Twisted trunks in Moonlight

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Today’s post is about Photography.

I read a good discussion in the comments section yesterday at "A Photo a Day" by Donald Kinney about California Poppies and saturation…click here. They got me to thinking about the use of saturation. (Be sure to check out his Douglas Iris photos while you are there – they are terrific).

I ran across the following photograph which I made a while back and thought it made a point about degree of saturation.

In this photograph, I wanted to emphasize the texture, smoothness and twisted nature of the trunks, so I isolated the trunks from the background and strongly de-saturated them and readjusted the levels to obtain the effect I wanted. I could have converted it to a black/white photo, but that would not have left the impression of almost no color as viewed in Moonlight. I hope the title sets the mood for viewing.

Twisted trunks in Moonlight

Click on the Photo for full effect.

Comments Pro & Con are welcome, just remember to play nicely.

Troy and Martha

Alaska Sunday III * & Project Yellow IV

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Sub-Title: Summer Solstice on the Arctic Circle

Ever since I was a kid, I had alway wanted to stand on the Arctic Circle. For you Far Northerners, you won't think this is a big deal or understand this. But for a boy from East Texas, growing up in the country, this is a big deal. Especially to stand on the Arctic Circle at the Summer Solstice.

Just think, 24 hours of Daylight. More hours to explore, find, and experience new things. Of course back then, I didn't consider trying to sleep when there is no night. Actually, you have to tape the curtains to the walls in order to get some sleep.

There is nothing exceptional about the photo, except that out of the thousands of sights and experiences of our 16-week- trip, it is one of my most memorable. The realization of a life-long dream. Another dream, "Standing on the Moon" may be out of reach, but I can still dream.

Martha was not overly impressed. She said she expected there to be a great differentiation of flora on either side, trees on one side and low bushes and grasses on the other. But there was only a sign marking the spot. The number of tourists trying to have their photos made by the sign was certainly impressive. A busload of people had made the trek from Fairbanks just for that purpose. Her goal was the Arctic Ocean and seeing the Arctic tundra along the way.

Standing on the Actic Circle
At Summer Solstice ( Looking NNW )

GPS Coordinates
I had to park just a bit down the road

Sub-Title II: Martha has on a yellow shirt for Project Yellow

Martha on the Arctic Circle
Doing the Tourist Thing
( we're right there she pointed ! )

The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It is the parallel of latitude that (as of 2000) runs 66° 33′ 39″ (or 66.56083°) north of the Equator. The region north of this circle is known as the Arctic, and the zone just to the south is called the Northern Temperate Zone. The equivalent latitude in the southern hemisphere is called the Antarctic Circle.

The Arctic Circle marks the southern extremity of the polar day (24 hour sunlit day, often referred to as the "midnight sun") and polar night (24 hour sunless night). North of the Arctic Circle, the sun is above the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year, and below the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year. On the Arctic Circle these events occur, in principle, exactly once per year, at the June and December solstices respectively. It is called the Arctic because it corresponds to the southernmost point of the Constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear or Megale Arktos in Greek).

Wikipedia

*Alaska Sunday is a collection of photographic remembrances of our driving trip from Texas to Alaska.
18,000 miles, 16 weeks, 16 western states including Alaska and four Canadian Provinces.
No chronological order, just anything of interest that got in front of our cameras.

Troy and Martha

Project Yellow III

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Salsify (Tragopogon sp.)

Lyndon B. Johnson National Grasslands

We went up to LBJ Nat'l Grasslands today looking for wildflowers and birds.
The above Salsify is about the most yellow thing that we saw today. Enjoy.
See Anna's for a list of participants.

Troy and martha

Project Yellow II

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Yellow Buses Return to Yellowstone

We photographed this bus (No. 437) in West Yellowstone in the summer of 2006.

The White Model 706 tour buses, built in Ohio, were made exclusively for the National Park Service. Yellowstone had as many as 98 Model 706s by 1940. Then the Yellowstone yellow bus fleet was sold and disbanded in the 1960s.

Todd Scott was instrumental in every phase of bringing the buses back to Yellowstone. The eight buses cost a total of $1.9 million to buy back and refurbish, Scott said.

TDM refurbished the interior seats and oak trim throughout the vehicle. They replaced the old canvas tops with more modern materials and installed a public address system for guides to narrate the tour.

"We looked at old pictures of the buses and tried to match the yellow paint exactly," Scott said. "Basically, they got a complete makeover."

Other upgrades are heaters under the seats and boxes with warm lap blankets, so even on brisk Yellowstone days, passengers can see the beauty of the park through the open top.

The buses are 25 feet long and 8 feet wide with a soft top that rolls back for an expansive view.

A nice story about their return is found in the Deseret Morning News – here.

Troy and Martha

Sky Watch Friday II

Sub-title: Fish bones Clouds

Stratocumulus vertebrates

Stratocumulus vertebrates

Uncommon fish cloud
Swimming now in blue sky sea
Look up to see it.

Haiku © by my brother J.S. Mullens

The other day at lunch, I was filling up with gas and Martha told me to step out from under the covered area and look overhead. I only had my cell phone to take the photo with. It did a pretty good job.

