Photographic Nature

The things I do for Photography

2011-10-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

I have a new job and it is a night job, so this is different for me, but it is good pay. So....I am in. I actually like it.
Ok... it is not just for photography and new equipment. I do have to live and pay the mortgage. But it is definitely up there in priority. I mean... I am using a camera that is 4 years old now and I really need a better one. It is not just a luxury. Really. It is a necessary requirement to have better camera equipment for better quality photographs. When someone says it is the photographer not the Camera.. well that is true to a point. But having high quality equipment definitely helps. I have seen the difference when standing next to someone shooting with a newer higher quality camera. It really shows. Having a better camera will help take my photography to a higher level.
So with a new job that pays well....all I can see is new equipment in my mind.... oh and being able to get a gardner.

Topaz Black & White Effects Released

2011-09-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

I use the Topaz Adjust 4 plug-in for Photoshop, and they’ve just released a new plug-in
–Topaz Black &White Effects.
The full price is $59.99 but there’s $30.00 off until 9-18-11 if you use the coupon
‘bwandbeyond’at checkout.
Which is what I did. I mean ...$29.99... you can't beat it. What a great marketing idea for Topaz.
I did download the 30 day fully functional trail to see the features first. I am impressed. It has the classic Topaz interface and in my opinion, is a must have for my photographic digital toolbox.
I tried out this image to see how it performed.
Here’s a before and after of an image of an old abandoned store (which is no longer standing) that I took on 3-3-2010, reprocessed in Topaz B&W Effects.

Check out the new Topaz trial .. after that, I think you will like it enough to purchase it. But hurry the discount is only good for a few days.
http://www.topazlabs.com/bweffects/

It's all about Color

2011-09-07T22:24:00.000-07:00

If I had to choose just one thing that I feel is crucial to a good Photograph, it is Light. I am glad that I don't have to choose just one thing, because "Color" to me is almost as important.
Over the last few years I have been told many things about my photography. The most common thing is wow look at that color, or you sure love color.
A response I had when giving a sideshow presentation, was "You can't tell me that you don't saturate your images".

I shoot Raw and I usually don't have my settings on my camera to add color, so my image actually looks bland compared to what I actually saw. But the color information is in that digital file, so by golly
I am going to saturate that image to have it look like it did when I shot it.

When someone shoots from any digital camera set on automatic, that camera is developing the image for you and it is surely adding color to the image.

Of course anyone that knows my photography a little, knows that I shoot for HDR. I bracket everything I shoot. Well.. almost. All Landscapes and Scenes, I bracket at least 3 separate exposures.
When putting the images together in an HDR program the color can really be bold.

The whole reason that I am bringing the issue of color in my images is that I recently overheard someone talking about my Grand Canyon image and how it had so much color. He did not know I was nearby. Fortunately he is a very nice person. I wasn't sure how to feel about it, but I think I definitely made an impression. So this comment really got me thinking about the subject of color.

For me, if the file has the color information there, I will bump the saturation. But... I do this because, to me, that is what the scene looked like when I shot it.

So I wanted to show what the files looked like before and after.... just to give an idea of the process.

Now... as you will see, I definitely work on my images to bring out detail, light and color, but again this really gives that image the "Wow" factor that I felt while I was standing there, shooting off 3 or more bracketed shots at a time.

If the information is not there on the image files, the detail, color and light will not come out no matter what I do.

Does it sound like I am defending myself? Not really. In photography everything is subjective. I actually apprecate feedback.

No matter what, I absolutely love color and will continue applying it as well as light and detail to my images. That's my style.
Enjoy.

The result of the 3 above images merged together in an HDR program

The final Image with added light, color and detail.

