A moon rise adventure

My tree

This is not my tree any longer.  It fell down and I have moved on.  I thought that photographing it at moon rise would be just one more rendition.  I arrived long before sunset.  I brought a flash light so that I could find my way back.  I had obtained permission from Keith Kissling, the owner of the field.  It, the field, is used as a pasture.  I cattle were not out that night.  I had to try to guess where the moon would rise.  If I remember correctly, I had driven past at moon rise previously so I had a rough idea.  Once the process began, I knew I would have limited time.  I wanted to try to avoid the cell tower in the background if possible.

As the time drew near, I noticed clouds forming in the west, behind me.  It continued to get dark.  Soon I could start to see the glow of the moon below the horizon.

Moon about to rise

I was very excited!  The fruition of my planning was coming together.  Behind me, I kept hearing the thunder.  I began to be aware that the storm was coming my way.  It became a race.  Would I get the shot of the moon first or would the storm get there first.  I was using a film camera when I shot this back in 2001.  I, obviously, did not want my equipment wet.  I had it all out there.  I had plastic also.

Lightning flash!

I tried to stay on task.  I wanted that picture of the moon rise.  Then the light strikes and associated thunder began.  This is one that provided an exciting view of the land scape.  It also notified me that I had better escape while I could.  I never got shots of the moon fully risen.  I did have some of the moon starting to clear the horizon.  I packed up to the light of the lightning and my flashlight.  I hiked out to the truck and stowed my equipment just in time.  I, personally, was soaked but my equipment was safe and mostly dry.

I went back to rescan the negatives shot in April of 2001.  The film was Kodak Gold ISO 800 for the night shots.  The film used for the before night shots was Fuji ISO 400 print film.  My record keeping was not as good back in those days.  I don't have exposure information.  I am very happy with the improvement I see over the drug store prints they made for me.  I suppose the technology has improved quite a lot.  I would like to think that I have learned a little since then.

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Knockouts

unknown rock

I started playing with the panorama captures of these rocks.  I thought that perhaps it would be more striking if I knocked out the rock from the background.  I was thinking of printing it on canvas.  I do think that the knocked out version is more dramatic.  I suppose that you have to love rocks to want something like this on your wall.  Maybe not.

rock unknown

I also played around with adding colored backgrounds at the suggestion of Paul McClain.  I picked the color for this background by sampling a part of the rock color.  Of course, other locations on the rock could be sampled.  I do think that it, also, makes the rock stand out.  

I just love looking up close at these rocks!

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More panoramas

Hornfels

I selected this one from the bag I purchased from Dan & Pam.  I thought that the texture and lines were interesting.  Upon closer examination, I think those lines and the texture were created by the diamond studded saw used by Dan & Pam.  

This one and the next are panoramas.  They would be printable much larger than I can print them with my 13" wide printer.  I am working with an upgraded version of Photoshop, CS5, currently which adds to the complexity of making images of this sort.  It takes a while to get things set to accommodate my workflow.   I had trouble with the Hornfels shot not blending in "photomerg" properly.  I thought that I might have to re-shoot the whole thing.  That would have involved about 107 new captures.  I was able to figure out why it was not blending properly and make a crop of one of the captures which fixed the problem.

Feldspar, I think

I chose this rock because it almost looks like a landscape.  I photographed it several ways but I like this one the best.  The other factor for this one and the first one shown is the "knock out".  If I remember correctly, the photoshop pros call it that.  It means selecting only a portion which you want to emphasize.  I think that it helps these rocks be more dramatic.  The new photoshop has a "refine edge" feature, which I think makes the "knock out" work.  I think we may have to take another look at this one.  Maybe an extreme closeup. 

I am also printing on other media which may be a discussion for another time.

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I photograph to see!

Gneiss with anomaly

I picked up this rock several months ago.  I happened to notice that it had this star-like anomaly in it.  I looked at it with my hand lens but could not make it out.  I decided to photograph it using extreme closeup lenses so that I could get a better look.  

I think that the rock itself is Gneiss.  Gneiss is the metamorphic form of Granite.  It is granite which has been metamorphosed by either heat or pressure or both.

This star-like anomaly looks to me like it has grown in the depression of the rock.  The fibers seem to have formed the "star" on top but underneath they seem to be spread like a spiderweb.

I initially, upon finding it, used my finger nail to see if the "growth" was hard or soft.  I did not seem to deform it in any way, so I assumed that it was hard.  I now wonder if I really even touched it.  At some point, I would like to know if it is hard or soft.  I am afraid to probe it at this stage because I might destroy it.

I would welcome input on this one.  Do you have any experience with such a thing?

This discussion brings me to the main reason I do this kind of photography.  I want to take a closer look just for my own curiosity.  People question my doing this because they don't think that anyone would want to hang such a thing on their wall.  My response is that that may be true but I get to decide what I photograph.  It is a real luxury for which many photographers long.  I am thankful that I can do it.

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