Daily Image - Nov 2018 Archive

05 Nov 18 With the change in time and now experiencing the really dark evenings (I still think DST should be reversed with the "extra" hour of sunlight in the winter, not the summer) I thought I'd start the standard time season with an equally winter like image. This was taken in Yellowstone during last year's winter trip and was taken on the day we got snowed in. It's a shot of a set of trees I shoot each year but this was my first time to see them clothed in their winter garb. The image I'm sharing is a creative one. I took the original and added a colored texture overlay to it and then converted that to a B&W format. The combination of effects has rendered it a bit soft but that's what I was after to simulate the heavy storm, think blizzard, conditions we were in for most of that day. I still regret the folks I was with not being willing to spend our time working the storm instead of looking for non-existent animals who as it turned out were smarter than were we. They had hunkered down!! That storm would have made for a very good selling book. I've described what I did above. Foreboding Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 400; 1/320 sec @ f /13.

21 Nov 18 Well, even though we didn't look at a spider yesterday, and definitely not the kind if we had that could kill you, apparently the web counted as much. So today we look at something much more soothing and entirely different but if it were the right kind it too could kill you. Now I know absolutely nothing about the members of the Kingdom Fungi other than a) some can kill you, b) some are safe to eat and sorta resemble rubber, and c) the majority are lovely to view. Today we'll concentrate on option (c) and have a look at one individual of several dozen that were growing on the edge of our drive on the side of the house. At first I saw only a couple of these guys but as I was raking leaves over the embankment I noticed several more and then my eye began to focus on an area that was literally covered with them. Knowing these things don't seem to last long once I've noticed them I retrieved the camera and took several shots. This was my favorite of the group although I had to clean up a lot of stuff around the mushroom that was competing for your eye. I've removed a lot of junk and cropped it some. Well Dressed Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/60 sec @ f /11 with fill flash.

07 Nov 18 Continuing on along hwy-287 from where we left off a few days ago the weather had finally turned to full storm and pelting me with sufficient water to make the windshield look like textured glass. Of course it was just lots of rain causing the effect but when the wipers were turned off, as when I was challenging the weather to take photos such as this one of Quake Lake, it had the appearance of the type of glass often seen in furniture. I've modified the original image to illustrate what I was seeing through the windshield with the wipers turned off. The roadside signs were flashing a bright yellow telling me that there were animals on the road and there may well have been some Big Horn Sheep grazing roadside earlier but none of God's creatures in their right mind were going to be out in this weather and none were. As I drove along the lakes - Quake and Hebgen - the rain portion of the storm began to abate and by the time I reached the turnoff for the condo the rain had ceased but not the wind. Overnight the rain returned as snow and I was to awake in the morning to a day that turned out to be photographically challenging but also rewarding. We'll pick up there tomorrow. The base image was give a small amount of contrast enhancement and then converted to this creative version using the Topaz filter Impression 2. Another Turner Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 320; 1/100 sec @ f / 9.

28 Nov 18 Hwy 287 E & Hwy 191 S join 8 miles north of the town of West Yellowstone and continue into town where Hwy 191 ends and Hwy 287 takes a right and continues on into Idaho. At their junction you have a view of the Absaroka Range, the Gallatin Range, and the Tobacco Root Range of mountains, all part of the Rockies. On any give day the view can be anything from threatening to breath taking and everything in between. Today's submission is of the Tobacco Root Range taken from a gravel patch where the highways join and where it is safe to get off the roadway. You are looking westward and if you zoom in a fair amount at the RH edge you can read the traffic signs and see a few vehicles on Hwy 287 known at that location as Hebgen Lake Drive. This was taken on the morning after I arrived and shows a little of the freshly fallen snow from over night. Save it for a while as I'll share another taken from the same location 6 days later. This is an 8 frame pano that I've created in Adobe Camera Raw and then given some slight noise reduction/sharpening in Topaz A I Clear. Tobacco Root Mountains Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f /9.

