Daily Image - Jun 2018 Archive

This is the original 2009 image.

The historic site of Virginia City, MT is a fun place to visit and if you go in the off season - it is open all year round - you can spend a few hours leisurely strolling up and down the main street where all the old shops are located and then drive through the actual town where all the folks who work there reside. This is a shot of what might best be described as the apothecary although it doesn't have that title on the outside of the building. If you look closely at the interior you will be amazed at what you see. As it turns out most of the shops offer an equal amount of visual candy so plan on giving your visit the better half of a day if you want to do it up right. Else you can just drive through the city at 20 mph - the max speed limit - as you make your way to or from Ennis. The original got a little saturation adjustment, otherwise it is straight from the camera. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f / 5.6 with full flash.

12 Jun 18 Spent the day across the pond for a dental appointment for both of us which means the day is virtually a loss so took the time to do a little photography of a couple groupings of California Poppies, a hillside of Lupine, and Fisherman's Terminal in Ballard where we also had lunch. All three subject shoots turned out very well so the day wasn't the typical total waste. Came home to a blown GFI which powers all the electronics in the house so almost had to forgo sending out today's submission but I jury rigged things some to bypass the problem but will need to get that situation correctly in the a.m. There is a large bridge parallel to Fisherman's Terminal which made me think of the bridges in Praha and so we will look once again at Charles Bridge but this time for the water fowl associated with it. If you look at the five arches going from right to left in the image viewing at 100% you will see a pair of Mallards, perhaps 50+ swans, and about 20 cormorants all either on the far side of the bridge or at its base. You should also see another bridge in the distance as well as a couple hundred tourists on the Charles bridge and another smaller group on the distant bridge. This is a composite of 8 frames. I've straightened and cropped the composite some and added a small amount of contrast enhancement. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/400 sec @ f /10.

28 Jun 18 Today's image is of an art gallery, the National Art Gallery to be exact, that we didn't visit and not only should have but had plenty of opportunity to so do but blew it because I didn't do a sufficiently good job of learning what was what and where in both Budapest and Prague, especially Prague. But I guess that mistake may serve to get us back for a longer stay to visit galleries, churches/cathedrals, and museums. Next time around I think I'll have a few guide books, history books, and local guide yourself stuff to maximize it all. Meanwhile I just get to look at all the stuff I did capture - it was a LOT - and dream about the things to come. I did a little straightening on this one as well as removal of a few uninteresting distractions. Otherwise this is how it looked. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/1000 sec @ f / 8.

05 Jun 18 Not holding my breath but I may have found a solution for the mailing problem. I'll know later today. Meanwhile we'll have a look at another unusual statue, this one in the central part of Bratislava. The story goes that the man is a fertility symbol and that by rubbing his head you are guaranteed a large family. While we were being led around by out tour guide she talked about this particular piece of art and a story to go with it. Seems she was leading one large tour and among the members was an elderly gentleman. She noticed him rubbing the statue's head and thinking it odd for an individual of his age to be so doing so she asked him if he had understood what she had said. He said yes, and thinking it being a bit strange she inquired as to why he was rubbing it; did he want a large family at his age? He said no, but he'd like to practice again, which cracked up the entire tour group. No one in our group bothered to rub him so I guess that says something about our group although not exactly sure what. One more interesting statue to go before I run out of them; we'll get to that one a bit later. I've cropped this a small amount and given it a little contrast enhancement s it was taken in the rain. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/100 sec @ f / 9.

26 Jun 18 26 Jun 18 A very short train ride or nice walk from downtown Budapest is found Hero's Square. Lots to see there including a huge park with many offerings. Part of it includes a zoo, a carnival section, several museums and lots of statues. At one end of the park area is a large museum abutting what looks like a dry cement pond thingy which in reality is flooded in the winter to create a large outdoor ice skating rink. You can see the rain water from the previous day's downpour where the ice would be in the winter. The building on one side, today's main player, is a museum whose name I failed to record. It reminds me of an old castle, the kind you would read about in a fairy tale. I was so impressed with it that I made several creative versions of it but for today I was instructed to share the straight version. I like the shot but think it is missing a couple of things, a fire breathing dragon and a maiden with long blond hair hanging down close to the ground. The original was severely skewed so I had to do a lot of straightening to get it even close to looking right plus removing a few distracting elements. Otherwise this is pretty close to what the camera saw. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 320; 1/400 sec @ f / 9.

