Not too late for me…

June 28, 2021 Al Denelsbeck

Today is another holiday: Don’t Drive Anywhere At All Day, which I realize I may be posting a little late for some, but hey, you shouldn’t be coming to me for the important stuff anyway. I got this holiday going on, though, and will be celebrating it enthusiastically, because I have returned from a multi-stop tour of the northeastern US, and one not dedicated to photography either; instead, this was family and friend schtuff, which meant that I got up to visit my dad for Father’s Day (much trickier than it sounds,) and a pair of cousins that I hadn’t seen since the early 90s, and a castle that I’d never seen. I’m not trying to make you jealous… well, okay, I am, but only a little bit. Overall though, it meant a lot of driving and so I need little encouragement not to right now.

And this isn’t to say that I wasn’t doing any photography, either, but I probably didn’t need to tell you that [do you like how I keep inserting things that imply that there are regular readers of this site? My therapist keeps suggesting that I stop doing that, but he’s as imaginary as the readers anyway so I haven’t felt too compelled to obey.] I managed a couple of outings and more than a few snagged shots, meaning those that I saw in passing and took the opportunity to get, some of which involved almost slamming on the brakes on the interstate, but it was early morning and the nearest car was about a kilometer away, so all I dealt with was shifting cargo. Regardless, I have some post topics lined up from all this, which will come along as soon as I am able, but now you know why the previous posts were spread out so much, given that I prepared the last four ahead of time and scheduled them to appear when they did. You know, give the illusion that I was still home but just being lazy.

Anyway, as a teaser, I offer one shot from the trip, and this is full frame so you know I wasn’t far off (granted, it’s at 600mm, but to be accurate, the working distance was within 20 meters.) This is a juvenile bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus,) and I’m pretty sure that it’s this year’s brood. And I didn’t even slam on the brakes for this one…

By the way, if you want to bike someplace, that won’t violate the spirit of the holiday. Skateboards, kayaks, hang-gliders, all fine. Just no cars. Not even a golf cart or forklift. If you’re already at work now, well, you gotta stay there until after midnight…

Profiles of Nature 25

June 24, 2021June 17, 2021 Al Denelsbeck

It’s Pride Month, isn’t it? Okay, then.

This week we have Haafiza and Waldwick, Haafiza showing some suspicion of why Waldwick was out so late. Their’s is one of those celebrity romances that usually last about a year and a half. They met 17 months ago on the set of Second Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the upcoming film about a hobbit that seeks to culturize a collection of dwarves, with Haafiza cast in the part of Holly Gohelmsplitting. It was a whirlwind romance, even after Waldwick got dropped from the role of Mr. Yunioshi, and the tabloids were aquiver (because of the whirlwind of course.) Soon after, things got a little rocky, mostly because of the rumors circulating among the tabloids: Haafiza was claimed to have been well-behaved in public, and sources revealed Waldwick had never slept with James Caan – Hollywood can be vicious. Despite all this, their careers are on track, and no, we’re not gonna make a joke about trains. Both are pulling down hefty salaries and are in high demand among casting directors – yet, Waldwick is ready to retire and raise baking soda while Haafiza is intending to pull a Fonda-Hepburn. Nobody really cares either way, as long as they occasionally get to see some skin. Haafiza is proud (you knew we’d get there eventually) to say that Kaplansky’s conjectures are the most intriguing mathematical conundrums, while Waldwick insists it’s the Zarankiewicz problem.

Periodicity – repeat. Despair.

You never doubted it, did you?

June 21, 2021June 17, 2021 Al Denelsbeck

Because I’ve featured so many mantis photos in previous years, I have been lightening up on pursuing them recently unless I can see some specific behavior, but I still take the opportunity to snag a few photos when I can – especially if I find one feeding when I can take advantage of it. This Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) is on a potted curry plant, so-named not because it’s where curry comes from, but because it smells like it should be. And the deer don’t like it, so it stands guard in front of plants that the deer do like. The mantis itself is perhaps 30mm in overall length, so you can imagine how small the details are; I wasn’t going to get anything in there for scale without scaring off the mantis anyway. But after this establishing shot, I switched to the reversed 28-105 for much closer work.

