Buffalo Circle of Life.....

Back to my trip in Yellowstone.

It's spring.  Everything is wet.   The rivers are running high.  Babies are everywhere.  From buffalo to bears and Eagles to Osprey everything is anew.  My last day only a few miles from the west entrance was a traffic jam.  It was bad enough that I thought it had to be a bear sighting.  It was late.  The sun was resting just behind the horizon.  Stopping I could not see any wildlife worth a huge traffic jam like what I had just witnessed.  Only a few buffalo with calves.  Something was drawing attention to all these people.  Maybe a grizzly ready to take the buffalo.  Maybe a wolf.  My trek back to the crowd from my parking spot made me wonder if my efforts were worth it in pictures.  Of course I had my photo vest on, back pack over my shoulder and the big gun on the tripod over the other shoulder.  

What was everyone watching?  It wasn't obvious.  What we all were watching was moving to say the least.  No imminent threat.  No blood.  Just emotion.  From a buffalo calf. 
This handsome little guy was full of energy, enthusiasm or was he.  He would try to nurse from cows and always to be rejected.  He was nervous.  Like before you have to give that big talk in church or in front of a large group of people.  The tourists that had gathered were all commenting on his unusual behavior.  Something was wrong.  He would direct a lot of his energy at a lone cow some distance from the other cows.   Often other calves would join him near this lone cow.  Then it was obvious the cow had a broken front leg and could not stand.  Several attempts were made.  She could not stand.  At one moment she appeared to raise her hind quarters to try and feed her calf.  But she couldn't.  

The calf would lay her head on the cow. His mother.  His food supply.  His protection.

Tears were shed by people around me. 

I stayed until after dark.  So did many others.  Questions were everywhere.  

"What's going to happen to the calf"? 

"Can the park service help"?

"Will the cow or the calf be killed tonight"?

Even some adult men were moved by the scene.   It's nature.  Right?  The circle of life?  Or just more feed for the wolves, bears and other predators.  

There was a real sense of feeling coming from the calf.  Not pain.  Feeling.  The little guy sensed something dramatic was to occur.  He was nervous.

My trip home first took me back to the site of the previous evenings events.  No calves, no cows, no bears, no blood.  Just this big old bull.  He survived the night.  Did the calf and cow?  Only mother nature knows for sure.....

Thought of the day

New software came in the mail friday!!!

NIK Silver Efex Pro.  Had to try the filter that emulates Kodak Tri-X film.  Crazy!  Shooting in digital and missing the film grain look.   What an incredibly powerful tool.  In my opinion NIK software has it hands down.  Especially if you shoot Nikon.   

My all time photo idol is Ansel Adams.  His talent took me to the roots of black and white photography.  When the dark room in my home was in full service many of his photo's hung about.  They can inspire anyone.  And beg the question, "How did he do that"?  

This flower is quit colorful.  The best part of a black and white image like this is you can imagine it being any color you want.  I took the photo and pushed it through NIK.  Now I imagine it as a different color than it actually  is.  

The saying above is one that my beautiful wife gave me when I held public office.  Kinda kept it close to my heart.  

Fun, fun, fun...

I'm having way too much fun!

I love my job and I love my Hobby. I'm doing better than I deserve.

Have you ever heard this before..."On my way home tonight I stopped to photograph...."

Well from southern Utah I drove home. Stopped in Scipio, Utah mid-day to grab a bite to eat (and scope out a competitor). Well what did I find here? Not something to photograph. No way!

The question of the day. And a test! Is the photo above a HDR image? Now OF, don't tell. OF made an observation about the stubaker photo that has been bugging me also.

Ok. Is it or isn't HDR? Until I can figure it out here is the giveaway. At the old roof line look at how the contrast to the sky has a slight halo effect. BUGS ME TO DEATH. Seems to bug OF also. Oh by the way OF if you don't remember is Old Friend. And I mean OLD!!!! I think he is a scientist now. If not he could be. got the brains of a savant. But has a decent personality. We have had some pretty lengthy discussions about icthiosis on salt water fish!

Yes it's HDR.

This photo is a prime example of a good use for HDR. With out it and with the HOT mid-day light and deep shadows? Good Luck! Look at the detail in the wall lathe. Yet the floor and far window is still close to the right exposure.

But that dang halo. Got more work to do.........

Dan, Alea, Linds. What's the assignment this week? How about "hot lazy summer pics"?

Photofocus

Fairly regularly I check in with Photofocus. Take a look here at his truck storage for his photo gear. AMAZING! Not what I would do. But simply amazing! At the end check out his license plate.

HDR - another experience

There is an unending supply of old things to photograph in Fillmore. If only I had more time. Back out tonight and found this Studebaker Truck. A classic? For me.. you bet. This is an HDR processed image. To most it is obvious. The detail inside the grill was out and the specular highlights were lowered. An attempt was made with a single exposure using dodging. The results were not acceptable. The range here was 7 exposures. HDR will definitely be a process I will consider when shooting.

