Mark Cassino Photography - Mark's Blog

Yesterday was World Pinhole Photography Day and I was in the Allegan Forest taking pinhole photos, of course. NO word on how those have come out - still waiting for the color film to come back from the lab, and just getting started with scanning the B&W… But, standing in a clearing I looked down and spotted this lovely golden colored Hognose snake, resting in the warm afternoon sun.

I didn’t thinkt hat an 8 second exposure would do the trick, so I switched up to the Pentax K-5 and A* 200 macro lens. The snake was small - just under two feet long - and it gave a nice show as it slinked away. So - tongue up, grass blade up:

Tongue down, grass blade down:

Click on the images for a larger file.

Here’s a re-work of a shot I took in 2008 and posted here then:

Click on the image for a larger file.

The shot was one of the few successful images I had managed to get using Rollei IR 400, but unfortunately there was just not the needed tonal separation between the foliage in the trees and foreground scrub and the clouds and grassy plain. In this re-work I rescanned the negative, ran it through Photomatix tone mapping to better balance the shadows and highlights, and then went through extensive hand toning and local dodging and burning. I think it came out pretty nice…

Unfortunately, I scanned at a low resolution and was hours into working with it before I realized that it was only about half the size of a standard 35mm scan… Hmmm - maybe that is why is came out so nice this time? Well, it makes for a very nice small print…

Taken with a Pentax LX, FA 20-35mm f4 zoom, Rollie IR 400, HC110 Dil H and Hoya R72 IR filter.

A few days ago I caught my cat Jazz sitting in the sun and took a quick snapshot or two. Here’s the best of the bunch - click on the image for a larger view.

I like it because it has that classic film look to it - I’m not sure how it would have turned out as a digital exposure. With the bright light on the cat, the background is darkened and that also gives the shot of a bit of a noir feel, at least to my eye.

Jazz is indifferent to the photo - well, few among us like their own image.

Made with a Pentax LX and Kiron 105mm f2.8 macro lens on Fuji Neopan 400, rated at 400. Developed in D76 1+1.

Last weekend I visited the Devil’s Soupbowl, a glacial kettle hole located in the Yankee Springs state recreation area just north of Kalamazoo. It’s a nice place in that it affords an opportunity to look down into the foliage of the trees growing 60 feet or so below.

It was a dim overcast day and I found myself trying to capture the colors of the trees in their early foliage and flowers. Here are a couple of photo - both taken with the Pentax 6x7 and SMC Takumar 170mm f2.8 lens on Fuji Reala. Click for a larger view.

Note: I changed the above image on 4/9. You can see the original, less sharp one here

A couple more photos from mid March…click the images below for larger versions.

Early March on the Oak Savanna, where even an easy winter can be hard on some…

And redbuds beneath the tall oaks as March comes to an end…