09-22-13 Harvest Moon

I had said in a previous post that the reason I stopped along Highway 14 in the early hours of September 19 was to photograph a beautiful full moon as it set over Western South Dakota. I worked this scene for twenty minutes and took several HDR sequences, trying to get the right composition. It turns out that I should have been working harder on getting the right exposure since I'm not happy with most of what I got. It turns out that when you use a slow shutter speed on a setting moon, you just get blur. Who would think that the moon sinks so fast?

The secret with a good full moon photo, incidentally, is to try to get it in relation to something that has a known scale because it makes the moon look bigger. I don't know that this photo does a perfect job of that but I was intending to show the moon in the context of the landscape I was in. I also liked the dirt road that leads the eye to the moon and if I zoomed in too much on the moon, I lost most of the road.

I would like to have a second chance on this moonset but, like many transient things that I photograph, I think what you are looking at is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. Yes, there will be many more full moons. But to photograph the the so-called Harvest Moon over these hills will probably not be an opportunity I will have again.

For science minded, you might be interested in knowing that the Harvest Moon occurs in September and because it is close to the autumnal equinox, the moon rises and sets close to the same time for several nights in a row and stays looking fuller for a longer period of time. Thus it provides more light. In the days of manual harvest, farmers, who would often work through the night, appreciated the additional light at harvest season. Another feature of a setting moon is its color, which takes on the red hue from the atmosphere near the horizon. Some say the moon takes on a pumpkin color, which certainly is appropriate for the start of fall.

Have I left you wanting more? Check out this NASA ScienceCast:

09-21-13 Here Comes the Sun

I have come to realize that the most interesting thing about a sunrise isn't the sun. Instead, what makes some sunrises special is what the low, angular light is doing to the landscape everywhere except where the sun in visible.

This scene is one of several that I captured along Highway 14 in western South Dakota. Even if I didn't get anything camera worthy, it was a beautiful September morning to be in a part of our state that some would say is flat and bland.

Incidentally, if you look at the last three posts in this blog, you will note that I have moved the horizon to the bottom of the frame. I guess I am featuring the sky in my "Western South Dakota" series because I think that our amazing skies have much to offer. Montana's got nothing on us!

I should mention, incidentally, that the red band in this photo is ripe sorghum, which seemed to be planted in abundance in this part of our state. And did anyone noticed that the three primary colors are all dominantly present in this photo?

Canon 5DIII f/9.0 ISO320 35mm (shutter speed unknown - because this is an HDR composite?)

09-20-13 Fortress

I would say that today's photo stands in sharp contrast to yesterday's and in even starker contrast to the Alaska photos I have posted lately. But I don't mind juxtaposing from time to time.

I was driving on Highway 14 when I noticed these 4 grain storage units standing starkly on a distant hill. I was struck by how much they looked like parts of a castle from a distance. Of course, I was also struck by the stark setting of these structures, which is accentuated by the pure, blue South Dakota sky. Finally, the gentle serpentine horizon line, just barely colored in yellow, contrasts with the otherwise square and linear geometry of this capture.

Canon 5DIII 1/500s f/11.0 ISO250 75mm

09-19-13 Cloudscape

This photo is only a few minutes old and I am publishing this sitting by the side of the road just outside of Philip, SD. This morning's full moon and glorious sunrise have given me several photo opportunities as I've driven east along highway 14 towards Pierre, SD. And I couldn't resist sharing this particular photo with you.

My real reason for stopping along the highway was to capture the September full moon, which has been following me all the way from Rapid City when I pulled out of town at 5 am. And I did get the moon going down, though I'm not real happy with what I got on camera.

But shortly after the moon when down, the sun came up and I was able to get a pretty good sky shot. As with so many of my images, there is plenty of texture here. And a few lines and a little geometry. And, like so many of my photography experiences, I wish you had been here to share the time and place with me.

Canon 5DIII 1/250s f/11.0 ISO200 24mm

08-22-13 The Darkest Hour?

The saying is that "the darkest hour is just before dawn" and I was aware of that when I went quickly to my camera bag so I could get the moment pictured in this post. I'm not sure how one defines "dawn" but I concluded that the saying was a bit inaccurate even if it is more metaphorical than literal.

I'll have to admit that I've shot the sunrise from this same spot before. And as Monet no doubt felt good about painting the same haystacks over and over again, I can live with my redundancy: even though it's the same spot and the same old sun, this sunrise is unique in all of the 4.6 billion years of the Earth's existence. And I was there to capture it.

On a technical note, those who are inclined to study my photos closely might be inclined to say that part of my style is, as one student said recently, "crispness." Generally, because I shoot with a high resolution camera, use good lenses, generally use a a tripod and use fairly elaborate sharpening processes, they are clean and crisp. But this one is a little blurry. Was it premeditated? Not really. I was standing in a boat that was moving ever so slightly and I was hand-holding my camera with an impossible-to-hand-hold shutter speed of 1/3 of a second. I know that's a sin. But the blur actually adds to the impressionistic nature of this photo. I suspect that Monet might approve.

Canon 5DIII 0.3s f/4.0 ISO800 32mm

08-20-13 Prairie Relic

When Deb and I were driving back to Watertown on the day we did Lacey and Matt's engagement session, I remember driving by this tree and saying, "That's an amazing tree." And so, before I ended my session north of town a few days ago (that resulted in the two previous posts) I stopped by this tree and took several photos. I ended up liking this one, largely because of the way the stark monotone of the skeletal tree contrasts with the strong colors of the earth and sky.

