Monday, December 5, 2016

Final-edits

During the presentation, I had a critique of the landscape in the top of the photo. I adjusted the crop but unfortunately the berm in the background makes the photo seem crooked. Next time I take a portrait I will be more cognizant of my background and how adversely it can affect the photo. I also enhanced the shadows and blacks in order to make my dogs eyes more visible. 

On this photo I lowered the crop as a critique pointed out even though the grass covers the feet, having the sense of where they lie is important. I also enhanced the shadows to make the eyes stand out against her dark face.

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Final

Two Sharp-tailed Grouse in eastern Montana taken with a Nikon D40 35mm (Photos taken with this camera unless otherwise stated)
Settings: Aperature F/5.6  Shutter 1/2000 ISO200  200mm no flash
In order to get every detail in their feathers I used the settings necessary especially the shutter speed so they would appear in focus, especially if they were to take off.
Portrait photo of my English Setter carrying a Hungarian Partridge. 
Settings: Aperature F/5.6 Shutter 1/500 ISO500  Focal length 200mm,no flash.
Working on my portrait shots, I used these settings to achieve what I believe is a sharp image with good quality.

Picture of a Pheasant (rooster) crossing the road near Glendive. I cropped out the top portion as noted by a critique. Settings: Aperature F/5.6 Shutter Speed 1/640 ISO400 Focal length 200 with no flash.
Trying to capture this pheasant was a challenge but I was happy with my settings used in order to capture his beautiful coloring.
Two Antelope seen near Ekalaka. 
Settings: Aperature F/5.6 Shutter 1/1250 ISO400  Focal Length: 190 No flash.
Shooting these animals while moving, I had a higher shutter but for this shot they are obviously still. 
Tried another portrait shot of my setters since I believe this is the type of photography I will mainly be doing after this class! Settings: F/8 Shutter: 1/250 ISO200 Focal length 55 with no flash. Tried to stay in the F/8 or 5 range for a clear image of the dogs with enough detail in the back to emphasize time of season.
Taken with a Nikon 1V1, this shot shows the landscape south of Montana and north of Cody, Wyoming.
Settings: F/5.6 Shutter 1/50 ISO125 Focal Length 40mm with no flash.
A still shot trying to enhance the landscape near and far, Looking back I should have used a higher aperture.
Taken in Yellowstone Park with Nikon 1V1.
Settings: F/4 Shutter 1/160 ISO200 Focal 30 with no flash.
I went with the aperture value and shutter speed to make the water look somewhat blurry while giving the brush good coloring.
Taken in Yellowstone with the Nikon 1V1.
Settings: F/5.6 Shutter 1/50 ISO125 Focal length 40 with no flash.
Focusing on the water spraying out of the geyser, these settings gave me a sharp image of the even the smallest water droplets shooting into the air. 
A swan on Lake Yellowstone, taken with a Nikon 1V1. 
Settings: F/11 Shutter 1/200 ISO200 Focal length 110 with no flash.
Trying to capture the swan on the beautiful water that day I also wanted the snowy mountains in the back, adjusting my cameras aperture of F/11. 

Taken in Makoshika with the D40, the sun is stetting and creates a beautiful cast against the cap rocks.
Settings: F/4 Shutter 1/320 ISO200 Focal length 55 with no flash. 
Up close with this sedimentary sandstone, I chose the settings I did to best capture the lighting on the rocks as well as the detail.
Shot is over Pryor, Montana just south of Billings on our first snow. 
Taken with an Ipad (no flash).
I like how the wing extends into the topography of the land following the snow covered ditch up to the ridge.
Taken in eastern Montana, The light colored field ties in with the old house which sticks out among the blue sky. 
Taken with an android phone. No flash.
Settings: F/5.5 Shutter 1/50 ISO800 Focal length 200 with no flash.
Trying out some shots I decided to capture the grass with a blurry sun above.

I had received critiques on this photo and focused in on the action and cropped out a good portion with not much going on in it. Settings: F/5.6  Shutter 1/1000 ISO400 Focal length 190, no flash.

Taken south of Bridger, MT with the Nikon 1V1. 
Settings: F/8 1/50 ISO100 Focal length 34, no flash.

In Yellowstone with the Nikon 1V1. 
Settings: F/14 1/125 ISO 110 Focal length 30mm with no flash.
Higher aperture gave me the ability to capture the water as well as the mountains in the background.

In Yellowstone with the Nikon 1V1.
Settings: F/13 1/125 ISO200 Focal Length 30 mm, no flash.

Yellowstone with Nikon 1V1. 
Settings: F/9 1/60 ISO100 Focal length 30, no flash.

Goldeneye in Yellowstone take with the Nikon 1V1. Received critique to crop inward to enhance focus and clone out some sun spots.
Settings: F/7.1 1/250 ISO 220 focal lenght 110 no flash.

Taken north of Billings with an Ipad (No flash).

Taken over the Yellowstone River with an Ipad (no flash). 

Going east on I-94. Taken with Ipad. Cropped out the hood of my car and enjoyed the colors being represented as the sun setted behind me.
Sunset in the badlands, Taken with Nikon D40.


