Steve Irwin, a tragic loss

A MENTOR, CONSERVATIONLIST, FAMILY MAN, GREAT MAN LOST
The sudden and tragic loss of Steve Irwin, "The Crocodile hunter" struck me harder then I thought something like this could. My prayers are for Steve's family and friends who we have all come to know so well through his incredible TV shows. I want to express my condolences to the Irwin family, and say a few more things I did not get to say in my memorandum e-mail I sent into Animal planet. I've never done one of these before, I was not sure what to say.

Since I first watched his show, I have wanted to do the same stuff he did. I used to tell my mom "I want to be just like him someday, that’s the kind of thing I want to do". I have been inspired by his attitude and accomplishments. Steve showed me that you can raise up and do anything you want to with what you are into even if it's things most people are afraid of! Or it seems impossible to reach! And he showed the world not to fear or hate things just because they don't understand them. He taught respect for the natural world. My choice to build my website has at least some roots in the people who I looked up to from TV before I had a computer with Internet. I have many basic messages. One of the biggest is to get people to realize that spiders, insects, and other animals we hate or are afraid of should be understood and respected. It's sad--out here in The Dalles nearly every snake is a dead snake. People kill them out here because they don't know. Every spider is a brown recluse or black widow--I want to show the world what is fact.

So it effected me deeply when someone with so similar interests has passed away. I also probably met him if I recall. An energetic guy I recall the same age Steve would have been--at a reptile convention in Sydney. My mom, due to my interests, took me to this Sydney reptile convention. We went to two of the zoos but sadly not the Australia zoo, Steve’s place. All the top Crock and snake guys that were there in 1991 or 1992. There will never be anyone as good as him--but he has inspired me and many others to pursue natural history and photography of the natural world. Most of all--show it to people so that they want to save it. That was Steve's message and it works. My family and I send out our prayers to the Irwin family as I say, this hit everyone in my family. Below you can read what I sent to Animal Planet minus a few things I added and forgot to save before I sent in the message.

'MENTOR LOST
I am a self-described naturalist and photographer in The Dalles Oregon (USA). I have a large website called Mostly Macros. I believe I met Steve before he became a big hit on TV on a trip to Australia in 1992 when I was 13 at a reptile convention. I have been into “spiders snakes and lizards” since I could talk. Later, learning as a photographer I decided to try to do my small part to change attitudes about nature, especially insects and spiders and definitely snakes if they were more visible around here. The impact on snakes out here is huge--they are harder and harder to find and most people I meet tell stories about how many they have killed. I get angry at them sometimes and give lectures. Inspired in part by Steve, I began to show the world the facts about wildlife and why conservation and respect is so important even in the insect world. Someday, a compound in spider silk may make it possible for us to create a device that can save our planet from an incoming disaster, or venom may lead to a cure for terrible diseases.

God be with Steve's family and friends in this is a tragic loss. I really felt almost as if a friend or someone in my own family had died when I heard the tragic news. He will be will be painfully missed. We should keep in mind his TV shows and productions will live on to immortalize his incredible very rare ability to teach and tame the natural world for us. I am certain his TV shows will continue to inspire and educate future generations to come. God bless.

--G.Beasley'

Anyway--I just want to say that I am a fan of the show --was after and when I was in was in the hospital. Steve Irwin invented a kind of nature show everyone can watch. That took allot of talent and more. It’s a very sad loss--and my prayers and hart go out to the Irwin family. I will continue to learn from his TV show--and remember in what ways his incredible and un-beatable style and ability has influenced my life as a Naturalist and photographer and no doubt, many others. May God be with Steve’s family and friends in these difficult times. He lived an awesome life. I am glad he died doing what he loved.

COMMING UP---CAMPING----free-style-FULL MOON

"The smoke moon"

On a much lighter and awesome note--upcoming--my trip in the back-country of The Dalles! One day and one night--keep checking my site for clips and then the final post once I get it all put together. I had an incredible time and figured out how I really want to take pictures from here on. I really have to go to nature--and that's just what I did. I will post pictures, and my encounter with the “big Jawed Spider“--I got allot to do right now. Come back in a few days and check my site. I got allot to show! I spent 1 day and 1 night completely alone. No car. No way out. It was me and nature--and I returned well off, with pictures, stories--and can't wait to do it again.

