Another Universe

There's nothing like a macro photo to give you a look at a little universe that could easily be overlooked.

Pink

As fall turns to winter, I start thinking about the transience of seasons. Where did summer go?

The Skeleton & the Man In the Moon

I was out chasing the moon and the sunrise a while back and I captured this. I'm not sure I like the composition. Or the title for the blog post. But I do like the purple-hued sky. And I like the full moon, of course, which has faired better over time than the windmill.

Red

Somebody gave my wife a dozen roses, which gave me a photo opportunity. Did I buy the flowers? Nope. Kim did.

Fall Reflections

I was looking at some photos I took while staying overnight in a picture perfect town in Washington named Gig Harbor. I had passed this one over, in part because out of the camera it looked a little drab. But, thanks to a little help from my friends (Aperture and Photoshop) this photo is filled with color.

Fat Cats

I was on the way home after a fairly successful photographic outing north of Watertown. And, once again, lost in thought, I had driven about 50 yards by this scene, which had registered subliminally, before I realized I had passed a photo opportunity.So I backed up and took a few photos. I love backlit thing that nature makes and the sun sets ablaze!

Moonset Over Hills & Trees

The moon is real. The hills are real. And so are the trees and the freshly worked field. But the photo is Photoshopped. So is the photo real? While I'm at it, I might as well ask if "moonset" is a real word?(PS: Have you adjusted your camera clock time to correspond to the shift away from DST? "Does time really matter?" you ask. My answer: "Metadata matters!")

Aspen Leaf

I was out in the backyard looking for HDR (high dynamic range) opportunities. I was looking for subjects that had a broad contrast from very bright and very dark. The first thing I saw was an assortment of aspen leaves, which had just fallen during the night. I liked the how the backlighting accentuated the textures of the veins in the leaf and the blades of grass that surround it. It had frosted during the night, which adds a little more character to the bokeh in this photo.Canon 5DII 1/320s f/3.5 ISO200 100mm

Green Waves

I was going out to get something from my pickup truck when I noticed that the hosta leaves in a little garden patch outside our front door were backlit by the low sun. So, I forgot my original mission and went and got my camera. I think I took 30 photos but this one, after I cropped it, seemed to offer a good mix of the abstract with the real.By the time I was done taking photos, I had forgotten why I was heading to my truck! Is this evidence of genius or senility? Perhaps neither. . .

Out By Lonesome Lake (LATI Festival of Trees Choice)

One of the good things about my job is that when I give a photo assignment I often go out and do the assignment myself. Such was the case this past weekend. My particular mission was to shoot an HDR photo or two. I have spent about 10 hours on this task and, of the 300 photos I took, I've ended up with one HDR composite that I like. That's not bad for a day's work!I have posted an HDR (High Dynamic Range) to this blog before but I thought I'd do it again. In simple terms, an HDR photo is really one or more photos of the exact same subject with varying exposures layered on top of each other and adjusted so the whole photo is well exposed - from the very bright to the very dark.In the case of today's photo, if I had exposed for the beautiful morning sky, the grass in the foreground would have been barely visible. And if I'd exposed for the foreground, the sky would have been washed out. I must admit that the way I've done HDR so far has an element of the surreal in it. And I like that.Incidentally, this photo has been selected as this year's choice for my LATI Festival of Trees donation. It will be among many things that are donated and offered during the silent auction for the annual LATI scholarship fundraiser on November 18 at the Ramkota.Finally, if you are still reading this, you may be seriously interested in HDR. If that's true, go here to see a YouTube video I made on this subject.

Majestic, Too

It looks like I'm in to looking up trees' trunks given this and yesterday's post. And I guess I am. . .This is a tree that our family named "Big Boy" over three decades ago. It lives on our cabin's property line in the Black Hills. It was old all those years ago so it is now Old + 30, I guess.Recently, Deb and I made the pilgrimage up the hill to see this venerable giant, in part to see if there is any evidence that Big Boy had fallen victim to the tree beetles that are killing trees all over the Black Hills right now. His boughs are green and he stands tall, though there was sap leaking out a hole a few feet up his trunk.We walked down the hill hoping that this huge pine tree wouldn't let a few small bugs bring him down.

Still On the Vine

We visited Brian and Katie this past weekend in St. Paul and this morning I felt obligated to go out and wander around for a while with my camera. I was looking for something other than fall color, and I found these little purple grapes on the wall of a townhouse not too far from Katie and Brian'sI like the color of the grapes contrasted with the brick wall behind. I also like the way the early morning light helps give dimensionality to the grapes. Finally, I like the way the depth of field gives depth to the photo. It is the combination of the blur and the good light that help the grapes stand out in this photo.