12 Nov 18 Friday morning was to be a game of catch me if you can, with "me" being ol sol. As he peeked in and out of the clouds I was racing up and down hwy-287, locally known as Hebgen Lake Drive, attempting to get some nice lighting on the trees whether they were still leafed out or bare. In fact, I was more interested in the trees that were totally bare than I was with those all decked out. As it turned out the those still wearing their Sunday Best were the easier to record. But I got some of each although not as many of the bare branched ones as I would have liked. Today we are looking at a stand of aspens just a couple hundred yards from the private Hebgen Estates boat launch. The area where I was shooting wasn't posted and as the road was a horseshoe type loop abutting the highway at both ends I think I was O.K. shooting there. You can see the highway at the far right hand edge where it looks like a line of white dots. When I started out that morning there was a hint of snow on the ground from the condo to this spot, but by the time I was shooting at this location it was all gone. It would have been nice to have it stick around for a while and it did just that a few days later. This is basically straight from the camera save for a small amount of contrast enhancement. Eye Catcher Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/1250 sec @ f / 9.

27 Nov 18 Almost directly across from the condo - ignoring the body of water (Hebgen Lake) inbetween - along the roadside are to be found a number of large properties that I believe are primarily pasture lands. I've never seen any crops on them but I have seen some livestock now and then. Some of you may recall the shot I shared about 4 years back of a really nice mule that came up to me and we spent some time together with me both scratching her head and neck and taking her portrait. On that trip I saw them for 3 days but have never seen them since. This trip on two occasions I saw a group of 5 horses in a field near where I saw the mules. This group, with one exception, were basically stand offish but one of them decided to check me out and left the group to come and see what I might have to offer. While he was making his way to my position at the edge of the barbed wire fence one of his buddies was busy giving himself a lengthy back rub and I had a few moments of fun recording his efforts. Today's submission is one of those frames. Zoom in and take a look at his face. From what I can see I do believe he was thoroughly enjoying himself! Other than some cropping this is what the camera recorded. Four not on the Floor Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

The Gathering Storm

29 Nov 18 I've been wanting to share a B&W image for several weeks but just haven't been able to create one that I like sufficiently enough to do so. Today's submission just barely makes the mark but I think it worth sharing. It's a shot of a small group of Aspens that has seen one storm too many but still retain enough leaves to make them interesting. Immediately to my back is Hwy -287 and you are looking at Hebgen Lake and the Tobacco Root Mountains. If you look carefully at the shoreline at the left had edge and directly to the left of the fence post you will see a gathering of ducks. A bit to the right, out of view in this shot, is a grouping of perhaps another 500 + birds. About 5 years ago on another autumn visit we saw perhaps a grouping of several thousand ducks on the lake so apparently this is an annual meeting. One can only wonder what they are discussing. This is pretty much what the camera saw but I had to do some significant enhancement of the clouds for this B&W version. ISO 400; 1/1600 sec @ f / 9.

08 Nov 18 The storm hung around most of the night and dropped fresh snow at roughly the 7,000 ft altitude so while the roads were clear when I awoke, the mountains were coated with a fresh dusting of snow and the clouds and sol were playing hide and seek. I spent the rest of the day playing along with them waiting for sol to make a presence every now and then but shooting throughout the day whenever I thought I might get something worth sharing. As it turned out that day and one other, not counting the drive home, were reasonably productive while the rest of the time was better spent just relaxing. Just downstream perhaps a quarter mile from the base of Hebgen dam the Madison river makes a hairpin turn and here you generally find individuals, with and without their dog(s), fishing. As the river continues having completed its turn you find a number of what might best be described as fishing lodges. You can't see them in the image, they are out of sight on the left hand side, but their signs are easily visible from the road. The river now widens some and is perhaps at best 3 feet deep but apparently prime fish habitat as the bend and beyond always has folks fishing in it. I don't think I've ever driven by it when there wasn't at leas one individual wetting a line, generally two or more. On this particular morning there were four in a space of perhaps 40 yards. Not hard to imagine why they might pick a spot like this even if there weren't any fish biting at the time. A beautiful green hillside dusted with fresh snow, brilliant yellow foliage all around, the leaves shimmering in the breeze, and a show overhead. If the fish were cooperating, well, that would just be the frosting on the cake. This is basically straight from the camera. Serenity Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/800 sec @ f / 9.

