The End of 2008 and New Years Resolutions for 2009

Chilly DeSoto Sunrise

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/14, 2 sec., 3-stop Singh-Ray Hard-Step ND Grad

As 2008 draws to a close, I have made several changes to my website. First and foremost, I have added a search function that should make looking up specific subjects easier. This can be accessed from http://www.journeyoflight.com/journey06/search.asp. Another side benefit of this function is that I can keyword tag some photos in various collections and then create an easy access page. For example: http://www.journeyoflight.com/journey06/keywordsort.asp?Keywordselected=Omaha,Holiday will display all the images I have taken of the Holiday Lights Display in downtown Omaha. Hopefully, this will prove useful for those looking to narrow down choices for print or stock image options.

I have also refined the images on my website. I have removed several photographs from all the collections. They are still accessible through the search page using the "Extended Photo Set" option. Additionally, I have also added several new images and will continue to expand the collections with new images.

As for 2009 I hope to update my blog more frequently. Some times of the year are busier than others, but I try to photograph through every season. I also hope to explore some new terroritory and find some images in some new places. Keep checking back to my website and blog for new images!

Make the Cut

It's that time of year again. The time when one day we can have a pretty snowfall with some nice ice patterns, or the next wet, slushy muddy stuff. Right now it's the later and so I turn to the library of previous images to see what I should process or process differently. Some photographers finish processing an image and that's the end. To me, some images have a life and they need to be readdressed and readdressed (and sometimes readdressed) before I am happy with the results. Sometimes, this is due envisaging an existing composition differently while reading about a new Photoshop technique. Sometimes, this is due to a tool change, such as Photoshop CS4 (not yet installed). Sometimes, it's due to a mood change. Perhaps, I am feeling creative, or maybe I'm stressed and want to calm myself, or maybe I'm just a little tired and feeling a little outside of reality. Whatever the reason, I find myself coming back to some images. Today's image from the rock cut at Rocky Mountain National Park is one such photograph. I have probably processed this image 3 or 4 times (actually a pretty low number compared to others). I think I may finally have it. Then again, tomorrow I may change my mind.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 70-200 f/4l @ 100mm, f/13, 1/30 sec.
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Real-World Impressions of the Canon 5d Mark II

To the Sky

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 300 f/4l+1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec., ISO 400

Today's post contains several images captured over the weekend at Schramm State Recreation Area in eastern Nebraska. I had recently received my new Canon 5d Mark II camera and wanted to test out some of its new features and performance on some real-world moving subjects. Schramm is the perfect location for some performance testing as there are always some ducks swimming and you can usually get fairly close to your subjects. Here are some of my thoughts on the Canon 5d Mark II as they pertain to my experience with the camera in regards to wildlife photography on three major subjects: autofocus, megapixels, and ISO speeds.

Coming in for a Landing

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/500 sec., ISO 200

First up I am addressing the autofocus system. There has been a lot of discussion on the web about the fact that the autofocus system is the same from the 3 year old Canon 5d (Mark I) and that an upgrade should have been necessary. Over the years, I have found the autofocus in the Canon 5d acceptable, but not exemplary. For the majority of my landscape, this is a non-issue since I focus manually most of the time. For large critters such as bears and deer, this becomes more of an issue, but I have found the autofocus hits more than it doesn't. Birds, however, are a different story. I found that the autofocus was lacking slightly more of the time. Most birding and wildilfe photographers would use AI Servo, however, on the Canon 5d I found AI Servo slower than one-shot, although I am sure that this is more a photographer technique issue than a technical issue. As such, I have stuck with one-shot mode, of which was used to capture all of these photographs. The Canon 5d Mark II, like its predecessor sports 6 helper autofocus points for AI Servo which may have helped my cause. I do plan on getting more experience with AI Servo on the Canon 5d Mark II in the future, however.

