golden Archives - Bliss Photographics

Posted on January 13, 2021December 11, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Wedge of Smoke Incoming

I’m sure your all tired of “Smokey Sunsets / Sunrises by now. I sure as heck am. Except for the amazing sky thing, this is getting old. Snow is coming to the high country of Wyoming and Montana as I type… About a week before this published. Still early September for that storm. It hopefully will shut down a few fires to clear up the air a little. Some individuals with lung ailments are not enjoying this month much….

If there were snow storms incoming I’d be taking photos of it as long as there is light. I have to admit that I’ve seen phenomena that were new to me through the smoke palls. This particular image is a front moving from right to left with the smokey air to the right. The Clear air is to the left. The bank of clouds blocking the sun are forming in advance of the air mass shadowing the sun and providing a projector screen to show the light shafts above.

Photographic Musings:

IT was actually pretty bright out. Cameras have trouble with dark detail when looking into very bright light. Sometimes I can tease out that landscape. This capture didn’t have enough data there to deal with in the digital darkroom. Creating artifacts is not my job… I could actually see landscape detail averting my eyes away from the sun. I was playing the same game with my eyes as was the camera. Dynamic Range of your eyes is better than your camera by the way. Your a better generalist than the camera is. That camera can looking into the furnace though with out any discernable repercussions. Not so much with your eyes lol.

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

Title: Wedge of Smoke Incoming

Posted on July 2, 2020June 25, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Northern Crook Co Wyoming

Throwback Thursday: an image from February 2020

Almost all of northern Crook Co. is shown in the photograph. It is a VERY wide panorama done with high end cameras. A lot of time carefully stitching 3 images, left, center, right into place. Carefully match the images contrasts / colorations as there is always differences even with adjacent photographs. All done in the digital darkroom not the camera. I’m not sure but my Sony Alphas MIGHT be able to do a hand held panorama like a cell phone. I never use that automatic crap, it uses too much battery power lolol.

This is a “TripTych”. That is a good google word for you if you’ve never heard it before…. The left panel frames the horizon…the Bear Lodge Mountains are the last ridge at about 70 miles distant from my camera. Beyond them is South Dakota. Closer in the center panel of the “Triptych” is the first National Monument (Devil’s Tower). The tower is about 35 miles from my camera in this capture early after sunrise that snowy morning. The right “Tryptych” panel contains the three volcanic cousins of the Devil’s Tower. Those called the “Missouri Buttes”. They were all part of the same volcanic system closely related in time and space. The Devil’s Tower had a better advertising agency than the Missouri Buttes. AKA known as the “Three Sisters”, the wagon pioneers knew them as a way point on the 19th century GPS they used.

Location: near the Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands (Wyotana)

Title: Northern Crook Co Wyoming

Posted on June 18, 2020June 10, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Crimson Silhouette Pine Ridge

Twilight captures in June tend to be a very early morning rise for me. I’m thinking the night is just right at 8 hours long between sunrise and sunset these days. That makes for relatively short nights by the time I maintain my cameras for the next morning. Get up, get the dogs on patrol and something in my gut for breakfast. Then grab cam and go.

I often travel miles over two track backcountry roads to get to various locations I like to work terminator crossings. Some highpoint/ridgelines I frequent more than others but it depends on the time of year. That time of year of course controls which direction the sun is rising and setting. The sun is very far north at the moment and 2 days from the Summer Solstice as this posts (about a week after it was written on June 10th).

I get to have the sun rise and set over landscape features this time of year that I only see align for about 2 weeks. Similar short lived opportunities occur around the winter solstice as the sun rise and sets are furthest to the south. This celestial dance happens year after year. I just adjust my planning for where the “next photoshoot” is going to be based on the calendar. I run into most of the wildlife I photograph either on the way to work a sunset or after a sunrise on the way home. I’ve given up photographing wildlife in too dark an environment. Fully a waste of electrons as wildlife moves too much for low light work. The ones I do capture are rare. The wheel continues to turn if you watch.. 👀🤘

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands

Title: Crimson Silhouette Pine Ridge

Posted on May 30, 2020May 22, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Bumble Bees are Back

Getting eyebrow close with a big macro lens is always an exercise in “damn the torpedos”. When ever I dive into a flower rich environment to catch bees in action, I run the risk of pissing some body off lol. To date I have never been stung. I’ve had a couple of wasps dive bomb me though. Probably because I was too close to the entrance of their rock nest (cave). I spend hours every month of the summer chasing these guys. I have some new technology this year so we will see how they come out.

