National Day of Self-Congratulation

Al Denelsbeck

Today is a very special day in the US: The National Day of Prayer. That means today is the day that people are encouraged to feel good about doing nothing at all, like those bumper stickers that proclaim one’s child is special regardless of accomplishment. That’s good, I suppose, if you’re a child with esteem issues, but probably not a positive reflection on the populace of our country at large.

I remember seeing a handmade sign, “Pray for our troops,” in the back window of a vehicle in town once (why, yes, it was a pickup truck, funny you should ask,) and mentally appending, “It’s the least you can do.” Because, let’s be honest (that’s important to religious folk, right?): there’s nothing that supports the idea of prayer working in any way, and no reason to believe it has a greater effect than, say, actually doing anything at all physically. It’s not hard to find someone who will mangle the concept of probability by claiming that every actual outcome that might have been prayed for is proof of its effectiveness, and we also have the old trope that the Master Plan™ means some prayers cannot be answered because it’s better that they aren’t. Mere assertions in a vacuum of evidence? You bet – that’s what most of theology is made of.

Others may argue that such a ridiculous action like encouraging prayer doesn’t hurt anything, but as indicated above, this is only in the face of doing nothing else. Donating just 10 cents to any cause at all is an inarguably positive effect for the cause – no reason to resort to vapid machinations to support it. Would it have been difficult, or require extensive consideration, to create a National Day of Activism or something, that actually resulted in a demonstrably positive effect? Remember that Earth Hour is something that our country couldn’t be bothered with, despite the obvious benefits, not just of reduced power usage, but awareness and encouragement of behavior. But we have a National Day of Prayer.

The only result of this, in all seriousness, is appealing to the self-absorbed behavior of the religious. Prayer is all about trying to influence a supreme being, raising the prayor above others in their ability to change events; it’s ego. Nothing more. Why is there the slightest need to encourage that? Most especially, why imply that this is some kind of accomplishment? In how many cases is it simply the alleviation of guilt over doing nothing to help anyone else at all? There are even times when it’s just a form of arrogance. Take it from an atheist; “I’ll pray for you,” is never intended as something altruistic, just as an expression of superiority.

I wonder how few have considered that merely mentioning “prayer” does not in any way specify what it might be for. Certain fundamentalist retards routinely encourage praying for the deaths of certain world leaders or influential people, while a significant number of prayers are appeals for selfish benefit, like passing exams or making some mistake go away, when they’re not for ponies. And of course, the argument for a Master Plan™ makes all prayers a complete waste of time – unless the prayor somehow believes that their appeal is the one that will alter the Plan.

Now, the part that’s even worse. A National Day of Prayer isn’t intended to benefit the country in any way, nor even raise people’s awareness of… well, anything at all. It’s there solely because too many religious folk are too stupid to realize they’re being played. The word is pandering. “Lookitme, Mr. Politician who can influence your vote by reinforcing your self-proclaimed goodness! I’ll make you feel better about yourself by encouraging your meaningless mental mumbling, and you’ll reciprocate by supporting me more!” Religious folk merely have to be told that their fleece is pretty, and they’ll fall right in line.

Lots of people would be defensive over all this, asserting that they’re not taken in by it or encouraging this in any way. Yet, it still exists, so someone (a lot of someones) are buying it. And as long as something as pointless and self-indulgent as prayer remains, implying by its existence that it has some importance, then we’ll keep seeing blatant manipulations. The only way out of the trap is with the ability to see the fallacies and emotional appeals that have replaced reason.

Here’s a wild and crazy thought: Instead of spending any time at all mumbling pleas to the sky, or even ignoring the ‘event’ in denial of its influence, do something positive. Anything. But before you do, take a few seconds and ponder what “positive” actually means.

Fallacy fallacies

Al Denelsbeck

Many a young, impetuous acolyte, on first learning the lore of the Thinking Fallacies, seeks to infuse their knowledge throughout both their lives and those around them, but lo! such a path is fraught with danger, because the Fallacies are not easily tamed. Within inexperienced hands, they can be poor weapons, even dangerous to the wielder.

Ahem. ‘Scuse me. Anyway, this post began as a comment on the misunderstanding of just one thinking fallacy, but I soon realized that there were more that could be addressed. Thinking fallacies, or debating fallacies or logical fallacies, are common mistakes made in discussions or criticisms that fail to effectively support a position; they’re generally good things to know about. Yet, some are misunderstood or used incorrectly, and in one case there’s even a poster that inaccurately summarizes some of them. So, here’s a quick (but by no means complete) rundown of some of the most common abuses of them.

Ad hominem – An ad hominem attack doesn’t actually refer to being insulting. It only refers to a judgment on character being the sole reason to disregard someone’s argument. Feel free to be insulting, if you think it expresses your level of disagreement or contempt (and I’m very much behind it being warranted in too many cases,) but always ensure that your rational argument remains clear.