When most people think of camping it's roasted marshmallows--or, an RV. Pay to park pay to pich and all that junk. NOT ME. I ONLY camp free-style. Somewhere out in the middle of no where. SO far away that I don't have to worry about what's in my tent being stolen. So far out there that I should be more afraid of the animals then I should any people. I like to go where there is no garbage, no crazy parties--no RVs and NO NOISE. A small creek fit the bill--and I camped on the edge of nature outside The Dalles. This one night stand cost me nothing and gave me freedom I really need. I can't wait to post more pictures, but I got to go for now. CHECK MY SITE in a few days.

SOME CURRENT NEW PROJECTS

"SunFlyer"

This is a high-res shot I got really lucky with. The right lens at the right time. I don't know what kind of butterfly this was, but I got in a good 10 shots before it flew away.

And this, this is why I love backyard natural history so much, I see it, it could fly away--got to get settings ready and click-click. It's a rush for me. I happened upon this beetle which I have no idea what it's real name is- and I have never seen it before. As I have seen with the giant beetles I call the "X-bugs", some species are uncommon, isolated in patches or seasonal every few years. This new beetle I call the Yellow striped beetle. I have spent many hours near this sunflower plant and only seen this one. As you might figure, I doubt it's colored yellow just because it is. There might be a serious link between the beetle and the Sunflower. I plan to do some work on some other pictures of this one to make it look much better--but I wanted to show you now. This is what I love about insect photography!


New life. A leaf grows from what people call a "weed". To me, it looks like an alien life form and thanks to my digital SLR I am able to get the depth of field to show it too you. Nearly all compact cameras only go to F8--actually ok for most bugs but not for long leaves like this one.


The summer is beginning to fade away. As this sunflower droops it's head in a final goodbye. I saw my first Christmas associated commercial a couple of days ago on TV. Come on--it's only firkin' August!


New Life 2. This is my grapevine, tender leaves grow out in hook-like formations. With no vision, they can cover a small tree as if a sheet had been thrown over it.


Another view of the Yellow striped beetle. It is a relative of the long-horns. That's all I can tell you since I took this picture today.

Some of my neighbors have an awesome back yard. I have one to thank for planting those big mini-sunflower plants and then letting me shoot there. This neat little summer hide-out with mini-sunflowers on the side of it contrast from real-sunlight hitting the flowers if I recall correctly. This image is sure not a paste-in or been changed at all with Photoshop. I like finding shots that work straight off the camera in manual mode. The patio-thing in the background is actually pretty awesome, the hideout has a hammock line and a great view. In construction it reminds me of my trips to Indonesia.



An old barn in Oregon. Out on Highway 30, the old road--you can see some incredible things from up here. And lots of old barns, buildings, and interesting stuff is out here too.


I grabbed this shot with a calculated combination of flash brightness and sun brightness. Even some compact cameras have serious control over your flash output. If you have one you can set manually that goes on your digital SLR you got it. If your digital SLR has one built in--then you should have a serious control of your flash. When balanced right it can become hard to tell if it's a ray of sun or flash.


A tiny fruit fly, apparently sucking up juices from this plant. This fly is about 2mm long.
For those who might be ambitious, I will tell you that you can build your own system like I did and take pictures like these. But don't ask me how--trade secret and a bit complex. I bought books and junk optics, and during my recovery from the very painful digestive system illness Pancreaitius-- for the first 6 months I did almost nothing but lay on my couch when ever I was not in too much pain and take pictures. Experimenting with 35mm film optics. I could not lift more then 25 pounds in the first few months and often it was very painful to sleep laying down. Being used to sitting up made me able to do experiments with my large desk and good lighting.

