Nature photography, art, environment
| |
 |
Cardinal feathers
Cardinal feathers
Cardinal abstract
These images are dedicated to a male Northern Cardinal that unfortunately struck the back door of my house and did not survive. I felt horrible. Before I placed his body to rest in one of our pine trees that he so frequently liked to visit, I captured these few images as a remembrance of his wonderful feathers and visits to our yard.
Punxsutawney Phil
I am pleased to have a groundhog image of mine appear in Sierra magazine for January / February 2010 (pg. 18), along with some good biology information about this little guy predicting how much winter may be left in February. Let’s hope he sees his shadow in advance ok? You can read the story online at the Sierra Club website here.
This was from my first DSLR the D2H at only 4.2 MP, but still more than enough quality for magazine use. Despite how such a camera may be “shunned” today, I continue to get great use (and sales) out of these files. The image runs in the magazine about 1/3 the page, is cropped just below the front claws, and looks just fine.
Sierra Magazine
The issue also has some of Clark Little’s incredible wave imagery. I have seen a lot of his great work in the press lately. If you have never seen his work, you can see more of it at his website.
Time at the spa
Yes, another bear photo! 
This image communicates something entirely different than my previous one on bear claws, but they still attract attention eh? This is “Mom” brown bear taking a little time away from the kids for some maintenance of those claws – a little polishing – tending to the cuticles, etc. The deeper water helps stay mostly submerged and away from the nagging insects buzzing around that are quite obvious in this photograph. Actually I was a bit surprised to find this many bugs in mid-September in Alaska, some areas worse than others. I think the cubs look a little bored and impatient waiting on the shoreline for Mom to be done or bring a fish. She knows where to go for a little time away.
It also reminds me of website maintenance and redesign and so many other things I had hoped to do during this time between Christmas and New Years, but I got hit with a pretty bad flu that has kept me from making any progress on that end. It seems like it is on the way out now, but will take awhile before I get re-motivated to take some of that on.
And lastly, I certainly appreciate all the comments, links, and feedback you have provided me on this blog over this year. I know the end of the year reflections back tend to be commonplace, and that is one that cannot be overstated. What’s ahead and what about favorites of 2009? I am not entirely sure yet. My thinking still needs to clear up from flu meds – clear away the bugs, and sharpen the claws, and scratch out some thoughts for some future posts.
This image was captured using a Nikon D700, 200-400 f4 lens, ISO 1600 at Kinak Bay, Katmai National Park, Alaska. Post processing by Lightroom 2, Photoshop CS3 using luminosity masks and Topaz Detail.
Musical notes
It seems Winter has been with us in Michigan for well over a month now, despite its unofficial start today in this region of the world. I often wondered why can’t we have fall colors start a month early?! :-) On second thought, that would probably screw up a lot of photographers planning fall color trips around peak times. At least our days will start growing longer. My shooting this time of year seems to be split between working inside on rock patterns, (which I need to catch up on) and what I enjoy most of all in the winter – photographing ice patterns.
This winter I hope to return to that pursuit to expand my collection of ice pattern photos. The infinite varieties and patterns tend to offer limitless subject matter to explore. In this post earlier this year, I created a special gallery of one particular outing. The image in this post is from earlier this year and reminded me of the shapes and interaction of musical notes and waves of sound.
I added further processing to it using Topaz Adjust to enhance some of the local areas of contrast. Overall I am content with using this style I created for these patterns – I like the gritty nature to them that emphasizes the lines and shapes (almost haunting as I labeled them in the special gallery linked above).
Bear claws
Processing bear photos continues….
I thought this was an interesting portrait in how you do not see the bear’s eyes, but my attention is drawn almost immediately to the claws. I wondered if this was an instinctual reaction to a threat. Similar to the way people react to big teeth, antlers, or other features that may be considered as weapons. I have similar images in this sequence without the claws, and they don’t provide quite the same tension.
This big boar (ie. male) was wading around in a river in front of us, digging up fish scraps, blowing bubbles, and generally acting somewhat bored. I was practically lying down on a river bank to capture this low angle view, which I think also establishes a certain intimacy. Thank you for visiting!