I’ll do my best to give you macro fans a slow but steady flow of the little guys this summer. The limitations of the optics are such that deep focus fields in these macro images is not easy to achieve. There is a fine balance between getting closer and getting focus. It depends on what your wanting to do technically.

Photographic Musings:

With ALL Macro shots, light is your friend. The more, the better. Putting your camera on manual and adjusting to f22 (for deep focus) makes a pin hole in the lens reducing light tremendously. So the more light you have to begin with, the better your image is going to look. Adjusting higher ISO (camera sensitivity) is your only way to get more out of the light you get from a pin hole. You can’t do a time exposure of a moving bee so 1/250th is your floor and I often take images at 1/3000 to freeze wings. Bright sun is always best…📸

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

Title: Bumble Bees are Back

Posted on April 5, 2020March 29, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Warbler and Turtles Sunning

Warbler and Turtles Sunning . (I have a big backyard)

First of all this is a game trail camera capture from last summer.. I have several 360 degree cameras that sense all around them for heat movement. I set this up on a landing under a tree to take pictures about 90 degrees to this. The heat of the Golden Warbler’s body triggered the camera and caught in freeze frame the turtle race ongoing on the log behind the grass curtain. The Male Warbler with Chestnut colored patches on his chest is not a particularly common bird up here. I caught this one several times with this camera though. I run a network of 29 game trail cameras spring through the early winter months. I have quite a few to gather after the winter isolation. Most will be out of batteries for various reasons. I do get interesting images from them. 🤔👀📸

That is a bunch of Western Painted Turtles sunning. This year I’m walking through there with a machete before I plant that camera. The grass is obfuscating to the turtles but I will get them next time lolol.

I saw the first Pronghorn on ranch for the spring this evening on the way to this pond. I took images of an early arrival Great Blue Heron this evening that will take a week to publish on line. A week is my minimum turn around generally these days. The time of same day “take the image” and “post the images’ has long since passed lololol.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Title: Warbler and Turtles Sunning

Posted on March 26, 2020March 26, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Golden Warbler Foraging

Golden Warbler Foraging.
Part of the joy of my job is I get to see odd things occur now and then (OK, every day). I sometimes consider the other places I’ve lived during my travels. Then I compare them to the 20 years I’ve spent on this wondrous place. Not even close .
Magical things often appear in the wetlands in front of me. I am just a stenographer taking notes about the big stage productions in front of me. Click click of the keys of the steno machine or the camera. No difference in effect. The details are in the dark here for this fantasy image. Imagine the mood of that moment in time and space. You could hear thunder rumbling 24 miles out.
I can not record all that I see with my cameras. They possess superhuman sight much better than mine but their ability to see dynamic range is limited. It is for instance VERY hard and essentially impossible to take a stars photos behind the full unveiled moon. You could see it with your eye easily. Not so much cameras.
Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch,Wyoming/Montana borderlands.
Title : Golden Warbler Foraging.

Posted on March 6, 2020March 2, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Medusa Dancing in a Thistle

I often find myself out in the middle of nowhere in the grass during sunset. Humm I wonder what’s around for filter material? 🤔🤔 Also discovered is the tendency toward you actually being where you are. A limiting factor certainly lolol. Photography is both planned AND accidental when it occurs. Rule one of getting a photograph:

RULE 1: Have a camera with you as much as possible. I don’t even like to go outside without one when I’m going to do ranch chores in the mud in the rain.☑️

I have a very limited amount of time to shoot sunsets. Depending on the sky, I choose what camera/lens combination I’m going to grab to “work” the scene unfolding in front of my eyes. A Clear Sky Sunset is an indication ahead of time to set up a “Close / Far perspective image. The Thistle globe of seeds was my sun filter to reduce / minimize the glare from the sun.