14 Nov 18 Last trip image for the week. Beaver Creek viewing area which you are seeing today lies between Quake and Hebgen lakes and is a small pond like area on both sides of the road (hwy-287) but which is fed by a small river/large creek - Beaver Creek - that winds far back into the woods. it is prime grizzly country as well as home to elk and moose for sure because I've photographed both there in the meadow but I'm sure there's much more. There are generally a number of water fowl present as there was when I took this shot but they decided to re-position themselves as soon as I got out of the vehicle. Guess they might be getting a little camera shy. I've shared a couple other shots from here before one of which you might recall which was a nesting Sand Hill Crane. It's a spot we pass both coming and going to the condo at a minimum each trip and while I always find it a beautiful location, this past trip was the most colorful I've experienced it. All it was lacking that Friday morning was some form of large game. This is straight from the camera. Beaver Creek Autumn Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/1250 sec @ f / 9.

13 Nov 18 On both sides of the road (hwy-287) at what I guess one would call the eastern end of Quake Lake, or at least the end furthest away from where the earthquake occurred that formed the lake are stands of aspen which in the spring have bright green leaves, in the fall golden yellow leaves, and as winter approaches just nude branches. When leafed out, from spring through fall, whenever the winds make their appearance they quiver making the most wonderful sound as well as putting on a real show of activity. After shedding their dress they still provide for some wonderful viewing with their white trunks and branches randomly interrupted with blotches of black, looking as if Bev Doolittle had painted them instead of horses. I love photographing them in the sunlight and I had to spend the better part of a half hour mess'n with Ol Sol while he played hide and seek with the bundles of water vapor churning overhead. This is just one of my favorite shots from that session of which there are several. This one features Quake Lake in the background. I did a little light painting on this one using some dodging and burning to force your eyes where I want them to be. Otherwise this is exactly how it looked. Leafless in Montana Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/800 sec @ f / 9.

26 Nov 18 Back to the Yellowstone travels for today's submission. The image for today is of a small feeder creek for the Gallatin River and a spot one could easily miss if not driving at a speed sufficiently slow to take in the surrounds on both sides of the road, in this case Highway 191. As you know this is one of my favorite roads in America and one I never tire of driving any time of the year. On this particular occasion I was killing time waiting for a plane arrival in Bozeman trying my best to maximize my time in the park and minimize my airport wait. I did it pretty well as my wait at the airport was maybe 5 minutes. It was a day of playing with the weather and for this shot the sky wasn't cooperating so in full disclosure I had to replace that bit of sky in the upper LH corner as well as its reflection in the water with a sky I shot earlier in the day. One of those occasions where you get what you can when available and use as appropriate later. It was a fun day of shooting even if a bit challenging and this is another shot from that Friday shoot that I've been sharing. Other than the sky manipulation this is what the camera recorded. Watering Hole Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/250 sec @ f / 9.

01 Nov 18 The most gorgeous fall I can ever remember in these parts came to an end last week when our normal rains and fog returned. Now it is mostly a daily raking of those lovely leaves into a glowing yellow edge of our normally dull drive. But being out in the fresh air and getting to look at all those leaves is just adding to the enjoyment of this year's show! On top of that we've had a few mornings of fog, some better than the others, a couple lasting almost all day, but all nice. Last Monday was perhaps the best of the group and when we took her majesty out for her morning ablutions I took the opportunity to shoot both up and down the road. This is looking up the road with a combination of a little wind, a lot of fog, and a tiny bit of sunshine attempting to drive away the fog. I find it a lot of fun to shoot in the fog as most of the captures have this wonderful mysterious look to them for which I can think of many uses of which one of those just happens to be the simple enjoyment of the fogy look itself and that's what I'm sharing for today. This is straight from the camera with a subtle creative adjustment for effect. Guess I could have used this one for Halloween as well as the one I did. Burning Off Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/125 sec @ f / 6.3.

