Daily Image - Oct 2015 Archive

01 Oct 15. For this week's Theatrical Thursday it's back to the pure whimsical employing my all time favorite plug-in, Fractalius. It's a windows only plug-in and one many Mac users have drooled over for years. Topaz Labs came out with a competitive product last year called Glow but the two programs really compliment each other as opposed to compete with each other. I've had lots of fun with it for almost a decade, but this is my first use of it this year. The computer problems of the last couple weeks appear to have all been caused by one stick of RAM failing; makes me think that the OS should be able to identify failing RAM and give appropriate notice. But mine didn't and it resulted in some significantly lost time and a fair amount of $ to make the diagnosis. But all seems well now as I've been pushing this box for over 24 hours and not a burp. A while back I may have mentioned that back in the early 70s while participating in the development of a new electronic device to monitor blood flow for inter-venous gas bubbles (what occurs with the bends in diving or severe altitude changes) an individual looking at a bread boarded version of the electronics made the comment, when looking at all the wires and components protruding from the base board, "Howood (the lead engineer's name was Howard) all deem wyerz (wires) can't possibly wook." Well, that is akin to my thinking these last couple of weeks when trying to decipher exactly what was causing my computer problems. In discussing this with a computer guru friend of mine in MD, he suggested that I should take a shot of the computer and "mess" with it for my weekly creative shot. And so I did. If you are among that small group of folks who like to play around inside of computers you will no doubt recognize everything in the image; for the rest of you have a go at it to see what you can recognize. This one might even make for a simple puzzle of bright colors. I took the base image, straightened it appropriately, cropped it after the straightening, and then ran the Fractalius filter on it. That's all. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/125 sec @ f / 8.

02 Oct 15. For today's close up I've chosen a cone flower shot against a blah sky at a local nursery. With the background (sky) being texture-less and almost white, I pushed the whites to an extreme to create a high key image. This type of image goes into and out of vogue in a somewhat cyclic nature and from what I'm seeing in the current crop of photo books they seem to be coming back into style. They are easily done either by using a plain background as in this image or shooting the subject against a totally white background. This flower was a little bit past its prime and that was what attracted me to it. I liked the texture effect that aging gave to the petals. My focus was on that tiny light green leaf in the center of the flower; the idea was to have just that plane sharply in focus with everything else falling away slowing to give a softness that would counter the aging. Didn't have to use any beauty creams or other products to do it. The base image was adjusted for max tonality, given a wee bit of micro contrast adjustment, and cropped to remove a lot of unneeded white. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/400 sec @ f / 7.1.

05 Oct 15. Well, here we are back on line this time to stay, I hope. The rebuild went cleanly and I was able to do it in one day while simultaneously moving approx 40 yards of dirt to our property in preparation for some much needed landscaping to transform us from the Beverley Hillbilly look to something at least moderately acceptable! A week ago was the highly overrated blood moon full eclipse. As I mentioned last week we got on location early enough that you couldn't even see the moon, and it certainly wasn't this big sphere is was touted to be by everyone who felt the need to write about it. Just the same, it was nice to watch once the afterglow of sunset had sufficiently receded to let us actually see the moon. All the photos I got that had any foreground to them had a moon that was so pale as to almost be invisible, so I've taken a shot of the moon later in its orbit and placed it in a shot that still showed a bit of foreground, so it isn't an actual capture but a composite of two frames. I also enlarged the moon to the proportions the "science" writers said it should be, so had you been with me you wouldn't have seen it quite this big in person.That said, it looked even bigger than this the next Tuesday, two days later, when I also photographed it. I've cropped a big proportion of this file off the top as well as some on the right which, had I left it in, would have made the moon appear smaller but I thought you might appreciate it in this larger presentation. I took the initial image showing the land and lights and a LOT of sky with a barely visible moon, layered a second shot of the colored moon on top, removed the the background from this moon layer, and then positioned the red moon directly over the moon in the background layer. Then I adjusted the colors to match the background layer and scaled the colored moon to fit the perspective of the background layer. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Manual; ISO 200; 2 sec @ f /8 on a tripod.

