Daily Image - Nov 2015 Archive

02 Nov 15 For the last several days our weather has been mostly rain, which, when combined with fallen colored leaves, can make for some nice photographic opportunities. Since the camera is basically with me wherever we go, I took the opportunity a couple of days ago to shoot some lovely red maple leaves that had fallen atop a hedge of small pines in a local shopping center parking lot. The light was coming from behind giving the leaves a chance to really show off. With the added bonus of having some water droplets on them it was an opportunity I couldn't resist. The base image was first cropped and a bit of unwanted material cloned out, then adjusted for max tonality, and finally given a slight amount of micro contrast boost. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/160 sec @ f /10.

03 Nov 15 Each time we make our annual run to Leavenworth there are a number of regular stops we make for me to take photos. We make many others, but there is a half dozen I always shoot. One of those is a small lake formed by the damming of the Wenatchee River immediately upstream, obviously, of a dam. This shallow lake is maybe 300 yards long at most, and perhaps 50 yards wide at its widest point. Beyond that it once again becomes the narrow and shallow river it was before the dam was constructed. The dam provides a tiny bit of power but is mostly used for the monitoring of the Steelhead Salmon that spawn in the river. I've shared a couple other shots of this lake in the past so some of you may remember it. Just beyond the right hand edge of this shot is a store and on the opposite side of the lake, the road side, is a big parking lot. The base image was adjusted for max tonality, and at that point I stopped. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/125 sec @ f / 8.

04 Nov 15. With all the potential for color around in the fall, assuming you are in an area with a sufficient number of hardwood trees, it is very easy to miss some of the other beauty that abounds. Each fall as I'm out shooting the color I'm also looking for beauty in different forms. One of those that frequently presents itself are either the tips of the evergreen branches, or the very top of the trees. I've found these shots in bright sunny days, overcast days, and even in the rain. In fact, the best of these shots have been either with the rain falling or just after it stops. I've shared a couple of these wet ones in the past. This one was taken on the Leavenworth trip a few weeks back and with nice sunny light. We had stopped the vehicle to shoot at one of the places I mentioned yesterday where the colors is almost always beautiful. Having shot a couple dozen color views I was returning to the vehicle when I spotted a small grouping of young trees on the down slope of the shoulder where we were parked. This particular branch made me think of where someone may have gotten the idea for Q-Tips. The base image was adjusted for max tonality and then given a wee bit of micro contrast enhancement. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 400; 1/80 sec @ f / 8.

05 Nov 15. A calendar marking event today in that Jan, who in general does NOT like my creative images, had a hard time choosing between the two candidates I selected for today as she liked them both!! This shot was taken 10 feet distant from location of the pine shot I shared yesterday. As I mentioned yesterday, this is one of the spots where we always stop to shoot and every year we make the trip I tell myself that I should shoot the ground color under the high power lines and never do, except that this time I did. The color was really nice, perhaps a few days past prime, but still something beautiful to see. Wherever you see the clearings for the power lines you see this lovely ground cover. At times I wonder how it would look if all the trees were gone and just the ground cover was in place. Might even be more beautiful than the fall color in New England. I know that is hard to imagine, but if you ever have the chance to see the fall ground cover in the Cascades you will understand my observation. The base image was converted for max tonality, given a small amount of micro contrast enhancement, and then I applied a creative filter to get this particular look. I used a filter that turned it into a sketch, then used the multiply blending mode (remember last Friday) to get the finished look. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/125 sec @ f / 8.

06 Nov 15. Those of you who have been receiving these mailings for a period of time know I've mentioned my Grandmother's love of flowers and her section in the old farmhouse where she grew the indoor plants, especially Christmas cactus. Jan has followed in that tradition and also has a section of this house that is devoted to growing indoor plants, her enclosed section of our rear deck that is surrounded with glass and has heat, water, and music available. It is apparently the right combination as the plants in it are constantly in bloom. A little ahead of schedule to my way of thinking, based on the name of the plant, there are presently about a half dozen Christmas cactus in full bloom. I would love to take them out of the hothouse and shoot them in the studio, but they are so fragile and so intertwined with other plants that doing so would likely result in the loss of most of the blossoms. So I have to shoot them in place. This makes for a rather challenging situation, but with enough tight cropping I can occasionally get a usable shot. This is a shot of one of the "red" ones; there are also white, pink, and a somewhat variegated one. The base image was severely cropped, adjusted for max tonality, and given a wee bit of micro contrast adjustment. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/60 sec @ f / 8 with fill flash.