The second subject I have really noticed the average autofocus speed is on my 18 month old daughter. I have found that the autofocus is just not fast enough to capture her most of the time, although I think even the 1d Mark III (no AI Servo here!) or Nikons 3-d autofocus system would have trouble with that moving subject. Regardless, my experience is that the speed of autofocus with the accuracy is about the same as the Canon 5d, no real improvement there. It would have been nice, but for me, not a deal killer.

The last note I would like to make regarding the autofocus system is the addition of microadjustment of autofocus on a per lens basis. For years photographers have complained about lenses front focusing or back focusing on each new model of camera. Essentially, since both the lens and the camera are machined parts there is an allowance for a variance of some specifications while still considered being "calibrated". For the most part, this variance is not detected, but for photographers who require precise focus (and shouldn't we all?) this could cause photos with some lens+camera combinations to be slightly out of focus. The Canon 5d Mark II now addresses this by allowing each lens to be calibrated by the user to the camera. This now allows all those lens+camera combinations that front focus or back focus to focus precisely. I welcome this addition as I have found that my Canon 20d front-focused slightly with my 300 f/4l lens. At first, I thought the lens was fuzzy, or it was a lack of megapixels, but after it focused perfectly on my Canon 5d (and other lens focused find on my 20d) I realized I too was subccumbing to the "front/backfocusing" hell that others had complained/blogged/reviewed/previewed/etc. about.


A Flight with Friends

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/320 sec., ISO 400

The next feature (and the most important one in the marketing department) is the increase in megapixels. The Canon 5d Mark II packs 21 megapixels into a full-frame sensor. This allows for better detail and tighter cropping of the composition. I know when I used to use my Canon 20d with 8 megapixels, I would be hesitant to crop some of my compositions, but now even a liberal crop retains great detail, granted that you are using a high-quality lens. I am quite pleased with the new number of megapixels. The resolution and detail is definitely there and I feel like it is a great upgrade from 12.8 megapixels from the previous generation. A lot of people comment that the megapixel race should end as there are all sorts of adverse effects that start manifesting themselves (such as noise) at higher pixel densities. If 21 was the upper limit on a full-frame sensor, I think I could definitely live with that.


A Quick Stop

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/6.3, 1/320 sec., ISO 640

The third item I am going to address is ISO performance. There has been quite a bit of discussion on the net surrounding the noise levels at higher settings. Since this is more of a real-world look than a technical review (there are lots of sites dedicated to that), I am going to simply discuss what I have seen. The ISO levels seem better than the Canon 5d by somewhere from about 1 to a little less than 2 stops. This means that greater detail and less noise is available at higher ISOs. On my Canon 5d I never had any problem dialing the ISO up to about 800 for some shots. 1600 was about my absolute maximum for retaining detail. Beyond that I found that I had to use noise programs fairly liberally. All the wildlife photographs on this blog post were shot using a minimum of ISO 400 up to 640. This allowed me to achieve shutter speeds that would stop the action, but allow a little blur to show the movement of the birds. At these speeds there is virtually no noise.


Quiet Day

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 50 CM, f/5.6, 1/50 sec., ISO 6400

To follow up with a little more testing in a (little) more controlled environment, I decided to purposely photograph my stationary cats at ISO 6400. I found the noise was well-controlled and definitely an welcome improvement. Another nice feature is that the ISOs are set at third (or half depending on your preferences) stops up to 6400. That means that I have good selection of ISO speeds between 1600 and 6400 to use without changing a full stop. On the Canon 5d, after 1600 the only choice was a full stop up to 3200. Beyond 6400 on the Canon 5d Mark II, the noise makes the image degrade to a point where I would find it unusable for a print, unless I was applying liberal use of filters and noise control. Even then I question it's real-world application for my primary work. In a pinch, though it is useful to capture the shot in conditions that I would have been unable to get it before, although it may just frustrate me in post-processing.


