22 Jan 16. Taking her majesty out for her morning stroll the other day we noticed this interesting growth on a log along side our driveway. As soon as we returned I took a couple of shots of it thinking it might be a form of Orange Cup, but now that I've looked at it some I'm not so sure. Not being a mycologist I think it best that I leave its identity to one who is. That however does not take away my appreciation for its beauty especially as I like the small things that grow on or near the ground. You may get an appreciation for its size when I tell you the pointy brown thing sticking out of it is a fir needle. One of those things that one might pass by and never see. The base image was severely cropped, you could crop it even more if desired, and that was it. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f /6.3 with full flash.
25 Jan 16. Shortly after arriving at our first duty station of our Navy career, we realized that we had been in Seattle all our lives and never visited the vast majority of the scenic places the area as well as the state had to offer. It also became quickly apparent that those who were long time residents of the area where we were stationed were behaving in a very similar manner, i.e., not having visited all the local sights because they would always have the opportunity and would get around to it one day. It rather suddenly dawned on us that we needed to take in as much as possible because it was unlikely that we would be there again. That proved not to be the case but at the time we had no way of knowing we would return. So we took in all we possibly could and never regretted it. Throughout the 30 years we were gone that was our modus operandi and it served us well. I was reminded of that today after service during the fellowship hour when our organist commented that he liked my mountain pictures more than the macros and then asked if we had ever visited Mt Baker. In the discussion that followed he allowed that he and his bride had never visited the location even though they have lived here for quite some time. Such seems to be the case for lots of the beautiful locations around here with respect to many of our acquaintances. It seems so strange to me now but I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought prior to our military adventures. So, since we like the Mt Baker area, the four of us will shortly - meaning the next time we have a real sun break - be making a trip up north for a first hand look. As such, I thought I'd go with a shot from the area we'll be visiting taken when a good friend from MD - former neighbor who introduced me to the local MD camera club came out to visit and spent a weekend with me up there. This was taken in the evening of our first day which turned out to be heavy rain on the trip up giving way to wonderful fog for the next 36 hour or thereabouts. Strangely, out of a group of 36 photographers, we were the only two to go out and shoot in the fog. This is Picture Lake which you have all seen many photos of in magazines but always shots of the fall color which can't be beat anywhere in the U.S., but timing your visit to see it is the trick and of my 7 visits so far I've never timed it correctly. Perhaps this coming fall I may finally get "lucky." I took the base image, cropped off the top which was comprised of a whole lot of bright white area and mountain tops - I wanted the mountain tops but the bright whit surrounding then was way too distracting - added some micro contrast enhancement to pull the trees out of the fog, and called it quits. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 200; 1/20 sec @ f /16 on a tripod.
26 Jan 16. Another MT Baker shot today for B&W Tuesday. While working with this image I got the idea that it might be capable of taking on an Adams look, so after I had finished rendering it in 5 different presentations, I returned to the B&W (1 of the 5) I had created and started playing with it. I intentionally limited my tools to that which were available in clarity, and spent most of my time working with the mid tones. I did have to employ a mask to keep my adjustments away from the triangular patch of ice on the left side near the summit, as that was on the edge of being blown out in the original capture, which was where it should have been. I also had to do some selective lightening of the trees in the foreground at the bottom of the frame, but the majority of my manipulation was on the mountain. I've neither added nor subtracted anything form the original shot, just played with the different zones of light to get the best contrast I could. It is not an Adams quality image, but I feel like I'm getting closer and am reasonably pleased with this attempt. You might enjoy playing with it to see if you can get it closer, perhaps making it a bit brighter. I took the base image and added some small amount of detail enhancement to bring out the detail in the snow and the trees at the base of the shot, then converted it to a B&W, and then brought the B&W into Clarity to play with the tones. The adjustment to the mid tones account for the majority of the contrast in the image. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.
