Midterm Project Personal Photos

Here are the pictures that I used for our midterm presentation:

Outdoor Photographer

Since I'm leaving for Costa Rica on Thursday I thought I would do a little quick research for tips about photographing birds, insects and other wildlife I will hopefully be seeing a lot of in the next week. I found some good articles on the Outdoor Photographer website. Here are some of the tips that seemed helpful for me:
For macro shooting: make sure your flash is not on full power

For insects: if they move away from you use your other hand (or friend) to move them back to your camera

For background: try to have a simple background with no sticks or grass in the foreground (though that may be impossible in a rainforest)

For birds: watch their behavior to predict patterns and capture interesting behavior.

For animals: make sure there is enough room in the frame, and that they are looking or moving into the frame

An Eagle, a Bridge, and a Horse Clinic

While finishing up our actual assignment, Anne and I ended up at Hil's dressage clinic and had some fun taking off topic pictures:
First, a bald eagle! Our stopping to take pictures made him take off, and unfortunately I cut his wing tips off, but his eyes are sharp, so that's something.
Then we found a neat old bridge:
Last I took some shots of the animals around the barn, but didn't get any of the actual dressage horses in the arena because the light was so bad:

Around Billings in the Snow

This semester has been rather snowy, in fact we've had 79 days (at last count) of snow on the ground. For me that has resulted in some fun pictures of scenery, animals and people:

This was taken after a foggy morning when the sun had burned through, but left a layer of frost on everything. Shutter: 1/500, Aperture: f4.0, ISO 80.


Riverfront Park also provided some fun pictures. There is only one patch of water left open on Josephine Lake, so a large flock of water fowl is there. While I was taking pictures about 20 mallards came in and landed on the ice in front of me (left). Almost all of the ducks were mallards or domestics, but there was one pair of American widgeons as well (center). Both those pictures had a shutter speed 1/500 sec, aperture f4.0, and ISO 80. The last picture is of the sun trying to break through the afternoon clouds. Shutter 1/1000, aperture f4.0, ISO 80.




This was taken out at White Aspen on a long awaited sunny day! Shutter speed: 1/500, Aperture: f8.0, ISO 80. I'm working on photoshopping out a lot of the distracting elements on the horizon and the power poles, but am not quite finished yet.


Inside White Aspen, I got a couple shots of Hil working Romeo (the bay) inside the arena. The arena has really bad lighting and horses tend not to like flashes, so it was difficult to get good pictures. However, there was one band of light from a window, so I used that to make these images:











Shutter: 1/250, Aperture f4.0, ISO 800. Shutter 1/320, Aperture 3.5f, ISO 800.

Clothing Shoot

This is my attempt at featuring clothing in the outdoors, so here goes...

This first one is featuring a Princeton headlamp. I found a shadowy overhang to take the picture in, but it is really no replacement for an actual cave, so I used photoshop to darken the exposure. I also cropped in to get rid of a lot of rock that really didn't do anything for the image. Shutter speed of 1/320, aperture of f4.0 and ISO 80.

This is a Boeri ski helmet and Scott goggles. Since we weren't actually skiing, I just took it against the bright blue sky, but I like that the goggles give the picture a sense of place anyway. For photoshop I took out some hair that was across Hil's face and cleaned up a couple smudges on the goggles. Shutter speed of 1/800, aperture of f4.0, and an ISO of 80.

This picture could feature the hat, vest, gloves, or shirt, but what I really like about it is the steam coming off of the mug. I used a fill flash for this picture because the lighting was so strong on the right side that it left the left side very dark. It is still a big contrast, and I darkened some of the really bright washed out areas (like the hat) in photoshop. Shutter speed 1/640 sec, aperture f4.0 and ISO 80.

This is my favorite shot. I really like the angles that the rock and the boot are making. I tried to play with the aperture to make just the boot in focus, and ended up using my macro focus to really make that happen, but I like the effect it had. In photoshop I took out some grass that was in the background, and increased the contrast on the boot. Shutter speed 1/800, aperture of f4.0, and ISO 80. After class update: I took out the rock in the background, and since the boot itself gets lost in the powder on the bottom, I did a crop too.













Here is a bonus image! I know we were supposed to be shooting clothing for people, but after the shoot, we went out to White Aspen and Chili graciously posed for me showing off her WeatherBeeta blanket. Shutter speed of 1/250 sec, aperture at f8.0 and and ISO of 80.

Great Pictures

There are a lot of elements that can make a photograph great, and there are no hard and fast rules to follow to ensure a great shot. We talked about a lot of them in class, from composure to color palate and telling a story. There are so many elements that I chose a couple of my photos that have one or two characteristics that make a photo great.

Eye-catching: I like the subdued colors of the sage and grasses and then the vibrant blue of the bluebird that is still in the same color scheme, but really pops out.








Few Elements: I think this photo works well because the only elements are the fence and the kid, who is also off center and close to where the rule of thirds would place him




.
Tells a story: I think this picture does a good job capturing the relationship between my friend and his dog. I do wish the ski poles were out of the frame though.




Texture: This picture features a very cooperative marmot, which is phenomenal on its own, but I really like the detail of the fur contrasted with the granite of the boulders.






Composition: This picture places the subject in the middle, but because of the pier leading up to him, and the boats on either side, it is still balanced. I also like that the wave was just breaking as he jumped.

Winter Birds

Over the past couple of years I've discovered that I really like birds, and I've always known that I like winter, so here are some past shots of birds in the winter:A flock of common redpoll in Yellowstone

An American dipper, also in Yellowstone

A common raven on Teton Pass

A huge flock of gray-crowned rosy finch in Yellowstone

Two Canada geese in Yellowstone

A ruffed grouse at Bridger BowlAnd one very confused broad-tailed hummingbird in Evergreen, CO.

Playing with Exposure

Shutter Speed:
The first image was shot at 1/25 sec, and the second shot at 1/400 sec.

ISO:
The first has an ISO speed of 80 and the second has an ISO speed of 1600.

Aperture:
The first was shot at f8.00 and the second was shot at f2.80.

Photoshop

Here are some of my first attempts at photoshopping:

For this picture I cropped in on Anne to help eliminate the bridge that was becoming the focus of the shot. I then lightened her pink fleece, face, and glove to help even out where my flash didn't reach.


For this shot I wanted her eyes to stand out more since they were pretty washed out, so I darkened and sharpened them along with her lips and nose. I especially played with her pupil, and it looks almost too dark now, but I like the second image better.

For this picture I just darkened the snow in the background and cloned out one of the random wisps of hair from under Hil's hat. It was very simple and quick but makes the whole shot look cleaner.