Daily Image - Apr 2016 Archive

April Fools. Spent Thursday up in the Skagit Valley shooting flora and visiting a B&B that offered much to please the eye. Bye the time I got back home it was quite late, I was very tired, and I thought I'd wait for this morning to write some crazy April 1st story but I haven't been able to come up with a narrative that I think I could pull off, so have resolved to just write my typical trivia. It being macro/close up Friday I'm going with a 5 shot blend of of a small grouping of daffodils shot on table top in the studio. I composed it looking down the unopened trumpet of a single stem with a couple more fully opened blossoms to frame it. The 5 shots were taken at different focal points with the idea that the entire tube and its contents would be in focus. I chose to let some of the image be out of focus to add some depth so it wouldn't appear too flat. At this time of year the sun floods the studio where I have the work area set up for about 90 minutes via a group of three skylights and by waiting for that 90 minute window to shoot I get some very nice natural lighting on the subjects. With a black velvet drape behind the subject I can circumvent all room distractions plus the black background is easy to select in the editing process for image cleanup. Makes for a lazy photographer. I took the five shots and blended them into a single image. Then I removed some distracting stem parts in the lower right corner and that was it. Nikon D300s; 105mm Macro; ISO 200; 1/100 sec @ f / 9 for all 5 shots.

04 Apr 16. Shortly after we returned to WA, on one of our visits to Fir Island to shoot geese, we met a really nice couple as we were standing by the fence isolating us from the birds. It turned out that they lived close by and often observed the birds. We got to chatting about photography and they joined the Daily Image mailing list. We have corresponded now and then over the passing years via this mailing but in all our trips back up there we've never run into each other again. Last week I heard from Dee saying how much she liked the image of the trees and pathway and wanted me to know that she had a friend in nearby Stanwood who owned a B&B that had a similar entryway and thought that I might like to go shoot it. I said I would, she made the arrangements, and on Thursday on our way to shoot tulips in LaConner we made an initial stop to visit the Angelsong Retreat Center. I took several shots of the area which to say the least is quite beautiful, as can be seen here. My photos can't compete with the professional work on the website, but I had a really nice experience walking around the grounds taking shots of most everything including Spirit, her dog who was a real treat. The image I'm sharing from that visit is of a 100+ year old barn that really caught my attention. It is a rather stately building with lots of beautiful browns that really set it off. For any of you in the area who might be considering a romantic and/or restful location to just get away from it all for a few days or weekend, you might want to give Angelsong consideration. I took the base image and straightened it out - somehow most all of the shots from this venture came out a little off kilter - removed a wee bit of chromatic aberration, and applied a small curves adjustment. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 7.1.

05 Apr 16. One of our favorite places to take visitors when we lived MD was the C&O Canal Park. We made several trips ourselves and enjoyed the visits immensely, but it was always fun to take others there to experience the old ways of moving commerce from place to place. You can take the park in quite quickly, or you can take your time and really immerse yourself in history. If you went on the right days, you could interact a little with some of the four footed mules (the other kind was almost always available). If you live anywhere near the area and haven't yet been there you owe yourself a visit. Be sure to check the webpage to determine what is available for your planned trip. This is a shot of one of the gates of the last (or first depending on your direction of travel) lock in the park locale being opened. In total, there are 74 of these locks from beginning to end of the 184.5 mile canal which required 33 years to complete. It is quite the engineering feat. It was originally constructed to transport coal from the Allegheny Mountains; now I think it is used by the USPS to transport mail. The base image was given a little contrast enhancement and that was it. Nikon D70; 18 - 55; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f / 8.

07 Apr 16. We return to Angelsong Retreat Center for today's Theatrical Thursday submission. In contrast to last week's creative approach, this time I used some heavy manipulation and then blended it in with the original. The result is that I don't think you would realize that I played with it although it would be very obvious if I were to give you both this and the original side by side. Now, since I've told you it is manipulated, it is likely that you will be able to determine at least a little of what I've done. There are actually many clues, and once you recognize what is different it should all become apparent. But at first glance without being told it is manipulated I'm betting you wouldn't see it as such. I had Jan select the creative version to share and she passed this one over at first thinking it was the base shot. It wasn't until I showed her the straight version that she realized this was substantially manipulated and selected it to share. This was my first choice also, but I frequently like to have her make the selection as she is not a participant in their creation and so comes at them from a different perspective than do I. This beautiful gazebo has a stream with cascading waterfall entering just to the right of the arching bridge (you can see the water underneath) and another on the left side that you can't see which join on the left side of the little bridge and flow together under the second bridge ending up in a koi pond. A very lovely and restful setting. I took a few more shots of the two waterfalls as well as some of the koi in the pond. A grand setting for a string quartet and a glass of a nicely aged scotch!! And of course with that someone special!!! I must be reminiscing of our first military tour. The base image was initially given some small micro contrast enhancement, then a curves adjustment which I controlled with a gradient to balance the brightness levels between the top and bottom of the image, and then had the creative adjustment applied which was controlled by a multiply blend mode adjustment. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f / 6.3.

