Look Closer: Sandhill AbstractPosted by drfl on October 17th, 2011

Completely overcast and rainy conditions can present real challenges for landscape photography.  Often, photographers get caught up in the idea that successful landscape photography must be captured with a wide-angle lens.  Some of the most successful images, however, are captured with long lenses.  This image was captured with a 300mm lens coupled with a 1.4 teleconverter on a Canon 50D.  That’s long for a landscape!  I really wanted to isolate the abstract nature of the intense red and orange colors of the prairie grass that were emerged during the rain.  While I was initially bummed by the rainy conditions, I wouldn’t have seen these colors without it and if it had been sunny, the colors would be contrasty and hard to capture.  I found that when I looked closer I could find a more intimate and abstract landscape that I might not have seen otherwise.

Technical Details:
Canon 50D, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/7.1, 1/250 sec.
Cherry County, Nebraska

Also, I wanted to mention that if you have not “liked” me on Facebook, please do by following the link below. I will be adding some unique information, events and deals there in the future.

http://www.facebook.com/JourneyOfLightPhotography

It’s Been Busy, But a Good Kind of BusyPosted by drfl on May 24th, 2011

So, I’ll admit, I haven’t really kept up on my blog posting. Besides being busy with the family, I have had the opportunity to capture some more photographs, which I plan on presenting over the course of the next couple of weeks. Additionally, I’m thrilled that an article that I’ve been hard at work on for the past few months has been run in the current issue of Nebraska Life magazine. The topic? Hiking at Schramm State Recreation Area and discovering nature with my eldest daughter Riley. If you get an opportunity, be sure to check it out.

Technical Details (Flower Photo):
Dutchman’s Breeches, Schramm State Recreation Area, Nebraska
Canon 50D, 50 CM, f/2.5, 1/1250 sec.

Photo Friday: Happy Arbor Day!Posted by drfl on April 29th, 2011

Happy Arbor Day!

A little bit about Arbor Day from Wikipedia:

Arbor Day (from the Latin arbor, meaning tree) is a holiday in which individuals and groups are encouraged to plant and care for trees. It originated in Nebraska City, Nebraska during 1872 by J. Sterling Morton. The first Arbor Day was held on April 10, 1872, and an estimated 1 million trees were planted that day. The national holiday is celebrated every year on the last Friday in April; in Nebraska, it is a civic holiday. Each state celebrates its own state holiday. The customary observance is to plant a tree.

Arbor Day Lodge State Park is one of my favorite state parks in my home state and every fall I try to make it down to Nebraska City for Apples and to see the large variety of trees transform to their autumn dress. Today’s photograph was taken last fall at Arbor Day Lodge State Park under a beautifully changed Maple tree.

Technical Details:
Canon 50D, 50 CM, f/7.1, 1/100 sec.
Arbor Day Lodge State Park, Nebraska

Photo Friday: Indigo ElegancePosted by drfl on April 22nd, 2011

Another photograph from Schramm State Recreation Area in eastern Nebraska. This is a blue phlox that blossoms in early spring throughout the forest. While generally not a long-lasting bloom, the blue really pops against the green.

Technical Details:
Canon 50D, 50 CM + 12mm extension tube, f/4.5, 1/400 sec.
Schramm State Recreation Area, Nebraska

Time to Welcome Spring!Posted by drfl on April 14th, 2011

While I enjoy photographing all the seasons (and many, many people cannot understand why I love photographing winter in Nebraska), Spring is a special time of year.  A time of renewal, when the brown and gray earthy tones give way verdant greens appear and colorful flowers.  While the official start of spring was a couple of weeks ago, we are just beginning to have buds on the trees and flowers popping.  This image was taken last week at Schramm State Recreation Area, it is the stem and leaves wild lily that grows on the forest floor that has not yet bloomed.  It should be blossoming in the next week or so. 

Welcome Spring!

View More Spring Photos on Journey Of Light

Technical Details:
Canon 50D, 50mm f/2.5 CM, f/3.5, .4 seconds
Schramm State Recreation Area, Nebraska

Photo Friday: A Look at Silver Efex Pro 2 (Mini-Review)Posted by drfl on March 18th, 2011

In addition to my normal Photo Friday image, today I’m going to do a mini-review of Silver Efex Pro 2 by Nik Software.  Having used Silver Efex in the past, I became quite a fan of the engine and options behind the filter.  Besides giving me some granular control over the image, I was able to modify items such as film grain, structure, color filters, and contrast with ease which helped take my black and white conversions to the next level.  Silver Efex Pro 2 takes all of this and adds even more.  All the same stuff is there, but now they have added fine structure, soft contrast, image borders, the ability to amplify both the whites and blacks, and a feature for selective color.  The normal presets are still there with the ability to set your own and export and import them.  This is great because if you develop a “look” and want a team of people to have access, it can be readily available.  One last item to note, the software seems faster to me than the previous version.  While version 1 wasn’t a slouch, I am impressed by how quickly it rendered the output.  The only nit I found was that when changing presents, sometimes I had to click on the image to get it to update.  Not a huge problem, but it was somewhat annoying, initially.

Last week I photographed a duck feather I found with my daughter and I thought it the perfect opportunity to put the software through a test.  Below are some of the looks I created with Silver Efex Pro 2.  Mind you, this is only scratching the surface, but it can create some wildly varied output. See the examples after the jump.

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