Daily Image - Sep '22 Archive

07 Sep 22 We'll stay with a high altitude theme but jump from the Rockies to the Cascades for today's offering. At the eastern end of the Mt Baker Scenic Byway (SR 542) which extends from its western end at I-5 in Bellingham to its eastern end at Artists Point in the Mount Baker National Forest, you come face to face with the 10,781 foot high Mt Baker, the mountain with the largest snowfall in a single season worldwide and the birthplace of snowboarding. 1.8 miles below Artists Point is found Picture Lake and Mt Shuksan, supposedly the most photographed lake in the lower 48. The reflection of the mountain on the lake surface, combined with the huckleberry growing around the bank of the lake that turns orange to red in the fall, makes this site irresistible! I'm rather certain you have all seen a picture from this location as it has been featured in just about every magazine out there either as a feature story or as the backdrop for an advertisement for just about everything. Haven't visited the location for about 5 years and thinking it's about time to go visit again. I've made several trips there, always with the goal of hitting the colors just right, but so far I haven't been successful. This is a shot that is close to the desired colors, about as good as I've done to date, but still not the vibrant red I want to capture. There is an easy to walk flat path all around the lake that includes several rest areas and multiple different views as you circumnavigate it. You can see a couple joggers in the mid right fourth of the image. This shot should give you a good idea of how it generally looks. Highly recommend you pay it a visit if you've not done so before. Other that a wee bit of cropping and the removal of a few vehicles, this is straight from the camera. Reflecting on Creation Nikon D330s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200, 1/200 sec @ f /14.

08 Sep 22 Two highways south of the Mt Baker Scenic Byway is Hwy 2 which takes you over the Cascades Mountain via Stevens Pass into the eastern side of Washington. As you near the summit of Stevens Pass at 4,061 feet you can encounter some lovely fall color. In the winter months the area is a prime skiing with an average of 460 inches of snowfall annually and 1,125 daytime and 450 nighttime acres of available terrain for skiing, including a 1 mile downhill run. Here are several images related to the skiing. But as we don't ski, we go for the color. This is a shot taken about a mile from the summit on the eastern side of the pass. From this location onward for about 4 miles the hills can be a blaze of color. Fall color here is generally peak about the middle of October and often coincides with the celebration of Oktoberfest in Leavenworth, WA, a Bavarian themed town at the base of the mountains. Hitting the color at peak is often guesswork but one can contact the Ranger station in Leavenworth for a bit of advice. On this particular morning we lucked out getting, color, snow, and fog all together in a single shot. Not always that fortunate. If there is color here then there is generally color all the way to Leavenworth as you travel through the Tumwater (Olympia Beer) Canyon as you follow the Wenatchee River. Color or not, it is a most pleasant drive all the way from I-5 to Leavenworth. If you live in this neck of the woods and haven't made a fall drive there you should. 😁 This is what the camera captured save for a little contrast enhancement. Morning Delight Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1 /80 sec @ f /14.

05 Sep 22 Thinking about maybe making a trip to Yellowstone in a couple of weeks got me to looking at some fall captures from previous falls. This is one from a visit in the 3rd week of September in 2014. Less than a mile from the intersection of Hwy-191 and Hwy-287 is this stand of aspen. They are always quite beautiful but some falls they are simply spectacular. This was one of those years. One aspect of this group that I really like is the black bark that some of they sport. This shot captured it well. One of those days when everything went better than planned. The original had an almost totally white sky with just a hint of blue, so I swapped it for this one. The white sky was causing the eyes to stop down and make the trees to dark. I've also cropped off a lot of the gold grass at the bottom. Roadside Stand ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f /10 with the D300s and 105mm macro.