WILL DIGITAL PHOTOS REALLY LAST?
When I got well enough to take care of myself, I started processing my own film. I hate to see film go. I like the advantages of digital but still wish my picture was preserved on some kind of medium that I knew could be accessed simply in the future and can last. A negative. I am afraid of what will happen to all the digital images of our era. I fear the future will have a huge blackout of pictures after about the year 2004 when everyone started going digital. Upgrades and changes in formats, companies and most of all technology can cause huge problems for digital pictures or information stored in computerized media. If you left a 35mm negative in your attic for 50 years, as long as it was kept in a reasonably safe place you can have it re-printed anywhere in nearly any time with simple gear and chemicals which will almost certainly always be around. If you leave a CD, DVD or other memory device up there--in 50 years it is highly unlikely that you will be able to use any current technology to access it in any way. It may either cost a fortune, or even may be impossible to access due to unforeseen changes in technology and the fact that current technology does not last very well. This is my biggest fear for digital pictures. Up to 90% of them may be lost forever because they are not backed up automatically in hard copy as film always faithfully did. My choice to turn to digital has always been with serious regret for this reason. Just 25 years is too long--remember those old 360kb floppy disks that were nearly a foot long? If your as old as I am or older you do--and you probably also know that it's nearly impossible to find a computer that can access them today. The 8 track? Outdated systems and software used in images may cause many pictures to be lost forever as people often don't think of how important those negatives really are and most prints made today are poor quality so will only last a few years due to light damage and cheap paper. For me it's the price and the fact that the chemicals go bad so quickly which has me not taking as many film shots as I'd like. I still however shoot some film and plan to setup a new B&W dark room soon.


Seriously, I usually always show you life in these pictures. But the other day while driving with my mom less then two miles from my house and no more then a stones throw to the Columbia river I had to stop and take some pictures of this. Near the rail road junctions from here. 100s of huge oil drums. Marked only by color--with no warnings. Through my scope I saw no labels and no other info. What is this crap? I want to know--but I doubt anybody would tell me and if I did know I'd probably wish I'd have not asked. On a lighter note--my best guess is that these are empty diesel drums for trains. I normally do not talk politics on here--but I don't like this. We need to kick our suicidal fossil fuel habit, and LEAVE the mid-east to itself. The sad and terrible war in Iraq is a classic war that won't end for years unless we stop it. I see another massive influx of disabled and shell-shocked troops coming home with little or no help. I SUPPORT THE TROOPS. NOT THE WAR or the Bush administration. I am patriotic only to a point. If I were called to go I would. But that does not mean I must agree with the way things are running. I have watched many documentaries that opened my eyes on the Internet, PBS and Netflix. If you get a chance, watch them before you make up your mind and DO NOT let the news media make up your mind for you!


I shot this from a car on the way to The Dalles. Clouds hang into the top of the ridges here. It's like a scene from the Lord of the Rings. I called this one "Just East of Middle Earth".

This very small moth is an example of how colors and shades change. To get a true perspective, you must fire at least one flash on a wire or manually from all four sides several times to see how the light works at angles. This shot as you can tell because it has no shadow was taken with a direct flash.

GOBS OF NEW PICTURES! -- BEST TRAIN TRIP

This was where I stared my trip, from Union Station. I got on the right train at the right time. I was able to capture new images with some special access granted by the crew. This was my best sequence of rail shots ever possible. Given access to clear windows or open windows--I was able to bring you many of the following images without the usual serious glare and other problems.

