Forest Home Farms Historic Park (Cellphone Photos) - San Ramon, CA

Today, on 9 February 2023, my mom and I had to make a Costco run (the Costco Wholesale in Danville, CA to be exact). We had some time to burn today, so before heading to Costco, we visited Forest Home Farms Historic Park in San Ramon, CA, and I had lunch at the newly opened "The Melt" in Danville, CA. I took photos with my cellphone. I hope you enjoy viewing the photos.

Our first stop was Forest Home Farms Historic Park in San Ramon, CA. The address of the park is at 19953 San Ramon Valley Blvd, San Ramon, CA 94583. Since we visited on a week day, none of the historic Victorian home museums were open. There were also some construction taking place at the park. I took a few photos in the areas that were open.

In this photo is a vintage 1938 Ford 1/2 Ton Truck, a scarecrow, and some other vintage farming equipment.

In this photo is a vintage 1938 Ford 1/2 Ton Truck, a vintage tractor, a vintage walnut hulling and cleaning machine, part of a scarecrow, and some other vintage farming equipment.

In this photo are some vintage and modern farming equipment.

In this photo is a windmill used to bring water up from a well. The photo was shot at the Glass House Museum in the historic park.

At this point, I was pretty hungry as I haven't had breakfast yet. After Forest Home Farms Historic Park, I went to the newly opened "The Melt" in Danville, CA. The address of "The Melt" is at 43 Railroad Ave, Danville, CA 94526. You are probably wondering, "Didn't you say you were going to Costco? Why did you get lunch elsewhere?". There are a few reasons.

1. The food at "The Melt" is delicious. 😋
2. I've been vegetarian since the beginning of 2021 due to religious reasons. Costco Food Court doesn't offer much vegetarian options. There are plenty of vegetarian options available at "The Melt".
3. "The Melt" tempted me in with a coupon. 😂

I ended up getting an Impossible Spicy Mission Burger and a Garlic Parmesan Fries. Before I went vegetarian, I used to get the regular Spicy Mission Burger at "The Melt" at the Stanford Shopping Center in Stanford, CA when I'm in town.

A photo of my lunch. In the photo are a burger, fries, ketchup, a cup of water, napkins, and my glasses on a table.

A photo of my lunch. In the photo are a burger, fries, ketchup, a cup of water, napkins, and my glasses on a table.

A top down photo of my lunch. In the photo are a burger, fries, half a pickle, and a fork on a table.

This is all the photos for today. I hope you have enjoyed viewing the photos! Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Circular Polarizer Demo

If you remember at the beginning of the year, I posted up a circular polarizer demo article. Today I will show you some more examples of why you should use a circular polarizer, but I most likely will be copying some text I wrote in the last article as there is no point typing the same content up twice. HAHA If you want to see the last post, you can do so here.

The sample photos with the polarizer shown today was taken using the B+W 82mm XS-Pro Kaesemann Circular Polarizer with Multi-Resistant Nano Coating. First off, let me tell you why a circular polarizer is good. First of all, if you love landscape photos, you have to get one, a circular polarizer helps contrast the colors and deepen the blue sky. Using a circular polarizer can also help get rid of glare from water, glass, leaves (what I'm showing you today), etc... A polarizer will also protect your lens from the elements like fingerprints, scratches, and water. It is a good idea to use a filter. I have also read online that a filter saved his L model lens from a fall! Definitely worth the investment because $100 < $5,000. LOL

If you are serious about photography like me, I recommend you not get the cheap ones because they cause unwanted glares in your photos and the polarizing effect isn't good. The ones I have are a B+W 58mm Kaesemann Circular Polarizer and a B+W 82mm XS-Pro Kaesemann Circular Polarizer with Multi-Resistant Nano Coating. They are German made filters, and includes special nano-technology coating that causes water that collect on there to drip right off. There is also little vignetting at wider angles. However, this filter is pretty expensive, but most good ones are. The 58mm one cost me around $100 and the 82mm one cost me around $250 (still worth it for the great German optics).

If you don't know much about polarizers, you will find two types of polarizers. One type is the linear polarizer and one type is the circular polarizer. The linear polarizers will have a slightly better polarizing effect than circular polarizers, but will render your auto focus function useless as the polarizer will prevent the auto focus sensor from seeing light. Linear polarizers are usually cheaper than circular polarizers. Circular polarizers won't effect the auto focus sensor and is what most people use. Circular polarizers are more expensive.

The only down sides to using a circular polarizer (like with all filters) is that since filters is suppose to filter out the light, it will also slow down your shutter speed and the time of day it will work the test (due to the sun) is slightly limiting. If the shutter speed gets too slow, make sure you have your camera on a tripod.

Alright, let's move onto the sample photos I took. All these photos were taken in the town of Pleasanton, CA and are of autumn foliage.

This photo was taken without any filter. 

 This photo was taken with my circular polarizer. See how the glare from the leaves almost disappeared and the colors are more saturated? :)

Here is another shot with the circular polarizer.  

Here is a landscape shot taken with a circular polarizer in a park in Pleasanton, CA with the fall foliage on the trees. See how the sky is a deep blue color and all the colorful leaves are more saturated?

This is all the sample photos I got. Remember the filters I have is a  B+W 58mm Kaesemann Circular Polarizer  and a B+W 82mm XS-Pro Kaesemann Circular Polarizer with Multi-Resistant Nano Coating. If you are going to buy it, please buy it through my link. :) I get referral money that way and you'll be supporting the costs of running this blog. Even if you don't, please click in to check it out. I understand this filter might be a bit expensive for a lot of people, there are cheaper filters out there, but I don't recommend those. Also, when purchasing, don't forget to check if you got the right size filter!

Thanks for looking at this demo. I hope you have enjoyed it. If you haven't seen my past sample photos taken with circular polarizers, you can do so here. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Fall Foliage in Pleasanton, CA

I decided to get some photos of fall in my hometown of Pleasanton in California. I love fall every year (except for the raking leaves part) because the red and orange leaves are so beautiful. I took some photos to share with you guys of the beauty of my city.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To see my best photos of Pleasanton in 2012, use this link. View my best Autumn Foliage photos here. To see all of my photos from Pleasanton in 2012, use this link.

 HDR in a local park. Some of the leaves already fell off the trees while some of the leaves just began changing color. 

Another photo near that park.  

 Falls leaves and some picnic tables near the playground you saw above.

Fall leaves on a branch.  

Same branch now zoomed out a little bit.  

Another part of Pleasanton. More red leaves.

Leaves in my front yard. Didn't begin changing colors yet. Looks like sunrise doesn't it? I simulated this with my flash and a warming filter. Power of the Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT, able to power the ambient light even though the flash was like 2 meter away. 

Hope you have enjoyed these photos! I am still in the process of slowly doing my Death Valley National Park photos, but my classes have been a bit busy recently so I'm not doing it as fast. It might take a while. I still have photos of over places in my collection to show you guys so please check back soon! Please don't forget to share my blog posts with your friends! If you would like to get notifications next time I post, you can "Like" me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.