09 Nov 15. Of all the places in Yellowstone we visit, Artist's Paintpots is Jan's favorite, mostly for the two bubbling mud pools at the top of the site. The climb up is relatively easy and there are two approaches but either way it is the same trail. Starting at the bottom you are greeted by several small pools of bubbling liquid something along with a couple of obvious tiny geysers. This one sits at the very corner of the left hand side of the loop trail and is constantly splashing water although not always to the same height. As such, with the right wind, it can catch you off guard and leave you a bit damp. The trail is at the bottom of the image and travels clockwise up the side of the bank for perhaps 60 feet in height but on a gentle slope. From the top the view down looking at the paint pots as well as out across the valley, to say nothing about the mud pots, is well worth the easy climb. The only drawback is that it is frequently not open when we visit in the spring but if you go anytime after the end of May you will find it accessible. Be sure to put it on Yellowstone bucket list! The base image was adjusted for max tonality and then give a tiny amount of micro contrast enhancement. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 8.

10 Nov 15. A black & white image today - what else for B&W Tuesday - but something very different from what I usually share. During our 7th tour in the Navy, and our 3rd and last tour in So. CA, I was stationed at Pt Mugu and we lived in Oxnard, CA. Around that time in our lives Jan had become infatuated with rubber stamps, and she collected (purchased) a LOT of them. Just up the road a ways north was Santa Barbara, and in that little town was located a store called Stamp-A-Barbara where you could find a rubber stamp of just about anything you could imagine. We paid that town many a visit in our 3 years there and saw some interesting things in the process. One evening while walking down its main street we watched as a rather LARGE Iguana - someone's pet on a leash - scurried under a sidewalk table where a couple were having dinner and climbed up behind them on a large vine. The owner began to apologize but the diners said "Oh don't worry, we have one just like him at home." One of those things you have to witness to believe. Just like seeing a real artichoke in bloom which many folks have never seen growing, let alone blooming. Now I know none on this list are in that category because I've shared such a photo - that of a blooming artichoke - with you just recently. But what if I were to turn that into a rubber stamp. Any idea how that would look? Well, as soon as you look at the photo you will have a good idea of at least how I think it should look. Now you can save it out, dip it in ink, and stamp away. I took the base image, adjusted for max tonality, and then ran an embossing filter on it. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 8.

11 Nov 15. About one mile down the road (Hwy 191) from the condo you come face to face with the Madison River. This is actually just a bit of overflow but it is right on the edge of the road and frequently has some water fowl paddling around so it tends to catch your eye. Quite often the clouds hovering overhead add a lot to the scene. If you are interested in getting a bit closer, you can climb down to the riverbed on the opposite side of the road about a 100 feet further down. At that point you will have passed over a small bridge where the access is easy and you can actually fish for trout. Many times we have passed by to see several folks fishing along one end of the bridge. One could also float the river from this point but I have no idea where you would exit. The locals could probably tell me the ins and outs but I've never asked. Probably should. I do know that you could float all the way to Hebgen Lake where the condo resides on the shore of the Grayling Arm of the lake and exit there, but then it would be a bit of a walk to get back to the take off point. However, with two vehicles it would be an easy trip. The base image was adjusted for max tonality, the clouds given some slight enhancement, ad the overall image given a bit of micro contrast adjustment. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 8.

12 Nov 15. As you all know I am often mentioning that I use plug-in programs to make some of the modifications to the images I share and I'm reasonably certain you also know that I beta-test most of these plug-ins for a company called Topaz. I have no affiliation with the company, and the beta testing I do for them is for free, well, almost free, as they do offer complimentary copies of their programs being tested if your participation is sufficient as measured by them. Topaz Labs, Topaz for short, has 16 different plug-ins available, the 16th being just released today called Texture Effects, plus one program that is a photo editor and can run all 16 plug-ins. Texture effects does just what the name implies, it allows for the application of a texture of any kind on top of your image. For some this will be a very welcome piece of software based on two things, what it can do and its price, while for others, like me, it will be of little to no use. It all depends on what you like to do. However, I did use another plug-in called Glow to get the look you see. This image is just a leaf in the front yard that was actually quite dark red, what I did to it was to greatly amplify the veins in the leaf. The base image was adjusted for max tonality, given a wee bit of micro contrast enhancement and then modified using the plug-in. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/60 sec @ f / 5.6 with fill flash.

