Journal Entry for Monday, Oct 31st

Happy Halloween Today got me to thinking about some of the pictures that I had taken of various Fall exhibits at Bellagio’s Conservatory and Botanical Garden over the past several years. As a result I decided to create a couple of polyptychs showcasing some of my favorite pictures. Click here to view ... Halloween Polyptychs

Journal Entry for Sunday, Oct 30th

Concert Collage Today created and posted a collage comprised of some pictures I took at the concert we attended at the Henderson Pavilion. I used two programs to create this; Snagit and Scrapbook Factory Deluxe. I used Snagit to create the edge effects of the photos and Scrapbook to arrange them into a collage. Click here to read more and get a link to the collage … Journal Entry for Saturday, Oct 29th

Journal Entry for Friday, Oct 28th

Daytrip Page Creation - The Process Someone asked me the other day, “How do you create the pages on your photography site?” Well, here is the long answer. It takes me about a full day to put together a daytrip page chronicling one of our hiking journeys. The first several hours are spent reviewing, deleting and editing all of the pictures taken during the hike. Next, I begin the process of gathering information. Using a variety of websites, I gather information on mileage and directions, and information that might be unique or of special interest relative to the specified location and or the pictures taken. Then I use Google Earth to get a map of the area and to gather elevation information. Finally, using Windows Live Writer 2011, I begin the process of composing the actual page to be posted onto my Photo Gallery site; creating the tables necessary for the uploading of pictures, writing narrative, etc. Instead of trying to learn coding and some website software program, I chose to use Blogger by Google for the creation of all of my sites. It requires almost no knowledge of coding and is the easiest to use. After posting to my personal site on Blogspot.com, I then create any additional hyperlinks that might be need. Finally, I test all links to make sure everything ‘works’. When all this is done, I simply copy the page link, paste it into an email, and like magic, you click on the link and get to view the end result.

Journal Entry for Thursday, Oct 27th

Tips on Taking Pictures With Others Today was another one of my regularly scheduled hikes with the rock hounds from the Henderson Heritage Park Senior Center. Today we traveled to Ireteba Peaks Wilderness Area and Keyhole Canyon. Click to view the uploads to my Photo Gallery site … Ireteba Peaks Wilderness Area and Keyhole Canyon. After reviewing the day’s pictures, I came to the following realization. Because our time at each location is often limited, I end up feeling rushed, which causes me to snap a lot of pictures using the ‘auto’ mode. The result is usually far too many pictures where the focus or exposure falls short of what I was intending to capture. As a result, I end up wasting a lot of time reviewing and deleting inferior pictures. In an effort to improve, I’ve decided to make some changes in my picture taking habits which I hope will eventually make me a better photographer. I’ve turned these thoughts into the series of photo tips found below. Today’s Tip - Part 1: Learning to Shoot in Manual Mode – Learn the Basics. If you really want to improve your picture taking skills, one must force themself into shooting in the manual mode. I know what you’re saying, “but I never took a photography class”, “I have no idea what settings to use”, “I would just end up taking bad pictures anyway.” I’ve also had all these thoughts, and while they may be true, learning to take pictures in [P] manual mode will make you a better photographer. For starters, here is what I suggest. Using books or the Internet, start learning the effects of changing [S] shutter speed, [A] aperture (f-stop), [M] manual, exposure compensation, and ISO settings. Study the various focus modes and settings your camera has to offer, e,g, [AFS] Auto Focus Single, [AFC] Auto Focus Continuous, [M] Manual, [1-Area] focusing, [23-Area] focusing, [AF] Auto Focus Tracking, [Face] Face Detection. Having a basic understanding of these element will go a long way towards learning to shoot pictures in the Manual Mode. Today’s Tip – Part 2: Learning to Shoot in Manual Mode – Take Your Time. Once you have a general understanding of the basic settings available to you, you need to put them into practice. There are many ways to approach this, however, I feel that the key thing to remember is this, “Take your Time!”. Make a concerted effort to ignore your surroundings and those around you and concentrate on taking the picture. Though you could start right off by switching to Manual mode, allow me to make this suggestion. Take the 1st picture using the [iA] auto mode. Then take the time to read and study the camera’s LCD display. With the shutter pressed halfway, it will display the F-Stop(Aperture), Shutter Speed and any specific Scene Settings selected by the auto mode. After taking the shot, press the green Playback button to view the stored image. Once you have the picture on the LCD screen, press the DISPLAY button on the rear of the camera until you see the view on the right. You can now see all of the settings used by the [iA] auto setting when the image was captured. Study them in relation to the picture taken and determine if changing any of them using the [P] manual mode would improve the picture. The key, slow down and take the time to learn and understand what is happening when you take a picture in auto mode. Today’s Tip – Part 3: Learning to Shoot in Manual Mode – Establish A Shooting Procedure. Establishing and maintaining a consistent procedure to be used when taking your pictures will make the editing and ‘cleanup’ process go much faster after you have transferred the negatives to your computer. Until I become more proficient, here is the process I will be using. For single shots, I have decided to take four identical pictures. The (1st) using the [iA] Auto mode; the (2nd) using a specific scene mode such as [Portrait][Scenery][Landscape][Sports][Close-Up][Night]; the (3rd using the [P] manual mode; and (4th) use a specialty film mode such Dynamic, Nature, Vibrant, Black & White, etc. Hopefully, doing this will force you into thinking about the various options available for creating a better picture. During the review and editing process, you will more easily see what settings worked best and understand why.  Click here to view more tips ... Today's Tips

