Snake River FallsPosted by drfl on May 29th, 2009

One of my goals for my Valentine trip was to visit Nebraska’s big 3 waterfalls – Snake River Falls, Smith Falls, and Fort Falls.  Nebraska isn’t known for waterfalls, but there are several, especially near the Niobrara.  These three, however, are the most popular and most visible.  Today’s image is Snake River Falls near Merritt Reservoir, the largest waterfall in Nebraska by volume.  I arrived on a fairly overcast day – perfect for setting up and getting some slowed down water effects.  By utilizing a 3-stop filter to further slow the shutter speed for an even more silky effect.  Due to the natural low contrast in the scene, I boosted the contrast somewhat on the rocks and shore later in order to give greater dimensionality to the photograph.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 30mm, f/16, 1 sec.
Snake River Falls, Near Merritt Reservior 

Prairie Dog PupsPosted by drfl on May 21st, 2009

Today’s image was captured at Ft. Niobrara Wildlife Refuge near Valentine.  While driving through I soon realized that there were prairie dog pups all over and that they were playing outside their holes, but as soon as we got close they would scurry back down.  I found a set that were particularly active and parked the car and waited for their antics.  Two of them were interested in wrestling, but it almost looked like they were kissing instead, I think it was a stare-down of sorts. 

Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/8, 1/1000 sec.
Ft. Niobrara Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska

Peaceful GlowPosted by drfl on May 20th, 2009

While growing up my parents always thought it was important to travel the area in which you live.  This doesn’t mean that’s all we did, but we would make it a point to see some of what the area has to offer.  Since I grew up in Nebraska I had the opportunity to see western Nebraska, Scottsbluff, Chimney Rock, Pioneer Village, and other parts of the state many people never see.  Now that I am adult with my family, I have also tried to plan trips for my family to see the different areas close-by. 

Today’s post comes out of my recent trip with my family to the Valentine, Nebraska area.  It’s an image of the grasslands and prairie in the sandhills at Ft. Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge.  At sunset on this particular evening the grass glowed golden with the light of the setting sun and the clouds reflected the last color of the warm light in the distance above the hills. 

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/14, 1/8 sec.
Ft. Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska

Buffalo ProfilePosted by drfl on May 18th, 2009

I recently took a 4 day excursion to the Valentine region of north-central Nebraska with my family to see some different animals and landscapes.  One of the first parts we visited was Ft. Niobrara Wildlife Refuge about 4 miles outside of town.  Here we saw buffalo roaming, prairie dogs popping, and elk meandering all around.  Over the next couple of weeks I will be blogging about some of what I saw while there.  Today’s post is a closeup of a buffalo in the park, also known as Bison.  I have featured buffalo before, but if you are unfamiliar with buffalo, I have grabbed a little tidbit from Wikipedia:

A bison has a shaggy, long, dark brown winter coat, and a lighter weight, lighter brown summer coat. Bison can reach up to 2 meters (6.6 ft) tall, 3 meters (10 ft) long, and weigh 400 kilograms (882 lb) to 1,000 kilograms (2,205 lb). As typical in ungulates, the male bison is slightly larger. The biggest specimens on record have weighed as much as 1,133 kilograms (2,500 lb). The heads and forequarters are massive, and both sexes have short, curved horns, which they use in fighting for status within the herd and for defense.

Bison are herbivores, grazing on the grasses and sedges of the North American prairies. They eat in the morning and evening, and rest during the day. Bison mate in August and September; gestation is 285 days. A single reddish-brown calf is born the following spring, and it nurses for a year. Bison are mature at three years of age, and have a life expectancy of approximately 15 years in the wild and up to 25 years in captivity.

Juveniles are lighter in color than mature bison for the first three months of life. One very rare condition is the white buffalo, where the calf turns entirely white. White bison are considered sacred by many Native Americans.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/7.1, 1/100 sec.
Ft. Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, Valentine, Nebraska

I Only Have Eyes for YouPosted by drfl on May 14th, 2009

Breaking the photographic rule of thirds, I blatently centered this guy who was barely poking his head out of the water.  Normally, I would put him somewhere just to the right or left of here to follow the “Golden Ratio”, but in this case, I felt center was better.  To give a little background of the “Golden Ratio” or “Rule of Thirds”, here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia that sums it up:

The rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts such as painting, photography and design. The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections. Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject would.

Basically, asthetics have has been studied back to ancient Greek times and it was determined back then that placing the subject on these points will create a more dramatic image.  Of course, I normally follow this rule, more or less, but there are times when rules are to be broken and I felt this is one such example.  Of course, if I were to dig a little deeper into this simple photograph, I might realize that the frogs left eye (or the eye on the right for the viewer) is actually the primary subject and is situated at approximately a third over from the right.  If this is the case, then I have actually followed the rule.  To me, this maybe a bit of overanalyzation and at any rate, I believe the image really works because of its simplicity.

Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/6.3, 1/320 sec.
DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska

DeSoto Meet and GreetPosted by drfl on May 6th, 2009

For those of you in the eastern Nebraska/western Iowa area wishing to visit one of my showings, there is one going on right now at DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge.  As an added bonus I will be there on May 16th from 1 until 3pm discussing my photographs, techniques, etc. with anyone there.  Last year when I did this, I had some great conversations with people and it was especially rewarding for me to have people show interest in the process and ask questions about the experience.  If you have some time and are in the area, stop in and say hi and take a look around.