wildlife: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) -You Need To Know This! - 05/07/10 03:25 AM
 
 
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Why bother to sign or otherwise mark your work? This is why: Found in Section 1202 of the U.S. Copyright Act, DMCA makes it illegal for someone to remove your copyright information from your photograph in order to disguise the fact that they are 'stealing' it.  Your copyright information is defined as your signature, watermark, website address, or copyright symbol.
(1) The title and other information identifying the work, including the information set forth on a notice of copyright.
(2) The name of, and other identifying information about, the author of a work.
… (48 comments)

wildlife: Split Toning in Photography - Get Creative! - 05/05/10 03:33 AM
 
 
Split Toning in Photography - Get Creative!
 
Traditionally, split toning was used to add both warm and cool tones, or color tints, to a black and white photograph.  It was done after the normal processing of a photograph by using chemicals in the darkroom, and is different from regular toning, such as sepia, which adds only a warm tone, as seen below.
Black & White                                                        Sepia

                            Split tone example using yellow and blue

 
But here we are in the digital age, and there are some fun ways for Photoshop's Camera Raw split toning tool … (36 comments)

wildlife: Let's Pretend for a Moment #1 - 04/23/10 09:35 AM
 
 
Let's Pretend for a Moment #1Ok, you're sitting on a few thousand acres of coal mining property, and the mine closed down 1928. It's 1930/40 something.  There really aren't any annoying codes to get in the way of whatever it is you need to do to shore up the creek bank that keeps washing out over the dirt road. So, What are you going to do? Why, recycle, of course! It makes perfect sense to fill the old mine truck fleet up with rocks, stick a few posts in the ground, put up a bit of wire, and there … (33 comments)

wildlife: SE Colorado, Part 6 - Authentic Ghost Town - 04/21/10 02:48 AM
 
 
SE Colorado, Part 6 - Authentic Ghost Town of Ludlow, Colorado  
Not far from the memorial site of the Ludlow Massacre, described in my last post on the South Eastern Colorado coal mining history, lies the ghost town of Ludlow, Colorado. Several buildings continue to hang on through the brutal Colorado winters, and the baking heat produced in the area in the summer.
No graffiti mars the buildings - no one has vandalized them that I can see -so they remain as a testament to times and a way of life long past.
 
School Houses -There are … (41 comments)

wildlife: Always Expect The Unexpected! - 04/18/10 03:14 AM
Always Expect The Unexpected!  
While stomping around at the old Berwind Coal Camp Mine, we walked up and down hills, across a creek, and up a hill again to get to this old abandoned building. Not a grueling hike, but not just off the road either. I wanted to get closer shots of the ruins on the hill, and this old building was the first thing I headed for.
In this photo, you can see how far away the road is - and what it took to get there.

I took shots of the outside as I approached … (42 comments)

wildlife: SE Colorado, Part 5 - The Ludlow Massacre - 04/15/10 03:06 AM
 
 
SE Colorado, Part 5  - The Ludlow Massacre Official call to go on strike, September 17, 1913 - "All mine workers are hereby notified that a strike of all the coal mine and coke oven workers in Colorado will begin on Tuesday, September 23, 1913.  We are striking for better wages, improved conditions, and union recognition. We are sure to win." When unrest over dangerous and unfair working and living conditions finally came to a head in the Berwind Coal Camp in SE Colorado, the miners decided to strike. The strike was organized by the United Mine Workers, and … (36 comments)

wildlife: Abstract Photos - Take It Through Glass - 04/11/10 05:16 AM
 
 Abstract Photos - Take It Through Glass  
This is a fun thing to try - Abstracts!
Set up a piece of textured glass in front of your subject, in this case I used a bouquet of flowers. Make sure the subject is sufficiently lit, position your subject for a good composition, and take the photo. The closer to the glass your subject is, the more definition there will be, the further away, the less definition there will be.
 

 

 
What you end up with is an abstract photograph. Try differently textured glass, and see what … (63 comments)

wildlife: SE Colorado, Part 4 - The Berwind Coal Camp Jail - 04/09/10 02:29 AM
 
 
 
SE Colorado, Part 4 - The Berwind Coal Camp Jail
In Part 3 of my series on back road discoveries in Southeastern Colorado, I shared the history of the Berwind Coal Camp, now a ghost town in Las Animas County, that once had a population of around 1000, consisting of miners and their families. In my story, I tried to show just how difficult life was during this period in Colorado's history, so it should come as no surprise that the Company had it's own jail.

But surprised we were when after stopping for photographs of … (40 comments)

wildlife: Our Techno Dependency - 04/08/10 03:08 AM
 
Our Techno Dependency  Yesterday, at about 9:30 AM, our computers, cell phones and landlines stopped working. Kapooey, NADA! It was the strangest thing. Suddenly, the only thing I wanted to do was to be on the computer, or call someone. LOL - I felt like a little girl lost. A fiber optic cable had been cut, and internet, and land lines managed by Qwest were down. If you had a Verizon cell, which uses the Qwest lines, and many of us do, then you didn't have cell service either.
The outage affected people in parts of 4 counties - … (35 comments)

wildlife: Just How Far Can The Airlines Push Us? - 04/06/10 12:59 PM
 
 
Just How Far Can The Airlines Push Us? Brian Williams just reported on the Nightly News that Spirit Airlines has begun charging 45.00 for passengers to place a carryon bag in the overhead!!! He also said that unless passengers begin raising *&^%, this kind of treatment will only get worse. Well, I am ready to raise some *&^%! I don't know about you, but I am outraged at the gouging of the airlines toward it's passengers. Enough is Enough! How long will it take for all the other airlines to jump on board with this? How long did it … (59 comments)

wildlife: Make Your Own Light Tent For Indoor Macro Photography - 04/06/10 02:29 AM
 