06 Jun 18 I had hoped to be able to announce the email problem had been solved with this mailing but it would appear we are not out of the woods yet. Got this reply Tuesday: "In line with a global effort against spam, we limit the amount of emails you can send in a specific period of time. These types of limits are enforced by all major email providers and are not solely confined to mail.com. Please note that due to security reasons it is not possible for us to provide you with specific numbers. Please note that the limit increases with account age and you should soon be able to send more messages." I wrote back pleading for a slightly better response; will report on that attempt Thursday. Our arrival at Lake Hebgen which is the location where the condo sits presented us with a view we hadn't seen prior, the 2/3s of the lake closest to the dam totally frozen. We had seen portions of the lake frozen on previous trips but never this much this late. As we were to learn later the length of the winter, the colder temps, and increased snowfall had had an effect on just about everything there. It was clear from looking at the ice - you can see it in the photo - that it had been the source of a fair bit of activity during the winter months and from the tracks clearly visible on the ice I'd say that the activity was mostly fun. As you can discern in the photo it was no longer safe for such activity and by the time we left 8 days later the lake was ice free. But I'll wager for the months of December - April this lake was a busy place but not for fishermen. This is basically straight from the camera. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/1600 sec @ f / 9.

19 Jun 18 This is a shot of a couple of adults and two yearling calves. The calves stay with mom for up to two full years even though mom can have offspring annually. The view is in front of the condo and during April - Jun it is a typical sight. The bison generally visit daily, sometimes twice a day, morning and evening, but there are days when they just choose to hangout elsewhere in the neighborhood. The entire community is in love with these critters and there is a local movement called "Free the Buffalo" - be nice if they called them by their correct name - that is attempting to get the MT govt to allow the bison off the "range" (Yellowstone National Park) with protected status to roam freely using our local development as an example of both groups - bison and humans - living happily together. And to be honest, the development residents really are in love with these magnificent critters. We share those feelings! This is what the camera recorded save for a tiny amount of contrast enhancement. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 250; 1/800 sec @ f / 9.

07 Jun 18 I thought we were out of the woods until I received this Wednesday: "Dear Dave - Depending on how old an account is, it could be possible to send 50 messages at the same time. However for a newly created account that would not be possible. I am afraid that for security reasons I can not disclose the information you requested (time frame of when an account could be considered old enough) and I apologize for it." So scratch that approach!! So I did some more searching, found another potentially great option, but a call to the provider resulted in another negative BUT they said they had another option called Campaigns designed for bulk mailing. Free option for sending up to 12,000 messages a month with up to 2,000 recipients per mailing. Called them and they said YES! Set up an account and was contacted via email from the sales exec to discuss how I can use the account. Update tomorrow. Perhaps a half mile outside Yellowstone NP on Hwy 191 is a small study site known as Snowflake Springs. I've shared several images from the location in the past, it's a favorite place of mine, but never one of an animal. While search for a particular moose, I sensed some movement in the grasses and turned to see a beaver slowly making its way from the bank into the stream. I turned my attention to the beaver and began photographing it. This is a creative version - it being Theatrical Thursday - of a shot as the critter was just about to enter the water. I've tried in the creative process to emphasize the aspect of the animal that cost it its life during the middle of the 19th century, almost to the point of extinction. Other than making it a creative version, this is basically what the camera recorded. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.

