This month’s photo is an oldie but a goody. It’s a scanned slide that was taken in April of 2000. One of the highlights of the year in the Owens Valley is the migration of the Painted Ladies in March and April. The butterflies come up the valley from the south and in good years can number in the millions. In bad years though you may not see a single butterfly. The year I took this was a very good year.

The tree is a flowering plum and was not only full of beautiful pink flowers, but was also full of Painted Ladies. I’d say there were at least 20 – 30 butterflies flying around the tree. Even with that many, it was still difficult to get a nicely composed shot. Of all the shots I took that morning, this one was the best.

I rank this photo in my top 10 of all time. I just love the colors in it.

]]> http://sbdigitalarts.com/photo-of-the-month-april-2010/feed/ 0 http://sbdigitalarts.com/lake-michigan-sunset/ http://sbdigitalarts.com/lake-michigan-sunset/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:44:57 +0000 Steven http://sbdigitalarts.com/?p=432

This image was shot on the eastern side of Lake Michigan near the Grand Haven Lighthouse in Grand Haven, Michigan.

I had been photographing the surfers who where surfing near the pier at Grand Haven, (Yes that’s right, surfing on Lake Michigan. Read my post, Lake Michigan Surfers for proof.) waiting for the sunset to happen. When the sunset finally came it wasn’t much. There weren’t any clouds in the sky and the haze was killing the nice light on the lighthouse.

One thing that did stand out for me was the golden reflection in the water. It was really beautiful.

I ended up shooting many pictures of  the sun setting into the lake and the light reflecting off of the waves, but I think my favorite images from that evening were the ones where I focused just on the reflected color in the water. I feel they show nature’s simple beauty and the peacefulness of a Lake Michigan sunset.

I would say that about 70% of the trees are now bare in the park. There are more leaves on the ground than in the trees. What’s interesting is that I found myself noticing things that I didn’t notice when the colors were at their peak. Without my eye being drawn to the amazing colors overhead, I was able to see the smaller beauties that were all around.

The image above is a good example of that. At first I was drawn to the area by all the leaves on the ground, but as I walked around I noticed the contrast of the tree’s dark color with the bright leaves and really liked it. I wanted to emphasize that contrast so I lowered my composition to inches above the ground and framed the shot so the tree took up a large portion of the picture. My first shots had more sky in them, but the sky was kind of a distraction so I came in even tighter and left most of the sky out. I’m pretty happy with the final result.

You can see more images from yesterday on my SierraVisions post, Fall 2009, The Last Hoorah

What I’m seeing are images that were composed nicely, but have some exposure and color issues. I’m sure at the time I was disappointed in these images because of that. I knew Photoshop very well in 2005, but I wasn’t nearly as knowledgeable as I am today. Now I can fix exposure and colors issues without even thinking to much about it. Another big difference between now and ’05 is Adobe Lightroom. It wasn’t even out back then. I think it came out in 2006 if I’m not mistaken. Lightroom has now become my main tool in post processing. It gives me the ability to fix the white balance and exposure  issues that many of these images have just by moving a couple sliders.

This image of an Eastern Sierra aspen grove is a perfect example. The white balance was very blue on it and it was slightly underexposed. I shot this image as a JPG, not a RAW, but I was still able to fix the white balance and exposure in Lightroom. Just by adding yellow and magenta I warmed the picture up and with some contrast made it look as I first envisioned it.

It’s pretty awesome to go back through my files and find these types of hidden treasures. I’m finding that as I become more knowledgeable with Lightroom and Photoshop, I can save images that I thought were lost.  Sometimes I turn them into black and whites, and sometimes I’m able to make them look as I wanted them to look when I first shot them.

Today’s image was taken in Yosemite Valley on a day like that. We were walking a trail not to far from Bridalveil Falls, the colors along the trail were breathtaking and I was having a hard time shooting because if it. Then I noticed this leaf from a Big Leaf Maple. It was just lying there on top of many other leaves and seemed like nothing special. But I liked the way it stood out from the other leaves. Most of them had been on the ground for awhile and were turning brown, but this one was freshly fallen and still had good yellow color.

Using the macro setting on the camera, I moved in close to the maple leaf to make it stand out and to simplify the chaos of the forest floor. Then I used the smallest aperture this camera has, f/11, to make sure all of the leaves came out sharp. Luckily there wasn’t any wind because my shutter speed was close to half a second.

