Winter's Last Chance

I wrote this a couple months ago but for some reason never actually published it.  So here you go.

Winter is winding down and that's a good thing.  I am looking forward to warmer temperatures and color.  One thing that the winter does offer is a chance to see some amazing ice crystals.  You really have to look close to see the intricacies of the little crystals, but if you get down close enough they are beautiful.  Last winter I took tons of snowflake photos and never really got anything that wowed me that much.  I had a backlit snowflake that I thought was pretty cool, but everything else was mediocre in my eyes.  Saturday provided an opportunity to see a couple snowflakes and they were perfect.  It wasn't too cold that they were just frost pellets.  The air wasn't warm enough for rime to form.  So I went outside for a couple shots.  Fifteen minutes is about all I had to get something since the sun was setting and it was getting pretty dark.  It is very hard to see and focus on snowflakes through the lens in the first place, let alone in pitch black light.  Working with millimeters of focus depth makes taking multiple exposures a must.  I usually take between 7 to 20 shots of each flake and then focus stack them in photoshop to get a, hopefully, great looking snowflake.  Another problem I was running into with this little shoot is the plexiglass I was using.  I left it out pretty much all winter in anticipation of being able to shoot snowflakes.  Month after month of not having great snow, I gave up and let it sit.  The ice had formed on the surface an when trying to brush it off, I scratched it.  Now that may not seem like a big deal to the naked eye, but once your get down really close it makes a noticeable difference.  A little touch up was needed to clean that mess.  Anyway, here are a couple of flakes I happened to capture.  Thank you for looking!

Ominous Outlook

Dreary days bring out some of the best clouds during daylight hours.  They are very pretty to look at, but are very difficult to photograph.  Many times, I have tried and failed to take a picture and have it look the way I saw it with my own eyes.  I imagine a day in the future where the dynamic range of a digital sensor will be up to par with the range the human eye can see.  I imagine that camera will cost a pretty penny, but it would be a very awesome tool to use.  Having said that, we use the tools we have to make the best of what we see.  I have witnessed many times photos of trees stretching into the shadowy clouds giving a very ominous view of the world.  I haven't really tried anything like this in the past, but with my wife's urging, I ventured out to see what I could capture.

Once I was on location, finding the best trees was a difficult task.  Once I found some strangely fingeresque trees, I placed my camera in position and began snapping away.  I tried all types of angles and determined that vertical photos showed what I was seeing the best, but I had to have the camera very close to the ground.  So I laid down beside the camera and let the magic happen.  I shot a couple with one lens.  Then switched over to the fisheye for a little different effect.  It provided a unique perspective that I feel has been missing in the photos I have seen.  I really enjoyed photographing this scene and will definitely have to go back to see what other interesting things I can find.

Painting the Sunset

Over the past month, I have been working to increase my portfolio of sunset shots.  They seem to be a very popular and who doesn't like to look at a sunset.  Most people take a sunset photo, possibly do a quick edit, and throw it on Facebook for the world to see.  Unlike most of the photographers, I have taken time to plan.  I plan on the location that I will shoot the sunset to give the best possible surroundings.  I also have chosen a place that I can visit on a regular basis.  This location has what every good sunset photo should contain, elements in nature.  Idealy, you should try to avoid having man made items in the photo, but it is hard to find a location without something built by man in a city.  Therefore, I use ultra wide angle lenses to minimize any man made objects that may be in the distance.  In addition to working hard to avoid having man made objects in the scene, I have tried to make sure I always have water or something else interesting in the foreground.  Since there are no mountains to be found in Nebraska, I will try to employ water in my sunsets for the foreseeable future.

One main thing that I have tried to do to differentiate my photos from everyone else's is long exposure photography.  This requires use of filters to add to the length of time your camera shutter can stay open.  Various filters provide different lengths of time which you can use to your advantage.  Most neutral density filters come in three, six, and ten stops.  A circular polarizer will provide you two additional stops, but are not great for shooting with wide angles.   I try to use a larger stop filter at the beginning of the sunset and then switch to a middle of the road stop filter as the sky gets darker.  An example of why I do this would be if your exposure was metered at having a 1/60th of a second shutter, stick a ten stop neutral density filter on the lens of your camera and you can now use a shutter speed of 16 seconds.  This get a little tricky as the sun is going down because you have to extend your exposure time every picture and guessing what your exposure would be is challenging without a light meter.  The risks you take and the time you invest are definitely worth the rewards if you nail your exposure and your subject is appealing.