08 Apr 16. A short narrative today and it consists primarily of a question. This is a shot I grabbed as we were leaving the tulip displays last Thursday. It was one of those shots that just grabs your eye unexpectedly and you do your best to take advantage of an opportunity. Those of you who know me well will likely have no trouble with the question; those of you who don't may not be so sure of your answer. The question is, what is the subject of the photo. Hint: there are three possibilities, only one of which is correct. The base image was significantly cropped, a few distracting stems painted out with black, and the tulip itself given some selective micro contrast enhancement. Nikon D300s; 105 macro; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f /13.

11 Apr 16. Today's submission is one of the first digital images I ever shared, back in Feb 2006. At the time it got some nice compliments, but like others who now and then look back at an earlier piece of work and say I can do better, this shot is getting a face lift with the idea that it could be presented differently. My first attempt was primarily an emphasis on composition, namely, the flow of the fence, the beloved "S" curve, through the entire frame. That aspect is still important, and still the major theme of the composition. But this time around I'm looking to emphasize texture in addition to the flow of the fence. There are several different textures each of which deserved separate attention and received same. There are four things I wanted to emphasize differently, namely the fence, the grass, the road, and the puddles of water, in that order. This property is located a short drive from where we used to live in MD and we passed it many times during our stay there. It obviously is some kind of working farm or ranch, although the only animals we ever saw were flocks of Canada geese some of which are in the very rear of the photo. Every time we drove by I was always reminded of Tom Sawyer and his fence painting story. Not a fence I would delight in having to maintain. The base image was merely given some varying amounts of micro contrast enhancement. Nikon D70; 24 - 120; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

12 Apr 16. For any of you familiar with where we used to live in MD and were wondering where that farm is located, it is at 4350 Sundown Road. Today's B&W is another from that general area and one I took just prior to that of a lone tree in an empty field. While that may not be of much help, some of you may remember the shot I shared of a lone tree standing in an empty field with the moon in the background and the lighting like that provided solely by the moon. The original shot of that tree was taken a few minutes after having taken this shot which gives you some idea of how much that tree shot was manipulated, or more accurately stated, totally created. This shot is almost as it was with me having done very little to it. This and the tree shot were taken while driving around eastern MD on the way home from a lunch I didn't know I was going to be having but my "driver," a long time member of the local camera club, did. It was a fun day of shooting and while the food was good, it didn't hold a candle to the country scenery. The barn is a very solid red and that was what caught my eye, but I also thought it made for a nice B&W. I couldn't get the composition I wanted in the camera from where we were parked, so I had to trim this one a small amount. I needed a big bird to be in the trees but none would cooperate! The base image was cropped some off the top, a few annoying wires removed, and a little contrast enhancement was applied to the buildings. Nikon D70; 24 - 120; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/400 sec @ f / 9 .

13 Apr 16. A very few of you may recall having seen this image before. It was used for the inaugural mailing of the Daily Image. Of course I've reworked it a bit, but it is the same shot. I had taken it the summer prior while visiting our family in WA taking care of some business issues that included a final interview for a position at Seattle Pacific University - my Alma mater - in the Dept of Biology. That interview supposedly was my guarantee of a professorship upon retirement and return to Seattle which somehow just didn't happen once we returned. So instead I turned my attention to photography and these mailings. One would have kept me pretty much indoors while the other required/requires a fair amount of time outdoors. So in the long run I guess I got the better of the options. This is a shot of Mt Rainier (obviously) taken from Myrtle Falls. It is a very easy shot to take once you walk up to the level of the falls which while it may sound challenging it isn't, the walk is paved all the way. The trail goes from concrete to dirt once you cross over the bridge in the middle of the photo, and remains such for several miles. At the time I took this shot you could walk into the shallows of the stream just to the left of the bridge and on the mountain side of it to get some really lovely shots of the mountain and the stream. Now that is no longer allowed as the tree huggers have decided that so doing was destroying the rocks in the stream bed that needed to be saved for future generations! It is getting absolutely crazy!! I took lots of great shots from that location before all this craziness and may share one or two later in the year. The trail starts and ends in the parking lot taking you on a long loop that climbs about a 1000 feet and offers and endless series of breath taking views of the mountain, valleys, and meadows. If you visit Mt Rainier in the late summer this trip is in my mind a must. The base image was give some contrast adjustment and that's it. Nikon D70; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f /11 with the 24 - 120 mm zoom.