27 Jun 18 The middle geyser basin which is situated right above the Fire Hole River holds what I think is the most impressive of all the thermal attractions. Likely not the number one attraction on the list of the top ten for most folks, it is my number one attraction in the park. There are several listed right behind it, but this one combines more science in one location than do the others. There is now a trail taking you above it as I've written previously which I've yet to experience, but this fall, irrespective of any Ranger or any other negative influence, I'm going to make it to the upper viewing platform and shoot it from above. For now I can only share another shot from ground zero. Viewing it from the boardwalk is deceiving as you get only a mere glimpse of it and you are so close to it you cannot grasp its full size. When you visit the park make it a point to see this thermal feature in particular; you'll need to allow yourself a good hour to watch it as the combinations of wind and air temp provide for an ever changing palette of colors as the vapors blow across the varying edge temperatures housing different colored thermophiles giving the steam an ever changing array of color. Other than a bit of cropping this is right out of camera. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 400; 1/2000 sec @ f / 9.

13 Jun 18 Driving into the park from the town of West Yellowstone you follow the Madison River all the way to its beginning at the junction of the Firehole and Gibbon rivers. To the north and visible for the majority of the drive are the Gallatin Mountains. From the height of your automobile seat they compel you to take their photograph, but as soon as you exit your vehicle to capture them you lower yourself sufficiently that the view that has been enticing you disappears leaving you at least somewhat frustrated. Even when you pull off at the designated viewing locations, where you assume the best views are to be had, they simply tease you without reward. But they can be captured if you just ignore the view points and keep driving until the road climbs sufficiently and then park and walk to the side of the road and put yourself between the trees and take the shot. Of course the current park head forbids such blatant behavior but do it anyway. In this shot the Madison is flowing between the light brown hillside with leafless trees and the lodge pole pines at the very bottom. What you can't see is a small herd of bison on the far bank of the river. Other than some contrast enhancement this is what the camera captured. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/2500 sec @ f / 9.

04 Jun 18 Let's begin the week with a shot from Yellowstone. This is of a waterfall I've shared a couple of times before, Gibbon Falls. If you save the images go back and look at previous versions sent from the May visits. You will notice a big difference between this shot and previous ones. With the heavy snowfall this last winter coupled with a couple of warm weeks and rain the amount of water flowing in Gibbon River was enormous which in turn made for a spectacular show as it tumbled over the precipice making for the falls. The roar of the water was enticing making me think of how much fun it might be to brave the falls in a small water craft. Although the water looks to be deep it isn't with the normal depth of the river under 3 feet. But it is enough to put on a real show and this year's show was the best yet. With the winters getting colder and longer with increasing snowfall I can only imagine to what we may be treated next May. This is basically what the camera recorded. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/4000 sec @ f / 9.

18 Jun 18 Today we are looking at the side of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon, i.e., the steep walls at the bottom of which runs the Yellowstone river. The shot was taken on the path leading to the Artist's Point viewing location. The view of the falls is rather spectacular from this location but the colors and the steepness of the canyon walls even more so in my opinion. Just up the road a short distance is Uncle Tom's Cabin viewpoint, but at this time and I'm thinking for perhaps another year it is under total renovation, so for now Artist's Point is the only viewing location on the south rim. This is pretty much straight from the camera save for a bit of color correction. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/1250 sec @ f /9.

11 Jun 18 Made some progress with the mailing issue over the weekend. Looks like I'll be moving the service over to MailChimp. Likely will take the rest of the week to work out all the kinks, but then I'll have official mailing of up to 2,000 recipients with up to 12,000 emails per month free of charge and no span crap! Hopefully the mailing one week from today will go out to all at once and in your in-box. Today's submission is of the Lower Falls in of the Grand Canyon in Yellowstone. There are three locations from which you can photograph these falls with two offering an opportunity to get right down level with the water. Both of these locations were closed while we were visiting so this shot is from the most distant observation point, Artist's Point. I'll share several other views of the falls but I thought I'd start with this one as it provides for a nice overview. As you will note there was still a significant amount of snow and ice remaining in the area of the falls which accounted for much of the closures although, as usual, there was far more closed than need be which I'll illustrate with a humorous shot later. There was plenty of water flowing in the river and over the falls and it was creating its own weather providing an illustration of water in all its three forms, solid, liquid, and vapor. Not a shot you get every day but not all the unusual during the winter months. If you zoom into 100% you can see the viewing platform at river level at the upper right of the image adjacent to the right hand side of the river. If you take the hike down to that platform, I've done it several times, you get a great view of the water boiling over the edge and spilling down to the base of the canyon. Not a difficult walk down but you may want to take it slowly on the return leg. May just have to do that on the next visit this October. We'll see how things go. This is pretty much straight from the camera save for a small amount of contrast enhancement. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 400; 1/1000 sec @ f / 9.

