Daily Image - Jul '22 Archive

28 Jul 22 Our April trip to the ocean as I've written previously ended with a magnificent sunset which we unfortunately didn't stick around to enjoy but did enjoy seeing some part in the rear view mirrors and while we were having dinner in Port Angeles. We should have paid more attention to what was going on around us as the evening light while still at First Beach was definitely trying to tell us that there was a show awaiting us. But we pushed on instead. Today I'm sharing one of those frames we took just before departing that should have made us aware that we needed to stay. The is the fishing marina that houses the tribes fishing fleet. It isn't huge, but the couple dozen of vessels - moored out of sight to the right - are quite picturesque. May just share a shot of them next week. This is straight from the camera. Day's End Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1,250 sec @ f /11.

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14 Jul 22 There are 3 major features to my way of thinking in the Lower Geyser Basin plus a series of several lessor features, mostly fumaroles. We've looked at two of these major features, the Fountain Paint Pots (mud pots) and Red Spouter prior, today we look at the third, Silex Spring. This one is actually the first feature you encounter as you leave the parking lot and begin your trip along the boardwalk. Silex Spring is named for the large amount of silica found in and around this feature. Silex is Latin for silica which comes from the underlying volcanic rocks, which its hot waters dissolve. This silica is then deposited as sinter, which lines the pool and forms the highly colored terraces along the runoff channels which reach all the way to the parking area. As with the other thermal features, thermophiles thrive in these hot waters, which as I've written previously give the channels such a variety of textures and colors. Silex Spring has an average temperate of 174.7°F (79.3°C) and an average pH of 8.4 making it somewhat alkaline. It last erupted in 2006. This spring overflows most of the year. This hot environment is perfect for the thermophiles which become food for several kinds of flies that live in and on the hot water who in turn then become food for mites, spiders, various insects and birds. A little ecosystem that most folks miss due to the beauty of the colored pools of water. Lots of signage warning about the dangers of the hot water but none talking about the contained ecosystem. I presented these thermal features out of order; you first encounter Silex Spring, then the Fountain Paint pots, and then Red Spouter. You can see it all in 15 minutes, or a couple of hours, depending on how much you want to take in. Directly above the top of the frame is the Grand Loop Road but you'll likely not notice the spring as you drive along past it. This 10 pane pano is straight from the camera save for a wee bit of contrast enhancement and cropping for interest. Roadside Spring Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.

13 Jul 22 Skipping the thermophiles along the return walk and returning to the Lower Geyser Basin to have a look at a trifecta thermal feature. A relative new addition to the park, Red Spouter was created during the 17 Aug 59 (7.3 magnitude) earthquake, the largest in the known history of Yellowstone, that created Quake Lake as well. To my knowledge it is the only thermal feature that displays in three phases: as a hot spring in the spring, as a mud pot in the summer, and as a fumarole in the fall. A true three for one and all dependent on the height of the water table below the surface. Of course you'd have to visit in each season to see all three; we've only seen it as a hot spring and fumarole as we never visit in the summer. The thermophiles here - red area - use hydrogen sulfide, which rises from deep within the earth, as an energy source to convert the gas to sulfuric acid, which breaks down the rock to wet clay mud and in the process creates the typical rotten egg smell that is common to most of these thermal features. This little spring is somewhat hotter than the two previous springs I shared. Not sure how hot the water is, but you can see the roiling of the water just behind and in front of the rock. The steam in the photo is from the spring. While I was there Red Spouter was doing a lot of spouting and I took many frames trying to get the perfect burst. Never got that exact shot but this one is one of the better attempts. This is straight from the camera save for a wee bit of contrast enhancement. In Mid-Air Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

