Getting closer to a final result

 

You probably know the feeling after you have something created and accomplished that it is still not finished in one way or another, or that there is still potential for improvement even if you like the results. This is what happened to me with the image I show you today. It is from last years trip to the Rocky Mountains and the first version was made in full color. You can click HERE to see the color version of this photograph. I liked how the picture conveys the drama of this weather situation, with lots of rain and a short break through of the sun. The color version lives from the color contrast between the green of the grass in the foreground and the different shades of blue in the clouds. I received some good words about the photo in one of my online galleries but I still had the feeling that the first version did not reveal the essence of this particular moment. For my taste it still had too much information. The approach I'm taking now with this black and white version is to reduce everything just to the light and luminosity. For me it reflects the mood of this moment much better and now I have the feeling that I came a little closer to a final result that I like to print and hang on a wall.

Digging into history using 32-BIT HDR

 

The photo I show you today was made April 18, 2008. You can't make the same picture anymore, not even if you go to exactly the same place at Arches National Park in Utah. This was Wall Arch, one of the numerous arches that gave the park its name. Wall Arch collapsed 109 days after I made the image. So what you see here is history.

We had only two days in the National Park and not every photograph was made during a time with good quality light. Any time after 8:30AM we had to deal with high contrast scenes and harsh light. I shot many images with five different exposures in order to overcome the limitations of the dynamic range in the digital camera, at that time my Nikon D200. Back home it was a time consuming process to layer the pictures on top of each other and paint with layer masks to reveal only the parts of each photo that I wanted in the final image. I remember it took me at least three nights to do that, partly due to the fact that my Photoshop skills were still very limited. Needless to say that I was very proud about my accomplishment. High Dynamic Range (HDR) software was not available or at least was not known to me at that time. The photo below was the result.

Because of its historic value, that it has at least for me, I wanted to redo this image with today's software and better technology. This time I used a 32-BIT HDR method that I learned a little while ago in Matt Kloskowski's blog "Lightroom Killer Tips" (see the link for this blog in the side bar on the left hand side). Starting in Adobe Lightroom I merged my five original RAW files into HDR Pro in Photoshop. From there I just saved the picture as a 32-BIT tiff-file back into Lightroom. What you will find is that the range of the Exposure slider has changed from ±5 to ±10, giving you a much wider range to work with shadows and highlights in your picture. The 32-BIT tiff-file gives you a humongous dynamic range to work with in comparison to the usual 16-BIT or 8-BIT we have at our hands.

I prefer a very natural look in my images and this method, without any ton mapping, works very well for my style of photography. But here is the best, it only took me about five minutes to create the final image from my five bracketed shots and can still use the tonal range of all five shots together.

As you can see, I cropped the new picture slightly just because I like it now better this way. Can't really say anymore, "I will do it right in camera next time I'm there".... ;-)

Wintry mood on Stevens Lake

 

I had a business meeting last Friday in Northern Wisconsin and decided to spent the weekend in the Northwoods for some more ice fishing with my friend Bryan. Mostly blue sky made for fantastic weather to be on the ice on Saturday and this time we even caught some fish :-). We went to Stevens Lake where the ice was covered with a layer of fresh snow. The cold temperatures since our first trip two weeks ago doubled the thickness of the ice (~20" = 50cm) and we were able to drive onto the lake. The camera stayed in the bag until late afternoon when big cloud formations moved in that created some nice patterns and light. Nothing spectacular but I like how the peaceful and wintry mood is pictured in the photo.

On the ice again

 

Last weekend was our annual ice fishing event up in Northern Wisconsin. This year we were five guys who tried to outsmart the fish in the lake. We went to Fay Lake again, a lake we have fished many times before. Warm weather made for unusual conditions. The ice was thick enough to be on the lake but nobody drove their car onto the ice this time. Well, we didn't do very well. Only one small Northern Pike made it onto the ice and was released back into the water because of its size. However, the fun we had being outside was once more unbeatable. That we can do better was proven last year, have a look back in time by clicking HERE.

As you can imagine, this was not a photography event but I always take my camera bag with me in hope for some shooting opportunities. Shortly after arrival we usually drill the holes and while I was waiting for my turn some nice side light hit the scene and my friend Bryan. No need to pull out a flash light...

Later during the afternoon the light became very subtle again and at Fay Lake I always like how it lets stand out the bare trees against the green of the pines. It is never the same and this time the blank ice, which is usually snow covered at this time of the year, made for a totally different mood.

2012 - Looking back, part 7

 

Back in June I was able to visit one of my favorite locations again, Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake, Utah. I have published the first image in B&W before but sometimes, after some time has passed, I see things differently and like to rework an image. I now feel that the mood of this first evening on the island is better reflected with the original colors. It's more dense, more atmospheric.

In the late afternoon I had a chance to see some Black-tailed Jackrabbits. It was not easy to get the picture of this long eared rabbit since they try to stay out of sight all the time. I decided to crop the image on the right hand side in order to compensate for the lack of composition. The almost spot light  and having the tall grass in different planes of the image makes it a nevertheless a good environmental portrait of the Jackrabbit.