Occam’s Razor – This is frequently used as if it’s a law of probability, saying that the simplest explanation is always correct. Instead, what it means is that the more complicated some explanation or theory becomes, the more support is necessary, and chances are we’d see evidence of this support. But overall, it remains a weak argument and shouldn’t be used often.

Appeal from Authority and Appeal from Popularity (or, if you want to use the Latin versions and sound like a pompous jackass, Argumentum ad verecundiam and Argumentum ad populum) – The first means if an expert said it, it must be true, and the second paraphrases as, “this many people can’t be wrong.” But like ad hominem, these are fallacious only if they’re the sole argument. A consensus among people who work in the field of the discussion topic, however, stands a very good chance of being useful information, and it’s been demonstrated that a consensus of popular opinion can have a surprising degree of accuracy. The biggest problem with the latter is, popular opinion can be radically wrong as well, especially when influenced by culture, and the only way to tell is to know the accuracy ahead of time, making the appeal from popularity completely pointless.

Begging the Question and Special Pleading – I have seen so many different definitions of what these entail that it’s better off just enumerating what you see wrong rather than trying to sound smart by using either of these terms. To me (and the only way I ever use this,) “begs the question” refers to a question dictated by logical consequence, which is an obscure way of putting it, so let me illustrate. When someone says something like, “Most cases go unreported,” the question that is begged is, “How could you know this?”

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc and Middle Ground – The first means, “if B follows A then A caused B,” and the second refers to the best answer being in the middle of two extremes, a compromise. Like the phrases, “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” and, “correlation is not causation,” there is a word missing in all of them: “necessarily.” In truth, A may very well lead to B, the middle ground might be the best solution, and absence of evidence is the only possible thing that can be evidence of absence. Again, these are fallacies only if they’re the sole argument, a misuse or misunderstanding of logic.

Tu Quoque – Actually, I haven’t seen this used, so it’s a minor thing, but it has misunderstanding written all through it. Rough translation from Latin means, “You, also,” which helped a lot, didn’t it? Yeah, we need to stop using the damn phrases when they’re completely meaningless to everyone. What it is intended to express is hypocrisy, inconsistency, or contradiction from the same source; if someone argues in favor of capital punishment, but also against abortion because “all life is sacred,” there’s an obvious consistency problem. The fallacy isn’t the inconsistency, however; it’s using this inconsistency to render their argument (either part of it) wrong. Logically, both arguments should rely on the reasoning behind them – but that’s where anyone’s efforts should be spent anyway, for everyone embracing critical thinking. Wrong is a subjective term; just illustrate the flaws. Yet the inconsistency is a very relevant thing to highlight, because it reveals that the arguments have not all originated through rational consideration. In short, inconsistency highlights a flawed debate, but selecting the flawed side by how it compares to the other is tu quoque. Can’t say I’ve ever seen this happen anyway.

Fallacy Fallacy – If someone uses a fallacious argument to support their viewpoint, claiming that this makes their viewpoint wrong or flawed is the fallacy – they could simply be terrible debaters while their point remains valid. This means that what I’m about to point out is the Fallacy Fallacy Fallacy, because in the vast percentage of cases, anyone familiar with fallacies in the first place is not trying to establish right or wrong; these terms are, in fact, wildly misleading because they’re value judgments, not facts. Most discussions revolve around whether a particular standpoint is rationally supportable (or logically consistent.) Thus, anyone who uses a fallacy in support of their standpoint fails, leaving their standpoint unsupported. There may be other arguments that would support it, but this begins to delve into the “Not Negative” fallacy – the goal is to establish the support, not merely entertain the possibility. Which leads us to…

Right/Wrong, Win/Lose Fallacy – This is missed far too frequently, even when defining fallacious arguments, but discussion should never be about right or wrong, and most especially not a personal competition to see who wins or loses. Even science itself does not deliver proof, but merely the weight of the evidence and the probability of some state of affairs – in many cases, this weight or probability is so high that it’s close enough to “proof” for any practical application, yet we remain open to evidence that may disprove it later. In discussions, however, the goal should always be to examine the arguments, their supporting structure, and the reasoning behind them to see what makes more sense, or provides a greater understanding. The goal is not to see who scores the most points, but to have everyone agree to be on the same side. For all of the guides that can be found on logical fallacies and diagramming arguments, this little gem receives almost no attention at all, yet it serves as an excellent map for behavior.

There are perhaps more, and truth be told the misuses of these fallacies isn’t exactly an epidemic – this is more to illustrate that critical thinking is not partisan or biased, if there could be claimed to be a ‘proper’ application anyway. Fair’s fair, and we can at least try not to hypocrites.