14 Apr 15. Spent the better part of today working on the email problem and while I was able to come up with a satisfactory work around, I still have absolutely no idea as to what actually happened. Frustrating to say the least, but at least everything is once again working as desired. Thought I'd take a different approach for this week's Theatrical Thursday and have a gander at a quasi oriental approach. Nothing spectacular mind you, but a combination of two very different images of a similar subject layered on top of one another with one being unaltered and the other reduced to a mere skeleton of the original in a outline - all black - format. My goal from the beginning was to come up with something creative and after the normal approaches weren't giving me what I wanted I thought venturing out a bit might be fun, and the image for today is where it all ended up. The background is just a macro image of a leaf, something you would expect to see on any Friday. The outline is of a maple tree we purchased three years go at a local nursery who was kind enough to keep it for us until we got the landscaping completed. Both plants are now doing quite well in our front yard accenting the pond and waterfall. The base image was converted into an outline using the Glow plug-in, and layered with the macro shot of the leaf. Then I used the multiply blend mode to bring the two together in a single visible layer. ISO 200 for both; Nikon D300s; Aperture Priority; 1/640 sec @ f / 7.1 with the 80 - 200 for the tree and 1/60 sec @ f /11 with fill flash with the 105 macro for the leaf.

15 Apr 16. Today's macro/close-up might fall into the boring category, but I've tried to show off a pair of daffodils with a different combination of lighting, a combo of very strong side and back lighting. This approach gives the flowers a little different look, and although it is still a straight on view, the light, or lack thereof, gives them a rather striking appearance. I've also employed a little soft focus, not much, but just enough to take off the edge.Doing so makes them appear a little larger as your eye has nothing on which to sharply focus allowing them to appear somewhat less defined and thus not providing for any hard edges (stopping point) to constrain them. I used the strong lighting from a side window on the left and a skylight above on the right. The combination worked to strongly light the tubes while allowing for some texture to show on some of the petals. The image was tightly framed in the camera with the two flowers in a vase on the studio table using a black drape behind the flowers. I've painted out a few distractions to keep your eyes on the petals. Nikon D300s; 105mm macro; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/100 sec @ f / 9.

18 Apr 16 With today being national theft day, I thought a shot of some rapids might be appropriate as a representation of what is happening to our hard earned capital. And these rapids happen to be not far from out national capitol on the Potomac River separating MD and VA. They were not far from where Jan taught 2nd grade during our 8 year stay and we made many a visit to both sides of the falls as the view from each side is quite different. For those of you on the left coast this should be a must see when visiting the DC area; for those of you on the right coast, if you haven't yet visited, this might be a good time to so do. IF my memory serves me correctly, rapids are graded from zero difficulty to seven, and the rapids here at Great Falls garner a true 7! There is a LARGE display sign on the MD side discussing the rapids a with a STRONG warning about the associated undertow which is responsible for several deaths annually, in part it is implied because people don't pay attention to warnings such as that sign. I first began to gain an appreciation for Great Blue Herons at these two parks, even though I had seen plenty of them here in the greater Puget Sound area years earlier. I just never paid them any attention at that time. Here I got to watch them fishing at the edges of these rapids working in waters I would never consider getting near, but then, in case of trouble, they could fly and I can't. I thought I had shared a couple of shots of the birds working the rocky edges for a meal earlier but in looking through the archives I can't find what I thought I had shared, so perhaps a bit later I'll work up a couple shots that illustrate my comments about the birds. Meanwhile here is a shot of the waters in which the birds are frequently seen looking for a meal. The base image was given a little micro contrast enhancement and that was it. Nikon D70; 24 - 124; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/ 320 sec @ f / 8 .

