photography

Autumn’s Rainbow: the colors of fall

Posted on October 2, 2024 by farlane

Fall color is really starting to come on in Michigan, and the US Forest service shares that there are three pigments in the palette of autumn color:

Chlorophyll: Gives leaves a basic green color. It is necessary for photosynthesis, the chemical reaction that enables plants to use sunlight to manufacture sugars for food.

Carotenoids: Produces yellow, orange, and brown colors in such things as corn, carrots, and daffodils, as well as rutabagas, buttercups, and bananas.

Anthocyanin: Gives color to such familiar things as cranberries, red apples, concord grapes, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, and plums. They are water soluble and appear in the watery liquid of leaf cells.

Certain colors are characteristic of particular species, and the color of maples leaves differ species by species:

Oaks: red, brown, or russet
Hickories: golden bronze
Aspen and yellow-poplar: golden yellow
Dogwood: purplish red
Beech: light tan
Sourwood and black tupelo: crimson
Red maple: brilliant scarlet
Sugar maple: orange-red
Black maple: glowing yellow
Striped maple: almost colorless

Read on for lots more!

Bob took this shot of fall color at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula back in October of 2011. See more in his Explore gallery and for sure view & purchase his work on his website!

More fall color on Michigan in Pictures!

Fishing against the Light (and rain)

Posted on August 29, 2024August 29, 2024 by farlane

Some fish for fun while others fish for food by Luther Roseman Dease II

This photo I shared eight years ago is a great example of contre-jour, the term for shooting directly into the light source. Luther explains that the light creates a form of the subject without releasing its precious and cluttered details unto photography’s artistry. See many more examples in his Contre-Jour gallery on Flickr and for sure view & purchase his work on his website.

Michigan Merganser Mania

Posted on July 30, 2024 by farlane

Female Common Merganser and 7 young by Mike Carey

All About Birds says that Common Merganser are large, long-bodied ducks with thin, pointed wings. Their bills are straight and narrow, unlike the wide, flat bill of a “typical” duck, and the females have shaggy crests on the backs of their heads. Although these ducks look pretty punk & cool, the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council reminds us that Merganser ducks are the main culprit in the spread of swimmers itch:

Swimmer’s itch (cercarial dermatitis) is a skin irritation caused by a larval form of certain flatworms from the family Schistosomatidae. Schistosome flatworms are parasites with complex life cycles usually involving certain species of snails and waterfowl. Upon hatching, free swimming Schistosomatidae larvae seek out an intermediary host, usually snails, to continue the life cycle. The larvae, known as cercariae, are only 1/32 of an inch long and generally invisible to the naked eye. Since humans are not the proper host, the larvae soon die upon mistakenly burrowing into the skin. The resulting skin condition and itching sensation is caused by an immune response to the dead larvae under the skin and symptoms vary by person. In many Michigan lakes, the common merganser duck is the primary or sole vertebrate host.

I am for sure NOT calling for the killing of mergansers, but as someone who has spent a lot of time on lakes with swimmers itch, I encourage you to practice safe swimming where you see these ducks:

Don’t swim first thing in the morning
Swim offshore and away from downwind areas
Rinse your body with clean water and towel off thoroughly after swimming!

Mike took these on Bear Lake a couple weeks ago. See more in his Bear Lake 2024 gallery on Flickr.

More duckies on Michigan in Pictures!

Young Common Mergansers resting on dock by Mike Carey

Superior Sunrise

Posted on July 16, 2024July 16, 2024 by farlane

Superior Sunrise by Karl Wertanen

You don’t take a photograph. You make it.
~ Ansel Adams

Great photography is not easy! Karl shares “Laying practically under my tripod and up against a prickly picker bush, I’m narrowly able to cram in this craggily white birch with a few remaining autumn leaves that are just barely hanging. In the crisp and cold October morning air, I caught one of the nicest and richest sunrises I’ve ever experienced over Lake Superior. This was a good morning.“

Follow Karl on Facebook and view & purchase his work on his website.

More from Michigan: Lighthouse Park Sunrise edition

Posted on July 11, 2024July 11, 2024 by farlane

Lighthouse Park Sunrise by Caitlin Rose

One of the reasons I started Michigan in Pictures almost 30 years ago (wow!) was that I remembered how much I missed the beautiful variety of my home state when I wasn’t living here. Another equally important reason was that I hoped to help those of us who live here – including myself – get more out enjoyment from the amazing bounty Michigan has to offer.

Along those lines, my friend Caitlin shared some really great wisdom the other day that she’s letting me share with all of you:

I have a thing for getting up in the middle of the night and driving to big water to watch the sun rise. I stretch and breathe into the sunrise and then I rise and move and dance while the beach has few occupants. I peruse the rocks for treasure, also while dancing.

I swam, I snacked, I napped in both my hammock and on my air couch before heading home. There was a “one out one in” line at the beach entrance when I left at 2:30. I giggled to myself as it was already cloudy and PACKED with people by then… I had a wonderful day of recovery and solitude. I am proud to be free to get up and go where I want, when I want, and how I want. Early mornings on a day off might not be ideal to everyone but to me, this is it ✨

Sounds ideal to me too! You may not be able to see her post, but you can check out Caitlin’s latest photos at ChasingPrudence on Instagram. Here’s more about Lighthouse Park.