05 Jul 22 Hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day!! Back to where we left off at the Midway Geyser Basin. If you continue walking along the boardwalk in the now only allowed direction, clockwise, the next thermal feature you encounter, and the main attraction of this geyser basin, is Prismatic Spring. As you walk along the boardwalk approaching the spring you first encounter a vast area of what might best be described as a drain field that is occupied by vast colonies of thermophiles. It doesn't state it anywhere in either the guide books or display boards, but I'm thinking what is now the drainage area used to be the location of the spring many decades ago. It is easy to just walk past and ignore this vast area ( it occupies the outer edge of the spring counterclockwise from 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock) and is many times the size of the spring proper. Depending on the light this part of the spring ranges in color from tans to greys to pale reds. As you near the edge of the spring - the boardwalk will take you there - you have the view presented in today's offering. At this point you are looking across an expanse of thermophile beds that extend all the way to the edge of the boiling water in the spring. Depending on the amount of steam and the wind you can see the different colors of the thermophile beds and the blue of the water reflected in the steam. In this shot you can see the blue from the water across almost the entire frame and just a hint of red on the far left. At times the fumes (steam) can almost mimic a rainbow albeit a very faint one. Often this color display is better viewed from the road as opposed to being in the mix of it. The water over the top of these thermophile beds is just an inch or two deep at the most but it is enough to offer some nice reflections of the hillside and the sky if you focus on it. If you look closely you'll find a few large critter tracks. This is straight from the camera. In a Blusie Mood Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

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06 Jul 22 Our stroll along the boardwalk proved to be one well timed as the winds were blowing in such a manner as to expose parts of Prismatic Spring, something I'd never seen before, at least from the boardwalk. I've shared aerial views previously but this was a very different experience. Today's offering shows part of the water in that boiling spring and you can see it as both yellow and blue sections. Above it the steam is blue while on opposite ends of the frame the steam is red and green. This is a shot that shows it all; another first that occurred on the trip. As you recall the colors are from different species of thermophiles so you get an idea of the temperature bands in the spring. I'm standing on the edge of the boardwalk somewhat to the right of middle looking both across and toward the left hand side of the spring. If you look closely you can again see some faint critter tracks. Someday I hope to be there when a bison is making its way alongside the boardwalk or perhaps even walking on or across it. Meanwhile I'll have to settle for the tracks. Directly below the left hand edge of that storm cloud on the right there is a small section of level snow; if you look carefully you may be able to just make out the viewing area from which you can take the overhead shots. You'll need to zoom in to 100% t see it and even then it will take a little imagination as the steam is really occluding the view. Take some time to browse through this shot as there is a lot to see from the colored water to the thermophile mats, to things on the mats, to the mysteries in the trees. This is straight from the camera. Looking Into The Spring Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.

07 Jul 22 Another view of Prismatic Spring, this time from one end to the other. This panoramic view gives you an idea as to the size of the thermophile mats that surround the spring. You can't get the full picture on the ground but you can get the best experience of the mats from the boardwalk. I'll share a couple shots of the mats next week to give you a better idea as to how they look up close. At this point (the "v" near the bottom right hand third) the boardwalk takes a 90 degree turn and you walk away from the Prismatic Spring area toward a couple lovely hot ponds that not only contain some beautifully colored water but have some spectacular backgrounds made even more so due to the clouds that afternoon. This pano shows even more of the boiling water in the spring plus some of the colors associated with its edges; blues, greens, yellows, and even a faint pink. This spot is obviously one of the most popular spots in he park. Be sure to put it on your list of things to visit on your next trip there. This is an 11 pane composite. I didn't do a very good job of keeping the camera level during the panning so I had to reconstruct some of the sky; otherwise, this is straight from the camera. The Big Picture Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/400 sec @ f / 9.

11 Jul 22 Taking a 90 degree turn to your right from where I took the shot I shared on Thursday and continuing another 200 feet or so the next thermal event you encounter is the lovely Opal Pool. This is a hot spring but is considered a fountain-type geyser. You don't get to see the water bubbling or steam rising off its surface as it is just 132F. At present it is considered dormant but it did erupt in '47, '49, '52, & '53, so just four times in my lifetime. But it is lovely. With the Gallatin mountain range is the background, a lovely stand of evergreen in between, and the surrounding drainage area immediately adjacent to its perimeter, and its deep blue water it is a very lovely sight. It doesn't get much attention due to its diminutive size and not putting on any kind of show, but, if you visit on a day with a deep blue sky with white fluffy clouds and take the time to look at it and beyond, you won't be disappointed. There was a bit of a breeze blowing while we visited as can be seen on the surface of the water. The central part of the pool is reasonably deep but there is much of it quite shallow and enjoyed by a colony of reddish-orange thermophils. The entire area that looks wet is part of the geyser. This is a 7 pane pano, other wise, it is what the camera captured. On a Breezy Day Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