Photographic Musings:

You need a HIGH f-stop number for the deep focus plus it’s reduction of light. ISO 100 (low ISO for bright light camera sensitivity), and use shutter speed to adjust for what ever lighting scenario/exposure levels you wish.

I use filters all the time. In this case, I used a “Cellulose” filter (the thistle seed globe about 5 inches across) Biggest one ever lol.
That old bright sun even here at sunset needs some moderation before those photons hit that digital chip in my Sony Alpha Cameras.
Just for the record, I haven’t put an actual glass filter on ANY of the 7 cameras I used daily for well over a year🙏

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

Title: Medusa Dancing in a Thistle

Posted on March 2, 2020March 2, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Backlit Bumble Bee Buzzing

A tad out of season is this Bee on a Summer Day. As I type this a cold weather front is incoming tomorrow so a little summer bluster here for you today.

I’m still finishing random photos from pretty much the last 3 years so don’t bee surprised to see a few more trickle in this winter lol. Its nice to keep the season in perspective. Looking ahead 3 months ago is healthy if you have the images. This wing detail is pretty good and the overall focus dang good considering how close I am and how fast this is happening. . The limitations of the technology are such that deep focus in these macro images is not easy to achieve. There is a fine balance between getting closer and getting focus. It depends on what your wanting to do technically.

Bumblers are sort of rare these days mid winter We’ve been in winter conditions pretty much since Oct 1. That was the last time I’ve seen a flying bumbler this year. I’ll do my best to give you macro fans a slow but steady flow of the little guys 🤠

I like the winter, but……starting in October is a LOT early. I’m used to mid-November kick offs and hard freezes. I’ve took a road trip through Yellowstone in mid October one year. Not this year lolol. Wyoming weather is such you can have snow in any month of the year. Here in March, anything is possible weather wise. Our biggest snows are in March and April.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Title: Backlit Bumble Bee Buzzing

Posted on March 1, 2020March 2, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Landscape Twilight Windmill

Windmill Weekend, Windmill Junkies Unite 🤘🤘👀 You know who you are 😜

Notorious Photoboming Windmill “Re Pete”, brother of “Sneaky Pete” the Windmill. They continuously photobomb my landscapes / skyscapes. I of course have no control over their actions as you that follow this long running narrative certainly understand. Each of the “Pete” brothers has his distinct characteristics and personality.

“Re Pete” the Windmill is an AerMotor brand I think was built in the 1920’s. Aermotor windmills account for the bulk of windmills out there. The company started way back in the 1888 with 24 sold the first year. By 1892, 20000 had been sold lolol. The company still exists. They also sold a LOT of steel fire “look out towers” for fire watch and being a lightning target lololol. “Re” is located about 3 miles into the backcountry from my homestead. It’s all two tracks and some interesting terrain to cross to get there. Nothing is close here. Its quite hard as I post this mid-winter to get to this windmill. I guess if he wants the publicity that he seeks, he’ll have to come to me …. 😀

Veiled sun sunsets where the sun dives behind the cloud always give me pause to do a close far perspective but since the angle to see this windmill through the trees changes nightly, I have to check in regularly. The topography isn’t always cooperative in composing such images as this. .

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

Title: Landscape Twilight Windmill

Posted on February 27, 2020March 2, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Middle of Brown Season

I am literally standing on the Montana/Wyoming border taking this shot. This is a favorite overlook of mine. A view to the north of the Mud Hills which is the first Mountain range north of my ranch. It sits across the 10 mile wide Ranch Creek Drainage. We call this place the “treed” pasture as it’s about 2 square miles of mixed pine trees. There are many parallel ridges/grassy hills with deep gullies between.

