Daily Image - May '22 Archive

Memorial Day Lest we forget! This is straight from the camera save for the text and conversion using the Topaz plug-in Glow 2. Outlined Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 1/500 sec @ f /16.

20 May 22 The afternoon of the Sunday before departing for Yellowstone we had some time on our hands so we went out to shoot a lovely little waterfall (Ludlow Falls) not far from our abode. The trail to the falls from the parking area goes through a native plant garden and then over a short narrow bridge, and then via a somewhat small but hilly path to the falls. Along the path was a grouping of Trillium. I had shot them a couple weeks prior when they were pure white. This time they were in transition to maroon before dropping their petals. The Trillium does everything in sets of three; thus I would imagine its name. For this Friday's macro/close-up we'll be looking a just one of the flowers in that group. It's about half way through the color change. Look critically and you'll see the sets of three. For fun, I added a green plaid texture to the image with its blending mode at overlay and its opacity around 15%, just enough to give the background a little interest. The spider web material in the lower left is what was there. Other than some serious cropping for composition and the texture this is what the camera captured. Multiple Sets of Three Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/200 sec @ f / 9.

23 May 22 Our trip this year began and ended in torrential rains. Our first day we experienced them for maybe 60% of the drive, fortunately the first 60%. Other than a single stop at the Cataldo Mission, we drove straight to the motel for the night hoping for something better on the following day. We weren't disappointed!!! We started out with the idea of visiting the St Ignatius Mission and possibly the National Bison Range thereafter as they are perhaps just 5 miles apart. We had two choices, a direct route or a scenic one following the Clark Fork river, the river that I-90 crosses 15 +/- 1 times; never do get that count right. The scenic route became the route we took and followed the river for a few hours stopping frequently to shoot whatever we saw that looked appealing. Having no road sign info as to where anything was, the best I can tell you as to where we were is by coordinates, this shot of a bridge over the smoothly flowing Clark Fork being at 47.3333695 N & -114.6490 W. For those of you who like to play with mapping programs you can identify the exact location. For the duration of our drive along any of the rivers we noted that they were at a rather low level. Interesting, all those in the park were substantially higher that I've seen them previously at this time of year, a couple of the firsts I mentioned I experienced on this trip. Another interesting thing was the amount of color on the hillsides which normally is a much duller brown; the use of a polarizing filter may account for that. All we lacked was a train moving along the tracks. We spent so much time "playing" with the river that we never made it to the mission range. Other than some minimal cropping this is what the camera recorded. Bridge Over Calming Water Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/800 sec @ f /10.

24 May 22 A few random thoughts. Another ten minutes down the road from the bridge we viewed yesterday the river looks likes this. Now you get a real clear view of just how low it was. Thinking about how all these rivers are so low, while those in the park are roaring, and combining that info with the fact that we encountered a LOT of snow while at Yellowstone, enough to close the park for one day, I'm thinking the reason for the difference is that the mountain melt hadn't/hasn't fully begun. That would make sense and account for the differences. Several years back Jan and I were traveling along this road and she spotted a young Black bear feeding on a carcass almost directly behind where I was standing to take this shot. Sadly no bears presented for a portrait while we were there. But one can always hope. At the right middle edge of the shot you can see a railroad track; made me think how delightful it must be to ride the rails in this part of the country. This is straight from the camera. Low Water Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/640 sec @ f /11.

26 May 22 About 50 minutes south of I-90 off exit 247 on Hwy-41 lies the tiny town of Silver Star. It is hard to even call it a town and you would likely drive right through it and not know you'd been there were it not for a sign saying Silver Star. There is a significant private display of large mechanical things that you might notice and potentially a camp of some kind at river's edge that looks like it might be associated with some national group. Other than that, unless you pull off at what is clearly a vantage point but not so marked, you will likely just zoom past the little town. But if you take advantage of the pullout there are some lovely sights to see. Today's offering is from that pullout. The edge in marked by some large lovely rocks which suggest you might not want to get too close. A white cross near one of the rocks suggests someone didn't. From the vantage point you look down over the Jefferson River, then across some large farming areas, and end your view staring at the Tobacco Root Mountains. While we were shooting we had some strong winds and a bit of rain to keep us company. Didn't do a great job of protecting the lens from that rain so a lot of the shots came out a bit "damp."Out of sight, but based on the camp's grounds, was a tall tower boasting a nesting pair of Ospreys. At one point one of them gave us a nice aerial display of hunting and hovering. Took a few shots of that activity. A couple weeks more and there would have been a lot more green in the capture; a few more months and all that green will be orange. Do take some time to stop and look should you be driving along Hwy-41. Give yourself 3 feet+ separation to properly view this image. This is straight from the camera save for a little contrast enhancement. Jefferson and the Tobacco Roots Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/400 sec @ f /11.