Reflection on Libby

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 50 CM, f/2.5, 1/60 sec., ISO 6400

Overall, I find the Canon 5d Mark II to be a worthy successor to the Canon 5d. It doesn't have everything I wanted (I would like DEP mode back, but that's just me I think), but it has enough to warrant an upgrade. There are always function and features to be added and on future posts I may comment on a few of those. Check back to see what new feature I might dig up.

One last note, I processed all these photographs from RAW using Adobe Photoshop CS3 and the free DNG converter found here. Adobe conveniently ended RAW support for CS3 right before the Canon 5d Mark II was released (and well after it was announced). Some couldn't even get a copy of CS4 prior to receiving their camera! While I agree with drawing a line in the sand for support, most companies, including ones like Microsoft offer support for the current version and one previous. I find that ending support as a way of forcing upgrade when the product (CS4) isn't even released a bit much. For those who cannot afford the upgrade there are several support sites dedicated to the DNG converter (such as scripting and processing) and I recommend that you look into those.

PCPhoto Contest - Finalist

Today is the last chance to vote in the PCPhoto "Your Best Shot" 2nd annual contest. The above photo of Lake Helene at Rocky Mountain National Park is a finalist in the mix for the People's Choice. This is a shameless request for a vote for me.

Please visit: http://www2.pcphotomag.com/bestshotcontest/gallery-fin-lg.php?gal=Top%20Pics&id=1820#j

And take some time to see the other wonderful images there.

Thank You.

Technical Details:

Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 22mm, f/13, 1/100 sec.

Lake Helene, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Downtown Omaha - Holiday Lights 2008

Every year I go downtown to photograph Omaha's holiday lights. I attempt to take a unique image each year so that I am not duplicating previous years efforts. This year I tried to focus more on the trees and the lights and made the buildings secondary in scope to the rest. In past years compositions I had the buildings as the primary subjects with the lights there to accompany them in the scene. By the way, this was the coldest night in several years. Before going out, I bundled up in gear I bought for a Canada trip and in many layers. Fleece pants, underarmor, gortex, 2 sets of socks, 2 sets of gloves and a heavy winter coat. My feet and hands were still numb when I was done.

Technical Details:

Canon 5d MK II, 17-40 f/4l @ 19mm, f/11, 15 sec.

Omaha, Nebraska

A Pelican Profile

A couple of weeks ago, my family and I went through the Wildlife Safari park near Mahoney State Park in eastern Nebraska. It allows one to get an upclose view of several birds and animals that wouldn't be normal in the wild. Here, a pelican grooms himself while carefully watching me get some close shots.

On another note, I will be one of 20 artists attending the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge's "Art of the Wild" show occruing on the 22nd and 23rd of November. DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge is located near Missouri Valley, Iowa. If you have questions or need directions visit their page at http://www.fws.gov/midwest/desoto/.

Technical Details:
Canon5d, 300 f/4l +1.4tc, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec.
Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park and Wildlife Safari, Ashland, Nebraska

Wading it Out

While waiting for sunrise on Sprague Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, this bull elk wandered out into the lake to cool off.

Technical Details:
Canon 20d, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/5.6, 1/2 sec.
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

On Top of the World

This image was taken around sunset on the tundra in Rocky Mountain National Park. The clouds this evening slowly moved across the tops of the mountains as the light filtered through.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/16, 1/8 sec., 3-stop hard ND Grad
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Hidden Falls

Today's post is the first image from a recent excursion to Colorado. This is Zapata Falls near Great Sand Dune National Park in the southern area of the state. It is a small hike through a creek to get here, but it is worth the effort.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/13, 1.6 sec.
Zapata Falls, Colorado

Born Free

As many people know, I do not do a lot of bird photography. I find that there are quite a few good photographers who specialize in this and who have equipment that enables them to get in close for a shot. My equipment for the most part usually puts me too far away, especially from the easily scared birds such as herons. Recently, I have been visiting DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge since they have had quite a few birds fairly close. While driving around we came across a lone pelican. When I got out of my car to take a shot of him floating down the lake, he took flight. At first he started flying away from me and I thought that he was going to be no where near me, but then banked and came right in front of me. I was able to snap about 3 shots off as he continued into the distance.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec.
DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge

No More Sleepy Dreaming

After a fairly long absence I decided it was time to update the blog. I have lots of new photos to share that will be coming along. Today's photo was actually taken in the beginning of September at a marsh right outside of Lincoln. This is a perfect example of how landscape photographers (especially in Nebraska) really have to be aware of the weather. I have several websites I check to see how the clouds will be lining up for the evening. Occasionally, I get right and have a spectacular sunset. Sometimes, I am completely wrong and the clouds change direction and the sunset fizzles. For about two months I had been aware of this location and realized it would be a great location for sunset. On this particular evening, the clouds looked like they were going to be right over the marsh with an opening to the west to allow the setting sun to underlight the clouds. It was not disappointing.

Technical Details:

Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 26mm, f/11, 4 sec., 3-stop singh-ray hard dodged
Frank Shoemaker Marsh, Near Lincoln, Nebraska

Simplicity

During our trip to Kansas City, we visited Powell Gardens. This is a wonderful garden with flowers, waterfalls, and butterflies! So much to photograph. It was overcast with rain off and on with made for some wonderful flower photography. Here I focused in on a lily pad flower and the dark background really helped contrast the image and made the flower pop.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/800 sec.
Powell Gardens, Missouri

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

Power and Light

This image was taken in Kansas City as well, in the Power and Light District. This particular evening, the lead singer of Boston was performing at the KC Live, which is at the far right of the image. I used a long exposure with the street in the foreground to capture the streaks of the headlights of the cars passing by.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/16, 30 sec.
Power and Light District, Kansas City, Missouri

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

Musical Infinity

Over the weekend, my family and I went to Kansas City for a photo shoot with some members of the BetterPhoto website. We went to several places that I have never been and I had the opportunity to photograph some unique items. This particular photograph was taken of the inside of an old piano that was at the historic Harris-Kearney House in Westport. I used a wide angle lens very close with a large aperature in order to place the focus on a few of the strings.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 29mm, f/4, 1/25 sec.
Harris-Kearney House, Westport, Kansas City, Missouri

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

Floral Patterns

On an overcast day at the arboretum, I focused on the center of this flower and the interesting patterns intentionally throwing the rest of the flower out of focus.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 50 CM Lens, f/5.6, 1/125 sec.
OPPD Arboretum

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

Silent Transition

A storm was rolling through on this particular evening and I headed out to Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuge to setup a prairie/sky shot. I found this interesting tree stump instead and used it to anchor the scene with the sky.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 19mm, f/16, 2 sec.
Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuge

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

Someday we'll find it...

This is the last photograph that was taken during the storm near Herman, Nebraska. In this image, I offsetted the rainbow in the distance with the fence in the foreground. I also captured a bit of the reflection of the rainbow in the rain water in the fields.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 23mm, f/11, 1 sec.
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/.

Unordinary World

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/.

Lily in Bloom

It has been a while since I done any photography at the OPPD Arboretum so I went there last week on an overcast day to see what I find. The lilies in the small pond looked particularly pertty in bloom so I grabbed a couple of images.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 70-200 f/4l @ 200+ 1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/800 sec.
OPPD Arboretum

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

Short Rest

Last evening I went to DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge hoping for a good sunset. I carefully scouted a location at the edge of a pond with a ton of lily pads with some blooming. While I waited I pulled out my 300 lens and started to focus on some of the patterns around the lake. This little guy showed up while I was working on this particular bud and I worked him into the scene. The sunset never came and the evening remained overcast the entire time. Great light for something like this.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 300 f/4l+1/4 tc, f/5.6, 1/4 sec.
DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge

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

Somewhere Over the Rainbow...

