one of those white lenses too but am really much more of a wide angle kind of shooter.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

eddy said:


> Wow. So that's the pope. Millions of people lining the streets to watch the pope go by in the popemobile.
> 
> Was that the extent of the "parade?" How fast was the popemobile going? I wonder if he has a seatbelt. The rear tire runs way low with that glass cage on the back. Those nuns look seriously young.


About 6 miles today, maybe 10 tomorrow. The guys in suits didn't really have any problems keeping up by walking fast.

FWIW Miss M says they ain't real nuns and she knows more about the subject than I do having spent her entire childhood in schools run by them.


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## DrRoebuck (May 10, 2004)

Beautiful work, MB. Whew!


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## MarkS (Feb 3, 2004)

MB1 said:


> FWIW Miss M says they ain't real nuns and she knows more about the subject than I do having spent here entire childhood in schools run by them.


I challenge Miss M to figure out who is a real nun and who is not a real nun today. I spent K-8 in a school run by nuns. Back in the day it was easy to pick out genuine nuns. In fact, I could pick out the order to which a nun belonged by her habit. The few nuns that I have seen in recent years look no different than civilians. The closest that most of them come to wearing a habit is to wear a conservative business suit and a cross either around the neck or on a lapel pin. 

I have to admit that I do not recognize the habit worn by the nuns (or nun imposters) in your photo. But, I am not ready to call them imposters. Although the numbers of Catholic priests and nuns has dropped dramatically in the US, there is an ultramontaine reactionary element out there. I would not be surprised if the women in your photo are part of some new, ultraconservative group within the Church.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

DrRoebuck said:


> Beautiful work, MB. Whew!


It wasn't work, it was a pleasure. Well.....the riding was a pleasure.

The local MUTs have gotten so busy the last week or so (it is no longer cold in the mornings) that Miss M and I have taken to doing our after work riding out the C&O Tow Path and back home through the hills. Avoids most of the crazies in cars and on bikes-not to mention it is beautiful.

For this post I took my good camera to try to really capture what I see as we roll along the path between the river and the canal. Not as good as it really is but I think these are close anyway.


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## rkj__ (Mar 21, 2007)

very nice pixors


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## undies (Oct 13, 2005)

I'm curious about the rich sky color in your MUT shots. Are you using a filter?


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

*Knowledge from a lifetime of shooting film.......*



undies said:


> I'm curious about the rich sky color in your MUT shots. Are you using a filter?


#1 You notice that some of the pix have that beautiful sky and some don't? The difference is shooting towards the sun (bad sky) and standing in the shadows and shooting with the sun at my back (sweet blue sky).

#2 For almost all of my outdoor daylight landscapes (including all of these canal shots) I shoot with a 2-stop graduated neutral density filter in an attempt to more closely match the intensity of light in the sky with the darker foreground. That doesn't change the color of anything, just reduces the contrast between the sky and ground to help the camera show things the way our mind sees them in real life.

#3 I will also rotate the Split ND filter so that the darker part of the filter covers the brighter part of the frame. That in comparison to always keeping the filter horizontal so the darker part is above the horizon and the clear glass is below the horizon.

In otherwords I know my equipment, I have a good idea of what works for the look I want, I use filters and I don't mess with colors but I do mess with light.

BTW a lot of photographers like to use polarizer filters to get those deep blue skies but they don't work with the very wide lenses that I usually shoot with. Those canal shots were all taken on the short end of a 17-40 at _f_5.6 on a 5D full frame DSLR.


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## Bocephus Jones II (Oct 7, 2004)

MB1 said:


> #1 You notice that some of the pix have that beautiful sky and some don't? The difference is shooting towards the sun (bad sky) and standing in the shadows and shooting with the sun at my back (sweet blue sky).
> 
> #2 For almost all of my outdoor daylight landscapes (including all of these canal shots) I shoot with a 2-stop graduated neutral density filter in an attempt to more closely match the intensity of light in the sky with the darker foreground. That doesn't change the color of anything, just reduces the contrast between the sky and ground to help the camera show things the way our mind sees them in real life.


do you ever use a polarizing filter?


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## undies (Oct 13, 2005)

Makes sense. I've always used a ND filter on my camcorder for sunny-day shooting, but haven't used one for still photography.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

*Ha, you caught me before I finished adding to my reply.*



Bocephus Jones II said:


> do you ever use a polarizing filter?


I own one but rarely use it because it does funky things to the sky on real wide lenses. It seems to work ok with moderate wide angles (30mm+ for full frame) which I rarely use.


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## undies (Oct 13, 2005)

Thanks for the updated explanation! I've never used a split ND filter. 

It's amazing what I haven't learned during 20+ years as an on-again/off-again photo enthusiast.


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## Zero Signal (Feb 8, 2008)

The heavy ND filter is pretty cool, I need to pic up a couple different stops. I don't know if I would have stopped them down as much on the later photos though, some of those look pretty dark near the top, but that could be my monitor and/or the post-processing. Those Canon L-glass lenses are sweet. I just couldn't spend more on a lens than I paid for my cars or 3 months of mortgage payments! I really could use a decent large aperture lense though . . .