(This shot looks Killer when printed on Metallic Paper)

Grand Adventure

2011-07-31T11:41:00.000-07:00

It seems my future, that was wide open. has been narrowed a bit. I have a new job and I start tomorrow. I am not quite sure how this job will all turn out, but I will give it a try. Money is a funny motivator.
I am trying to stay optimistic. I hope to be able to go out and shoot even with the new job.
So I decided at the last minute to take a really short trip to The Grand Canyon. I mean short. I went up Thursday and came back on Saturday.
I woke up at 3 am on Thursday after a pretty fitful sleep. I was on the road by 4am. I was sooooo excited. I love the open road and I was off. I was a little afraid going alone, but was on an adventure to the Grand Canyon... How cool it that?
After a 10 hour drive in which I sang all the way, I got to the Grand Canyon and my camp site.
As I was setting up, I noticed right away that I was really having a hard to me doing the most simple tasks... like walking 10 feet. I would sit to rest and felt pretty funny. But I was in a hurry to get to the Canyon Rim so I pushed on.
Within 20 minutes I was set up, but felt pretty darn bad. I could not figure what was going on.
Yea... it was hot and humid. I had driven with little sleep and had not eaten since morning. Yet, that is not a big thing, I can function like that. I have been out in the sun all day waiting for shots.
I found the Canyon Rim and was in awe. But the whole time I was not feeling well and every step was a struggle. As the late evening progressed the feeling got much worse. As I stood taking shots, I had to sit and even then I felt that I would pass out any second. The feeling never got better and I could not figure out what was going on. Everyone around me was doing ok with the heat. It was really not that bad out. I actually had to leave and go to my car, which the whole way I was thinking....someone is going to have to pick me off the ground any second.
I never leave before a sunset is completely gone. Never ever.. but this time I had too. Noting seemed to help a lot.
It never occurred to me as I was going on this Grand Canyon adventure that the altitude was 7200 feet.
I had no idea that the altitude would affect me this way. But it did... and it affected my whole trip. Who would have thought? Is it that I am older... who knows. But others I spoke with had trouble there too.
I missed incredible shots that normally... I would have never missed. I am really trying to not beat myself up over it, but I really missed some amazing opportunities. I hate to even say this, but for the record, I missed one of the most Beautiful Sunsets ever because I had to leave early. I mean a full rainbow that expanded the canyon with golden clouds on fire. There is more, but it kills me to even think about it.

I am very happy with the whole trip and adventure. I am very happy with shots that I do have. The only thing I can tell myself, is that I will just have to go back and try again for a longer stay, in the off season and be prepared for the elevation change.
The place was crowded, but not too bad on Thursday. Camp was pretty quite and not full. However by Friday afternoon, people were pouring in and it had a whole different feel. No parking anywhere. Camp was so loud until well after midnight. I knew this might be the case, but it was the only time I could go, so I did.
Over all....People were very nice and the whole experience was fantastic.
After a good night's sleep, I am feeling great that I got to go and got some good shots. Not sorry a bit.
There are no words to describe what it is like there, but Beautiful and Awe Inspiring come to mind.
If I could... I would be there right now.

The Future is Wide Open

2011-07-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

Photo by Lynn Grizzard

I can see the date of my last blog post and it is relative to my life in the last year. My day job really took a lot of my time and energy. I have had many things to post about, but just never did. I always wanted to and meant to, but just never got to it. So why post today?
Well....my day job has ended. Our department has been outsourced to another company. In fact this is my first day of freedom. So I say to myself what will I do now?
I have no idea what the future holds at this time. I can only believe that something wonderful will happen.
But, for just a little while, I am going to go out on photo shoots to my heart's desire.
Here's to a Fabulous Future......

