I have always enjoyed the almost ethereal surreal qualities a long exposure can pull out of a scene. A ten-stop B+W neutral density filter allowed me to leave my shutter open for over four minutes here thanks to very overcast conditions.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
2010 Perseid Meteor Shower Composite
This composite image features the meteors from the Perseids that I caught in roughly an hour of shooting time last Thursday night near peak viewing. You can clearly see the meteors are all traveling along the same line from the Perseid radiant (located near the "Double Star Cluster" of Perseus), a hallmark of meteor showers.
Shot Notes: I set up in Teller County, CO at the Dome Rock State Wildlife Area parking lot. Light pollution was pretty strong but I still managed to have a fun night out! I shot a total of 207 frames at 3200 ISO, f/3.2, 17 seconds for this series. The composite was constructed from 9 of those shots. Two frames provided a bit of foreground illumination/interest via two passing car's headlights and the rest featured the seven meteors you see here. I caught other meteors but they are not included due to likely not being a Perseid or being obscured by clouds. With luck I will upload a time-lapse video and you all can see the clouds and light pollution I was contending with. ;-)))
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Lake Agnes in Evening Sunshine
This classic cirque lake is located just below the Continental Divide in Colorado State Forest near Cameron Pass. Rising behind Lake Agnes is Mt. Richthofen, the tallest member of the Never Summer Range at 12,940 feet. Richthofen rises on the NW corner of Rocky Mountain National Park. The south and east faces are in the park. The north and west faces are in the Colorado State Forest. Such a amazing area!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Milky Way Trails Above Purgatoire Canyon
The Caprock Canyonlands area in SE Colorado offers some of the best night sky in the state for viewing the Milky Way. The color of the star streaks relate to the temperature of the star, with blue being the hotter and red the cooler overall.
Image Notes: For this star trails image I used 195 consecutive 30 second (97.5 mins worth) exposures stacked via brightness blending mode in PS. Then an image I light-painted was used for foreground detail, manually blended via luminosity and hand-painted masks. This shot was taken very near the location of my previous posting, only the angle was adjusted to keep the Milky Way in center at the start of the series.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Sundown at Running Deer Natural Area
Fort Collins is truly blessed with a plethora of natural areas open to the public to explore. It's nice that basically right in the middle of town we still have places like this for inspiration (and photography!).
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Flying Nectar Faery
A Black-chinned Hummingbird hovers near a nectar feeder at my sister's place in southern Colorado last summer.
Strobist Notes: used 4 flashes positioned around the area I was expecting action in order to get the most detail. Once that was set up it was simply a matter of cracking open a beer and sitting on my sister's porch with a view waiting for things to happen. I sometimes think bird photography is my version of fishing. ;-)))
Friday, January 08, 2010
Looking Towards Lunar Laguna Beach
The Gulf of Mexico in the Florida Panhandle amazed me with its tropical blue waters and white sugar sand beaches. Here's a view from near Camp Helen State Park looking towards Panama City, FL. Ahhh, moonshine. ;-)))
Monday, December 21, 2009
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Sparks Lake: Ray Atkeson's Muse
Ray Atkeson was an amazing primarily black and white photographer that was Oregon's first and only Photographer Laureate (he was also brilliant in color). He said his favorite photography location in the state was here at Sparks Lake. He passed on in 1990, but you can still view his work here. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Ray not just for his beautiful images, but also for the conservation they helped to inspire.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Sunset High and Lonesome
The Elkhead Mountains of Colorado are some of our least traveled. Found north of Craig, mostly only hunters know this area for it's high level of wildlife. It also happens to be one of my favorite areas in Colorado. Truly divine!
Monday, August 17, 2009
2009 Perseid Meteor Shower in the Colorado Rockies
I trekked up Cameron Pass to enjoy the peak of this annual treat of an astronomical event and got away with some keepers, even with the moon! I can only imagine how bright this nice fireball meteor would have been under a moonless sky. I saw 69 Perseids total between 10 pm - 3:30 am MST.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Worldwide Photowalking Fort Fun Edition
The Fort Collins contingent met on a hot Saturday afternoon at Colorado State University for our part in the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photowalk (over 30,000 walkers worldwide!). I sure had fun meeting you all!
This one is of a fountain next to the Engineering Building that honors Elwood Mead (the same guy lake Mead is named for). I've copied the plaque's inscription below for easy reading in case there's interest.
Elwood Mead
1858-1936
As a member of the Colorado Agricultural College faculty between 1883 and 1888, Elwood Mead established the first instruction in irrigation engineering to be offered by an American college or university. This work provided the foundation for Colorado State University's internationally recognized reputation in water-related research, teaching and service.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Blue Me Around A Tree
So I found this amazing celestial blue centering device out in the grasslands.... no actually what you are looking at is a nearly 40 year old man wrapped up in blue LED Christmas lights (tiny AA battery powered ones from the dollar store) running around a tree in the middle of nowhere at 3 am as fast as he can with out falling down. Yeah, I know. ;-)))
Of note for this shot is that Mars and Venus form a triangle on right with the Pleiades Star Cluster/Seven Sisters. And I need to check my camera's clock. I am thinking since it was showing first light this was actually taken at 4 am.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
The Electric Rainbow Acid Test
I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismograph.
--Ken Kesey as quoted by Tom Wolfe in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
Image notes: single exposure/no hdr. An extraordinarily lucky 1/3 of a second. This near double rainbow was quite the buzzer breaker, at this point the sun was already most of the way down.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Sparky Shortgrass Prairie
It's gettin' sparky out there! From a couple of nights ago out at Pawnee National Grassland.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
A Moonlit Walk into the Stars
The third and final part of the triptych I've been working on for this pier at East Lake, Newberry Crater National Volcanic Monument, OR.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Pawnee Prairie Primrose Paradisio
If you live anywhere near Pawnee National Grasslands in NE Colorado, come for a visit now while this rare epic display of primrose continues. I've seen them thick on the grasslands before, but this year might be the best of my life. Go!!!!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Moonrise Is Best Shared With A Friend
Not much is more romantic than holding your loved one's hand while you watch the moonrise on Second Beach at Olympic National Park.
I was lucky to spy this photo-op while I was out getting chased by waves trying for the reflection angle in the earlier post. I rushed in and dropped as low as possible to the ground and went for it.
Notes: This is one exposure, no hdr (but some D-lighting in cam).
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Ray-Bursting a Gorge-ous Sunset on Steens
Steens Mountain National Back Country Byway opens up a world of views truly unique to SE Oregon. Besides one of the darkest night skies in the lower 48, Steens also plays host to several plant species that occur nowhere else on Earth (endemics) and serves as an example of one of the largest fault-block mountains in the world (one mountain over 50 mi long!). Yet very few even know this place exists.
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