Snowy Owl, Extreme NW Macon County IL

While waiting for things to open on Thursday morning, I took a ride out into the country. Not expecting to see much for even the heavy frost at ground level wasn't very interesting, upon crossing a small bridge I spooked a Snowy Owl at rest. It flew out and landed in a field too far for me to estimate with accuracy. Pulling over and managing to walk about 15 yards away from my vehicle so to be closer to it, I am very pleased with this new opportunity despite the distance. Had I not kept an eye on it as it flew, I could have easily lost sight for it blended in exceptionally well with the landscape. I was located about 1000 feet inside the Macon County line where it meets Logan and Dewitt.





To give an idea of just how far away it was, the inset on this is full 300mm at 100% and still very small. My saving grace for being able to curtail shake was the use of a cable release.




Other shots from the morning.

Ice Worms

While out on a walk Thursday morning, I encountered an entirely new macro ice formation that I had no idea existed. Roughly the diameter of spaghetti, it is frozen water ejected from worm tubes that froze on contact with the outside air which hovered at or slightly below freezing during the overnight. Unsure of what it might be called as everything these days has a name, a friend suggested Frost Flowers. Since the liquid was free standing and not extruding from or clinging to any type of foliage it is not this phenomena. On the same page however, I clicked Needle Ice and though I have been unable to find illustrations similar to these, I believe this to be an accurate description of the process though not necessarily of the subject being represented.







Keeping in mind that this is no thicker than a coffee stirrer, I also discovered a tiny Ice Spike that was no larger than a sewing needle tip. Ice spikes aren't particularly common so to find one developing on an equally bizarre as well as rare formation makes this a highly successful outing. You're never too old discover something new.

Frosty Eclipse

Although we weren't in the most favored area for viewing today's lunar eclipse, we did get to witness roughly 15 minutes of the beginning before it slipped below the horizon. I was at work and would have preferred to be out in the country.



With a morning low of 18, conditions were ideal for frost formation. The foreground object is a pine needle.

First Flakes

What started out as practice for the season turned into an interesting opportunity when a mite strolled into the scene. A better way of shooting macro other than hand held in low light would have been ideal for it is roughly the size of this period >.

Sunrise Of The Year

Awaking before dawn and sticking my head outside, I could tell by the altocumulus deck that there was the potential for a brilliant sunrise so long as the light angle was just right. Heading out and up the road a short way, my hunch verified.

March 11, 2006

Most people who were paying attention to the event will never forget the historic, record breaking Six State Supercell of March 12, 2006. Nearly 24 hours prior to it's passing through the region however, we had another severe weather event that up until now I did not really bother with except for maybe the first of my pictures. Editing experience along with a clever technique have enabled me to bring new life into old shots from this night that otherwise would never be seen for having been sorely underexposed.

Already under a tornado watch by nightfall, an MCC (mesoscale convective complex) prompting severe thunderstorm warnings in counties to the W churns across the state. Though our county would not earn warnings, others to the immediate N, W and S would. Radar archive images c/o IEM.




From inside my vehicle I tried to capture the intense lightning out ahead of the cluster with the following being my first push button CG capture. There otherwise wasn't much to see however, in review and heavy editing, the camera did pick up cloud details including a shot from just before the heavy rain set in. The dark mass to the left is a rain shaft approaching from the SE as you face W. The time stamp indicates that it was most likely the lead edge of the unwarned red core located SE of the warned area in the above radar image.




On passage, attention turns toward the S.


Facing SE and again trying to pick up lightning once the heaviest rain exited. What makes all these low quality JPEG's somewhat cool is an editing technique I have been recently applying when appropriate. Upon lightening, there was of course tremendous noise for which I then added noise reduction. Ending up with a much softer, milky image I then reintroduced noise in Photoshop by a factor of 7 that in turn helped mask imperfections and create uniform texture throughout the scene. Though they are far from ideal (as these are also second generation saves on the host end which contributes to web publish degradation), it is nice to finally be able to present pictures that have not been previously viewed.










and finally, a quick edit featuring the infamous storm of the following night as seen from S of Latham IL using the same technique.