Divergent Archives - Bliss Photographics

Posted on February 1, 2020January 25, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Wind and Solar Hybrid

Satire: (Did I mention this is Satire?)

I see lots of things on the “way up the hill” to photograph sunsets. Here “Sneaky Pete” the Windmill photobombed my divergent shadow landscape yet again! (exasperated look on my face). He hangs out (mostly) about 1/4 mile up that hill I often travel to. I’m not sure how he manages to get into my landscapes but he seems to. I have no control over his actions…. 👀

Stories about “Sneaky Pete’s” accomplishments have spread far and wide. He has his legend and then there is actually living in the neighborhood with the guy. What happened here is he got a BIG idea about a Wind/Solar Hybrid invention and I think he was trying to communicate the specifics to me. I’m not good at translating him being much better with deer translations of stories than “windmillian”. Tough to communicate with him, he speaks faster or slower depending on the wind speed and that throws off my cadence…. 🤔😜😜📷 I have so much to learn…. I speak geology not Windmill…..

He is such an attention hound. In fairness though he is known as a skillful negotiator with the deer. He’s helped me before with various “deals” with the various herds to get them to sit for me I’m sure of it.😀

Windmill Weekend, Windmill Junkies Unite: 🤘🤘😜

Back to my normal programming ….

So I was actually surprised by this capture. I technically was working those aforementioned divergent shadows with a high f-stop on a wide angle lens. The high contrast environment lends itself for a good perspective image. “Sneaky Pete” provides scale for the foreground which was my interest. Winter in Wyotana..

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands (Wyotana)

Title: Windmill and Solar Hybrid

Posted on December 27, 2019December 20, 2019 by Frank Bliss

Divergent Light Rays Perspective

The forest creates areas of interest by the way the vegetation effects the light. Light alleys, tunnels, vertical lines accentuated by pine “noodles” complicated the scene. In this forest, the only thing not covered by hoar frost was I. Anything near this spot was pretty much everything was reflective white. This effectively magnifies the brightness of the scene. Human eyes can not stand this level of light in the real world.

Photographic Musings:

I love REALLY wide angle lenses. Taken with a 10mm rectilinear lens. Taken in 2×3 aspect on a full frame camera. .

(back to english)

As the light wraps around the camera, similarly, the lens sees widely around the camera to see past what your eyes would normally see. Your peripheral vision has nothing on this lens. The perspective here wraps around you. It causes you peer into the center. Hundreds of leading lines in this image. Each line leading your eye toward the light. The joy of a good mirrorless camera is you can actually look at a video screen. Because you DON’T have a direct light path to your eye. Even a scene this bright will not blind you. Live real time not after the shot. Do NOT try this with a DSLR camera as the direct light path to your eye could blind you.

It was about 6 degrees and a freezing fog had moved across this ridge top all night. The resultant hoar frost was monumental in it’s effects. I have Many wonderful images from this ridge / morning. A little chilly with the humidity in the air lol.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands (Wyotana)

Title: Divergent Light Rays Perspective

Posted on December 26, 2019December 20, 2019 by Frank Bliss

Divergent Shadow Perspective Landscape

Everything was covered by ice. During this winter cold morning with little or no cloud cover, an iridescent cloud starts to move across the sun. The Shadows are Long with a slight up hill angle to the hill. The makes the shadows even longer. This VERY high contrast environment of white and black is way outside the normal photographic envelope. I believe iridescent clouds to be WAY more common that I used to. We just can’t look into the scene without blinding ourselves to see them. The Mirrorless Cameras I use that feed to a video screen. It actually lets me see this image BEFORE I click the camera. I can adjust the settings live real time on the screen.

Photographic Musings:

The star off the sun is resultant from a high f-stop number. Having only a pin hole for a pupil/aperture/opening in your lens. You get diffraction from the edges of the hole. This little bit of optical physics explains the star around the sun. Turning up your f-stop has an added benefit. in this case by reducing the amount of light coming into your camera.

In this high light environment, your also going to have adjust shutter speed really fast. Set your ISO really low (camera sensitivity) or both to compensate for the high light. Basically you have to shut down your camera to light. Many cameras will take a neutral density filter to accomplish this. . Your always balancing 3 different settings in Manual Mode on your camera. I use NO/zip/zero automatic settings anywhere. Not in my cameras or lenses. No auto focus, no stabilization etc. Manual photography strictly on a very modern platform. I get a pretty good battery life that way😄.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands (Wyotana)

Title: Divergent Shadow Perspective Landscape Aspect: Square to 18 inches