06 Oct 15. As this is the time of year we would normally be heading to Yellowstone to enjoy the fall color, I thought I'd share a shot of my favorite thermal entity in the park. Generally I'd be sharing this in color, and as you might guess from it's name, it would be in shades of orange. But it also looks nice in monochrome, and that's what I'm sharing. When it is presented in color, I think it looses some of the character that is present in the B&W approach, although both forms provide for a nice photo. This mound is continually growing and each visit it shows us a new face so I really enjoy capturing it on each trip. The formation is located at the north entrance to the park and is one of the displays where you can park directly in front of it and either shoot it from the comfort of your vehicle or get out and walk along the boardwalk directly in front of your parking spot. The boardwalk wraps around the right hand side of the mound and is perhaps 100 feet total in length so you can easily take in the entire display even if wheel chair bound. Next time you visit the park make this one of your bullets on your must see check list. You won't regret it. The base image was adjusted for max tonality, given a slight micro contrast adjustment, and then converted to B&W. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.

07 Oct 15 . Took a trip over Hwy 2 today to get some fruit from a farm we visit annually for apples for applesauce, and this year also pears, just outside Leavenworth, WA. $33 in gas and $28.50 in ferry fares to get $40 of fruit. I think we may need to re-evaluate the economy of this approach. In the process I also shot a couple hundred frames of fall color one of which I'm sharing today and a few dozen of spawning salmon, plus a set of a pair of waterfalls, the pair being upper and lower. Now, just for those of you in western WA, the colors on the eastern side of Stevens Pass, between the summit and Leavenworth, are between peak and past peak, and in some areas spent. But if you make the trip in the next couple of days you will find it worth the drive. In addition, the Wenatchee River is full of spawning salmon and if you are patient you can enjoy a real show in the extreme shallows. The shot for today was taken at roadside of Nason Creek Pond, walking distance from the only rest stop between the summit and Leavenworth There is no warning for the pond and one can drive right by it and never see it, but we "discovered" it about 8 years ago and have been photographing it yearly since. This pond is at peak color, and to show off what can be seen if your timing is right, this is virtually straight from the camera. Not all the area is in such color, and one of the things I've tried to shoot each year, the ground cover on the mountainsides was way past peak, with the majority of the mountainsides mostly bare plants although there were spots here and there that still had some acceptable color. Fall has apparently come earlier than normal this year but that has also been the case for Spring and Summer, so we should have taken that into consideration and made are annual trip 7 - 10 days ago. The base image was adjusted for max tonality and that was it. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/125 sec @ f / 8.

08 Oct 15. It being Theatrical Thursday, I felt compelled to try and get a creative image together of the blood moon eclipse. Now as most if not all of you know the moon generally looks bigger at the horizon (due to atmospheric distortion) than it does when full up in the sky. That is not always the case, and while there is a lot of discussion as to why the moon appears to be the size it is at any single viewing, there is no agreement on the subject. I write this because the sequence of shots in this composite image is the actual reverse of what one might expect. The image consists of 15 shots taken over a roughly 100 minute period. It begins with twilight and ends with the typical dark night sky, so the colors of the moon are not consistent. When we first began to see the moon the sky was quite blue and sufficiently bright that we could barely make it out. For the next 20 minutes or so the sky slowly darkened and the blueness (this wasn't a "blue moon") of the moon faded away until it was totally gone and the red began to become the dominate color. We began to see the eclipse just before it was total, and watched until it was over. I re-shot the moon two days later and it was MUCH bigger, MUCH brighter, and looked the way we normally see it. For those of you who didn't get a good view of the show, here's hoping that this will give you a little idea of how it looked. For this image I took two colors from the first capture, made a new canvas of the appropriate size for the sequence, then applied a gradient of the two colors (deep blue and black) vertically bottom to top to get the "night sky." I then copied the moon from 15 different captures and pasted each one onto its own layer. I tried to get a nice arcing pattern but didn't fare as well as I would have liked. The basic exposure for each shot was a basic daylight exposure as it was a bright sunny day on the moon for most of the shots. For the earlier phases ( those closest to the horizon) I had to make some slight adjustments to account for the eclipse effect. Nikon D300s; 18 = 200; ISO 200; f/8.