12 Jul 22 We'll walk another 100 feet or so from where we were yesterday and look at the last of the thermal features in the Midway Geyser Basin, Turquoise Pool. This is another hot spring just like Opal Pool with temps ranging between 142 - 160 degrees F. I haven't found any eruption data for this pool so I don't know if it ever has. Not a lot more to say about this feature as everything related to it is very much like that for Opal. I took two sets of pano of the pool, a 5 frame landscape without polarizer and a 14 frame portrait with polarizer; Jan preferred this one with the polarizer. At the far right of the frame you can see individuals making their way along the approach to the circular boardwalk along which we've been walking. The steam you see around the folks is coming from Excelsior Geyser, the first feature we looked at on this walk. As we pass by the area where the folks are I may share one more view of the thermophiles. This 14 frame pano is straight from the camera save for the combining of the 14 frames, cropping for best presentation, and a bit of contrast enhancement. Something in Blue Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

25 Jul 22 Something fun for today, at least from my perspective, and perhaps even refreshing for those of you experiencing the heat of summer. Several of our mornings on my visit to the park in May presented like what I'm sharing today. This was one month before the historic flood, a once in 500 year event they called it, and since they have data going back to the 1890s, they should know. I say mornings because each evening when we returned from shooting the ground was bare. Like a box of unlabeled chocolates, we were never sure what the day would bring or how any one day would turn out. But no matter the weather, each day provided for something special. This morning it was a group of bison just bedded down across the road from the condo. On another it was a small herd with many young just making their way among the properties. Another shot later of that particular morning. This shot is how it looked at nine in the morning; the evening was sunny with a lovely sunset. As one has heard many times in many locations, if you don't like the weather just wait for a while and see what transpires. This morning it was snowing heavily as you can tell in this 1/2,500 sec capture. This is straight from the camera. Morning Snowfall Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/2,500 sec @ f / 9.

18 Jul 22 Driving past Firehole Falls heading south looking for Trumpeter Swans, we came to a spot where the river was putting on a curious but interesting display. I don't actually have any idea as to what we were seeing, but it was making an eye grabbing and constantly changing pattern on the surface water. When I initially spotted it I thought it was just a small patch of foam, but it wasn't, it grew bigger, and then continued coming so I shot a few frames as it swirled around and flowed past me. This is one of those shots. This is straight from the camera save for a wee bit of contrast enhancement; RAW images are very flat. Nature's Swirls Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

19 Jul 22 Driving just a short distance further along the Grand Loop Highway heading south there is a specific location on the Firehole River where, if you are going to see the Trumpeters, this will normally be the spot. Most of the time there is one pair but occasionally there are two. You can find them in several locations within the park but in this section, near most of the thermal attractions, this is their only hang out. The day we visited the area there was just one adult and one juvenile. Heading south they were resting on the bank of the river; the return found them in the river feeding. For this B & W Tuesday I thought I'd go with a B &W of them as I think it shows off both the striking white of the plumage as well as the feathers themselves. White adult on the left was keeping an eye out for me while grooming while the grayish juvenile on the right was just enjoying a siesta. This is straight from the camera save for the conversion to B & W using the nik plug-in Silver Efex Pro 2. Silvered Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1,250 sec @ f / 9.

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20 Jul 22 There are several thermal events in the vicinity of Old Faithful of which one of them in the Black Sand Basin directly west of Old Faithful. It is a very small area and you can fully explore it in just a few minutes if all you want to do is get a quick look. But there is a lot of color to be seen if you take your time and just look. Of course the weather will have some impact on what you see and do and we managed to visit it at the start of a storm, snow included. I debated between showing this image which features a thermal pool or one of some fantastic clouds which would showcase the storm vice thermal feature. I don't recall their being a name for this pond as I generally take a frame of the info for each feature. I would imagine the green would play into any name given but there wasn't one on the boardwalk next to it. The cloud-like stuff in the image is steam arising from the pond so I know it was/is reasonably hot just don't know how hot. While the green is really striking, it was all the dead trees that I think make the picture work. This is one area in which I've never seen a crowd and I have to admit I've only visited it thrice in all my visits to the park. If you are pressed for time this might be one to skip but if not in a hurry it is a lovely spot in the Old Faithful section of the park. This is straight from the camera. Missing Kermit Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/200 sec @ f / 9.

