Posts in Category: rock
Yellowstone! Canary Springs outflow
From below with the my telephoto zoom, this is the outflow on the Upper Terrace of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. Rock in the making as we watch and more layers of travertine are deposited. Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode. Processed in Photomator.
Yellowstone! Lower Terrace, Mammoth Hot Springs
I was genuinely surprised how much I used the Tamron 50-400 for landscape on my trip to Yellowstone. The scale of the scenery lends itself to a more focused view, and the 75-100mm equivalent on the Tamron is ideal. Yes I would have, a few time, liked a bit wider view (if the rumored Tamron 20-400 is any good I may be tempted), but for the most part the 50-400 did an excellent job framing the vast landscape and the smaller landscape details. These shots of the lower terrace of Mammoth Hot Springs were all taken with the Tamron at various focal lengths for framing, and come as close to capturing the wonder of the place as, at least I, have ever managed, and certainly better than any single wide angle shot. Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC VXD zoom at various focal length equivalents for framing. Program mode. Processed in Photomator.
Yellowstone! Sheepeater Cliffs
If you read my other post this morning, this is Sheepeater Cliffs in Yellowstone National Park were we went several times to look for Pika. None on this morning, our first visit, but the cliffs are worth a look anyway, and this was the best light (and sky) we had on them. The Pika live in the talus slope below the cliffs. We did not see any this morning, perhaps because of the pair of guardians featured in my other post. The cliffs are columnar basalt from a lava flow 500,000 years ago and are named after the Tukudika, or Sheep Eaters—a band of Eastern Shoshone Indians. Sony a5100 with the Sony E 10-18 f4 zoom at 15mm equivalent. Superior Auto with the Landscape scene mode selection. Processed in Photomator.
Yellowstone! Goblin Rocks
Goblin Rocks is another spot for Pica and we stopped there several times…though we never did find any Picas. Still the rock formations are worth a photo or two. Sony a5100 with the Sony E 10-18 f4 zoom at 15mm equivalent. Superior Auto with Landscape scene mode. Processed in Photomator.
Maine! Tumble
A little tumble of water in the Mousam River at Roger’s Pond Park. I was out looking for Eagles, which have begun to hunt the river at the park again as fall comes on, but I also wanted to experiment with some moving water. Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 384mm equivalent. Program mode with my macro modifications…program shift to f29 and 1/20th for the silky water effect. Hand held. Processed in Photomator.
Tarantula!
Tarantula. Slot Canyon. Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, Cochiti New Mexico
We did not see much wildlife at Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument near Cochiti New Mexico when we visited last month…a Townsend’s Solitaire, a Jackrabbit, and, as we walked up Slot Canyon, this lovely Tarantula. Now I know there is a slight risk in positing this image, as some of my followers surely will react negatively, but the Tarantula is, as I see it, a lovely bug. As spiders go, it is furry and friendly looking. It is, of course, also very large. This one was maybe 5 inches leg-tip to leg-tip. One of the (many) things I love about my wife Carol is that it did not send her clawing her way up the side of the canyon. We both watched it scuttled along the Canyon floor working its way around us on its way down. Tarantulas live solitary lives, mostly out of sight, but they do come out in search of mates in season. This one may have been on that errand. And though they are big, they rarely bite (they have to be really provoked to bite a human) and the bite is more irritating than harmful. People (not people I know personally, but people nonetheless) keep them as pets. I was happy to see this one, free and on about its Tarantula business, in Slot Canyon.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. Program Mode. 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in PhotoShop Express on my Android tablet.
Falls on the Batson. Happy Sunday!
I went to Emmons Preserve, and down the trail to the falls on the Batson River in particular, to look for Ebony Jewelwings…the darting, dancing, electric sometimes blue, sometimes metalic green, set-winged Damselflies that prefer rapid water…but of course the rapid waters have their own attraction. The place is beautiful…almost other-worldly…elven…with the still shadowed pools connected by falling runs of peat-brown water, the moss and rocks, the dappled light through the covering trees…a feast for the senses. I try, again and again, to capture it…but the true essence of the place is very difficult to catch.
This is a three exposure in-camera HDR with the exposures separated by 6 EV, with the Sony NEX 5T and the ZEISS Touit 12mm f2.8. I put the camera right down at water level and only inches from the falling water. Nominal exposure, as determined by the Program, was ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/60th. The file was further processed for HDR effect in Snapseed on my tablet. And it is getting there. It is satisfyingly close to the visual impression…or at least to the emotional impression…of the place.