01 Jun 18 After waiting for the promised call and/or message from centurylink that was to happen not later than Tuesday, I called Thursday evening to be rudely disconnected on the first try and then given a basic 30 minute run-around on the second call. Tomorrow I draft my letter to the WA State Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protection! This past week has seen the swarm of hummingbirds return for their annual visit of a week to 10 days. Last year they arrived mid-June; this year they seem to be a bit early but as we've only been paying close attention for 2 years it's hard to say when exactly they should arrive. Unlike the swallows at Capistrano, CA which arrive on the 19th of March every year, these guys don't seem to have a set date. Of course one big difference is they are immediately outside our family room windows so we get to enjoy them from both inside our house as well as outside on either the deck or in the garden. Can't say that for the swallows and the drive to see them is a bit lengthy. So here is my now annual shot of the lovely critters having a slurp; 13 total. You can't see them all because two are behind the feeder but if you look carefully you can see the blurred outline of one of those two, the other 11 being clearly visible. We are now providing almost 3 quarts of food daily; before it's all over and all but a couple pair remain behind for the year we'll be providing a gallon a day. For a few minutes today I sat directly under one of the feeders and looked up to watch the air combat taking place over my head. Fun stuff as they really put on a show. The big yellowish blur in the background is a large yellow and salmon lupine. I've cropped the original significantly and added just a touch of contrast enhancement. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500, 1/40 sec @ f / 9 hand held.

29 Jun 18 A few months back Nikon came out with a wonderful new 200 - 500 zoom lens that several club members were raving about. One of the club members who is an excellent bird photographer purchased it and she couldn't say enough about it. She is small in stature and is able to use it hand held which really made me want one to replace my 150 - 600. So I arranged a meeting with her where I could A - B the two lenses such that I could make an informed decision on whether I wanted to spend about $1,200 for a new lens. And while that may seem expensive it isn't for that kind of lens. With the date set I was really looking forward to convincing myself that I would be purchasing a new lens. It didn't happen. The lens turned out to be heavier than the one I have and for all the hype about it focused slower than my 150 - 600. So $1,200 richer I decided the other day to just do some playing with it in close range to see what I could accomplish. The shot of that woodpecker a couple weeks back was taken with the lens tripod mounted and at a distance, but I wanted to challenge myself working with it at minimal focus distance. This was to be an exercise in both sharpness and depth of field with the lens near max magnification and with little room to maneuver. The results were better than what I thought would be possible and I was thrilled. My main subject was obviously the bee, but take a critical look at the flowers as well. Ive cropped the original to place emphasis on the bee but that's it. Nikon D500; 150 - 600; Aperture Priority; ISO 1000; 1/640 sec @ f /13.

08 Jun 18 Got a call Thursday morning from the prospective mail service and it was confirmed that it is available to do everything I need to do and for just a few dollars should I ever need it MUCH more. So over the weekend I hope to get things set up and back to more than normal! Walking her majesty this morning for her daily ablutions Jan noticed a dark blotch hanging from a tall stalk of grass; turned out to be a cecropia moth that had just emerged from its cocoon and was in the process of pumping up its wings. We brought it into the house and I took a few shots of it in the studio, then outside for a few more before placing it in our large fuchsia - 4 foot diameter - where it apparently finished the job as when we went to look for it later it was gone. Today's submission is pone of those fro the studio. This is straight from the camera save for some cropping and the removal of portions of the plant. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority ISO 500; 1/60 sec @ f/ 9 with fill flash on a tripod.

