Shrew Visitor
This tiny shrew came into the house this afternoon. We weren’t sure what it was (mouse? mole?), but easily caught it in a tupperware container. I took him outside, added some dirt and had a quick photoshoot before releasing him in the far end of the back yard.
I’ve since learned he’s a shrew (not sure which kind). They’re not related at all to mice, they’re insectivores not rodents. And they won’t dig up our lawn like the moles do.
Did I Leave My Bag Here?
Grafitti on a wall in Venice Beach.
Ever since I started shooting images seriously for my A Picture A Day project in 2007, I’ve been shooting in RAW format. RAW saves all the image data the camera collects with minimal processing, as opposed to jpeg which applies color correction, sharpening and image compression to create a final image. By shooting RAW I retain the full 14bits of color, giving me greater latitude for processing afterwards in Lightroom or Photoshop. I have found that I have one to two stops in each direction of exposure latitude allowing me to bring up detail in shadows and highlights without sacrificing one for the other. It also means that I can adjust the white balance afterwards with no penalty – I leave my WB always set on Auto and select the proper color balance later.
Here’s an example of a shot that would have been impossible otherwise, shot with available light at the California Academy of Sciences. First the ‘BEFORE’ image, showing what you’d get without saving the RAW version:
BEFORE
The penguin exhibit is at the end of the Africa Hall – a space intentionally left dark to highlight the dioramas. The area above the water is brightly lit – seemingly daylight in intensity. Below the waterline it is quite dark, but our eyes have an enormous dynamic range and pick up plenty of detail in the shadows in the water and highlights on the rocks above the water. A camera however has a much more limited dynamic range. The image above shows the best estimate the camera can give to balance this range when it tries to create a final jpeg compressed image. Neither end of the range is usable – the water is too dark to see anything and the highlights above the water are completely blown out. Can you even tell there’s a girl reaching out to the curious penguin?
But the camera actually saw a much greater dynamic range than this and saved it in the RAW file. By splitting the image in Lightroom and bringing the exposure up a stop in the bottom and down a stop in the top a balance more in line with our perception of the site is achieved.
AFTER
Yep, that’s the picture I thought I was taking.
We took a family trip back up to the Academy. We didn’t get there early enough to get tickets for the Planetarium show, but we did manage to fit in most of the other sections (the Rain Forest, Aquarium, Africa Hall, etc.). My favorite shots from this trip are below, and you can see all my California Academy of Sciences pictures here on Flickr.
Frog Buddies
Skull (forgot to write down of what)
Don’t go in the water
Early morning boat cruise on the lake. About a dozen of us climbed aboard the camp’s party boat to watch the sunrise from on the water.
From the middle of the lake, looking southwest
If you know the area, Mt. Tallac is the peak on the right side of the image. The sun has just come over the moraine.
Great seats for a sunrise
Warm morning light was still on the boat dock when we returned.