26 Sep 22 During our last tour with the Navy while stationed in MD we met an individual in the local camera club who, along with his bride, were from out our way. He happened to not only be a rather good photographer but a doctoral level geologist. We became great friends and went out with our cameras a lot. One of the things he always did while we were out taking photos, or while driving to and fro, was to talk about the local geology. To say the least that made the trip all the more enjoyable. That bit of "training" followed us to Yellowstone and Glacier as well and I soon found myself purchasing volumes in the series Roadside Geology. There is, I believe, one for each state and they all apparently have the same blah yellow cover with the name of the state followed by Roadside Geology. The one we have for Montana sits on a shelf in the condo. I'm just guessing this, but I'll go out on a limb and suggest that most all visitors to the park simply visit the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone to see the two falls, and maybe take a minute or two to marvel at the rocks. But there are far more mountains (rocks) to be seen and enjoyed everywhere in that marvelous Yellowstone ecosystem. One area in which you can truly appreciate those rocks, as well as climb them, is along Hwy-191. The predominately eastern side of the highway hugs the rocks at the base of which runs the Gallatin River. Due to the closeness of the road to the water it is likely that most travelers are either looking at the road - the drivers hopefully - or the river. It is quite spectacular especially during the spring melt when kyakers like to run the river. The mountainside however is equally spectacular and well work taking some time to appreciate. During autumn, especially in the morning and evening light, the colors of the rock are something to behold and probably not what you might be expecting. Today's offering is an example of what I'm describing. If Yellowstone is on your bucket list, don't overlook the myriad of rocks to be seen along the way. This is what the camera captured except for the cropping for presentation. Grand Canyonish Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 7.1.

22 Sep 22 As you drop down to the bottom of the hill to enter Mammoth Hot springs, the active springs are on your left. Today's offering is that view. This is a very dynamic area and it is constantly changing. The change is fast enough that you can see the difference from one year to the next. The grassy area beneath it changes seasonally, being mostly on the green side in the spring and then changing to yellows/reds in the autumn. That should come as no surprise. It is the change in the hot spring that is impressive. This is Dryad Spring but it is just a part of the big complex of thermally active areas known collectively as Mammoth Hot Springs. This is just below the location of this year's flooding and is presently not accessible. This shot was taken in 2014 but it is not how it looks at present. Starting from the right hand side of the photo and moving laterally to the left, all the area to the right of that golden area is now inactive. The golden area is only about 1/3 the size it is here and the green trees on the right, if memory serves me correctly, are gone. All the area below the horizontal break in the image (directly beneath those green trees) has dried up and the stream near the bottom no longer flows. All this change in just 8 years. The changes on the top terrace are even more dramatic, with most of what was active then now dried up but still active having moved a few dozen feet away. Although I haven't seen every thermal activity in the park, of those that I have visited, this one is by far the most active. There is FAR more to it than can be seen from this location and one could easily spend several hours just walking all the boardwalks that encompass the entirety of the springs. Notice the steam pouring over the top of the hillside from the active area of the spring. This is straight from the camera save for my feeble attempt to remove the green fringing on he trees in the upper left. Prior Look Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f /14.

28 Sep 22 Earlier in the same day when I took yesterday's submission I, along with perhaps 50 other folks, had an opportunity to make contact with the main player in that group of elk. This guy was on the alert as he was herding a harem of maybe 2 dozen cows. Can't give you an accurate count as it was 6 years ago and I can't remember all that clearly. I was fortunate to get the shots I did as not all of the folks were offering him a respectable social distance which obviously is greater in the rut than it is during the rest of the year. I had picked out a location and stayed put so as not to give him any reason to think of me as a competitor. He moved about the area always making sure where folks, as well as his cows, were and while his main concern was the harem, he was also paying attention to all of us. Today's offering is a shot of that bull at a point when he decided I was O.K. and just strolled by but still checking to make sure I could be trusted to play well with others. Recall I'm using an 18 - 200 focal length and don't have that long distance capability so you can appreciate that the bull and I are showing our trust for each other. It was a great hour of shooting time and one I won't soon forget even if I don't remember the exact head count. Amazingly no park personnel got in the way the entire time but it was a different time in the park management philosophy! So here's the Big Guy knowing full well where he is, where he's going, and what he is supposed to be accomplishing. Other than some cropping for composition, this is what the camera captured. The Big Guy Nikon D3003; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/400 sec @ f / 7.1.