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

Zero Signal said:


> The heavy ND filter is pretty cool, I need to pic up a couple different stops. I don't know if I would have stopped them down as much on the later photos though, some of those look pretty dark near the top, but that could be my monitor and/or the post-processing. Those Canon L-glass lenses are sweet. I just couldn't spend more on a lens than I paid for my cars or 3 months of mortgage payments! I really could use a decent large aperture lense though . . .


I think what the dark edges of the images do (combined with the long leading lines of the tree shadows and the line of the canal and towpath) is draw the viewer into the frame and give the image some depth instead of looking flat.

Considering I usually shoot af f4-f8 even in the darkest hours I don't really feel much need for wide open glass. However I do own and use the 50mm f1.2 which I love for the shallow DoF.

I own several "L" lenses and they are fine but there ain't no way I would lug that 400mm f2.8 lens around.


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## zeytin (May 15, 2004)

Great picts. I love the shot showing the curve of the canal; I love that part I remember slowly chasing a Kingfisher along that section...lovely.
Thanks
S


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## bigrider (Jun 27, 2002)

Great stuff as usual. I do love the blue skies.


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## buck-50 (Sep 20, 2005)

MB1 said:


> #1 You notice that some of the pix have that beautiful sky and some don't? The difference is shooting towards the sun (bad sky) and standing in the shadows and shooting with the sun at my back (sweet blue sky).
> 
> #2 For almost all of my outdoor daylight landscapes (including all of these canal shots) I shoot with a 2-stop graduated neutral density filter in an attempt to more closely match the intensity of light in the sky with the darker foreground. That doesn't change the color of anything, just reduces the contrast between the sky and ground to help the camera show things the way our mind sees them in real life.
> 
> ...


Man. I just bump the saturation in photoshop.

yer way seems cooler.


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## Gregory Taylor (Mar 29, 2002)

*Ooooh Nice Shots...*

I was probaby 50 yards away from you when you shot the pic of the photogs on the risers in front of the White House. Beautiful day, and a very nice crowd, at least where I was standing.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

buck-50 said:


> Man. I just bump the saturation in photoshop.
> 
> yer way seems cooler.


I don't even own a copy of PhotoShop.  :blush2: :thumbsup:


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## DRLski (Apr 26, 2003)

those pics of the pope is some seriously funny stuff, waste of time, I'll just watch him on tv.

Nice riding though, what area is that you're riding, some nice looking trails.


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## gutfiddle (Apr 27, 2006)

get a point-n-shoot.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

gutfiddle said:


> get a point-n-shoot.


I've got several, thanks.


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## gutfiddle (Apr 27, 2006)

MB1 said:


> I've got several, thanks.


i'm just jealous, photog envy can get ugly, awesome pixxors as always


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

DRLski said:


> those pics of the pope is some seriously funny stuff, waste of time, I'll just watch him on tv.
> 
> Nice riding though, what area is that you're riding, some nice looking trails.


It was a nice day for a short walk from my office in Downtown DC. 

The C&O Canal and Tow Path are about a mile from the office, the canal pix were shot between mile markers 8&10 on the Tow Path (mile 0 is the Watergate where Rock Creek meets the Potomac right across the street from a fairly famous hotel/condo complex named after the end of the canal).


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## kvojr (Jul 17, 2007)

Great pictures!! 

Now I know why they always used to ask my family for money at the end of a mass even though we didn't have any. They needed to buy a customized Mercedes with the Zoo view for the pope to sit in and wave!


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

*As I understand it......*



kvojr said:


> Great pictures!!
> 
> Now I know why they always used to ask my family for money at the end of a mass even though we didn't have any. They needed to buy a customized Mercedes with the Zoo view for the pope to sit in and wave!


....the Popemobile was donated.

No question the trip cost a bucket plus all the extra security the government laid on for the guy (don't want the crazies to kill the Popester on our watch :blush2: ).


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## MarkS (Feb 3, 2004)

MB1 said:


> ....the Popemobile was donated.
> 
> No question the trip cost a bucket plus all the extra security the government laid on for the guy (don't want the crazies to kill the Popester on our watch :blush2: ).


Papal visits are like sports teams. They cost a bucket of cash for a city to obtain, but there are those who argue that the net financial benefit is a positive one. Somewhere in the last week, I saw an article somewhere (Baltimore Sun??) that claimed when Pope John Paul II visited Baltimore in 1995, there was a benefit of $17million in economic activity that would not have happened if JPII had not visited. I am dubious about the financial benefit of sports teams and I am dubious about the financial benefit of papal visits. But, at a minimum, they may not provide much bread, but they are circuses.


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

MarkS said:


> Papal visits are like sports teams. They cost a bucket of cash for a city to obtain, but there are those who argue that the net financial benefit is a positive one. Somewhere in the last week, I saw an article somewhere (Baltimore Sun??) that claimed when Pope John Paul II visited Baltimore in 1995, there was a benefit of $17million in economic activity that would not have happened if JPII had not visited. I am dubious about the financial benefit of sports teams and I am dubious about the financial benefit of papal visits. But, at a minimum, they may not provide much bread, but they are circuses.


I don't doubt that every eatery within easy walking distance of the Popes route had a record afternoon lunch tab.


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