Wordless Wednesday: Stream Profiler

Not so wordless this week though. Well I have to tell you what you are seeing and not simply show you. So what you are seeing here is called a stream profile chamber and frankly, that’s what it is: a stream profile chamber. The upper 1/4the part of the photo shows you the real forest and the stream as it look if you are above this chamber (the part above the water). But then you enter this tunnel and you see how the streams really look like in nature. Can you see how the water from the small fall makes all those bubbles, the rock behind the branches going in and, of course, the fish swimming around? See how the sun rays are penetrating the stream?

It was an accidental discovery on the recent trip to Lake Tahoe (yep, that’s where I disappeared after my defense and hence, the long silence). I found this very unique and exciting and hence the picture. Or may be, years of grilling in academics have turned me to an absolute geek. No really, do you also think its cool or is it just me? Have I really lost the ability to communicate with the normal people (I was told that most of the PhDs do so I have been wondering)?

Title: Stream

Location: Rainbow Trail, South Lake Tahoe, CA

Date: July 20, 2010

(Canon EOS REBEL T2i camera, Canon 18-55mm lens @ 33mm focal length, f/10 aperture, 1/100 sec shutter speed and 3200 ISO (the reason the picture is a bit grainy) using a graduated 0.6 ND filter with darker side towards the top. Post processing: cropped slightly, straightened and increased contrast using Picasa3)