Daily Image - May 2013 Archive

07 May 13. Not far from downtown Salt Lake City can be found Antelope Island, a state park that was way over rated by the gate attendant who convinced me that it was worth $9 to drive through it. It wasn't, but I did nevertheless get a few nice shooting opportunities that included a few pounds of the 250 tons of walking pot roast, one prong horn antelope, several antlerless jackolopes, far too many biting gnats, and a large number of shorebirds. During our career in the Navy, we were asked if we were Mormon every time we moved because we had so much food in the house. It would seem that our Mormon friends are known somewhat for their largess, i.e., size of the pantry, family members, vehicles, State parks, and of course a few very large houses of worship, the largest being in downtown SLC. But what I wasn't aware of was that they have created a huge reserve for wildlife close in to city to include among other things a safe refuge for lots of creatures, including a herd of bison nmbering approximately 250 individuals, even if I didn't see but about a half dozen. Of those was a group of 5 at the edge of the lake enjoying a leisurely afternoon of sun and salt. They were a bit distant for my lens, but it was such an unusual sight that I thought you might appreciate seeing what I did. And so, I give you Great Salt Lick. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f /10.

06 May 13. Near the middle of HWY 84 in Utah can be found the Devil's Slide. Depending on your direction of travel, it is possible to drive right past it and not know what you are seeing as the signage heading east is missing. I visited it late in the afternoon and unfortunately the lighting was not what I would have liked. It seemed to me to be more of a morning shoot location and not well suited for the afternoon. But, since that was when I was there, I did what I could with it. It consists of two parallel limestone strata roughly 40 feet in height and separated by approximately 25 feet. Somewhat interesting and something I would have loved to slide down in my youth in the winter providing an "improved" bottom end had been fabricated as, as it is now, you are forcefully dumped into a small stream with a rocky bed. Worth a visit, but do try and see it before 1100 sun time. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/200 sec @ f /11.

08 May 13. Driving along the causeway from the entrance of the park to the actual island (Antelope) I noticed an interesting stump sitting in the mud not far from shore. It was rather striking in that it was predominantly white, although the sunlight was lending it a bit of a tan. While browsing around the visitor's center, I noticed that there was a large print for sale that highlighted that very stump. So someone besides me thought it interesting. Having missed B&W Tuesday I've elected to convert my capture of the stump to a B&W, but I've left a wee bit of color in the stump to keep the shaded side from going pure black. It was a bit hot, and I failed to compensate with a fast enough shutter speed to keep the background totally sharp, but the resulting softness I think helps in that it drives your eyes immediately to the stump. With the slight assist provided by the color, I think your eyes will have no choice but to go directly to that central point. D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f /11.

09 May 13. Situated directly across from where I took the shot of the stump was a section of shoreline containing a large number of stuffed birds. They were quite attractive and were busy looking for whatever it was just under the sands surface. I took several shots as it seemed that every few yards there was just another shot I "needed" This is a center section of one of the images. I've enhanced the shore a bit to give you a feel for the cracked surface but otherwise it is basically right out of the camera. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f /10.

10 May 13. Having cleared the airport, I had to make a decision as to how best to spend my free time on the arrival day in SLC. I decided to try Antelope Island as it was a recommendation on my flight itinerary. So I headed in the direction indicated on, what might be called omitting inappropriate verbiage, a horribly poor map, courtesy of Thrifty Rental Cars, to the marked exit off I-15. From there it was a straight shot but one of some length sans any indication that you were traveling in the right direction until about one block from the entrance to the park. Noting the admission price, I inquired as to whether it was really worth it. The story I got sounded really good, but it turned out to be more a story than reality. Sorta like an election speech. But the initial part of the visit was simply elegant thanks primarily to a fantastic display of clouds that sadly vaporized as the day wore on. This shot was one of the first images I took and while the clouds were at their best. I believe the view is generally a southerly one, but I can't be sure. Regardless, the views I was seeing for that first hour were worthy of the visit even if the rest wasn't quite up to par. Still, I would recommend you give it consideration if you are ever in the area; just hope for a partially cloudy day. If just 25% of what the literature says you will see materializes, you won't be disappointed. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f /10.

13 May 13. Since it is Spring, and as the flowers are now out in abundance, I'm thinking it is time for images of flowers. Not all at once, but scattered throughout the next several weeks. Let's start with something of a royal nature. About 45 minutes from our home, situated directly across the road from Puget Sound is found Whitney Gardens, in the small town of Brinnon, WA. We first visited there about a month ago, simply dropping in for a visit to shoot photos at a nursery we hadn't known about or visited, obviously, prior. While we were there we were informed that their specialty was rhododendrons, and that they had roughly 1,200 different species on the property. It was also suggested that we return close to Mother's Day weekend to see the majority of them in bloom. So we went back about a week ago, saw lots of simply elegant plants in bloom, and bought a few azaleas and clematis for the yard. They are all in the ground and displaying nicely. This is a shot of a single bloom from one of them. The background was too busy, so I isolated the blossom and put it on its own layer, then blurred the underlying layer, from which the blossom was isolated, to get what you are seeing. Before doing all this I also did a little detail enhancement on the flower to bring out the wonderful textures in the petals. The final step was to sharpen it just a little. Then of course it was flattened and saved as a JPEG to share with you. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f/ 7.1 with fill flash.

