Buddies

Buddies
Originally uploaded by Mulewings~

I'll probably write more...but this pretty much sums up my GREAT afternoon with Badger and Morris...

Here is a short video if you care to see it...

The Big Woods Adventure

Badger said *Let's GO!*
Morris ran in circles between his legs and around Val...

Val carefully checked her saddle and made sure she had water, cameras, and a small camp saw.

They were going on an adventure in The Big Woods [aka PeeWee's Woods].
Morris jumped at Badger's front legs. Badger looked down and then dropped his head. Morris was Badger's favorite little dog. He was always silly and full of smiles. Not wired up like Val's last little dog that was always naughty.
But that was years ago.
Yes, Badger liked Morris. So much so that he'd let Morris ride in the saddle, and once he'd let Morris sit on his bare back.

He liked Val enough too, well like wasn't the word really. Adored was more like it. Even on his days that he felt yucky he would brighten and bray when he saw her at the gate. She was the 'apple' of his eye in human terms.

Val swung up into the saddle and Badger knew exactly where she intended to go. At one point Morris was having trouble negotiating the undergrowth, so Val stopped and placed Morris in the saddle.
Badger liked that, it made him feel helpful.

At the creek Morris jumped off and to everyone's surprise, someone had gone through the valley with a 4-wheeler making a nice trail to follow.
Morris panted, Badger watched his little buddy out of the corner of his eye. When Val stopped to photograph something, Morris stood under Badger for shade.
As he thought, Val was heading towards the *Back Valley* aka known as *The Lost Valley*...he simply thought of it as the place where the creek ran.

Val stopped and looked down, she jumped from the saddle and grabbed a tiny camera.
Badger took the time to nibble on leaves. Morris took time to 'water' some plants.
He liked this. The demands on the ride were easy. Val and Morris were nice to get along with. No hurries.
The road to the Back Valley had been cleared by someone with chainsaws and 4-wheelers. That was okay with Badger. Less work going around all the dead fall trees.

On the trail above the Back Valley, Val spotted a small skull. With another leap, she was on the ground next to Badger taking photos. He put his head down and nudged her so she would sit down in the dirt.
Mule Humor, he thought. She didn't even get mad. She was a good person.

Past the cave they rode and back up onto the meadow. Fresh air and a nice breeze came to Badger's nostrils.
He stood and caught his breath after the long climb out of the valley.
The view was pretty...
Badger decided that he couldn't wait for the next Big Woods Adventure.

Comparing Artizen, Photomatix, and Dynamic Photo-HDR

Below are three samples from three trial programs I used for HDR and tonemapping.
What is tone mapping?
Google it and you'll find many definitions.
What is interesting is that some call it a method of 'dodge' and 'burn'.
Some articles say that Ansel Adams was the 'father' of Tone Mapping.

Digital photographers have the option of buying a program which can do High Dynamic Range from several exposures as seen below, or Tone Map a single .jpeg as seen in the two samples above.
DynamicPhoto HDR is a fun program to use. I like its simple interface and quick response time.
I really like the fact that I can create a 'fake' or *psuedo* HDR image from a single exposure.
While not a true HDR image, it can increase the 'wow' factor of your photo.
I don't even have to leave my Adobe Elements program or Photoshop 7.0 to use the HDR filter for .jpegs~~ sweet!
Screen shot:
Price: $55.00.



Photomatix is considered by many to be the industry standard. It is a good program and gives the user a lot of room to edit and tone map an image. However you can not use one image and make a *psuedo* HDR.
The price is $99.00 and it does limit the work-flow to more than one image that is bracketed. That means to get this effect at all, you have to be willing to take your shots with a tripod.
For me, that is something that won't work all the time.

Artizen is a great deal whether you buy it or not.
*The new trial version of Artizen HDR has no demo restrictions when working with 8bit files such as jpg's, making the new trial version of Artizen a completely free 8bit image editor. Even though users will be able to tryout all the features regardless of image bit depth (8,16 or 32), Artizen trial version will only have a watermark when working with Digital Camera RAW (16bit) photos and High Dynamic Range (32bit) Images.*

Artizen price:
$45.95 Canadian

All three programs work with RAW files. I mostly shoot in Fine .JPEG. I know there are many arguments for shooting only RAW, but I don't want to be stuck editing each and every photo I take.
Also, all the photos I used for this blog entry were taken with Point and Shoot cameras!

...and remember, these are just tools to add to your digital dark room...or as I call it *my digital playroom*.

Catch UP!

This past week has been hectic.

Work was part of that hectic schedule. Odd hours bounced my life around, night turned to day, and of course the weather was exciting.

