Reptile-textured tree stump remains
This reptile-textured tree stump fascinated me in
John Bryan State Park near Yellow Springs, Ohio, on July 21.
© 2019 Steven Schwartzman
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Portraits of Wildflowers 
Hahaha.. YES! Very reptilian.
Ms. Liz
September 2, 2019 at 4:57 AM
It’s the most reptilian tree stump I’ve ever seen. You can almost see it slithering.
Steve Schwartzman
September 2, 2019 at 6:46 AM
That’s a laugh.. I can see it in my imagination 🙂
Ms. Liz
September 2, 2019 at 2:01 PM
My imagination didn’t dither to see the reptilian tree trunk slither.
Steve Schwartzman
September 2, 2019 at 2:09 PM
Nice! You’re in fine form word-wise, as usual 🙂
Ms. Liz
September 2, 2019 at 2:12 PM
You too: “fine form word-wise” carries a pleasant double alliteration.
Steve Schwartzman
September 2, 2019 at 3:04 PM
Thank you.. not bad for just after 8am in the morning (I’m not a morning person).
Ms. Liz
September 2, 2019 at 3:14 PM
Maybe you’re more creative in the morning than you realize.
Steve Schwartzman
September 2, 2019 at 4:42 PM
A very welcome thought.. perhaps so!
Ms. Liz
September 2, 2019 at 4:55 PM
I wonder if it was home to any reptilians. They would be well disguised.
Gallivanta
September 2, 2019 at 6:08 AM
Right you are. Somehow I hadn’t thought about that. A lizard on that stump would’ve made for quite a picture.
Steve Schwartzman
September 2, 2019 at 6:48 AM
Very lizardy. Maybe it will learn to regenerate its limbs!
Robert Parker
September 2, 2019 at 7:23 AM
Now that would be something. You’re a lot closer to Ohio than I am so you can run over there every now and then to check.
Steve Schwartzman
September 2, 2019 at 7:39 AM
It certainly is a fascinating surface.
Pit
September 2, 2019 at 8:38 AM
I don’t recall ever seeing anything like it. Hooray for novelty.
Steve Schwartzman
September 2, 2019 at 8:49 AM
It looks like the head of a croc !! Nice texture !
gwenniesgardenworld
September 2, 2019 at 8:47 AM
I hadn’t gotten that specific within the reptile kingdom, but I can see a crocodile now that you’ve suggested it.
Steve Schwartzman
September 2, 2019 at 8:50 AM
😀 I love looking at tree stumps to see what I can discover in them.
gwenniesgardenworld
September 2, 2019 at 8:52 AM
Apparently they don’t stump your imagination.
Steve Schwartzman
September 2, 2019 at 8:57 AM
:D:D oh but there is nothing wrong with my imagination !
gwenniesgardenworld
September 2, 2019 at 12:03 PM
That’s how I imagined it.
Steve Schwartzman
September 2, 2019 at 2:04 PM
:D:D
gwenniesgardenworld
September 3, 2019 at 6:46 AM
Tree stumps are also one of my favourite themes in my photographic adventures. They are mysterious in so many ways. Great shot, Steve!
Peter Klopp
September 2, 2019 at 9:03 AM
I didn’t make it to the Blue Hole I was hoping to reach in this park. This stump was my compensation.
I see that you’ve indeed shown your share of tree stumps, for example:
https://klopp-family.com/2019/02/06/natural-splendour-of-the-arrow-lake-25/
https://klopp-family.com/2017/02/06/glorious-winter-day-at-taite-creek-fauquier-bc/
https://klopp-family.com/2019/04/10/natural-splendour-of-the-arrow-lake-31/
Steve Schwartzman
September 2, 2019 at 9:14 AM
Your thoroughness is astounding, Steve.
Peter Klopp
September 2, 2019 at 7:32 PM
It’s not really astounding. I used Google’s advanced search capability so I could look for instances of “stump” in the domain “https://klopp-family.com”.
Steve Schwartzman
September 2, 2019 at 8:19 PM
Very useful discovery! I will try it on one of next searches, Steve.
