Red Breasted Sapsucker

Found this little Woodpecker on a tree right in front of where I had just parked my truck. He didn't seem in a hurry to leave so I put the Sigma 120-400 on the D90 and took a bunch of pictures. Here are the best two shots of the bunch.

Mother Nature's art

Caught the sun sparkling iridescent in this spider web and just had to try to capture the beauty I was seeing with my eyes! After some retouching in Photoshop the top picture is what I came up with, the bottom picture being the original I was working from.

Sorry Q didn't have the tripod with me so I had to take this handheld. After a number of tries I used f16 so it would all be in focus.

AUTUMN SUNDAY

Wishing everyone an enjoyable Sunday!



Could not make up my mind which picture I liked the best, So, will show both. 

Reflecting

Afternoon fog

This time of year the fog is usually gone by mid morning, today it didn't burn off until almost 3:00. Made for a nice photo opportunity.

Smelling the Roses!

After I saw Parker pictures on the flowers, I just want to show you his flowers is much better than this.

I went out few days ago to shoot a family portrait for a charity work.  I admitted, I did forgot some of the setting on my gears for the family portrait event.  It always happened for an amateur photographer did not do this regularly.  Therefore, the result is not as good as I expected.

Night Falls From Grand Canyon

Tuweep National Park.

Digging out old photos from my previous trip to AZ. and Utah.  These pictures it was taken with GND soft edge filter.

LAST LOOK

Caught these Wild Roses the day before the hard freeze yesterday morning. Liked their look with the grasses behind them.

Robust and rich with color, heirloom roses are my favorite in the rose family.

Growing close by were these mums that were still looking pretty spiffy. Little did they know what Jack Frost had in store for them!

Checked on them yesterday around noon. This was definately the Last Look on these beauties until next year. All were burnt and beyond repair!

Little Red Riding Hood

Had fun with this picture... Originally the young lady's hood was dark blue but after much trial and error I was able to change it to red using Photoshop CS4.

Anybody got a match??

This is inside the powder room at the historic Fort Scott in Fort Scott, KS

I took these pictures a few years back and I think I may have posted one or two on here before but I can't remember and I was too lazy to go look! LOL

This one has a shadow at the bottom of the photo from the Tamron 18-250mm lens I was using. The on-board flash of the Nikon D80 just wouldn't shoot past it without leaving a little shadow and at the time I was without my nice Sigma wide angle lens.

The weather on the day I took these photos is much like it was today, cold and dreary. Our high today was somewhere around 38 degrees.

I think I need to go look at my Hawaii photos!

Winter already?

Ug! It's starting already... Though I have to admit the fresh snow on the mountains is pretty to look at.

This is the view from Port McNeill looking North at the Village of Sointula and the Mainland Mountains in the background.

WELCOME CHANGE

The change of the seasons from Summer to Fall is an anticipated event in our neck of the woods.

The beginning of the fall equinox began September 23 this year. Most of the Northern reaches of our Country were already celebrating the changeing of the colors at this time.

Here it is the middle of November at our latitude and the dropping of the leaves is just now occuring! After our patience trying hot summer all is forgot and we are welcoming the beauty of the cool and sometimes crispy Autumn mornings. Even the Pines seem to enjoy the change!



The cottonwoods always parade their gold, yellow, and orange cast leaves to those who choose to walk the creek bottoms. After the last energy they could muster to show their beauty to those of us who love to muse,  only the leafless branches will remain. A well deserved rest from the tireless job of bringing spring blooms, shade to cool in, and the grand finale of  a fully dressed encore!

FALL HAS ARRIVED

After the harsh drought and high temperatures of this summer I had my doubts for any chance of a colorful fall.

But as the temps and Days began to get cooler and shorter, my doubts were for naught. All of a sudden my home town was overtaken with an array of the warm and familiar colors of Autum.

It would have been a long Winter without the turning of the leaves.

I do believe that we may get to enjoy this show for a week or so. For it seems most all the trees of different species are taking turns and sporting their colors just as the one before has peaked. My large Oak and pair of Sweetgums in front of the house are just beginning to show a hint of color. They seem to always be the last to show, but the best!

Church of the Holy Cross, Sedona, AZ.

This church was designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright and built as a tribute to her parents. No services are held here and the church is open for anyone to see.

I took this photo back in 2008 during a treasure hunting trip to Arizona. We took a day off from hunting so Cheryl and I took a drive to Sedona to see the sights. If you're ever in the area I would highly recommend a stop in this town.

Veteran's Day

Thank you!

The old DC3 / C-47 / Dakota 576

Took a hike up to the old DC3 that crash landed in the hills near Port Hardy after running out of fuel in April 1944 during the last big war. Still where it came to rest all those years ago.

This is actually three pictures with the ultra wide stitched together using Photoshop Cs4.

Just Bee-cause

I'm digging into the old files again. I haven't had time to get out and take any new photos the last couple of weeks so I'm reaching way back.

I took this one several years ago with the Nikon D80. The bees were swarming all around our apple trees so for some reason I thought I needed to be in the middle of them.

JOURNEY TO THE BACK COUNTRY

Although Ron is not a fan of early rising, He was up and about this morning. Charles a friend of ours had driven from NE Oklahoma this AM to partake in an all day hike with Ron and I.

