jim

Apr 192013
 

It really should be called EgretLand or Birdland.  It’s heaven here.

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All kinds of birds and gators.  Up this morning at 6:30 am to get the early bird special.  I love this place.

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Most all the birds are nesting and feeding.  It’s a constant, action packed scene.  Non stop photography.  And ideal conditions.

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This place is the best place to practice panning.  Birds are flying every direction.

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As the day went by the heat and humidity started to get to this old, fat man.  Got a little heat stroke.  Nothing lunch at Olive Garden and a 69 degree room can’t fix.  Days like today take me away.  Other than the effects of a little heat stroke I was at complete peace.  Calm!  Can it get any better?  Critters, good light, a camera, my wife (zip lining while I photogaphed) and food!  I love it!!!!!

 Posted by at 7:04 PM
Apr 162013
 

YeeeeeHA!  Heading for Florida tomorrow.

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Some of the family is staying home.  My bride and I are going for a few days of Photoshop, rest, relaxation, meditation and FOOD!

Oh and a LITTLE photography.

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Last year we discovered a bird photographers mecca and dove in head first.  What a blast!

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If all works out some of my new gear will be getting hot with use.

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Hope to come home wide awake and ready for my next excursion…………………

 Posted by at 8:48 PM
Apr 012013
 

In Reno today.  14 hour day.  The company asks me to photograph the store while I am here.  I over see the construction for the company.  So for NO compensation here is the latest store in Reno, Nevada.

 Posted by at 10:48 PM
Mar 182013
 

A couple of weeks ago I grabbed this photograph of a Bald Eagle at Farmington.  Since the gate have closed for the season. The snow has melted and my Mother passed away.   Mom’s passing was a celebration of her life.  At 85 she had lived a grand life as a grand lady.  My mother exemplified what a women with honor, integrity and beauty should be.  Though I miss her, she is much better now.

While watching a Piano Guys video I was enamored by a quote they used in one of their performances video.    Thought I would add the quote to the Eagle pic.  Music is a big part of my family.  Never heard this quote from Beethoven before.  I think it applies to all “Art”.  Anything that we have a passion for.  Or love to do.

 Posted by at 9:21 PM
Feb 272013
 

Drove to Twinn Falls today.  Carried the D800 with me.

Whenever I carry this camera I slip into Artsy Fartsy mode.  The resolution is over the top incredible.  Blown away every-time I bring up the images on my Macbook Pro with retina display.  WOW!!!!!

Even after shrinking the file size to put on the web the resolution kick’s butt.

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I love the black to white range of light in this photograph.

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At Shoshone Falls while driving down the side of the gorge a particular rock formation caught my eye.   Look close at this lava rock formation and see if you can see a mans face in the rock……

Can you see it???????

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This color photograph is a 6′ water fall just up the road from the man’s face in the rock.  It must run year round because of the incredible moss and moss related colors.   If I had not told you it was a 6′ high falls wouldn’t you think it looked bigger?  When I brought up the shot tonight my first reaction is that it could on screen or print pass for  much larger falls.

 Posted by at 9:42 PM
Feb 262013
 

 Fact #1: Cropping messes with pixels.

Fact #2: Sharpening in post messes with pixels.

Fact #3: Like belly buttons everyone has an opinion about adjustments in post (after taking the photograph).

Fact #4: I can do what ever I want in post.  It’s my world and my photograph.  Just remember the impact of a photograph based on the “RULES”.

So here are my rules;

Rule #1: Do my very best to do little or no adjustments in post.

Rule #2 Do my very, very best to capture as close to the actual scene as possible to avoid any desired adjustments in POST!

I thought I would share one particular photograph I took tonight and a few adjustments I made.  Step by step.

First here is a capture of a bald eagle from tonight.  This shot has NO adjustments in post except a slight crop to obtain more of a panoramic image.  In-camera was a +.3 exposure compensation.

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The Bald Eagle photographed over snow with a slight exposure comp is almost as easy as a sunset capture.  Especially in the case of the photograph above when the eagle is flying directly at the light source (the sun).

Can’t always be that lucky when relying on the natural elements for light, shadows, composition, etc.  Tonight my camera was a little tired when I brought it home.  Inside was 0ver 1,100 images.  Swans, Bald eagles, pelicans and the majority of which was a very not very shy Jr. Bald Eagle.  He was still following his parent around still in it’s juvenile color scheme.  The time of day, the feather colors and the angle to the light source made for some interesting challenges.  I ran through all the shots and threw out the ones that I had no interest in.  Usually about 70% of the shots.  I chose the following shot for this exercise.  Funky things happen to photographs when uploaded to the web.  So I hope what I am trying to portray here actually is represented after uploading it.

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In the photograph above the juvenile bald eagle, like a lot of wildlife moves fast.  It’s very difficult to always have perfect composition.  The first thing I did in post was crop slightly to make the space around the eagle less annoying to ME.  Emphasis on ME…..remember Fact #4 above.

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All my photographs are brought into ACR in photoshop.  I do almost all my adjustments in ACR.  Occasionally I use NIk and TOPAZ filters.  In the following photograph in ACR I added about 10% sharpening, and with the shadow slider brought up shadow details slightly.

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For years I had a dark room in my basement.  The one thing I practiced and used was dodging and burning when I thought appropriate.  The digital burn and dodge tool in Photoshop works very good.  There is all kinds of adjustments to assist in the process of burning and dodging.  In this last photograph I dodged the water drops, the white feathers, slightly on the yellow portion of the eye and the top 1/3 of the photograph. I burned in some of the wings, the beak, and the shadow in the water in front of the eagle.  The I added my copyright logo, flattened the image, resized the photo to better fit on the web and saved it to my desktop.

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Side by Side;

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Bald Eagle Juvenile with camera capture only……..I was tempted to crop about 15% of the top of the photograph.

 Posted by at 10:32 PM
Feb 222013
 

Everybody wants the shot of the Hawk.  We all have one or two favorites of a Fly-By.  The chances of a hawk flying right at the photographer is slim to none.  So we look for “that” shot.  Tons of practice shooting seagulls or plentiful birds.  The key is to be ready.  Have the where-with-all to keep the bird in frame.  It’s not easy.  Luck really does play a part.  I photograph on days like yesterday cheating the camera a little compensating +.3.  Then in post I bring up shadow details slightly.  Too many adjustments creates a funky unnatural look.  In some cases like the following photograph I burn in some of the darker portions of the Hawk.  And dodge a few highlights.  In the end this particular photograph is one of my favorites of the hundreds of Hawk Fly-By’s in my files.

 Posted by at 8:53 PM
2016