25 May 22 About 2 hours out from Yellowstone is the reconstructed wild west town of Nevada City, MT. We made a short stop there to wander around the frontage and take some snaps of the city in the snow. There wasn't a lot of it but it was obvious that there had been a significant amount just days earlier. As I was returning to the SUV from the spot where I can take a photo of the most important shop in the city - the barber shop of course - I could hear a loud dripping sound but it wasn't initially obvious. Then I found it, melting snow from the roof of one building was falling off the eave and finding its way to a barrel whose lid was holding a bit of water. I was hearing the drops as they splashed onto the water of the 50 gallon drums of waste cooking oil. The drums were a rich blue and they contrasted nicely with the snow and the browns of the building. I've cropped the capture to feature the splashes. This is what the camera captured but the capture is severely cropped as mentioned. Splish Splash Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/60 sec @ f /11.

31 May 22 For this B & W Tuesday I'm starting with an image that I do believe I'll share as a triptych which you could combine as three separate images or, more creatively, as the three either horizontally or vertically aligned using just 1/3 of each image. Maybe 10 minutes from Nevada City, where I shot the barrels with splashing water, and almost 1,000 feet higher, there is a large pullout providing a nice view of the Ennis valley. We always stop there and take a few shots and each visit is different. This time we were driving in about 4 inches of snow and there was what appeared to be a breaking storm in the valley. For the most part all of the valley was obscured, a cloud bank (fog?) was stretched across the valley and a fully clouded sky was overhead with the tops of the snow covered Tobacco Root mountains brightly lit by the setting sun peeking through. It was spectacular!! We spent about 20 minutes just watching the show as the light plus the wind was, as you would expect, constantly changing providing for a continuously moving show. Our final destination for the night lay was about two hours to the right hand edge of this composite. I've left the buildings in the shot to give some perspective. This 15 frame pano is basically straight from the camera save for a wee bit of cropping and of course conversion to B & W using the nik plug-in silver efex pro 2. Anselish Nikon D500' 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1 /640 sec @ f /11.

19 May 22 For today's Theatrical Thursday's offering we are looking at a few Rocky Mountain Big Horn sheep. Having spent the morning playing with the ice on two lakes, Hebgen and Quake, especially the patterns and reflections on the ice, we were proceeding towards Hwy-87/287 junction when I spotted what I thought was a nice group of sheep on the hillside next to the road. Turned out to be a rather large grouping of animals on both the highway and the hillside. Several vehicles had already stopped with folks taking photos of the animals when we arrived to watch several of the critters climb the hillside and jump the wire perimeter fence to graze on the far side. But a nice group of then remained on the hillside for us to photograph. Included in the group were 5 full, or close to full, curl rams. I was later told that there are actually 6 of them but I was delighted to see the 5. We probably shot for the better part or 30 minutes as the group we were watching seemed content to just stand there and watch us off and on. All 5 were in the shot but I've removed one for composition as just his head was in the frame. With a bright blue sky, white clouds, and the yellow grasses, the critters couldn't have picked a much better location for having their portraits taken. I've manipulated this a bit to better show off the animals. It will view best from roughly a 3 foot distance. Give it a go. Other than the cropping and then the manipulation using the Topaz plug-in Glow 2, this is straight from the camera. Outlined Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

27 May 22 Prior to our first visit to Glacier National Park I had never paid much attention to rocks other than to collect some agates as a kid. The trip for some reason "exposed" me to the beauty of the rocks in the Rockies and in all likelihood everywhere else. Since then I endeavored to see the beauty in the rocks wherever we go and of course that includes every trip to Yellowstone. The rocks in the Yellowstone ecosystem seem a bit different than those from other areas we visited in that they appear to be covered by simple life forms wherever you find them be it on the ground or in the rivers and streams. The life forms are likely forms of lichens or fungi but whatever there are they are quite colorful. Today's Friday macro / close-up is that of one such rock. It was nestled in the grasses in the location of yesterday's offering which also illustrated how colorful the rocks are in that ecosystem. This is straight from the camera. Speckled Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/1,000 sec @ f / 9.