The evenings bare always a good chance to get some good light on one of the bisons that roam on the island. Getting too close to a bison bull is never a good idea and having the SIGMA 50-500 at maximum focal length is a must.

A great way to start a day

 

I travel a lot for my job and spend many nights in hotel rooms (more than 50 this year already). Whenever I can, I book my room on the upper floor. One reason is that the noise level is often a little less than on the lower floors but it also leads ones in a while to a good view over an interesting part of a city. Yesterday I went for a customer visit to St. Louis, Missouri and had a good view from my room to the famous Gateway Arch, which is located downtown St. Louis. Earlier this year I was in a hotel near the arch and was able to shoot right under the arch (Click HERE for the image). This time I was a little further away, but this morning, about 30 minutes before sunrise, I saw some great morning light coming up. I had the lens close to the glass of the window, the white balance was set to cloudy, focal length at 120 mm, and dialing in -2 EV led to 1/30s @ f/8. What a great way to start a day...!!  :-)

Not what I had in mind for today's post

 

I closed my last post about Sunday's driving-around-photo-shoot with the remark "More to come...". I continued my trip and went to Green Island, my favorite wetlands along the Mississippi for wildlife shooting. Well, after reviewing my images I decided not to post any because none of them meets my minimum quality standards. It does not mean I didn't have a good time there. It is still duck hunting season but I saw hundreds off geese and ten Sandhill Cranes in the sanctuary that is not accessible for hunters. It always makes me smile if I hear the sound of a crane. It is music in my ears...:-)

I got some shots of a hawk but it wasn't made in good light. After fiddling with one of the photos in Lightroom for some time and not getting a result, that was at least equal to my previously posted pictures of a Red-tailed Hawk, I decided to send it to the trash can.

Instead I show an image from the Little Maquoketa River down in the valley below our house. I made it mid morning while walking our dog on the Heritage trail. There isn't much real beauty in the landscape at this time, between fall colors and the snow cover of the winter, but I tried to work the triangle shape of this bend in the river and the light of the low sun that gave the grass some shape. The reflections on the water are a bonus... ;-)

The last time that I showed a picture of this river in my blog was during the flood last year. You can click the archive tab "July 2011" on the left hand side to see those photos. It was the day with by far the most clicks in the short history of my blog... I guess I need to shoot more catastrophes...!?

Down at the river

 

Unbelievable mild weather made for a very pleasant Sunday today. In addition it was slightly hazy and that put the "big diffuser" in front of our main light source, the sun. I call that great shooting conditions. I loaded our dog Cooper and all my camera gear in the car and we went to different places down at the Mississippi today. One of them was the Massey Marina, just south of Dubuque, Iowa. I wasn't the only one who enjoyed to be near or on the water. This trapper and his dog came back from checking his beaver traps and he made a good subject for exercising my panning technique. He didn't mind and we had a nice chat while our both dogs had their meet and great thing going on. I can tell I'm a little "rusty" with the long lens. I need to practice more in order to be ready for the Bald Eagles, who will hopefully be here in great numbers as soon the river freezes over.

The winter can be here any time and all boats have been taken out of the water in the marina. The empty boat slips created a nice pattern on the water and the low sun let the colors pop. As you already know, I like this kind of hunting for the light. More to come...

More from Door County Peninsula

 

I like to round up my little story about our trip to Door County last week with a few more images. Thanksgiving was relatively warm but very windy. Ideal conditions to visit the shoreline along Lake Michigan on the east side of the peninsula. I haven't used my Sigma 10-20 wide angle lens for a while but here it was a good choice to capture the beautiful rocks and waves pounding against shore.

To make my series of lighthouses complete, here is an image of North Pierhead Lighthouse. This is the point where the canal that connects Lake Michigan with the Green Bay begins (or ends, depending from what direction you approach it) and where the lights helps to find the entrance into the canal. Joan was with our little dog Cooper at the end of the pier and got a very nice close up shot of the red lighthouse in "killer light". I'm not unhappy with my perspective but I like her image a lot.

While hiking into the woods along the canal and trying to find a good perspective for the nearby Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal lighthouse I heard the noise of a boat engine. There are not many vessels on the water at this time of the year and I started running down the hill towards the canal in order to get a clear view for the boat. It was actually a real nice one and I was just able to make a few clicks before it disappeared behind the surrounding trees again.

Each evening of the four nights we spent in Sturgeon Bay the sky was different. I liked the last one on Saturday night the best. The color contrast after sunset was great. What a way to end a wonderful weekend... :-)

Looking for texture

 

I always look for special light, an interesting critter, or the big vista but it is sometimes easy to overlook texture and detail in a landscape. Going for a few days away from the daily routine seems to help me sharpening the view for those details in nature. We were hiking up a wooded hill on top of a big bluff that is part of the shore line in the Green Bay. It was nice to watch the waves deep down below and to listen to the sound of wind and water. The upper part of the hill was covered with this forest of Northern White Cedars, also known as American Arborvitae. The structures of roots and tree trunks, and with no other plants around them made for a picture that I had in mind since quite some time.