29 Sep 22 Another shot today from the morning I shot the elk I shared yesterday. Roughly 2 miles north of the lower geyser basin on the western side of the Firehole River is a small recreational area called Fountain Flats. I've never seen its gate open in the spring when we visit but it is always accessible when we visit in the fall. On this particular morning we were playing with the weather and as we entered the parking area it began to snow. The snow only lasted for maybe 20 minutes at most but it did make for some interesting shots of a bull bison who was walking parallel to us perhaps 30 feet away. We were in the SUV looking for a place to park and he was looking for an opportunity to cross the parking lot and meander into more forested grounds. By the time we found an open spot he crossed directly in front of us and made his way to some quieter location. This individual wasn't yet in his prime but close to it based on his horn damage. I'm guessing he would have been a contender the following year. As a breeding bull he would have been with a group of cows and weighed perhaps 2,700 pounds but I'm guessing this guy was closer to 2,400 - fully mature bulls have a slightly larger hump. The streaks you see around his head and legs are falling snow. This shot may be a bit of a sleeper in that the picture of that big bull elk may seem like the bison isn't as big. However that would be a mistaken thought. That big elk probably weighed in the neighborhood of 7-800 pounds; this guy likely 2,400 as I mentioned above. Of all the animals in the park, I believe bison are the most under estimated both in their size and speed. Although we have lots of bison with us in the community, I've never seen a breeding bull among them. Seeing one of them out in their native habitat is a sight you won't soon forget. I've cropped the original capture and removed a few competing elements for better presentation. Out For A Walk Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/500 sec @ f / 8.

21 Sep 22 The trip along Firehole Lake Drive can be really spectacular in the Autumn during dawn and dusk. Most of that time of year the grasses lining the fields on either side of the road are a lovely yellow to golden in color, and in the low light levels found at both ends of the sunlight they can be particularly stunning, especially in the evening. Today's offering was taken less than an hour prior to sunset. The water was warmer than the air and mist was beginning to form; you can see it in the capture. Quite often there will be bison loitering or just resting in the grass. You can see some of their trails in the bright yellow grass below the trees. We always drive the loop when we pass it but I prefer to do such in the evening. One of the benefits of so doing is to go to the last of the thermal features which has a very nice boardwalk, and wait for the sun to set. It is often very dramatic!! You get the Tobacco Root mountains in the background, the steaming thermal features (3) in the foreground and the sky putting on the show nicely reflected in the water. The show isn't guaranteed every night, but it happens frequently enough to warrant consideration on your Yellowstone bucket list. This particular portion of the meadow is situated between White Dome geyser - the one you can see for the Grand Loop road - and Firehole Lake. The original capture had a totally blah sky, so I replaced it with a much more reasonable one. Meadow Brook Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/60 sec @ f / 8.

27 Sep 22 Back into the park for today's offering and it's an image I'll likely not be able to get any more. This is a shot from 2016 when there there were far more elk in the Madison Valley and before the rangers began preventing you from getting in a reasonable position to get such a shot. Oh sure, I could go with a $20K lens (which I won't) to get such a shot, but it is no longer easy to get close enough with my 18 - 200 to get these kinds of shots even if the animals were still around. The required 50 yards from elk, a reasonable and acceptable distance, is more and more being prohibited by the park gestapo who now block off all easy access and will arrest you for pulling off on the side of the road. The rapid changes occurring in the park aren't all natural. This cow and her calf were part of a group of maybe a dozen who were quite some distance form the main herd and the 6 point bull. She was the only one with a calf and the two were putting on quite a show between feeding and playing. I watched them for maybe 45 minutes until it got dark; junior did a little drinking, lots of playing, more drinking, more playing, etc until it was time to bed down. A real treat to say the least when you get to watch such a show. I could watch it every day and never tire of it. Other than some cropping for composition, this is what the camera captured. Seven O'clock Mealtime Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/6 sec @ f / 5.6 on a tripod.