Just a drop, please?

Al Denelsbeck

ThirstyMantis
One of those things I had to share. Out early the other morning after an overnight rain, I was examining the azalea bush for interesting stuff, mostly looking for a way to use the rising sun and the raindrops creatively. One of the little mantises was too deep among the leaves to catch the sun, but as I watched, it engaged in a behavior I’ve never seen: it was drinking rain directly off the leaf. Regretfully, there wasn’t a good way to get proper lighting onto the action, so there’s only this chiaroscuro version which doesn’t even show the water adequately. Thus, a better illustration joins my list of images to capture someday.

While doing this I made another discovery, harkening back to years past (in this case, just barely): one of the green lynx spider hatchlings (Peucetia viridans) that I followed in the fall has taken up residence on the same bush, now displaying the adult coloration but still minuscule. You might be able to determine scale by comparing the leaves in the two shots…

MiniLynx
AzaleaLeaf… or simply from this image of a typically-sized leaf on my fingertips. They look much better when not seen quite so close, don’t they?

I have a feeling the spider’s days are short, given the number and predatory skills of the mantises on the same bush, and it may already be gone as I type this. But lynx spiders are none too clumsy either, so we’ll just have to see if it reappears. Not long after I got the initial image above, a mantis was found in almost the exact same area (it seems odd to talk about “areas” of a bush only a meter across, but that’s macro perspective for you.) I was wondering if the spider had already lost a match, but later the same day found it a short while away, consuming a leafhopper, so I’m not going to speculate too much.

Now, hard as it may be to believe (to the imaginary people who follow this blog regularly,) I actually got out this weekend and obtained some non-creepy images – in fact, quite pleasant ones. I know, right? The Girlfriend’s Younger Sprog is about to graduate from college, soon to enter med school, and we were out doing graduation portraits on campus. I would love to thrash the scoffers by displaying some of these images, but I’m fairly certain I would be dismembered by the almost-graduate therein, and since I’m three times her mass, this provides an idea of how poorly such an action would be received. We’ve all heard the stories of the mother who dropped a car onto a photographer that published photos of her without permission…

Now, even more unbelievable: the areas we chose to do the portraits within were absolutely crawling with a huge variety of insects, including at least one species I’d never seen before. And I didn’t take a single frame of them. I did have to go for a lie-down afterward, though…

On composition, part 17: Point of focus

Al Denelsbeck

FocalDrops
This probably should have been one of the earliest composition posts that I tackled, except that I think I always assumed it to be rather obvious. As I’ve examined numerous photos, including some of my own, I realize that its importance may need to be emphasized more, so let’s highlight point of focus.

This doesn’t simply mean choosing what the camera locks its autofocus onto. What I mean instead is a point within the image that immediately draws the viewer’s attention, that serves as the primary subject, or at the very least, an anchor for the remainder of the frame. The most prominent way that this is thwarted is with landscapes, where an entire scene is presented for the viewer without anything that displays prominence. Sometimes this works, but more often such a scene becomes much stronger with a single distinction therein, something that breaks the pattern, stands out, or attracts attention – a lone tree, a stream twisting through the snowfield, a moose visible through the mist.

Another situation that benefits is where the scene is complicated, crowded, or repetitive; a crowded dance floor, dense cityscape, or even a field of grain. Here, something that breaks the pattern or departs from the complication, in size, contrast, or sharpness of focus, can give the viewer something reliable to settle on while the confusion or pattern still conveys the conditions. People generally expect photos to present an immediate impression, a particular reason why they should be looking; the more striking, the better their reaction. If they’re unsure what they should be focusing on, the image will lack impact. This is not to say that an image cannot have a hidden surprise, and these can work very well. But it should always be distinguishable from what may appear to be simply a bad photo, and even the hidden subject should still possess some qualities of a focus point.

FocalLamp
While the flowers are noticeably more distinct, the focus pulls our attention to the lamppost

Some methods are more obvious: something noticeably taller in the frame, or differently colored, higher in contrast, or framed by the other elements (including just empty space.) Very useful is the ability to use a contrasting background to enhance the subject, remembering that photographs tend to flatten out and cause a lack of depth. Imagine that your image is made up of paper cutouts for every element – the main subject, the surrounding details, the background. If the subject and the background are too similar in appearance, it can become difficult to differentiate them, something that often doesn’t occur to us because our inherent depth perception makes the difference obvious when we view the scene before taking the photo. Sometimes, only a slight change in position is necessary to put our subject against a background that presents some contrast, making a frame or halo that immediately demands attention. Portrait photographers often use a small light directly behind the model that illuminates the edges of their hair from behind, creating a subtle glowing aura that makes the model stand out even more distinctly.