SOME HUMBLE ADVICE AND THINGS I HAVE LEARNED
ALL these shots were done with my digital SLR in MANUAL modes and they were done, with NO time in the "Digital Darkroom" (Photoshop or other Photo edit programs). Not that I don't like to, or look down upon using it often--or how much of an enhancement to your pictures it can be. So do not take that wrong--it is great and most Photographers myself included could not get by well without these programs. Requirements for people shots, art, or many touch-up reasons are all legitimate to use Photoshop or a similar program for and makes you no less a photographer. I just like the manual way--and some people have been impressed by that. I think it all boils down to what I tell people--you should learn on a 1960s all mechanical all manual 35mm film SLR. The only thing that was electric is the light meter. I am just proud that I was quick enough on the controls and other things to get these shots as they are with only my name stamped on them. A note here--you can ask any Photographer and you will probably find out that "full-auto" is a mode only used in a very quickly needed shot with no time to set changes. There are so many variables--a computer simply cannot think well of the arts of lighting and colors needed to make it as pleasing. Even shooting modes are more complex to me then manual. A great deal of in camera on site settings can take away hours on the computer after shooting full-auto shots are overexposed or under or otherwise a mess.. I guess it's a preferred technique. RAW changed everything for the good in my opinion, I now shoot all my pictures in RAW+JPEG mode. The JPEG files are under 200K each. That way I can have a "demo" file that is still good enough to show off and put on the internet very well but not fill my HDD with HUGE RAW flies. An indexed CD system makes it possible now to find each picture I want in my CD archives. Until I figured that out, the mess is just so large that finding some of these pictures may take too long to be worth it. I have a huge problem with files before I figured out this method. It is VERY IMPORTANT to get that down or you will fill your hard disk with tons of files and finding a certain one might be too hard to be worth it. Even if you buy another external HD every other month--you will end up with a mess. Indexed DVDs or CD-Rs are the way to go. (Update 2011--) I used to think this--until I had over 1000 DVDs and a house fire! Needless to say I lost everything on the DVDs and CDs but I was able to recover a large number of my external hard drives. It was incredible after being burned and soaked they survived. With hard drive space now cheaper then DVD space--I think because technology has moved so fast buying a new external HDD 1TB or so every so often is the best way to backup your pictures. Of course you should make backups of those somewhere, but in terms of trying to find a single picture--nothing beats a few USB HDDs. And as the technology changes, you can simply copy those drives into whatever new media comes along. Hard drives have become my medium of choice for keeping and backing up my photos since 2009.


A house if I recall probably some where near Klamath Falls. Historical stuff is everywhere from junk to neat old houses. Don't worry--I'm not planning to do a boring show here.


A trucker, I bet he has no idea that his reflection out here in the desert of real water and mirages could ever make such an image.

I think I took this one on the Gray Hound bus. To depart from Union Station in Portland, I must take the bus to Portland from here in The Dalles where I spend most of my time.

This was not our locomotive, but it definitely has a personality of it's own.


A more modern caboose. I saw quite a few of them. Some of them older and not, this time I could only keep up with the train to a certain degree and so only a few of the shots turned out ok.

Here is one of my cool views--in the back with the crew I shot right out the back of the train.
Sometimes you can do it without asking and sometimes you can't even get back there or when you do the glass is so bad it's useless to try. This was an incredible opportunity.


We went through several mountain ranges. I THINK this is Mount Shasta but I cannot be certain. With my special access and abilities on this trip--I was able to shoot about 100 shots of this and other passing mountains in Southern Oregon or there about (I think). More Mountain shots are below.


A real old train car. This could be older then the 1940s or only as new as the 1960s.
I tend to think it is pretty old. It was parked just along side of the tracks in a backed up place somewhat out of view. This was not a train display or some kind of collection. Because rail cars are so difficult to get off the tracks---sometimes they just leave them in old dead end tracks like this. I have seen a few old Pullman cars like this in other secluded places.


A better picture of the Covered bridge. It is either the largest, or the only covered bridge in Oregon. Or both--I forget.

Old junk is everywhere out there in the desert, I have more shots like this but I got 1000s of pictures to go through to find them. I took these shots a long time ago--and all these pictures is an example of the huge backlog I have of pictures to post and work on. I love to take those pictures and see they did well---but taking all the time and effort to put them on my website is takes allot of time. I also fear people will miss some of my pictures, but as I say-this is not an "all bug" site at all. And recently I have wanted to show the other kinds of pictures I take but often don't post.


I would have a great time if we could have stopped. There is so much interesting old stuff out there that you don't see every day or get a chance to go to in local towns. If you can find a crew member nice enough--they may open the window downstairs for you to catch pictures like this. I got lucky on this one trip. As you have probably seen from more recent train shots--glare and heavy glass problems cause serious problems with pictures. I had very clean windows to shoot from in certain areas as well. I have been unable to have this kind of trip with awesome abilities since.


