Scott Detwiler Photoblog

No Photoshop Filters Were Harmed

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:05 -0500

My photography teacher said "keep everything." Today's error might be tomorrow's masterpiece. That was film, when every negative and print were precious; in the digital days, one has to be less forgiving lest one's hard drive be overwhelmed. Even so, happy accidents will happen. I was attempting to get the milky waterfall look of a very slow exposure of falls at Rickett's Glen State Park, Pennsylvania--without a tripod. Among the hits and misses, this particular miss caught my eye. It's all natural, no artificial filters added.

Penn's Cave in Technicolor

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:15 -0500

I know, the colors are over the top, and it's soft. I post this photograph for technical reasons. On a recent trip into Penn's Cave in Centre Hall, PA, I explored the extreme limit of my camera's low light settings. This photo was taken from a moving boat using the cave's existing floodlights. The Nikon D90 was set at the highest ISO "H 1," which is equivalent to 6400; lens was Nikkor 60mm f/2.8, currently my brightest lens. The high ISO noise correction is on "high." While it's not brochure quality, but it's actually interesting--unlike most other cave photographs I have tried! It provides an accurate record of the visit without the artificial flattening from a strobe, if the strobe could reach at all. I have the same angle with white light rather than colors, but it wouldn't be a tourist cave without tacky colored floods, now would it?

Trailing African Daisy

Wed, 26 May 2010 14:28 -0500

Trailing African Daisy, Osteospermum fruticosum, in the hothouse at Phipps Conservatory. As the name implies, it is native to South Africa. It has become naturalized in the southwest U.S., but it's a treat in P.A.

Bleeding Heart

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:40 -0500

Bleeding Heart cultivar in my garden. I like this photograph for the droplets of nectar within the base. Squirrel Corn and Dutchman's Breeches are wild relatives in the same genus (Dicentra). I am not certain of the exact cultivar. My guess it that it is a version of Dicentra formosa subsp. oregana × Dicentra eximia, or Pacific Bleeding Heart, Oregon subspecies crossed with Wild or Fringed Bleeding-heart/Turkey-corn. Leave a comment if you know.

Spring Witch Hazel

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:13 -0500

Spring, as they say, is in the air, bringing with it the search for early wildflowers. Wild witch hazel blooms in fall. This spring-blooming cultivar will bloom during any late winter thaw; the current extended thaw has yielded an outstanding response.

Roosting Red Owl

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:22 -0500

This owl box has been in our yard for nearly 10 years. Most years, we have had a family of eastern screech owls raise a brood of one to three chicks, fledging in May. Occasionally through the winter we will see an owl sunning itself in the box, probably a claim stake as well as a comfy place to roost. In past years, the appearance has been sporadic until early spring when nesting gets serious. However, this year, the owl has been a permanent fixture since December. Its typical emergence as pictured is on sunny afternoons as sunset approaches.

Fräbel Glass

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:35 -0500

In 2009, Phipps Conservatory exhibited Fräbel Glass. I visited during the Phipps' Christmas Flower show, at night. Night really highlighted the sculptures. And it was challenging photography, as well.

Rosie

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 19:08 -0500

It would not be a photoblog without a cat picture, now would it? Meet Rosie, the queen of the couch. Now ten, she came to our household to retire at the age of seven after a short stay at the Humane Society.

Emerging Cicada

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:26 -0500

The moment of truth for a new cicada, precise species unknown. This was one of a half dozen emerging simultaneously on the same tree. The photo was taken in August 2008 in Dayton, Ohio. While there was a 17-year cicada event in Dayton in 2008, that species usually emerges in spring. The 17-year also has distinctive red eyes; the cicada pictured did not have read eyes apparent in the hour or so I watched, but the exoskeletons were still drying. There are many cicada species, of cycles on a variety of year intervals, from 17 down to 1. Some of these species, like the 17-year, emerge mostly in the same year--and make headlines--while other species stagger emergence and so go unnoticed.

Bryce Canyon

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:52 -0500

Hoodoos in the late afternoon. This is perhaps our favorite National Park, mainly for the hiking accessibility of the relatively small "canyon" itself. Not really a canyon, but an eroded hillside. A fond memory is the foreign accents and languages of the visitors, which seemed to outnumber the American voices we heard.