Another method is selective focus, especially useful for patterns. By picking just one element to focus upon and using a short depth-of-field (small f-number/large aperture,) the chosen element is sharp while everything else becomes softer, automatically drawing the eye towards the sharpest item in the image. This is most effective if the chosen subject is the only one that falls into that particular focus distance, so nothing else is as sharp.

It should be noted that it isn’t necessary that the chosen subject has a particular reason to be selected – just one flower out of an entire field works fine. The key is to give the viewer the unambiguous focal point; it doesn’t have to be different in any way. That said, it should be strong – don’t pick a bloom that is half-wilted, or a person with a peculiar expression (unless you want to convey discordance.)

Some factors works better than others, too. We respond very strongly to faces, and more so to eye contact. Smiles and laughter get our attention. An evolutionary trait with a strong effect is attentiveness, even if it’s not towards the camera. Someone that seems to be concentrating on something strongly causes us to become alert too, looking for the same potential danger. Even inanimate objects can provide a “face;” the bloom that gives us the most direct view is more attractive. The tallest mountain peak is a great anchor. The wave that is just beginning to curl stands apart from the rest. Some of these cannot seriously be called a subject, but they serve as a focal point anyway.

Where they fall in the frame is often important. While the Rule of Thirds is a bit suspect, it’s used often enough that viewers expect to see subjects there – these are good places to have the subtle focal points. Breaks in patterns, or a solitary subject where isolation is a key element, can be set much further away from the thirds points, of course using the remaining space to enhance that isolation. The center of the frame is often a bad place to put the focal point, because it is too direct – while it’s common for illustration (which means it’s seen fairly often here on the blog,) artistically it’s weak.

FocalBodie

When other elements contribute to the focal point, this can become very dynamic. Lines (or a boardwalk) that lead across the frame, the attention of people or animals within the image, the dip in the treeline or the gap in the background coloration – these kind of things can be used to draw the viewer directly to the point of focus, including an exceptionally subtle one (more subtle than a lighthouse, even.) In some cases these elements create the point of focus, as we’re compelled to follow their guidance. They can also detract from a chosen point, as well; the wedding guest that is not watching the happy couple during the first dance weakens the effect, making us wonder what else is attracting their attention. A path that curves away from the sun, especially when it was leading toward it at first, gives a subconscious impression of rejection.

Light can also be used to produce a focal point – of course, this is used extensively by portrait photographers and especially film directors. While it can often be very hard to obtain just the light you might want in a natural setting, those lucky accidents can also be assisted by careful planning – the sun moves across the sky faster than you might think, meaning a choice sunbeam may be along with a little patience. This is especially true with light coming through leaves, but be warned, it disappears just as rapidly. Sunrise and sunset present the opportunity to plan these much better, since it’s easier to envision how the light will come through a break in the trees, rocks, or buildings, and easier to create an artificial break as well.

It’s not absolutely necessary to have a focal point in every image, and in many cases such a point will be obvious and require no real thinking. But it can help a lot to ask yourself, “What do I want people to pay attention to?” before selecting the vantage or framing, which may make the difference between a mediocre shot and a strong one.
FocalCemetery2

You know…

Al Denelsbeck

I was thinking about the animated feature Ratatouille earlier. The head chef, Skinner, was the villain in the movie, but I’m not sure why. His primary action throughout was trying to prove that Linguini was harboring a rat in the kitchen, which was true; it even turned out that Linguini was a fraud and the rat was guiding his actions. Other than that, Skinner was capitalizing on famous chef Gusteau’s name, just differently than Gusteau himself (an established adulterer) had been.

So, what, he lost his job over maintaining public health standards and exposing a fraud? Over displaying an entrepreneurial spirit? Over being short and hatchet-faced? C’mon, Pixar, we need some better morals than that…

It’s like a metaphor

Al Denelsbeck

Walkabout podcast – It’s like a metaphor

I realized I haven’t been trying hard enough to earn my Shrill and Strident merit badge, which is funny, because there are certainly enough subjects that reinforce my atheism which could be lambasted. So let’s delve into the use of metaphors in scripture. While this will largely apply to the abrahamic scriptures (meaning the christian and jewish bibles, torah, and qur’an,) at least some of it will be applicable to many, perhaps most, other religious scriptural sources.

Virtually every time someone dares point out the glaring inaccuracies within scripture, such as the shape of the planet or the ridiculous concepts of worldwide flooding or that bats are not birds, the idea that scripture (or at least some portions) was written metaphorically will be brought forth. Yes, of course an actual worldwide flood is silly, but the flood is simply a metaphor; this excuses the physical or logical flaws of god’s word by turning such passages into a literary device – still informative, just not intended to be literal. While I could save a lot of time by simply calling bullshit and moving on (and this is perfectly justifiable,) there’s no shortage of people who would claim I wasn’t being fair or considering all of the ramifications and nuances or some whinefest like that, so I’m going to treat this in merciless detail.