The best I can say is that the meal looks like a tiny leafhopper to me, but I didn’t see the mantis make the capture and too much of it was already touring the mantis’ alimentary canal. If they have one. I imagine they do.

This is a ‘stacked’ shot, meaning two frames with slightly different focus points were combined to make something with a little greater depth-of-field. At this magnification, depth-of-field is virtually a myth. And you can tell this was taken during the day because the mantis’ eyes are colored and not black.

Getting the right flash angle was challenging, and in the course of attempting variations, the mantis spooked a little and went to another stem, but I was able to close in again and use the new perspective.

Halfway decent view of the palps, the ‘mouth fingers,’ and some unidentifiable fragments going down – this angle did not assist in my determination of the meal species at all. But you can see some unfocused fragments still clasped in a foreleg, which seem to show wing veins, so I’m staying with leafhopper. Unless it bothers you. If it bothers you, say so, and we can call it a roach if you like that better. Or whatever – I’m easy.

This would have been better as video, but almost impossible. I was leaning in at precise angles among and between the curry leaves, which would have been extraordinarily hard to get a tripod to emulate, and by the time I managed such the mantis would likely have been done anyway, if I didn’t spook it to a new location in the attempt. I know my limits. I’ll get video of feeding, and/or a capture, one of these days, but it will likely be with bigger specimens in undoubtedly better conditions.

Incidentally

June 18, 2021June 16, 2021 Al Denelsbeck

I’m going to be busy with a lot of stuff over the next several days, so posts will be light – no matching the days in the month this time, sorry. I will catch up eventually.

In the meantime, something that I noticed the other night – well, like a week ago now – but I recently shot the 20,000th image on the Canon 7D. Given the typical amounts that I’ve pulled from preceding camera bodies, I’ve got 30,000 more to go before I upgrade to another body, though I’m happy with this one and there are no pressing options that I’m thinking I could use right now. Actually, I started thinking about how cool a digital camera with a pellicle mirror would be, and wondering if I might attempt a conversion with one of the older bodies.

[An explanation: a pellicle mirror is one that is semi-silvered and largely transparent, like one-way glass, and was used in just a few film SLR bodies in years past. It meant that the reflex mirror, the one that bounced the light from the lens up to the viewfinder, did not have to flip out of the way to allow the shutter to trip, permitting very fast shutter speeds and minimal vibrations – and no viewfinder blackout. Using one on a DSLR designed for a reflex mirror probably wouldn’t give any speed advantage, since the electronics are programmed for that delay anyway even if it’s not happening, but I imagine disabling the mirror is easy enough, and I have a pellicle mirror from an EOS RT handy. Except that this is a much larger mirror box than any DSLR I own, because 35mm film frames are larger than digital sensors in all but the high-end bodies. Well, in the course of writing a post I talked myself out of considering it…]

Anyway, the 20,000th frame:

This was taken during one of the many electrical storms that passed through the region, an attempt to capture more lightning pics. Obviously, I didn’t, and there’s nothing remarkable about this image – but it does show one little thing, illustrated better by exchanging it back and forth with the previous frame:

Now we see the low-level clouds close by, illuminated by the city lights into a dull brownish color, and their movement between exposures (which ran about 12-15 seconds each.) And then, through the gap, we see the purple glow of the lightning strike in the distance, showing the edges of thunderheads between the lightning and myself – very convoluted cloud cover that night, and the reason I never saw a solid bolt at all.

Since these are time exposures, they’re a lot brighter than what I was seeing while out there, and the impression is that the brighter portions are clear sky while the dark patches are the clouds, because this is what we see during the day, with the light coming from above. At night, you watch the dark patches for the clear sky views – and of course, the low clouds bouncing the nearby lights back down means exposure times can’t run too long without overpowering any brief lightning flashes anyway. Ideal conditions are, naturally, an approaching (or receding) thunderhead with otherwise clear skies for the best views, but those are rare around here, and did not occur with these recent storms. Try again later on.