Journal Entry for Wednesday, Oct 26th

My Desert Slideshow Back in early 2008 I put together a slideshow of pictures from places in and around the Las Vegas area that Connie and I had visited either together, or with friends and relatives, over the previous five years. I created it using a slideshow program called ProShow Gold. The only problem was, that by the time I finished I got so carried away with adding pictures, it was more than 20 minutes long and 674MB in size, too big to send to anyone. Back then it was even to large to upload to YouTube. Recently I learned that YouTube is now accepting larger slideshows, and I decided to add it there so I could share it with the people I originally created it for, as well as the general public. Click here to go to YouTube and view it … The Beauty of the Nevada Desert. Hope you enjoy! For anyone interested in creating a slideshow like this, in my opinion, the best software program on the market is ProShow Gold 4.5 by Photodex. Click on the Software tab to read about this program and find a link to their site.

Journal Entry for Tuesday, Oct 25th

Site Updates Today I added some new information to both the Software and Reference tabs found at the top of this page. For those who like to create collages and scrapbook pages using your photos, two of these additions might be of particular interest. One program which I absolutely love, and use all the time is Scrapbook Factory Deluxe - Version 5. Not only is this program is easy to learn and use, its features allow you to create literally hundreds of projects. To get an idea of what you can do, check out this 112 page book that I published a few years back for friends and family ... http://www.scribd.com/doc/24048366/Our-Retirement-Journey-A-Travelogue-Part-One. Every page was created using this program and then converted to a PDF file for assembly into the book. The photo on the left was created using Scrapbook Factory Deluxe in about an hour. Find some more on my Photo Gallery site under the category Artistic Compositions. Another great find was a book titled, Digital Expressions - Creating Digital Art with Adobe Photoshop Elements. This book provides dozens of step-by-step techniques for turning your photos into digital art.

Journal Entry for Monday, Oct 24th

Ken & Connie's Personal Journal After being away for nearly a week, I finally got around to updating my personal journal page. This can be found by clicking “Go To Ken’s Personal Journal” under the “MORE BLOG LINKS …” in the upper left corner of this page. Even though this page has little to do with photography and is more about our daily activities, it does at times have additional pictures not shown elsewhere, as well as links to my Photo Gallery blog. The picture on the left was taken at the Golden Nugget Casino atrium on a recent trip to Laughlin. Click here to check it out ... [Ken & Connie’s Personal Journal] Mechanical vignetting TODAY'S TIP: Solving mechanical vignetting problems.  The picture on the right shows and example of mechanical vignetting. Sometimes I end up with this effect on my pictures when using my lens hood.This can occur whenever a mechanical extension to a lens protrudes into its field of view - the image corners receive less light than they would in the absence of the extension and vignetting occurs. The can happen whenever the extension (lens hood) is too long for the lens, when there are stacked filters, or a combination  of the two.  Sometimes a single, thick filter can vignette a wideangle lens. Sometimes using the zoom feature on a lens will trigger the effect. If you have this problem, the only recommendation I can offer is to check on vignetting behavior under various conditions, e.g. with and without filters, hood, and under various zooming conditions. One would think the remedy is obvious: use proper accessories; however in my case the lens hood I use came with the purchase of the lens.  Click here to view more tips ... Today's Tips