First off, metaphor is generally used one of two ways: as a device to impart some form of moral or behavioral guidance, like in fables; or as a method of disguising an abstract concept within the confines of a story. In many cases, it uses something familiar or compelling to get the reader to relate to the concept easier – in other words, a form of analogy. A character may appear to be just a person, when they are intended to exemplify a character trait instead; one relatively recent example is the character John Coffey from The Green Mile, not-so-subtly exhibiting the behavior (and initials) of jesus christ.

These two uses result in two different effects. The former (moral guide) is intended to produce acceptable behavior in a way that the reader can relate to, rather than, for instance, simply saying, “Don’t commit to one course of action without due consideration.” It is this way that scripture is usually claimed to be intended, because it underlies the purpose of scripture in the first place. The second usage, however, is more literary, since it presents a kind of puzzle, a discovery for the reader to make that demonstrates a certain cleverness in the construction of the storyline. Blade Runner is a metaphor about mankind’s self-examination into what defines us as a species. No, I’m sorry, it’s actually about evolution. My mistake; it’s about scientists playing god and flying too close to the sun… dammit, it’s a metaphor for something, anyway.

And that illustrates the point. The value of metaphor is lost entirely if no one can interpret it correctly. The very fact that theologians, religious authorities, and just devotees cannot agree on whether certain passages are metaphorical or not belies the claim that they could be – how many other metaphors are mistaken for historical events? And it should be noted that virtually none of it was claimed to be metaphorical in the slightest until science had irrefutably demonstrated that it was nonsensical in any literal form – this means the metaphor was entirely lost on everyone for centuries, making it the least effective literary device yet discovered. The consequence of this is any such metaphor, should it actually have been intended by a creator, could only gain recognition after we lowly mortals had discovered how the real world works, utterly destroying any purpose behind the metaphor. One might as well bury the treasure map with the treasure.

There are further reasons not to use metaphors at all. Few forms or passages of scripture are written in any literary style, or were even intended for general distribution – it wasn’t until the printing press came along that the vast majority of the populace even had access; before that, it was up to the holy men to present the information. Most passages simply chronicle the actions of figures therein, and refer to historical events. Not only is it confusing to intersperse a metaphorical figure or event with historical ones, it adds no value or deeper meaning and even contributes to the idea that (at least) portions are strictly fiction. Until the past two hundred years or so, people did not receive regular schooling that taught them real history, which could then be contrasted with The Red Badge of Courage; scripture was their sole (a ha ha) source of information, save for whatever local tribal tales were present. There was nothing to compare the metaphors against.

Using a metaphor for such distant and unknown events such as how the Earth began surpasses pointlessness and enters absurdity; what exactly would this be a metaphor of, and why would it work better than simply chronicling the actual event? What value can be derived from hearing that the planet was born from a ‘sky cow,’ or has a ‘sister,’ over simply saying that it came together from dust because of gravity? Imagine if physics were taught, not with measurements and experiments, but with two turtles named Force and Inertia. Aside from being condescending in the extreme, it lends nothing useful to the practice and produces confusion in the place of more direct explanations. What is Force pushing against when she tries to shove Inertia, and moreover, what is she using to do so?

We can even consider what was missed in such explanatory guides for mankind, such as microorganisms – wouldn’t it have been fantastic if germ theory had at least been hinted at? If the vastness of space wasn’t completely obscured by vague references to ceilings and insignificant points of light? If commonality of species was introduced instead of petty appeals to tribalism and ridiculous distinctions among people? If there really was a compelling reason to use metaphors, perhaps there were some useful applications that could have been selected instead. Mankind has spent centuries struggling with the rampant misdirection of scripture, from witch hunts to holy wars, chosen peoples to esoteric religious rituals, meaning untold thousands of lives revolving around, and eradicated because of, mere analogy.

It’s not like such usages were unknown when most scripture was written, either. Greek mythology could be said to display numerous examples, even if they were mostly about how the gods could get away with petty behavior while humans could not. Some fables go way back, and there are even distinct examples within the abrahamic scriptures themselves. The significant difference to be seen is that the examples are obvious, presenting clear connections to properties or traits which produce their effectiveness. I’ll even grant that things like the adam & eve storyline might be a metaphor that was lost to time. The problem arises when anyone doesn’t just stop there, but continues the idea through to the logical consequences; the serpent is a metaphor for, what, evil tendencies within mankind? Original sin doesn’t actually exist, it’s simply a method of communicating that we’re disadvantaged from the start? This isn’t a road that any religious person should encourage traveling down, since scripture fares even worse when examined closely, especially when combined with the message that things were created to be this way. We cannot commit mistakes if created by any being that knows all that will happen; we can only follow the script.