Solstice Strawberry Moon

Posted on June 21, 2024 by farlane

Lake Michigan … strawberry moon by Ken Scott Photography

Just like back in 2016 when Ken took this photo of the full moon over Sleeping Bear Bay, we will once again be staring at a big & beautifully full Strawberry Moon close to the summer solstice. According to the Farmer’s Almanac who popularized moon names in the 1930s, “strawberry moon” comes from the Native Algonquian tribes who lived in the northeastern US. The Ojibwe, Dakota & Lakota marked it as the full moon to be harvesting wild strawberries.

European names include the Honey Moon and the Mead Moon. Since June is named after the Roman goddess of marriage, Juno, you gotta believe this is where honeymoon comes from!! This year the moon will be full at 9:08pm tonight (Friday, June 21st).

See lots more at Ken Scott Photography on Facebook & for sure view and purchase his work on his website.

Blue Water Bridge(s)

Posted on June 4, 2024 by farlane

Blue Water Bridge(s) by Chris Ahern Photography

The Gordie Howe Bridge is (rightfully) getting a lot of attention these days, but another beautiful span connwcting Michigan with Canada is the Blue Water Bridge across the St. Clair River at the southern end of Lake Huron from Port Huron to Sarnia, Ontario. The Blue Water Bridge Authority shares:

The first bridge was opened to traffic on October 10, 1938. The lead engineer was Ralph Modjeski. This bridge originally had two lanes for vehicles as well as sidewalks; the latter were removed in the 1980s to make room for a third lane for automobiles. The third lane for each direction started from the apex of the bridge in order to accommodate long lineups entering each sides’ respective border crossings.

…In the early 1990s, bridge authorities decided to add a second arch in order to accommodate the high traffic. During the debate over the form of the second span, five possible designs were purposed from 1994-95. Over half of public opinion had mostly favored a duplicate of the first bridge, while the cable-stayed bridge came in second with around 21%. The Blue Water Bridge Authority had rejected both designs, due to the duplicate creating a false sense of history, while the cable-stayed option was feared to overshadow the existing bridge. Another cost-effective but unpopular design was the parallel truss. The continuous-tied arch design, which was a distant third place in polls, was chosen for two reasons. One was that it blends in with the original span yet stands out on its own, and the other is lower maintenance costs because fewer spans are involved.

Chris Ahern is a professional photographer & licensed commercial drone pilot who works in and around Detroit. Follow him on Facebook or Instagram & for sure check out his website.

Woodland Studies with Rodney Martin

Posted on January 6, 2022 by farlane

via Leelanau.com…

Gathering Place by Rodney Martin

This Saturday Woodland Studies, a small exhibition of black and white photographs by Grand Rapids photographer Rodney Martin, will be available for viewing at the Glen Arbor Arts Center. Rodney is a photographer who has been featured in the past on Michigan in Pictures, and we’re excited to see his latest work! The GAAA writes:

Martin focuses his lens on the landscape. For the images in Woodland Studies, he zeros in on rivers, woods and orchards in Benzie, Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties. His images were created in all four seasons; but they are related by the quiet and solitude he frames. There is little evidence of human habitation in these scenes. Instead, the images are studies of shadow and texture, shades of gray, and the deep and refreshing beauty of places off the beaten path.

Woodland Studies can be viewed in the GAAC Lobby Gallery or on the GAAC website starting this Saturday (January 7th).

Regarding this photo, Rodney shares:

I came across this gathering of roots three years ago when visiting the Teichner Preserve on Lime Lake near Maple City, Michigan. I returned four or five times over the past three years looking for the right angle to get the compelling image I wanted. I finally found it on my second visit this year. I call the image “Gathering Place.” The image speaks to me about community. I have been asked whether I warped this image to make the trees spread out from the middle. I did not. Nature did. The trees on the very left of the image hang out over Lime Lake. I suspect that in a few years the trees on the left will succumb to the waves that eat away at the shoreline and then fall into the lake.

Head over to his website for more pics including a really cool 2021 year in review!

Against the Daylight

Posted on August 29, 2016 by farlane

Some fish for fun; While others fish for food, photo by Luther Roseman Dease, II

The term “contre-jour” is French for “against the daylight”, a photographic technique in which the camera is pointing directly toward a source of light. In Shooting into the light: mastering the contre-jour technique, Jeremy Walker writes:

One of the first pieces of advice I was given was: ‘Don’t shoot into the light – always have the sun over your left shoulder.’ At the time I was young and naïve, and it seemed like good advice – but it wasn’t. In landscape photography you will often be looking for cross lighting to bring out the texture and character of the countryside. This is fine, but I would also advise trying your hand at contre-jour technique, or to put it more simply, shooting into the light. This technique creates a striking backlight behind your subject and will help to emphasise lines, shapes and silhouettes.

Read on for a bunch of tips and tricks.

View Luther’s photo bigger, see more in his Contre-jour slideshow, and visit his website to view more work