Needles Highway, Black Hills, South Dakota
For my taste we had way too many days with just a plain blue sky and without any dramatic weather. The only exception was during a drive through the heart of the Black Hills, along the Needles Highway. I made quite a few clicks at this vantage point but when this dude with his “Hill Billy shirt” stopped his Harley right in front of me, I knew I had my photo…
I really believe that sharing locations is one of the best things photographers, nature lovers, or anybody who goes out into nature, can do to their fellow outdoor enthusiasts. Much of my photography in the Black Hills, and in particular in Custer State Park, has benefit from articles in the BT Journal, the digital magazine about photography, published by famous photographer Moose Peterson an his wife Sharon. In addition many posts in his blog fueled my desire to visit the Black Hills again. http://www.moosepeterson.com/
The photo was made on the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park, just east of the Custer State Park landing strip. I have seen amazing photos from Moose Peterson with breathtaking skies from almost the same location. As mentioned before in earlier blog posts, we were beaten with almost blue skies the whole time in the Black Hills but it didn’t stop us to get up before sunrise and stay late until after the sun had set. The trees in the background are a perfect set for any try to capture the light and the sky. The subtle painting of the light on the prairie in front of the trees makes this image special for me. It really tells the story how we have seen Custer State Park in South Dakota for several days during the time between night and day…
I always call it a great day if we have a first sighting of a bird or critter. This may not always be the best photographical moment but at least I try to make a documentary shot and hope to work my way up to a better image sometime later. We were told that getting close to some Sharp-tailed Grouse would be not an easy task and we would be very lucky to see them at all. I think it payed back to get up really early in Custer State Park and during this early trip along Wildlife Loop Road, we saw close to a dozen already the first morning. It was good that I fired away immediately, handhold and just supported by leaning myself against the car, because we did not see them at any other time again. Having part of the road in the frame is not very flattering but making “a” shot is always the priority if I see a new species. The Sharp-tailed Grouse gave us about 40 seconds until they took off. This is the best I could get, but hey, it made it already a great day early in the morning… 😊.
Roughlock Falls is in the Little Spear Fish Creek Valley in the Black Hills. It is one of the places that are liked by tourists and you can get close safely to the waterfalls on well built boardwalks and bridges.
A few days ago I posted an article called “Communicating Motion”. Today’s image was made with the same technique, a combination of multiple shots into one image. The camera can do this automatically and the Nikon D750 is able to combine up to three shots. Other, more expensive models, are able to work with up to ten shots. To be honest, I’m very happy with the results. It takes some test shots to find the best exposure compensation. The interesting thing is that no two pictures look alike and that leaves you some room for your creative process. I have photographed waterfalls before, mostly with a neutral density filter in front of the lens for a long exposure time, which creates the silky look of the water. The goal with both techniques is to tell your own story about motion of the water and to reveal the beauty of a waterfall or creek. The advantages of the new way are that you don’t need any filter, the colors seem to look better, and most important you can shoot these kind of pictures even in bright daylight.
One animal in Custer State Park in the Black Hills is hard to miss. Known as the “begging burros”, the herds can be encountered along the Wildlife Loop Road. The burros in the park are feral. They have been introduced by humans to the area and have reverted to a semi-wild state. The donkeys descend from pack animals that were once used for treks to a summit. They often block the road and pander for food from tourists. Because you have to stop anyway, you can’t help but take some pictures of these charismatic relatives of the horse...
Our next campsite was in the Little Spearfish Creek Valley, which is located in the northern part of the Black Hills. The forest is denser than in Custer State Park and we were higher up in the mountains.
This arm of the creek was running not far from our small camp site and it was the right subject for trying out a new technique I recently learned from an article by Moose Peterson. It is about creating a long exposure look for moving water in order to communicate its motion. Without attaching a neutral density filter or very long exposure times we can achieve this look even in daylight under relative bright light conditions. The trick is to use the multiple-exposure function that is built into some cameras. If this triggers your interest, click on the link for the whole article. http://www.imagechaser.com/creating-long-exposure-look-without-wait-nd-filter/
The interesting thing is that not two pictures look alike and at home, in front of our computer screens, we can choose the pattern of blur that we like the best. After reading Moose Peterson’s article, about a month before our trip, I really was eager to try this new technique and finally along the Little Spearfish Creek, with its waterfalls and cascades, I found the perfect “testing ground”…
Many people come to Custer State Park in the Black Hills for the bison. In the fall the majority of the herd is round up and the bison are kept in a large fenced area. This is done to maintain the health and size of the herd and some animals are sold. We were told that this is the biggest spectacle every year and ten thousands of people come to Custer State Park to see the round up. Today many of the about 250,000 bison that live in other herds across the US and Canada have their origins in the herd from Custer. Some bison still roam free after the round up and we saw mostly solitary bulls or smaller groups.
One morning we came across this big bull and with a photo opportunity like this, it is very easy to get carried away and end up with tons of images on the memory card. After making the usual “safety shots” we really worked this guy with our cameras. The light was good and we waited for some extra gestures a bison bull has in its portfolio. As you can see we were not disappointed… 😊
As a visitor of the Black Hills you have several options to visit a cave. We decided to see at least one and our choice was Jewel Cave, which is also a National Monument. There are books and websites out there that will tell you every geological and historical fact about this cave. We really enjoyed this visit and all the information we got from a very passionate ranger during our tour in the cave. Don’t miss it if you ever go to the Black Hills!