09 Oct 15. While trampling the forest floor looking for fall color that I thought worthy of sharing, I was doing MY usual thing of looking down to observe what I might be missing if I were to just look straight ahead. Now, an old adage in photography is that once you get your shot, turn around because the "real" shot is often behind you. For me, while I've found that to be true quite often, my recommendation is to look down, especially while you are walking, as there you will quite often find the shot. Of course implied in this is an appreciation for the diminutive or the life in general that inhabits the forest floor or whatever the ground level is called where you happen to be shooting. This shot is of a maple tree's likely first fall as it has but two leaves and both of them are less than three inches above the ground. A few long needle pine needles, as well as a few tiny mushrooms, help to give some perspective of all the life nestled tightly above the ground. Take a peek down next time you are out shooting. The base image was adjusted for max tonality, given a tiny bit of micro contrast enhancement and that was it. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/125 sec @ f / 8.

12 Oct 15. Walking along the road side of one of the spots where I regularly stop to shoot color on our fall trips to Leavenworth I noticed this large white rock. The rock its self called out to pose for the camera, but before I took the shot I walked around the front side of it looking to see if there was a best angle to make the image and was immediately rewarded by this view. The composition reminded me of part of the Lutheran communion service with the words "a foretaste of the feast to come" in that the colors simply cried out Christmas with the red and green combination so there was my foretaste of the season to come upon us very soon. I have no idea what type of rock this is, but those of you with a geology background will I'm certain immediately recognize it. However, it was its size, shape, color, and position with respect to the evergreens and vine maples that caught my eye. The rock is a little over 4 feet in height and I'm guessing weighs in at roughly a ton. I think it would make a nice piece of yard landscape but one would need some heavy equipment to use it as such. Lacking same, I'll just enjoy it each year on our annual visit to the area. The base image was adjusted for max tonality, given a small amount of micro contrast adjustment, and that was it. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1 / 250 sec @ f / 8.

13 Oct 15. While I've shared several color shots of Ludlow Falls, I've yet to show them in monochrome, so I thought I'd do that for today. If you've been keeping the images you have a color version of this file I sent earlier. If not, you'll have to rely on memory, yours - not the computers, to make the comparison between the two images. With virtually all the color gone (I left in a tiny bit in the main falls) your eye should be pulled immediately to the flowing water without the colored foliage distracting you as it may have in the color version. In fact, I'm betting that if you looked at the photo before reading this, you initially didn't even notice all the plant life on the right hand 1/3 of the photo. In the color version I was relying on the framing by the plants to pull your eye into the center, in this B&W version the brightness of the water accomplishes the same thing but in a more dramatic manner. The base image was adjusted for max tonal range, given a tiny amount of micro contrast adjustment, and then converted to B&W. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1 sec @ f / 29 on a tripod.

14 Oct 15 . On each visit to Leavenworth we do our best to find fish in the Wenatchee River. Last week when we visited we were well rewarded and the Steelhead were hard at work in the extreme shallows of the river. Watching them I couldn't help but be amazed at their life cycle. Especially when one considers that they begin life in fresh water, live most of their lives in salt water, and return to fresh water to reproduce. Until you've seen what they have to traverse to get back to their birthplace, you don't really have an appreciation for it. Add to that the size of the hatchlings who have to make their way into the Pacific Ocean and survive there for 3 - 5 years before making their return and the whole thing seems simply impossible.With a life story such as theirs, there is no doubt that they are the fittest of the fittest. To my way of thinking, there is absolutely no way this could have occurred by chance. The thin brown lines in the bottom and right lower thirds are the spawning Steelhead. Note how shallow the water is where they are spawning, barely covering the fish. The base image was adjusted for max tonality and then given a small amount of micro contrast enhancement. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/80 sec @ f / 8.

15 Oct 15. Tonight the owners of the blog where I post these images for those who don't want to be on the mailing list are forcing all subscribers to transition to a new platform. They began the transition about 2 years ago and today was the last day to make the move. I don't like their "new" look so I put it off until today. After several hours of watching their videos on how to build the site customized to one's personal taste, I gave up in disgust and sent them an email to do it themselves. They graciously did and created the new site such that it looks almost identical to what I designed way back when when I first subscribed. So should you go out to it you won't see a great deal of difference and, who knows, you might like it. Meanwhile, I spent way too much time today messing with it to create something current for today's Theatrical Thursday submission, so I'm falling back on something I did back in early June. This is a very creative approach to a single blossom of a thimble berry bush, a native thornless bramble shrub growing along the driveway into the house. I happen to like the taste of the berries, but apparently I am in the minority and it is very rare that you will come across preserves, pies, or pastries using the fruit. The white flower however is quite striking with a highly textured petal and a beautiful center. The base image was adjusted for max tonality, given a wee bit of micro contrast enhancement, cropped for best presentation, and then run through a creative filter. Nikon D300s; 18- 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1000 sec @ f / 9.