A land of many uses:

Cattle grazing during the summer pasture is a major use here obviously. Cattle can’t be pastured around pine trees in the winter as they will eat the needles. Those needles contain turpentine which will cause the pregnant cows to spontaneously abort. Several hundred cow/calf pair hang out around here for a month or two during Late May through Early July. We move cattle out of here in early July to facilitate the Wyoming Tactical Rifle Championship. Courses 3 and 4 use the borderland areas of our ranch. .

This ground has been home to a nationally ranked Team Tactical Rifle Championship for 18 years. Almost 4 miles of groomed rifle courses in 16 shooting stations. Exposing 150 fixed reactive steel Targets out to 1200 yards. This location is the last (or first) station on course 3 lolol. Snipers nest with literally thousands of precision rifle shots at those reactive steel targets down range.

There are a few dozen fossil locations (I’ve found so far) within this “Pasture”. Hell Creek/Lance Formation exist here that contain dinosaurian (and others) fossils. I found my first dinosaur tooth in this pasture 18 years ago. I knew they were here, I just didn’t know where. You do have to look though occasionally I stumble on dinosaur bones laying in the grass. They often look like any other stone in the middle of the prairie. I have found several fossil locations that way. You can’t find them if you can’t see them lolol.

We even have had a nationally released 4×4 video in 2008 filmed here. Peterson’s 4 Wheel Drive and Off Road Magazine filmed part of their “Ultimate Adventure” video series here that year. It’s out there if you want to watch several high end jeeps flip over. All trying to climb out of some of the soft sandstone lined gullies here on ranch.

As I say, a land of many uses…

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

Title: Middle of Brown Season

Posted on January 15, 2020January 8, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Grass Sunlight Filter

Our here in the high ridges of the borderlands of Montana / Wyoming there are millions of acres of grasslands. This was a wonderful veiled sky with a diffuse sun and a dense cloud deck above. The combination of the two required a foreground for the image to suit me.

To use the head of a shoot of grass to grace a veiled sunset is not a new effort but is always a worthy target. Grass contains such an elegant form. Smooth curves abound. Over the years I have found that “you are where you are during the final minutes of sunset”. My mind wanders to the “filter materials at hand” for this kind of Close / Far perspective. When your in the middle of a square mile of pasture land, you have to act fact with a wonderful sky as behind this shoot and use a seed head.

I am generally soured on using glass filters in front of my cameras while shooting into the sun. I WAY prefer to use “cellulose” filters to reduce the glare from the furnace above. Here I’m letting this stand of grass moderate the amounts of light coming into the camera. Even a few percent help. Any photo is a light balancing act inside the camera. You onlyhave just three settings to play with . I suggest to you that it would be good to learn to use that camera on Manual Mode finally. (If you don’t already know how). I am happy to keep talking about HOW I take my photos for you guys to follow along. Ask if you have a question. 🤔📷

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

Title: Grass Sunlight Filter

Posted on December 19, 2019December 13, 2019 by Frank Bliss

Foggy Fence Line Sunrise

Up above the ground clouds, these high backcountry ridge tops make for an awesome sunrise over the top. I’m several hundred feet higher than the valley floor The heavier, cooler air settles in the valley. Moisture condenses and the “Golden Hour” light against a blue sky grabbed my attention. The rustic/rural nature of this image is only matched by the sites remoteness.

I took this image from right at the highest point around locally. This captures elevation is around 4100 feet. The lowest point in Wyoming is On the Belle Fource River at 3099 feet. That location is about 70 miles east of this location. Gannet Peak in the Wind River Mountains is the highest point in Wyoming at 13,804 feet with several peaks just below that elevation. I live at 3780 feet in elevation. I have lived for a decade at 6200 feet at the foot of the Teton Range. The winters are MUCH milder down here except for the winds….

Having put a few fences in, I will tell you that that line of posts and wire was a lot of work. Ranches have tremendous infra-structure in the numerous miles of fences to rotate stock from pasture to pasture. I think we have about 30 miles of fencing in or around out ground. Just having one big pasture is a bad plan. You want to be able to rotate your stock animals from pasture to pasture. Water sources central ideally in those pastures. Generations of ranchers have figured out that works best. Fences also help prevent mixing of different ranchers cow herds togethers. Not only is there a property reason for them, they allow good grass management practices based on an areas attributes and deficiencies.

