I’ve slowed down a little – could you tell?

May 24, 2016 by The PHOTOROGR Project in Uncategorized and tagged Adobe Camera Raw, Carson Valley, Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park, HDR, Kites, landscape photography, Macro photography, Nik Efex, Owls, photo editing and composition, photography techniques, Photomatix Pro, Photoshop, Scenery, Sierra Nevada Mountains | 1 Comment

There’s nothing like a three week break between posts to demonstrate how much I’ve slowed down in my shooting. Just to be clear, though, it’s only my shooting that has slowed down! I’m spending more time studying new techniques and continuing work with those I’ve already added to my ‘toolkit.’ Also, it is Spring so I have to spend a little more time at home working on the yard and taking care of business in general.

I’ve continued my exploration of in-camera High Dynamic Range (HDR), as you will see below. As explained in a previous post, HDR is the process of combining multiple exposures to utilize the best parts of each image for best detail from shadows and highlights. After figuring out the settings, it works much better than I originally thought. I noted an interesting part of the in-camera process the other day. While reviewing several sets of exposures, I saw that the camera floated the ISO setting to obtain the underexposed image. When I manually create multiple exposures, I usually float my shutter speed to create the over- and under-exposures. I never adjust the aperture because of the impact to depth of field. In addition, I’ve been exploring the Nik Efex filters and the variety of options available in Photomatix Pro. I made these pictures at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park, with the Sierras as the background. They will demonstrate better than words.

In-camera HDR with minor adjustments in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). Another problem with in-camera HDR is that the file is in JPEG format, which limits post-processing options.

This image was made from the same set of exposures as the one above. I combined the exposures in Photomatix Pro with additional processing in Nik. I received feedback from another photographer, telling me I needed to change my camera settings to minimize noise and also be careful of chromatic aberration. I’ll discuss these topics in future posts.

This in-camera HDR was processed in ACR.

Also in-camera and processed in ACR.

I should have shifted a touch to the left to keep Jobs Peak from hiding behind the wheel spoke.

My lovely bride and I are members of the Friends of Dangberg Home Ranch, and I’ve been working with the Curator on some note cards for them to sell. Here’s a couple of the options we are discussing.

I took this image several years ago when I didn’t know what I was doing photographically. There are those who will argue that I still don’t know what I’m doing, but I’ll leave that alone for now. This image was shot in low resolution JPEG format at the wrong time of day, but I was able to work it enough to make this image – formatted for a large note card.

Just for grins, I made it monochrome and applied a sepia filter. This will probably not make the cut for the final note cards.

Better light and better angle. Jobs Peak is visible in the left side of the picture. This one will be on the note cards.

The Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park teamed up with the Carson Valley Arts Council for an event called Something in the Wind. A kite group from Oregon came down and put on a wonderful event. The wind cooperated, sometimes just a little too much. Here’s a little of the color from the two day event.

These spinners were on poles – very fun and beautiful.

Can you tell we had good wind? The spinners came down soon after I made this image.

Lots of colorful flags, too!

And then there were the kite fliers – all shapes and sizes! This little guy worked his kite pretty hard.

The bubbles were quite the hit on Sunday!

Kites are very beautiful these days! A far cry from newspaper and sticks that we used.

The kite folks put these in the air and tethered them, and they flew all day!

This young man walked by my booth and proudly announced that he just turned 7 and he got this box kite for his birthday! I enjoyed seeing a father and son spending time together.

I stopped by my favorite Owl venue and captured this Barn Owl!

Looks like a young one by the puffy feathers. I shot this handheld, so it’s not the best focus (camera shake from me and my hands – the low light and long shutter speed also contributed). A cutie nonetheless.

The nice wet winter brought lots of flowers to the desert.

This is the introduction for my next shooting technique – Macro Photography! Stay tuned!

The mountains west of the Carson Valley.

Shot from the road, looking up hill. But the flowers are gorgeous!

I’m really looking forward to my exploration into the world of Close-up and Macro Photography. Thanks for looking at this blog.

Enjoy – PHOTOROGR

What a Rush!!!!!

May 4, 2016 by The PHOTOROGR Project in Uncategorized and tagged landscape photography, Nevada Discovery Ride, photo editing and composition, photography techniques, Photomatix Pro, Photoshop, Shooting the West, Winnemucca NV | 2 Comments

This week has been wonderful. While Shooting the West (shootingthewest.org) was awesome, the days before and since were equally wonderful.

I was in the final stages of building my STW presentation and needed a little break, so I decided to try something new – flowers overlaid on a textured background. I’ve played with the technique before, but not with a specific goal in mind. I had some textures in a folder, and the flowers from my backyard this Spring were great candidates. To make a long story short, the results are wonderful and I will be making them into note cards and prints. I’m thinking about canvas prints, too, but we’ll see. Here they are!

