Course Final

For this post I used a Kodak C180 and a Nikon D70, assume the pictures without indication were shot with the Kodak.


Sunset/Dead Trees Yellowstone National Park

ISO: 80                 I boosted the color saturation, had lightroom use "Auto" settings to adjust

5.7 mm                 things first. Luminance smoothed things out. There's some discoloration/

f / 4/6                     speckling in the clouds on the left, not sure how to fix that. Perhaps a

1/125 sec               longer exposure, tripod and proportionally adjusted aperture would help if

                                                                 I take this photo again.



Firehole Falls in Yellowstone National Park (black and white)

ISO: 80 I cropped this from the original picture to get rid of distracting branches

13.7 mm that were cluttering the edges. Brightened the water a bit. I kind of wish I had

f/ 4.6 had a better camera that I could have taken a better shot with, perhaps a tripod,

1/125 sec longer exposure to experiment with the 'silky smooth' water effect.

Twin Lakes (?) Yellowstone National Park

ISO: 80

7.1 mm

f/3/2

1/160 sec

Cropped this from he original to narrow the focus. Played with different flter effects to clarify and 'blue' up the sky. I saturated the purples and blues in the flowers to bring them out and saturated the greens and golds/oranges in the grass a bit.

Sheepeater Cliffs Yellowstone National Park



ISO 99 Used Lightroom to boost clarity, contrast, brought out the hightlights and

17.1 mm shadows of the rocks. I also saturated the greens, aquas, yellows and oranges

f/ 5.2 of the lichen.

1/125 sec

ISO 116

11 mm

f/4.1

1/100 sec





ISO 80
8.8 mm
f/3/6
1/100 sec

ISO: 80

5.7 mm

f/2.9

1/160 sec





Saturated the reds and purples, used the brush feature to bring the flowers' color out more. Experimented with luminance and color noise reduction.

ISO: 113

5.7 mm

f/ 2.9

1/60 sec

Fern in the Garden

Photo taken with Nikon D 70

ISO: 800 Warmed the picture up in lightroom, played with color saturation.

135 mm

f/5.6

1/90 sec

Broken Rock

Photo taken with Nikon D 70

ISO 500

22mm

f/6.7

1/60 sec

Photo taken with Nikon D 70

ISO 500

18mm

f/8.0

1/90 sec

ISO: 500

31 mm

f/9.5

1/180 sec

ISO: 280

80mm

f/19

1/20 sec

Not the best photo ever taken, but I really like it. I converted it to black and white to reduce the noise/grainy appearance. Cropped out some power lines. I was in a moving vehicle when I took this, so the trees were a bit blurry - using luminance on them really helped.

ISO: 500 An HDR camera would have been useful here.

35mm

f/13

1/1000 sec

ISO: 1250

70mm

f/5.6

1/30 sec

ISO: 800 Cropped this one within an inch of its life. Too stubborn to give up on it.
135mm
f/11
1/750 sec

ISO: 500 Brightened it up using a filter, used luminance to smooth the noise
18mm Played with hues, saturated the blue in the sky
f/9.5
1/250 sec

ISO: 500

52mm

f/ 6.7

1/60 sec

Riverfront Park

Photo taken with Nikon D 70 ISO: 200

20mm

f/ 5.6

1/60 sec

Played with luminance, brightened and saturated color

Photo taken with Nikon D 70

ISO: 900

62mm

f/5.3

1/30 sec

From the Rims

This one is all about the clouds.

Photo taken with Nikon D 70

ISO: 800

135mm

f/11

1/1500 sec

Photo taken with Nikon D 70

ISO: 800

95mm

f/8.0

1/125 sec



Photo taken with Nikon D 70

ISO: 800

105mm

f/ 9.5

1/350 sec



Photo taken with Nikon D 70

ISO: 800

66mm

f/11

1/750 sec

Pioneer Park

Playing with Shadows

Photo taken with Nikon D 70

ISO: 800

18mm

f/11

1/500 sec

ISO: 800

95mm

f/ 9.5

1/250 sec

On the Rims Again



ISO: 800

18mm

f/ 11

1/250 sec

ISO 800

31mm

f/ 11

1/500 sec

Faroe Islands

This photograph was taken by Ken Bower and posted on: http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/faroe-islands-village/

     It is of a waterfall in the Faroe Islands. The village in the background is Gásadalur. The exposure was one minute and ten seconds, the photographer said he did this in order to show the force of the wind and to smooth the sea out. I wonder what could have been done with this photo if it had been warmed up slightly - was it kept cool to show how chilly it was? Perhaps to make the scene seem frozen in time? The blurred clouds add an effect to the photo, making time seem as if it has slowed down or stopped completely for a second while the picture was taken.