There were storms that unleashed torrential downpours and caused flash flooding...


I made Crab Apple Jelly, worked in the garden and froze green beans for this winter...
Morris and I hiked the 'forest' trail and had to take along a camp saw to open up areas of the trail that had been blocked by berry briers and downed trees...reroute our trail around washouts and other cool obstacles...

...and as always...
I took my camera and found interesting things to photograph....
now with a few days off, I can catch up on sleep and try to get things back to normal for a while!

Night Experiment

A storm was brewing to the north of us last night ... I noticed it as I stopped at the mailbox and got ready to descend into our little valley.

I drove in and parked.
It was 1AM.
I was tired.

But the storm kept nagging at me.
I wonder
could I
would I
should I?

Well, hell yes ... no time like the present.
I put my camera on a tripod and left with a plan.

I parked on the edge of a hay field and watched the storm brighten the sky.
How to focus?
Dang, I had no clue.
So I did what anyone would do.
I winged it.
I used Landscape mode.
I used Manual mode.
I used an 8 second exposure, a few 15 second exposures, and a couple of 30 second exposure.
Tap, tap, tap...I like instant feedback and couldn't really see what I was doing...

I put the exposure on 'bulb' and held it down while I watched the flashes.

I looked at the time. 2AM!
Today I put it together in Photoshop and 'stacked' the layers.
Dang, I should Experiment more often!

Night Photography~Unseen Beauty

Did you have any idea what beauty lies in the darkness?

I recently saw some shots at Flickr that had Light Painting and Night Photography.

Intrigued, I decide to do some research and reading on the subject.
Night Photography is absolutely fun and creative.

So of course I decided to try some of my own.
I went out at dusk. The light was poor...
My first shot was hand held with my point and shoot and of course not timed...it turned out poorly, but editing did help.
Experimentation in mind ~~ I drove down to the valley and parked alongside a small bridge over what we locals call Black Bottom Creek.
I set up my tripod and camera while in the car with the dome light on...too dark outside for this...and I'd forgotten a flash light!
Exposure on manual...
15 seconds.
F stop at 5.6.
Push the button, swat madly at the mosquitoes...
and you get some lovely shots!
See the headlights from the traffic on the highway [top of photo]?
These photos were taken after sunset...in the dark. I think 8:50 was the time I took this one.

My Nikon battery was on low, so I headed towards home, but stopped at another bridge over Black Bottom and decided to see how long of an exposure I could pull out of my Point and Shoot camera.

This is 4 seconds [fireworks mode]....on a tripod...
Not the worst, but I could see that a 10 second exposure would have worked very well.
At the top of the ridge, I decide to give the little pocket camera one last try...
I was not disappointed.
A tripod is really quite necessary for these kinds of shots. This last one, I simply put the camera on the top of the car and used a 2 second delay to get this.

Night photography is really a beautiful bold world...
Charge up those batteries!

Dealing with Equine COPD

Dealing with Badger's COPD is a constant. The signs came on slowly and seemingly enough fairly innocuously.

There seems to be very little literature on WHAT to do for an Equine [in my case a mule] while they have it.
Badger is not a classic case in the sense that he was never stabled. But he did get into some poor hay last spring. Of course that was our own fault, but until he showed a huge reaction to it, we had no idea.

Now days with heavy humidity, high pollen [think ragweed right now~it is abundant], and the molds from the long wet summer...he has shown many days of stress.

Long term meds are not the answer.

However, I do deal with it by insuring that on hot humid days with heat warnings such as we are having today, that I move him into an area with plenty of shade and open air.
He is not surrounded by noxious weeds in this small but grassy area.
A shower with the water hose does seem to help with his comfort.

I know his vital signs. I am also familiar with his new 'normal'.
I am keeping him off hay and out of weedy areas. This seems to really help him.

There is no cure. Just maintenance at this point. He won't ever do tough trails or another endurance ride.
But on good days, he can be ridden. In fact, he enjoys it. He loves to be ridden and it is a wonderful job for him. It helps maintain his musculature and keep his lungs healthier.

However, this disease has only one outcome for equine in the end. Each day is a blessing and I try to keep a positive outlook.
Badger has not lost 'condition'. He looks wonderful and some days you really have to look hard at him to realize he has COPD.

A good article to read is called Respiratory Conditions in Horses. It has a detailed explanation of this disease and is helpful as it has charts and drawings explaining the disease.
If your horse/mule has this disease, it is worth bookmarking and referring to.

For now, I enjoy our time together.
He is a good mule and a good friend.