This was one of the Cairns that Ron used that took us back into the remote regions. Thought to to placed by the miners around  1903. I'm not for sure how they classify hikes on a difficult scale, but I know for certain that to follow this trail you need to be shape! Fortunality I had been true to my training so this was not a problem, although all of us were glad to summit.

Ron, our guide, was very familiar with the trail and pointed out various rock formations and sculptures. This one was named the bird! The three of us are all interested in early day Spanish intrusions into what is now Oklahoma, and all agreed this was left by the Spanish. Use your own judgement.

I have probably shown more landmarks than I should have , but they are all visible to anyone that wants to take the time to research and venture off any marked trail that is in any guidebooks covering the Wichita Mtns.

NOTE! 8:49 PM . While making this post just had a 3 second hard quake! Josey Bell the dog refuses to get in her bed! Now sitting on my lap. Enough is enough! Raining,  thunder and lightining, tornado watches and warnings, never a dull moment! Man, I love living here!!

Earthquake!

I had my first experience with an earthquake last night.

I wasn't taking any photos at the time so I don't have any blurry pictures for you to see but I have never been through an earthquake before so this was interesting. Even though the epicenter of the quake was in Oklahoma it was felt as far north as Kansas City and our whole house rattled for about ten seconds.

EARLY MORNING FLIGHT

Heard these Geese before I spotted them. Their honking was echoing up and down the canyon that contains Caddo Lake.

Photo taken at 200mm with 55-200 mm Nikon Lens.

NEED A TOW?

Finally stopped and shot a few pics of this old Tow Truck that I have noticed for a few years located in Medicine Park, Oklahoma.

Equipped with a sling attached to the winch cable, which runs over a pulley mounted on the gin poles, state of the art in the days of cars with real bumpers! In these times with plastic bumper covers on all the cars, using this rig has become obsolete. Now everything is brought to the shop on a shiney, flat roll up bed truck. ( Just wondering.......is the word 'tow' still relevant?)

Winter In B&W.

Since, last night we had our temp. near freezing mark, so I thought I would post these old photos from Wyoming to welcome everyone to a wonderful Winter Season.  

The Pit Stop!

I took this shot, after I took care my physical needs from a long drive.  Always look around for photo opt.

WE SEE YOU!

Stopped at Caddo Lake on this foggy sunrise morning to take pictures of the lake and the geese I could hear that were chatting to each other about their flight plans for early morning takeoff. Photo opps were not to good so walked back up the hill and spotted these two old girls intently staring back from where they had came. My gaze followed theirs. Often I have noticed that animals will stare at an intruder who is following their trail.



Sure enough after a few minutes here came a buck of their own species following to see what the girls were up to. His cover was blown!

Death Valley, CA. On RAW file.

You probably getting tired to hear from me about the RAW file.  If you do, please ignore the rest of this notes. 

Using the NEF format has only one real disadvantage in my mind is that the extra time you will need to invest in post-processing each image to produce a finished picture.  The larger file size of the NEF format can present an issue in terms of the amount of available storage in your memory card or external storage device, but modern data storage devices are relatively cheap, so this shouldn't be too much of a concern.  Equally, there can be limitations and variability with some third party software's ability to read and interpret Nikon NEF files.

The benefits, however, far outweigh the disadvantages.  The following are some of the reasons you may prefer to shoot in the NEF format:

1. More consistent and smoother tonal gradations.

2. Color that is more subtle and accurate to the original subject or scene.

3. A slight increase in the level of detail that is resolved.

4. The ability to adjust exposure in post processing to correct for slight exposure errors.

5. Increased post-processing ability to correct and or change image color by resetting attributes such as the white balance value, saturation, and hue.

6. Improved control over image contrast and brightness.

There's a wide variety of third party RAW file converters that enable NEF (RAW) files to be opened in most popular digital imaging software.  Examples include Adobe Camera RAW 4 (for Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and Adobe Lightroom), Apple Aperture 2, Bibble, and Phase One.  Most manufactures offer their software for a free trial period, so I recommend you try a few to see which meets your requirements before you commit to licensed purchase.

On Nikon D300, D700, and D3 "may be D80" can be configured in a number of different ways when set to record NEF files. There are two decisions to be made when setting the camera control to record NEF files: the bit depth used to record the file and whether or not compression should be applied (and, if so, what sort of compression).  If your camera offers the option to have an NEF file recorded at either at 12-bit or 14-bit depth and it can be saved in either an uncompressed, lossless compressed, or compressed form.  A compressed NEF files is approximately 40-50% smaller than the uncompressed NEF file, while a lossless compressed NEF file is approximately 20-40% smaller.  So which of these options should you choose?

The possible benefits of using a higher bit depth can be found in the appearance of the deepest shadow values in the image, which can be rendered with richer, smoother looking tones, particularly at higher ISO settings.  I say "can be" because these results will, in part, be dependent on properties of the RAW file converter that you decide to use, hence my recommendation that you experiment with a few.  Even then, improvement is modest at best.  If you are intent on extracting the very best an NEF file has to offer and you camera technique and workflow post-processing are impeccable, you will want to select the 14-bit option. 

I'm sorry for the long notes, and I thank you for your time.

Palouse Falls, WA.

Palouse Falls in HDR format.  Captured on Nikon D3, 24-70mm f/2.8 with ND filter -10 stops 3 min. exposure. 

Farming Season.

Is it over for this year farming, better luck for next season!