WOW who would have known it was there all along.

One day I was looking at some of pictures that I had taken almost two years earlier at a scout camp and was trying out some new techniques that I had learned in photoshop from a book by Scott Kelby called "7-Point System". It was a technique where you convert to LAB color and intensify the colors and then scale back the opacity to where you like the color and convert back to RGB. Well, while trying it on a random shot of a common weed that we have around Utah. I had cropped in on a part of the plant and suddenly saw something that had never been a part of my vision of the image before. The first image today is the image I was playing with and the second one is the image that jumped out at me as I cropped in on the first. Isn't it great when sometimes you have to be awakened to something in an unusual manner in order to see it. You know at that point that someone far greater than you is mindful of and loves you and wants you to learn something new when you are least expecting it.  Now I look at every image totally different than before and will often crop in on images just to see what may be lingering inside.
To convert to LAB color go to Image-Mode-LAB. Then to Image-Apply Image. AT that point select from the Channel section either Lab, a or b. And in the Blending section select either overlay or Soft light. Play with different combinations of those selection until you find the color combination that you like and if it is too strong then drop the opacity down to where it looks good to you. At that point go to Image-Mode-RGB to convert back into RGB to continue working on your image.

I love thunder storms.

In 1981 I worked for a company called Signetics. I worked a swing shift and would travel home to from Orem Utah to Spanish Fork, Utah after I got off work around 12:30 AM. One night there was a very lightning active storm and as I traveled along the freeway toward home I counted almost to the second a lightning strike every 20 seconds.  So when I got home I decided for the first time in my life to try and photograph the strikes. I grabbed my camera and tripod and ran to a cement ditch near the subdivision where we were living at the time and got into the ditch so that I would lessen my chances of becoming a lightning rod. (The tripod already was a good enough start on that.) I felt fairly secure though since the storm was all to the west and also north of me about four or five miles away. Well I shot an entire roll of 24 images at 30 second exposures each while trying to capture the lightning. I would see a strike and try to get it but of course by then it was over so I would position the camera to where I thought the next strike might occur and open the shutter and wait the 30 seconds. Well when the film came back I had a total of two images with lightning in them but one of them was with 3 strikes and has been a favorite of mine since then. I don't have a copy of that image currently so that I can show it but have since then photographed many storms and with increasing ability to capture the strikes. Below are some examples of one storm shot from the comfort of my front porch during the storm in late August.  I think these photos were taken in 2004.

Not all lightning storm images have to have strikes in them to be impressive to me. I have learned over the years of photographing lightning that sometimes the clouds lit up by sheet lightning can also make for some impressive images. As in the image above.




The morning following this storm I learned that a horse had been hit and killed by a direct strike. Judging from the location of the field where it was and my home I have always wondered if this was the guilty strike so I have called it "The Horse Killer".

Always aware

My images today I choose due to the nature of what they are and how a person can capture them. I have learned over the years that if you want to photograph something that you particularly like then you had better be watching and ready for it since the opportunity comes only once in a while. These two images for instance were taken up Hobble Creek canyon at an activity that was being held in doors on a somewhat cold evening. I kept a close watch though through the west facing windows and was not disappointed when the sunset I thought might happen did. 

I remember one summer evening when I was still of high school age first understanding the changing nature of a sunset. I took a roll of film and my camera and went to the west side of the bench where I grew up and photographed the sunset taking pictures every few minutes as the sun slowly descending changed the colors of the clouds from which it was being reflected. I had never realized prior to that time that a sunset could be so different from beginning to end. It was such a revelation to me so that now I don't just go take a picture of a pretty sunset, I sit and watch it taking several pictures as the sun slowly descends. In the two images today just look closely at the differences between the two. I really liked in the bottom image how the light reflected from the clouds and then the snow on the west side of the mountains lit the east side of the mountains where normally I would have expected the land to be dark like it is in the top image.

Always be aware of the time of day and the changes that can occur because that is when you will most likely not just get one great shot but possibly several.

Silky Water

It was years before I realized, or learned that is, how pictures were taken so that the water looked more like silk than droplets. I used scout camps to practice my landscape photography and to better realize just how simple it really was to take these types of photo's. This particular set of falls are located in a place called "6th water" in Diamond Fork canyon near Provo Utah. I had the scouts on a day hike down "6th water" and never realized that this set of falls even existed. There are some natural hot springs located less than 100 yards further down stream from these falls and the several times that I had gone into the hot springs with the scouts I had always hiked in from the bottom of the canyon and never down from the top until this particular trip. I was amazed at how beautiful they were and since I had a tripod with me I was able to set up my camera for a time exposure. 100 ISO film, 22 aperture and a slow shutter speed allowed me to capture the water as it fell and caused the silk effect of the moving droplets. I love these kinds of images and continue to practice this skill each time I see falling water. Below are two more images where I used a small stream and the same technique. They were a little more difficult since the willows in the background were also being moved gently by the breeze causing them to not be as clear as I had wanted but that is where photoshop could be used now that I have learned how to use masks. I could have taken a picture with a fast shutter speed to get the other plants crisp and without movement and then change the settings for the water and combined the two images in phootshop. I am still learning but that is really the fun of photography for me.

Animals for fun

Sometimes it is so fun to see wildlife that might have a sense of humor. (Or at least from the poses that you can catch them in it would appear that way.) Can't you just see this duck stomping his foot up and down on the ground as he is laughing at the funny looking guy trying to take his picture? (Must be the hair style or grey hair.) Maybe one of the students near by the pond was playing some good ole' country line dancing music that I just hadn't noticed. I mean I know a lot of people who would rather be joking than posing and this particular duck would seem to fit into that category as well. Of course the image was captured this way because I had it on rapid fire mode as the duck was coming up out of the pond and was quaking as it came. But having the mouth open and the foot raised both at the same time is again something that you could only pose if you knew taxidermy, I don't. Plus I would rather shoot live animals and then both of us walk away satisfied than shooting a dead one any day.
I have also added the image of a horse that would appear to be wanting to talk to us as well. Must be Mister Ed's distant relative.