My barber and my lunch spot

Left Coast Barber Shop and Sammich (Ashland, Oregon)

| The above will search Ashland Daily Photo. |

Left Coast Barber Shop and Sammich (Ashland, Oregon)
Today’s softball games have been cancelled. The Raiders don’t play at home again until April 18 (weather permitting).
Buckle Rash is playing at Lounge South (AKA The Deli Downstairs) in Ashland Friday night (4/4/14) with Ol’ Mount’n due. I’ll probably be shooting something for the AIFF downtown at that time so I’ll try to catch some Buckle Rash too.

Ellie & Ryan on Hobart Peak looking north toward Emigrant Lake and Ashland
After living in Ashland for nearly 14 years, I thought I had been on every nearby hike. Turns out I was wrong. Hobart Peak (AKA Hobart Bluff) is more of a walk than a hike as it isn’t long (about 3 miles round trip) and only has a bit of elevation gain near the end. The sky was completely blue on the day we went. I want to go again for a sunrise or sunset or between storms.
If you are in Ashland and want to check it out, get on Highway 66 toward the Green Springs. After a little less than 15 miles from Oak Tree Northwest Bar & Grill, turn right onto Soda Mountain Road. In about 3.5 miles park at the trail marker near a meadow. You’ll be on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) initially. A sign a mile in will direct you to the left to get to the location in today’s photo.
Last night I had the pleasure of seeing The Pink Floyd Experience while visiting Portland. They still have a couple more shows left on this tour. If you live near Bremerton, Washington (3/29/14) or Vancover, BC (3/30/14) you don’t want to miss them.
With a little over half the season still remaining, Oregon Tech is undefeated in conference play with a two game lead over Concordia and four game lead over conference favorite, College of Idaho. Play resumes this weekend with SOU and OIT travelling to Concordia (and Northwest). Things will be clearer (or not) after those games.

Ryan and I in 2000
My little boy is all grown up now and will be heading off to college this fall. He has decided to go to the University of Oregon. I’ve been rather indifferent about the Oregon schools (other than SOU where I work of course) until now, but from here on out I will be a fan of the Ducks.

Raider Club Auction 2014
Oregon Ducks football helmet signed by SOU Alumnus and current U of O Coach Mark Helfrich and Marcus Mariota with three of my prints to the right
This past weekend I was hiking on Upper Table Rock. The ground was covered with wildflowers and snow-covered Mt. McLoughlin looked splendid in the distance. So I took this photo of the wildflowers.
But I wanted a photo with Mount McLoughlin in focus so I took another one.
When I got home I was a bit disappointed in each photo.
My photography and Photoshop skills are completely self taught. I have never taken a class, had a tutor/mentor, or even read a book on either subject. I’ve learned merely by trial and error with my camera and trying different things in Photoshop.
So what I wanted to do was combine the above two photos. I did so by using Photomerge (under File/Automate) in Photoshop and unchecking the “Blend Images Together” option. Hit F7 to see the layers if your layers box isn’t already open. Select both images, and use Auto-Blend Layers (under Edit) to stack the images. The result is below.
It’s not perfect, but now I have a new option at my fingertips in the future. Two things I need to do differently:
1) Take more than two photos. Notice how the finished result is out of focus in the middle. Had I taken three or four photos, each with a different focus point, the entire stacked photo could have been in focus.
2) Maintain the same, or nearly the same, composition (and camera settings–shutter speed, ISO, aperture). I recomposed the scene a bit after taking the first image which doesn’t make for the best stacking conditions later in post.
A more recent focus stack of a similar scene can now be found here.
See my prior post for more information.