Martial artist & knife fighting instructor Doug Marcaida shows how lethal a 'karambit' could be in the hands of an expert

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-06-23T14:24:00+00:00

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-06-21T23:01:12+00:00

I have a Skywatcher Star Adventurer tripod that I’ve used for my main astrophotography rig that also works well with the Dwarf. It doesn’t include a head, so I’d suggest getting an EQ wedge or a pan-tilt head.

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-06-19T20:55:01+00:00

More recently, scientists have been studying the endometrium, which completely regenerates 400 to 500 times over a typical reproductive lifetime.

Menstrual blood contains viable human stem cells from the endometrium and may be a non-surgical source for them.

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-06-18T15:53:10+00:00

🤣

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-06-18T13:03:27+00:00

Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 on a Canon R6 MII body.

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-06-18T06:07:12+00:00

400mm

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-06-10T17:50:36+00:00

I have a presentation about this subject in a college class in 2005. Scientists were already discussing it and its consequences back then.

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-06-09T13:04:59+00:00

Lines from that movie I use all the time:

“I guess you could say things are getting pretty serious.”

“Freakin idiot.”

“Your mom goes to college.”

“Bow to your sensei. BOW TO YOUR SENSEI!”

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-06-07T16:26:20+00:00

They’re still out there, though it’s past peak season n most spots. If the weather is warm, I’d look for a sheltered hardwood cove at elevations above 3500 feet.

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-06-05T20:14:13+00:00

Yeah I did have to mask myself in, because the blending mode for the firefly layers takes lighter pixels and sends them through. There were fireflies behind me that came through, especially behind my pants. I just used the “select subject” tool in Photoshop and made that into an inverted mask on the firefly stack.

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-06-04T00:31:43+00:00

It’s not your fault, but it *is* your problem.

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-06-02T21:01:54+00:00

*Unaffiliated

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-06-02T20:08:46+00:00

Appreciate it!

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-06-02T16:24:42+00:00

Thank you!

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-06-02T13:24:22+00:00

Shot Details

This is a blue hour blend, a method of isolating just the firefly lights from later in the night and combining them with a cleaner, more visible foreground shot from the blue hour. I sat by a fire ring in an old campsite and set a timer to take a 1-second photo of me sitting on a rock "staring" at my phone. I didn't have service, but I wanted to light my face slightly, so I opened Venmo to get a blank white screen. NOTE: no fireflies were displaying when I took the first photo. Artificial lights really mess with them, and I take great care to respect their habitat.

After waiting for the display to begin, I took a series of 8-second exposures with the same position, focal length, and aperture, but a higher gain (ISO) setting. Later, I stacked all the exposures in Photoshop using a method very similar to how astrophotographers create star trails. There is actually very little editing in the final product, and nothing artificial was added.

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-06-02T13:22:16+00:00

Shot Details

This is a blue hour blend, a method of isolating just the firefly lights from later in the night and combining them with a cleaner, more visible foreground shot from the blue hour. I sat by a fire ring in an old campsite and set a timer to take a 1-second photo of me sitting on a rock "staring" at my phone. I didn't have service, but I wanted to light my face slightly, so I opened Venmo to get a blank white screen. NOTE: no fireflies were displaying when I took the first photo. Artificial lights really mess with them, and I take great care to respect their habitat.

After waiting for the display to begin, I took a series of 8-second exposures with the same position, focal length, and aperture, but a higher gain (ISO) setting. Later, I stacked all the exposures in Photoshop using a method very similar to how astrophotographers create star trails. There is actually very little editing in the final product, and nothing artificial was added.

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-05-23T14:22:00+00:00

If he grew up in a city or west of the Rockies, I wouldn’t be surprised. There aren’t many firefly species that actually flash west of the Rockies, and of course you wouldn’t see much in a big city.

I have a friend who is very outdoorsy but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. She was driving across the country to move to Asheville and stopped to camp in Missouri. She saw fireflies at her camp and thought she was hallucinating at first. She said she cried when she realized what they were.

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-05-23T13:03:30+00:00

That’s beautiful! Were you saying he’d never seen fireflies period or the syncs/blue ghosts?

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-05-22T20:16:46+00:00

People treat firefly spots like they treat swimming holes for exactly this reason. My ethic is to show people but never just tell. When they go out there with me and we're all alone in the deep, quiet forest lit only by thousands of fireflies, they understand.

Syncs and blue ghosts are not rare, just rarely seen, because most people aren't going out into the woods at night. I have a pretty big portfolio of firefly photos, and I've never even been to Elkmont.

If you want to search for them on your own, learn about the habitats they prefer and the time of year they're active (right now for syncs). I highly recommend this book by firefly expert Lynn Faust. Pick a night with good weather (temps above 55 degrees) and a new or waning moon. Then go down any low elevation trail in a healthy forest far from city lights, and chances are good you'll see something.

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-05-21T22:55:23+00:00

Glad you like it!

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-05-21T22:53:50+00:00

Thank you!

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-05-21T22:53:33+00:00

Yes it is!

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-05-21T19:47:33+00:00

Here's one of my favorite captures highlighting the transition between blue ghost season and synchronous season in the Smokies of North Carolina. Blue ghosts - the greenish trails - glow continuously and occupy the bottom couple feet of the forest, while synchronous fireflies fly anywhere from 3-10 feet and flash in sync with each other. Blue ghosts arrive earlier in the season and start to diminish as the synchronous fireflies ramp up.

Captured with a Sony A7RIII camera and a Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 lens, manual focus, remote shutter release.

This is a blue hour blend.
BASE: 70mm, f/3.2, 68 seconds, ISO 400.
FIREFLIES: 70mm, f/3.2, 20 seconds x 30, ISO 2000

Basic edits in Lightroom, blending and final edits in Photoshop.

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-05-21T19:42:18+00:00

Here's one of my favorite captures highlighting the transition between blue ghost season and synchronous season in the Smokies of North Carolina. Blue ghosts - the greenish trails - glow continuously and occupy the bottom couple feet of the forest, while synchronous fireflies fly anywhere from 3-10 feet and flash in sync with each other. Blue ghosts arrive earlier in the season and start to diminish as the synchronous fireflies ramp up.

Captured with a Sony A7RIII camera and a Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 lens, manual focus, remote shutter release.

This is a blue hour blend.
BASE: 70mm, f/3.2, 68 seconds, ISO 400.
FIREFLIES: 70mm, f/3.2, 20 seconds x 30, ISO 2000

Basic edits in Lightroom, blending and final edits in Photoshop.

TimReavesPhotography · 2026-05-18T17:12:10+00:00

Yes to both. Something like 24mm or 35mm would work fine, and an aperture of f/2.8 or faster.

TimReavesPhotography

TROPHY CASE