Category: Photography

Disappearing Snow Time Lapse

As promised, I’ve completed the time lapse movie showing scenes from our back yard in the days following the massive (for us) post-Christmas snowfall, aka Winter Storm Goliath. It took me a lot longer than I expected, not because of any special technical complexity, but mainly due to my use of Apple’s iMovie, a consumer-grade… Continue reading Disappearing Snow Time Lapse

Newsflash! Mother Nature Inexplicably Thwarts Man’s Best-Laid Plans

A week ago today, Midland experienced its third heaviest daily snowfall in recorded history. Officially, we received more than seven inches of snow, making for some very pretty scenery. I had a brainstorm while gazing out at the winter wonderland our back yard had become. Given that I’m a long-time West Texas resident and thus… Continue reading Newsflash! Mother Nature Inexplicably Thwarts Man’s Best-Laid Plans

An exercise in observation and creativity

I was captivated by this photo someone shared on Twitter and tracked it down in the Library of Congress archives. It’s an undated, uncredited picture of what some have dubbed the “Mark Twain Tree” (which is how it was titled on the Twitter post). I can’t confirm this (and, in fact, I doubt it; see… Continue reading An exercise in observation and creativity

More Texas wildflower action (with 17% more bugs, too!)

The bluebonnets are thinning out in the Texas Hill Country, but wildflower season is far from over. The amazing fields of blue are giving way to even more vivid arrays of yellow, red, and white blooms, and not just from the typical flowering plants. Cacti are busy putting out their own displays of color. And,… Continue reading More Texas wildflower action (with 17% more bugs, too!)

Macro photography with a focusing rail & Photoshop layer blending

I received several awesome Christmas gifts, including a new iPad air, a high-powered flashlight, and a set of electronic shooters muffs, but not every cool gadget is hi-tech. Take, for example, this macro focusing rail: One of the challenges of macro photography is the shallow depth of field, meaning that often only a tiny portion of… Continue reading Macro photography with a focusing rail & Photoshop layer blending

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Categorized as Photography

Snail

We enjoyed on-and-off rain showers all day, and one consequence besides making the trees happy was the appearance of this guy. Or girl. Who knows? Anyway, it was on our back porch and seemed to be begging me to take its picture. So I did. Snails can be very persuasive. In case you’re wondering, the… Continue reading Snail

Camera Sunday

I spent some time last Sunday afternoon wandering around the grounds, camera in hand, looking for photo ops. As usual, once I focused on the trees instead of the forest*, a number of interesting details emerged, most of which involved flying creatures of the six-legged variety. This insect goes by the rather unappealing name of… Continue reading Camera Sunday

Arachnophotos

I’ve never made a secret of my dislike for spiders. There are people for whom I have great respect who think spiders make great pets, but I’d just as soon invite a family of cobras to live in our bedroom as tolerate a single eight legged freak. We recently transplanted a couple of tall junipers… Continue reading Arachnophotos

Software Overview: Tonality, a black and white photo editor

I’ve always been enamored of black and white photography, dating back to the little Polaroid that I used in the Sixties. Seeing some of Ansel Adams’s work in Santa Fe only added to the attraction of that medium. All of my photography nowadays is in color, although I occasionally experiment with black and white effects… Continue reading Software Overview: Tonality, a black and white photo editor