Fall Reflections

I was looking at some photos I took while staying overnight in a picture perfect town in Washington named Gig Harbor. I had passed this one over, in part because out of the camera it looked a little drab. But, thanks to a little help from my friends (Aperture and Photoshop) this photo is filled with color.

Fat Cats

I was on the way home after a fairly successful photographic outing north of Watertown. And, once again, lost in thought, I had driven about 50 yards by this scene, which had registered subliminally, before I realized I had passed a photo opportunity.So I backed up and took a few photos. I love backlit thing that nature makes and the sun sets ablaze!

Moonset Over Hills & Trees

The moon is real. The hills are real. And so are the trees and the freshly worked field. But the photo is Photoshopped. So is the photo real? While I'm at it, I might as well ask if "moonset" is a real word?(PS: Have you adjusted your camera clock time to correspond to the shift away from DST? "Does time really matter?" you ask. My answer: "Metadata matters!")

Shades of Gray

I was back at Lonesome Lake this morning looking for photo opportunities. As I have already admitted, I am amazed with the fascinating texture of the prairie grass here. And so I took more photos.This is an HDR picture, first processed in the HDR Pro software in Photoshop and then converted to black and white using a NIK set of filters. This is mostly a "real" photo, though if you look at the trees along the upper right part of the photo, they look a little ghostly. Don't ask me why.

Aspen Leaf

I was out in the backyard looking for HDR (high dynamic range) opportunities. I was looking for subjects that had a broad contrast from very bright and very dark. The first thing I saw was an assortment of aspen leaves, which had just fallen during the night. I liked the how the backlighting accentuated the textures of the veins in the leaf and the blades of grass that surround it. It had frosted during the night, which adds a little more character to the bokeh in this photo.Canon 5DII 1/320s f/3.5 ISO200 100mm

Out By Lonesome Lake (LATI Festival of Trees Choice)

One of the good things about my job is that when I give a photo assignment I often go out and do the assignment myself. Such was the case this past weekend. My particular mission was to shoot an HDR photo or two. I have spent about 10 hours on this task and, of the 300 photos I took, I've ended up with one HDR composite that I like. That's not bad for a day's work!I have posted an HDR (High Dynamic Range) to this blog before but I thought I'd do it again. In simple terms, an HDR photo is really one or more photos of the exact same subject with varying exposures layered on top of each other and adjusted so the whole photo is well exposed - from the very bright to the very dark.In the case of today's photo, if I had exposed for the beautiful morning sky, the grass in the foreground would have been barely visible. And if I'd exposed for the foreground, the sky would have been washed out. I must admit that the way I've done HDR so far has an element of the surreal in it. And I like that.Incidentally, this photo has been selected as this year's choice for my LATI Festival of Trees donation. It will be among many things that are donated and offered during the silent auction for the annual LATI scholarship fundraiser on November 18 at the Ramkota.Finally, if you are still reading this, you may be seriously interested in HDR. If that's true, go here to see a YouTube video I made on this subject.

Still On the Vine

We visited Brian and Katie this past weekend in St. Paul and this morning I felt obligated to go out and wander around for a while with my camera. I was looking for something other than fall color, and I found these little purple grapes on the wall of a townhouse not too far from Katie and Brian'sI like the color of the grapes contrasted with the brick wall behind. I also like the way the early morning light helps give dimensionality to the grapes. Finally, I like the way the depth of field gives depth to the photo. It is the combination of the blur and the good light that help the grapes stand out in this photo.

Luminance

These bedraggled flowers represent the last color that survives in my wife's beautiful flower garden. Though they represent the end of summer and the eventual arrival of winter, there is still splendor in their blooms.

Black Hills Gold

I was waiting for for a traffic light to change at a road construction site on the road between Hill City and Keystone. I rolled down the window and snapped this photo just as the light turned green. I'm a nature paparazzi.

10-11-11 Moonset Over Iowa Corn Field

It was the perfect summer morning to be out north of Lake Okoboji in Iowa hunting for photos. This is one of the three captures I like for the hour I spent looking. I especially like the strong green color of the corn contrasting with the soft, muted color of the pre-sunrise sky.

Leafscape I

This leaf, born sometime in May, is beautiful in its old age.

Misty Sunrise

This is another shot taken a little north and west of Lake Okoboji this past August. This photo has a look that reminds me of the famous painting by Millet called "The Shepherdess."