I drove to Winnmeucca last Thursday. I took my time and enjoyed the drive. A couple months ago, I got my US 50 Survival Guide from the Nevada Commission on Tourism, so I planned to get a couple stamps while I was on the road. The Dayton Chamber of Commerce was closed, but Fernley’s was open so I got my first stamp! For the uninitiated, the US 50 Survival Guide is designed to promote travel on the Loneliest Road in America. When I get 5 stamps, I qualify for my US 50 Survivor certificate and sticker for my car!

While on the road, I got a call from a senior center in Carson City. They were hosting a fundraiser for wild horse adoption, and wondered if I would bring some wild horse pictures to display and sell. The fundraiser was on Tuesday, so I would have to work quick when I got home on Sunday. I agreed and put it on my calendar.

I got to Winnemucca in good time, so I stopped by the Convention Center to check in and coordinate my presentation with the audio-visual tech. He downloaded my file and everything worked, so that was one less thing to worry about. I bumped into a friend who was finishing his workshops, so we grabbed our cameras and headed for the Humboldt River for a few pictures before dinner. All we found were small birds, so we visited the local Museum. I encourage you to stop in when you visit Winnemucca – the Museum is great!

Dinner with more friends at the Martin, a local Basque restaurant. It was a busy night so we had a wait, but it was worth it! I had pork ribs that were wonderful!

Friday morning and Shooting the West kicked off for me. I enjoyed seeing old friends, making new ones, and meeting people that are friends on Facebook. The presentations were great, with diverse subjects and beautiful images. The keynote speaker was Drew Gurian, who discussed his work as a photographer in New York City. Other presentations included ranch photography, large format photography, and a wildlife photography presentation, along with presentation of awards for the Range Outback Photo Contest. I had a great conversation with the Canon representative, who showed me how to use the in-camera HDR feature on my 7D Mark II. An interesting process, worthy of a few pixels sometime. (See my blog ‘An Amazing Week for Me’ on March 29, 2016, for a discussion on High Dynamic Range photography).

My presentation was Saturday afternoon, but I wasn’t worried. I had practiced and I was ready. I paid close attention to the morning presenters. I was almost sold on mirrorless cameras until the presenter told us about the negatives – short battery life and very susceptible to getting dirty when changing lenses. I enjoyed the presentation on photo workshops and tours, but started to get a little nervous as my start time got closer. Finally, it was my turn. I took the stage and, of course, the AV tech ran into difficulty starting my presentation. I knew it would happen, but I only had 15 minutes and a couple jokes. He resolved things quickly and I began. Don’t ask me what I said – I have no idea, and I only had to rush a little at the end. I got great feedback from everyone afterwards, so I feel good about it.

Sunday morning, and I’m off to the car show and air show at the airport. Here’s a little of what I saw!

I forgot the year, but this is a Hupmobile.

You see the darndest things at a car show. The guy on the left was showing this home-built camp trailer, towed by his Model A.

There were several military vehicles there. This is a beautiful Willys Jeep.

The local tractor club was showing, too. I always enjoy an old Ford tractor.

I didn’t get close enough to see if it was armed or not!

After the car/plane show, I headed east to Battle Mountain to have lunch with an old Air Force friend and his wife. On the way, I decided to try that in-camera HDR feature.

This is the in-camera image. It’s nice, but a little off from what I like in an HDR image.

Using the bracketed exposures, I merged them in Photomatix with a little nicer result.

Another in-camera image. Notice the ‘ghosting’ or multiple images of the car on the right side of the image. When using this feature, I will have to be careful to ensure that nothing moves, since the camera aligns the bracketed exposures, but doesn’t account for ghosting.

Here’s the merge I did in Photomatix. Bottom line – in-camera HDR could be useful in the right place at the right time, but it will not replace my existing HDR workflow.

On Monday, I got ready for the fundraiser on Tuesday. The money raised will support the Nevada Discovery Ride (www.NevadaDiscoveryRide.com). This August, Samantha Szesciorka and her horse, Sage, will undertake a 1,000 mile journey to encourage wild horse adoption. The weather was excellent and I met many nice people – sales were good, too! Samantha is very nice, and I wish her well on her ride.

Okay, that’s it for this post. I’m taking a little time and working on the yard (I finally mowed the lawn this morning!), but I will be showing at Something in the Wind at the Dangberg Ranch on May 14 and 15. Come on by and see the kites – make sure you say hello!

Enjoy – PHOTOROGR

Just a few more days!

April 25, 2016 by The PHOTOROGR Project in Uncategorized and tagged Carson Valley, landscape photography, photo editing and composition, photography techniques, Raptors, Shooting the West, Sierra Nevada Mountains, Wild Horses, Wildlife photography, Winnemucca NV | 3 Comments

Time is running out! In just a few days, I’ll be in Winnemucca for Shooting the West (shootingthewest.org) and will be making my presentation Saturday afternoon. I’ve been working on the presentation for a couple months, going through my pictures from the last couple years to select the best ones to showcase. Last week, I was feeling good about my selections and was starting to make the cuts necessary to meet my 15 minute time slot. I asked my lovely bride to go through the slide show with me, as the cuts were becoming more difficult to make. At the end of the first run through, she says that I haven’t included my best shots! Holy cow!!