15 Nov 18 Refer back to the time of that creative image of the Hood Canal bridge in the fog I shared a couple weeks ago. Having finished playing with the bridge I walked back towards the SUV when I noticed some potentially interesting material near the shore line adjacent to the road. As I approached I noticed a Great Blue Heron fishing near the edge and started walking slowly towards the bird until it saw me and took wing. I panned with the bird as it flew across my field of vision and got several shots I really liked. One of them, this one, however begged to be made into a motion shot so after working with it some I converted it to a creative type image which I'm sharing on this Theatrical Thursday. The separation of the flight feathers is not a part of the creative effect, they really were that spread apart in that phase of the bird's flight, one of the reasons I liked this particular shot. My preference of all the creative versions I made of the shot is this one as it best expresses the feeling of both the flight of the bird and what is required to so do. I've straightened the original some, cropped off a lot of unnecessary stuff, and of course made it a creative using the Topaz filter Impression 2. Motion Sketch Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 320; 1/1250 sec @ f / 6.3.

06 Nov 18 Picking up from where we left off yesterday, in a vague way, I'm sharing another stormy image. On the day we made the trip to Sequim, when I took that foggy image of the bridge, we returned to more weather this time in the form of what might best be described as a squall. Crossing over the bridge Jan saw a shot she wanted so we made it to the other side (SE where we live) and quickly turned around to go back across to the NW end hoping I could get the shot from the parking area on that side. Not only could I not, but in the 5 minutes or less that it took to make the turn around the shot was gone. But walking down to the bridge proper on the water side of the steel barrier, placed I guess to keep vehicles from going over the side, I saw a storm forming coming from the SE. As it rapidly grew in size I shot a series of frames in hopes of getting a nice composite of what I was seeing from side to side of Hood Canal. On the SE side was a storm while on the NW side was a lovely sunset. This composite shows it all. Getting my shots, walking back to the vehicle, and driving back across to the SE side probably took all of 15 minutes total. By the time we reached the other side the storm had completely dissipated. Such is the weather where we reside. Creation of the shot is in the narrative. This version is a slightly simplified version. Pano Simplified Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 250; 1/125 sec @ f / 9.

20 Nov 18 In this neck of the woods, typically near the end of October, the spiders mate during which time they build some elaborate webs that serve not only for the capture of food but for showing off in the hopes of finding a suitable mate. Can't say for sure that those aren't one and the same, but whatever the end point we get to see some nice architecture. In most cases one gets to see the architect but in today's sample we just have the web. On those mornings when the moisture is high it is really easy to find them and I do enjoy the challenge of trying to get the web with the resident all in sharp focus. Generally I fail but it is fun to try. I've cropped the original to remove a distracting tree and run AI Clear from Topaz on it. Full Service Web Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 1/50 sec @ f/ 5.6 hand held.

16 Nov 18 I thought I'd share a creative macro today of a dahlia. As you know I make several creative versions of each image in addition to the standard and B&W ones. Each creative version is an attempt to bring out some specific or unique aspect of the image. Generally I find that I prefer one of them to all the others although occasionally I like them all equally. For today's selection I picked one that I converted to look like a sketch out of an old notebook from yesteryear. It's the lighting approach to the petals that I particularly like and especially with those petals radiating from 0000 - 0400 around the center of the blossom. That, contrasted with the black charcoal -like scratching in the background, gives a look that I think really shows off the flower. This is straight from the camera with the obvious exception of the creative conversion. From the Sketch Book Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 1/125 sec @ f / 9.

22 Nov 18 I learned this year that the auto mechanic I use puts on a big show every Halloween and Christmas. We visited his home this year for the first time to see the Halloween show and weren't disappointed. So while I don't have a suitable Thanksgiving image to share, I thought you might appreciated this one from Halloween. Wishing you all a very blessed Thanksgiving. Straight from the camera. Departing Spooks Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 8 sec @ f / 9 on a tripod.