North of Glendive, several Sharptail fly off.
Settings: F/5.6 1/1000 ISO 200 FL 200, no flash.

Settings: F/5.6 1/500 ISO800 Focal length 200 no flash










Thursday, November 17, 2016

More Birds


Taken Southwest of Glendive, this rooster was running alongside a CRP field and decided to cut onto the road, giving me a solid shot. I chose this shot due to his body position guiding your eyes from his head down to the beautiful pattern and colors on his torso. I increased the saturation to bring more vibrancy to the blue on his back and to deepen the mahogany on his neck. I also adjusted the contrast to take the fade out of the picture giving it a warmer appearance.  


 I decided to take a portrait photo and take any critique on it since I will mainly be taking this type of shot once out of this class. Pictured here is my Small Munsterlander next to two grouse alongside a barn in Ekalaka, MT. The shot has not yet been edited except for the crop. Taken in early November I thought that the dried grass went well with the aged wood along with my gun matching the color of the dead leaves scattered on the ground.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Bird dogs and Bison

Teaming up on some Hungarian Partridge in Southeast Montana.

Bison near Yellowstone Lake

Thursday, November 3, 2016

11/3/16


Taken on the East entrance Yellowstone with a 300mm lens. With the blue sky, snow covered mountains in the photo there is very little warmth in the overall color. The water has a developed ripple from the wind helping with the lighter, faded color in front of the trees which I like. With a scattered layer of clouds above, this helped further in defining the ripples on the water. 
Photo showing reflection of the sunrise over Wyoming with the same 300mm lens. Focusing on the closest cloud deck, which is also our thickest, helps give a denser color. Below that cloud we have more layers further back receiving more of the sunlight taking more of the darker colors away. In the top half of the photo is a light blue sky with some charcoal faded clouds generated from editing. To take the overall fade away I took out some of the brightness and increased the contrast to further develop and define our clouds and strong colors.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Thursday, October 20, 2016

10/20-2


10/20


For this photo I increased the contrast to reduce the light from the sun just passing over the mountains early in the morning in Logan, Utah. I also increased the saturation to darken the clouds, making them look deeper, drawing away from the light blue sky behind them. Increasing the structure also helped mountains stand out more.







Thursday, September 29, 2016

Upland-game

A male sharp-tailed grouse dances on a lek. (Great Falls Tribune)
Plains Sharp-tailed grouse in Eastern Montana is seen strutting and beating his feet for the attention of females. Sharptails will often beat their feet in excess of 20 times per second requiring a higher shutter speed. Purple air sacs inflate illustrating a rule of dominance, difference in color.

Image result for pheasant eastern montana

Like the Sharp-tailed grouse, the pheasant also displays defined colors and patterns in their feathers. In the low brush and light snow, this rooster clearly stands out with the multitude of colors and focus just right against the faded background. Although the like to stay on the ground, it would be a good idea to have your aperture and shutter speed set accordingly in case they do take flight. 



Lightroom

Since my group will be simulating a trip to South America, I decided to edit a few photos from the famous park in Chile, Torres del Paine. In order to make the features appear more dense I toned down the brightness for a more solid color. This helped in dissipating some of the haziness. Structuring the photo also helped increase the amount of detail in the bedding of the stream. 


For this photo editing remained the same with the exception of working with the clouds. Preventing the clouds from becoming overly bright I dimmed the brightness and added some contrast. The added contrast along with structure helped with the land features.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Trip Home


During a trip back home to Eastern Montana I was able to get out and do a bit of upland bird hunting as well as fishing. On a relatively sunny day on the water, a raft of Blue-winged teal were just off of my shoulder about to take flight, As the they lifted off I was barely able to capture this photo of the flock. For this photo I had a lower shutter speed as you can see with the movement of the wings.


While driving past a CRP field I was able to grab a shot of this beautiful rooster. Focused right on the head, each pattern of the ring neck are present. With aperture priority I was pleased with the blur of the grass in the foreground since it is so easy to see the focal point of the image. While not red on yellow, the red, in focus face is the dominant focus. 

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Rules of Dominance



While working on rules of dominance the most difficult thing for me was finding an object with just the right amount of light that would expose a center of interest. I was able to capture several roses with the fore appearing more attractive with the added light.






Exercising another rule of dominance our attention is brought to the top of this pine tree with a blurred sky at sunset cast in the background. The tree acts as our "striking element" while obviously in view. The individual needles draw attention offering more sharpness and non conformity to the smooth, solid sky.

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Depth of Field


During this photo shoot Brian and I went to Riverfront Park to work on adjusting the aperture of our shots for the first time. I used the lowest aperture setting the camera allowed at F5. This setting helped in adjusting the contrast of the green background appear more faded like the dead stick we see in focus.



Capturing this shot of the bush about three feet away along with the lake, extending to the trees in the background required a much higher aperture. I used one of the higher settings, F32 allowing a broader depth of field. You will find this setting useful when shooting landscapes, especially if shooting on the ground with some plant life in close view.