Location: Near the Bliss Dinoaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands (Wyotana)

Title: Foggy Fence Line Sunrise

Posted on December 17, 2019December 11, 2019 by Frank Bliss

Cellulose Filter Sunset

I really don’t like glass filters in front of my lenses. They sometimes give me ghosts that are virtually impossible to remove. My alternative is to use what ever cellulose that is hand. I present a couple of nicely filled out grass seed heads for your filtration enjoyment…..

I find a lot a beauty in simple things. There is never a lack of something to focus on I find. As long as there is light, a piece of nature and a good camera, anything is possible. Making a crescent sun out of a cellulose fan…. not as straight forward as you think but worth trying sometime. Be careful not do this with a DLSR camera as you’ll likely blind yourself. I only use mirrorless removable lens cameras for such “into the sun” images. I watch the image on a video screen in my camera. There is no chance for me blinding myself looking at video. I point out AGAIN that regular DSLR cameras have a straight light path to your eye. You really can do damage.

Some mirrorless cameras are not made/designed/ able to look into the sun directly. You will burn a spot in your cameras sensor chip on smaller sensor cameras. You might check with the manufacturer to see if this kind of ultra bright work is safe with your particular camera/lens combination. Not all cameras are. The larger sensor cameras spread the image out over a much larger area and thus the temperature on the sensor is reduced.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Title: Cellulose Filter Sunset

Posted on December 8, 2019December 1, 2019 by Frank Bliss

Bee Pollen Mining on Hollyhock

A tad out of season is this Bee Pollen Mining on Hollyhock

I’m still finishing random photos from pretty much the last 3 years so don’t bee surprised to see a few more trickle in this winter lol. Its nice to keep the season in perspective. Looking back 6 months ago is healthy if you have the images. This wing detail is pretty good and the overall focus dang good considering how close I am. The limitations of the technology are such that deep focus in these macro images is not easy to achieve. There is a fine balance between getting closer and getting focus. It depends on what your wanting to do technically.

Bumblers are sort of rare these days. We’ve been in winter conditions pretty much since Oct 1. That was the last time I’ve seen a flying bumbler this year. I’ll do my best to give you macro fans a slow but steady flow of the little guys 🤠

The detail deep in the flower is amazing.. The first hard freeze took care of all that opportunity 😖 Now there is about a foot of snow on the ground.

I like the winter, but……starting in October is a LOT early. I’m used to mid-november kick offs and hard freezes. I’ve took a road trip through Yellowstone in mid October one year. Not this year lolol. Wyoming weather is such you can have snow in any month of the year. This posts Dec 8th….

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Title: “Bee Pollen Mining on Hollyhock”

Posted on December 2, 2019November 26, 2019 by Frank Bliss

Deer Tick Cleaning Magpies

Deer Tick Cleaning Magpies with golden Alpenglow behind these two species cooperating so closely. There are several images in this timeline still to be finished.

The Bird Is a Magpie, a fairly common bird here in the borderlands of Montana and Wyoming. We live on the high ridges with a mix of wildlife, deer, pronghorn, some lions and coyotes with the occasional wolf and bear. I seldom see such a big bird interact with deer but have seen this before.

The lighting was bright from behind and there was a lot of fog/moisture in the air. All the brightness was amplified by the Projector Screen the fog became. The Golden Alpenglow and mist behind him made it necessary to silhouette him. The camera couldn’t do any better. There is no way to accurately bring out the detail in the deer or birds body. So I left them as the camera saw them.

A symbiotic relationship between magpies and deer doesn’t seem logical but here they are. Somehow the deer, jumpy as heck, knows to allow these raucous birds to land and pick away. I’m pretty sure the ticks are torn away and not gently pried out like they should be. It has to be taught from parent to fawn somehow. I had never witnessed this before this timeline and I have several more similar captures, one with a deer and several birds on her. Crazy stuff you see only once or twice in a lifetime.