Peter Klopp
September 3, 2019 at 9:59 AM
After you get the hits for an initial Google search, go to the “Settings” menu near the top of the page and choose “Advanced search.” The page that comes up will let you customize your search in many ways.
Steve Schwartzman
September 3, 2019 at 3:08 PM
Many thanks for the tip!
Peter Klopp
September 4, 2019 at 9:31 AM
Sure thing. The advanced choices often make a search much more effective.
Steve Schwartzman
September 4, 2019 at 10:28 AM
Beautiful composition, Steve. I enjoyed this photo very much.
Lavinia Ross
September 2, 2019 at 9:52 AM
The texture was nature’s. I cropped narrowly to exclude distractions and to emphasize the stump’s verticality. Glad you enjoyed the result.
Steve Schwartzman
September 2, 2019 at 10:13 AM
It’s a trio of tree-climbing iguanas! Common enough in Florida, they’re rare in Ohio — lucky you, to have found them.
shoreacres
September 3, 2019 at 7:52 AM
Lucky indeed. It was the most significant thing I found in that state park, in part because it was different from any other tree stump I’d ever photographed.
Steve Schwartzman
September 3, 2019 at 11:30 AM
That’s a great abstract, Steve. What a neat find. I love the way the light plays with the texture.
Steve Gingold
September 4, 2019 at 2:57 PM
I went positive on the Texture and Clarity sliders to emphasize that play of light on the tree remains.
Steve Schwartzman
September 4, 2019 at 3:10 PM
Clarity and Texture are two great additions to either Lightroom or Camera RAW. A gentle touch needs be though. I always apply them at 100% to watch for over-zealousness on my part.
Steve Gingold
September 5, 2019 at 3:47 AM
I’ve noticed that a high Texture setting creates a lot of noise in the shadows. Texture and Noise Reduction work against each other.
Steve Schwartzman
September 5, 2019 at 5:54 AM
Yes, noise reduction reduces the noise but also the definition in the details which both Texture and Clarity attempt to increase.
Steve Gingold
September 5, 2019 at 6:17 PM
One way to resolve the conflict, though it takes more time, is to reduce noise globally, which includes sensitive areas like blue skies, and then add texture or clarity as a targeted adjustment only to the most important parts of the picture.
Steve Schwartzman
September 5, 2019 at 6:33 PM
Yep.
Steve Gingold
September 5, 2019 at 6:36 PM
I want one! : )
Dawn Renee
January 9, 2020 at 11:58 AM
I can’t give you one, but you can go see this one in John Bryan State Park.
Steve Schwartzman
January 9, 2020 at 2:55 PM
Darn. Well, alright. I’m unaware of that park. I’ll look it up. No doubt that it’s a pretty place.Thank you.
Dawn Renee
January 10, 2020 at 9:59 AM
I was also unaware of John Bryan State Park until we visited a Cincinnati art museum last year and saw a landscape painting of a place that is now in that park.
Steve Schwartzman
January 10, 2020 at 10:16 AM
That’s an interesting way to learn of a place, that you went there afterwards is neat. I saw images, the waterfalls and crumbled stone steps that were shown are just gorgeous!
Dawn Renee
January 10, 2020 at 10:46 AM
Unfortunately for me as a photographer, signs in the park told visitors to stay on the trails, so I couldn’t get to where I needed to be for waterfall pictures. We made up for that a week later with a bunch of waterfalls in upstate New York, for example:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2019/08/26/lucifer-falls/
and
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2019/08/29/cavern-cascade/
Steve Schwartzman
January 10, 2020 at 11:18 AM
A perfect example of when to say, “Sign, what sign? That gust of wind blew the contacts right off my eyeballs!” It was so worth clicking those links. Thanks.
Dawn Renee
January 10, 2020 at 11:47 AM
Sometimes I ignore signs, but in this case it seemed the park really was trying to restore trod-upon areas and I didn’t want to interfere with that. As it turned out, the waterfalls in New York were a lot better than any I saw in Ohio, so all worked out for the best.
Steve Schwartzman
January 10, 2020 at 12:57 PM
I understand that, I absolutely agree about the NY falls you shared.
Dawn Renee
January 10, 2020 at 1:04 PM