19 Sep 22 Roughly one mile north of the park marker on Hwy-191 is a pullout that can handle half a dozen vehicles. The location is called Snowflake Springs but you wouldn't be aware of such unless you read the aging sign telling you about it. I don't exactly know the dates, but roughly 50 years ago the wildlife service sectioned off a portion of the spring to determine how much damage was being done to the area by the wildlife, an interesting perspective to say the least. The info sign talks about it. There is however no info about the results of the study and I have not been able to find that info on the web although that just might speak to my searching skills. The area is one of my favorite locations along Hwy-191, a highway I consider one of the most beautiful in the lower 48. Although you pass by it on your drive to and from Bozeman you could easily not even know it is there. But I find it very appealing and stop to shoot in the location both directions on the drive when the light is right. This is a morning shot towards the end of the fall color. A couple weeks earlier and those burnt sienna colored willows would have been red. I've removed the portion of Hwy-191 that was in the shot just to keep it from being a distraction. If you time it right chances are high, especially in the fall, of having a moose or two sharing the spring with you. This morning wasn't one of those. This is what the camera captures save for the removal of the highway. Needing a Moose Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority;ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.

12 Sep 22 For the past three days our local area has been contending with a significant amount of smoke in the air due to fires in Eastern Washington. The area from which I shared the image on Thursday had to be evacuated due to the fires and we are likely getting the smoke from that fire. With the skies a spooky gray color I was reminded of the storm we experienced in Iceland. We had made a fast track from the Black Church area of Iceland (SW section) to Vic (south central area) seeking shelter and an opportunity to photograph the Reynisdranger Sea Stacks. That opportunity never materialized as the weather made the sea state such that they were not accessible. Before getting into the motel in downtown Vic we drove up a small hill to see one of the churches - Reyniskyrka Church - that is part of the Church Tour of Iceland. The storm was starting to gather force and it was all you could do to lean into the wind to try and shoot. This is a shot of that church and you can see the snow falling as well as the visibility rapidly deteriorating. Look carefully and you can (barely) see the sea stacks on the left hand side of the church. The church building is a pure white with a bright red roof, but you'd never know it from this capture. This is how it looked just a few minutes past 3 p.m. Our smoke isn't this bad, but enough to make the eyes burn and those with any degree of asthma need to remain indoors. This is straight from the camera save for a little cropping and the cleaning up of some snow flakes on the camera's lens. Approaching a White Out Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/400 sec @ f / 9.

01 Sep 22 We'll continue with something cool to view with a shot from the outflow of the Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon. The lagoon is the size of a decent sized lake and holds the ice calves until they float out into the North Atlantic Ocean. Depending on the wind and tides, they can either just drift out to sea and melt or get washed up onto the beach. The black sand beach where they typically get deposited is known as Diamond Beach and I shared several pics of that back in 2020. Whether or not one gets to see these lovely pieces of ice on the black sand beach is a hit or miss situation and we were fortunate to be there when literally hundreds of these chunks were littering the beach. The week prior there wasn't a single one. We visited the lagoon the afternoon prior to the big storm and got lots of shots of the ice on the opposite side of the lagoon in some very bleak weather. Post storm we had some beautiful sun and sky and got to work with the ice both as it flowed out of the lagoon - this shot - and with it being forced by wave action onto the beach with us standing among it taking photos of the water spraying over the ice. Several shots of that can be found on the blog in the 2020 archive. Had time allowed, and had such been available (it wasn't), I would love to have boarded a zodiac and rowed out into the lagoon and shot the ice, as well as the sea birds and seals frolicking in the water, from that level. Maybe next trip! This is what the camera recorded. Drifters Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 100; 1/640 sec @ f / 9.

15 Sep 22 Another one of the well kept secrets as far as I'm concerned, based on traffic, is the Firehole Lake Drive. It, like the Firehole River Drive, is usually closed in the spring when we visit, but open in the summer and fall. Actually, they are both probably open by late May, but as we visit in early May we don't see them then. There are several thermal features along the sides of the drive and they continue throughout the length of the road. You can actually see one of them, White Dome Geyser, from the main road but you are likely to just drive by and pay no attention. The first attraction is on your left, called Lemon Spring, can be a bit of a sleeper. The small geyser bubbles up a bit and then bursts, but it has a periodicity of roughly 5 minutes and you can miss the show when driving past. Of note here are the bobby socked Lodgepole Pines, so named for their absorption of silica from the hot spring water runoff. There is no actual parking lot to suggest you should stop as there is for several of the other thermal attractions. The coloring is also somewhat subtle and if you visit on a bright sunny day it can be overlooked; on a more cloudy day however it is rather obvious, the colors being much richer, as can be seen in today's offering. This short drive of roughly 2 miles contains 10 thermal features, if I recall correctly, so be sure to take the drive if it is available when you visit. This is what the camera captured although I've cropped it some for improved composition. Hidden Delight Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; 1/800 sec @ f / 8.