Link to gallery: Brown bear photos
Turquoise beaches
Something I have made somewhat of a tradition is paying attention to Pantone’s color of the year for the past couple of years. I find it interesting to see what they will pick next, the explanations they offer behind it, and to see if I have any photographs that might make some good matches. From the business side of things, I can’t say it has drawn much of a business increase because of these colors, but I find it an interesting exploration of my photo archive by color if nothing else. I rediscover new images that I haven’t looked at in awhile, and perhaps even some common themes relating to color. For 2010, they announced recently that it will be Turquoise, or PANTONE® 15-5519.
(more…)
BE9147 Brown Bear freighter
What??!! A week has gone by and I haven’t posted about any bears? :-) Well, this post certainly breaks that bad streak. Of course I am still editing and processing images from Alaska. This particular image has a lot of qualities that I like about it.
This image was captured using a Nikon D700, 200-400 f4 lens, ISO 1250 at Geographic Harbor, Katmai National Park, Alaska. Post processing by Lightroom 2, Photoshop CS3 using luminosity masks and Topaz Detail. Topaz Detail just released their 1.1 update which works much faster and addresses one of my complaints in my previous review.
I picked up on a new website while listening to Jim Goldstein’s interview with Lightroom project manager Tom Hogarty. I haven’t gone through it completely, but certainly appreciate what I have seen so far.
dpBestFlow.org
dpBestflow.org is a site that looks simple on the initial page, but do a little poking around and you will find a wealth of information on best practices and workflow suggestions for digital photography. The website is a result of a project by ASMP who was contacted by the Library of Congress to develop a variety of best practices and guidelines revolving around a digital workflow. Here is the purpose statement from their website;
The purpose of dpBestflow is twofold:
To create guidelines for refined production workflows, archiving methods, and best practices for digital photography based on a variety of capture methods and intended image use. The guidelines will be developed on the basis of research, analysis of software products and other tools targeted at professional photographers. To publish the dpBestflow as a website open to the public. The adoption of the dpBestflow guidelines will be promoted to the professional photography community and the public through programming at industry trade shows and a nationwide series of training events at ASMP chapters, trade shows, and educational institutions
Complimentary Colors
This is one from the archives – a leaf photographed by the side of river at Bridal Veil falls in Tinker’s Creek Gorge in Ohio. This is a pretty cool area to work in because the shale creates all sorts of interesting lines, shapes, and surfaces. The bigger bonus was having some blue sky reflecting in the water to act as a complimentary color to this leaf.
Complimentary colors to me are a bonus find in nature. They create a special dynamic relationship in an image. My eyes wander back and forth between the leaf and the blue reflecting water – almost as if there was an attracting and opposing force between the two like magnets. The lines of the shale help contribute to that dynamic.
I plead guilty to not being very systematic about how I tag my posts – haphazard would be a a more fitting term. I am trying to do better! I have now created a post tag called “artist favorites.” This tag will link you to some of my favorite posted images over the last year. Eventually I will spend time to go back further and tag those. I encourage you to check it out and see if you missed something.
Life everywhere
I was thinking about how sometimes when I go into the woods I develop the photographers’ version of writer’s block. When there isn’t specific wildlife in front of you, or some grand scenic, when you simply have a wooded forest, it can be difficult to concentrate on one particular composition. There is actually abundant subject matter here. Life is everywhere. New compositions by the inch. If you bring an arsenal of lenses, it somewhat compounds the issue in that you also have a variety of lenses to approach any particular subject with. There are any number of ways to photograph almost everything in sight. It is like having a 8 foot long dessert table in front of you – it’s all good, but you can only eat so much. If you don’t have any particular craving, sometimes it can be crippling to have so much variety.
Generally if I find myself in this state, I just pick a lens and start photographing something – anything. It helps get my brain seeing and thinking about compositions. Gradually after snacking on this or that, I start narrowing down what I am interested in. I will settle on something that tastes just right. Some people will just go out with one lens, or to solely photograph sticks – just to limit the amount of choices available. What are some techniques you use to limit the perils of choice?
