Daily Image - May 2016 Archive

19 May 16. Back home safe and sound having experienced nothing of note until we returned. Returning home we found we had no internet and no phones, and just to make things a bit more interesting, upon turning on a heat lamp for Will the bearded dragon we had a short that we were to learn the next day took out a goodly portion of the mail computer including its internet capabilities. Should have stayed at the condo!! Overall the trip encompassed 2060 miles, just under 60 hours of driving, and 140 gallons of gas. Gas prices out in MT were between 1.09 and 1.23; we had to return home to get it at 1.50!! Packing for the trip I thought I had it all, only to discover that once we got there I had overlooked my 600mm telephoto which I need for the big game long distance shots. Of course, since we never see bears or wolves I figured I'd get by with my shorter 400mm. So when it rains it pours, the 400 failed to operate correctly, and we saw three different sets of black bears, two with yearling cubs. We also saw moose, elk, bison – a few thousand of them – coyote, fox, pronghorn, black tail deer and big horn sheep. The only big game we missed were grizzly and mountain goat. And Maggie made several new friends, one especially so, a golden doodle named Phoebe. They had an absolute ball playing together for the better part of two weeks. A very successful trip over all. Plus all kinds of weather ranging from brilliant sunshine, high windstorms, one beautiful but way too short snowstorm, and rain, three days of which the worst was the entire day on the first leg of the return trip with the western 1/3 of I-90 drenched. Temps were all over the place from the high 70s to freezing. Even more so “all over the place” were the red dogs (bison babies); we've never seen so many and all the locals commented that this was the highest birth rate they had ever seen. So if one was to pick a theme for this year's trip, it would be the Year of the Red Dog. That said, what say we begin our return to the DI mailings with an image of 3 red dogs. The herd that lives in the community where the condo is located, Hebgen Lake Estates, numbers in the 600s, so there is no lack of bison to be observed virtually any time of the day, but especially so in the mornings and evenings. This is an evening shot of 3 ti-red (as one of the cherubs used to say) red dogs lying in the back of the building while their mamma's had a leisurely evening meal. It is really fun to listen to them “talk” to one another; especially when one member of this family is subtly encouraging one youngster to enter the condo only to have mama issue her youngster a stern rebuke for even contemplating such inappropriate behavior. This being Theatrical Thursday it should be a creative image, but I've decided to go with a straight one since we've been off-line for so long. The base image was cropped to a more pleasing layout and that was it. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 800; 1/160 sec @ f / 9.

20 May 16. A bit of a twist for today's close-up in that it is not of a living thing and it is somewhat creative. The area surrounding any of the geysers, pools, or hot springs in Yellowstone is amazingly void of any vegetation. Any that was there in a previous time is now either gone or just there but dead. Returning from a walk around my favorite geothermic spring I came upon a prior conifer that was now quite dead, "dead dead" in fact, my favorite phrase from a medical drama that lasted just one year called Monday Morning, in my mind the only decent medical show in the past several decades. I guess that's why it lasted so long! This particular pine caught my eye as there was just this one skinny branch sticking straight up alongside a portion of the boardwalk positioned as if to say don't forget me. Well, I didn't, and took a couple frames to remember it. I've worked it up several different ways, each providing a different kind of impact, but this one is Jan's favorite so that's what I'm sharing. The water around these geothermal spots can very from very low to very high pH, neither of which support the normal flora or fauna, but do support many types of bacteria and algae. So the normal vegetation one would expect to encounter in the mountains does not survive. The ecosystems here are really quite interesting and at the same time very strange. When you visit Yellowstone, do take the time to learn about the amazing life forms that are abundant in the geothermic sections of the park. You might even consider purchasing a book or two that discuss the life forms in depth. The base image was cropped some, then I applied a painting filter - palette knife and oils - to it to get the look you see. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200, 1/200 sec @ f / 8.

23 May 16. A few minutes drive east of Mammoth Hot Springs you come to a very small parking lot with an unimpressive sign on the road at each end saying Undine Falls. If you aren't paying attention you will miss the signs for sure and likely not give the parking lot a second glance. If you do you will miss one the the loveliest falls in the park. The walk from the parking lot takes about 30 seconds but until you take the walk you won't see the falls. When you do see them they are at a distance and while I'm certain there is a way to get to them, it isn't immediately obvious. But you definitely do want to stop and view them. The falls consist of three drops and a sloping run off. All told the water drops approximately 100 feet making it I believe the 3rd largest falls in the park the upper falls of the grand canyon at 108 feet the 2nd largest and the lower falls at 385 feet the largest. I shot the falls in several different ways, but what gave me the best results I believe was a series of vertical overlaps that I blended into a single image. As such it is a tall and skinny image, but by presenting it in this way I think it helps in conveying what one experiences when viewing the falls from the observation point. I was standing on the edge of a large and virtually vertical drop off to get the perspective I desired. This is a composite of 4 vertical (portrait) images and gives you a realistic view of the falls. The base images were blended together and the composite was cropped for best presentation. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/400 sec @ f / 7.1.