Within a few minutes being in the cave I figured out that it is impossible to catch the magnificence in just one “signature photo”. Instead I approached it with just composition and color in mind. I did not want to make just documentary shots. When the ranger asked who would volunteer to be the last person of the tour, to make sure nobody is left behind, my arm went up immediately. I may have missed some of the ranger talk, but being the last one leaving any part of the cave gave me a little more time for the extra shot without being pushed by another person.
The first image was made with the help of a speed light, which was used to throw some light into the foreground by pointing it towards the ceiling. Everybody who has a phone in their pocket can be a photographer these days, and I really believe this is a very good thing. As you can see in the lower right corner, I have not been the only one who was impressed by this cave and tried to capture the moment.
No flash light here, and by exposing strictly for the highlights, the black space around separates the viewer from this side track of the cave. Shapes and colors are talking.
This geological formation is called the “cave bacon”, and if you have ever watched how a piece of bacon changes its color if heated up in a pan, you know why… Oh boy, my good friend Anja will love the “meaty part” of this blog post…😉
Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4
Another wonderful landscape of the American West...
Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM
Back to the Black Hills and Custer State Park again. Sometimes a photo doesn’t tell the whole story about what was going on at the moment the click was made. And this is OK as long as your picture has a subject and tells the story that is important. Here it is the encounter of a young Mule Deer buck in the early morning sun on a slope of tall grass prairie. This is why I really wanted to go to Custer State Park so badly! It is the place to make pictures like this one. What you don’t see is the presence of a second buck right in front of this one. Within a second I had to make a decision about how to frame the picture. The deer stopped briefly but they were not waiting for a photographer to make up his mind slowly. Shooting them separately led to a better composition and allowed to use the full focal length of 500 mm to get close to the subject. Nobody will miss the second deer in the photo… 😊
Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM
I got the question, did you see a lot of birds up in the Dakotas? Not a lot, remember we were there in October, but we saw some birds we don’t have here in Iowa. I posted recently a photo of the Black-billed Magpie and that was the first time I was able to make a decent picture of this bird. In Custer State Park in the Black Hills we saw several Mountain Bluebirds. Mostly during our photo excursions early in the morning. They like to sit on fence posts or barbed wires and there are quite a few along the Wildlife Loop Road. First there is the fence that surrounds the landing strip of Custer State Park. As soon the sun appears above the mountain ridge the fence on the east side along the road is a safe bet to find Mountain Bluebirds. Further down the road, at the Buffalo Corrals, we were able to watch this attractive bird as well. This is where the second photo was made. In comparison to the Eastern Bluebird, that is very common here in Eastern Iowa, the Mountain Bluebird doesn’t havethe red on its underparts.
Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM
Pronghorn, Custer Sate Park, Black Hills, South Dakota
Getting out of the sleeping bag before sunrise is important for seeing some of the wildlife and for maybe getting the photo that makes the difference. Well, the sun raises and sets 365 days during a year around the world and sometimes I think about what it is, that triggers our desire to snap a picture of something that occurs every day. The quality of light during these times plays probably a big role. We maybe just can’t get enough of it.
Being up early beares another advantage, you have the roads, trails, and locations almost for yourself. Not much interferes between you as the photographer and the critter that may become your subject in a good image.
The first photo was made five minutes after the sunrise picture. The Pronghorn buck is still in the shade of the mountains but his ears and horns are backlit by the morning sun. What a great moment!
The last photo was taken the day before and the metadata reveal that the click was made about an hour after sunrise. Still good light, but you can already tell with every minute it became more and more difficult to work an animal like the Pronghorn Antelope with the camera due to the high contrast. As always, a click on each photo opens a larger version on black background for better viewing. I hope you enjoy!
Sylvan Lake, Black Hills, South Dakota
We really enjoyed our time in the Badlands, South Dakota but after a few days it was time to move on. The mountains and wildlife of the Black Hills were waiting for us and the Game Lodge campsite in Custer State Park became our next base camp. The Black Hills have a big variety of landscapes to offer, from mixed grass prairies to granite outcroppings, like at Sylvan Lake. Ponderosa pine forests are a big part of it but othervaried forest communities can be found as well.
My desire to spend time in Custer State Park was triggered by an older issue of the BT Journal, a quarterly magazine, produced by famous wildlife, landscape, and aviation photographer Moose Peterson and his wife. The subtitle says, “the journal for taking your photography to new heights!” Hands down, the BT Journal is one of the best sources for exact that. Moose Peterson’s profound knowledge about locations, the wildlife, and sharing his photography skills with us is invaluable. I have studied the October 2012 issue of the magazine, The Black Hills - A Photographer’s Paradise, many times before and it bought us a lot of time, because we knew already where to look for critters and locations.
Grace Coolidge Creek ran right in front of our tent but there was only a very small time window in the morning when a shot like this was possible. For the rest of the day the creek was in the shade.
The campsite is just a stone throw away from Wildlife Loop Road and being out there before sunrise or coming back after sunset isn’t difficult to manage. Other destinations in the Black Hills are also not too far and this makes the State Game Lodge area a great base camp. If camping is not your cup of tea you can stay at the State Game Lodge or some other ones nearby.
