Great Photo Project

A co-worker sent me a link today to this interesting blog post by Chris Dale from Morgantown:
Historical photos – Then and now.  This was posted May 25, 2015, but as far as I can tell, it's the only thing currently on this Morgantown History site.

Chris Dale did a fabulous job recreating the camera angle and image size for a number of historical photos.  He superimposed his images over the originals, giving a very fine before & after view.  Due to differences in lens, no doubt, some photos such as the March 1944 "West Virginia University and The War," aren't as dead-on as other shots.  That's a minor complaint, though.  I can't emphasize how amazing this work really is.

Giving You a Laurel

Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) blossom.

Factoid:  Kalmia latifolia is notable for its unusual method of dispensing its pollen. As the flower grows, the filaments of its stamens are bent and brought into tension. When an insect lands on the flower, the tension is released, catapulting the pollen forcefully onto the insect. Experiments have shown the flower capable of flinging its pollen up to 15 cm. (from Wikipedia).

Dino-Chicken

Back almost a year ago, I posted this shot of a chicken pondering its inner Rex:

Little did I know that my snarkiness was already passe, as witnessed by this December 22, 2011, piece in LiveScience:  How to Make a Dino-Chicken (Infographic).

Now, it is said, we're half way there: Dino-Chicken Gets One Step Closer.

I'm glad they're working with little 'ol chickens.  Imagine what an order of those chick wings would look like!

You can keep the tail, though.  Even though Anthony Bourdain says  "...chicken ass is the best part. You can get it at any [Japanese] Yakatori joint. It's fatty and delicious."

Sure.  Send them to Japan.

A Spartan Portrait

I took some pictures of emus last week on my visit to Shields' Greenhouse in Spraggs, PA.  Using a telephoto lens, I managed to get in close.  Too close, some might say.

This is what it looked like, processed in color:

I usually don't do much black & white, but this subject demanded that I try.  Here's the same emu rendered with Silver Efex Pro 2.  I used the D019 Fine Art filter w/ a Kodak ISO 32 Panatomic X grain (or lack of) effect:

Thus my dilemma.  Which is better?  The color or the black & white?  From my indecision came a compromise.  I layered the black & white over the color and then set the blending mode to Multiply. The result looks like something in the style of the movie 300.

It works for the emu.  This is a very Spartan portrait.

Too much of a pink thing

Rhododendron blooms in the natural light of this morning's "golden hour."  Composed from a 15-shot focus stack.  

I normally like to process with LAB color (picture #1), but this time I thought that a straight RGB image (picture #2) was easier on the eyes.