13 Nov 15. First I have to acknowledge my major faux pas yesterday in mis-naming Veteran's Day Decoration Day which we should all recognize as the current Memorial Day while Veteran's Day, up until 1954 was correctly called Armistice Day. My apology for the big goof!! Now with today being macro Friday I need to produce something fitting so let's take a look at a flower which I believe should not be blooming in the middle of November, but is at our house, and outside at that. In fact, we have two individuals blooming at this time. Now the front of the house faces in a generally northerly direction, and there is one small section, by small I mean perhaps 5 feet, that sits back a little and as such provides for a rather nicely protected spot and I'm thinking it is somewhat warmer than the surrounding area. At least that's my guess. Planted in this location are a couple of plants that have purple berries that look like plastic pop-it beads. They should be bare branches with the purple berries abundant on them at this time of the year, but our several plants are lush with healthy green leaves. Hanging near them are two fuchsias which are nicely blooming. At the time I shot this image each had but one blossom, now they have several. A bit unusual to my way of thinking, especially when everything else in the yard is now displaying their winter appearance, but these two groups are anything looking winterized. It had just finished raining when I snapped the fuchsia so the water you see dripping from it is natural. I took the base image and severely cropped out most of the frame, adjusted it for max tonality, and then gave it a tiny amount of micro contrast enhancement. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/60 sec @ f / 5.6 with full flash (in order to reach the flower).

16 Nov 15. When most folks travel to Mt Rainier to shoot the mountain it is generally to either the Paradise or Sunrise visitor centers. Most, but not all, of the photos you see come either from those two areas or from the trails that begin in those locations. There is a third location that offers some very nice views of the mountain but at a greater distance. Tipsoo Lake is a bit off the general path although it lies immediately adjacent to the highway and is very easily accessible. Tipsoo Lake offers 3 areas that can be reached by anyone and a fourth that is available only to the strong willed, as it is at the top of a rather impressive mound of rock. I've worked 3 of the 4 and would like one day to make the climb up the mountain. Although the path to the top is well maintained, it is quite narrow and I'm not sure that I would be able to deal psychologically walking so close to the edge of a very steep drop. This shot was taken from the side of the road with the lake immediately to my back as the sun was sinking directly behind the mountain. I wanted to capture the layered look of that in the traditional Japanese water color prints but not with the subdued pastel look or the simple background. One of these times I gonna try to emulate that total look but I'll likely need to study it some to determine how to get that result. I know how to do it in the studio, it is the on location approach with which I have no idea at the moment. The base image is actually 5 individual shots [ -2, -1, metered, +1, +2 ] which I ran through an HDR program to get a single image. Next I enhanced the small details to tease out the layering that my eyes could clearly see but the camera not so well, then gave it a small amount of global micro contrast enhancement. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 400; 1/160 sec (middle of 5 exposures) @ f /13.

17 Nov 15. Another HDR image like that of yesterday for B&W Tuesday; the first time I've done this. As a youth I was greatly inspired by the work of a local newspaper photographer, Joesph Scaylea. Being a newspaper photographer he worked primarily in B&W and many of his images were simply stunning. Although I doubt that he had any connection with A. Adams, his work at times was easily equivalent. This image is an attempt to mimic what Mr Scaylea did on a daily basis although he would have done it better for sure. On the day this was taken the sky was a totally bland pale blue with not a hint of clouds to be found which was a bit odd in that the two previous days we had been socked in by dense fog. My shooting partner was visiting from MD and during the two previous days we were just about the only ones who left the lodge ( we were part of a retreat to Mt Baker) to shoot in the fog. Those who elected to sit inside by the fire and drink hot chocolate and roast marshmallows missed out on some wonderful shooting opportunities. This shot was taken on day 3 towards the end of the day and was among the last shots we were to take. I really didn't like the sky, so unlike what Mr Scaylea would have had to contend with, I simply put in a more interesting one. It was a bit of a chore to do so and if you look really carefully you may find where it didn't go perfectly. I did my best to find a sky that matched the lighting of the original scene and I do believe this one worked rather well. I took the base image - a composite of 4 shots - and adjusted it for max tonality, masked out the sky replacing it with one I liked better, and then converted to B&W. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/50 sec @ f /16 on a tripod.

