My Photo Guides

Lunar Rainbow in Yosemite Falls (HD timelapse video) This night timelapse video was produced from over 500 still images, taken over the course of an hour on a Canon 5D mark II, by the light of a full moon. Here's what a star trails image created from the individual frames in this timelapse video looks like: https://picasaweb.google.com/107459220492917008623/NightPhotos#5639862160029521298 Last year I created a blog post on how the star trails version was created: Creating Star Trail Images http://activesole.blogspot.com/2011/05/creating-star-trail-images.html Creating a timelapse video is similar... you just point to the edited still images with a different free program: Create a Timelapse Video on Your Digital Camera http://activesole.blogspot.com/2011/08/photographer-light-dance-pfeiffer-beach.html This video is best viewed full screen, so you can see the stars move in the sky as the earth rotates under Polaris, the North Star. Enjoy! http://youtu.be/XGj2EP68xdc?hd=1 #starryn

“Once more I am roaring drunk with the lust of life and adventure and unbearable beauty... Adventure seems to beset me on all quarters without my even searching for it... Though not all my days are as wild as this, each one holds its surprises, and I have seen almost more beauty than I can bear.” – Everett Reuss Off The Road Again California's Anza Borrego State Park is a maze of unpredictable dirt roads, so many spots will remain relatively untrampelled, if not totally secret. I was dying to reach this spot just outside the park for sunset or sunrise, but it took me four tries and routes over the course of two days to actually reach it, even with high clearance and 4WD! The first route was a dirt road named Something-or-other Trail, and that turned into a increasingly decaying dirt bike trail that I decided to bail out from and drive back out of. The second route I tried turned into those deep, close bumps which trail bikes make, and after a mile or two of those, again I gav

Link to this post: https://plus.google.com/107459220492917008623/posts/4hghPuiFNTP Circle Management II: Identifying Who to Uncircle A few days ago I described the Uncircle Inactives app, which helps you identify accounts which may have been added via a circle share, but are no longer active on Google+. Another way to clear up more circle space is via the Uncircle Uncirclers app for Chrome which has been out for nearly two months. There may be some significant pros and cons to consider before using it: Pros of facilitated uncircling: - If you have a lot of circle contacts you follow, it cleans out a lot of circle space fast! - A person can only keep up with about 150 people in their lives, so even the 5000 circle limit gives us way, way more people than we can reasonably interact with. - Not circling you can feel like rejection, so it can feel satisfying to axe them back. - The app lets you go through people and choose who to uncircle, so you can clear up space selectively Then again

Thanks to all circle curators who take the time to find and promote excellent photographers new to Google+, as well as some of us who have been plugging away, contributing content almost daily for months. Both content discovery and circle management can be a lot of work, and it's great when people facilitate that process for the community. Thanks again Johan Peijnenburg for the honor of inclusion on this one! Here's the original circle share by Johan, for people who would like their work considered for future updates: https://plus.google.com/101373961279443806744/posts/GCiwVwsManL Originally shared by Johan Peijnenburg Selected Nature & Landscape Photographers (update v6) Here's an update of the Nature & Landscape Photographers circle. I have reviewed 350 new requests and re-checked the existing 450 and selected the 400 photographers I liked best. Want to get in? Leave a comment or contact me directly, if you feel you meet the criteria: an on-line portfolio with g

"The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time." - Henry David Thoreau Southern California Slot Canyon After finding and exploring tons of slot canyons in California over the past couple of years, it surprises me that California isn't known for them. The gullies coming off of Pyramid Peak in the Santa Rosa Mountains toward the northwestern end of Anza Borrego State Park may have a dozen or more slot canyons, many of which see little visitation. This is my favorite in that park so far, but I'll probably get back in March to enjoy wildflower season and search for more serpentine rock passages.

Desert Sunflowers (Gernaea canescens), March 4, 2008 The Spring wildflower season is coming in Southern California. In Anza Borrego State Park they arrive as early as late February, and various species bloom into April as the bloom progresses up the adjacent mountains. This is a field towards the northeast end of the town of Borrego Springs. When I visited last year, the field had been almost completely taken over by invasive Sahara mustard, but volunteers were pulling it up, plant by plant.

Sunrise Moon Set at Anza Borrego There's the Ocatillo that was in the foreground of my last shot, on the edge of the dropoff. This is a sunrise moon set, which usually occurs the day after the full moon. I posted this moon set image early for Stephen Krieg's #MoonriseMonday so you can plan ahead for for an eastward-facing for the February 6 sunset moon rise and for a westward-facing shot for the February 8 sunrise moon set. I wrote a blog post back in 2006 with more detail on planning moon rise / set shots: Plan Ahead for Great Full Moon Rise and Set Shots! http://activesole.blogspot.com/2006/11/plan-ahead-for-great-full-moon-rise-and.html (Link to this original post: https://plus.google.com/107459220492917008623/posts/HBgFxS6a685 ) #plusphotoextract #mountainmonday , curator Michael Russell

Sunrise in Anza Borrego State Park, California Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is the largest state park in California, offering over 500 miles of dirt roads to explore. Anza Borrego can have a prolific wildflower bloom, with various species blooming from late February into April. While the winter of 2010- 2011 brought ample rainfall, it may have been too much: 2011 wasn't a particularly good wildflower season. Hopefully 2012 will be less extreme, and offer better growing conditions. (Original post: https://plus.google.com/107459220492917008623/posts/cYdaND5Qr9K ) #plusphotoextract #NatureMonday curator Rolf Hicker

Mention on the Panoramio Blog Thanks to Gerard Sanz for mentioning me in Google's Panoramio blog last month. I spent a great day with him, Brian Rose and Lori Hibbett exploring slot canyons and mining towns in Death Valley National Park as part of Thomas Hawk's photowalk there. Looking Forward to 2012! _"The Death Valley Photowalk was organized by Thomas Hawk where I got to know a lot of very cool photographers. Within the gang I was especially excited to meet Jeffrey Sullivan. I have always been extremely impressed by his photos in Panoramio and meeting him in person was an amazing experience. He took me and Google+ Photos Community Manager Brian Rose in a day trip through the desert that I will never forget." http://blog.panoramio.com/2011/12/looking-forward-2012.html It was a great day, and I'll share those and other unique locations with people who join me for my upcoming landscape photography workshop in Death Valley March 7 - 10. Anyone can visit the same 8