14 May 13. We'll do a slight diversion for B&W Tuesday and go with a color image but one whose colors are quite subdued and may even remind you of either an old time post card or old faded print. This was taken at the summit of the Alta ski area in the Wasatch MTs in Utah very close to where I was staying while I was away. From the town of Sandy the mountains don't look all that high to those of us from the PNW area, but they are a bit deceiving in that I-15 is at roughly 6000 feet as it passes them by and the community of Alta resides at 8640 feet. So to put it all in perspective, I am standing at roughly 8650 feet and the mountains are rising above me. It had been quite stormy and dark as I made my way to the summit and just before I was to leave to return to the motel, the sun finally broke through and offered some interesting shooting conditions. The ski trails are on the left side of the photo, but are not visible in this perspective. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority;ISO 200; 1/1000 sec @ f /10.

15 May 13. If I had to pick the "most favoritist" place the cherubs would like to go, setting aside seeing the "dinosaur place grandma said they could go see" it would be the Olympic Game Farm in Sequim, WA. I've written about it before, but today's story will be a bit different. Now there are many animals to see at the farm, all from the "safety" of your vehicle, but some of the critters are more equal than the others and are allowed to freely roam the premises and interact with you. The subject for today is not in that group, just a big dog like looking critter, that was relaxing at the road's edge as we made our way to interact with the more equal group. The admissions stand has bread to sell if you would like to feed the critters, and on our last visit we purchased 6 loaves which really wasn't quite enough, but we made do. At one end of the facility there resides a small herd of American Bison, the bulls weighing in at something around 2,500 pounds. As we were making the drive around the park, just prior to reaching the Bison hangout, I tried throwing some bread out the window to a small fawn who wasn't getting a fair share of the treats we were sharing. Forgetting about my shoulder, I made a hard swing out the window, parallel to the ground, and immediately realized that I had made a BIG mistake. When the white light and stars finally resolved, I remembered too late that my shoulder was far and away not prepared for such activity at that point in the recovery. Apparently at least one of the Bulls saw it happen, so as we neared where they were hanging out, he put his entire head into the car, up to the point where his horns stopped him from coming further in, and began to swing his head back and forth rhythmically smashing into my shoulder as if to say "here, let me put things back into place." We were all laughing so hard I forget to register that such behavior hurt "a bit." So we drove around a second time to experience it all over again. Of course the bull in my window wasn't the only one; Jan had one forcing his way into her window and the cherubs had a cow trying the same thing in one of their windows. Not a place to visit if you are worried about your vehicle getting scratched, but if you like some really healthy fun, pay it a visit, and take some young'uns with you. It will be a day venture you won't soon forget. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 7.1.

16 May 13. It being Theatrical Thursday and the season for blue poppies, I thought I'd combine the two and go with a stylized blue poppy. For those of you who want to shoot them, now is the time, and a visit to the RSBG if you live in the greater Puget Sound area, might be in order. Blue Poppy Day is this Saturday, the 18th, so they should be in good shape about now. My shot was taken in our yard where we have started our blue poppy garden with one plant, more to be added annually. I've enhanced it with my favorite filter a bit just for fun, so know that the flowers you might go shoot won't look exactly like this one. The enhancement however is very slight, so the difference will be small. Now that I'm aware of them, it seems like a lot of nurseries have them for sale, something I hadn't been aware of until this year. Likely its a bit like buying a new car; you don't see all that many of your model on the road until you buy yours, and then they are everywhere. D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f/14 with fill flash.

17 May 13. Roughly 15 miles from our new home is located the Bloedel Reserve. This 150 acre combination of sculptured gardens and natural woodlands is a lovely place to visit any time of the year, but spring and fall would be my favorites. Of all the locations in the reserve, my favorite by far would be the moss garden which is one of the 10 areas of the reserve. Now, knowing how much I hate the wet weather here, you are likely surprised that this is my favorite area in the reserve, but a slow meandering through it will likely help you appreciate my choice. No matter the season of the year, the moss garden has some lovely sights to see and photograph. This shot was taken in early spring standing on one of the paths that take you through or beside it. It is a low light shooting condition year round, even more so in the darker times of the year, so plan on using a tripod for any serious photography. Sharp eyes will catch the bog plant Skunk Cabbage in the upper part of the frame, so that might help to give you an idea as to the conditions in that section of the reserve. DO pay it a visit if you are in the area, either as a resident, or visitor; I'm certain you will find some or all of it enchanting. D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/20 sec @ f / 6.3.