18 Nov 15. Traveling in the North Cascades you never know what you may come upon. We were driving down a somewhat icy road with lots of ups and downs while curving back and forth on our way to specific destination when we suddenly came to a flat area that was apparently a small pond in the warmer parts of the year but a field of ice resplendent with mounds of snow at the time of our visit. I have no idea what was the cause of the snow mounds but it was something beautiful to see. I jokingly suggested that it was a beaver's winter resort. I took a few shots, then we continued on to our destination which turned out to be a total bust, so we went back and I took a lot more photos of this pond. I'm not sure I could even find it again but it doesn't matter because we'll find something equally nice the next time we go traveling down an unknown road. Once you are driving around in the North Cascades there is no lack of things to photograph and each trip is different, even if you go the the same area repeatedly. As long as it isn't raining ( we got 2.5 inches on Saturday) this part of the country is something to behold. The base image was adjusted for max tonality and then given a tiny bit of micro contrast enhancement. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; !/400 sec @ f / 8.

19 Nov 15. For those of you who don't track our weather, and seriously why would you, the last several days have been what you could call stormy. There is a large container outside the garage that collects rain and since last Saturday it has collected 3.25 inches of water. Associated with that collection have been some strong winds, reaching 80+ mph in nearby areas and felling lots of trees. It was reported today that over a million folks lost power in the latest storm (Tuesday) and our dinner guests had to cancel due to fallen trees. Our yard and roadways looked like a war zone when we went out to walk Maggie Wed morning. So Thur will be a day of clean-up and it may take longer than I would like! But I guess that's the price for living in an area that's either acres of trees or clams. So today's Theatrical Thursday image is one that isn't too far off from reality. I've enhanced it just enough to consider it creative, but I'll wager I could sell it as otherwise. It was actually taken in Feb on a day that had been off and on somewhat stormy and I grabbed this shot just as we got a break in the storm with some very gorgeous light sneaking through the clouds. This is the real sky but I've "softened" it some to create the "look" you see. The base image was adjusted for max tonality, given a small amount of micro contrast adjustment, and then a creative filter (plug-in) was used to create the overall effect. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/400 sec @ f / 8.

20 Nov 15. For today's macro/close-up Friday we are going with a movie motif. Depending on your preference in movies, this might have come from either Alice in Wonderland or Avatar. Those two choices give you some idea of my movie experience which is to say I don't go to movies. Both of these two however had something in common even though they span decades of time and that is the flower gardens. That in Avatar was far more advanced than the scenes in Alice, but the technology advances between the two are such that we might consider them on a par given what was possible at the time of production for each. By far my favorite of the two was Avatar, and in fact I believe I'd rate it as my all time favorite movie. There were a couple of parts that really held my attention of which the flowers were certainly a biggie but I also really enjoyed the flight scenes on the dragons which were extremely well done. However, it was the flower scenes that are behind the image I'm sharing for today. You've seen this shot before as a straight shot of yellow tulips sent back in late spring; this time I've done a little creative work on it to try and mimic that which I saw in Avatar. Perhaps you'll be able to recall that part of the movie. The base image was adjusted for max tonality, given a small amount of micro contrast enhancement, and then the effect was applied using a plug-in. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