19 Apr 16 It seems like the more I work with the B&W medium, the more difficult it becomes to share an image that I feel is acceptable. I thought twice before sharing this one but then decided I would since I had sent out another version earlier last week and it generated some favorable comments. But when I shared it last week I shared it in a modified form, so I thought you might like to see that with which I started to get the final output. This shot is of a maple in the front that puts out a tiny red flower in the spring and a lovely orange-red leaf color in the fall. Fortunately it isn't like the majority of the maples on the property which have a large flowering portion that hangs down from each branch, no matter how small, much like the flowers of a golden chain, but which are green and release literally billions of pollen spores coating everything within maybe a 50 foot radius with a green substance that sticks to anything it encounters. If you like a light green you'd really like living here for the two - three weeks that these trees are painting the countryside. I could do without it but I don't think my preferences will have any effect anytime in the foreseeable future. And just to add insult to injury, their fall color varies from a light yellow to a dull brown, not even attempting to make up for the springtime mess they create. The base image was slightly cropped, and then given a little micro contrast adjustment. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 7.1

20 Apr 16. Today's submission is of a location which was the second place we visited few days after returning to the PNW back in 2006 and a view similar to what I shared then. The two images are actually part of the same set I took a few days before that Thanksgiving and show a typical PNW sky for that time of year. You may recall my comment back then that my father's approach to weather forecasting was to tell you to look out your window and if you could see Mt Rainier it was going to rain; if you couldn't, it already was. Plan accordingly. If you know where to look in this image you can see it, well, a small part of it. If you can't find it you didn't fail as it was raining by the next morning. So either way you got it correct. While this shot is very close to the one I sent back then, for this mailing I've cropped off the L & R edges so that all you can see is the sculpture with the cityscape behind it plus a wee bit of wall I was too lazy to remove. IF you are not familiar with the city, you are viewing the Seattle Center in the foreground, the old '62 Seattle World's Fair setting, with "downtown" Seattle behind that. The base image was cropped as mentioned above, then given a small amount of contrast enhancement for the mountains, clouds, and stone wall. Nikon D200; 24 - 120; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/180 sec @ f / 8.

21 Apr 16. It being Theatrical Thursday you know anything goes! After filing taxes on Monday we spent a little time walking around Port Orchard looking for things to shoot that I thought might be interesting. I really wanted to walk the piers shooting reflections like I used to do in Ballard at Fisherman's Terminal, but the folks over on this side are apparently a bit more snooty and wouldn't allow us out on the finger piers, so I just shot a couple items I thought might be useful later. As it turned out one was just the ticket for today's submission. Now, I don't know how your mailboxes work, but mine frequently gets these mailings containing lot of pictures of old things with catchy titles suggesting there might be something wrong with you if you can't identify them. Generally the lists or series of pictures are of things from the 40s or 50s, occasionally the 60s. I'll admit that one or two of them are fun, but after a while, well, you understand . . . . . . But . . . . . considering which day it is, I just couldn't help myself and had to make up such a list to share with you, only difference is, it contains just one item. Now you have to tell me what it is. I'll provide the answer but you have to guess before looking. The base image was straightened some, cropped, and then I applied a filter to it twice, each time creating a different effect, then layered the two and blending them together with the multiply blend mode feature. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/125 sec @ f /14. Answer: cell phone

22 Apr 16. I had worked up a display of tulips in the form of a classic still life which I thought was a good subject for a close up Friday but was overruled in my decision on the basis that a classic still life did not constitute a close up subject, so this image was selected instead on the basis that it was a far more fitting subject for closeup/macro Friday. Since you don't have my still life for use in comparison, you'll just have to accept Jan's decision, even if it is wrong! This shot was made in the studio from one of the sets of cut daffodils we purchased at our local food store before they decided that they were a good mover and raised the price by a significant amount at which point I decided that they should keep them if they were that proud of them. Sorta like the price for crossing one of N.Y. city's several bridges. I shot this subject under ambient light and was surprised to see how much green was present in the yellow - somewhat the reverse of what one would normally expect in that one manipulates yellow to adjust the green in a digital image - that the naked eye did/does not pick up. Of course much of that is due to our tendency to see what we expect to see, but as a photographer who is accustomed to looking for what is there vice what is expected to be there, I was very surprised at how much green was present. In the versions of this shot where I used fill flash, the green is no longer present so the majority, if not all, of the green had to be present in the light coming in through the skylights and windows which may have been the source of the green. Next time you view daffodils, or any other flower, give some thought to how much of the particular color you are seeing at the moment is due to the light bathing them. The base image received a tiny amount of global micro contrast enhancement and that was it. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/6 sec @ f / 9 on a tripod.