21 May 22 Today's special is more along the lines of an infomercial than a vignette of the image. If I were to list what I think are the top three thermal attractions in Yellowstone National Park it would be, in order: 1) Old Faithful (of course); 2) Mammoth Hot Springs; and 3) Grand Prismatic Spring. Now your list might change 2 & 3, but I'm sure #1 is a given. The two of us on this trip have very different approaches to photography with one of us almost always using a tripod and the other taking "snapshots" as I was jokingly chided. There are obviously pros and cons to both, with one aspect of that being the subject of discussion. While we were shooting Grand Prismatic Spring on two different occasions we were both using our preferred method of stabilizing the camera. Now hot springs such as those in Yellowstone produce vapors that are high in sulfur among other things that are highly acidic. When you are shooting in close proximity to these gasses you can feel the wetness from the steam (fumes) on your camera. I have always cleaned my camera after shooting these volcanic features and have advised those with me to do likewise. Upon returning from our shoot my companion noticed that his filters had acquired "deposits" on them and he was having a terrible time getting them clean. He tried several things but never got them clean to his satisfaction. With nothing getting the job done he called Yellowstone Camera and asked them for some advice on how to clean them. The owner said, "That is not a deposit. The sulfurous fumes have etched away the coatings on your filter. Thank God that you had a filter over the lens. They did exactly what they were supposed to do - protect your very expensive lens." Now I didn't have that experience. The proper question would be why? The answer is simple, he had his camera on a tripod in a fixed position for minutes at a time with the fumes blowing directly onto the camera while I keep/kept my camera pointed down towards the ground and/or have/had my back to the more intense presence of fumes bringing it up to shoot and then once again pointing it away from the fumes. So, based on what the two of us experienced, I'm suggesting that when you visit an area with hot springs you keep this in mind and keep the lens from protracted times in the fumes. While we were there taking those shots of Grand Prismatic Spring I noticed a group of four young male Bison walking single fine across the spring on it's western bank. The slight color you see in the foreground is the northern extreme of the spring while the somewhat soft areas in the shot are the fumes blowing off the main body of the spring. This is straight from the camera. On The Far Side Of The Spring Nikon D500; 18 - 20; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

18 May 22 Other than bison, this visit was almost void of wildlife. Not that there wasn't plenty of it, we just didn't encounter it. When it came to members of the canine family, all we saw was one red fox and one coyote. The coyote was running parallel to the West Entrance road against traffic keeping within a couple feet of the road and trotting as if it was late for a very important date. The fox was one of our neighborhood foxes and looked as if it had suffered through a really tough winter when the winter was actually rather mild. Except for the fact that it was mid May and the weather was still in the 20's overnight and routinely snowing when the weather would typically be much warmer. Part of the problem may be that two of the neighbors used to feed them daily and they may have become to dependent on human handouts. Whatever the reason, this individual was looking as though it had seen better days. Do zoom to 100% to get a good look at the critter. This is straight from the camera save for some serious cropping. Not Looking All That Well Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1,000 sec @ f / 9.

17 May 22 Back from Yellowstone: 14 days, 2,468 miles, 4,500+ images, and a blown xmission 15 miles from home to show for my efforts. Had a great time sharing some of my favorite locations with my guest and got some of the best photos I've ever taken. Plus a couple great visits with friends and a totally non-confrontational condo association meeting; a first in my experience. As for 1st experiences, this trip provided enough to write a small book just on that subject. So let's start this set from Yellowstone with one of those firsts, a shot of a Mountain Bluebird but not just any shot, a shot of one male looking for a bit of lunch, likely as well as a mate, on one the springs at Mammoth Hot Springs. These beautiful birds are normally seen flitting around the condo area but they are next to impossible to catch in flight and on this visit I didn't see a single one. But this encounter with 3 of them, two males and a single female, at Mammoth more than made up for not seeing them daily. The color you are seeing is exactly what they look like although I can appreciate it if it seems not real. There is a similar bird on the east coast whose name I believe is Indigo Bunting but I wouldn't be quoted on that. Do zoom in on the image to have a good look at the bird. This is straight from the camera save for some serious cropping for composition. Mountain Bluebird on Spring Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f / 9.