More MuskratPosted by drfl on May 6th, 2009

I’m not sure what it is about these little guys, but I sure like photographing them.  Usually, when I first spot a muskrat, I think he’s a beaver until I see his tail.  If you aren’t familiar with muskrats, I posted a little bit about muskrats in my “Muskrat Profile”on March 19th, check it out to learn more.  This particular guy was hanging out on the duck pond at DeSoto NWR on Sunday.  I also saw lots of frogs, Canada Geese, woodpeckers, etc., but no ducks.  Usually, I see ducks, just not on this trip.  Anyway, at first I startled this little fellow and he went into the pond.  Normally, they don’t return for me, but this guy decided to hoist himself back up and ignore me.  I guess he figured that I couldn’t get to him, and he was right, I didn’t really feel like wading out in the murky water to get closer.  I was able to take several photographs as he went about doing his thing.  He looked up a couple of times and then later wouldn’t even do that, even with me talking, jumping, etc. 

As for the photograph itself, it was pretty flat when it came out.  The sky was overcast, which is usually good for getting some detail in animals, but the resulting image had no oomph.  I used some curves and boosted the contrast when I first processed it, but it needed more, so I used the same tool in my arsenal that I had used on the previous muskrat image – Nik Viveza.  This tool is great, it allows me to do some selective saturation, contrast, and brightness – that’s it.  Now, one can do all of this with the normal Photoshop tools using masks and the like, which I have done for years, but this tool really makes things easier and faster.  I highly recommend trying it out to add pop to your photos without messing with 100 layers - although my images still wind up with way too many layers.

Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/6.3, 1/400 sec.
DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska

A Capitol Evening – 100th Post!Posted by drfl on May 5th, 2009

Last week I took a small jaunt down to Frank Shoemaker Marsh near Lincoln, Nebraska.  I had pretty good success last September with a stellar sunset and it appeared that there would be potential again.  After hiking around a bit, it got dark and the sunset colors never appeared.  Determined to not come home empty handed, I headed to the capitol building to see if I could salvage part of the night.  The light in the sky was almost completely gone, but there was a bit of a dark blue hue that remained when I arrived.  I setup and quickly took about a dozen shots.  There was some major construction going on and I didn’t have a lot of time to scout some good locations, but I felt satisfied that I had something.  I hope to make it back down there this summer with a little more preparation to get a couple more shots of the unique architecture.

Additionally, I would like to note that this is my 100th blog entry!  Here’s to 100 more!

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 32mm, f/10, 13 sec.
State Capitol Building, Lincoln, Nebraska

Lazy DayPosted by drfl on May 1st, 2009

Today’s image was taken at the Wildlife Safari near Ashland, Nebraska.  It houses several different areas of animals (captive) including many buffalo.  Most of the Buffalo are the normal brown color, but there are a couple that are this lighter shade which I have not seen very often.  This guy was sunning himself and enjoying the nice spring day.  Good thing too, because the next 3 days following were nothing but rain.

Technical Details:
Canon 50d, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/6.3, 1/1250 sec.

Where’s Rocky?Posted by admin on January 28th, 2009

A few years ago my wife and I took a two week trip to Glacier and Banff. It was a spectacular vacation and we saw an assortment of landscapes, weather, and creatures. We decided to take a short hike near a lake in Glacier where we saw a moose on the other side of the water. He started to move across the lake. Well, I hadn’t brought my camera and the car wasn’t far, so I rushed back to grab my gear. When I returned, I couldn’t find my wife or the moose anywhere. After a short time, my wife appeared and proceeded to tell me that not only did the moose not stop, but he sped up towards her. She decided to head into the forest and wait for me. I’m not sure what would have happened if she had stayed, but I am sure that she did the right thing.

Over time, I have found that one of the hardest large animals to photograph is the moose. All in all, I have seen maybe 5 or 6 in the wild, and they are usually shy and hide within minutes of me spotting them. They are a powerful, magnificent creature that can charge at a moment’s notice (obviously), so I tend to keep a pretty good distance when I do see them. This particular photograph was taken on my trip to Canada a couple of years ago. Hiding in the trees and just a bit off the road, this moose was eating the low foliage around her. She managed to stay for a few shots.

Technical Details:
Canon 20d, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/200 sec.
Kananaskis Country, Alberta, Canada

Unordinary WorldPosted by admin on July 29th, 2008

This summer Nebraska has had some spectacular boomers. This was an image I actually captured in early June as one rolled through. I drove up to Herman, Nebraska in order to capture what I though was the most intense part of the storm (from a distance) only to find out that it had been pretty intense in Omaha. This image was taken after the “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” photograph previously. I will post one more photo from this evening.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 19mm, f/13, 4 sec., 2-stop hard ND Grad
Near Herman, Nebraska

To view other photographs, order this photograph as a print, or purchase licensing rights, please visit my website at http://www.journeyoflight.com/.

Tye and BrendaPosted by admin on April 14th, 2008

Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to photograph Tye and Brenda for their engagement photographs. We went to the arboretum and used several of the areas for backdrops, and I kept a shallow depth of field to focus on Tye and Brenda. In the above photograph these bushes were just starting to bloom and the yellow created a nice bright background, but not too bright to eclipse the cute couple. In the photograph below, I tilted the camera a bit to add something to the photograph, converted it to black and white and did a little platinum tinting for the final touch.

Technical Details:
Above: Canon 5d, 70-200 f/4l @ 200mm, f/4.5, 1/160 sec.
Below: Canon 5d, 70-200 f/4l @ 98mm, f/4, 1/400 sec.