These clouds were forming on the back side of a huge storm which we later learned was producing tornadoes. These clouds were almost directly overhead and it was clear to the West and really stormy to the East. I certainly am glad the storm was moving to the east.

If these were higher they could be called “Cirrus fibratus vertebrates”

Stratocumulus – low level
Vertebrates – having vertebrae
Cirrus – curl of hair
Fibratus – possessing filaments

I don’t know the altitude, so I can’t give them their exact technical weather name.

A nice atlas of cloud names can be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/5ojf7q

Photo with Palm Treo 755p
Troy and Martha

Project Yellow I

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Subtitle: Sky Watch Friday on Thursday

We were driving back from Alaska, when we spotted this beautiful tranquil scene. Little did I realize that it would be used in Project Yellow.... Is that sky blue, or what? Yellow and blue go nicely together, don't you think?

Jasper National Park, Canadian Rockies

Yellow Boat at Peace with the World
(Click on the photo & Scroll down to see Yellow)
(Did you remember to scroll down after clicking too see all the green?)

No Photoshopping except for slight adjustment in levels.
Yes, the sky was really that blue.
It was a good day.

Troy and Martha

Rocks, Moss and Ferns

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Waterfall of Rocks, Moss and Ferns
North Cascades National Park

Click to enjoy the beauty
(and scroll down to see it all)


Sorry about the size of the file
It was necessary to capture the fern detail
How many types of ferns and mosses do you see?

Troy and Martha

'Buffalo' Calf

American Bison Calf

What person doesn’t like a baby animal? Especially a baby “Buffalo”.

Martha shot this with my 200mm macro lens. Yep, a 200mm macro lens makes a good telephoto if you have it on a Monopod.

American bison (Bison bison) with baby calf
(Click on the photo for a close look)

Ft. Worth Nature Refuge, May 14,2005
Photo by Martha.

The nature Refuge has over 25 miles of nature trails and 5000 acres for the buffalo. Yes the Nature trails are separate from the buffalo range.

The American bison (Bison bison) is a bovine mammal, also commonly known as the American buffalo. 'Buffalo' is something of a misnomer for this animal as it is only distantly related to either of the two "true buffaloes", the water buffalo and the African buffalo.

The bison originally inhabited the Great Plains of the United States and Canada in massive herds, ranging from the Great Slave Lake in Canada's far north to Mexico in the south, and from eastern Oregon almost to the Atlantic Ocean, taking its subspecies into account. Its two subspecies are the plains bison (Bison bison bison), distinguished by its smaller size and more rounded hump, and the wood bison (Bison bison athabascae), distinguished by its larger size and taller square hump. Wood bison are one of the largest species of cattle in the world, surpassed in size only by the massive Asian gaur and wild Asian water buffalo, both of which are found mainly in India and Southeast Asia.

See Wikipedia for the full article

Wood bison (Bison bison athabascae)
Notice the tall square hump
Photographed by Martha as we drove by
In timber country, British Columbia, Canada

Troy and Martha

Painted Desert

Sub-title: 'Alaska Sunday' - a Travel Adventure

Sorry for the delay in posting Alaska Sunday. I just joined the Friday Sky Watch and with the excitement of that, it completely slipped my mind. Trying to visit all 100+ members and looking at their blog sites and photos was overwhelming. And then visiting all of my favorites…. Whew.

On our circuitous route from Texas to Alaska (our second day of the trip), we stopped by the Painted Desert looking for the once-in-a-lifetime photo op. We got more than we bargained for. We arrived there in the late afternoon just at closing time. It had just recently showered, and the ground was still barely damp. The colors were saturated, vibrant and almost alive. The low angle of the sun behind my back also contributed to the strong colors.

It was serendipity…. right time, right place, the sun was just breaking through the clouds, right angle of reflected light, increased saturation due to rain, and color was everywhere. Notice in the background that the colors appear normal for the desert. With the picture magnified, you can see the various shades of reds, pinks, yellows, ocher, oranges, and white.

The only Photoshopping was a slight adjustment in levels. No further saturation was needed.

We had been to Painted Desert before and had gotten the usual touristy photos. (Nothing even close to this).

So, there is no exciting adventure today, just a photograph (or two) for your enjoyment.

Painted Desert (Using a Nikon for a Brush)

Be sure to click on the Photograph for the full effect

Photo by Troy

Sunset that Day

Photo by Martha

Needless to say, we arrived at out trailer park late that day. It was a Good Day.

'Alaska Sunday' is a collection of photographic remembrances of our driving trip from Texas to Alaska.
18,000 miles, 16 weeks, 16 western states including Alaska and four Canadian Provinces.
No chronological order, just anything of interest that got in front of our cameras.

Troy and Martha

Shadows of Spring

It seems like it has been forever since the shadows of trees on the building have looked like anything except stick figure drawings. Finally with Spring beginning to make it’s presence felt, we have ‘shadows of spring’ real leaves.

We were working in the backyard yesterday when Martha said,

“Look, the trees have leaves”.

I said, “I know that”.

She pointed at the wall and said that would make a nice photo. I said “Oh!” and pulled my camera out of my pocket.