Of all the pictures I shot that day, this is one of my favorites. Not only does it show the simple beauty of nature, but it helps to remind me to simplify when surrounded by chaos.

Technical Details:
Minolta DiMAGE A2
Shot at 25mm
ISO 64
F/11 at 0.6 Sec.
Tripod Mounted

This image was shot at Humbolt Park in Milwaukee, WI. After shooting many interesting landscapes in the park I began to look upward into the canopy of the trees. Using a wide angle lens I was able to pull in a large part of the canopy. Exposure on a back lit shot can be tricky sometimes. For this image I set the exposure for the sky and then underexposed 3 tenths of a stop more to make sure my highlights didn’t get blown out and my shadows stayed nice and dark. I really like the black branches silhouetted against the bright gold leaves with the blue sky shining through. I placed the sun is behind the main trunk and put it at the bottom of the image to create the nice gradient in the sky.

This year while you’re out shooting fall colors, remember to look up every now and then. You never know when a great image will be just above your head.

Technical Details:
Canon Digital Rebel XTI

EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
ISO 100
f/6.3 @ 1/400 sec.
Exposure Bias -0.3 stops
Tripod Mounted

Purchase Prints or Usage Rights for this Image

Of all the places I love in the Eastern Sierra, McGee Creek is one of the most special. In the fall, certain areas of the creek become mystical in their beauty. Catching the creek during this magical time is a photographers delight. The combination of water, rocks, trees, leaves and colors is wonderful.

This image was taken in such an area on McGee Creek. When I first found this spot, many years before this picture, the creek was a little different. It had the nice curve to it, but not as much as in this shot.  A huge spring runoff and a fallen tree changed the creek quite a bit. I remember the year the tree fell, I was devastated. It fell right across the creek and ruined the shot. But within a year or two the tree was washed downstream a little and it created this beautiful scene.

Technical Details:
Minolta DiMAGE A2
Shot at 28mm
ISO 64
F/11 at 1/3 Sec.
Tripod Mounted

Prints and Usage Rights
For this image can be purchased here.

Visualization is one of the key elements in creating beautiful photographic images. Whenever I’m outside, I keep my eyes open for interesting things that I can possibly use in a photo. Often times when I see something, I won’t shoot it at that time. Instead, I’ll visualize in my mind what that scene will look like at a later time. Maybe I’ll visualize how it will look after a fresh snowfall when the branches are covered in snow, or maybe how it will look in fall when the leaves have changed colors.  Then I’ll try to remember the scene and go back to it when the conditions are right.

The image above is a perfect example of visualizing an image months ahead of time. This scene is about a mile away from where I live in Kenosha, WI. I noticed it my first summer living there. The tree in the middle caught my eye, and though all the leaves were green at the time, my first thought was, “Won’t that be awesome in the fall.”. In my mind I saw the scene in fall colors. When October rolled around and the trees began to change, I went back to the spot and created this image.

The next time you’re out shooting and you see an interesting scene, try to visualize what that scene may look like when conditions are different. When those conditions happen, go back to that spot and create the beautiful image that you visualized months ahead of time.

Technical Details:
Canon Digital Rebel XTI
EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
ISO 100
f/5.6 @ 1/125 sec.
Tripod Mounted

Purchase Prints or Usage Rights for this Image

I love reflections in water. They’re all around us and the natural watercolor effect they create can make some of the most beautiful photographic images. I rarely go out to shoot reflections though, most of the time I just happen to see them while I’m shooting something else.

That’s the case with this image. We were at the International Crane Foundation photographing cranes. We went to the Whooping Crane exhibit to get some pictures of the Whooping Cranes, but the first thing I noticed were the cloud reflections in the pond. They were beautiful.  The cranes were hiding out in the grasses and reeds. So while my wife Lynne tried to get one of them to come out, I went over to the pond and began shooting the reflections.

I had my 70-300mm lens on at the time.  Shooting this at 70mm gave me the composition I was looking for. I didn’t want any of the shoreline in the image, I only wanted the reflections. The slight ripple on the water adds a nice texture to this image. It creates a softness to the clouds that has a very relaxing feeling to me. BTW, the Whooping Cranes never came out.

Photo Details:
Canon Digital Rebel XTI
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
ISO 200
f/8 @ 1/500 sec.
Hand held with Image Stabilization turned on.