We opened up the hard drives and looked for the shots that she thought I should include. After adding in another dozen or so, I started the ‘deselection’ process all over again. I have the presentation down to 78 slides now, which is on the high side of my original target of 70+/-. I think it will work. There’s time for more fine tuning.

I made a big addition to my editing toolbox this week – software to calibrate the color on my computer monitor. ColorMunki from X-Rite is my choice – simple to install and use. The ‘before and after’ showed small adjustments in the colors, but I move forward with more confidence in my editing.

I managed to get out a bit – I didn’t lock myself in the study, after all! Here’s a few images from the last couple weeks.

I have a new photographer friend in Carson City who showed me a different group of wild horses. We were standing in a saddle with multiple bands, probably 100 or more horses. There was a group of 16-18 bachelor studs showing us their physical prowess. It was very exciting to see!

These two started a fight in the middle of the group of horses – a common occurrence during our time there!

This is my favorite shot from the day. These two had moved away from the group and were serious for several minutes.

I also got a couple shots that were less ‘exciting.’ The scenery shot was featured on a local morning show during the weather report this week.

This is the view looking south towards the Carson Valley, and was the featured image on the Channel 2 Weather Report last Wednesday!

This foal is proudly leading the band up a hill. The rocks made a wonderful background!

I had a little fun this week, too. I went to a local ranch to see if the ‘kids’ were out and about, and they were! I also spent a little time in the back yard.

Remember Pickup? Here he is again – climbing a tree and getting into mischief. You don’t see that every day!

My exploration into macro photography and creative filters continued with these Lilac flowers from our back yard.

Some flowers from one of our Crab Apple trees.

This Quail and its partner were making their way through the plants in the back yard yesterday. By the time I grabbed my camera and headed outside, they had gone up the hillside and were in the rocks.

I needed a break from the computer one day last week, so I made an impromptu visit to a location where I’d heard about an Aerie. I wasn’t disappointed. After making several images of this Bald Eagle sitting in the nest, it took flight and gave me quite a show! Here’s a couple from the day!

Coming in for a landing. This image was made microseconds after touchdown.

The in flight image. What a magnificent Raptor!

Sorry that the blog is short, but I have to finish my presentation, pack my bags, and try to fit in a ride with my ATV group before I head for Winnemucca. I’ll give a report on Shooting the West in my next blog! I look forward to seeing old friends, making new ones, and meeting face to face with people I’ve ‘friended’ on Facebook. Until next time – enjoy!

PHOTOROGR

Just don’t forget the basics…

April 13, 2016 by The PHOTOROGR Project in Uncategorized and tagged Carson Valley, Desert flowers, Fallen Leaf Lake, Glen Alpine Falls, Lake Tahoe, Owls, photo editing and composition, photography techniques, Photomatix Pro, Photoshop, Quail, Scenery, Shooting the West, Sierra Nevada Mountains, Taylor Creek, Waterfalls, Wildlife photography, Winnemucca NV | 2 Comments

In the last several blogs, I’ve talked about new shooting and editing techniques and all the fun I’ve been having. These past few weeks have been truly amazing for me, up until a couple nights ago. I was reading one of my books on High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography – the chapter on tripods – and a I came on a little ‘Tip’ sidebar that said, “Rather counterintuitively, using a tripod in conjunction with image stabilization can result in unsharp images, so it is advisable to turn stabilization off whenever your camera is tripod-mounted.”

For a little quick background, many lens manufacturers build their lenses to correct for small movements and shakes, resulting in sharper pictures. Each manufacturer calls it something different (Canon says image stabilization and Tamron uses vibration control, for example), but they all accomplish the same thing. The problem is that when a camera is mounted on a tripod (versus handheld), these small movements and shakes don’t occur, so the lens panics (figuratively, not literally) and introduces some shake so the image stabilization system has something to do. It’s kind of like those overprotective parents in movies and TV shows that obsess over their children’s first date or outing with friends – inventing problems that aren’t occurring. It makes for a humorous story line, but it doesn’t make good pictures. The lesson: turn off the image stabilization (if the lens has it) when using a tripod!

Is this new information to me? No! It’s a basic action in photography, the same as turning on the charging the battery, turning on the camera, taking the lens cap off, or putting a memory card in the camera. Have I been doing it? Well, no. I have been concentrating so hard on the neutral density filters and camera settings, getting a good composition, and remembering the cable release to reduce camera shake on the tripod. I haven’t been turning off the image stabilization on my lenses! Silly me! The biggest problem has been blending the different exposures in HDR software, where I was seeing lots of ‘ghosting’ or blurred portions in the final image. I attributed it to wind blowing the tree branches or the differences in water flow, never thinking about that dadburned image stabilization. So, lesson learned and reminder to take care of the basics! Will I forget again? Yes! After all, I’m still learning.