"All junk goes to Heaven"

The desert out there is littered with old cars, trucks, farm gear, broken down buildings and other interesting stuff. It is too heavy and too much to get to the land fills or recycling I guess because there is so many farms that have LOTS of it. I passed several junkyards as well.



"Home on the Range"

This Ranch was one of 100s you pass as you come up from California. The delays have caused people to get nearly into fights with the crew and a constant complaint by other people--for me--they give me a chance to take more pictures. Because I have had a wide range of picture abilities where normally it would be dark passing many of these sites if the train were on schedule. The delays due to other train traffic should be estimated at least 6hrs on EVERY trip.

Recently Amtrak has been talking about changing schedules to figure out how to fix this problem. My advice is--if you have to be anywhere in 24hours--ride with lots of space, lots of potential friends, and plenty of places to lay down take Amtrak. If you want to spend more time in security and other lines at the airport then you spend in the airplane you will be on time but you won't want to even bring your nail clippers even if your an old lady. Amtrak is an awesome adventure. Family or friends can track your delays now--so they don't ever spend hours at the train station waiting for you. Amtrak.com or calling 1800USARAIL you can check the expected arrival time of any train as it happens. On the internet it is very easy. All kinds of wired stuff happens so it's great for photographers if you get lucky like I did on this trip.

If you need to be somewhere on time--fly or take the Bus. IF you want beautiful views or to meet people and plenty of room between you and anyone you don't want to sit next to or want to sleep--take Amtrak.


Click on this picture to find your old car.


"Just what the heck is this?"

Some kind of shack. You never know what's out there in the desert. Dad and I drive for miles and find stuff like this. Who built it and what it is for I Have no idea. Click on it to see some detail. Be sure to comeback to my site with your Internet browser arrow keys back to my site. < -- "Just what the heck is this?"

Some kind of shack. You never know what's out there in the desert. Dad and I drive for miles and find stuff like this. Who built it and what it is for I Have no idea. Click on it to see some detail. Be sure to comeback to my site with your Browser arrow keys back to my site. < -- These pictures are hot of the camera. With my digital SLR I was able to shoot far faster of course and this trip was one in more then 100. This is one of many mountain shots. They will get old if I keep posting them. I have at least 1000 pictures I want to post (publish) on this site from recent bugs to older shots like this that never made it. It is fun to take pictures but it takes a long time to post them. What a neat place this would be to go hikeing. My dad and I enjoy places like this and the high desert. Finally I have all the photographic power to do really awesome trips. When my dad has time again, I hope to bring some pictures of what is out there and what we see on these trips and long hikes which I surprizeingly and thankfully can still do dispite my physical illness. Not as well--but I still can. I am very glad that God would let me not only let me live but still be able to hike and explore as well. I am a very lucky man. I have only used words about my pain and how people think I'm fine and just making it up because I look so normal and strong most of the time publicly.

A new lens combo I built will soon bring better insect shots. It's a medium range macro system rather then the very close up that sometimes makes it difficult to photograph a medium sized moth or other larger insects.

"Clear Horizon"

Shots like this are normally not possible on Amtrak. If you go back you can find my newer shots and see the difference.



Another view, I was so lucky to get this access and chance on this one train trip. I did another similar one with those snow pictures if you go back to last winter under "all pictures". But views like this often require permission or finding a very rare very clean spot in the glass.

I'd like to hear what people want to see---opinions good or bad and of any kind are welcome. I want to know more about what people want and like because I am going to possibly start seriously selling pictures. I try to find stuff that is as new as I can get, and views that are "off the beaten path" like many of the shots on my site. I like to know more then my family and friends can really tell me. I could take a picture of a dead busted up bug and my family might well tell me it's more or less "good". That is what family is for. . So other then my friends and a bit of honesty from my family I want people to know that I have no bubble to be broken here. I want to know if people like the pictures I do--and which ones resonate the best to everyone. Tell me if you like any picture here. New stuff or all the 100s of others under “all pictures“
going back to over a year now. . Your comments and compliments have been very helpful and are always welcomed and appreciated..