Of Iceland and Oregon

Photograph by: Wild Wonders of Europe (no photographer name given)

   I like all of the greens, yellows and teals in this photograph. I believe a long shutter speed was used to help create the silky waterfall or "Angel Hair" effect, the mystery photographer didn't share their camera settings. The rock formations which originally drew me to this picture are of some composition of basalt, which is a form of volcanic rock. The basalt has to cool very slowly in order to form these polygonal columns. I think the green/yellow moss is a nice distraction from all the dark,   teal  and bright white water.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/litlanesfoss-waterfall-iceland/

I thought some warm reds and oranges would be a nice change from the cool greens and blues in the picture above. This picture was taken in the fall and depicts the brilliant leaves of a Japanese Maple. I love the natural contours of the tree's branches and how the tree's own leaves were used to create a natural frame, surrounding the dark, mossy wood with soft, out-of-focus color. I think it was very clever of the sunlight to make the leaves appear orange on the other side of the canopy, so your eyes are initially caught by the red frame in the 'front' of the picture and drawn through toward the brighter colors in the canopy. Also- I. Want. One. Of. These. Trees. 

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/japanese-maple-portland/

Lightning and Volcanic Lightning

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/photos/extreme-weather/#/thunderstorms-clouds-natural-particle-accelerators_19189_600x450.jpg

This photograph of a thunderstorm rolling through Kansas was taken by Joel Sartore for National Geographic. I really like this picture in that there is a lot of eye-catching things throughout it. It's fascinating to see the storm rolling into the picture, watching as a calm, clear night turns into a flashing, booming nightmare. The orange on the bottom right is a little distracting, but I think the purple lighting on the opposite side helps balance it out. 

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/photos/extreme-weather/#/science-extreme-weather-iceland-volcano_47513_600x450.jpg

This picture of volcanic lightning was taken in Iceland by another National Geographic photographer, Sigurdur H. Stefnisson. I didn't know volcanoes could cause their own lightning when they erupted! I love the dramatic flash from the lightning on the left as it strikes that nearby hill. I think the reddish color of the lightning inside the ash cloud is an excellent visualization of how hot it must have been, and then there is the surrounding sky and snowy ground, making everything look cooled off at the same time.  

   After foolishly selecting what turned out to be a painting for my last blog. I decided to go to National Geographic's website and browse around in their Photography section. There are a ton of really beautiful pictures (not surprisingly) worth taking a look at. I'm curious about what filters were used, if any and if the photographer took a long exposure or was just lucky enough to get 'perfect' settings for her to just snap the picture. I feel like the tree in the middle-left helps balance the shot with the moon (very bright moon) since its so dark, but is also full of jagged lines. This photograph was taken up in Alaska by Susan Stevenson.

                        http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/

Another night-time shot. According to the photographer, this was an all-night exposure taken on a mountain in British Columbia. I think this might be an exception of curved lines (star trails) being more attractive to the eye than jagged lines (the trees.) The yellow and orange light in the bottom left half kind of adds a "Starry Night" quality to the whole thing, don't you think? It's also great for drawing attention to the horizon and makes me feel like the picture is really grounded thanks to the extra attention to the earth and trees.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/08/pictures/120829-best-space-pictures-211-mars/#/space211-star-trails-trees_58745_600x450.jpg

Barn Owl in Flight

Here is a picture painting of a barn owl in flight I found through google image search. Since owls tend to glide while they fly, would it be necessary to use a shutter speed of 800 to freeze this bird in flight? I like how the background doesn't appear to be blurred and how the eyes of the owl are in focus as well. Was Photoshop used to brighten or saturate the colors in the picture? It simply looks too perfect to me. Here is a link to the blog I found this picture on: http://true-wildlife.blogspot.com/2010/10/barn-owl.html

                           This is actually a painting, not a Photoshop touch-up. I feel silly.

Drinking Bat

Here is a neat picture of a bat I found on one of my adventures on the internet. The author said he had to take numerous sets of pictures to get just a few satisfactory ones. He also mentioned how he had to adjust when he told the camera to start taking pictures since the bats darted in and out of the shots so fast and because cameras have an apparent 'lag'. In other words he had to anticipate how fast they were going and when they would be in the center of his shot and time when he would need the camera to start taking the picture. He also mentioned that he had used 4 flashes set on either side of his camera when he was taking pictures of bats drinking out of his hummingbird  feeder.
       I like the various droplets of water, especially the ones that seem to be in focus, that look suspended around the bat's body. The reflection of the bat in the water also draws out some colors that are not noticeable (or nonexistent) on the bat's wings. The 'marbling' or pond scum... not entirely sure what that greenish stuff on the water is in the middle is cool, but it sort of takes away from the overall presence of the main subject.
 Credit for the picture and more bat photos: http://hoothollow.com/Question-May%202009%20Photographing%20bats.html