For this week’s images, I’ll start with my recent trip to Glen Alpine Falls, on Taylor Creek upstream from Fallen Leaf Lake which feeds into Lake Tahoe. With all the snow the Sierras received this year, the Falls are running strong and are very beautiful. If you want to go see them, take CA 89 along the west shore of Lake Tahoe, a few miles south of Emerald Bay, and turn west on the road to Fallen Leaf Lake. The Falls are on the far west end of the Lake. I had to park at the fire station and hike about a quarter mile up a hill – an easy hike and well worth it! I had rented a Canon 10-22 Wide Angle Lens from Gordon’s Photo Service (gordonsphotoservice.com), to try something different from my lenses. It was fun to use that lens – with the short focal length and the natural distortion on the edges of the images, I had to adjust my shooting style – especially to create the panoramas.

Glen Alpine Falls – 5 exposures, HDR processed in Photomatix and Photoshop.

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For this image of the Falls, I stitched together 4 images to create a panorama. I used the wide angle lens turned 90 degrees (long axis vertical), with a 4 stop neutral density filter to slow the water for the picture, merging in Photoshop.

This is Taylor Creek, downstream of the Falls. I made 5 exposures and blended them in Photomatix to bring out the beautiful colors in the rocks.

With Spring, our trees are flowering!

A macro of the flowers on a Perfect Purple tree in our backyard!

These flowers are on our Pear tree – hopefully, the bees will come and we will have Pears this year!

With all the moisture we’ve had this Winter, the desert is full of color. I’ve never noticed these desert plants before, but they are blooming all over the Carson Valley! This one is just up the road from our house!

I haven’t forgotten the wildlife in our area, although the Raptors are mostly gone. Here’s a few:

My education in bird identification continues. I was very excited to see this, thinking I had something exotic like a female Canvasback Duck. Turns out, it’s just a Mutt Duck. Apparently, Mallards aren’t very selective when they mate, giving us birds like this. It is, however, very pretty – for a Mutt!

I drove past a Western Meadowlark a couple months ago, so when I saw this one I was determined to get the picture. I posted this to the ‘Yep I’m from Wyoming’ page on Facebook and, at last count, I was well over 130 likes! For those of you unfamiliar with my home state – the Western Meadowlark is the Wyoming State Bird!

These Owlets live in the Carson Valley, and share the nest with Mom, Dad, and two siblings.

This Great Horned Owl was on a branch over the nest, with 2-3 Owlets in the nest. Not sure if it was just the wind, or if the kids were acting up that day, but I love the look on its face.

This Quail was running around my backyard, but stopped long enough for me to get this picture!

I’ll close with a few scenery shots.

This is an abandoned ranch house in Hope Valley, just across the border in California.

This waterfall is on CA 89, on the west end of Emerald Bay.

The Carson Valley is one of the ‘go to’ places for soaring. These two gliders were in the sky over my house. They weren’t as close as it appears in this image.

My lovely bride asked for a short drive last Sunday, and we happened on this scene along Waterloo Lane in the Carson Valley.

Shooting the West (shootingthewest.org) is only a couple weeks away! I’m putting the finishing touches on my presentation and am very excited to be a part of this great event this year. If you’re near Winnemucca in a couple weeks – stop by the Convention Center and see the pictures! This Sunday is April 17, the day the Ford Mustang was introduced at the New York World’s Fair in 1964. It’s National Mustang Day, so I’ll be driving the Bullitt to celebrate.

Enjoy – PHOTOROGR

An AMAZING Week for Me!

March 29, 2016 by The PHOTOROGR Project in Uncategorized and tagged CV Chamber of Commerce, Eagles, Eagles & Agriculture, HDR, landscape photography, photo editing and composition, photography techniques, Photomatix Pro, Photoshop | 5 Comments

I have had an absolutely amazing week since my last post. First, I won both categories of the Eagles & Agriculture Photo Contest this year!

This Eagle eating a rabbit won ‘Best Birding’ photo. I made this image in December, when my lovely bride and I drove up on this scene just a few blocks from our home.

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Last May, I was invited to join other photographers to record this group of cowgirls moving a herd along Genoa Lane. This image won the ‘Best Agriculture/Wildlife’ category.

I am both honored and humbled to win. I stopped by the Carson Valley Chamber of Commerce offices to see the other images. Holy Cow!!! What a great group of submissions this year.

My exploration into long exposures of water expanded a little, with the addition of some new software called Photomatix Pro. This software uses bracketed exposures to produce High Dynamic Range (HDR) images. In my last blog, I discussed exposure (controlling the light striking the sensor in the camera body). ‘Bracketing exposure’ means finding the right exposure for a given image and making additional images of the same scene by overexposing and underexposing. HDR software then combines the different exposures by selecting the best parts of each to create an exciting photograph. For example, in a landscape, the underexposed images give the best skies but renders the shadow areas black and without detail. Conversely, the overexposed images give great detail in the shadows but loses detail in the highlights. HDR allows the pixelist (see how I got my title in here!!!) to use the best light to make a great image. Some cameras will make the HDR image for you, or you can combine them using HDR software on the computer.

