Overflo...

 Charlie is really one heck of a champ. 3 inch front legs, with a low slung powerful chest and then he stretches out to be a long dog.

Yesterday we caught some time to run  hike walk down to our valley. I could tell the snow melt was running off. I could hear it in the run off to the west of us on our west neighbor's land.

There is one thing I try very hard to go enjoy. Mini flash floods [I'm not a fool] and snow melts. The sound is music to my ears. Our creek used to have quite a bit of water in it. But for the last few years, we've had a bit of a drought.

I used to go down to the valley and sit on a rock or log and just listen to the water. It soothes me. 

Last week this area was solid ice with water running slowly underneath the ice. The water from the ridge west of us drains down through their land and into the spot where the creek actually starts at a spring. It gathers water from the hillsides and two large south facing dry runs and heads down the valley and through us.

The brownish colored water is typical of run off. It is dirt, sand, clay, and debris that gets washed off the top of the soil on the ridge. Erosion. It is more fierce in the winter as the land underneath is frozen and cannot soak in.

It was sunny yesterday afternoon and nearly 60 degrees out. The water was icy cold with ice slush in it. That tough little dog made his way back and forth and over rocks to assist me in exploring.

In the shots below, the light color that looks yellowish under the water is ice that is still frozen. 

The white streaks are foam that comes from oxygen in the snow, debris, and dissolving organic matter. It is complicated science but pretty cool stuff. I never understood why there was so many bubbles during a snow melt and run off.

Now I know a little more.

Foamy:

And photographed with a 3 second exposure. 👇

The foam does literally spin in circles in little eddies. I just love to 'catch' it in a longer exposure. It makes so many interesting patterns.

I tried something I hadn't ever done before. I took a very strong ND filter and stuck it on the lens. I literally faced towards the west and set this shot up for a very long exposure. I wanted to highlight the foam streaks.

Charlie and I sat on a log with the water running around us. He was patient with me while I fiddled with the camera and the exposures to try something different. In the shot above, there is a leaf, snow, and stick jam just in front of us.

I like it. It is weird enough to be different and highlight the foam. 

I get geeked out over the foam in the water. Sorry, can't help it.

the log...today.... 👇 nice place to sit right?

The shot below is where I'd taken the video with Morris a few years ago. The water wasn't charging down through the boulders like in years past, but it made for some cute little water falls with bubbles!

This morning, the sunrise was spectacular, when I went out on the porch to watch it, I could hear the water running again on the neighbor's land. 

After getting ol' hubby settled, fed and whatnot. I walked carefully down to the neighbor's valley and took this shot. 

The walls of the creek are steep. I took this shot so you could understand what it looks like. Getting in and out of that bottom can be tricky sometimes. I didn't go down at all this morning as the banks were all ice.

I did eventually find a safe way down a bit later and spent a little more time enjoying the sounds and sights of the creek.

I just can't stay away from water. Give me a river, a creek, or a lake to be near and you can color me happy.

I spent all of my free time at the creek today. Hubby napped, I 'creeked'...not creaked.

Side note. He says he is too sick to see a doctor. And again refused to go. I think that should be my Stress Test, not some machine, right?

Still Life Week 3

Be Still 52, Still Life Photography Class, week #3. 

Kim Klassen's class on Still Life this year is a self paced class.  

I am taking it as a challenge because Still Life has never ever been something I was terribly interested in, so I find this challenging and pretty exciting too.

The shot above is more often what I like in Still Life.  Or if you want to call it, "Skull Life" that is okay too.

I used a black t-shirt as a back drop and a black poster board to arrange the skulls on.
I used a dresser as my 'table top'.  I wanted an all black back-round to go with the skulls.

The skull in the back is a doe skull.  The ones on each side of the painted skull are ground hog skulls.  The painted one is a raccoon skull.
What can I say?  Animals fascinate me.

So to go from that to this:

Is pretty challenging!

Here was my 'studio' set up.

Note the camera assistant inspecting the items on the floor in front of his crate.
Also note, the house is currently getting prepared for a major remodel so we have throw rugs on the area where we took out bricks [sigh, they would have made an interesting back drop!].

During the series of shots with ambient light coming through the window, I had a hedgehog toy come flying into the foam board and knock it over. 
I'm sure Morris was just trying to see what would happen if we didn't bounce a bit of light.

He assisted by hitting the cup and bouncing beads all over. I call it 'dog art'. It ended up being a nice random pattern so I left it that way.

