Christmas Pics

Greetings, hoping your holiday season has been a good one thus far. Figured before something else comes along, just wanted to take a minute to express my appreciation to those of you who have supported the things I do. It's not as though I am important or anything I do is all that great but for you to take notice means quite a lot to me. As for the past few days, they have been very busy both with work and preparation for Christmas. Since I have become a lazy facebooker, the first few items are old news to some but worth mention so here goes...

Heading home the morning of the 21st and although not the best quality, got my first Kestrel. Not an easy task since they always take off and for being through the windshield, I was very surprised this turned out as well as it did.


Though we missed out on the lunar eclipse due to cloud cover earlier this day, I took the opportunity to dig out my photos of the February 2008 eclipse and assemble a new video FOUND HERE similar to the one I had on YouTube for the longest time. Using techniques I have learned since publishing the original, the time lapse is comprised of 40 images of differing exposures unlike the previous which only had like 10. If you never saw the old video (which has been deleted), don't worry you aren't missing anything.

On the morning of the 23rd I had nothing going on so I stepped out with the intent of catching sunrise out in the country. My plans were quickly canceled upon seeing that the left rear tire had gone flat through the overnight. Having no choice but to switch it out, as it would figure, the sky went nuts so I popped off a shot anyways. By the time I was ready to go the event had peaked but rather than be mad I just laughed and added it to the list of 2010 fails.


Heading out to Rock Springs with Ava later in the afternoon so she could play in the nature center, I also took the opportunity to photograph the show I am currently in with our local art group.


One of the living exhibits.


A few weeks ago through the website of Mike Hollingshead, I learned about an amazing plug-in for Photoshop called Topaz Denoise. Simply put, it removes noise while maintaining image integrity and is an excellent tool for saving bad images. The following photo was a worse case scenario since higher ISO images can become exceptionally noisy with excessive editing. I decided to put together the following demonstration to show how well this product works. Learn more about Topaz Denoise HERE.


It is no surprise that the following was from Christmas eve being as so much of the Midwest was receiving snow. For having minimal wind thus enabling snow to remain at rest on elevated surfaces, it truly was the perfect storm for those hoping for a white Christmas. I measured 5.5 inches total accumulation.








Christmas day, the following was not my doing, just the photo.


Ava's present to me and something that she insisted was a "must have" which is funny because I have always wanted one ;)


and finally, 1980 vs. 2010 and the passing on of what has been somewhat of a Hadfield tradition in that we all had them as kids and now Ava does as well.