Well, first of all….Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanzaa to the wonderful people who visit here. I am truly appreciative that you spend a few moments out of your day to look at my images.
Now, to the mud. Here in the Northeastern U.S. we expect winter-like weather at Christmas time. A white Christmas is hoped for by most but at least it should be cold. The ground should be hard with patches of ice at the least if not hillocked with freshly snow-blown snow. Not so this year as it is @60°F and the ground is all soft and squishy.
I searched through the archives figuring I must have photographed a snowy Christmas day at some time in the past. Nupe. So here, for your holiday enjoyment, is the one image I found shot on a December 25th in 2011.
For inquiring minds, this was shot from a distance of 25 feet using my 300 f/4 macro lens with a circular polarizer at f/8 for 30 seconds. The idea was to silkify the water so much that the icicles stood out boldly. I just added silkify to my online dictionary…..the only reference I found on Google was for a women’s clothing shop in New Jersey. 🙂
I hope that everybody is having a fine holiday season…snow or not. Peace, joy and goodwill to all. That’s the present we are really desiring.
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
We had the slightest trace of snow overnight. Barely visible. Now the sun is out and 31*.
Is the ice splashed on from below? Interesting shapes and lumpiness.
Thanks for your creative photography. It highlights the beauty of nature.
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I’ve never actually watched but I would guess that it starts as melted snow dripping from above and then builds from the splashing water below.
Our weather will be changing through the day. The temperature is already dropping and the sky is brightening. No snow in the forecast however.
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I am confident you will get your share soon enough.
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I am sure we will eventually too, Jim.
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Silkify – I like it. Much the same here Steve, a very brown Christmas. Hope you and your family have a great holiday.
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Thanks, Mark. Same wishes to you and your family.
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Beautifully expressed, Steve. Me, I’m enjoying the mud 🙂
This photo is wonderful…very silkified.
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Mud is probably my least favorite thing, Melissa…..well, that is obviously not entirely true…but it is not one of my choice conditions. So you are welcome to all you want. 🙂
I hope you are having a wonderful day.
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There you have it- silkified ice cycles. Very pretty and I’m sorry that you have no snow. I’m thankful there is no snow where I live. It’s blustery and clear. Temp might be about 55-60 degrees- not sure.
This Christmas I’m grateful for many things and I keep learning not to stew or brew over little things. A good Christmas is about having no one in the family in the hospital or seriously ill.
It has been a pleasure to read and view your blog- keep up the good work.
Here’s wishing you, Mary Beth and, Murphy, a very nice day.
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I imagine that were you to have snow there it would be considered an emergency situation, Yvonne. Yes? 😉
There is little that is worth stewing over and it is not at all good for us. You have your priorities straight.
Thank you so much for all your nice comments and continued support of the blog, Yvonne. Mary Beth, Murphy and I wish you health and happiness today and always.
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Thank you, Steve for the good wishes. I surely hope that 2015 will be a better year for me.
Actually Steve, we have had snow, ice, sleet and all of that messy stuff. But not in quite a few years. I’ve driven with icy roads and driven home on them after having to work a 16 hour shift. I had to creep home for I was taking no chances. I’ve always driven an SUV or Bronco or a truck with 4 wheel drive and always kept all terrain tires on my vehicles( so did my husband) simply because I’m paranoid about any kind of slick streets from the rain or what ever.
However, I’m not fond of really cold weather and after the sleet or the snow melts is is too messy for my tastes. I feel blessed to live where I do for all in all the weather is pretty mild in the winter. It is just the rare events that I don’t like. You could say that here in central Texas we are quite spoiled about the weather. 🙂
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Wonderful photo Steve and good to have the technical background. Happy everything.
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Thanks, Andrew. Best of everything to you as well.
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30 seconds … from 25 feet … with a 300 mm lens? You must have a rock-solid tripod! I’ve got to feed round bales of hay to the sheep … but if I load the tractor with a half-ton upfront it, combined with the half-ton of ballast I’ve got behind me, that will be enough combined weight to leave deep ruts wherever I go … and I hate ruts. Mud season isn’t supposed to happen until March or April … NOT IN DECEMBER! Hrmph.
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Image stabilization is a wondrous thing, David. Just kidding. I have always used Gitzos. Solid and dependable.
I assume that by”behind me” you mean ballast on the backend of the tractor.
I hate ruts too. We are due for some tree work and they will use a hi-lift to trim before dropping and this warm weather guarantees ruts….just like we get in the spring when our firewood is delivered. I hate repairing them but if I don’t then I end up killing the mower blade in June.
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Yup … just another of the joys of home (and accompanying landscape) ownership. By the way … I migrated to your FB page and was impressed. I tried to ‘like’ the page but couldn’t find a way to do so. I will try again next time I swing by. I enjoyed looking at some of your photos there that I haven’t seen here at WP. I also enjoyed the images taken by a woman who I assume you are ‘friends’ with … can recall her name … perhaps she’s from Switzerland? Anyway, it was fun to cruise around. Sometime I’m going to have to pick your brain about your PS processing techniques. I wonder what it is that you do to produce what it is I think I’m seeing in your images. [Boy, that was a meaningless statement. Let’s try that again.] I mean, your images have a certain crispness, a depth and dimension that I like and don’t seem to be able to recreate in LR. I wonder whether you create this ‘feel’ with luminosity masks? Anyway … PS is a project for another day. For now, I’ll have to stick with what I do and put up with a bit of dissatisfaction.
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A few things I can tell you about the crispness would be the use of Live View. Another regarding the processing is Nik filters in addition to Luminosity Channel Masks. I also will occasionally go to Channels and make rough selections with that and also occasionally use Color Range from the Select drop-down in the tool bar. There are so many different ways to approach processing an image. You can use the Nik filters in Lightroom but not the luminosity masks AFAIK.
I’ll try to post my workflow with an image or two sometime.
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I’ve seen the Google Nik collection … is it pricey?
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I guess so. On Amazon the complete collection is $390 which made my jaw drop. When Google purchased Nik they gave it away to anyone who wanted it. I already owned most of them so just filled out the collection. i am not sure how much the individual plug-ins cost.
Tony Kuyper’s luminosity masks are much more affordable although they operate in a much different fashion and require Photoshop.
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Love your eloquent new verb, Steve, as well as the image that inspired it. Mind if I borrow it some time? We had only brown weather too, though it’s actually sleeting now, which may help…
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Borrow away, Gary. I am not sure I would care for sleet although it would add a missing dimension here. We are seeing 25° this morning which is refreshing.
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