One thing that Nebraska has had this year is some spectacular storms. This has led to some pretty awesome sunsets. This evening I traveled north to Herman, Nebraska as this was the path of the storm, not knowing it was going to hit Omaha equally as hard. I witnessed this rainbow, and you can make out a bit of the double rainbow, right after the hard rain.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 18mm, f/14, 1 sec.
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/.

Silent Friend

My family and I went to the zoo with some visiting friends. We had the opportunity to see the new Butterfly and Insect exhibit that has just opened there. You walk into a room with a multitude of butterflies flying around. It was quite an experience and I will definitely be returning.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 70-200 f/4l + 1.4 tc + extension tube, f/5.6, 1/250 sec.
Henry Doorly Zoo

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

Family Dinner

The other night I visited DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge in order to capture some blooming lily pads on Wood Duck pond. I cam across this family of deer feasting on a field in the refuge and stoped to capture them.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 300 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/6.3, 1/500 sec.
DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge

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

Beauty in Bloom

It has been a while since I last posted, but I did manage to take a couple of photographs when my sister was in town visiting. This particular image was taken on a hike in DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge near the wood duck pond. It is a wildflower of some sort, but I am not sure what. What I do know is that I left with this photograph and some poison ivy!

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 50 CM lens, f/6.3, 1/400 sec.

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

Spring Warmth

Yesterday evening I went hiking in Platte River State Park to explore the eastern side which is mainly used for horseback riding and mountain biking. I had never walked this section, but enjoyed the peacefulness of my surroundings. As the sun began to set, the rays came through the forest and I stopped to capture this image along my journey.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 22, f/18, 1/30 sec.
Platte River State Park

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

Quiet Field

On Wednesday evening I decided to try and find the most western area of DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge on the western side of the Missouri River. This area is only open from the middle of April until the end of May for mushroom hunting and bow turkey hunting. There are no roads through this section, so you have to hike through this area. After hiking in over a mile I found this run-down shed on the edge of a field. I waited for just after sunset to capture this photograph. I used 2 captures and blended the results for the final image.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 22mm, f/13, Various Shutter Speeds
DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska

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

Spring Blossoms (Spring Is Here)

It appears that spring has made it to Omaha, Nebraska, and just in time for Earth Day. As a result I went to the arboretum with my macro lens to capture some blossoms in bloom. I used a shallow Depth of Field to capture a dreamy look to this bud.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 50 CM lens + extension tube, f/3.2, 1/1600 sec.
OPPD Arboretum

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

Painting in the Sky

Today's simple image reminded me of a painter's canvas with small white brush strokes on a blue canvas.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 50 CM, f/8, 1/50 sec.
Outside My Window, Omaha, NE

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

Swift Fox

Continuing on with images from my weekend excursion to the zoo, is this image of a swift fox from the desert dome. While he was napping, he was aware of me, although obviously not too concerned.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 70-200 f/4l + 1.4 tc, f/5.6, 1/125 sec.
Henry Doorly Zoo, Omaha, Nebraska

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

Glowing Tentacles

One of my favorite areas at the local zoo is the aquarium. Here I can always find intriguing sea life that I may never see natively, and would be less likely to photograph. In several small tanks there are little creatures that I use my macro lens to capture. I am not quite sure what this critter is, but I liked the patterns in the floating "tenatcles". I used a shallow depth of field to create more of an abstract composition.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 50 CM lens, f/2.5, 1/250 sec.
Henry Doorly Zoo

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 Brenda

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.

Field of Trees

This past weekend I delivered 38 of my framed prints to DeSoto National Wildilfe Refuge to be on display from April 12-June 7. While there I took the opportunity to drive around the refuge and to hike a little. The patterns in this particular grove of trees has always interested me and I took some time to stop and photograph them. After processing this photograph I used the nik "Monday Morning" filter to give it a more surreal appearance.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/9, 1/100 sec.
DeSoto National Wildilfe Refuge

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

The Dark Road

Today's image was taken at Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge. There was a section of the road that passed through a tunnel of trees and it was a very foreboding type passage. I used a smaller depth of field in order to intentionally blur the foreground to force one's eye down the road. To accentuate the uneasy feeling, I converted the image to black and white, tinted it with a little red, green, and yellow, and then I used the nik "Midnight" filter. This creates an even more ominous environment.