Materials used.  Old white rug.  White foam board. Nikon D5200. Tripod.
50mm Nikkor lens [great lens, fast!]  Plastic beads in multi colors, fake pearl necklaces, a pair of earrings, and old coffee cup, and a Thank You card from my oldest son's wife.  I had no idea why I kept it, but it really served a purpose here.

I took many shots, including one with a silk scarf that I really liked.

But then I had to see how it would look in Black and White.

Eh...so so... but I liked it.
Then I tried using black and white but adding a yellow tinted filter with CorelAfterShotPro.

Better, but it needs a crop at the top like I did with the color version.

Yet I wanted to try some other ideas.  I wanted to do High Key!

Well that did not work!

Onward, how about another angle?

For some reason I really like the color in this.  The cup has a rather neat pattern that lends itself to this shot.  The rug adds just enough texture to be interesting, I think.

But, it still wasn't quite what I was looking for.

I settled on the first shot as my final.

Today I may head down to a junk shop and browse for some more interesting things for more still life photos.

As I fell asleep last night I had a few ideas that included a couple of toys.
Hmmm.

First impressions of Dolica TX570 Ultra Compact Tripod with Professional Ball Head

...with Professional Ball Head.

I'm not a professional reviewer or professional photographer, but I am a hobbyist who enjoys good equipment and getting the job done.

First off, I never thought I'd really have a use for a good tripod.  After all I try like heck to avoid lugging my plastic long tripod through the woods.  I bought a small sturdy one from another company...I think it would withstand a hurricane.
I also have a very cheap telescoping one meant for pocket cameras, of which I have cheated with and used my light weight Olympus E-420 with.

When visiting my brother in Virginia, I borrowed his tripod.  It was not only heavy duty, but it worked so smoothly with my camera while photographing Crabtree Falls, that I decided at that moment to start the research for a good tripod.

I wanted one that I could carry in a backpack.  I wanted one that I could travel with.  I wanted one that would hold my camera with a long lens in any position I wish to put it.  My cheapo tripod did no such thing and it was difficult to get into position.  Sticky and cumbersome.

I chose the Dolica because it was so versatile and the reviews on it were quite good.  Well, as many as I could find at Amazon and B&H Photo, along with Adorama.  

One of the nicer features that it has it even if you loosen the quick release...even by accident, the camera still has to be released.  Meaning, it won't fall off the tripod unless you really try to make it do so.

It is fast and easy to set up.  At first you may fumble around a bit getting used to the twist release legs ...and figuring out how to lock them and unlock them.  But it took me only about 3 minutes of play before I had it working well for me.

I even reversed the legs and used the center column for shooting a macro.

I tried it out the first night I had it for a 20 second exposure after the sun went down.  [Shot facing east 45 minutes after the sun had gone down.]

I brought it inside and quickly sized it so grab a shot of Morris on the couch in the fading light.

It is taking me a bit to get used to using the ball head, but I think I'll quickly adjust.

I looked at the MeFoto and the Manfrotto brands and decided to invest in nearly $90 versus nearly $200 for banging around in the woods.
For me the price was right.
Now let's see how it holds up to snowshoeing, backpacking, and all the other stuff I can throw at it.

I'll update my thoughts as I go!

Productive Day!

Recieved my Dolica TX570 Ultra Compact Tripod with Professional Ball Head the day before.  So yesterday morning I took of with the tripod to try it out at Jersey Valley.

The results were more than satisfactory.

It was cold and frosty, but still quite stunning even with the overcast skies.  While at Jersey Valley, it flurried!

Morris went on a hike with me to hunt up little fungi.

We found more than one variety.  I got full of burrs while getting way down on my knees and ...even further  'down' to get the 'shots'.

Morris decided at noon that he was rather done in with all the fresh air.  He promptly took up a spot on the couch and decided it was nap time.

After dark we rounded up Axe and Dixie to take them hunting.  Dixie has never gone before so she was more or less 'job shadowing' Axe.

Axe did a great job.  It was fun to walk quietly through the fields and woods and listen to a hound dog bay.

One of the things I've never done before is try to take photos of a hound 'treeing'.  This didn't turn out so badly for shooting in the dark. 

We traveled about 2 miles by foot and there were a lot of elevation changes according to my Garmin.

Lastly, we rested by the creek before heading home.

Talk about a full day!
It was near midnight when we got home.

I can say the fresh air and hiking really gave both of us [and the hounds] a good night's sleep.