Even though I watched them for about three hours, I had no idea that they did this until I saw this shot on my computer. I've seen other birds flip their food like this, but never in mid-air. They are truly amazing birds!

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Explore #107, 6/22/09.

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I can't take credit for seeing this shot or the composition, since it was actually Bill Wight, the coordinator and one of the instructors at the Mountain High Workshop, that framed and focused my camera. I'm lucky that he did it, though, because now I can say how much I like the composition, without bragging. I love the dead bush in the foreground, the way the scallops lead the eye to the thunderstorm in the background, and the scallops themselves are really interesting. There is a dead shrub at the tip of each one, which I suppose, offers just enough protection from the wind so that the shoreline is less affected by it. I also love the reflection in the little pond, which must have been created by overspray carried by the wind. Or is Mono Lake big enough to have tides? I'll have to check that out. Or, more likely, the ponds were left by a recent rain.

I can take credit for the processing, though. I used some of the techniques that we learned at the workshop and some that I already knew. This is a three-exposure HDR, but I don't think you can tell by looking at it, which is almost always my goal when I use HDR. I used several Shadow/Highlights and Hue/Saturation adjustment layers to brighten and/or bring out the colors in various parts of the image.

Also, I had to clone out a woman who was climbing on the tufa, which is an absolute no-no, because these things are quite fragile, because they took so long to grow and because they only happen under water, so we don't want people destroying them. Once I took her out, I felt that there was an empty space where she had been, so I cloned in another tufa from a different location. Bet you can't tell where I did that, either. ;-) I left another photographer in the shot, in order to provide scale. He looks like he's standing in the water, but that's just because his legs are actually reflected in the water.

Tags:   Sunset Alpenglow Scalloped Shoreline Tufa South Tufa Mono Lake Eastern Sierra California Mountain High Workshop BRAVO platinumphoto mywinners

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Mother Nature designed some really weird creatures and this has got to be one of the weirdest. It looks like a cross between bag pipes, a lobster, and a Formula One Dragster Monocoque.

Casque: an anatomical structure (as the horny outgrowth on the head of a cassowary) suggestive of a helmet.

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Here's to all my good Flickr friends, for which I am very thankful, on this happy Thanksgiving day! May our relationships grow and our photography skills improve as we continue on this journey together, in the spirit of fun and artistic expression.

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Explore #286, 9/5/08.

Just outside the entrance to the San Diego Zoo. We used to have Hibiscus at opposite ends of our garage door, but they were inundated with white fly, so we took them out
(the plants, not the white fly - they went away by themselves).
Do you know how to get rid of white fly? With a white fly-swatter. ;-)

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