Finally, this is just another example of unevidence; no one can effectively prove metaphorical usage, or even give a convincing line of reasoning behind it. It is offered, instead, as a potential explanation of why scripture is so astoundingly inaccurate – an excuse that dodges the looming specter of fallibility. But as a potential explanation, it sits alongside other potential explanations as well, such as scripture being entirely fictional, and the probability of all such explanations deserves objective examination before any one can be favored rationally. Moreover, accepting the posit of metaphorical usage just to see where it leads produces nothing; no one has ever interpreted the metaphors underlying the end times, for example, though thousands of claims have been made throughout the centuries. The amusing aspect of this is, should anyone finally determine that their own solution to the arrival of armageddon was correct, it would be too late to be of any use.

So theologians should actually be grateful when accused of grasping at straws to excuse scriptural inaccuracies. The implication is much more benign than if we accept scriptural metaphors as intentional, which makes the ineptness, confusion, and generations of lives wasted to be purposeful; this means either a clueless creator, or a sadistic one (and that’s not the first time either has been proposed.) The conclusions remain the same, however: nature makes a hell of a lot more sense, and even produces real answers when examined.

Too cool, part 18: Hubble turns 23

Al Denelsbeck

Twenty-three years ago today, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched into low-earth orbit (meaning about 555 km, or 345 mi, above the surface of the Earth.) Since that time, it has produced perhaps the largest body of work of any single telescope, and certainly some of the most detailed. And just recently, NASA released a sweetheart.

orionLet’s start with some perspective. Everyone (who matters) knows the constellation Orion. Anyone interested in astronomy knows Orion is overflowing with cosmic goodness, aflame with nebulae and gases and new stars and all that jazz. To the naked eye and pretty much any non-telescopic photography attempt, Orion looks like what I’ve captured here: just stars, though a close look at the ‘dagger’ (ahem) gives some indication that they’re fuzzier (ahem) than just orbs (yes, I’m having fun, thanks for asking.) Ford Prefect is from a planet around that yellow star at upper left. Orion’s belt is/are the three stars almost vertical, right in the center of the image, and the dagger is/are the three stars extending diagonally towards the lower right. The dagger is actually a mess of stars and nebula, and in fact, most of the center of Orion is gas and dust and whatnot. The belt stars, however, really are just three stars, as everyone who remembers the dialogue from Men In Black knows. The thing is, to see all the fun stuff in detail requires not just a powerful telescope, but some fancy filters to select specific wavelengths, the emission spectra of hydrogen or oxygen or whatever, and a scope that counteracts the rotation of the Earth because long exposures are needed – the light is far too faint to capture otherwise.

Most people have also seen photos of the Horsehead Nebula, a dark blob against the red background cloud. Many, however, don’t know where it is. See the lowermost star of the belt (named Alnitak)? To the right, forming a right angle with the beltline, sits another star, Orion’s Cellphone. No, I keed, it’s Sigma Orion (σ Ori) which is actually a cluster of five stars which makes discussing anything of this sort rather tedious but forget all that for now. If you use those two stars (shut up) as the base of a triangle pointing downwards, the tip of the triangle is roughly where the Horsehead Nebula sits.

AstroSpotter: Nebulae Of The Night Sky &emdash; The Flame And Horsehead Nebula
Copyright Mark E. Johnston Creative Commons license by-nc-nd
See it? Yeah, me neither – even when I had a telescope I never got a glimpse of it. But anyway, you know where to look to not see anything. Likely you’ve seen photos that look something like this, though; the two brightest stars oriented almost horizontally are the base stars I just named, with lots of other stuff that doesn’t show at all in my image. There in the center sits the Horsehead Nebula, the dark smudge against the red sheet. If you really want a good idea of how messy (no, not Messier) Orion’s apartment is, see the Astronomy Photo Of The Day here, with a guide that appears as your mouse hovers over the image.

All that’s just the buildup, like how almost the entire plot of Raising Arizona is presented before someone starts yodeling over the opening credits (yes, I just shamelessly made a comparison between my post and the Coen brothers, but I’ve already been damned to hell long ago.) Now that I’ve discussed how little we can see, check out what Hubble produced by imaging the Horsehead Nebula strictly in infra-red:

Courtesy NASA
Courtesy NASA

Is that as cool as shit or what?

Here’s the deal. The red clouds in most other images of the nebula comes from hydrogen, weak light emitted as it cools, and sits in a pretty specific wavelength of light (mostly around 656nm, known as Hydrogen-alpha.) That light is blocked by the dust of the horsehead, so it appears dark against the red light. This image is taken solely in infra-red, which penetrates the dust much better but is not emitted at all (or very much) by hydrogen, so the background becomes clear while the cloud suddenly gets shape and depth and contours. As can be seen, it still reflects some IR, mostly from a source (almost certainly stars) towards the top of this image. In the previous post I talked about photographing at IR wavelengths from 720 to 950nm; Hubble produced this image with filters for 1,100 and 1,600nm (1.1 and 1.6μm, or micrometers rather than nanometers.)