Here’s a landscape that I shot a couple years ago near Kernville CA. I used three images at different exposures to make this one. Set exposure to capture the sky and you don’t see the rich color in the rocks. Set exposure for the rocks and you see a bright white sky with no detail in the clouds.

Another HDR near Kernville. Yes, it was chilly and we got wet a couple times that day!

A waterfall on the Kern River in HDR.

This image of the Church at Bodie CA was made from two exposures, merged in Photomatix. I need to go back to Bodie so I can get shot that doesn’t cut off the steeple, and to make other images, too.

Learning this new software has been a lot of fun. As you might imagine, I can get a little crazy in the processing.

I made this image of a wagon on one of the local ranches in January. I’ve been trying to process the image to fit my vision for a couple months. This is nice, but it doesn’t convey the feeling I wanted to share.

When I processed the image in Photomatix, I found what I was looking for. One of my photo mentors thinks it’s over done, and I respect that. My lovely bride thinks I should crop it differently. Bottom line – there’s no right or wrong. What’s that old saying? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Please recall this image from last Fall. I photographed this bird condo in Walker CA.

I revisited the image to explore the boundaries and capabilities of Photomatix. The result is over done, but kind of fun. Again – the eye of the beholder.

West Fork of the Carson River in Hope Valley. This HDR image was made from 5 exposures, and is a traditional processing.

The same HDR image, with a little fun. I went here because I was struggling with ‘ghosting,’ a problem when the images don’t align exactly (like the wind blowing the tree branches). The processing I chose here masks the ghosting a little. It’s a fun interpretation of the scene.

Simple HDR from 3 exposures. With this image, I was more about the flowing water. I gotta say, however, that I hope there’s still water flowing when the vegetation leafs out to add a little color.

I processed this image in HDR, then decided to play with monochrome. Absent color from the vegetation, I like the effect.

The HDR in this image is right on the edge of going too far, but I like it.

And I haven’t been on the edge all week. We had a nice sunny day, and the birds and bees were visiting the yard.

This Lesser Goldfinch Hen challenged my very limited identification skills.

I was in the backyard enjoying the warm when I spied this butterfly on our Flowering Plum tree. I got the camera and made a few shots, but couldn’t help noticing the buzzing sounds…

…and several of these guys were working their magic. They’re harder to take pictures of than I thought.

My favorite image from the day. A large aperture opening gave a very shallow depth of field (the flowers in the foreground are blurry as are those in the background). The black and yellow against the vivid pink just hit the spot for me!

Well, that’s it for this week. As you can see, it really was an amazing week! Until next time – Enjoy! PHOTOROGR

I’m having lots of fun again!!

March 20, 2016 by The PHOTOROGR Project in Uncategorized and tagged Alpine County CA, Carson River, flowing water, photo editing and composition, photography techniques, Photoshop, Sierra Nevada Mountains | 2 Comments

My apologies for taking so long to post a new blog, but when one is having as much fun as I am, one loses track of time! I’ve spent a lot of time along the East and West Forks of the Carson River in the last couple weeks, followed by a lot of time on the computer. The learning curve has been steep, but the results have been extremely rewarding. I am truly having fun again. My focus (pun intended) has been to make images of flowing water, specifically tack sharp images with silky smooth water.

For background, let’s talk about exposure for a couple paragraphs. In The Complete Guide to Nature Photography, Sean Arbabi begins his chapter on exposure this way, “The primary function of a camera is to collect and record light. Exposure, in photographic terms, is recognized as the total amount of light permitted to enter a camera and received by the image sensor (or film plane) through the course of capturing an image.” Most of us don’t worry about exposure. Our mobile phones/cameras don’t allow us to control exposure settings, and the ‘Auto’ function in cameras is adequate for most of the pictures we take. I worry about exposure in every image I make, and much of my journey is learning how to achieve good exposure given the different light situations under which I shoot.

So, how do we control the amount of light permitted to enter a camera? There are two ways: aperture and shutter speed. Aperture is the opening created by the lens to allow light into the camera, and the size of the opening is measured in ‘stops’. A smaller aperture refers to a larger opening – I’m not going to explain why, but there is a real reason out there. Shutter speed is the time the shutter is open, and is measured in seconds. When combined with ISO (the sensitivity of a digital sensor or film), aperture and shutter speed determine the exposure. But enough technical stuff – let’s talk about my time on the Carson River!

The keys to creating beautiful flowing water pictures are: long shutter speeds (to the camera, even 1/6 of a second can be a long time) for the silky water; a stable camera position for sharp images; and good depth of field (how much of the picture is in focus). I use a sturdy tripod to hold everything in place (handheld just won’t do!) and a remote shutter release to minimize camera shake. I also use a function called ‘Live View’ which allows me to use the LED screen on the back of the camera to compose the image and check exposure, and also reduces camera shake because the mirror is already up. Live view is a killer for battery life, so it must be used judiciously! To control the light entering the camera and maintain flexibility with depth of field, I use Neutral Density (ND) filters. ND filters are dark, like sunglasses, and are rated by how many stops of light they reduce (like the size of the aperture). For the following images, I use multiple ND filters totaling 7 stops of light to get the long shutter speeds.