Journal Entry for Sunday, Oct 23rd

The Morning Dove Today I spent several hours organizing, editing and cleaning up some photos taken on our last six trips to Laughlin. A lot of times in the past I just never took the time needed to systematically edit and organize pictures from a shoot, which over time has cost me many wasted hours looking for a picture that I remembered taking, but couldn’t seem to locate. Now that I have a pretty good system in place for doing this, things are much easier. However, I still have some folders here and there that I need organize. As an example, today I found some 'bird' pictures that I forgot I had. The picture on the left was taken out by the pool on a trip to Harrah's Laughlin four years ago. (Click to enlarge)

Journal Entry for Saturday, Oct 22nd

Christmas Tree Pass I was finally able to get around to publishing a page on my photo gallery site on my recent visit to Christmas Tree Pass in the Newberry Mountains between Cal-Nev-Ari and Laughlin Nevada. Though the road was very rough going, I got some great pictures along the way and can’t wait to go back and do some hiking in this area. Following in the tradition of Ansel Adams, I captured several shots using Black and White so as to better show the contrasts within the geological formations. The picture on the left is of Spirit Mountain. Click here to view more pictures and information on my photo gallery site … Daytrip - Christmas Tree Pass

Journal Entry for Friday, Oct 21st

Black & White While lounging by the pool at Harrah’s in Laughlin last week, I had a light pole located directly in front of where we were sitting. The more I stared at it the more I thought it might make an interesting black and white silhouette picture. After playing with and cropping several different shots, I ended up with the photo on the left. Using this photo and a couple of others, I played with the coloring and then eventually created a triptych and placed it in both the triptych and architecture categories on my Photo Gallery site. Check out the end result here ... Pool Lights

Journal Entry for Thursday, Oct 20th

Architecture Abstract When I’m out and about with my camera, I’m always looking for the unusual. Something different; some type of natural or manmade abstract that I can turn into a visually interesting photo. I captured the twilight photo on the left while standing under the portico covering the driveway entrance in front of the Golden Nugget Casino in Laughlin, while waiting for the valet to retrieve our car. I felt that the juxtaposition of the setting sun against the bright lights of the portico over the driveway was perfect. I added it to the Architecture category on my Photo Gallery site. Check it out here ... The Portico

Journal Entry for Wednesday, Oct 19th

Taking A Walk While taking a walk out and about town, I went by an RV park that had an area with some very nice trees, shrubs and plants that seemed to be a natural attraction for birds and butterflies. Though it was difficult to get close enough to capture any really good pictures, I did manage to get a couple that were acceptable. Here is one that I caught of a butterfly getting ready to land. Visit the Butterflies & Insects category on my Photo Gallery site ... Butterflies & Insects

Journal Entry for Tuesday, Oct 18th

Nature’s Color Palette Just outside the Colorado Belle in Laughlin is a moat filled with Koi that surrounds the entire front and ends of this riverboat styled casino. After several attempts, I was finally able to capture a shot that didn’t have a reflection on the water’s surface. Be sure to click the photo on the left to view it full size.

Journal Entry for Monday, Oct 17th

The Blue-Plate Special Yesterday the waiter at Harlow’s told us about their breakfast specials and their 3-6 p.m. blue-plate dinner specials, so we figured, why not, and went there for dinner. WOW. The Pot-roast Dinner special was only $5.99, and came with a complementary glass of wine. We both agreed that it was the most tender pot roast we’ve ever eaten. This place was so amazing that we ate here five time during our 5-day stay. I ‘m thinking of adding a new category, “food”, to my photo gallery blog. Click the picture to view this meal full-size.

Journal Entry for Sunday Oct 16th

Harlow’s Restaurant After arriving at Laughlin for a week long stay and checking in at both the Colorado Belle and Harrah’s, we headed over to the Golden Nugget for the Sunday brunch at Harlow’s restaurant. Voted the best Champagne Brunch in Laughlin we thought we would give it a try and boy were we glad we did. With more than three dozen items to choose from, we tried the frogs legs, escargot in a garlic butter sauce, crab legs, sliced breast of duck in a cherry reduction sauce, the largest shrimp I’ve ever seen on a buffet, made to order waffles w/ice cream, strawberries and whipped cream, steamed asparagus, prime rib, and cherries jubilee for dessert. It was an unbelievable feast.