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06 Sep 22 It's that time of year when the big show with the elk begins. It lasts for most of the month of September and quite a show it is. One of the best parts is hearing the bulls bugle in the early morning and evening hours. If you are really lucky you get to hear it in the fog when you can't be sure from where it is coming while it seems to be engulfing you. Definitely my favorite time of the year to visit and it is scenes like the one I'm sharing today that makes Yellowstone so special. About an hour prior to dusk with a bit of fog forming, the big guy is checking to make sure all his gals are accounted for before dark. His bugling was making for the perfect viewing!! Other than some significant cropping, this is straight from the camera. Taking a Head Count Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f /8.

14 Sep 22 Driving back to the condo one evening after a full day's shooting I noticed a lot of movement in the trees on the opposite side of the road so I pulled over to see what might be happening hoping against all odds it might be a bear. It wasn't, but it was a pretty large bull elk. As I was exiting the vehicle he slowly strode across the road and entered the trees near me. So I just walked into the trees and down to the river to see what was going to happen. About a minute late he broke out into the open and casually walked to the river edge all the while keeping a watchful eye on me. We struck up a conversation and for the next 15 minutes he posed for me. All this time we stayed about 30 feet from one another and I had a great time taking his portrait. That was two years ago when he wasn't senior enough - note he only has 5 points - to participate in the autumn activities. I'll wager that he is a major player this year and with the significantly reduced visitation in the park this year probably enjoying a reasonably uninterrupted rut. I do believe this would have been a good year to be in attendance. This is straight from the camera save for some removal of distracting grass. Eye to Eye Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 500; 1/500 sec @ f / 8.

13 Sep 22 Plans for a fall visit to Yellowstone having fallen through, I thought I'd look back over several previous visits and pull from them. Artist's Paintpots is a favorite location of mine and one that is generally open only during the fall visits as the road is seldom, if ever, plowed when we are there in the spring. It is a small thermal area, but it can be very colorful, especially in the fall. The location has a small parking lot that can accommodate maybe 50 cars max. From the parking lot it is roughly a 1 mile walk over relatively flat land to get to the site. It is a pleasant walk through a pine forest with a few openings displaying mostly dead trees. A couple years back I had the good fortune to visit it in a fog; it made for a delightful experience. As I was walking around the thermal area it was as though I might see a large reptilian creature jumping out at me at any moment or lurking behind a fallen tree. I would very much enjoy seeing it this way again. I made several versions of this capture of where the trail meets the boardwalk; this version is Jan's favorite. Other than conversion using the Topaz plug-in Impression 2, this is what the camera recorded. Color Sketch Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

16 Sep 22 Thought I'd go with a pseudo aquatic theme for this Friday's macro / close-up, only it isn't actually aquatic. Back in my SCUBA diving days one of the most colorful animals we liked to watch were sea anemones. They came in colors of yellow, green, white, and pink, green being my favorite. The waving of their tentacles was almost mesmerizing at times, much like the mesmerizing waving of the kelp on a bright sunny day, but on a much smaller scale and far more colorful. Some of the dahlias in Jan's garden tend to remind me of the anemones and this shot is one with which I've tried to make the point; if I could find a small fish-like flower to stick between the petals it might help. This particular variety of dahlia never fully opens its petals and it is one of my favorites. Too old to do any more SCUBA diving, but a walk through the garden with these lovely flowers is almost as good. Interesting to see how Nature reuses designs. Other than a little sharpening of the original capture, this is what the camera recorded. Land Anemone Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 400; 1/540 sec @ f / 9.