Profiles of Nature 24

June 17, 2021June 17, 2021 Al Denelsbeck

This week we have นฤมล, trying to deal with Christian Bale’s tantrums on the set of the Peewee’s Playhouse reboot. All her life, นฤมล had the dream of making it big in show business, which despite what you think is not a reference to male pornstars. She started off in grade school productions of course, playing the court herald in The King’s Creampuffs (again, not a porn reference,) before garnering acclaim as Hecate-Lou in the southernized version of MacBayeth with her local drama club. From there, she did a few commercials to make money to go out west, started to flounder, then realized she should have gone south since she started from Seattle. Upon arriving in LA, นฤมล quickly made a name for herself, out of wood, to hang over her front door, but the neighbors thought it was gang signs and kept hitting her up for drugs. She obtained an acting coach without realizing he was only filling in during the search for the real coach; while her emoting hadn’t changed, she improved dramatically at driving the defense down the court. นฤมล is very likely to be a top talent very soon, and this time it is a porn reference. Her favorite thing to leave on the rear deck of the car in the sun is a talking GI Joe doll, er, action figure.

Oh yeah, next week. Don’t even think about skipping it.

Even then, ‘snot art

June 13, 2021 Al Denelsbeck

And so we come to one last image that we still maintain, despite any impressions, is not art. Because we don’t do art.

Another one shot blind, simply holding the camera down just above the sand, roughly aiming and allowing autofocus to do its thing. What do you mean, “Why didn’t you get down on the wet sand and do it right?” I’m old. Not to mention, wet sand, ick.

But yeah, the AF snagged the right point, the sun wasn’t too centered, the exposure is fine, and the delicate colors on the foam work well for me. The wide disparity in scale captured in a single frame is also compelling (again, to me at least.) This is another that will be a print soon.

I could have stalled for a day and posted this exactly one month from when it was taken, even scheduling it for the exact same time. Because that would have wowed everyone, right? But then I thought, Nah, no one’s even reading this anyway, plus I may have some more images tomorrow, so, screw it. It’s early.

[Or I could have posted it the day that I took it, for that impact, but obviously missed that.]

I’ll tack on another here, taken two days later on our last morning at the one-and-only beach, even less Not Art. Or is that more Not? I don’t know. It just never got into another post, so I’m using it now before it goes bad. Or worse. Whatever.

Yes, that’s the same gazebo seen here. Good eye.

Saturday night black & white

June 12, 2021 Al Denelsbeck

Over the past several weeks, I’ve been setting aside various monochrome experiments for an eventual post which, so it appears, has now arrived at Gate 12. Take care when removing items from the overhead bins…

This green heron from several weeks back was reduced to only the red channel, and if I remember right, I didn’t even need to tweak the contrast for this one – it worked out fine on its own.

How about the moon at sunset?

This one’s from not too long ago, but this time the green channel. You might think the red channel would be better, given the sullen orange hues at the horizon, but actually they’re too bright in the red channel; the green channel had enough presence down there for a muted effect with more cloud detail.

And yeah, it’s not sunset really, but post-sunset twilight. Might as well get it right.

Actually, this one was prepared last year at some point, and never got used. I had a water iris image from this year that I tweaked, but then noticed this one in the folder and felt it looked better. I no longer recall what method was used, but I suspect this is another green channel image.

Also not too old, just a little pre-vacation, and this one I converted to greyscale without clipping any color channels, but then very specifically tweaked the curves (which in greyscale is simply selective contrast) to achieve the effect seen here, differentiating the various colors and shades of the plumage. One of these days I may do an instructional video about using the Curves function in Photoshop/GIMP.

The original of this one is from a long time ago, and I’m not even sure I haven’t tackled it in monochrome before, but here it is, again if need be. Given the distinct colors and contrast of the holiday lights, it lends itself to seeing what happens in the various color channels, and in this case a comparison was in order. So, to the right we have the red channel, which provides a nice glow on the railing and leaf, but somehow gets a strange dark halo around some of the lights – this would seem to indicate that the only color right at those spots was cyan, the opposite of red in the RGB palette.