20 May 13. This weekend excluded, the prior 7 days were primarily those of blue skies, white puffy clouds, and sunshine. Most every trip out found me taking advantage of the wonderful scenes being created by that particular combination of elements. On Friday, while returning from a visit to Port Orchard, I stopped alongside the road in Gorst, WA to take a shot of Sinclair Inlet. The combination of the clouds and sky, the highway's edge ablaze in color, and the city of Bremerton in the far distance (center, left edge), actually walking distance but the lens gave it that distant look, hosting the Bremerton Naval Shipyard, was too much to pass by. So I pulled off the road, just barely, and braved a few frames. The yellow colors is provided by groups of California Poppy and Scotch broom, which set off the sky and clouds perfectly. The RR bed, which, being where it is, could draw your eye out of the frame is countered, I believe, by the bunch of color at each end which hopefully draws your eye back into the frame to see more of the yellow. All we're lacking is an engine poking it nose around the left hand side of the track. With blue & yellow being the colors of Sweden, we have here a perfect Swedish day! Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/500 sec @ f /18.

21 May 13. I've shared this with you before, but wanted to present it with a different look. All I've done is to invert it, that is, switch black to white, and white to black. I think you will find that it gives it an entirely different look, more so than you might think from just the description. Otherwise, it is the same thing I sent on the 26th of Feb. If you don't save the images, I wouldn't, and you are curious as to how that other version looked, here is a link to it. See what you think. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f / 7.1.

22 May 13. Last week I shared an image of a climatis that enough of you said you liked that I thought I'd share another, only this time, instead of a mature blossom. I'm going with an aged one, so much so that all the petals have fallen off. Likely doesn't sound all that appealing but I've placed a few petals of another flower behind it, in very soft focus, to add a bit of color. And just to make sure that the background isn't distracting, I've use a very shallow depth of field. All told, you get something acceptably sharp in the center with everything else simply falling off, forcing you to look exactly where I want you to look. After your eyes move to the center, they will likely move up a bit, then around in a rather tight circle, and finally back to the middle. I'll wager you will have to force yourself to look at the bottom of the image. Now, if you like this image, you might enjoy the work of Kathleen Clemons, a flower photographer based out of Maine. Visit her page if you would like to see a lot more of this kind of image. You might get some good ideas just looking at her work; she is very talented! Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/80 sec @ f/ 5.6 with fill flash.

23 May 13. As humans, our anthropomorphic tendencies are often hard to overcome, and such was the case as I walked along a stream paralleling HWY 189 which in reality was most likely the other way around. I had pulled off road to enjoy the view and encountered a local who was there preparing to wet a line in anticipation of catching a few trout for the evening meal. When I told him from whence I had come, he said he was very familiar with the area having served his missionary work in Tacoma, which just made me laugh to think how small our world really is at times. As he could pronounce Puyallup correctly, I knew he wasn't just making idle conversation. I asked about the fishing and he said it was really good, having caught 16 the last trip out. Our conversation rambled and in the course of it he mentioned that that day was his birthday, so he was very cognizant of the weather on that date in his history, and that contrary to what I had been hearing, the winter was not late or lingering more so this year than any other nor was it any worse. After a polite bit of conversation, he meandered down to the stream's edge and I along a trail enjoying the view. It was at that point in my wandering that I wondered if the fish were enjoying it as much as was I, at least until they made that fatal slip, and took the bait. The aspect of the scenery that most caught my eye was the red bark of the bushes, and as it did not record a vibrantly as did my eye, I've enhanced it a bit as well as added in a small amount of texture to bring out the crispness of the various colored leaves. I would imagine that if I had been there a week later the chlorophyll would have been fully deployed and all I would have gotten was various shades of green. Now we know what fall will look like. May have to return then and see what I can get. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/400sec @ f / 8.