In addition to learning photography, I’m also learning Photoshop software to process the RAW images (see my blog All RAW – All the Time, June 8, 2015), and wanted to explore exposure bracketing (making multiple copies of the same image at different exposures) to try new processes in Photoshop. To make things easy for all of us, I’ll briefly discuss editing techniques with each picture. WF = West Fork Carson River; EF = East Fork Carson River.

EF: when I first looked at this image, I thought it was going to be a great texture and not much else. I may still use it for a texture sometime but, after a little editing, I determined that it’s a pretty good image after all. This doesn’t show the silky smooth water that many of the other images do, but I still like it.

WF: I stacked three exposures and used layer masks to bring out the detail in the dark foreground while maintaining the nice exposure in the bright background. I love this water.

WF: also three exposures and layer masks, but this is my first successful use of the Burn tool, which allowed me to darken specific areas of the image.

WF: more layer masks, three exposures.

WF: one exposure, standard editing.

WF: one exposure, standard editing.

WF: for this image, I used a single exposure to create two images, one color and one black and white. I stacked the two images and used a Gaussian Blur on the color image. Then I used a Blend Mode to combine the two images and used standard editing techniques. It’s still a little dark in a couple places, but I’ll figure that out as I become more proficient in Photoshop.

WF: this image is a combination of three exposures using the High Dynamic Resolution (HDR) software in Adobe Camera Raw. It’s the same view as the above image, just zoomed in closer in camera. I have a little more work to do, as I have a white spot to deal with (thanks for the critique Katie!).

WF: this is another single exposure edited as a color image and a black and white image, then layered. This editing process worked a little better here, but I still have some dark spots to correct.

EF: This is a single exposure with standard editing. I have a little vignetting in the upper right corner, a byproduct of my filter stack.

So, that’s it for this blog. As you can see, I am enjoying my current effort and am hiving fun. I need more practice with creating bracketed exposures and much more practice with my editing. I just finished a book on landscape photography, so I can start my book on HDR. Who knows? I may have to get some new software to really get into HDR. My birthday is coming up – could be a great time for new software!

Thanks for reading my blog. Enjoy – PHOTOROGR

Getting back on the path…

March 7, 2016 by The PHOTOROGR Project in Uncategorized and tagged Carson Valley, landscape photography, photo editing and composition, photography techniques, ranches | 6 Comments

I started this Journey in Creative Photography at the end of the summer in 2014, and built this blog in September. In the ‘About’ page, I said that I wanted to make better photos and learn new techniques. I think I held true to that goal for most of my journey, but I had a couple experiences this week that caused me to pause and evaluate my journey and the path I was taking. There’s no need to get into details about these experiences, because they are in the past. The resultant evaluation process is what’s important.

As I thought about my photographic journey this week, I realized that, while I was making much better images than at any time in my life, there were times when it wasn’t fun as it used to be. I found that I was taking pictures for the wrong reasons. When I bumped into a photographer friend out by the wild horses and he talked about being so busy with his photo business and how he missed just going out and shooting, my thoughts came together and I realized that I wasn’t on the path on which I started. I am still thinking about the direction I am going and the future of my photography, but I know that I am committed to having fun with photography again.

Consistent with this re-commitment to my original goal, I drove the PHOTORANGER in a different direction (literally) than I’ve gone in a while to look for fresh subjects and found myself on the West Carson River playing with neutral density filters and long exposures, specifically to make images of water flowing smoothly with tack sharp rocks and vegetation. Many of those shots will never be seen off my computer, but I managed to get one that I will share and, when the weather settles later this week, I will go out and try again.

This is a fun composition with the ‘driftwood’ in the corner. I will time my next visit for better natural light, and maybe some new snow!

I also ventured out with my new friend, Dwayne Hicks (dwaynesworld.com). Dwayne has been a landscape photographer for decades, and has tremendous knowledge. He wants to transition to nature and wildlife photography, so we shared lots of information and had a great time. At one of our stops, we had the opportunity to make images of kids (baby goats) and a ‘future farmer’ taking care of the herd.

Kids are very cute and they put on quite a show!

Yup, that’s a future farmer feeding the herd!

After feeding the herd, the future farmer and his sidekick took a walk, under the watchful eye of the ranch dog.

With the emphasis on getting back on path, you’ll see fewer images in my blog – only the best of the mix. And you’ll see different subjects and techniques, too. Stay tuned!

Enjoy – Roger aka PHOTOROGR

Shifting gears…

March 1, 2016 by The PHOTOROGR Project in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Well, Eagles and Agriculture is in the books for another year. It was another successful event for the Carson Valley Chamber of Commerce and for me. I didn’t sell as many pictures as I did last year, but I still count this year as a personal success. Of course, it’s not really over – I still have to submit pictures for the Eagles & Ag Photo Contest. The contest gives a cash award for best birding image and best agricultural/wildlife image. I’m building my submission from images made between March 2015 and February 2016. I have some good stuff, so I’m hoping to compete well.