24 May 16. While looking over what I had to send last night, I asked Jan to make a choice for me. MUCH to my amazement, as she in general doesn't like B&W images, she indicated that she liked the B&W versions best in two of the selections. So one of those choices is what I'm sharing today. Now the versions I created of this particular image lend themselves nicely for a triptych, so I decided to share with you the three versions I think make for an interesting look. Today's is obviously a B&W, and tomorrows will be the straight version. Thursday's will be quite different from the other two, and should not only make the third panel quite interesting, but also be useful by combining with the colored version to create an even different effect, but of course, you'll be required to do that on your own. Without much doubt I believe many of you will be familiar with the Lone Cyprus located along the scenic 17-Mile drive in Pebble Beach, (Monterey) CA. If you aren't, the link will take you there. As I was walking along a portion of the Upper Terrace at Mammoth Hot Springs I've never before visited, I noticed a single Lodge Pole Pine growing out of the top of a large calcite mound that to my way of thinking reminded me of the Lone Cyprus and so I attempted to shoot it in such a manner as to mimic my images of that CA icon. Now I lacked the Pacific Ocean for a background, but I did have a nice mountain range instead to serve as my backdrop. My pine isn't nearly as large as the cyprus, nor has anyone bothered to build a wall around it, but I still think it has a lot of resemblance. You can decided for yourselves. This will be the first pane for the triptych. I've cropped the base image a small amount, and converted it to B&W. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f /10.

25 May 16. So here is the next pane. I started by saying pane 2 but then I realized that I could be misunderstood in that this pane had to be the second in order and such is not the case. This is the straight shot and I virtually did nothing more to it aside from the cropping I mentioned yesterday. The mound on which the tree lives was created by a mineral spring that is now either dried up or moved to a new location. There is no sign to say what transpired in the past so I can only guess at what occurred. Depending on the weather and your position, this is what you would see. Move a couple of feet and the scene would be entirely different. As I mentioned yesterday, although we've visited in this very location perhaps a half dozen times, this was the first time I parked in a different location and wandered around. I sure am glad I did and now know that on the next visit I will do a LOT more wandering around in this general area. Same info as yesterday as it is the same image sans B&W conversion. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f /10. Hope you enjoy, dave.

26 May 16. OK, here we go with the last pane. If you haven't looked at the image yet, do so now and get a feel for it then come back to this narrative. This is another of the creations that could be used as a page for the coloring book I discussed a while back. Depending on how this image strikes you, it might be considered as the foundation, the skeleton, or just a silhouette of the full image. It can be used for the creation of the tryptich as is - or - it could be combined using software that works with layers in a number of ways, two of which would be blending it with the pane from yesterday with a blending mode such as multiply or simply shifting it in one direction to have it offset the underlying image making the underlying image appear to have a shadow the size of which being determined by how far you shift it. You could do other things as well but that should give you a starting point. How you arrange the three panes will also determine the final look. So have some fun and see what you can create. Same info as the previous two days as it is the same image but this time I've modified it to be just the outline. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f /10.

27 May 16. Today's close-up is likely one of those images that speaks for itself. I took this shot of a baby Canada Goose in Lake Whetstone the spring of our departure in 2006 from both the community and the navy. We always enjoyed watching these little critters swimming between an adult pair, and I use that term as considering the number of goslings we used to see with one pair of adults we are both certain that the adults took turns baby (gosling) sitting. This little one was looking a bit forlorn and was by itself when I took the shot. We watched it for a while - Jan of course wanting to catch it to save it - but with time it was reunited with a larger group and paddled happily away with the others. This is a straight shot but with some cropping. Nikon D70; 70 - 300; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f / 9.

Decoration Day . A very short note today just to say THANK YOU to all those who have served our nation in the past or who are doing so today. Sadly, those who deserve the thanks the most aren't here to receive it! For any who may not be familiar with the background of this holiday, here is a link discussing the creation of Decoration Day as it was originally called. The base image was layered with an image (from the web) of an American flag. I used a filter to pull out just an outline of the flag, combined that with the flag layer using a multiply blending mode, then used the multiply blend mode again to layer the two images together. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/40 sec @ f / 29 on a tripod.

31 May 16. One of Jan's favorite locations in Yellowstone is Artist's Paintpots as it has a couple of beds of bubbling mud. We generally visit it on each trip unless it is not open for some reason as has been the case on an occasion or two. It's a half mile walk to get to and return from the thermal area and along the way there are a number of interesting dead trees and lesser vegetation to catch your eye. This tree is one of them and I shot it with the idea that it would make a great B&W. That thought was better than actuality so after fussing with it for the better part of an hour and not getting what I wanted, I changed gears and took a different approach. I knew I wanted it in some form on monochrome, so I decided to try working with a different color than black and went instead with brown. As soon as I tried that I knew what I wanted, so here is a sepia-like presentation that reminds me of many old vintage photos I'm currently archiving in hopes of preserving a bit of the family heritage. Likely nobody cares about archiving this dead tree, but I liked the idea of it representing one of those old pictures. I took the base image, adjusted it for max color, converted that to a B&W and then the B&W to the sepia. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f /10.