Photographing sunsets is a very peaceful experience when shooting long exposures.  Regular shooting, you are snapping away always looking for the right picture.  Long exposures, you must plan ahead since you are going to be sitting there awhile.  The part I enjoy the most is after the shutter button is pushed and you get to sit and listen to nature as your minutes pass.

Snowy Days

Snowstorms, while they provide beautiful scenery, they are horrible to drive in.  Waiting almost the entire winter season for a good snowstorm, we were finally blessed with a doozy this past week.  Heavy wet snow combined with freezing temperatures over night left travel in pretty bad shape.  So much so that school was called off twice in one week.  This gave a great opportunity for family fun and some needed winter scenes.  The snow was deep and plows had trouble keeping up, but some of the side roads were cleared earlier than usual.  I decided to see what was around and get some wintery photos for fun.  Here were a couple of my favorites from the recent storm.

From the Standing Bear Lake area

 Some panoramas from the Standing Bear area.

I photograph these set of trees every snowstorm.  I think they look like silhouettes of people.  Growing like a little family every year.

Fog and Ice

These are some older photos I have finally processed.  This was the last fog from 2014.  Fog always provides and interesting mood to any photograph.  The tough part is finding fog that is thick enough to make the mood of the photograph what it should be.  The particular fog was were thick, so thick that it made it a little dangerous to pull into the location I was initially planning on.  I went a little further down the road to a different turn off and made my way down to the lake.  The lake was frozen from the many freezing cold nights and the grasses and trees were brown and without leaves.  This part of the lake is not all that deep so there were little pieces of tree protruding through the ice.  I found a couple locations in a close proximity to try and make the fog work with the photo.  

The first one I really enjoyed how the shoreline of the lake made a slight curve into the foggy abyss.  

Photo was to portray the wood coming out of the ice and the numerous air bubbles trapped in the ice.  

This last photograph was of the cemetery that is right along the outer banks of the lake.  This is originally where I wanted to stop for a photo but as you can see the fog is especially thick right in that area.  The road to that location is pretty heavily traveled and very narrow leaving little room for anyone to make emergency stops.  I used the grasses on the bank to frame this photo, helping to give it a couple layers of interest.

Filter Painted Sunset

The clouds were rolling in and a the temperature was about to have a change for the better.  It had been a beautiful day full of sun and some very welcome warmth.  I knew that there was a possibility of a spectacular light show from the falling sun.  Wanting the kids to experience the sunset, I hustled them to the car and set out for a lake.  I knew the lake would still be very frozen due to the frigid days we had just experienced.  Placed my tripod onto the ice and a very low angle so I could get a better perspective of the ice and more of the sky.  All of these photos were taken with a 10 stop neutral density filter and very in exposure time from 70 seconds to 225 seconds.  To view them larger, visit my landscape gallery at alderimages.com/landscape.

This first photo was meant to display the wide array of colors the clouds were showing as they quickly moved out of the scene.  I had to turn the camera away from my initial location to get the colors.  

The last three photos were successive photos taken one after another and the exposure times increased with every photo due to the fading light.  This first one was approximately 120 seconds and the bottom was 225 seconds.  All the photos were shot with a Tokina @ 12mm, f/9, ISO 100.  I love the effect the 10 stop filter has on moving clouds.  I decided on this spot since the clouds were moving toward the camera.  It gives a better sense of movement and leading lines headed toward the sunset itself.   This is suppose to create a more pleasing photo.  

Thank you for viewing!

First Blue Jay

I have captured many Blue Jays before, but never in my front yard.  I have often set food out waiting to see these beautiful yet bossy birds.  It took snow for one of them to finally find his way here.  I didn't want to chance him flying away before I got my camera on him, so I ended up taking this through the front door window.  It definitely degrades the photo from what the bare glass of my lens would have done, but it still turned out pretty good with a little deeper post-processing.

Birds of a Feather

I spilled some seed in the yard filling while making a DIY bird feeder with the littlest.  The snow came through and the spillage was covered.  Yesterday, it was finally warm enough for the snow to melt ever so slightly.  It sure didn't take long for the scavengers to stop by and start cleaning it up.  I even caught glimpse of a Blue Jay.  I haven't had one of these in my yard as long as I can remember.  All I needed was a Cardinal, but I think they have moved from the neighborhood for the winter.  Who knows, maybe they will be here tomorrow.

The first couple birds are Dark-Eyed Junco.  They are usually around all winter long and are pretty cool little birds.  They are very skittish however and very difficult to get your lens on up close.  The others are House Sparrows which are much more comfortable with people.  They may fly away at the slightest movement, but if you sit still they will make their way back to the food.

As always, if you would like to see a bigger version of this photo, click on the photo to be taken to my website at Alder Images.