And for the Sunday Thought: there are lots of places, like the falls on the Batson River, that have such a rich emotional impact…such a rich spiritual impact…that any attempt at photography is bound to fall short. That does not, and should not, keep us from trying. We reach, and in reaching, pay homage to the creative spirit of love that shapes both the beauty of the world, and our sense of beauty. Like the Ebony Jewelwings, we dance…our intention dances above the falling water of creation…and we take pleasure in the dance…as we were made to do. Such beauty can not be caught and held…but it can be pointed to…celebrated in the beautiful gesture of the attempt.
Ah the Winter Shore
We are expecting 8-12 inches of fresh snow, and up to a quarter inch of ice, in the next 24 hours, so I went out yesterday while the sun was shining on a short photo-prowl. The light has changed over the past week. There is more warmth in the sun, and it does interesting things with the snow. Here, where the wind off the sea has thined and sculpted what was about 4 inches of fresh snow on Monday, the contrast with the warm tones of the exposed rock makes a striking composition. The clouds over the sea complete the picture. I walked out along Gouch’s point through drifts in my winter Crocs to get the shot, but it was worth a slightly damp ride home.
Sony NEX 3NL with 16-50mm zoom. 24mm equivalent. ISO 200 @ 1/250th @ f16. Processed in Snapseed for HDR effect on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014. Fine tuned in Photo Editor by dev.macgyver.
Water’s Way
I return frequently to the little stretch of the Batson River protected by the Kennebunkport Land Trust as Emmons Preserve. It is a peaceful spot where the sound of the water descending over rock ledges soothes the soul and let’s the spirit surface. Or so it does for me.
This is an in-camera HDR from the Samsung Smart Camera WB750F. Since the camera has no flip out LCD I had to hold the camera low and shoot blind. It required some trial and error, but the stream, though running musically, was not going anywhere, and I had time. 🙂
Processed on the 2013 Nexus 7 in PicSay Pro.
Silky Water: Happy Sunday!
Back in the day of slow film emulsions, taking a photo of a waterfall, or water falling over ledges as in this image, especially in deeply shaded glens where waterfalls are likely to be found, resulted in the “silky water effect.” During the long exposure required to capture the image, the moving water painted itself on the emulsion as blur, with all detail submerged in a smooth flow like a cascade of silk. As it happened, the result was very like how some painters rendered falling water, attempting to capture a feeling of motion in the blur. As film speeds and quality increased, it became possible to “freeze” the flowing water, even catching ripples in their run and splashes in mid-air. However, the “silky water effect” never lost its appeal. Photographer’s today go to great lengths, internationally undermining the strengths of their equipment with neutral density filters and the like, to recreate the painterly, traditional, silky water effect.
The engineers at Samsung, when designing the software for their Smart Camera family, included a “waterfall” mode among the Smart Camera Modes. If you have the camera mounted on a tripod, it will take a very long (90 seconds or more) exposure of moving water…resulting in what I would call a “super silky water effect.” I find that the longer I am away from the actual scene…as the sound of the rushing water and the play of the play of the light in the ripples and falls recedes into memory…the more I like the effect. I have to break away from memory and look at the image for what it is, not what was there. For sure, this is not the way I see rushing water…but I can understand the attraction of the image, as an image. I can understand that that rush and tumble and joyful confusion of water in constant motion can be reduced to the calm rendering of silk, and that it captures a different, and equally valid, emotional response to the falling water than I might otherwise feel. I get it. I am still uncertain as to whether I totally approve. 🙂
And that leads to the Sunday Thought. Silky water is not real. It is a photographic artifact, or the imaginative impression created by a painter’s mind and brush. And yet it captures a real emotion…or at least one among many emotional responses to reality. It speaks to a calm in the center of confusion that appeals to us all. In a way, it is, from a traditional point of view, the more spiritual response…a seeing through to the assumed essence of what is behind the rush of our daily reality.
However, I can’t help but feel that it is, at least a bit, a cheat. I think there is as much spirit in the rush and tumble and churn of detail that is our immediate response to falling water (and to life). I appreciate the peace of the long view, but I am not willing to give up the excitement of the moment. My instinct is that they are both elements of the spiritual view. Joy in the confusion. Joy in the underlying calm.
Interestingly enough, by happy accident (if you believe in such things), Google+ assembled two images of the same tumble of water into an animated gif…one taken in waterfall mode, and one taken in Rich Tone / HDR. Hopefully your browser will display it properly. Joy in the confusion. Joy in the underlying calm. Happy Sunday!