30 Sep 22 We began this series of large animals with a shot of a nursing elk fawn so why not end it with a shot of a nursing bison calf. Probably not a likely candidate for a Friday macro / close-up you might say except that I was pretty close-up to mamma and her youngster. We were returning from a day of shooting in iffy weather that included several batches of falling snow and as you can see from the shot the two critters had definitely been out in that same weather. The pair was part of a group that had worked their way up from the river bank to one of the parking lots and was grazing on both sides of the lot as well as crossing it. Several of the herd were right at the edge of the cement while others were a bit distant near the river bank, this pair being among that group. At this point the Madison is very narrow and maybe two feet deep so it is more lie a stream than a river and there are several little branches connecting like a small labyrinth. We stayed and photographed this group for the better part of 45 minutes and even though they seemed pretty much oblivious to the behavior of the individuals snapping their portraits I know they weren't. Fortunately all the critters were on good behavior even if some of the photographers, getting far too close, weren't. Take a careful look, you can see the drool from the grass mamma was enjoying along with her teeth and tongue. See, close-up. 😉 Except for some cropping, this is straight from the camera. Enjoying A Warm Milk Before Bed Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 1/250 sec @ f / 9.

02 Sep 22 For this Friday's macro/close-up I've selected a close-up of a Torch Flower that I've manipulated a bit. It was shot at our neighbors flower farm - Fat Turnip - and taken while I was trying for close-ups of bees. This one didn't have a pollinator crawling over it but I liked the leaf that was curling around the base of the petals so I chose it over the insects. I made a wide variety of versions but this one is Jan's favorite so that's what I'm sharing. This is straight from the camera and then manipulated using the Topaz plug-in Glow 2. Electrified Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f / 9.

09 Sep 22 For this Friday's macro /close-up I'm sharing another dahlia from Jan's garden. This is a shot taken after a light rainfall which left lots of water droplets on the petals. After working up the original capture I made an additional 14 variations. Jan choose this variation to share. I decided to use a macro lens for the series of shots. Since her rows of plants are quite close together, and bumping into one plant generally disturbs the others, I elected to go with the 105mm to give myself some working distance while still being hand holdable. It seemed to work as I got very few blurry images. I probably should have painted out all the greenery for a cleaner image; you can easily do so if you find it bothersome. Other than the conversion using the Topaz plug-in Glow 2, this is what the camera captured. Well Oiled Nikon D500; 105 mm macro; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

20 Sep 22 It was a lovely Monday so we decided to take a drive and see what caught our eyes. First stop was to shoot dahlias at Port Gamble where the local dahlia society has a nice display garden. Then we made our way to Quilcene to visit a small pea patch where we met the owner for the first time, as it turns out a paper artist who gave us a private tour of her studio, a prior Friends Church, and then to Mt Walker where we hoped to get a spectacular view of the South Sound and the Cascades. The view was pretty much haze and clouds so we just had a short stay before returning to our vehicle. Jan had brought a large bag of peanuts hoping to find a few birds to feed. None were at the lookout where we generally encounter them but several were sitting on the trees waiting for us when we got back so she opened her bag of peanuts, removed the shells, and proceeded to provide lunch for a group of Gray Jays. I watched and did a little shooting while she and the birds had a grand time. This is straight from the camera save for a wee bit of cropping for composition. Lunchtime Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 1/40 sec @ f / 9.

23 Sep 22 This Friday's macro / close-up is that of a pumpkin from a display in a local nursery. We had stopped by to spend some "plant bucks" that we had earned throughout the year before they expired on the 30th. We arrived to see a massive display of pumpkins, maybe 1,000 total, orange, white, yellow, green, bluish, and variegated, many covered in warty designs. It was quite the display and I took lots of shots. Looking over the captures on the computer I noticed one that looked as though Nature had cut open the top, likely removed the contents, they replaced the top and sealed the edge. Kinda neat so I chose it to share. Then I made 13 variants of it and Jan picked one of them to share with you. Back around 2009 I found a piece of software called Dynamic Auto Painter and shared a few images I made using it with you. They were well received and I should have kept playing with it but got involved with Topaz and totally forgot about it. Earlier in the week I was reminded about it in a webinar and updated my old copy from version 2 to 7. It's now a much more complicated program but one with phenomenal capabilities. The variant of the pumpkin I'm sharing, something Van Gogh might have done, was created using that piece of software. The original was straight fro the camera, than manipulated as described above. By Vinny Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1 /200 sec @ f / 9.