The original photograph:

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 70-200 f/4l @ 200, f/5, 1/1250 sec.
Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge

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

A Touch of the Old World

This is an image of the Giralda Tower near the Cheesecake Factory in The Plaza in Kansas City. It is a 138 foot replica of a tower that is in Seville, Spain. Since this tower was built in the 1920's and had an old world feel, I converted this image to black and white and then gave it a bit of a brown tint. I also used OnOne's PhotoFrame program to frame the image with an old film type emulsion frame.

This is the original black and white converted image:

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 70-200 f/4l @ 73mm, f/10, 1/1250 sec.
The Plaza, Kansas City, Missouri

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

Forboding Faces

While going through my photographs from the Plaza, I came across an image of a fountain from that area. It was essentially a black and white image, but I decided to do something a little different. I tinted the image slightly green and used the "Poster Edges" Photoshop filter (under artistic) to give it a forboding comic book feel. The before an after conversion:

Some trivia: Besides Rome, Kansas City has the most fountains of any city.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 70-200 f/4l lens @ 145mm, f/10, 1/800 sec.
The Plaza, Kansas City, Missouri

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

Brick and Glass

During my recent weekend trip to Kansas City, my family and I visited the Plaza, an upscale shopping area, with very ornate, unique architecture from an earlier time. The primary focus of this trip was not photography, but I managed the few occasional shots. Since the weather was primarily overcast, and the architecture was fairly old, I felt that shooting for later conversion to black and white would be the most effective.

While shooting this photograph, I was filled with questions. How long have these buildings been here? What influenced their design? Unlike today's designs, even the windows on the top and back of this building were designed with a purpose. What was that purpose?

In this composition I focused on the tonalities of the bricks and shingles as well as capturing the ornate glass windows. From the era in which this was built even the back and top of the building had artistic qualities and it is in this image that I attempt to capture some of these qualities.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 70-200 f/4l lens @ , f/10, 1/250 sec.
The Plaza, Kansas City, Missouri

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

Double Trouble

During the 50th anniversary celebration at DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, I had the opportunity to dine with the manager of Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Northwestern Missouri. It is a place I have passed perhaps 40 times and never stopped on trips to Kansas City from Omaha. I knew that I would be making the trip again in just a couple of weeks and I decided that I should stop this time, and ended up stopping on both directions of the journey.

During my time on the refuge I saw multiple types of ducks, a bald eagle, a small army of muskrats, Sandhill Cranes, and these Double-Crested Cormoran. Now, I do not normally go out of my way to photograph birds. Yes, I like birds, as I like all things nature, and yes, I like to photograph them, but my general photography setup is currently not such that allows for good bird photography.

What I mean by this, is that besides the general deep-seated desire to photograph, and the will to execute, you need some pretty powerful equipment. Now, I have a 300 f/4l lens, which has been excellent, excellent, excellent for me for larger animals such as bears, elk, deer, etc., but when it comes down to birds, not so great. With that 300 f/4l lens, I can add (and usually do) a 1.4x canon teleconverter (or extender) which makes it a pretty darn good 420 f/5.6 lens. This still, is not enough. In order to get the shot above, I coupled a tamron 2x extender to the 300 + 1.4 combination to get 840 f/11. Add that to my Canon 20d to get the extra 1.6 crop factor and you now have 1344mm of reach. Not to stop there, I also had to crop the image to a little less than a 7 megapixel photo from an 8 megapixel sensor.