The rest is a history, as they say. Thus we have a photograph of redbud leaves on a wall.

Shadow of Leaves on Building in Late Afternoon Sun

Maybe not Earth-shattering, but it's a little different and we like it.

Troy and Martha

Celestial

Martha and I went out to the Ft. Worth Nature Center today and met an old wildflower friend. It is known by the common name “Celestial”. We knew that we had seen it a long time ago but not recently and could not remember the name. We found it in the oldest wildflower book that we bought when we first started getting seriously interested in wildflowers.

We had identified it in 1971 and have not seen it since. The reason is easily explained. To quote from “Roadside Wildflowers of Texas” by Irwin:

“But for the fact that the flowers are open only a few hours, Celestial might be better known. The wildflowers open out cup-shaped in the late morning. At first the orange anthers stand erect, but in an hour or two they turn downward. And then, usually before 3:00 PM, the perianth parts curl up. Because of their grass-like foliage, the plants are hard to find when they are out of flower.”

Celestials are found blooming in April in sandy fields, open woods, and on the Blackland Prairie in East Texas. Their distribution also includes Tennessee to Kansas and Louisiana.

Note that sepals and petals are three each nearly alike, light blue-violet, and whitened at the base.

Flowers are borne in pairs, hence the name gemini (twins). The style of the pistil is divided into 6 thread-like branches which project sideways in pairs around the 3 stamens. Nema signifies thread.

Nemastylis geminiflora

It was really nice to become acquainted again.
I photographed the Celestial with Martha’s new S51 Nikon.

Troy and Martha

American Oyster-catcher

The American Oyster-catcher, a really cool bird not often seen.

Haemateopus palliatus.

Click on photo to have a close encounter
According to Birds of America (Pearson & Burroughs), the Oyster-catcher is essentially a maritime bird.

They are found (except by accident) only on the ocean fronts, where they get the principle part of their diet: oysters, clams, mussels, and various shell fish. They open the shells with the handy oyster knife which they carry (the bright-red bill). They will also feed on marine worms and insects. Locally in many places, they are called “Sea-Crows” by fishermen, which may be an apt title, although the call is melodious and flute-like rather than like the raucous call of the true Crow.

The birds have stout legs and strong feet from which the hind toe is missing. The plumage is black on the head and upper part, white underneath with a brownish back.

We photographed this bird in October. We watched him/her walk with a slow dignified stride before we snapped the photo. They can run with considerable speed and usually only fly short distances if disturbed. This one is a juvenile, as determined by beak color (not fully red yet).

Females usually lay only 2 to 3 cream-colored eggs blotched with brown, in a slight depression in the sand. Sometimes the nest will be in a pile of shell castings on a small area of sand, or on shell bars with bunches of seaweed which is not covered at high tide. The eggs are very hard to find as they blend right in with their surroundings. They typically nest from April to June with the female doing most of the incubation at night or on cool cloudy days. The nest will typically be left uncovered during the day to allow the sun and warm sand to provide incubation.

The similar Black Oyster-catcher is usually only found from Alaska and the Aleutians to central and sometimes southern California, whereas the American Oyster-catcher resides on the southern and eastern coasts of the U.S. casual to New Brunswick.
To see the Black Oyster-catcher, click the above link and scroll down.

Story by Troy - Photo by Martha

Sky Watch Friday

I can't resist any longer. I guess I'll have to join Sky Watch Friday. Since I hold a Private Pilot's license, I think clouds are important and useful, as well as beautiful.

I'll post more about my thoughts on this later.

Contrail Shadow on Clouds
(Click on photo & scroll down)

The contrail looks like a snake, but the shadow is straight.

For the photographers that are interested, the camera data is:
Nikon L14 (which I always carry in my pocket)
Auto setting which produced: 1/1000 ", f4.6, ISO64, zoomed to 6.3mm focal length

For more on Sky Watch go to Wiggers World

Troy

The Life of the Skies Giveaway

The bloggers over at 10,000 Birds are giving away five copies of The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature by Jonathan Rosen. Check out the different contests for your chance to win.

read more | digg story

Three Beautiful Bells

I would say that this is Wordless Wednesday because I don't have anything to say about the three flowers. Does anyone know what they are? They look like an Allium and there are over 1000 species of Alliums. I photographed them in February here in Ft. Worth several years ago and didn't label them. Duh! They must be hardy. Even if I don't know the name, here is a photograph to enjoy, or not.

-------------------- Update --------------------

The mystery plant has been identified by Lisa Wagner, Director of Education for the South Carolina Botanical Garden. You can visit her blog, Natural Gardening, (click here). According to Lisa "the mystery plant is a charming old-fashioned early spring lily relative native to Europe -- Summer Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum). "It's a tough plant -- I first saw it at an old homesite, where it had persisted for many years. I actually just planted some in various places this spring, since I've always liked it. It flowers in late winter and early spring here (so its common name is a misnomer!)""

Additional information on this species is available at Missouri Plants (click here).
The parent page for Missouri Plants is (click here).

Thanks Lisa for solving the Mystery

Three of a Kind

Click to enlarge

Troy