Mother Osprey caries a fish back to her nest. From my trip to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, NJ back on 7-18-2009.

For more information on Osprey, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.

For more information on the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at www.fws.gov/northeast/forsythe/.

Several background texture layers purchased from Distressed Textures were blended in to set the mood.

A corn crib barn stands out in a Northumberland County corn field. Taken back on 4-2-2010 during a Covered Bridge trip through the Pennsylvania counties of Northumberland and Union.

I shot this as five bracketed RAW frames at 1/3rd stop increments handheld and then combined them into an HDR with Photomatix Pro. Textures applied from the commercial texture packs purchased from Flypaper Textures and Distressed Textures.

Update on my leg for those that have asked – Just got back from the Surgeon. He says after eight weeks, there isn’t enough healing so I have to wait at least another month. Because of some other long term health issues I have, the bone isn’t healing as fast as it should. Looking at the X-Ray, realistically I would guess that I may be able to walk and drive again sometime in the Winter. My entire Summer has evaporated. [insert very, very bad words here]

I shot this barn along route 60 in Crawley, West Virginia during my rainy weekend trip back on 10-17-2009. I had previously posted a version of this but I wanted a textured version with a painterly look to it because I think the fall colors and the overcast nature of the image works better as painterly. So here it is.

I applied several textures purchased as part of the new Summer Painterly Texture Pack at Flypaper Textures.

This is a derivative work based upon a Great Egret shot I took at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge back on 8-16-2009 and the following elements.

A Creative Commons photo from Flickr user “Steve Took it” formed the basis of the background.
Several background texture layers purchased from Distressed Textures were blended in order to try and capture that morning break mood. The final work is being released under a Creative Commons license as a derivative work.

For more information on the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site athttp://www.fws.gov/northeast/bombayhook/.

For more information on Great Egrets, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.

A Great Blue Heron flies back into the marsh. From my trip to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, NJ back on 6-6-2009.

I blended several background layers and bird brushes purchased from Distressed Textures. Thanks for the great texture sets Jewell !

For more information on Great Blue Herons, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.

For more information on the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, visit their web site at www.fws.gov/northeast/forsythe/.

This is the view from the Meem’s Bottom Covered Bridge in Shenandoah County Virginia looking down the country lane (Whissler Road) that leads up to the bridge from State Route 11/Old Valley Pike. I shot this on the way home from my last Grist Mill tour through Virginia back on 10-18-2009. It was a horrible, overcast and often raining kind of weekend. I would like to return a few weeks later in the year to capture those fall colors on the trees lining the lane.

Thanks to the following Flickr members for sharing their textures for our use.

Sand and Stone texture by Dog Ma
Cave Days texture by SkeletalMess

June 21st is “International Gnome Day” in the United States. A date when we celebrate the day when the Gnomes broke the bonds of indentured servitude under the heavy handed Elves at the Keebler Cookie Tree and gained their freedom for every more.

I shot this in the backyard of my Parent’s house while still mending the broken leg. You make due with what subject matter you can get to at times like this.

Thanks to the following Flickr members for use of their elements I used in the construction of this shot.

Ocean Room texture by pareeerica
Heavenly Fog texture by texture by SkeletalMess
Bird Brushes by ShadowHouse Creations

Klinepeters Covered Bridge was originally built over Middle Creek north of Beaver Springs on Township Route 574 in Snyder County. It was moved to it’s present location on Township Route 427 in Beaver Springs in 1982. It now spans 100 feet across a small run off tributary of Middle Creek. It has a Burr Arch design and is in remarkably good shape. It is open to daily vehicular traffic and has several angles to shoot it from. It was added to the National Register of Historical Place on August 29, 1997. This bridge is also known by the name “Gross Bridge”.

I shot this as seven bracketed RAW frames at .7 stop increments and then combined them into an HDR with Photomatix Pro and finally, tone mapped that image. I applied the “203 clouds” texture flickr member Fractal Artist (thanks FA) to give it the feeling of being in the fog and storms.

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate…we can not consecrate…we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” — Abraham Lincoln, Thursday, November 19, 1863.

I shot this on Thursday 3-18-2010 as five bracketed RAW frames at 1/3rd increments and then combined them into an HDR with Photomatix Pro and then tone mapped that image before bringing it into Photoshop CS4 and blending a texture made up of one of the drafts of the Gettysburg Address and another charcoal smudge texture of my own making. This was taken in “The Wheat Field” on the Gettysbug Battlefield. The wheat field was the scene of one of the more important battles of the Gettysburg conflict during the American Civil War. For more information on the wheat field and the battle that was waged there, visit this link

Father Osprey arrives back at the nest on the Manasquan Reservoir in Howell, NJ back on 4-18-2009. Mother Osprey was waiting quite a while for his return and had a few questions as to why he was not bringing her back a nice tasty fish.

Thanks to SkeletalMess (aka Jerry Jones) for use of the following textures that I blended into the background to give it a moody feeling. Jerry just posted a great tutorial on applying textures as layers that you might want to check out.

The Haunting 11-08-09 TOTD # 101
Mold
Chaos 2
StormClouds TOTD # 124

For more information on the Manasquan Resevoir, visit their web site at this web site.

For more information on Osprey, visit the Cornell Lab Of Ornithology.

Mallard drake sits on the edge of the ice on the pond at the Fleetwood Park.

Thanks to flickr member pareerica for the use of the texture.

Hot air balloons drift off over miles of adjoining farm fields after their early morning launch at the New Jersey Festival of Ballooning at the Airport in Readington, NJ back on 7-25-2009.

For more information on 2010′s New Jersey Festival of Ballooning, visit their web site.

Thanks to flickr member darkwood67 for the use of the free fields texture that I blended into this piece to give it a dreamy feel.

Adult Bald Eagle goes into a dive towards the river and his target of fresh fish. Shot over the Susquehanna River in Maryland on Sunday afternoon 10-4-2009.

I blended two background textures from the following Flickr members who have graciously allowed us to use their work as background textures. Thanks folks !

Scratched Caramel by pareeerica
Ocean Sky by Alicepopkorn

For more information on Bald Eagles, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.

“The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” ~Douglas Adams (author), Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Adult Bald Eagle flies off over Susquehanna River in Maryland.

Free texture “fields” from darkwood67 applied as background layer.

For more information on Bald Eagles, visit the Cornelll Lab Of Ornithology.

With rain on and off all day today and ominous clouds overhead, I decided to hit Valley Forge National Historic Site on the way back from photography at the Shofuso Japanese House and Gardens. The dreary weather can sometimes set a mood that a bright sunny day can never hope to reach and sometimes a dreary mood best fits the subject matter of war. This is the same canon at the Muhlenburg Brigade encampment that I shot back at the end of may. General Peter Muhlenberg’s Brigade anchored the outer line of defense at the Valley Forge encampment from December 19, 1777 to June 19, 1778. Although no battle was ever fought between Colonial and British forces at Valley Forge, over 1,000 men lost their lives here due to severe winter conditions, dysentery, scurvy and a host of other ailments common to the times.

For more information on visiting Valley Forge National Historical Park, check out their web site.

I created this image as seven RAW bracketed frames, combined into an HDR image and tone mapped in Photomatix Pro then used the Topaz Simplify plugin for Photoshop CS4 to give the trees and clouds a painterly quality before finally applying a texture to give it an antique feel.

Thanks to alicepopkorn for the use of the free texture file Magic Veil.