The crosses over some of the stars in the image are diffraction spikes, an artifact of the Hubble telescope and not something you’d see if you were viewing this ‘up close’ (a few light years away.) Basically, they mean that the secondary mirror of the telescope, which sits in the ‘mouth’ of the tube, is supported by four thin arms; the spikes are from light being redirected by the arms, but the particular details of this will wait for a later post when I know more about how it actually works (it’s one I’ve had on the docket for a while now.) What’s not shown in this image are several young stars further down in the dust cloud. Nebulae such as this are stellar nurseries, loaded with the raw materials for stars and planetary systems, and over time the combined gravity draws clumps together into superdense concentrations, which eventually flare from the heat and pressure into stars. Or the clumps might be less dense and simply become planets, in some cases not aligned to any star but sitting all by themselves, cold and alone and really not very interesting. I mentioned some of the consequences of such nurseries in a previous post.

The image links to the main Hubble site, where you can download numerous versions of it. Definitely check out the largest and zoom in to see it in detail; it’s amazing how many galaxies can be found in the background, including what I believe is gravitational lensing seen at upper left and upper right (the positioning seems too circular to be random.)

Hubble’s significant advantages over Earth-based telescopes are the freedom from the filtering and scattering effects of the atmosphere, and its ability to aim very accurately at any section of sky for long periods – this includes an ability to re-aim, multiple times, and still get useful images. Hubble sits in an equatorial orbit, and with subjects such as Orion that also sit in about that same plane, this means that the Earth will block the shot for a portion of every revolution. The instruments on Hubble include Fine Guidance Sensors that see an arc around the scope’s field-of-view and are used to lock onto specific stars, fixing its orientation during the exposures. The tidal influence of the moon and the sun means Hubble gets tugged gently in other directions, so the detail of these images is testimony to the ability to stay on target. For the Hubble Ultra Deep Field images, this meant exposures totaling about ten days.

I would have liked to have captured an image of Hubble actually passing over on its birthday, but it seems there will be no visible passes for my area on that date, sigh. I don’t have a very good view to the south anyway, which is what is needed for anything in an equatorial orbit seen from my latitude, but I’ll get it one of these days. Feel free to try on your own (it’s listed as “HST” in the Satellite lineup.)

Earth 2: Earth Harder

Al Denelsbeck

HoverHawk
MultitaskingSo, I did indeed brave the sunny, warm weather (which did not tax my sinuses half as much as yesterday) to chase a few shots, mostly by heading down to the river for a short while. I was primarily aiming to do some infra-red experiments, and did, but I took advantage of other conditions while I was there. Above, a common clearwing moth, also called a hummingbird moth (Hemaris thysbe) dives deep into a pinxterflower (Rhododendron periclymenoides.) These little buggers presented a difficult target because of their constant motion – they feed quickly and never land on the flowers, and I’m still after some really solid images of them. Quite likely, what it will take is setting up the camera in an ideal position just behind and over some choice blossom, and simply waiting it out – multiple flash units are probably a good idea.

Several of these large bushes/small trees were in bloom, and attracting no minor amount of attention, mostly from the Eastern tiger swallowtails (Papilio glaucus), who let me achieve some pretty close approaches and held reasonably still, unlike the clearwing moths. There were a few small squabbles, potentially mating behavior since it took place between yellow and black versions of the same species, but otherwise little display of territoriality was visible at all, with swallowtails and clearwing moths occasionally feeding from neighboring flowers. While I stood nearby, two clearwings and a swallowtail came over to check me out at close range, but only briefly – I’m guessing the denim shirt (it was pretty chilly today) wasn’t all that appealing. No, I don’t own any Hawaiian shirts, and never will.

SemiIRLakeBefore the clouds started to roll in, I did a few landscape shots in infra-red against the clear sky, using several different filters. This particular one is the cheapo method, which is simply a piece of unexposed (developed) slide film, which blocks most visible light but passes infra-red quite well. It produces more of a color cast than other, professional filters, at least when used on certain digital cameras. All digital sensors are sensitive to infra-red, but many cameras include an internal filter to block the wavelengths, since it can result in overexposing subjects that reflect a lot of IR, such as foliage. Which is how I discovered that my old Canon Pro90 IS camera could do this – brightly lit leaves had a tendency to appear washed out. This filter not only gives some distinctive color differences even between different kinds of foliage, it passes the most light and requires the shortest shutter speed – which is not to say that shutter speeds, with any kind of IR filter, are reasonable. A tripod is a must, and exposure times usually run into several seconds. This is why the foreground leaves are blurry, since the breeze was significant today. And it occurs to me that I haven’t yet tried this filter on people to see the effect…

And this is the effect from a different filter, a 720nm IR (which includes a small portion of the light visible to us) and probably my favorite.