Magpies are cool birds. Lewis and Clark reported that they came into their tents to steel food. They used to follow hunters to clean up the “leavings” from hunts. They are mostly a western bird with our place being centered in their distribution.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Title: Deer Tick Cleaning Magpies 2-1 Aspect Ratio

Posted on November 28, 2019November 21, 2019 by Frank Bliss

Golden Hour Sunset on Snow

Golden Hour Sunset on Snow. When the sun is so low, slowly working left of the BigHorn Mountains here, the light is quite golden.

You would be blinded looking into this scene but the ability to shut the camera down to light changes the game.

This is an overlook across 130 miles of landscape in north central Wyoming. Looking west into the scene that the pioneers saw at the end of a long day of travel. Custer was around here, Native Americans were all over this place for thousands of years. The history here is long, many have crossed that land but daily I walk places where no human has been before.

We are up high on the ridges where there is not much running water. We find TeePee Rings, a few artifacts, stone tools, even a couple of metal ornaments (rare). There actually exists one of the very RARE Documented Clovis Man Habitation site within 10 miles of my ranch. It’s not on my land however. Those same pre-historic folks walked around the post’ glacial landscape burning/slashing/hunting/driving game for a living. I have no doubt they were walking here to some of our artesian spring locations.

When the pioneers got here, they built dams below those artesian wells and formed lakes. The natives didn’t have that option and it can be a long way between water holes when you have deer bladder canteens to carry your water for the day…

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Title Golden Hour Sunset on Snow

Posted on November 27, 2019November 23, 2019 by Bliss

Bumble Bee Pollen Mining

One of the last of the 2019 Bee images “Bumble Bee Pollen Mining” on a wildflower naturalized up in the shelter belt (woods) west of our homestead. A bit out of season lolol.

Photographic Musings:

This image ended up with a particularly deep focus for this kind of work. Much of the image is fairly sharp which is noticable to me at least as I’ve done a few of these lately lolol📸

Mini-Lesson for working on Manual:
This particular ultra macro lens has a ring of LED’s around it’s periphery which helps tremendously in cranking up the f stop numbers to give yourself a deep focus. For something less than an inch long….from about 2 inches away…pretty deep field of focus….. So this has a Manually set High F-stop# of 36 with this lens = deepest field of focus possible (thick) but you loose light gathering ability the higher the fstop number. You also loose a little sharpness due to diffraction. Light has to come from somewhere, so you need to select a longer exposure speed and or turn up ISO (camera sensitivity) higher to gain more light. . But higher ISO numbers give you grain soo…double edge sword. Only three things to adjust in manual really….. 😎

Anybody got a cell phone photo like this? They would work for this kind of photography pretty well I believe. Except the getting stung part lolol. (In full disclosure I’ve never been stung doing this. I’m just a really bright extra sun incoming with this illuminated lens.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands

Title Bumble Bee Pollen Mining

Posted on November 21, 2019November 16, 2019 by Bliss

Deer Tick Cleaning Station

Deer Tick Cleaning Station with golden Alpenglow behind these two species cooperating so closely.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Title: Deer Tick Cleaning Station

Posted on November 8, 2019November 16, 2019 by Bliss

Tachnid Fly Gardener’s Friend #3

Tachnid Fly: A Gardener’s Friend #3

This is the third image I finished from this photo session with a Gold Tachnid Fly. Tachnid Flies as a group are wonderful things to have in your garden. They kill major insect pests that destroy our crops. Kind of a big fly, really bristly and quite a vivid appearance highlights this Tachnid Fly Gardeners Friend #3.. This capture is by far the best of 3 in the series technically. Also artistically really from this time line of finished images. The Asters were post frost pollen providers here.

In an unusual manner, SOME species of Tachnids actually have their eggs develop in their bodies. Thus giving birth to live larva which they deposit readily in caterpillars and other crop eating insects. As a group they do a tremendous service to us in general. The adulst are around your garden to drink nectar through that have their ulterior motive for visiting your garden. They inject their larva (or just eggs under the skin so the larvae will slowly digest the host bug. Killing the host as it develops. (more on this later).