There’s only two months until Shooting the West (www.shootingthewest.org). It’s only a 15 minute presentation, but I have a lot of work to do to get ready (remember my discussion about selecting pictures for editing and printing – this is worse!). And there’s only two months to go…

The transient Eagles have pretty much left the Carson Valley, so my attention has shifted to the Pine Nut Mountains and our local wild horse bands. We have four new foals – one colt and three fillies. They are all growing like weeds and doing well.

This is Hardy practicing his watchful gaze – a critical skill for a stud. Of course, he doesn’t get too far from Lady, his Mama.

Hardy struts his stuff well – in horse terms, great conformation!

This is Skye, the first new horse born in the Pine Nuts this year.

Sassy Girl – little sister to Skye. Her Mom is Bossy Betty, and she’s a cutie.

Allow me to introduce Honey, with her Mom, Wilma. Honey is the newest foal, only a few days old.

Like all little ones, these guys need their rest, too.

Hardy taking a nap…

…and taking another nap…you should have heard the bellow when he got up and Mom had moved a little distance away.

I don’t think he’s sleeping, but we can’t tell…

Sassy had laid down and Honey joined her. Silly girls…

Besides shifting gears from raptors to horses, I’ve decided to slow down my shooting and focus on my editing skills for a little while. As I mentioned a couple months ago, Santa brought me a membership in an online software tutorial series. I’ve already improved my editing skills in just a couple months, but it’s amazing how much we find we don’t know, the more we start learning. For the future – fewer pictures, but better pictures!

I’ll close this post with images of other subjects.

This Chipmunk crossed a desert road in front of me, and he climbed a tree on the side of the road, allowing me to make this image. Remember that part about better pictures? I used an editing technique called ‘blending mode’ to create what you see. What do you think?

This Horned Lark sat on a branch for me while I made my images.

Another Horned Lark. A little better light, and a great pose.

That’s it for this time. I hope you enjoy the images. Watch for more fun stuff.

Enjoy – PHOTOROGR

February is a very busy time!

February 18, 2016 by The PHOTOROGR Project in Uncategorized and tagged Carson Valley, CV Chamber of Commerce, Eagles & Agriculture, Hawks, photo editing and composition, photography techniques, Photoshop, Pine Nut Mountains, Shooting the West, Wild Horses, Wildlife photography | 2 Comments

When I started this Journey in Creative Photography, I knew I would be spending lots of time learning how to make images (in camera and on the computer) and that some of my learning curve would be about the business side of photography. In my post ‘Order and Chaos’ (last December), I discussed the challenges of storing and retrieving images on the computer. I described how I installed additional memory in my computer and further refined my storage/retrieval system in my last post. I have been reaping the benefits of those changes in the last couple weeks, as I tackle another big challenge – what do I share, print, and show?

February in the Carson Valley is prime time for nature photographers. The calves are dropping and the Eagles migrate through to feed on the nutrient rich afterbirth and the occasional carcass. Long lens mounted, I go hunting for these regal subjects. Then, after downloading the RAW images on the computer, I review the images and decide which are worthy of processing and possibly sharing or printing. Believe me, you only see a small fraction of the images I make in camera. Why is this on my mind? Read on!

Many years ago, the local Chamber of Commerce (http://www.carsonvalleynv.org) teamed up with area ranchers and conservationists to create a wonderful event called Eagles and Agriculture. The opening reception and photography exhibit is tomorrow at the Senior Center, and the tours start Friday! The Eagles & Agriculture Banquet is Friday night, and I will have a table to sell my pictures and note cards. I’ll also be there Saturday morning – if you’re nearby, stop in, say hi, and buy a picture or note card! I’ve been printing, matting, and framing new images for a week or so (I love Amazon’s 2 day delivery on ink for my printer!). The image retrieval system was critical to my printing activities, and the modifications to my process made it soooo much easier. This will also help as I prepare for my presentation at Shooting the West (http://shootingthewest.org).

I’ve also been making time to get out and make new images. The Eagles have been a little difficult to capture, so other subjects have endured my intrusion – most notably, the wild horses in the Pine Nut Mountains. The foals have been coming a little early this year – we now have 3. I shared pictures of Skye in my post ‘Inspiration – the Key Ingredient’ although we didn’t know that she was a she, and she hadn’t been named when I posted.

Skye with her Mom, Suzie Q (in back), and Dad, Shorty (facing).

Here are the other foals!

This is Sassy with her Mom, Bossy Betty. Sassy got her name by exhibiting an ‘independent’ behavior.

The family portrait (l to r): Sassy, Bossy Betty, Skye, Suzie Q, Shorty (looking right). Shorty is the proud Papa, but he plays it cool.

This is Hardy with Mom, Lady. Dad is Blue – the undisputed King of the Pine Nut bands. Hardy is named after my father-in-law, who celebrated his 90th birthday last week!

Hardy running with other members of the band. The horse on the left is Copper and we’re waiting to see her foal. Lady is keeping Hardy in line.