Ultimately, why wouldn't I do that everyday? At f/11. I've lost quite a bit of light and consequently I must use a significantly slower shutter speed. Since the Canon 20d does not autofocus with anything less than f/5.6, I must now rely on manually focusing. In my pentax k-1000 days, this was common for me, but as I reviewed the shots from the refuge, I realize that I am not that great at it anymore, and I definitely think that my diopter setting is off. Additionally, and most importantly all this glass ends up degrading the sharpness and contrast of the image.

So why bother at all? Simple, for me it's better to attempt the shot and perhaps get a single good one, than to try at all. I think that my shot above is acceptable, not award-winning, but I believe it to still be a fairly decent shot.

As for the refuge, I thoroughly enjoyed my 2 stops at Squaw Creek and I hope to return again soon. The wildlife, though at the tail end of the spring migration, was outstanding and fun to photograph. I can only imagine how it would be during the height of one of the migrations.

Technical Details:
Canon 20d, 300 f/4l +1.4tc + 2.0tc, 1/640 sec.
Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge

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

Dreamy Leaf

Today at the arboretum, I continued to explore the textures on the logs and trees. I found this fallen leaf that still had some pigment and I liked how the leaf contrasted with the design on this recently wet log. Since the day was very overcast I have very little light and no tripod so I had to use a shallow depth of field. When I reviewed the image I liked the dreamy effect that was created. I increased this feel by utilizing the Orton technique.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 50 CM lens, f/7.1, 1/100 sec.
OPPD Arboretum

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

Pine Cone Designs

For today's image I went to the arboretum and worked on extremely up close shots of pine cones. I particularly worked on keeping a small depth of field which creates a very small area of focus. I wanted to create a little more of an abstract feel to this pine cone. This is a good example of how small the depth of field is in macro work. This particular photograph was taken with an aperature of f/5, which is fairly shallow, but is extremely shallow here, leaving only the very tips of the pine cone closest to the camera in focus.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 50 CM lens + extension tube, f/5, 1/160 sec.
OPPD Arboretum

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

Snail Spiral

Today I took a short walk through Platte River State Park in eastern Nebraska. It was fairly overcast and still a bit muddy, but there were bits of green appearing so it was a good day to focus on macro. After walking for a bit, I entered a small clearing of trees that I explored carefully looking for interesting items. I came across a snail shell whose owner had vacated and I spent the next hour focused on working on this shot.

I composed this shot using the golden ratio which is similar to the rule of thirds. If you are not familar with composition, the rule of thirds states that the primary subject should be placed at a third horizontally and vertically in the frame for maximum effectiveness. The rule of thirds is actually a simplified version of the golden ratio which is 1:1.618. This means that items of importance should be placed at .388 or a little more than a third from each side vertically and horizontally.

Additionally, this photograph follows the golden spiral which encourages the eye to spiral into the most important subject, here it follows the spiral pattern of the shell. This is one of the most blatant examples of the golden spiral I have ever taken, simply because the shell itself is a spiral pattern.

The golden ratio and the golden spiral can be found throughout nature and the more one is aware of this, the most impact your photographs generally have. Of course, like everything these are simply guidelines, which like everything creative, should be broken. I find I follow these rules, but also break them quite often. For more information about both of these compositional guidelines visit: Golden Section and Photography.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 50 CM + extension tube, f/10, .4 sec
Platte River State Park, Nebraska

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

Intrinsic Patterns

After a short spell, I finally made it back to the arboretum. The very first hints of spring are just arriving in Omaha and little bits of green are appearing, albeit among some remnants of snow and dead leaves. I took a walk through the mostly wooded portion of the park, stopping to look at some of the interesting patterns on the trees and within the leaves. I have walked by a particular dead log countless times, but for some reason it has never caused me to pause for more than a few seconds. Today was different. As the sun ducked in and out of the clouds, patterns emerged on this log and coupled with the intrinsic lines created a scene I felt compelled to record.

Technical Details:

Canon 5d, 50 CM, f/32, 1/125 sec.
OPPD Arboretum

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