Sounds like an early Japanese Horror Film. Some species of Tachnids lay a live larva on a leaf and it will crawl around looking for a host to burrow into. Then it will eat and digest it slowly from the inside out. The larvae (of course) start on the least important parts of their host to keep it alive longer. Kind of like Cow birds and Cuckoos laying their eggs in another nest.

But these guys have the added feature of killing the host. Classy Lifestyle if I may say so. . Parasitic reproduction for sure but these are not animal carrion flies that carry disease about. As I’ve said, they are our friend. Good thing they only pick on other bugs that tend to eat our crops. The eat nectar, pollens and saps as an adult. This one is munching on pollen from the surviving asters after the first heavy frost. Not much else to eat out there.

Photographers notes:

The lens I used for this is a little odd being about 2 feet long. It is only an inch in diameter. It has LED lights at the end around the lens. They tend to be a bit yellow in general but yellow plus gold is vivid. . Being “Ultra macro” with a very deep focal field is rare. Getting the fly and mostly the flower in focus is an amazing performance . Even more so considering the “plus” size that these Flies are. He’s at least 1/2 inch long if not a tad larger. Getting this close to a fly feeding with a bright light….. Esier than without the bright light 🤔📸 or so I’ve noticed.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Tachnid Fly Gardener’s Friend #3

Posted on October 28, 2019November 16, 2019 by Bliss

Sunrise With a Banded Sky

Most Sunrise with a Banded Sky aren’t usually this dramatic but some ultra high light environments I visit bring a certain amount of intensity to the image. With good equipment you don’t blind yourself looking through an old DSLR (I only use mirrorless cameras and don’t suggest using a DSLR with a direct optic path to your eye to try this. It might be the last thing you do. The new mirrorless cameras handle this and your looking at a video of the scene, not blinding bright light through the viewfinder.

Photomusings:

High shutter speed, High fstop and low ISO for this kind of thing. Manual mode of course. You should go with a high fstop not for the focus it brings but for the light it cuts out. Blinding stuff here. Camera sensitivity (ISO) low and a high shutter speed combined with a high fstop is basically shutting the camera down for light. Picking up dark things like a landscape isn’t going to happen but you could see a sunspot if it were there. Using a standard DSLR camera could blind you for this since there is a direct path of light to your eye. I use only the aforementioned “Mirrorless” cameras (Removable Lens Mirrorless) in my photographic habits of pointing a big light gathering lens directly at the sun. Note that ALL mirrorless cameras are not rated to look directly into the sun without a filter so do your research. They can get spots burnt onto the smaller sensors by the focused light. The Sony Alpha 7 (large sensor) cameras I use have been doing this for well over a year now thousands of time…no spots burnt in anywhere ever…. Please don’t go blind trying to do this if you don’t have a mirrorless camera where your looking at the scene via video. (disclaimer).

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands

Sunrise With a Banded Sky

Posted on October 18, 2019November 16, 2019 by Bliss

Off Golden Pond

“Off Golden Pond” This is one of the few shots I have published where I left in the lens flare(s). To me they are internal reflections in the camera, are artifacts I usually remove….that are apparently becoming quite the style with lens flares being incorporated into major movies I’ve noticed of late….

I find Lens Flares are difficult to incorporate artistically into an image in my experience. Mostly they are difficult to avoid pointing a camera toward the sun or other really bright lights because they actually can destroy the image covering it with glare. Often they are more difficult to remove in the digital darkroom if you are “cleaning” up your image there Try taking something like a huge light area off an otherwise ultra-smooth color gradient….(laughing maniacially). Have fun with that .

This one has at least 4 flares in a line to 6 o’clock. I’m not sure what the big deal is with them in modern films, but I’ll work the problem on my end when I can lolol.