24 May 13. Unable to determine which image I should share with you today, I had to fall back on the judgement of one of the cherubs who thought this one most reminder her of a recent visit to Salt Creek Park to look at the animals residing in the inter-tidal zone that are only visible during low tides. This particular tide was only a -0.3, but on Decoration Day this year those of us neighboring Puget Sound will experience a -3.0 tide which means that there will be a LOT more to see and do. There are many areas around here to go and explore when the tide is out, but the best two of which I'm aware are Salt Creek Park on the west side of Puget Sound and Golden Gardens on the east side of the Sound, walking distance from where we used to live in Ballard. So for those of you living in this neck of the woods, Monday is a primo time to go look at the life abounding under the surface of the water. If a holiday means too many people for you, Tuesday will also be rather nice with a -2.4 tide, not as spectacular as a -3.0, but still something very much worth considering. While we were walking the tide pools at Salt Creek Park Jan found this red spiny sea urchin (Stromgylcentrotus franciscanus), or at least its remains. The animal had previous died, or been killed, and all that was left was this exoskeleton, but it was something none of us had seen before. I took a few shots of it, none quite as nice as I would have preferred, but in this one, if you zoom in sufficiently, you can get a nice view of its spines. The tides that allow for our easy of viewing, sans SCUBA gear, occur twice a year, generally in mid - June around 1200 and again in mid - December, around 2400. So it is just the daylight hour displays that I endeavor to shoot. Weather permitting (not rainy or blustery) perhaps I'll see one or more of you on Decoration Day in Golden Gardens. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/400 sec @ f / 7.1.

Decoration Day. As I write this on Sunday evening many will have celebrated Decoration Day already and hopefully many more shall tomorrow. Looking at our Sunday paper, it was more than sad to see that just 1 of 34 "funnies" took the time to recognize the Day, that being "Red & Rover." And that was most appropriately done! As for the image I've selected for Decoration Day, I'll let it speak for it's self. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/25 sec @ f /29 on a tripod.

28 May 13. Combining monochrome with creative aspects is how I achieved the image for today. This was nothing more than a bunch of grass growing near the edge of Buck Lake, a small lake a few minutes from our home. The grass caught my eye do to its appearance of a normal distribution curve as well as its coloration. I played with it for a while and wound up with a fairly nice image, which I also thought would look O.K. in B&W, and it did. Then I figured why not go for broke and see what it might look like with a little fuss'n. And what you see is how it eventually turned out. Of the three versions I actually like this one best, and so I'm sharing it with you. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 250; 1/125 sec @ f / 8.

29 May 13. Setting out to shoot some low tide stuff at Scenic Beach State Park in the Silverdale area of WA, we encountered not only a lot of fun stuff on the beach, but a nice grouping of wild Rhododendron, WA State's claimed flower. While you can now get over 1200 different varieties of the plant, thanks to careful genetic engineering, courtesy of Mendel, I still prefer the color of the wild plant over all of the newer colors/color combinations. This plant was in the playground area of the park, and was showing the effects of the frequent rain showers we were experiencing. One lonely pollinator was doing her best to try and get some food from the damp environment. The bee was a bit too dark in the original, so I've selectively lightened her to better balance the image. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/200 sec @ f /8.

30 May 13. Over the weekend with the extreme low tides and the cherubs visiting, we took several trips down to the beaches to see what we might encounter. After 3 such excursions, they had had enough, and declined to see any more. On our first trip to a beach just 1.1 miles from our house, walking distance actually, we roamed a fair amount of beach looking at what was available, only to "discover" that the best part of the low tide was a small pond up at the shore edge that they found to be of far greater interest than anything on the beach. As I was sitting on a log watching them play, I absentmindedly tossed a rock into the pond and watched as it made a nice splash. I then had the cherubs toss rocks into the pond as I tried to capture the splash. I got a few I liked, and this one reminded me of a fish jumping out of the water to take a fly, a real one in my thinking, but for you fishermen, it could just as well be one on the end of a line. After getting the image to look as I desired, I altered it to take on a water color-like appearance. The technique is called under painting which I imagine means that something is first laid down on the paper prior to the actual watercolors being applied. Or at least that sounds good. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f / 9.

31 May 13. Drift back in time with me to the mid 80s. Maverick and Goose are at the bar bragging about their earlier sortie, both sets of hands in the air demonstrating to all who will listen how they flew the flight. Or just think about any tactical aviator with whom you may be acquainted. It's all the same. Jump forward now to last Sunday as we were returning from taking the cherubs to Scenic Beach to see the intertidal zone life. On the way to the beach as well as on the return we passed over Big Beef Creek. The link shows you an aerial view at high tide, but with the extreme low tides over the weekend, all the area in light green was a tide flat, and it was covered in Bald Eagles feasting on the bounty provided by the tide. At least most of the eagles were feasting; a couple, however, were not, and we got to watch a marvelous display of aerial combat. Mostly it was a flat out chase with lots of fantastic flight maneuvers. In the end, at least for us viewers, it was a chase to another place, but while we got to watch it, it was a wonderful demonstration of just how agile these big birds can be in flight. 5 eagles feeding, 2 fighting, and 2 crows who were seemingly oblivious to it all. The birds are much smaller than I would have liked, but as I don't have a long birding lens (c$10K+), I went with what I had. I've added a small amount of texture, removed a bit of the distractions in the distance, and left it for all to imagine what the heavy blue line in the middle is; current consensus is that it is portions of the replacement I-520 floating bridge which will replace the current old floating bridge crossing Lake Washington in Seattle. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f/9.