21 Jul 22 Perhaps 100 feet from that green pool we visited yesterday lies Rainbow Pool. I think it a bit misnamed due to the predominate color by far being orange although there is a smattering of other colors. This is a rather large pool which I'm thinking is more on the teal side than anything else and ringed in yellow. I would like to see it at peak spring melt as it appears as though it might be quite large at that time. There is a viewing area on the boardwalk for this pool but I think it displays better from a short distant away from there, at the spot where I took this shot, because you can see far more of the vegetation and thermophiles at this location. This was my first visit to this pool and I would have liked to have spent a lot more time there than we did but those ominous clouds had a different idea and were soon to be showering us with some very large snowflakes, some an inch in diameter. Of course the size of a snowflake, unlike that of hail, makes no matter, but we elected to move on a distance from the shower. The steam rising up in the upper right of the frame is from a "river" that catches the run off from all these pools and I believe eventually flows into the Firehole River which has its origin about 5 miles further south. Perhaps on a sunny day this pool would more accurately portray its name. This is what the camera recorded except that I removed some of the haze due to the steam o better show off the colors. Before the Flakes Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/320 sec @ f / 9.

26 Jul 22 Unlike the previous morning (yesterday's offering), when we pulled out to head for the park we were greeted by a couple dozen of the property bison and their newborns casually strolling across the road. So we stopped (obviously) and got out of the SUV to do a little shooting. While we were working the scene I noticed a large truck on the opposite side of the clearing and had to work some to keep it out of the frame(s). About the time we decided to move on the folks in the truck drove up and apologized if they had been making our shooting difficult as they were trying to shoot the same material from where they were. In the process of our chat they told us that the park had closed that morning - virtually unheard of - due to the snow. So we decided to play with the bison for a while longer before adjusting our plans and going elsewhere. This is a shot that I took shortly before moving on. I couldn't help but wonder if the day olds were thinking boy, it was a lot warmer yesterday. This is what the camera captured. Eight Red Dogs & Counting Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/2,000 sec @ f / 9.

08 Jul 22 Growing up I had the privilege of taking care of the home landscaping for the most part. At least all of the lawn associated stuff and to a lessor degree the plants that we had along the borders of the property and the side of the house. One area that was just my dad's was a fence line where he grew begonias and the side of the garage where he grew a cally like plant that had gorgeous deep purple flowers but they smelled like rotten meat. Don't know what they were but they would have been great subjects for photography if you could get past the smell. Not sure why they smelled like that as they didn't attract any insects if I remember correctly. One plant that did however, and my favorite plant in that yard, was a stand of red hot pokers. They not only attracted the pollinators but also the humming birds, the only plant in the yard that they really liked. We had the deep orange exterior with yellow interior variety which was the only kind I remember seeing as a youth. Now of course they come in other colors and we've planted some red and yellow ones in the garden but none have made their presence known as of yet. But several of the yellow-orange variety have been showing off in a neighbor's commercial garden for the past several weeks and for this Friday's macro / close-up I'm sharing one of them. The plant I picked shows all stages of the flowers so I thought it a good specimen. The tiny individual flowers look like stacked trumpets with a fluted end. If you are familiar with blue bells they are much like them but inverted and tightly clustered; nor are they blue. I made 16 versions of this shot and the one I'm sharing is Jan's pick of the lot. This is straight from the camera save for some extensive cropping and then conversion to what you see using the Topaz plug-in Glow 2. Outlined Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 800; 1/2,000 sec @ f / 9.

27 Jul 22 My apology for the late delivery; Tuesday was another of those days when life's events just got in the way. Something local for today taken on our return from shooting the -4 tide at Salt Creek Park back in June. There is a lovely drive through a small community in Shine, WA that parallels Hwy-104 and provides for a nice view of Hood Canal - which isn't a canal at all but a channel - as well as some lovely properties. It is a short road, maybe 2 miles at most, but it offers views of both mountain ranges - Cascades & Olympics - the water, and Hood Canal floating bridge. For those so inclined, it can also be used to rudely skirt a lot of traffic and jump ahead of the line waiting to cross the bridge. This shot was taken almost 3 hours post low tide so the water at low tide had been out beyond where it changes from pale blue to a darker shade. You can see the bridge on the left of the frame where the blue and green converge. The tree at the left is a Madrona, a flowering evergreen, with lovely red bark, that lives only on the left coast from the San Francisco area north to the western side of Vancouver Island, Canada. This is straight from the camera. Almost Low Tide Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1,250 sec @ f / 9

