Modern Woodworking, Circa 1830
Sturdy Circa 1830s -- Rootstown, Ohio, USA -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 18 mm — 1.5 sec, f/8, ISO 320 — full exif
Sturdy
Circa 1830s

Earlier in the summer I posted about an old Ohio farmhouse. The house was expanded sometime during its life, but the original part dates from about the 1830s or so, long before plumbing and electricity and, apparently, bolts. In the original attic, you can see that wooden pegs were used to tie a horizontal beam to its vertical support.

Here's a closeup...

, f/20, ISO 320 — full exif Wooden Pins securing two huge beams to each other -- Rootstown, Ohio, USA -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — 10 sec, f/20, ISO 320 — full exif
Wooden Pins
securing two huge beams to each other
Wide-Angle View -- Rootstown, Ohio, USA -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 2.5 sec, f/9, ISO 320 — full exif
Wide-Angle View

It looks as if the wall and roof planks have been replaced over the years, but the huge beams seem original, still showing marks from having been made with, I think, an adze. Here's the same beam as before, but to the right of the pegs...

, f/9, ISO 320 — full exif Big Beam with Adze Marks -- Rootstown, Ohio, USA -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 20 mm — 13 sec, f/9, ISO 320 — full exif
Big Beam with Adze Marks

Most of the flooring area was covered with old carpet or something, but the area immediately in front of the window was clear, showing the old warn floorboards that are likely original. I thought it might make an interesting desktop background, so I tried to get a clean shot straight down....

desktop background image of the old, original flooring in the attic of an old Ohio farmhouse, dating from circa 1830 -- 180-Year-Old Flooring -- Rootstown, Ohio, USA -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1/50 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1250 — full exif
180-Year-Old Flooring
Desktop-Background Versions
Standard: 1024×768  ·  1440×1080  ·  1600×1200      Widescreen:  1280×800  ·  1680×1050  ·  1920×1200  ·  2560×1600

I took the shot with a desktop-background in mind. Over the years I've created and posted a bunch of desktop backgrounds ( desktop-background photostream  ·  desktop-background posts ), although it may well be only me who thinks something like this would be interesting..... because I've yet to receive a single comment about someone else actually liking these.

Luckily, the person I write this blog for (me) likes them, so I'll continue. 😉 Links to various sizes / formats are above.

Getting this picture was comical. In order to get my feet out of frame, I had to lean waaaaaaay over, bracing myself against the sloping roof with one hand, trying to hold the camera steady with another, dripping sweat the whole time in the boilerroom that was this old farmhouse attic. Bonus points for not impaling my skull on one of the many roofing nails protruding from the ceiling.

The area was immediately in front of the window, which caused the boards to glow bright with reflected light, so I used a polarization filter to reduce the reflections and enhance the rich appearance of the wood's grain / patina.

Unfortunately, a polarization filter also acts to some extent like a mild neutral-density filter (e.g. a dimmer, like slightly smoked glass), so that increased the challenge of the shot. Despite being right by the window, there really wasn't that much light. The window was small, and once I got rid of the glare with the filter, it was actually pretty dark, photographically speaking. Note, for example, that the shot just before this one was a 13-second exposure.

In the end, I had to go to ISO1250, which is more than the Nikon D200 is really very good at. (Had I had my Nikon D700 at the time, this kind of shot would have been so much easier).


All 4 comments so far, oldest first...

Okay, I’ll fess up. I have a wallpaper folder on my MacBook that I use to cycle my desktop background every thirty minutes. Of the 19 images in the folder, 18 start off with JEF_. I definitely have a reason to push all my applications out of the way every so often and just look at my desktop.

— comment by Ken on October 4th, 2008 at 12:24am JST (16 years, 2 months ago) comment permalink

I guess I have never mentioned it, but there have been several of your desktops I have used. The first one was the aquarium rocks, and the latest(even though it was just a picture from your blog, and I assume not “maximized” for desktop use)was a shot of the trees and lake at the house.
The latest addition is very nice, and I am going to use that one now.

— comment by Ray on October 4th, 2008 at 2:15am JST (16 years, 2 months ago) comment permalink

I, too, have several JEF_xxx.jpg files in my Desktop Images folder. (Like Ken, I also have my computer set to automatically change the image every 30 minutes.) I had to modify one of Jeff’s images, though. It’s the 3rd one on this page. I liked it a lot but it looked upside-down to me and would make my head hurt. So, I rotated it 180°. And, now all is right with the world.

— comment by Joanna on October 4th, 2008 at 6:09am JST (16 years, 2 months ago) comment permalink

Hey Jeff –

Just wanted to say that these are great photos. Recently stumbled on this site looking for interesting wood grain photos.

I run two personal sites, one of which is http://alexdglover.dyndns-web.com, and wanted to use one of your images as the background. Obviously I would credit you as the source both on the page and in the source, but wanted to check with you to see if you had any issues with that. Anyways, please let me know, and great job.

Thanks,
Alex

Sure, that’s fine. —Jeffrey

— comment by ALEXANDER GLOVER on September 12th, 2012 at 10:40am JST (12 years, 3 months ago) comment permalink
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