ARTSY-FARTSY SUMMER FUN

Although I do not publish a new blog post every day, I still try to make a few clicks with the camera daily. Sometimes just to practice or try out new things, and other times to keep the creative juices flowing. Most of these pictures will never be seen by the public eye but for me they are part of the ongoing learning process in photography.

We had finally some rain today and the air cooled down a little bit, but two days ago it was very hot and muggy and I just sat in a chair outside with the camera in my lap. The sun had already set but there was still a little glow touching our flowers, ferns, and grasses in the front yard. I played around with some long exposure times between two and ten seconds while keeping the camera in motion. This became more interesting when the lightning bugs (some call them fireflies or glowworms) started their performance. The slow movement of the camera duplicated our purple coneflowers while the short appearance of the bugs made for sharp little light trails. Just some artsy-fartsy fun with the camera… 😊

Nikon D750, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM, @ 8s, f/5, ISO 100

COMMUNICATING MOTION

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”…