Journal Entry for Saturday, Oct 15th

Petroglyphs and Pictographs One of the things I find most enjoyable about hiking here in Nevada and the surrounding states is finding finding and photographing ancient Indian petroglyphs and pictographs. Not only do they help provide a history to an area, they provide you with the feeling that you are taking the same steps as those who once walked there; and to wonder what it might have been like to have lived there hundreds, it not thousands of years ago. The picture on the left (click to enlarge) is just one of many that were taken on my recent hike to Grapevine Canyon. To read about this area and see more pictures of petroglyphs, visit this category on my photo gallery site …Category - Petroglyphs and Pictographs

Journal Entry for Friday, Oct 14th

Daytrip To Grapevine Canyon I spent the majority of the morning editing the 90 pictures I took at Grapevine Canyon. After several hours, I was finally able to reduce them down to twenty. Though I’m still not where I want to be with my picture taking, I do feel that I’m getting better. In the beginning, I used to sometimes come home with nearly 300 pictures for a morning’s shoot. I am not thinking more about the subject matter and how best to take the shot versus the “willy nilly” approach of putting the camera on auto and shooting everything in sight. Check out the pictures for this daytrip on my photo gallery site here … Daytrip - Grapevine Canyon

Journal Entry for Thursday, Oct 13th

Grapevine Canyon Hike Today I was up early to meet the rock-hounds at the Henderson Heritage Park Senior Center for our trip to Grapevine Canyon, just north of Laughlin, Nevada. It was an absolutely beautiful fall-like day, perfect for hiking. The only somewhat downer for the day was slipping on some loose gravel and a fall I ended up taking while hiking up the canyon. I ended up scraping both knees, both hands, my forehead and getting a big bruise on my rump. The good news was that there was no damage to my camera and I still ended up getting a few really nice pictures.  Needless to say the when I got home, I headed straight for the outdoor spa at our pool, where I ended up spending nearly 40 minutes soaking my wounds.

Journal Entry for Tuesday, Oct 11th

Botanical Garden at Bellagio I finally got the time to edit the pictures that I took last Saturday at the Fall exhibit that we visited at the Conservatory and Botanical Gardens inside the Bellagio. This was the fourth 'Fall" exhibit we have visited over the past five or six years and even though they do make changes each year, many elements still remain the same. I went back and reviewed the pictures that I had taken over the past several years and selected some of the highlights from each exhibit. Then, using my Scrapbook Deluxe program, I cropped, cut, pasted and combined about a dozen of them to create the collage shown on the left. (Be sure to click the photo to view full-size) If you look carefully, you will see various pumpkin displays, garden elements, stone walkways, sculptured trees, and a scarecrow. The tree in the upper right corner from this year's exhibit was actually animated and talked to passersby.

Journal Entry for Monday, Oct 10th

Site Maintenance Site Map I spent several hours today putting the finishing touches on this site, mainly finishing the Site Map tab at the top of the page. Though I hope to be expanding the information provided within the various tabs as needed over time to keep them relevant and up-to-date, I feel that, at least for now, I have met the design objectives that I established when I conceived the site back in September. TODAY'S TIP: Switch your camera's focus dial to the MF (Manual Focus) setting when shooting insects. As insects are almost constantly moving, turning off the lens' iA (intelligent Auto) function and AFS (Auto Focus Single) function may make the job so easier. In auto focus mode the lens will keep swimming or refocusing, making it nearly impossible to capture a sharp image. Another tip would be to set the focus on whatever the insect has lit upon, e.g. a branch, leaf, rock, etc. Click here to view more tips ... Today's Tips

Journal Entry for Sunday, Oct 9th

Desert Marigold Desert Marigold I captured this while on a hike to the Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area with the rock-hounds from the Henderson Heritage Park Senior Center. This flower is actually quite common and I have seen it on many of my various hikes. Go to my Photo Gallery blog to learn more about the yellow beauty … Desert Marigold. TODAY'S TIP: Here is a "close-up" tip that, even though I don't quite understand why, will help you get better closeup shots in the field. When using a tripod, always make sure that the "anti-shake" setting is turned OFF. For me this can sometimes be confusing. When using my 14-41mm lens this is an internal camera setting; when using my 45-200mm lens, it is a switch on the lens itself. Click here to view more tips ... Today's Tips