16 Oct 15. With autumn apparently in full tilt everywhere west of the Mississippi, I thought I'd share a close up of how the vine maples are looking out our way. This shot was taken in the Cascades during the trip last week to Leavenworth, but the same color can be seen in all the nurseries near by. I'm rather certain I'd see the same color in the local area but there are not a lot of vine maples growing near here. There is some yellow about, especially in the big leaf maples, but for the most part the maples around here have yet to put on a show. But the wildlife is making up for some of that with plenty of black tail deer making regular appearances as well as the local coyotes. Wednesday I spent perhaps 10 minutes worrying a healthy youngster in a neighbor's fenced field who tried its best to get away but couldn't find a satisfactory escape route. Eventually it did as later in the day it was no longer there, but I had a little fun earlier that morning keeping it on the run, back and forth, trying to find its way out. The base image was adjusted for max tonality and then given a tiny amount of micro contrast enhancement. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 18 - 200; 1/200 sec @ f / 8.

19 Oct 15. On a recent trip into Silverdale to run some errands we stopped off at the local post office where the Kitsap Dahlia Society has a very nice display garden. If you remember the post from almost two years ago where we fed a raven at Hurricane Ridge dog biscuits which the raved stacked up in his beak 5 high, I thought I'd try a crow walking around in front of the flower display to see if it would like to have a go at it. I stopped with one as he seemed to be having a problem deciding what to do with it, but in retrospect I think I should have tried to see if he actually could manage more than one. The biscuit I offered was a fair sized portion as you will note in the photo, so the one piece may have been sufficient. One of the striking things about this bird was its plumage, so in this image I've enhanced it a bit so that it really shows off. The vibrancy of the feathers was constantly varying as the bird moved through the sunlight, so I've made it look as it did at its shiniest. The base image was adjusted for max tonality, given a slight bit of micro contrast enhancement, after which I applied a creative filter to provide for the feather vibrancy. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/50 sec @ f /10.

20 Oct 15. For today I thought I'd go with an image previously shared in color for comparison purposes. IF you saved the earlier version, bring them up together and see which you find provides more detail. I think the majority will find this B&W version provides more detail, but that the color version may have more visual impact. I think they make for a good side by side framed pair and you might consider doing that on-screen. If you do, find a color to complement both versions and give the composite a large border of that color, like that of a matte. My guess is that the right color will give you a very nice image to which for fun you could then add a "frame" to go around it. A bit of an exercise, but in the process I'm betting that you will gain an appreciation for the best aspects of both color and B&W photos. IF you didn't save the earlier version, try the exercise with just this image. I'm betting you'll find it fun. In the process, try changing the color of the matte to see how it affects the b&w image. You may be surprised at the results. Starting with the base image, I adjusted for max tonality, then cropped out a little material that wasn't adding to the image, gave it a smidgen of micro contrast enhancement, and then converted it to b&w. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f / 8.

21 Oct 15. A short walk from our home is a neighbor's black cyclone fenced yard that harbors a variety of trees, many producing fruit, and frequently a couple three free loaders who like to gorge themselves on the available fare. Yesterday while running an errand there were two visitors who were present on both legs of the errand, so after returning home to drop off Jan and Maggie, I went back to grab a few portraits. The owner of the property was out in the yard about the same time as I arrived, so she graciously walked away to get out of my photos and we chatted a bit while I was shooting. Although she was more than ready to take herself out of my view, Katherine wouldn't allow me to come in and shoot on the other side of the fence. So I had to shoot through the fence which has its own challenges. Upon returning back home I tried to download the images to my new graphics box only to have the card reader pins jam and really mess a lot of things up. Today was spent trying to undo all the damage and ordering a new card reader with guides to prevent such a thing from happening again. This was the first time I'd ever encountered such a problem which could have been avoided had I been more critical in the selection of hardware for the the new box. So for those of you who may have noticed that the file for today is labeled differently the reason behind it has to do with the process I had to use to recover the files that got corrupted. B&W again today as I felt that the monochrome version of this shot was the strongest of the 4 versions. The base image was adjusted for max tonality, given a small amount of micro contrast adjustment, and converted to B&W. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/160 sec @ f / 8.

22 Oct 15. If you've been in the PNW for any amount of time, or if you are a fan of glass objects, you've no doubt heard of Dale Chihuly. I'm not a big fan of his kind of art, and certainly not a fan of him personally at all, but I do appreciate a few of his pieces and have at times photographed them in an attempt to have subjects to try and emulate. Today's Theatrical Thursday submission is an attempt, perhaps poorly, at doing something that has the look of some of his art work. There are a few huge differences between what Dale does and I do, to include what he gets paid for his work, he gets to work in 3 dimensions and I have only two, his can adjust his medium but mine is fixed, and so forth. So keep all that in mind when comparing what I'm sharing today with that which you can see on his web page linked above. I shared the full color version of this with you back on the 10th of July, so if you still have it lying around you might like the comparison. I had stated then that I was going to share this with you on the following Thursday but then tragedy struck and I forgot about it. So here it is as promised. I adjusted the base image for max tonality, added a very small amount of micro detail enhancement, about half of what I normally do, and called it quits. I did play around with removing everything save for the one flower rendering it all black, but decided the natural background, while a little distracting, looked better. Then I ran a filter on it to get what you are seeing. Nikon D300s; 105mm macro; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/200 sec @ f /11.

23 Oct 15. Something very special for today and something I haven't done for over 40 years so a little bit of history is in order. When I began seriously learning photography in the very early 70s I took the New York School of Photography course, a 2 years correspondence program that included MANY assignments, one of which was to take a photograph of something in noon light, and then photograph it again in morning light, evening light, full electronic flash, white flash bulb, blue flash bulb, under fluorescent light, and under tungsten light. We were supposed to submit each without the printer compensating for the light (color) shifts in printing. The print house I was using at the time was so impressed that they asked to make a copy for display in the store to show the effects of lighting to their customers. Jan made me a set of Raggedy Ann & Andy dolls specifically to use for the shots. They were dressed in red, blue, green, cyan, magenta, yellow, white, gray, and black materials. It was a fun experiment. I started out today with the idea of sharing a shot of our Chinese Lantern plant (Physalis alkekengi)and took a lot of photos of it as well as a couple of our Princess plant, (Tibouchina urvillena), one of my all time favorites plants, and then got a neat idea for both the Chinese Lantern as well as the Princess. So the Lantern will have to wait for 7 or 8 days - hint - as we look at the princess tonight. It being macro / close up Friday we'll start with close up of just one blossom on the princess plant. Then we'll add another 26 smaller images all around it. Just as I did with the Andy & Ann shots, I'm placing versions of the flower all around but on this occasion versions that have been modified by blending modes. Over the last few years you have heard me say every now and then that I employed a blending mode to achieve a certain look. In today's submission you can see the effects of all 26 blending modes. I've numbered each modified image in a clockwise direction starting form the top. The blending modes link I've provided will give you a complete description of what they actually do and when you combine that with today's submission you should have a very good understanding of them. The modes are 0) normal - the unnumbered center image); 1) dissolve; 2) darken; 3) multiply; 4) color burn; 5) linear burn; 6) darker color; 7) lighten; 8) screen; 9) color dodge; 10) Linear dodge; 11) lighter color; 12) overlay; soft light; 14) hard light; 15) vivid light; 16) linear light; 17) pin light; 18) hard mix; 19) difference; 20) exclusion; 21) subtract; 22) divide; 23) hue; 24) saturation; 25)color; and 26) luminosity. Zero and 1 due little at all; 2 - 6 darken the image; 7 - 11 lighten the image; 12-18 affect the contrast; 19 - 20 invert colors; 21 - 22 cancel out colors; and 23 -26 affect component colors. Of all these I employ only numbers 3, 8, 12, and 23- 26. So now when you read me say something about using a blending mode or blending layer you'll know to what it is I'm referring. The base image was adjusted for max tonality, give a little pruning (cropping), and then a small amount of micro contrast adjustment. I then made a new layer and solarized it (inverted the colors) and used that for my build of the 26 blend mode thumbnails that surround the main image. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f / 9 with fill flash.

26 Oct 15. During an Oktoberfest luncheon today at church one member of the congregation commented that he liked last week's deer photo but it wasn't anything special because they have them in their yard all the time. That's not uncommon out here as the photo I shared was taken in a neighbor's yard. But as I like shooting big game I'm wiling to take the photos wherever I can find them. So today I'm going to share another shot of a common big game animal that is local to "our" area if you count a drive of 40 minutes or so local. If not, then they are almost local although this shot is from Wyoming. You may recall my story a while back about a couple of bull elk one of whom had a nice harem of perhaps 30 cows all of which were "called" away by another bull; this is that bull. This shot was taken the day before the incident while he was still roaming by himself apparently forming his battle-less plan. This is not the normal full on broadside one normally shares of a trophy elk, but I've chosen this shot as it shows off quite well the size of his rack. Those antlers exceed 6 feet in length so it should give you some idea as to his strength. Imagine trying to hold up two such pieces of weaponry with your neck muscles. This would be considered a 6 point elk on the left of the Mississippi but a 12 point on the eastern side. Either way this is a good sized fighting machine. I tend to get quite close to them when I'm out shooting, and have never had one challenge me, BUT, I do pay attention to what they are telling me and never force the issue. If you'd like to get real personal with a large bull elk, without any potential of putting yourself in harm's way, come visit the Olympic Game Farm in Sequim, WA where they will come right into your vehicle with you as I've chatted about a few times. That's when you really get an appreciation for both how big and how strong they are! If you are feeling really cocky, grab onto one antler and just try to hang on. I took the base image, cropped for best presentation, adjusted for max tonality, lighten the eye just a bit for better presence, and added some contrast enhancement to the antlers to better show off their structure. Nikon D200; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f / 5.6.

27 Oct 15. Today will be the first of three versions of the same image. First the B&W version, then a straight version for Wednesday followed by a creative version on Thursday. I'm rather certain there will be a divide as to which version is preferred split along the lines of who likes what kind of image. I have my favorite of the three, but I won't bias anyone by telling you which it is. Coming home from a long day of shooting in the Lamar Valley we experienced this magnificent sunset. It wasn't color that made it so but the light passing through the clouds illuminating just portions of the landscape at a time. When it starting isolating just the mountains I simply had to pull the vehicle off the road and do some shooting. Wasn't all that easy either because I needed a sufficiently high spot in the road that had a break in the treeline. Not many of those locations and they seldom turn up when you need them most. The base image was initially adjusted for max tonality, given a small amount of micro contrast adjustment, and then converted to B&W. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f /10.

28 Oct 15. O.K., here we go with the totally straight version of the set of three. It was from this one that I made the B&W, so you should see nothing different save for the color. Place them side by side or top and bottom and have a look. Tomorrow's version will also start with what I'm sharing today, but I will have manipulated it a little bit. Can't really add to the story as everything is the same. The base image was initially adjusted for max tonality, given a small amount of micro contrast adjustment, and that's basically it. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f /10