23 Nov 15. Growing up in the PNW when we did, there wasn't the abundance of "generic" pops (soda for those of you on the right coast) available as there are today. Back then you had the major brands of that time plus, in all local stores, the Shasta brand - "It hasta be Shasta". The can label used to feature Mt Shasta but now days the cans look VERY different. I think they made a big mistake dropping the well known symbol, but then they weren't alone in making bad marketing decisions as anyone familiar with the Rainier Brewing Company can attest. Driving along I-5 in northern CA it is hard to miss Mt Shasta, the last volcano in the Cascade mountain range, although the range is branded with a different moniker in that part of the country. To really appreciate that mound of rock you need to get of the freeway and travel some of the back roads where you get a very different perspective of it. This shot was taken from one of those back roads the first week in January of 2012 when it should have been coated in snow. Less than two weeks later Ma Nature made up for lost time and there were several feet of the white stuff covering all of it. We got to see it this way on our way south but the return trip found us in the middle of a MAJOR blizzard when all we could see was parts of the road - in places. The base image was adjusted for max tonality and then given some micro contrast enhancement. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f /11.

24 Nov 15. Some of you may remember what I've written previously about the National Bison Range in western MT or the St Ignatius Chapel nearby. About 10 miles north of St Ignatius one finds the Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge which is one of a group of four wildlife refuges of which the National Bison Range is a part all in close proximity to each other. This 4,000+ A refuge is one you will most likely drive right by and never find unless you have some form of locator device as it is almost unmarked and the parking lot for it is little more than a small patch of dirt and gravel with one covered reader board. There is a fence surrounding the area and you enter through a gate and then just walk around in what appears to be nothing but a big field. However first impressions here can be very misleading as after you've ambled a few hundred feet into the refuge you are met with an abundance of wet areas many of which are filled with water fowl ranging from ducks to herons to pelicans of all things. And that is just the beginning. The image for today does not feature any of the wildlife, but it will give you a small inkling of the beauty to be found there. Five different frames were stitched together to create the base image which was first adjusted for max tonality, then given a slight enhancement to the sky to bring it out, and finally converted to a B&W image. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f / 8.

25 Nov 15. Whenever traveling along our mountain pass areas on an early autumn/winter morning, there is always a chance that you may encounter a bit of mist rising up off the ground as the sun warms the cold land. IF you are lucky enough to catch that rising mist with the sun back lighting it you can get some really nice images. This is one such shot that I captured one morning around 0900 while we were driving along Highway 2 in the North Cascades. It was one of those times when it all came together, for about 5 minutes, and we were fortunate to be there when it happened. I've used a filter to enhance the lighting some so this might have been more appropriate for Thursday, but I thought I'd share it on a non-creative day anyway. The only thing I've actually done to make it creative is to strengthen the color of the light and render it a little, but not much, more intense. The base image was adjusted for max tonality, given a small amount of micro contrast enhancement, and then the filter was applied. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/500 sec @ f /10.

27 Nov 15. Welcome to the day when we all line up to buy more stuff after having celebrated the day before for all we have. Guess we'll never learn. The last few mornings when it hasn't been raining have been rather frosty and depending on when we take the queen out for her walk we get to see either frosty foliage or results of same. This is a shot of what the frost looks like after it melts leaving the leaves with a few droplets of moisture. Several days this week have provided for ample opportunity and I'll share a few of the shots as the week progresses. I've added a tiny amount of enhancement to this shot to really bring out the water droplets but otherwise it is a straight shot. The base image was first adjusted for max tonality, then given a small amount of micro contrast adjustment. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 500; 1 / 60 sec @ f / 5.6.

30 Nov 15. The last couple of weeks I've seen several instances of does with fawns in attendance, although obviously not new borne, which was the inspiration for sharing this image. This shot was taken in Shenandoah National Park at Big Meadow in the early June, the time when the White Tailed deer give birth. This little one is no more than 2 days old, and they are quite a sight to see frolicking around in the meadow after either the morning or evening routine of breakfast / dinner and a bath. If you are patient when you visit you will get to see dozens of mothers and infants which are all making their appearances at the same time. Of all the things we've seen in our lives, this annual June spectacular has to be among the most precious. For those of you who live within a 3 hour drive of the park I HIGHLY recommend making a trip there once in the early June time frame while you are still able. You won't regret the time spent and you'll never forget it! Look closely to see if you can locate the flies on mama. The base image was adjusted for max tonality and given a slight amount of micro contrast enhancement. ISO 100; 1 /200 sec @ f / 7.1 with the Nikon D200 and the 80 - 400.