And now the contrasting image.

This is the green channel, and you can see how different lights gained more prominence. I did the blue channel too, but it was far more muted, the railing going way too dark. The blue channel is often the least impressive during channel clipping, but there are exceptions. Curiously, the leaf seems to be better defined in green.

Now we get a little tricky (original here, by the way.) The red channel was too bright and lacking in definition in several places, while the green and the blue channels both had their foibles – so this is a combination of both. Essentially, the green sat ‘on top of’ the blue, so I adjusted its opacity down, in essence making it slightly transparent, so it retained some of its contrast qualities while allowing the blue’s to peek through as well. It meant the sun came through with a distinctive shape but the waves got some nice darker-edged definition.

Another blended one, only this time the red and green channels – pink flower with a bright green baby katydid on it, so either channel tended to be too contrasty by themselves. I do like the way the antennae and even the legs mimic the flow of the petals.

And the last and most recent, from just a few days ago.

This is only the blue channel, which this time produced the right contrast level, but it’s a tight crop to abstractify it and bring more attention to the wing detail – you can see that the depth of field is pretty short. But this one might become a print someday.

Anyway, that’s our monochrome fix for a while, at least until I get enough images that seem to benefit from the treatment – or go digging for more. You know, I have a whole file drawer full of slides…

I worry too much

June 11, 2021 Al Denelsbeck

I’ve had these stray photos from the beach trip kicking around to post for a while now, and have been putting them off because I’m trying to keep some variety in the posts, and I’ve been doing a lot of birds. But then again so what? Some blogs are entirely about birds. Some blogs are entirely about raising kids. I gotta relax.

While I initially go through recent shots and find the frames that would make a good post, some of the ones that I pass by (because of the narrative or whatever) are cool by themselves, and usually I don’t rediscover them until the sorting phase. Out of context, this one has a certain impression, a sleepy willet (Tringa semipalmata,) though it’s not sleeping but preening, the same one seen in this sequence.

Which might also be the same one seen below. Or it might not.

Taken a few days later but in the same general area, this one had just plunged its head a bit deeper than usual in search of food, and still had the water drops adhering. With the backlighting and moody colors from the water, I liked it, but it needed a tighter crop to draw attention.

I believe this is the penultimate beach trip post – there’s one more that I’ve been saving. Should get through these just in time for the pics and stories from the next beach trip…

Profiles of Nature 23

June 10, 2021June 10, 2021 Al Denelsbeck

Has it been a week already? Boy, time flies when you’re dreading something, doesn’t it? So today we meet Adelgiso, demonstrating that full-bodied mousse and cleaning out the shed do not go together. Adelgiso is a dancer, to no one’s surprise, specializing in performing interpretive dances to repair manuals and Ikea instructions; most people agree that his Lycksele Lövås (shown here) is breathtaking. His dad was upset that he wasn’t following in the family business (which is assassination,) but Adelgiso shot back, “Hey, you told me I’m killing you, so live with it!” – he should have his own sitcom. Back in school, however, he had his sights set on blue collar work, and reasoned that no one had yet become the most-famous road sign erector, so the role was invitingly open. His dreams were dashed when someone a year ahead of him snagged the title, so he turned to dance because it seemed similar; Adelgiso was never much on research. He was one of the earliest investors in cryptocurrency, only it was the kind that involved tombs and mausoleums; their motto was, “You can take it with you!” It tanked, though, and Adelgiso is presently 32 ossuaries in debt. Wisely, he’d insured his knees for 2.8 million dollars beforehand, which has induced his insurance company to whack at least five goons sent by the loan shark. Adelgiso’s favorite candy to gag over is a circus peanut.

If you don’t join us next week, we’ll send someone over to bring this to you anyway, likely at a very inconvenient time, so you might as well save us both the trouble.

Caught up

June 9, 2021 Al Denelsbeck

From an outing today, just now in fact. There! That makes me caught up to the ‘one-a-day’ thing.

[This is an orange jewelweed, Impatiens capensis, by the way.]

1 … 108 109 110 111 112 … 318