14 Jun 18 Somewhere around 2008 +/- a year there was a new craze called HDR photography brought about by the digital revolution. This was at a time when digital sensors could capture maybe 6 stops of light at best, unlike today's top cameras that can get in the neighborhood of 20 stops. So to get the total range of light in a highly contrasty situation one would shoot a frame properly exposed, then several more at equal intervals both over and under exposed. All the frames were then taken into a piece of software that would "extract" the properly exposed portions of each frame and combine them into a single image with everything "properly" recorded. This method created some rather "interesting" images and was the basis, I believe, for the grunge look. Like everyone else I got caught up in the rage and produced many such images several of which I shared in the mailing in 2008 - 10 but mainly in 2009. One of them of an old winch house at Fishermans' Terminal in Ballard, just about the only place I miss not being in Seattle, won several awards in local camera club competitions. On Monday we had to visit our dentist in Ballard and after the appointments we went down to the Terminal for lunch and some photography. I got permission to once again shoot that old winch house that I loved to shoot when we lived in Ballard. It has changed somewhat from what I remember a decade ago but still serves the same function being the source of locomotion for pulling the fishing vessels up out of the water into dry dock. The HDR look has changed much over this past decade as has the software used to create it. Now the look is far removed from the original grunge look to attempting to make the resulting image appear as real life as possible. I've included the original grunge image, predominantly reddish in color as well as that which I made from Monday's shoot, now yellowish as the building has also changed, in this case from an apparent paint job. This is a 5 frame HDR composite made using Aurora HDR 2018; the original 2009 shot was made using Photomatix, THE HDR program at that time. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/200 sec @ f / 9 (middle exposure) hand held.

25 Jun 18 Back from a reasonably enjoyable conference in that the guest speaker was very good as was the morning worship service. We'll just forget about the business aspects. Always good to go on a short trip and of course always good to come back home. With the front landscaping/garden in full bloom I spent the weekend playing with the flora trying a few fun things including a pano of the landscape which is what I'm sharing for today. This is our view from our front porch or from inside looking out either of the family room windows. The waterfall at the left one end of the pond can be heard from inside the house as well as outside, which is the best part of several parts of having the pond. Moving to the right you can see a stationary bird bath that features a solar fountain which some of the hummingbirds like to use as a shower, a photo I missed a few days back that I wish I hadn't. Between the pond and the fountain is a shrubbery version of St John's Wort which seems to really like where it is. It now hides almost half of the landscape plantings and will need some serious pruning before next year. The iris in the pond are now in full bloom and it shouldn't be long until the water lollies supplant them. The walk with pavers divides the landscape into sun and shade sections with the shade being on the far right. The largest plant of MANY large plants in the shade is a fuchsia which now measured perhaps eight feet in diameter and is so full of blossoms that it resembles a roof line with hanging icicles. I'll likely share an image of that at a later date. Beneath the fuchsia is an undercover of bleeding hearts, ferns, and a variety of specialty plants including blue poppies, blue thistles, primroses (I've shard shots of them before) and miniature orchids among various other things. Plus one huge Jack-in-the-Pulpit. If you are not familiar with that plant look it up; it is a very interesting one. The path leads to the garden which is divided 2/3 food plants and 1/3 flowering plants. We even added artichoke to participate in both categories. With luck, if all goes as planned, we will expand the entire operation by double for next year. Not sure why I'm doing such as it is already a somewhat time consuming project, but the prospects of having my own botanical garden in which I can photograph a lot of interesting plants and flowers is somewhat enticing plus having a lot of fresh vegetables for summer/fall meals has special appeal. This is an 8 shot composite in which all I've done is lighten the shadow area of the lower left hand corner. ISO 200; !/250 sec @ f / 9.