Post Script

There is a bit of a back story to this photo. I took this photo on the morning of August 11. Three days later, I was packing my camera gear and discovered that my beloved Canon 24-105 4.0L lens was missing. I searched the house. Twice. No lens. I opened Aperture on my computer to find the last photo I had taken with the lens. It was of this tree. I concluded that I had left the lens exactly where I had taken it off - sitting on top of a fence post. (I used my 70-200 telephoto lens so I could try to blur the background.)

I drove north of town feeling pretty confident that I would find the lens. After all, this spot is fairly remote and I didn't think the country road would have had much traffic. I also imagined that the lens would blend in, looking like part of the post.

And from an eighth of a mile away, I could see the lens. But it didn't look like part of the fencing - it looked like a lens. Fortunately, it hadn't rained and there had been little dew over the three days that it sat on the post. And, aside from a fine layer of dust on the filter (no, I hadn't put on the lens cap), the lens was pretty much as I had left it. Lucky me!

08-19-13 Serenity

Those who follow this blog know that Lonesome Lake is one of my favorite places. Even if I didn't have a camera and tripod, I would enjoy this place, especially on a morning like the one this photo taken on. It was cool and windless, which on an August day is South Dakota, is somewhat rare. And there was a kind of silence here that it hard to describe. But I will say that I could hear and feel the silence. And when I look at this photo, I still do. I wish you had been there with me.

Canon 5DIII 1/125s f/13.0 ISO500 200mm

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08-18-13 Morning Glory

The title of this post may suggest that it is another flower photo. But, instead, it is another sunrise photo. This photo is the result of serendipity, I suppose, in that I just happened to be in the right place at the right moment. But serendipity doesn't suggest that it was an accident. When I left home just before sunset on this morning, I drove north hoping to find something worthy to photograph. And this is the first photo I took. I'll post others in the next few days.

It occurs to me that my photographic process generally begins with a "hunt." In this case, I was slowly driving the back roads near Lonesome Lake looking for the perfect picture. Initially, I drove over the little bridge that this photo was taken from but I backed up thinking that the still water in the foreground would do a good job of reflecting the beautiful morning sky. I guess you would say that this photo is a good example of chance favoring the prepared mind. Sometimes we are lucky to get the photos we get but this "luck" depends on our ability to see and then on our technical ability to capture what we see.

Canon 5DIII 1/80s f/10.0 ISO250 24mm

08-16-13 The Cathedral Spires (HDR)

I'll have to admit that I was trying to channel Ansel Adams when I made* this photo. Of course, Ansel used a view camera, filters and elaborate dark room magic to make his great black and white landscape photos. In the digital realm, all of those things are done using software.

I had taken my Black Hills Photo Adventure participants to the Needles Highway in the Black Hills and when we arrived at this vantage point, low clouds were skimming over the Spires, though you can't see it is this photo. It was the perfect moment to be at this place and I'm guessing that even Adams would have found it worthy of a photo or two.

Incidentally, what made Ansel Adams so good was that he didn't see the landscape that he photographed as geologic architecture. Instead, he worked hard to show the landscape as an environment. I try to do this in this photo, but I would say I fall a little short, though there is plenty of texture in this photo. And texture is a hallmark of Adam's work.

*Adams said, "You don't take a good photo. You make one."

05-17-13 Our Neighbor's Tulips I

My wife has nice flowers but does our neighbor and the other day I couldn't help but be drawn to her collection of yellow tulips, which had just bloomed. The light was poor but I enhanced the scene with on-camera flash. I rarely use flash but I have taught my students that it's ok to use flash as long as it doesn't overpower the scene. In the case of this photo, I think it works.

I call this post "Our Neighbor's Tulips I" because she also has some amazing deep purple tulips and I am waiting patiently for them to bloom. And though I've featured them before, those who follow this blog know that I like 2nd chances on most photos I take.

05-10-13 Flow

Yes, I'm stuck on streams. And, once again, I didn't go looking for this photo, which was buried in my 2008 collection. What fascinates me about this shot is that it is of the same place in the stream as the photo you see below. The camera position is different, but if you compare the two, you'll see the same old rocks. And they haven't changed.

This photo was "adjusted" with Nik Color Efex 4 and OnOne Perfect Effects 4. (I'm in a filtering phase and I need to get over it because years from now these filters won't seem so cool to me.)

By the way, I still have 5 spots left for the July "Black Hills Photo Adventure." You should join me and I'll teach you everything I know (or can teach in two days) about photography similar to the kind you see here. And we will visit all of my secret spots along Iron Creek.

Canon 5D I 5s f/22.0 ISO100 40mm

05-07-13 Out To Pasture

It is a fact known to my family, friends and associates. But I haven't in any formal or public way made the announcement: after 36 1/2 years of being a classroom teacher, I am retiring. I am down to my last three days with "my" students in "my" classroom.

When I was younger, I used to think that retirement meant being "put out to pasture." Thus, I offer today's photo. But having watched friends and colleagues who have retired, it seems that life sometimes gets busier after retirement.

So the question I get is: "What am I going to do now?" The answer: "More photography, of course."