Make Your Own Light Tent For Indoor Macro Photography  
A light tent can do wonders for creating the right lighting when you are shooting macros indoors. Made from a lightweight white nylon fabric, it diffuses the light on your subject, and helps you avoid blownout highlights that can occur from direct lighting.
I found this 20" light tent at TableTopStudio.com.  It sells for $75.00. They fold up easily into a carrying case, and are great for taking from one place to another. Another option, is to make your own. Not as mobile, but a heck of a lot less … (36 comments)

wildlife: SE Colorado, Part 3 - The Ghost Town Coal Camp of Berwind, Colorado - 04/04/10 02:19 AM
 
 
SE Colorado, Part 3 - The Ghost Town Coal Camp of Berwind, Colorado
 
On this trip into southeastern Colorado, we took off on dirt roads that we had never been on, and had no idea what to expect. One such road had lots of surprises, but none more exciting than when we stumbled upon this.

This is the ghost town of Berwind, the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company coal camp that began in 1888, and named after Edward J. Berwind, the chairman of the board of CF&I.  The coal fields were enormous, stretching for miles through the … (51 comments)

wildlife: SE Colorado,Part 2 - Coke Ovens of Cokedale, Colorado - 04/02/10 02:20 AM
SE Colorado, Part 2 - Coke Ovens of Cokedale, Colorado

 
I had never seen a coke oven before, and as we came around the bend into Cokedale on Colorado County Road 12, my first thought was of Roman ruins.
 

 

Working in the coal mines was hard work. Very hard. But some were lucky enough to work above ground.
Coke ovens were used at extremely high temperatures to turn coal into 'coke', ( a very hard form of coal with the impurities removed), which is among other things, used to make steel. Coke heats at extremely … (50 comments)

wildlife: SE Colorado, Part 1 - Trinidad, Colorado - Rich in Western History And Architecture - 03/31/10 02:54 AM
Trinidad, Colorado - Rich in Western History And Architecture
The City of Trinidad, Colorado has done a suberb job in maintaining it's historical culture by blending the old with the new. The city is a paradise of historical structure just screaming to be photographed....and appreciated. Much is refurbished to it's original splendor - and much left just as it was.
Historical Trinidad enjoyed great wealth from ranching, and coal mining.
View of Trinidad from Simpson's Rest, where pioneer George Simpson hid for days from warring Ute Indians. He is buried there. I don't know if the indians found him, or he … (38 comments)

wildlife: Nostos-algos - The Desire To Return - 03/29/10 03:23 AM
 
 
Nostos-algos - The Desire To Return
I've spent the past two Sunday's exploring the back roads in Southern Colorado, and was thrilled at each new discovery of another piece of Colorado history. I have always been fascinated by history, historical events and buildings, and aside from from my motivation to 'know', I found myself pondering the question, 'Why?'
For those of you that enjoy it, I'll be posting a series of what I think are very interesting times and events in the part of the old west that is Colorado. Until then, the question again, Why?Why is it … (36 comments)

wildlife: Another Fun Toy - Shape Collage - And It's Free! - 03/26/10 03:04 AM
 
 
Another Fun Toy - Shape Collage - And It's Free! I came across this in a search for a free and easy collage maker for a website I'm working on, and wanted a collage for one of the pages. It is incredibly EASY, and the FREE version has some fun goodies to play with. It's called Shape Collage
                                      
 
Easily drag and drop as many photos as you like, then choose the shape you want (more in the paid version), the size, and the spacing between the photos you'd like. You can even add text.

In … (53 comments)

wildlife: Rum-running in Colorado? You Betcha! - 03/24/10 02:44 AM
 
Rum-running in Colorado? You Betcha!
On Sunday, with beautiful weather in the forecast, I headed for the hills.  Just outside Trinidad, Colorado on Hwy 12, I came across this old market with a very old truck parked right up against the front door. It's been there for a long, long time. Maybe the lock on the door didn't work...  

First, I was intrigued by the old Coca Cola and 7UP signs, and thrilled they were still there.  

But as I walked around the old store I saw another old truck, with bullet holes in the … (45 comments)

wildlife: Protea - 03/21/10 02:38 AM
 
 
Protea Proteas, also known as Sugarbushes, were named after the Greek God Proteas, because like him, they change their form. They are of an ancient family, whose ancestors were present over 300 million years ago, and are thought to be one of the oldest groups of flowering plants.  They were first discovered in the 1600's on the Cape of Good Hope, and became a favorite of botanists in Europe in the 1700's. Proteas are found mainly in the southern hemisphere, and there are an estimated 329 known species in South Africa where the protea is the national flower. A … (34 comments)

wildlife: Stuck In A Rut? - 03/19/10 03:16 AM
 
 
Stuck in a Rut? Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. - Will Rogers (1879-1935)
 

Born William Penn Adair Rogers, Will had a colorful life. He was one of eight children raised on a ranch in Oklahoma by prominent, part Cherokee parents, and became a skilled horseman - even performing in vaudeville as a trick riding and roping cowboy. At various times in his life, he appeared in Wild West shows, wrote a weekly newspaper column, had a radio braodcast, appeared in films, and traveled the globe. … (41 comments)

wildlife: The Orton Effect - Dreamy Image Making - 03/17/10 03:53 AM
 
 
The Orton Effect - Dreamy Image Making
 
The Orton Effect is a technique in which the resulting image has both very high, and very low detailed area within the same photo. First used by Michael Orton, (thus the name), the effect has a dreamy, artistic, and somewhat surreal feel to it.
The technique is achieved by blending two exposures, one in sharp detail, and the other out of focus. But let's say you have only one shot. How do you achieve the same effect with that? Well, there are a few different options. Here is one. And it's … (51 comments)