Photo of me at Oceano Dunes taken by Teddy Lovett

Photo of me at Morro Strand taken by Mimi Dtchie

My Photography & living from a place of Love

2010-11-10T22:00:00.000-08:00

When it comes to photography, it pretty much takes front stage in my life. My Family, Pets and Friends of course come first.... though at times I bet they wonder.
I am out photographing a lot and I love it. However leaving my home, family and pets to go out on a long day or weekend shoot, can really tug at my heart. I love being out shooting, but after a long day, I can't wait to get back home to a warm fire and hug my dog.
A recent situation has made me step back and take a look at why it is so important for me to go out shooting. Am I crazy? Am I a bad person? What is it that motivates me to do this when I miss my family and pets. Well the answer came pretty clear to me a few nights ago. Which is no surprise. I knew it all along.
A few days ago, after running errands I was able to go up to a spot near my home and just make a sunset. I immediately felt better. While I was there, it was so clear why I do this. Seeing the sunset in all it's glory just made my soul happy. For me, photographing nature ... whether it is birds, landscapes or sunsets.... is a spiritual experience.
Now that may sound silly to someone who feels being pratical is more important. But for me, the feeling is so strong, that I can stretch out my arms and scream out "Thank You". And I did just that....feeling completely grateful for everything good in my life.
I realized that I need not worry about my love of photography and I can freely feel joy for doing what I love....photographing nature.
I think a situation can be put in my path to help me remember what is really important. Choosing love... To choose the positive in any situation and see the good in all.. In return .....my life is rich and full of joy.
My photography is what it is today because I choose Love.

Nesting Pair of White Tailed Kites

2010-04-18T23:14:00.000-07:00

I am facinated with Kite Birds.... they way they hunt for food by hovering in one place looking down. Their bright orange eyes are so amazing. So when I discovered that there was a nesting pair, I began observing them.
I had not been to this nest for over a month and wanted to see if the nestlings were visible. I placed myself by some bushes and kept still. After a short time, I noticed that the female was adding nesting material to a different tree top but not to the original nest. She did this many times. This new nest area was near the original nest but for hours I did not see either the Male of Female Kite go to the original nest area at all. I wondered if there were any chicks and why were they building another nest? What could have happened? Did they abandon the first nest?
A flickr contact who has kept an eye on the Kites has posted that he was worried that the Crows may have gotten to the eggs, but said he saw a chick in the nest. I didn't see any sign of this and was a little worried. Though it is really hard to see the nest, so I was not sure.

After many hours of observing them, the Male brought back a mouse and finaly it went to the original nest. Then I heard crying from the original nest. I was thrilled to know that there was at least one chick.

After the male brought the food for the chick he and the female mated.

The female then went back to getting more material and was adding to the new nest.

I had not heard of this behavior. But I read up on this and it is true they can have more than one clutch in a nesting season. It makes sense for them to make a new nest for the new eggs while in the original nest the chick stays until it fledges.

I went back a couple of days later with another person. We noticed the same behavior. Working on the new nest and later in the afternoon the male fed the chick in the original nest then the pair mated again. The Female was adding to the new nest.
But this time, we noticed movement in the original next. The nest is very hard to see, but we did see one chick flapping it's wings.

We then saw another chick though it was not as easy to see. So we believe that there may be at least 2 chicks in the original nest. That is great news.

The Kite pair have their work cut out for them though because the Crows in the area are very persistant and aggressive. A couple of times Crows flew around both the original nest and the new nest.

The Male is very protective trying to make them leave by flaping its wings and flying away to draw them away from the nest. But it was a potential dangerous situation.

So the Kite Pair are making way for another family. I am very happy to see that.