02 Nov 18 Jan boiled a couple artichokes last night for dinner and put the double boiler in the sink to cool. When we got up this morning it had an interesting display of bubbles on the surface of the water that were not there when she put the pot in the sink last night. Fortunately I decided to take a couple snaps of them when I did because about 15 minutes after I took the shots they were gone. Not sure at this point in time what caused their formation or their dissipation but I thought I'd share what we saw with you as a Friday macro submission, and this time, the shot does qualify as a macro. You can probably think of many names for the image based on how you are "seeing" the bubbles. I selected 6 different names for the 6 versions I made each with a different idea in mind as to what I was seeing. The one I'm sharing is the straight version. This is straight from the camera. New Life Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/13 sec @ f / 9 on a tripod.

19 Nov 18 Driving down to the Hansville post office a few days back I observed Mt Baker taunting the morning fog. By the time I drove to the water's edge to grab a couple frames, perhaps 90 seconds transpiring, the mountain had disappeared. So I made my P.O. run and returned to the same location perhaps 5 minutes later and saw what I'm sharing today, or at least mostly what I saw, because the sky was very boring. So I took an 8 shot pano, actually several multiple shot panos, and figured I'd pick out the best of the group to share at a later date which I feel is this set. But the sky wasn't adding to the overall presentation so I picked out another I liked and replaced the original with the new one. Only problem was that the blue of the replacement sky didn't match the overall setting of the pano so I had to adjust the blue of that replacement sky to balance with the rest of the image. Everything else you see is as it was. Superior Mirage is a term that is used to describe the phenomena of objects on the horizon seemingly expanding and contracting vertically. This is a real thing and in a video you can actually watch the buildings rise and fall. Of course this illusion can also be captured with a still camera but obviously not the movement; you can see some of this in the composite. Also, for those of you with critically sharp eyes, there is a Bald Eagle flying in the shot and a waterfall that is not a permanent fixture. You will of course need to look at it at at least 50% if not 100% to find either. Happy hunting. As I mentioned above, this is an eight shot pano. I've cropped off a fair amount from both the top and bottom edges for compositional purposes. Plus I've replaced the original sky and color corrected the replacement sky. Other than those two things, this is how it looked when I took the shots. Morning Show Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 250; 1/1250 sec @ f / 8.

09 Nov 18 If your normal approach is to read the vignette before looking at the photo today look at the photo first to see if you can guess what it is and then come back to my chatter. I'm guessing no one will get it right. Today we are truly looking at a macro image and one that deserves considerable scrutiny. The subject was roughly 18 inches across so depending on your monitor it will likely be bigger than life size. I got a call from my cousin's wife early this afternoon telling me that there was a large jellyfish that had arrived on their beach front and if I wanted to get a photo I'd better hurry down as the tide was coming in. We did just that and I took photos of it for the better part of an hour. It took a bit of time to recognize that I was looking at the ventral side of the critter and it wasn't until I viewed it on the computer that I realized it had a captured a small fish as well as some type of crustacean. I can identify a few parts of this Cnidarian but not all, especially the two bright whitish parts in the very middle of the creature. But spend some time looking it over as there is much to see. Jan thinks it was dead since it had washed up on the beach but I'm not sure. Either way I'm betting it's something you've never seen before. This is straight from the camera. Nude Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/400 sec @ f / 9.

Ice Skating

30 Nov 18 Hard to believe that in another 21 mailings another year will have completed. But if for no other reason the weather should be telling us it is so. After I sent the B&W image last night I started thinking about how I could get those trees the way I wanted them. Fell asleep thinking about it and when I awoke I had an idea, so I before anything else got accomplished today I had to try it out. Voila, it worked. Today we are looking at the entrance to our small church a couple Sunday's back. There is a divot in the center of the pad in front of the main door which collects water every time it rains, and, as you might expect, on the really cold wet mornings it turns to ice. Kind of a nasty way to be greeted for church so I get there sufficiently early to sweep away the water, or, in the case of ice, melt it first and then sweep it. Generally it is mostly just a chore, but on those mornings in the fall it can present you with some delightful photographic opportunities, such as it did this particular morning. The combination of leaves, ice crystals, and ice textures made for a nice composition. Took all my shots, tossed the salt, set up for Sunday School, and then swept away the melt. Kinda like washing the chalk board for those of you old enough to know what a chalk board was. Other than a bit of cropping, this is what the camera recorded. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/80 sec @ f / 9.