Merging 2 pictures.

From the collection of pictures I obtained from recent photo club day trip, I found a few that're more dramatic if I cropped them to be "panoramic". But when I tried to print them, no matter what I tried, it only prints in the middle of my 8x10 paper, one picture at a time, too wasteful. A quick search on-line on "merging photos", I found using one of my all time photo viewer can solve this problem: IrfanView - http://www.irfanview.com/. Irfanview is donation based product. If you find it useful, please feel free to make a donation.

A sample of my cropped pictures.


Firing up Irfanview by itself. To create this merged picture, select Image, then Create Parorama Image, that will bring up the following window.


Since the pictures I want to merge is horizontal/landscape, I want the merged pictures to be vertical, so new image is below the previous ones. Click on Add images, select the images you want to merge, then click Create image, then you are done.

I rotated one of the image so it is upside down, while the other one is in normal orientation. Make sure to save this image!
Now, when I print these images, I have the white space (if any) at the bottom of each image, so I have a place to write down any info, signature, etc, but the main goal of not wasting any photo paper will be accomplished.
I am sure there are other products that can do this. If you know of one, please feel free to share with us!

Calf Branding - Monochrome

Just some more shots from our club outing. I thought they looked more dramatic in monochrome.

Calves really had to be held down by 2 or 3 guys.

This is Vic. Foreman of this crew.

I think this can be a Marlboro Man Poster.

On the prairie.

Calf Branding, and Others.....

One of our photo club member made an arrangement with Babbitt Ranch, for club member to stop by and have a photo shoot while they're branding calves. We met around 7 in the morning, then just a quick 20 minute drive on 89 North, turn in at Wupatki loop. We weren't sure how the weather would turn out, since it has been cold and wet (rain and snow.....), but it actually turned out to be a very nice day.

In this corner, the cows.

And this corner, cowboys ready for work.

It was interesting work, and I imagine that it was painful for these little guys - especially the boy calves, they had to undergo an extra treatment besides branding. We were in and out of the pen while the cowboys worked, but cattle didn't charge at anyone.

It was serious work, and club members really enjoyed the outing. After the branding, the cowboys herded them across the ranch, went under 89 under a tunnel, well, one of them got away and decided to cross over 89 instead of the tunnel, it briefly stopped traffic, but it was brought under control immediately!

Yakima Region

Neat little farming community, a lot of orchards in the area, and it is surrounded by mountain ranges, that appears to be volcanic in origin. The big difference here (compared to Arizona) is amount of moisture. It is really green here.



The following shots are taken along State Road 12, also called White Pass Scenic Byway. really nice drive.

Near Oak Creek Wild Life Refuge.

Near Oak Creek Wild Life Refuge.

end.

Over Seattle

Typical shot of Seattle from above....

Short trip to Yakima. Had to stop at Seattle. This is the first time I've ever been to Seattle, well, I guess it still doesn't count, since I only stayed at the airport, waiting for my connection. I am never sure if digital camera is one of those devices that they ask you to turn off during take off and landing.... I guess I will need to ask about that.

Stadiums.

If I get a chance, I'd like to visit this area some time, along with Portland. Looks like a very nice area.

Blue Ridge Reservoir

We first heard of Blue Ridge Reservoir on Arizona Highway, the TV program Fall of 2007. Looks like a neat spot, so a quick search on internet points me to somewhere near Payson/Mogollon Rim region. When I asked around in our photo club, people mentioned it is a really neat place to visit, but it is not really accessible in Winter time, as the roads are usually not cleared in Winter time, and it is rough forest road.

There appears to be 2 ways to get to the lake. I chose the shorter route (less forest road driving): From Flagstaff, take south on Lake Mary Rd, turn left on 87 (Heading towards Winslow). Go about 5 miles, you'll see NF751, and a big sign for Blue Ridge Reservoir, turn right. Then another 4.5 miles, you will get to the parking lot, restroom, and a small boat ramp. If you continue on NF751, you can reach the Dam. You will need a high clearance vehicle, as the road gets pretty rough after the restroom facility. There were large boulders in the middle of the roads, and in some parts, only 1 car can get by. There is a turn around when you get to the end.

An inflatable and a lake, a nice way to spent time on a lazy afternoon. As you can see, the lake is situated in a canyon, there are only certain spots that you can launch your canoe, kayak. We did see small motorized fishing boats, but most people we saw were paddling.

A view of the lake from the Dam.

Other side of the Dam. The lake feeds into Salt River down stream.

Super nice camping spot!

Paddle jockeys on the lake. The place looks very scenic, and camp ground is available. There was a large campsite on the other side of the shore, it looks like most people launched their boats from that side. There were other camp sites near by, I see firepit, grill, and picnic table setup, along with restrooms, very nice setup.

Oh, and no gators like Florida lakes.....

Upper Lake Mary

With nice snow fall this past Winter, Lake Mary by Flagstaff is actually pretty full. Lake Mary consists of 2 lakes. Upper and lower. Lower is really just there to catch the run-offs. This time last year, Lower Lake Mary is nothing but grassland, but this time, its more of a wetland, with lots of people fishing. The lake was created by the Riordan family, they owned lumber mill in the Flagstaff area. The lake was named after one of their daughters.

Picture above is from Upper Lake Mary, very full. I am surprised that there wasn't more people on the lake, maybe most people run up to Lake Powell (2 hours away), I read in the paper that the authority are expecting Lake Powell to be 63% capacity by end of Summer (it was 48% last year), that's good news.

Now the lake is fairly full, I am surprised how big this lake actually is.

Sailing in Upper Lake Mary. Peaceful day.

Duck photos

These guys are year-round resident of the pond (we call it lake here in AZ) near-by, even when it freezes in the Winter time. In Winter, they rely on hand-outs from people. This time of year, they can pretty much fend for themselves.

Protector.

Decoy impression.

Three's company.

Greed

One of my favorite NPR program is This American Life. This past week's program was very interesting. It is about the housing crisis here in the states.

You can hear this episode from the following link:

http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1242

Support your local NPR stations. KNAU for Flagstaff.

Article notice

Here is a very interesting article regarding tilt-shift lens:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/focusing-ts.shtml


Looks like an interesting piece of equipment.

Wupatki Ruins

This shot was taken about an hour before sunset. Manual exposure.

Sandstone against sun light.

Tricky white balance time. Windows to the past.

Standing tall - shot with long tele lens.

Flowers

These are flowers for my father's passing, given to us by the company my wife works for.

They were given to us on the 24th of April, still going strong. Kind of reminded me of his last few days.
I went through many old photos of him, scanned the photos to setup a slide show for his memorial service. For me, it was a healing process of some sort, seeing him visiting different places. I wish I had spent more time with him.