T4T: AstroArn and Farbspiel

Two for Tuesday - our time to pass along the two websites that caught our attention this week. We hope you enjoy these links and encourage you to visit these sites. So onto the picks - here is our Two for Tuesday sites for you to lounge around with on this fine Tuesday...

Portfolio/Gallery - AstroArn Photography by Robert Arn

AstroArn Photography - http://www.astroarn.com/home

Living in the country, like we do, there are many nights we spend watching the stars and staring up into the dark sky playing amateur astronomer.  So to see a whole website combining astronomy with photography, we were absolutely thrilled!  Robert Arn is an astronomer, photographer, and mathematician who now churns out his own type of astrophotography, he calls "Nightscape Photography."

Obviously, he prefaces his work stating that with this type of photography, there is always going to be processing and image combinations to achieve the final product.  And they are amazing pieces of work.  We encourage you to roam around within his galleries checking out what we miss with the naked eye in the midnight sky.

Don't forget to check out his Books & Tutorials page.  It is one thing to gaze in wonderment at some else's photographs, but a totally different wonderment in creating those images ones self.  Robert's "Photography at Night: An Introduction to Astrophotography on a Budget" e-book and tutorials will help you along your way to creating your own "Nightscape Photography."  Robert, we've purchased and are reading up - we hope to try this type of photography soon!  Thanks and keep up the great work.  We can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve next...

Photography Blog - Farbspiel Photography - View. Learn. Connect.

Farbspiel Photography by Klauss Herrmann - http://farbspiel-photo.com/

Klaus Herrmann specializes in High Dynamic Range (HDR), panorama, and vertorama photography.  You say, what is vertorama?  This type of photography consists of multiple exposures that cover the scene in a vertical direction and then stitched into a single image.  In fact, a great tutorial can be found here: Taking Interior HDR Vertorma Shots. 

And you will find many more tutorials like that on Klaus' blog.  Farbspiel Photography has had a solid background in providing "text-based recipes or tutorials" but now have moved into making video-based tutorials including their own You-Tube channel. 

Hopefully you'll take the time to review all the different tutorials and HDR recipes provided by Farbspiel Photography, but we encourage you to at least take the opportunity to read: 21 HDR Photography Myths Busted.  I like Klaus' take on the best way to learn, is to debunk some myths about a subject.  We are looking forward to following more of Klaus on video!

These are our picks for this T4T Tuesday post! We hope you enjoyed the sites that we've found for you and spend some time this week getting to know them. Stop by their sites, add them to your Google+ circles, or give them a like on Facebook. Spread the word about the great work that is out there just waiting to be found...

And while you are at it, join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , or sneak a peek at our own photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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Weekly Photography Challenge: 'Y' - Young Antelope

There are still antelope that are carrying their young, but for the most part - the young antelope are out in force in Custer State Park. For this weekly photography challenge we chose to focus on the young ones.   

"Mom, mom...MOM!  There is a crazy guy with a camera running around over here.  Aren't you going to do something, Mom...?!"


The still pregnant antelope are generally kept at arms length from the young antelope.  This mother with her young antelope almost immediately left the area when the other pregnant antelope showed up in this clearing.

And who can resist those big eyes of a young antelope?!  One of the greatest times to be roaming around Custer State Park is during this wonderful season of the animals raising their young.

We hope you enjoyed the photographs of the young antelope roaming Custer State Park. Keep an eye out for more photographs of the antelope, deer, and buffalo young! If you have any 'Y' photographs to share for our weekly challenge, just put the link to your photograph in the comment box below. Join us next week's photography challenge finding something starting with the letter 'Z'.

And while you are at it, join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , or sneak a peek at our photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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Weekly Photography Challenge: 'X' - Xylem!

Huh?!  You thought I wouldn't be able to come up with an 'X' photograph this week?!  Well, we fooled you - xylem it is.  For those of you who remember your high school biology, think of it as the xylem and phloem vascular transport tissues in plants.  It's basic function is to transport water, but it also transports some nutrients through the plant.  So enjoy the 'outside view' of the xylem and phloem of wild daisies, ferns, and snow on the mountain plants.

The xylem transports water and soluble mineral nutrients from the roots throughout the plant.  It is also used to replace water lost during transpiration and photosynthesis. 

And one more quick biology lesson, if you can remember your school biology lessons - you'll remember that there are two reasons that water or sap flows in the xylem: transpirational pull (resulting from the negative pressure of evaporation) and/or root pressure (a positive pressure caused by osmosis). 

Well now that your head is spinning, we'll drop the science lesson and move on to the letter 'Y' next week.  If you have any 'X' photographs to share for our weekly challenge, just put the link to your photograph in the comment box below. Join us for next week's photography challenge.

While you are at it, join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , or sneak a peek at our photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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Weekly Photography Challenge: 'V' - Velvet Antlers

We couldn't have had any better luck than having the 'V' photography challenge coming during the velvet antler season.  Antlers grow as highly vascular spongy tissue on deer covered in a skin called velvet.  Before the mating season, the antlers calcify under the velvet and become hard bone. 

In a month or two, the velvet will be rubbed off leaving dead bone which forms the hard antlers that most of us think of when we envision a buck. 

After the mating season, the pedicle (the attachment point on the skull) and the antler base are separated by a layer of soft tissue, and the antler falls off.  And so, the velvet antler begins a never ending cycle of antlers on the male white-tail deer.

If you have any 'V' photographs to share for our weekly challenge, just put the link to your photograph in the comment box below. Join us for next week's photography challenge finding something starting with the letter 'X'.

While you are at it, join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , or sneak a peek at our photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

Subscribe to See You Behind the Lens...