29 Oct 15 So here we go with the last of the three versions of the same image. This time for Theatrical Thursday I've done some manipulation of the image as you would expect. Had I not informed you that I've manipulated it, and had I not shared two previous versions, it's quite likely that this could be passed off as a straight image. What I did was to selectively darken the sky and brighten the mountains. But that's it. Of course it wasn't a simple one two knockout, but that was what I manipulated. Since I've already told you about this particular shot, I thought I'd go over the workflow I employ in making these images. Those of you who couldn't care less how they are made should stop here. The RAW [RAW is a format wherein the camera captures a B&W image with attached luminance data - a digital negative if you prefer] camera image is brought into a RAW converter, either Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) or Nikon Capture NX2. The Nikon product was until recently the more capable of the two, but as Nikon has decided for some stupid reason not to keep the software current, ACR is now the more capable product. In ACR the RAW capture is converted into a useable digital color file with adjustment for hue, saturation, and luminance, lens corrections, and basic exposure corrections among other things. From there it is exported out to a digital editing program such as Photoshop, onOne's Photo Suite, Corel PhotoPaint, among others with each having it's strengths and weaknesses. I have still others that I use as necessary, but tend to lean heavily on Photoshop for the moment as MOST of my plug-ins work best with that editor. That may be changing in the near future. Everything I now do is done on layers piled up upon one another (like the clear plastic overlays of the body that you find in a hard copy encyclopedia.) Once in Photoshop, or any other editor, I first create a B&W gradient map, then adjust that with a levels correction to ensure I have the fullest dynamic range (blackest black to whitest white) possible for that shot. With that correction applied, I then create a layer with the adjusted colors resultant from the gradient map / levels combo. At this point I do any necessary cropping, adjust for any noise reduction I may deem necessary, and do any other small corrections such as dust removal, horizon leveling, and the like. That corrected image is then saved to the hard drive as the base image with all layers intact. That done, I then adjust this layer for any micro contrast necessary to put back what is lost in the initial camera capture. This is what I share as the non manipulated image. By non-manipulated I mean that I have done nothing that couldn't be done in a wet darkroom. I then save three + copies of that image as layers and work each of these layers independently. The first manipulation is to create some form of a painting and in the series of three I've shared this week this is the one form I haven't shared. I then save that work. Next I create another manipulation that is designed to be anything between just some minor enhancement (such as today's submission) to something really wild, like the shot of the guts of my computer a few days ago. Then that is saved. Finally I create a B&W version of the image which is what you see every Tuesday. This process can take less then 15 minutes total to as much as a couple of hours as did the trio for this week. And then that is saved. Finally I add the little copyright symbol in the LRHC. And then do a final save. Then, the file is flattened (all the layers stacked up upon another crunched into a single layer) and the proper color gamut applied. Then this small file is saved out to disc as a jpeg file for mailing out to you. I do this for each version in two files sizes, large and small. After that all that remains is to pick an image for each day and compose some amount of narrative. As in the previous two mailings, the base image was initially adjusted for max tonality, given a small amount of micro contrast adjustment, and then manipulated using a plug-in designed to manipulate "light.". Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f /10.

30 Aug 15. After yesterday's saga we'll go with something short and sweet today. I haven't shared one of these in over a year, so here is a beetle I found in the wood pile at a local nursery. I would surmise that it is some form of wood beetle, but I have no idea what it is called. This guy was hitching a ride on one of the kids walking through the nursery with her parents and she seemed frightened of it, so I removed it from her bod, put it in my hand to show here it was harmless, and then placed it on a plank and took its portrait. Then I just let it go it's way. The base image was adjusted for max tonality, given a good crop and had a few distracting elements removed, then given a small amount of sharpening. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/400 sec @ f / 9.

31 Oct 15 For those of you who keep track of all this babble, which I'm thinking understandably is very few, (I have to since I write it and every so often promise something that I need to remember), you may recall that Friday a week ago I made mention of having taken a photo of an orange flower (Chinese Lantern plant) to share but then took another of a purple flower (Princess plant) and shared that instead saying look for the orange flower in perhaps 8 days. That would be today and here it is. Now what you are seeing obviously isn't a straight flower, but to keep things on an even keel I'm including the original shot of the Chinese Lantern flower. I took that and made a few alterations to it, then added a piece of clip art to finish it off. In a bookcase not 10 feet from where I do this stuff is a shelf containing nothing but clip art, perhaps 2 million pieces of the stuff, all acquired before the internet became the ubiquitous source of everything in bulk you don't need in the first place, (like a major re-seller found everywhere). But did I get up off my tush and look for it in my collection, no, I just sat at this box and found what I wanted on the web. For shame. But I digress. With the piece of clip art I was able to make the final image I desired of a scary pumpkin. I've not included the piece of clip art as it will be obvious what it is. Starting with the image of the Chinese Lantern I cropped off the stuff I didn't want. Then it went through my normal adjustments for max tonality. Next I cloned portions of one side and pasted onto the other side to give the lantern a bit more symmetry and make it look more like a pumpkin doing a bit of dodging and burning in the process. Then I used a creative plug-in to get the brightly lit portions that make it look electrified. Next the skull & crossbones clip art was placed and adjusted to fit the space available. Then using a series of masks and curves, I adjusted all the colors and luminescence levels to get the finished look. Finally, I added the Happy Halloween text and played with it to get the appearance you see. Nikon D300s; 105 mm macro; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f / 9.