25 Apr 16. A few days back I shared an image of a leaf with the outline of a tree superimposed on it. As I mentioned it was composed of two layers, the leaf and the tree. Shortly thereafter I shared the tree from which I made the silhouette. Today's submission is along the same lines, only this time just the silhouette as a simple line drawing. You are free to create anything you'd like with it and as the copyright in just sitting above pure white you can easily remove that to make it your own, which of course, it would be. You will need to blend together the two objects (images) and there are several ways to do such; the possibilities are unlimited. It was originally a shot of a grouping of sea grasses I believe in front of a seawall, with a very stormy sky in the background. That may give you and idea for a starting point if playing around with images is something you like to do. Cropping it into different dimensions will also make a difference in what you create. As I write this I'm moving the text file off and on the screen with the image beneath it; each time I remove the test I'm visualizing a different image. So have some fun with it and see what you can create. The base image was adjusted to remove a few distractions, then a filter (Topaz Glow) was run against it to create the outline. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f /11.

26 Apr 16. Today's shot is another from the Great Falls area of the Potomac River but this time a little further up river from where I took the previous shot. I particularly liked the location both for the trees and rocks, as well as the water as it all seemed to come together at this spot. The arching trunk framed everything nicely while the variety of trees made for a more dynamic presentation. The color version of this shot was relatively easy to work with, but the conversion to B&W presented two challenges which were the sky and water. The sky was basically bland and as such did not convert well in the monochromatic arena, while bringing the water to the full white it deserved left it looking out of place. So what you see is the best comprise I could come up with, and while it isn't quite what I'd like it to be, it is very close. But I thought it made for a reasonably nice image anyway. Feel welcome to add your personal touches to it!! The base image was given a small amount of contrast enhancement in the sky and water and then converted to monochrome. Nikon D70; 24 - 120; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f / 5.6 .

27 Apr 16. Last year I shared a couple of shots from a falls on the west side of Hood Canal called Rocky Brook Falls. This is an extremely easy falls to visit as it is just a one block walk from where you park on a well maintained path. The only challenge is that it is not marked in any manner. You need to know where it is to go visit it. We found out about it by accident, but it was definitely one of those good accidents. There was not a huge amount of water falling today, but there was enough that it was shooting outward where the water began its downward flow and made for an interesting "look" at the top of the falls. Today's visit was our first where we actually had an interesting sky, blue with white clouds as opposed to the more common flat gray we've experienced on all are prior visits. Water level and winds low and nice sunshine allowed for a positioning close to the base of the falls that didn't result in the camera getting a bath, so the shot for today is quite a bit different from those I've shared previously. The base image was give a little chromatic aberration adjustment and that was it. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1000 sec @ f / 8.

28 Apr 16. A very short narrative for today. A shot of the cherubs playing outside in the back yard doing what children do best, using their imaginations. I love watching them do what they do and only pray that society does not take that away from them. Of course that's a fruitless wish as our system of education will shortly drive that out of them. But for a couple more year's we'll hopefully be allowed to observe, that is, if the hormones don't change it all. The base image was simply run against several filter applications until I liked the cartoonish look I'm sharing. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f / 9.

29 Apr 15. While we were visiting a neighbor Wednesday I noticed a dragonfly on their front porch that was basically motionless, looking almost dead. I picked it up and it wasn't, so we brought it back home and I tried photographing it. Before I could get anything useful, it apparently warmed up sufficiently and took flight. Jan caught it for me and put it in the refer to cool it's jets. When I took it out it was once again motionless so I took some shots in the studio in a proper setting and then placed it outside on a plant and shot some more, leaving it there to fly to freedom when it felt like it. Apparently it wasn't in any hurry as Thursday morning it was still on the same plant so I took some more shots before it finally decided it had had enough of me and departed. I cropped off most of the original leaving just the insect, removed a wire that wasn't needed, and desaturated the red of the begonia that was too far over the top. Nikon D300s; 105 macro; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/80 sec @ f /10.