IRandNot
Shown in comparison to an unfiltered version, you get an impression of what reflects IR light. Foliage usually shows only subtle differences, no matter what the color, and even dead leaves are quite reflective. Trunks, however, are considerably less so, and water does little reflection of IR. Blue skies contain almost no infra-red, so skies can become very dark (again, some filters allows a certain amount of visible light through and may give some sky color, like the slide film further up) and without the reflection from the sky, water becomes more clear, as can be seen around the base of the rocks – obviously IR is still penetrating, and bouncing back from the rocks within the water. Notice how the water has a distinctly magenta hue while the foliage turns towards cyan.

SurrealRipplesAnd finally, an effect I rather liked, this time using the Lee #87 polyester IR filter, which is claimed to start transmitting light above 730nm; in comparison to a 950nm filter that I have, I’m more inclined to say to it peaks at least as high as 850nm – the exposure times aren’t as long as the 950, but close, and the color transmission is almost as negligible. What you’re seeing here is the spillway out of the lake, between the two images above. The eight-second exposure aimed down from above the wall captured the froth at the bottom, moving enough to simply become blurred trails across the surface. There wasn’t much color to begin with, but this filter eliminates most of it anyway. The light needed to be bright, because without the reflected sunlight the bubbles would barely have registered, not staying in one place long enough to impinge on the sensor very strongly.

You can also go to this post if you want more info on shooting IR. Generally, unless you want to have a newer camera professionally modified, it’s better to find an old digital that lacks the IR blocking filter.

Hope you got out today, but if not, there’s always tomorrow!

Earth rules!

Al Denelsbeck

NagsHeadBreakerIt’s Earth Day, the day we celebrate our planet’s independence from the Barren Hegemony of the Solar System! It was a hard fought battle, especially since there was no one to fight it, but we (well, not specifically us; the planet, anyway) persevered!

We typically celebrate our defiant animus by going outside and gloating. Admittedly, some people (you know, them) do things like use less electricity, plant trees, make efforts to recycle materials, and other eco-friendly activities, as if this is the only day they should be doing them – yeah, I know it’s odd, but there are self-centered people out there. Regardless, get outside and shake your fist at the general universe, unless someone can see you, in which case do it only, like, in spirit. Whatever that takes – I don’t think it necessarily involves an out-of-body experience, but this isn’t precluded either, as far as I know.

In the event that you cannot express your Terran Heritage effectively (for instance, you have an asshole boss who wants some work to get done or something insipid like that,) relax – you can actually celebrate Earth Day any day, or even every day if that suits you. Compared to the other planets we know, this one’s actually pretty cool (well, okay, it’s warmer than most, and certainly more hospitable.) Just get out when you can and, as an exercise, try to find a spot where the natural stuff overwhelms the manmade stuff by the greatest margin.

I may be back later on with anything I’ve found, provided my sinuses can weather the assault – right at the moment, I am besieged by some of the most potent allergens I’ve ever encountered, courtesy of the recent rains I think. But even if it’s not today, I’ll be back with something appropriate a little later on. Don’t wait for me, however – get your own Earth-On.

AlAbyss
Yes, that’s me, illustrating the drop-offs visible along much of the Blue Ridge Parkway, meaning I did a “mountain to sea” thing with the images for this post, while remaining within North Carolina too. Clever, I know.

Don’t mess with a nature photographer

Al Denelsbeck

Just had to post this.

I came in this evening from being outside shirtless, horrifying the neighbors, and felt something walking on my chest. Looked down and found a little winged aphid – just the perfect size, to my way of thinking. Grasping it by the wings and scampering outside, I carefully placed it on the azalea bush in front of one of the newborn mantises. This was touchy – they’re still very shy, but I was rewarded by seeing the mantis’ head snap around and fixate on the location of the aphid; I quickly dashed inside and got the camera. Once back outside, I played god (loki, perhaps – I’ve always liked loki) and nudged the aphid around from its hiding place on the back side of the leaf, and that was all it took.

TFA-1
Yes, there’s a part of me that feels I shouldn’t interfere, but then again, I’m interfering just by looming close for the images, and I’m getting some benefit from this, so why shouldn’t my photo subjects? This is the primary attrition time for insects – they’re at their most vulnerable at this size, and most of them will die within the next few weeks. Plus, I just mowed the lawn, and who knows how many critters I wiped out? I can go on justifying this if necessary…

TFA-2
Besides, you don’t walk on me without my permission – let this serve as warning.

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