To me, this image is all about the line of grass framing the bottom of the capture. Portrait aspect. I captured these photons Off this Golden Pond thus the name (sly smile). Reflections……

Location: Reflecting off…..the Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands…

Posted on October 17, 2019October 11, 2019 by Bliss

Sunset Across the Little Powder River Valley

This cool Sunset across the Little Powder River Valley with the Sun lighting up the fog/inversion layer was quite hard to capture. The sun was actually quite bright in the sky and the fog barely illuminated. Tough to bring out of the shadow (low exposure area)…
These Sony Alpha 7 Cameras are high/low light monsters. I strongly suggest one if your doing sunrises/sunset photography.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Posted on October 16, 2019October 10, 2019 by Bliss

Reflections Grassy Knob Lake

“Reflections Grassy Knob Lake” is a study I did of this interesting shape (use of negative space) within the overall environment of rippled/reflected Nautical Twilight Sky off a lake on the Montana/Wyoming borderline. There was enough wind to ripple and the sky was starting to blaze. Click

As I move about in the backcountry here in the borderlans…I often see little areas of Zen like this almost everywhere but the hard part is capturing the scene in my photon capture boxes..🤔

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

Posted on October 8, 2019October 8, 2019 by Bliss

Autumn Landscape in the Borderlands of Wyoming:Montana

An Autumn Landscape in the Borderlands of Wyoming/Montana.

I’m standing on a hill top in Montana about 4 miles north of the Ranch on the right side of the image. I’m shooting south into Wyoming across some of our place 40 miles out to the cloud decked “Red Hills”.

This is without a doubt, the greenest I’ve ever seen this landscape and I’ve been watching it cycle between white green and brown season for 20 years.

I’ve yet to really see brown season and I NEVER even had to fill up my fire truck this year :). Snow tomomorrow…. A big storm is moving through and through thursday we’re getting dumpted on. I still have a few chores to winterize totally but I’ll get another chance. Pretty much done with the important stuff…

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Posted on October 1, 2019September 27, 2019 by Bliss

Highlights of Grass

“Highlights of Grass” is a result of my tendency to use cellulose filters of all kinds to reduce the glare coming into my photon capture boxes. Highlights of course are my target here and the fine hairs on a head of healthy grass is a good place to hunt those photons.🤣

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

www.blissphotographics.com

Posted on September 26, 2019September 24, 2019 by Bliss

Spools of Old Barbed Wire on the Prairie

As I was driving across some rather large expanses of open public ground, the old spools of barbed wire on the open prairie was something that stood out…… Click… These are remnants of “fixin” fence down yonder in the draw crowd that took the time to spool this old stuff up. It is very rough to handle and heavy in spools that big. Rabbits make it a hiding place and since it’s on about the highest point in the field, bet it has had it share of lightning hits.

Location: the Montana/Wyoming borderlands.

Posted on September 23, 2019September 22, 2019 by Bliss

Just North of Gillette Wyoming

I took this on the road just north of Gillette Wyoming. It is in the Little Powder River Valley where that 6 foot across river (currently) eroded all this Alluvial Fan Deposit away…it’s actually traceable way back to the Big Horn Mountains 100 miles away. (Tullock Formation of Tertiary age).
This is located just north of the coal measures being mined at the surface.
When the geology is traced back, the undertanding that the hills on the other side of this valley connect layer by layer with this side. Lot of work for such a little river🤔

Anybody notice the small herd of antelope on the lower left??

Posted on September 22, 2019September 21, 2019 by Bliss

Spring on the Wyoming/Montana Border

This wonderful Spring on the Wyoming/Montana border with snow in the hollows. The green is Irish Spring kind of stuff after 8 month of brown and white season last year.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Posted on September 18, 2019September 18, 2019 by Bliss

Alpenglow Off Golden Pond with a Grass Filter

Some mornings when I get up early, I question why but Golden Alpenglow reflecting off a Pond with a good cellulose (grass) filter good enough reason …..

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands. A farm pond……

Posted on September 17, 2019September 14, 2019 by Bliss

LoneTree Framed by the Light

As I’ve said many times, a Lone Tree framed by Light is by far one of my favorite captures. I’ve got a few dozen that I’m really in love with and this is one of them

That golden hour light with a complex sky makes for spectacular viewing no matter what your looking at but the natural triangular frame was too hard to ignore.

Location; Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.