July 4th Happy 4th of July to you all!!!!! To quote Mr Burns, "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agely. . . . ." And so it seems. I had planned on a Sunday evening fireworks shoot for today's offering but my first choice was no longer available and it was raining heavily besides, and my second choice, unknown to me, decided to do the show a week early, so I missed out on both opportunities. Rummaging through some shots from prior years was something I considered, and I know I could have come up with several highly acceptable candidates, but I decided to try a different avenue and go with something different, an example from nature. Now for some this may be a real stretch, but for others perhaps not so much. My choice for this experiment was an Asiatic Lilly to which I did a little creative work. The goal was to provide a big burst of color from a couple explosions along with a few more pyrotechnics screaming up into the sky. To do such I first took the plant into the studio and shot it at night with no lighting except for a flash and used a black background. Using software I removed any distraction in editing and then employed a plug-in to create the effect. The explosions are the open blossoms and the climbing rockets just the flower stems. For the imaginative I think it works; for everyone else maybe not. Made a total of 14 versions; Jan made the final selection. This is basically straight fro the camera save for the editing mentioned above. Electrified Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f /11 with full flash.

01 Jul 22 It is the time of year in our part of the country where the lilies are taking front stage. #1 grand daughter is a huge fan of calla lilies and since she is visiting with us this week I've selected a reddish variety of a calla lily for this Friday's macro/close-up. Purchased this red one and a purple one from a local nursery earlier in the week. Kept them in the studio to shoot and then moved them out into the garden with a grouping of red and yellow Asiatic lilies. Now we have a very colorful display of lilies surrounded by poppies which will likely start blooming about the time the lilies die off. Now, if we can just find a way to completely discourage all the weeds . . . . This is straight from the camera. Showing Off Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 250; 1/60 sec with fill flash @ f / 9.

With lilies and poppies now setting the garden ablaze in color, thought I'd take a lily for this Friday's close-up/macro and get really close. To fully appreciate this offering you should be roughly above and perhaps 4 feet away from your monitor. I wonder if this is how it looks to an approaching pollinator? I took this hand held in the garden looking down at one of our magenta-like colored Asiatic lilies. I then cropped it really tight to isolate just the stamen and stigma. Thought it made for a nice presentation. This is straight from the camera but severely cropped! Docking Module Nikon D500; 105 mm macro; aperture Priority ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f / 9.

29 Jul 22 The combination of lots of sunshine and adequate watering has brought out our poppies all at once and as they are good for maybe 5 days at most, we are almost through them for this year. But right on their tails is Jan's dahlia garden which has already starting blooming but on stalks much shorter than the previous years. We've noticed that in several places so it must have something to do with the weather. This year the larger poppies I so like were few and far between but the little ones we have were distributed throughout the garden. I'll attribute that to wind when they were in seed last year. The poppies are a real challenge to photograph in the garden as the slightest breeze makes it nearly impossible to get a sharp close up so for this Friday's macro / close-up I'm sharing a close up taken in the studio. The background is a black felt-like cloth but its "feltiness" tends to show as a pattern while at the same time taming the light so I like to use a flash to knock out the texture of the felt. This shot does a good job of showing just how much pollen is produced by a single blossom. Not a good subject to photograph up close if you suffer from allergies. This is straight from the camera. Against a Black Cloth Nikon D500; 105mm macro; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f /16 with full flash.

22 Jul 22 While out shopping Jan found a Christmas colored plant that she thought would look nice in our house and brought it home. I wasn't all that impressed but it did have some nicely colored leaves, lots of them and rather large, with green as you would expect on the top but a maroon-like red underneath. After it sitting around for a couple of days she suggested that I should shoot it. When I asked her what she had in mind she said I was the photographer and to just shoot it. So I did, showed her what I had, and she no, no, this is what I had in mind meaning that I was supposed to concentrate on the single unfurling leaf. So that's what I did and got several versions of each shot by incorporating just daylight, daylight and artificial light, and just flash. Did a few different compositions from which we pickled one. Then in the computer I edited the one we picked and then made 16 varieties of it. In the end she picked the original so that what I'm sharing for this Friday's macro/close-up. The plant is called Velvet Touch Calathea should any of you be curious. This is what the camera captured (flash only version). Christmas Tube Nikon D500; 105mm macro; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/60 sec @ f /16 with full flash.