painted sunrise

There is not much going on outside for me these days. I am usually hurrying to get out of the weather, and into someplace warm and dry... especially if I can find hot chocolate and peanut butter cookies!

.

I hope it's not too tacky, but I saw a nice sunrise on Sunday and thought I'd fiddle around with it in post editing. I ran it through a program that makes it look painted, but then pulled back a bit from that effect. This one is more intense than the original photo, but less intense than the paint feature wanted to make it.

.

The next photo remained natural, but instead of allowing the silhouette, I added flash. That way, we can see the snow on the branches.

.

fowl territory

Does it look to you like random clouds hovering over this tree, or is the tree actually smoking? It looks like it's smoking, doesn't it?

.

This tree stands out from the rest of the landscape, and serves as a special landmark on my way home from work. Frequently, it will hold lots of birds, and I have tried numerous times to photograph it while it is full of those birds, but one skittish little freak will scream "fire!" and the rest of them mindlessly panic. I might be left with one or two deaf or dead birds, and then it is not worth the difficulty of finding a place to pull over here.

.

When the sun is shining low on a clear day, the amber light adds drama to these bare limbs. You will see this tree again, if I can ever get the feathery mob to sit still for me.

goooood mornin'

Sometimes, the morning sun likes to show off as it comes out of hiding. If I did not have to leave the house early on this particular day, I would have missed it!

.

I tried to make up for the early start by taking a 20-minute nap in the afternoon. Instead of saying I was gonna take a nap, I told my wife I was "going upstairs to wrinkle my shirt." She knew exactly what I meant, because I heard her tell the kids to "keep it down so your dad can get some rest." Afternoon ciestas are a beautiful thing. Maybe not as beautiful as a sunrise, but you know what I mean, right?

Sky Watch Friday!

Saturdays are for sleeping in

...

sometimes.

.

The guys called a meeting, and we chose 7AM, because it is less likely to interfere with all of our schedules... except when that schedule involves sleeping in.

.

On the way to the meeting, I passed the field where we hold our soccer practices. There was an eerie mist hovering low on the pitch. The sky displayed soft, subtle, dreamy pastels, so I pulled over and snapped away a few "frames." (Can we still call them frames with digital photography?)

.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not complaining about getting up for a 7AM meeting. I like the idea, even though I didn't get to sleep in. In fact, I had already been up and about that morning. My son, the barista had an opening shift that day. That means that I was up at 3:30 to wake him up and then drop him off for a 4:15 start time. Trying not to waste the starry opportunity, I set my camera lens-up on the asphalt at its longest exposure, and used the timer to attempt a photograph of the stars. (Sorry; I was too tired an lazy to identify any constellations.) In post-editing, I tried to make the image lighter, but it gets grainy and weird if I mess with it too much. I hope you can see it alright. [click on photos to enlarge]

.

(yawn) Would you care to divulge any experiences with astronomical photography at zero-dark-hundred?

.

Check out Sky Watch Friday by clicking on the badge.

.

http://skyley.blogspot.com/

.

Sky Watch Friday!

'Morning Sunshine!

.

six A.M. at church

the band practices early

our sun says hello

...

It would actually be more correct to say that I went to drop a vocalist off at 6AM; the picture was snapped closer to 7AM. But that would mess up the haiku. Earlier this week, I posted photos of a sundog. Do you know what that is? Scroll down or click on the link to check it out.

.

Click on the SkyWatch logo to see more sky photos.

morning has broken

Yeah, "morning has broken" ...split right down the middle, and daylight is in complete disrepair!

.

I misplaced my sunglasses on Friday and squinted through this whole weekend. The shades finally turned up, but not until late Sunday afternoon. Usually, I wear them on the drive to and from work, because I drive East in the morning and West at night.

.

[I know that it is foolish to multitask while driving, but I got ready at a red light, and by the time my camera was ready to shoot, the light had changed, so I just did a no-look "shoot from the hip" --cowboy-style. There was NO post-editing to those shots. They turned out fair... considering, don't you think?]

.

This morning, the sunlight struggled to break through the atmosphere, and from the looks of the Northern sky's dark reinforcements, the light did not have a real chance of winning this battle. By the time I got to the office, the sun's rays had retreated, yielding to an ominous shroud that poured mercilessly as if we were standing under the deluge of a waterfall, and by now, not even the coolest dudes were wearing their sunglasses.

.

Speaking of darkness, I saw the new Batman movie on Saturday with Mrs. Craver. We went for the Imax experience. My recommendation? Go now; don't wait for the DVD, but don't do Imax, either. The cityscapes were splendid, but too brief. The action was hard to follow on such a huge viewing area. We can't say too much about the movie without spoiling the story for anyone who hasn't seen it; but I liked it. This flic was packed with action and intensity without gore, immodesty or pervasive language. The Batman suit has a new cowl that allows him to turn his head. He breaks out a new bat-cycle in this movie and when I saw him do this one turn... a 180 off of a wall, I just about fell out of my chair! This movie will probably be useful for launching discussions about the morality of using force and where to draw the line between justice and wickedness.

.

Photos 2 & 3 were taken at 7:36 AM and 7:54 AM respectively.