HDR Workflow

2010-04-18T15:34:00.000-07:00

I thought that it might be of interest to show how I created the above HDR Image. This is just to give you an idea of what an HDR image process is like. It is by no means a complete detailed instruction.
Yesterday I attented part 1 of a 2 part HDR Worksho held by the San Luis Obispo Camera Club. The name of the workshop is "Higher Dynamic Range". The Workshop is being led by Howard Ignatius. In this Workshop, Howard shows how to take images for HDR processing to a Higher Level. Day one was a lecture and photo shoots to multiple locations. Day 2 is for post processing. It is an Excellent Workshop. I learned so much. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed being around wonderful photographers that I admire. I can't wait for the post proccessing portion of this workshop.
Howard Ignatius quotes Ansle Adams saying “You don't take a photograph, you make it.”
I cant agree more. HDR photography is a very debatable subject. But for me, I love it. If someone doesn't like HDR Photography, there is a very good change that they do not understand it or the creative work involved. I realize that it is not for everyone or situation. But for those who are interesred in HDR here is a sample of my workflow.
Below are a series of images taken to produce a Final HDR Image (above) that was taken at one of the shooting locations from yesterday's workshop.
Images 1,2, & 3 are the actual bracketed images saved from the Raw files 2 stops apart. (-2, 0, +2)
All images are reduced in size and saved as jpegs for this article.
Images 4 & 5 are the Tonemapped Tiff Images that were produced after the HDR process thru the progam Photomatix Pro. Image 4 is the first Tonemapped Image produced and Image 5 was run thru Photomatix again. (In some cases I like to re proccess and image thru Photomatic twice for a richer result.)
The settings in Photomatix allows you to add color, make all kinds of tonal changes and much much more.
You can even produce an amazing B&W Image.
After Image 5 was produced, I then worked on the image in Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2, to clean up the image, straighten, crop, clone out unwanted artifacts, bring out detail, color and create the image that I ultimately wanted based on what I actually saw and experienced as I was shooting this Image.
Keep in mind that the image's shown can never produce what the eye actually sees. And that post processing can only bring out what is actually stored on the Raw Files themselves. You can decide how much it does or doesn't resemble the actual conditions.

As you can see this Tonemapped image below has the tonal ranges of all 3 images merged together.

But also in Photomatix I have made other adjustments that bring out color and much more.

Again... The Final Image

Killdeer Behavior

2010-04-14T08:41:00.000-07:00

While meeting with the Sheriff and another Offical to see the Owls yesterday, I came across something interesting and fun. As I parked my car there right next to my car on the curb in the parking lot was this Killdeer Bird. Being the Bird Stalker that I am and having my camera with me on the front seat of my car, I slowly moved to take shots of this neat bird. It took forever, but I carefuly and gradually got out of my car to take a few closer shots.

As I did this, the Killdeer did something that I was not familiar with. It started walking away with it's graceful way and as it did, it made some strange movements. I was thrilled and thought I was on to something big..... and what in the heck was it doing in a parking lot? Little did I know that this was no great out of the ordinary find. The Officials that I spoke with knew about this Killdeer and "it" was a she. She has eggs in the area that I parked. They are monitoring them and keeping them safe. The behavior of her leading me away is common and they told me all about it. I read up on the Killdear bird and it is quite common to find them in parking lots and to see this behavior with nesting females.The killdeer frequently uses a "broken wing act" to distract predators from the nest. I was the photog preditor.
So even though this is not uncommon to see, I was so happy to have experienced it.
This is one of the many things that I love getting up in the morning for....going out on an adventure somewhere out in open spaces to discover one of nature's secrets.
How cool is that?

Male Great Horned Owl & Family

2010-04-13T21:31:00.000-07:00

Got some pretty bad news and also some good news.
Today I visited the Owls Nest. I didn't see the male around anywere. I was told by the local sheriff in the town where the nest is located that the male was hit and killed within this last week during the night. I was devistated. The feeling of loss was overwhelming. Now the female is on her own.

The good news is that there are 2 Owlets. I hope that the female can take care of them on her own. They look heathy. I don't know when they were born, but it has been 2 weeks since I was out there so it has been within that time.
I will be going out often to check on them and see how they are doing.

Nesting Great Horned Owls

2010-04-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

I have a rare opportunity to observe this Nesting Pair of Great Horned Owls. Look at how they blend into their surroundings.
I found this nest by miracle. To explain:
I had just posted a comment to a Flickr Contact of mine of his Owl shot, that I would love to find and get shots of a Great Horned Owl. And the very next day I scanned some trees (as I always do looking for Birds) and what do you know, I found not just one, but a pair at the nest.
Not a coincidence... a Manifestation. (Ok...my thing)
I am leaving the location private so as not to disturb the nest. Also I have special permission to be on the land that the nest is on. I want to honor their wishes.
I will continue to post updates on the progress on this nest.
I plan on documenting the events that transpire with this nest and will give a slide show CD to the person in charge of this property.