I am creating a method to take pictures of insects which will make the bugs near my lights look better. I have been trying to find a way to take pictures of these insects in a more natural setting. I have a new idea on how to do this with the attracted bugs.

THIS IS NOT THE END OF MY WEBSITE!
THERE ARE 100s MORE PICTURES TO SEE! MANY PEOPLE DON'T FIGURE THIS OUT. SEEING THE REST OF MY PICTURES HERE IS VERY SIMPLE, PLEASE READ HOW HERE! Go to "all pictures" at the top of my website and click on each month starting with last month. Go up month by month and scroll down to the bottom until the very first month and you will have seen my entire website. I can't put 100s and 100s of pictures on one page or it would take days for even a fast computer to load my website. So I had to break it up into months. There are tons of pictures NOT ABOUT BUGS as well as articles. PLEASE DONT MISS IT--you will be glad you did not!

More Flower Creations

"Highlights"

This is a series of Photoshop edited files I created with a single picture I took of some flowers my mom gave me to attack bugs and pose them. They live in a small pot and are several varieties. When I was able to get it healthy--I took this one shot that became through my work in the "digital darkroom" to become new creations.


"Flower Egg"

My version of an artistic egg form. There are so many ways to do backgrounds that I have to think carefully of what is pleasing not only to myself but others. I test my parents and other people on what really stands out or is "my best" work.



Light changes, and a strange look happens. One thing I learn about learning Photoshop is to take notes. Sometimes I forget when I find a situation I have created but forgot the complex settings I used to make it!

"Side by Side"

I might want to re-name this one "X-Ray" as it seems to me now. The bright white and yellow flowers have been converted to a far different view and this was not a monochrome or B&W picture. When it comes to flower shots, my uncle is very good at it and lives with my Grandma who is an AVID gardener. He has an endless supply of subjects and flowers to work with. I have to try to get away with taking pictures in stores and near or sometimes even on other peoples lawn! I am registered as a Photographer here with The Dalles PD.

I still have a GREAT DEAL to learn about Photoshop. I was going to try to build the same constructions just like my uncle has been doing-really nice in Just Pictures, but I decided that copy-cat pictures are no good. Especially since our websites are linked and he is my Uncle and Mentor. So I am trying for the first time to concentrate more on the "digital Darkroom" (Photoshop) and am trying to find my own creations. I shoot far more bugs then flowers--and he has a great garden as well as local parks in Portland that are filled with birds and butterflies. I think I might ask to stay for a few days so that I can get a some wildlife shots in before the end of summer. Here in The Dalles there are parks but a taxi fee will be $15 bucks and they are way to up the hill to get to--no to mention "humanly sanitized". As I say, a "humanly sanitized park" or manicured lawns make me sick as they disrupt and pollute wildlife of all kinds. I'd rather see a yard full of weeds booming with life, green and so many other colors. I have ALLOT to learn about Photoshop. I am just a Novice but learn more after each process.

THE ONLY SHOT OF LIGHTING I HAVE EVER GOT WITH A SIMPLE STILL CAMERA
Only a couple of months ago this storm passed over my house. It had lighting flying across the sky like nothing I have seen here before. This picture has been touched up slightly--but only so that there is not as much noise--the lighting is exactly the same as it was when incredibly I was able to capture a bolt of lighting in action with my DX--which is a compact camera so it is slower then a digital SLR and I would never think this would happen. My SLR was being recharged or something and I was out there video taping the lighting. I was going to use my video capture card to get pictures of the lighting from there--I still might--but this shot was incredible. It was all by chance and not by skill, as you can tell by the houses below--I had seen the first of a couple of flashes and began to move the camera over for the shot--giving just enough to catch the edge of this huge bolt which covered the sky. I was a bit afraid of the local electrical wires next to me--the lighting lit up the entire sky and it was one hell of a storm for out here. It is not very common to get a lighting shot this way. Usually a long exposure, sensor, or video or film motion picture cameras are used since even if a digital SLR it is very hard to know when to click. In any heavy storm you have a chance however--this was done with a compact camera--the fact that lighting comes in sheets and formations sometimes can tip you off to click your shutter button with your widest angle lens. I have been in storms where the lighting is constant. If I had not been to the Philippines and seen it for myself and then later I would not have believed it. A lighting storm so violent that you could read a news paper with it since there was literally constant lighting coming from the huge distant cloud. I mean constant. It was like 100s of mirrors hanging in the sun--or more like a constant fireworks. I watched the cloud from a taxi for only a short time, but over there these kinds of tropical storms are relatively common. Over there I hope to catch some far better shots just by the luck of my shutter finger.