HDR...my further testing and study

Fillmore Utah. Not a lot to do here...except study HDR photography. Late tonight, after dinner with my P.I.S. friends, my search started for a location to test and learn more about HDR. I did not have to look for very long. Waiting for me was this abandoned farm house. Late day lighting through the windows with a pile of junk on the inside - perfect! Probably impossible to shoot with details in both the highlights and shadows. Look at the photo above. It is the exposure that was the shortest of nine exposures. The correct exposure that reveals detail in the windows. You can actually see the scene out the Windows. Very little detail can be seen in the shadows.

The exposure above is correct to see the details in the shadows. The window light is then blown out. Again, almost impossible to shoot with one standard exposure. Nine exposures .7 of a stop apart was what I used to get the HDR image. The only thing that I did in Photoshop was crop slightly and created a border.....
Pretty dang cool. Some things that I need to study is the color enhancement/saturation. No color saturation was done. Nor any color balance was performed. This is an image direct from the HDR process. You can however see the blues came out more saturated than the original single exposure. The amazing part is that the blues is what I saw. The red hues in the material on the floor is a true representation also. Simply amazing. What do you think? Have you had success with HDR imaging? Do you plan on trying this process? It definitely is a tool that is always available for those times when we as photographers curse those wide exposure shots we want so bad. I plan on studying this more and perfecting the final image.

HDR

HDR...is the rage.  But is it easy to produce quality images?

What do you think?  Can you tell this is an HDR image?  The scene had 6 stops in light variation.  There seems to be an infinite number of experts on HDR images.  The photo above has no burning or dodging.  I did play with the tone mapping a little.  Without critique of composition, etc., tell me what do you think about this HDR image?  The next couple of days I hope to push the HDR process more.  I look forward to your comments.

Beauty or BEAST....

Nikon D-3, 105mm f/2.8 Micro Lens, 1/20 sec @ f/45, -1.67 EV, ISO 200

This flower is a Beauty!

Next to my house at Bear Lake is a home that people seldom reside.  The natural growth is abundant.  The plant that this flower resides is about six feet tall.  Incredibly green leaves, a rose colored flower like never seen before.  It's a natural.  God gave this plant to us.  No mortal planted it where it resides at Bear Lake today.  Unlike the rose this baby is a weed.  I mean the king of weeds.  The top of the list to get even to Adam and Eve weed list.  A man eater.  A weed wacker killer.  A crime stopper.  More thorns, needles and razor blades per square foot on this monster than any plant alive.  Probably can live on sunshine alone.  

There is beauty to this beast.  From a distance.  Not sure if killing or cutting down this weed is appropriate.  Luckily it's on the neighbors property.  

After a long day of work at the house this plant gave me what suits my relax time best.   Something to investigate, study, watch and PHOTOGRAPH!

Assignment....last one (really)

Alea, Lindsay and Dan...

This assignment was hard!  I haven't seen my grandkids for two weeks, I listen to talk radio, haven't looked in the mirror for quit a while and work with a bunch of contractors.  Not a lot of laugh out load stuff to photograph.  I did try to shoot four horses with their heads hanging out of the side of horse trailer.  At 70+ mph.  I'm not sure what was more humorous me driving with one knee while I leaned toward the drivers side window to photograph the horses?   Or the horses that looked like a quartet singing "O Sole Mio" after just having false teeth replacement.  Man can horses pull funny faces?   The picture did not turn out.  My truck has role up windows.  Shooting through car glass windows doesn't make for the sharpest picture.  I could have leaned way over and tried to role up the window.  But(t) the car on my drivers side might have turned me in for "mooning" on the freeway.    So the buffalo lady above will have to do.  Oh by the way.  I'm not sure why she is sticking her tongue out at me.  I only asked her stop and pose.......

PS. does her hair look a little like Penny's?

For Mr. I-Rons and Windmills

It seems as of late whenever I carry my camera it rains or wants to rain real bad.  There is still always something to photograph.

Kelly is the Master PM.  I have heard that he is pretty darn good at fishing.  On the way back from Naples tonight I photographed a spot that he said he has fished before.  Like he said it was beautiful!  It was pouring most of the time my camera was out.  The benefit...saturated greens and contrasting colors.  If I was a fisherman I could dig this place too.  What I did find that will get me back there one of these weekends is a fishing area for Osprey.  They like the tall dead tree and a slow moving river below the tree.  What a spot.  Two birds were fishing.  Put me in a catatonic state for a few minutes.  At this location you have to park quite a walk from the river.  And there is a great drop in elevation.  By the time I went back to the truck and back down it would have been pretty late.  With very low light conditions and the hike to and from the truck, I could not shoot the birds today.    "I'll Be Back"

The photograph of the wind generating "windmill" was from the freeway close to Evanston, Wyoming.  I could not resist the taking the shot.  As I have said many times when nature offers that kind of contrast I will have my camera out to figure a shot.    Mother nature never fails when it comes to lighting!