In 2023, Juanita Bay Park had four or more pretty-well-known flicker nests, none ideal for photography. Most were too high up in cottonwood, poplar or big-leaf maple snags. One at a lower height had poor sight lines and messy surroundings. All were mostly ignored by bird photographers. I photographed a high up one, […]
On consecutive December days I paddled the Sammamish Slough. Heavy rain dominated the first day; clear skies and a gorgeous, low-angle sun the second. I get excited in both. In a downpour, mostly alone on the water, safe and warm in a dry suit, photography expectations are low but possibilities exist. Contrast the sunny dayꟷno […]
The year 2023 had some interesting twist and turns and a surprise as well. I started a bird-photography year gung-ho with my Sony A7 IV and 100-400mm GM zoom, same as 2022. By August, though, soon after I purchased the APS-C Sony A6700, I realized the new camera would be my go-to. I sold the […]
Ursa Major charter yacht in Lituya Bay, Glacier Bay National Park, June, 2002, scan from Fujichrome Velvia. Following suggestions by Mark Galer, I built a film scanner using wood, cardboard, a 2” drill bit, a light table and a mirrorless camera. My intention was two-fold: scan curated color slides, and re-scan selects to compare with […]
Adobe updated Lightroom Classic CC last week (October, 2018). Two additions of interest to me are the One-step Merge to Panorama and the new Color/Luminance Range Mask. The One-step Merge creates HDR panoramas with a single select and click, where beforehand you needed the separate steps of creating multiple HDR images, and then select and […]
Everything was going according to plan. At home, I consulted with www.stellarium.org for the Milky Way location, NOAA for cloud cover and Google Earth for orientation at Palouse Falls, WA. An October Milky Way shoot looked probable. I also checked the Palouse River stream gage, which was flowing above normal, not high but good enough. […]
My last post considered extracting stills from 4K video. A caveat I didn’t mention for many cameras─aside from the small file size─is rolling shutter. Background: To cope with the demands of video, cameras use an electronic, rather than mechanical, shutter. Shooting 4K, the electronic shutters produces frame rates of 24 or 30 fps, faster than […]
An underused advantage of shooting 4K video is in extracting serviceable stills. 4K produces good-quality 3840 x 2160 jpgs at 24 or 30 frames per second in many cameras, a faster frame-rate than the stills obtained from high-end dSLR’s or most mirrorless cameras. Some cameras can even shoot 4K at 60 f/s; the demands of […]
The flash of lightning greeted us as we emerged at dusk from a steep climb out of upper Palouse Canyon. My heart raced. Lightning isn’t unusual here, but this was a photo op not to be missed! I sped to the cliff overlooking Palouse Falls, a perfect ringside perch for the ensuing show. A lone […]
I enjoy creating panoramas, but I wasn’t excited about the new Adobe Lightroom 6 (and CC) Merge Panorama feature. I get great results from Microsoft ICE (Image Composite Editor), which creates pans from TIFs or JPGs at a quality better than I generally need. So why change? The case for Lightroom’s Panorama Merge are speed, […]