While shooting Blue’s band the other day, Blue decided we had been there long enough and came over to tell us. When we didn’t leave immediately, he took a couple steps as if to say, ‘Didn’t you get the message?’

I found Mystery again – we started with a game of hide and seek, and then it got interesting!

Mystery hiding in the trees.

Mystery posing for me.

Mystery deciding he wanted to check me out! He walked to within about 25′ of me before I convinced him it wasn’t a good idea.

I saw several horses who were having lots of fun!

This is Hope. She’s a yearling and Blue’s daughter. Apparently, mud bath was the day’s fun activity.

Another of Blue’s yearlings played in the mud.

This little fella’ is The Rogue’s son. I found him in a different area, but he had been playing in the mud, too.

This is Little Jo, one of Blue’s yearlings. She’s quite a camera tease, and apparently doesn’t play in the mud.

I can’t post without a bird picture…

This Sharp-Shinned Hawk was in my neighbor’s tree. I got some good pictures…

…but obviously overstayed my welcome. It’s a problem I have on occasion (just ask Blue).

One more shot of Hardy – a guy just has to scratch sometimes, even when he’s only a couple days old.

Thanks for reading all the way to the bottom. I know I shared a lot of pictures, but you see my dilemma! Like the convenience store, I just have ‘too much good stuff!’

Enjoy – PHOTOROGR

Process improvement – another important ingredient!

February 7, 2016 by The PHOTOROGR Project in Uncategorized and tagged Carson Valley, CV Chamber of Commerce, David Walleys Hot Springs, Eagles, Eagles & Agriculture, Genoa NV, Hawks, photo editing and composition, photography techniques, Raptors, Wildlife photography | 4 Comments

Many years ago, I retired from military service. My last assignment was on the Plans and Programs staff at State Headquarters. While my efforts focused on emergency preparedness and response planning, I assisted others on our small staff with strategic planning and process improvement. I’m comfortable with goal setting and brainstorming new ideas (imagine rooms full of important people with a facilitator guiding the participants through a long and sometimes interesting discussion on making the organization better). These days, my process improvement thoughts and actions are a lot more personal – mostly making higher quality images and developing my creative side.

Well, not all my improvement processes are about making images. For the last couple months, I’ve noticed that available space on my computer’s internal hard drive is continually decreasing, and some software seems to be running more and more slowly. I didn’t break out the marker boards and markers to evaluate the problem and formulate plans to mitigate the problem, though I was tempted. Instead, I decided to install more memory in my computer and move all the pictures to a dedicated internal drive.

I ordered the drive and had one of my smart neighbors do the install and setup (it’s not true that all engineers can remove the covers from their computers and not do harm). Then I sat down to move the pictures and the light bulb came on – I could fix all the frustrating and wasteful file organization issues I had been thinking about since I started this Journey in Creative Photography! I spent much of a day re-organizing my folders and moving the images around on my computer. I’m pretty sure that my image storage system is more efficient now, and will probably feel that way until I do my monthly backup to external hard drives in a few weeks. If you’re having a hard time with your image storage system, make time to make it better. You’ll be much happier.

And remember, the bad part of process improvement is that it’s continuous, but that’s also a good thing. We’ll revisit my reorganization at the end of the month.

It’s been a great shooting week. I found Eagles, Quail, a Cooper’s Hawk and, just today, I finally got that elusive Bobcat shot. Eagles & Agriculture is only a couple weeks away, and I’ll be spending a lot of time prepping for the show. I have several new images to print, mat, and frame. Of course, the weather is supposed to be really good, which means that I’ll be out shooting, too. It could be a problem, but it could be a fun challenge, too. Here’s the fun stuff from this week!

This Cooper’s Hawk was out in the snow, hunting from this gnarly tree stump just outside Genoa, Nevada’s oldest town (but don’t ask Dayton).

This Red-Shouldered Hawk was also south of Genoa, a little closer to David Walley’s Hot Springs. He posed, but wouldn’t make eye contact.

I was on a local ranch looking for Owls and a covey of Quail came by. This one posed on an old ranch wagon.

These Quail were marching in a parade, except for the guy on the lower fence rail. We’re not sure what he’s up to.

We are blessed with a nesting pair of Bald Eagles in the Carson Valley, and I made this very long range image earlier this week.

I was watching a Bald Eagle in a field a couple days ago, and this Bald Eagle flew in to crash the party. He was only 100′ or so away, and looking very regal! This image will be on sale at Eagles & Agriculture, with other images from my collection.

This is my prize capture this week. I’ve been looking for this cat for a couple months. He was in this tree laying down, and would have stayed hidden if he hadn’t sat up and revealed himself.

That’s it for this week! Enjoy – PHOTOROGR

The PHOTOROGR Project

A Journey in Creative Photography!

Category Archives: Uncategorized

I’ve slowed down a little – could you tell?

What a Rush!!!!!

Just a few more days!

Just don’t forget the basics…

An AMAZING Week for Me!

I’m having lots of fun again!!

Getting back on the path…

Shifting gears…

February is a very busy time!

Process improvement – another important ingredient!