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.
