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A Day of Biz Jets

Sunday afternoon at Boeing Field awaiting the arrival of a 777X meant plenty of time to catch some incoming biz jets. Sadly, rarely are they painted interesting colors. XOJet has no colors, NetJets very little and FlexJet shouldn’t have been given access to the color chart given what they chose. David and I were chatting during all of this and completely missed the G650ER that came in that was a nicer scheme but so be it. There was a nice-looking Citation X in the mix, so some color included. Here are a few of the arrivals we got.

Waiting for the Ferry at Kingston

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On our way home from Port Townsend, we took the ferry from Kingston to Edmonds. We got there just as one ferry was leaving so we were safely guaranteed a space on the next one. Rather than sit in the car, I walked down to the overlook of the water so I could see what was moving out on the water. In the end, it was mainly watching the ferry that had just left as it headed away and then looking out for our ferry as it made the crossing and approached. I was quite surprised how few people came to have a look given that it was a lovely day and there were loads of cars waiting to board!

T-33 Pattern Work

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After such a long time of struggling to get shots of the Boeing T-33 chase planes, I seem to have had a lot more luck recently. One showed up at Paine Field and, rather than just shooting an approach and departing straight to Boeing Field, it made a full stop landing, taxied back, took off, entered the pattern and came around again. This was a welcome addition to a sunny afternoon. There was only one crew onboard so I guess with was some continuation training.

As the plane taxied back to the threshold, I got a good look at the upper side of the front fuselage. There appear to be quite a variety of antennae mounted on there. I didn’t know whether they were GPS location antennae or other types but there are plenty there. Whether they are used for different functions or are needed for validating test data and cross referencing, I have no idea. Some of them may even be redundant but no one has seen the need to remove them. Whatever the reasons, there are lots there!

A Ship on the Shore

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While driving to Port Townsend, we took a diversion to Point No Point. It was still foggy as we headed up there and it turned out that there was no point in going to Point No Point. However, driving up the road towards the lighthouse, a ship appeared out of the fog. Turns out it was the wheelhouse from a ship that someone had decided to add to their property. It is a fair distance from the water and looks rather incongruous as you drive by. Had to grab a shot!

Who Could Miss a Deer This Size?

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While walking through Fort Worden, we went through a selection of buildings to a trail up the hill. As we turned a slight corner. I looked back where we had just come and there was a deer sitting in the shade of one of the buildings we had just passed. It was looking very relaxed and I was amazed to realize I had just walked right passed it and never even noticed.

As we returned the same way a while later, I wondered whether it would still be there or not. I looked for it but the space was now empty. However, as my view opened up, I realized that a deer (I can’t say whether it was the same one or not) was strolling up the road. It came to some shade from some trees and plonked itself down to rest. We had to walk very close to it and it didn’t seem in the least bit bothered by us. I took some photos as we went by and we left it in peace.

Prop Vortices on a Damp Morning

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A small twin is not going to get a lot of attention from the local photographers at Paine Field on a busy day with lots of traffic. However, it was still relatively early in the day and the air still had a fair bit of moisture in it. I took a guess that this might result in some prop vortices so decided to shoot it anyway. Sure enough, some swirls of moisture showed themselves. Not a dramatic look to them but still what I was after and there wasn’t anything else to do anyway!

Marymoor Dragons

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A sunny afternoon was a good time for a ride since such nice days are likely to be in short supply before too long. I didn’t feel like pushing myself up nasty climbs on such a lovely day so went for miles rather than climbing feet and took the trail down the Sammammish River and on down through Marymoor Park and alongside Lake Sammammish. As I went through Marymoor park on my outbound leg, I noticed what initially appeared to be a couple of plows alongside the trail. I decided to check them out on the return leg.

When I came back, I realized that, far from being farming implements (albeit on a small scale), they were actually sculptures of dragons. A pair of them, presumably taking flight? I was glad I waited until the return journey because the sun was that bit lower and the light a bit warmer. That did make it a bit more tricky to keep my shadow out of the shots but I just about managed.

Lufthansa Cargo 777F Test Flying

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Two visits to Paine Field in close succession resulted in two times to view a Lufthansa Cargo 777F undergoing tests. Lufthansa Cargo is in the process of replacing its MD-11F fleet with the 777F and one of the jets was undergoing a number of pre-acceptance flights. It was shooting a couple of approaches while the 777X was getting ready to depart on one of the days and doing a little more flying on another. On the second day, it came in with the RAT deployed too which makes for a noisier aircraft!

Often, when the jets are on the approach, I use the 500mm to get the shots as it is further out and then switch rapidly to the 100-400 for the closer in shots. Having got a bunch of shots in nice conditions on the first day, I decided to stick with the longer fixed lens for later approaches to do something different. Some tight crops on the cockpit and some compression of the features of the plane were the goal. It made for something a little different and I was quite pleased with the outcome. I also got to see the crew wearing masks in the cockpit!

Cormorants on the Dock

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How long is it since I have had a cormorant post? Too long, that’s how long. Taking trips on the ferries means you can get quite close to the cormorants on the pilings in the water alongside which the ferries berth. Of course, whenever they are close by, I don’t have a camera to hand. One part of the dock did have a ton of them resting on it so, given my recent dearth of cormorant shots, I felt I had to do it.

Focus Stacking and Backyard Arachnids

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I’m sure a bunch of my relatives will look away for this post. Maybe they aren’t fans of focus stacking but it could be the spiders that put them off. My macro lens has been out a lot during the pandemic since it provides something to photograph close at home that is a bit different. In fact, I have got so used to having it available, when I am out with a normal lens and come across something small and interesting, I am a bit frustrated to realize I can’t get a close up shot.

The problem with the lens is that it is not a very advanced one and the autofocus on it is pretty crap. When I am trying to hand hold the lens and something is moving and so am I, things get a little unpredictable. We had a few spider webs in the backyard with the owners sitting in the middle. The afternoon sun provided great illumination so I figured I should give it a go. I tend to go to manual focus and move to get the shot but with the breeze moving the web a lot, things are pretty tricky. This is what prompted me to try cheating.

I figured that focus stacking does a good job of increasing the area in focus and it manages to align images and make use of what is already in focus. If I can be straight on to the spider and stay reasonably still and roughly at the right focus point, let the web move towards and away from me and fire a bunch of shots off hand held. Ignore the ones that have nothing in focus and then let Photoshop work on the remainder.

It isn’t a perfect solution and some weird things happen at the edges of the frame but the center works out pretty well and you can crop in a little to address the edges. I was quite pleased with the outcome to be honest. It is making the best of a few bad elements but it did do quite well. You don’t get to control what is in focus for each shot so getting a complete set to work with is unlikely but overall, not a bad experiment.