This picture is from nearly the same angle--as you can see the mountains in the blurred background, this may give you an idea of how big this lighting was. This picture (BELOW)
shows the valley where all the clouds got lit up in this shot.




The "bully Bees" are still at it. Just today I got several more shots I have not processed yet. In RAW, you still have to convert the files into JPEG and stamp them with your signature and that's what "processing" .

SILICONE CREATIONS FROM LIFE

"quicksilver"

With a bit of Photoshop experimentation I was able to do these creations. This took allot longer then you might think--no, I did not just click the "chrome" filter! This image took me about three hours to build because I wanted it to look a certain way.
--BE SURE TO CLICK ON THESE and use your BROWSER < -- control to go back to my site
"Chromatic"

This is an inverted copy that has had it's colors changed to the extreme from a B&W image.

"Black & Night"

A black and white picture of the flower that started it all.

"Night colors"

MY PHOTOSHOP ADVICE
And finally, the flower that started it all. Photographed the just a couple of days ago. Here I have worked on it to get good color--but beware--working too hard on something like color can cause hours of painful needless work. Don' t ever forget the first shot that has not been touched, it is the closest thing to the real image. Over-filtering and changing images in Photoshop or any other Photo edit program can cause serious trouble if you try too hard to bring the color out or get it right. Don't get obsessed. Save one large Photoshop file and use it as a template for high-JEPG images. That way all four of these pictures are in the same file. This saves space. You can adjust what words and what layers will be present simply by clicking on the view button. When you turn a layer off it does not get put into a JPEG copy of the file. Also--just to be safe--make a backup every time you make something cool--it's never too early to start saving files. Hours of lost work or one moment of brilliance forgotten or lost is a real pain. Save and put on CD! Just experiment with filters even if you have no idea how to use the systems. If you save a copy of the file you are working with (say a RAW file or a JPEG) that is untouched with another name, you can work with the copy of the file with no fear of damaging or loosing your first image. Or back it up on CD. Then you are free to see what all the filters and commands can do. Don't be afraid to try anything and remember that THERE IS ALLWAYS AN UNDO. I think you can typically undo up to 30 times backwards. You can set the number higher if you want.

GIVE PHOTOSHOP MORE MEMORY if you are using Elements or the full version--it might help your computer and things to be faster if you give Photoshop more memory in the Control panel (if your version has that). It's default setting is very low. Less then 300k if I recall--give it more of your RAM. Every bit counts but remember you will have memory problems if you go above your RAM even with virtual memory if you are using it with other big programs. If you have 512MB or 1MB or more you can up it at least by to 200k. But if your system is more limited then leave it where it is set.

Orchid Nightlight

People may often think this site is just another "bug" website. No. It's not. I just have not published enough of my other stuff sometimes. If you look deeper you will find more under "all pictures"--all those shots that have nothing to do with bugs and the ones that do. This is a very recent construction I did in Photoshop in less then two hours. I carry a good camera every where I go. That can really pay off when you want to find things like this and countless other stuff to photograph. I never know what I will find when I go anywhere, subjects, lighting situations, and even things of journalistic interest come up all the time, even out here in The Dalles. The lighting changes here alone is a good reason to carry a camera to be ready to take pictures of the hills at the right time. You would probably never guess where I shot these orchids. And I did photograph them myself. (I don't use other people's art or work in mine like that unless I say so giving credit and getting permission) And I do not ever leave my house without at least one good camera for anything that might come up. This image in full-res is extremely high resolution and would be very crisp as a-full sized huge poster.