Journal Entry for Saturday, Oct 8th

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Rattlesnake Weed I captured this while on a hike to the Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area with the rock-hounds from the Henderson Heritage Park Senior Center. I have yet to find out why this plant is commonly called Rattlesnake Weed. Maybe it's the fact that it produces a milky white substance that is poisonous. My thanks to Kathy Pool, one of my hiking partners for helping me to identify this quite delicate desert weed. Go to my Photo Gallery blog to read more about this unusual plant … Rattlesnake Weed. TODAY'S TIP: Buy a UV filter for each lens you own. It's easier, and needless to say cheaper, to replace a scratched lens filter than it is to replace your actual lens. Click here to view more tips ... Today's Tips

Journal Entry for Friday, Oct 7th

The Fringed Amaranth I captured this while on a hike to the Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area with the rock-hounds from the Henderson Heritage Park Senior Center. Capturing photos of landscapes and close-up's of wildflowers seem to be my two of my most enjoyable photographic interests. When taking hikes I almost always have my eye to the ground, looking for even the smallest detail or abstract that might make a worthwhile image when turned into a full-sized photo. Identifying wildflowers for placement onto my photo gallery blog site is much more difficult and time consuming than I ever imagined it would be. In addition to searching the Internet and looking through books on the subject, I have begun to elicit help from some of my hiking partners. Click here to learn more about this delicate little plant …Fringed Amaranth

Journal Entry for Thursday, Oct 6th

Nipton Road or Joshua Tree Highway Today was another of my regular Thursday hikes with the rock-hounds from the Henderson Heritage Parke Senior Center. We spent the majority of our time at the Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area, a relatively pristine wilderness area that receives few visitors. Naturally, as its name implies, the primary attraction is the thousands of ancient Joshua Trees, however, if one pays close attention, one will find a variety of desert flora and wildlife. Click here to read about the hike and view pictures … Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area.

Journal Entry for Monday, Oct 3rd

Las Vegas Architecture Series One of the subject categories on my Photo Gallery site is Las Vegas Architecture. Though I have taken many shots with the intention of adding them to the site under this category, I am still working on how I want to group and display them. At present I am working on the creation of various collages as well as a slideshow. The picture on the left is looking up at the Cosmopolitan’s main hotel tower shot from the Boulevard Pool located on the fourth floor of the resort. Hopefully I will be adding more these to the site in the very near future. For now, view the posting on the Cosmopolitan here ... Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

Journal Entry for Sunday, Oct 2nd

File Maintenance Though my least most favorite thing to do, I spent several hours today moving pictures around. After all these years, it seems as though I still spend way too much time sorting, categorizing, arranging and backing up my photo files. Maybe It’s just my OCD. It certainly would be much easier if I took fewer pictures on fewer subject matters. The truth is that over the years it seems as though I keep expanding the subject matters and thereby adding more categories to my filing structure. Even though there are only 10 basic folders to my filing system under the main folder Pictures by Subject, there are more than 975 sub-folders within these ten. To provide an example, the image on the right shows the 30 sub-folders under the first folder titled, 1-Birds, Animals & Reptiles. So here is what happens after each photo shoot. After, (1) creating and placing the pictures into the most appropriate storage folder, e.g. 11-0915 Daytrip – Cold Creek, (2) editing them, (3) saving a final negatives folder, I then go through all the pictures taken and copy “subject specific” images such as birds, butterflies, horses, to individual subject folders. Even though this creates duplicates and takes up more drive space, it allows me to easily seek out all the pictures on a specific subject/category for a project in the future without having to try and remember when I might have captured pictures of ’horses' for example and searching through dozens of folders looking for them. (refer to Step 4. under the Saving Pictures tab).  If you have any suggestions on how I might improve this system, let me know.

Journal Entry for Saturday, Oct 1st

Monarch Butterfly On 09/22/2011, while hiking along the road to Wheeler Pass I got lucky and captured a couple of shots of a single monarch butterfly that had landed in a patch of, what I think is yellow Rabbitbrush, I think the Rabbitbrush made a perfect backdrop for showcasing the butterfly. To read more about the Monarch Butterfly, click the following link to go to this page on my Photo Gallery blog ... Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus)