MORE THAN JUST A CLOUD

Lake Michigan, White Dunes State Park, Door County, Wisconsin --------   

About a week ago I wrote about how the light itself can become the subject in a photo.  http://www.exnerimages.net/blog/2017/11/20/when-light-becomes-the-subject  I wouldn’t argue if someone who looks at this picture says, the cloud is the subject. That was at least my intend, but when the water in front of me was shaded by some dark clouds right above us and the reflections of the cloud over the horizon created some magic on the waves, I knew there was more than just a cloud in this image.

WHEN LIGHT BECOMES THE SUBJECT

At Lewis Mountain campsite, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Ok, I’m jumping back and forth between actual photos, like the Tundra Swans from yesterday, and little stories and images from our tour through the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia in October.

Photography is all about light and how we use it to bring out the subject in our pictures. During an early morning walk around Lewis Mountain campsite in Shenandoah National Park I tried to work with backlit subjects, like ferns and grasses. With every minute more warm light from the low sun was pouring in and putting out some real magic. All the backlit plants are still in the frame but they play only a small role in the story. Suddenly the light itself, hitting the forest floor, became the subject. Not a bad way to start a day…

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, @ 35 mm, 1/25s, f/8, ISO400,

‘ROMANCING’ A RAILROAD BRIDGE

Mississippi River, Swivel-Railroad bridge, Dubuque, Iowa -----

Some of my favorite subjects for architecture photography are the bridges across the Mississippi River. Unless it is a totally new subject that I haven’t shot before, there has to be a certain quality of light before I consider to take the camera out of the bag. This happened one evening earlier this month at the swivel railroad bridge in Dubuque. I had never made any close photos at the north side of the bridge and discovered just recently the access for this shooting location.

By the way, these bridges are a great subject to become familiar with new gear, like cameras, lenses, or teleconverters. Learning about depth of field, light fall off, sharpness, etc. in a controlled environment, but still with an interesting subject in front of the lens, is priceless (beats test shots in the backyard by far 😊).

This photo is another try to ‘romance’ my landscape photos with Macphun’s Luminar software. I still have a tear in my eye because the good old NIK collection is on it’s way out, but any time I gain more experience with Luminar I love it a little more. It is intuitiv for someone who has worked with Adobe Lightroom and NIK before, but I can see why it might be a little overwhelming in the beginning for someone who is new in post processing their images. There are a lot decisions that can be made how to process an image and I will be the first one to admit, overdoing it is very easy…

2016 RETROSPECT / 3

Cloud over corn crib, Northwest Iowa, March 2016

Clouds are one of my favorite subjects in landscape photography. I like it when they are in some context with the rest of the image. Here the corn crib on one side and the barn on the other side frame the bright part of the cloud. The eye can actually wander in a triangle between the bright spots in the picture, the cloud, the trailer in the foreground, and not so obvious, the illuminated barn in the background. It doesn’t matter where you start exploring this photo, the eye will come back to the cloud and how it unfolds in the background.

CHANGING THE SUBJECT

Marie Louise Lake, Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada ---  

When I looked across Marie Louise Lake I thought that Sleeping Giant, the mountain range in the back that gave this provincial park its name, would be a good subject for a photo. While evaluating the scene I became aware how rough the wind made the lake surface and how the reflections on the water played a role how we saw the lake. Suddenly the lake with its subtle reflections was a lot more interesting and the Sleeping Giant played just a second role for this image. Sure, the eye will go briefly to the bright parts of the clouds in the back, but the clouds are not interesting enough in this matter and the eye will return to this beautiful light and the rough surface of the water in the foreground. It became one of my favorite shots from this trip around Lake Superior…

 

KNOWING WHAT THE SUBJECT IS

South of Remsen, Iowa

I could not let this cloud pass by without getting the camera out of the bag and make a few clicks. Family circumstances required our presence in northwest Iowa this week. The fields and farms around Remsen, Iowa are not exactly prime territory for landscape photography, but with weather like this the clouds become the subject and the rest is just about composition.

EXTRACTING THE SUBJECT

South unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

Sometimes it needs a different approach to extract a subject from its surroundings. Here it is clearly the cloud that is my subject, but by using a mid-range or wide angle lens this was not obvious. The cloud would have been a small band above the horizon. I zoomed in at 500 mm with the Sigma 50-500, usually my workhorse for wildlife photography, and suddenly the cloud really became the story telling element in the photo. Sure, this photo is about a mood, but without the interesting cloud it would have been just another plain sunset picture.

LEOPARD FROG AND SUMMER MOOD

Northern Leopard Frog

Hi friends, I’m back from Sacramento, CA where I spent the week on a business trip. There was no time for photography (explains the week without a single blog post) and finally I arrived a day late because of weather issues in Denver. Good to be back home and having the weekend for what I love to do the most, being in the great outdoors and using the camera.

There is a lot going on here in our woods and yesterday I did some bird photography. But let me start with a couple of my favorite pictures from today. Both images were made in the Green Island Wetlands. Because of last week’s rain the water level in the Mississippi and the wetlands is higher than normal. Except for the Canada Geese, who already escort their offspring, you can’t see much of the waterfowl. The grass and reed is tall and hides the ducks, coots, and mergansers pretty good.

I like to make the shot with some gesture of the critter but the Leopard Frog isn’t known for cute gestures ;-)  It just sits and waits probably for an insect to come by. Well, how do we make an image of the frog work anyway? We have to lay down and meet the critter at eye level. I tried this with two other frogs before but they didn’t like my presence and jumped into the taller grass. For this one I went down and crawled slowly towards the frog until I had it at a focal length of about 300 mm. It makes for a more interesting picture and it blurs the otherwise very busy background nicely

Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

I like the summery mood of the second shot. Everything is lush and the duck weed and algae amplify the green and yellow colors of this very humid day. The reflections on the water are my subject, even if this is not so obvious since this is not a very strong one, but the sharpness will lead the eye. On a side note, I did not realize the Great Blue Heron in the background on the right while I made the photo but I think it adds to the peaceful scene. More to come…