Yellow Head
Friends, this is a yellow-headed blackbird shopping for dragonflies that fly too slow and make a delicious lunch for birds. The day that I took this image, the dragon flies had just hatched and several of these birds were frantic in their pursuit of lunch. This one even sat still for a minute or so to allow me to snap his portrait. til Tomorrow MJ
Lunch time
Friends, I imagine that this adult loon is admonishing her chick to “not play with your food”, but the look on his face is priceless. Technically this image has way too many highlights, but I liked the joy and celebratory feel to lunch time, In the early morning I was shooting into the light, enjoy, til Tomorrow MJ
Wood Lilies
Friends, these wood lilies are such a brilliant hue that I had to turn down the saturation a bit, I know I rarely turn the saturation down, it is usually turned up a bit, but the colors are very bright and I felt that subduing the orange a bit would help the details. I wished to emphasize the centers of these three flowers, so in processing, I straightened the right hand flowers, then cropped so that two centers are in the sweet spots, rule of thirds positioning, These are wild flowers growing in Crex Meadows and they are at their peak bloom right now. The wild lily has an open bottom where the petals come off the stem. The domestic lily is fused at the bottom of the petals, your natural history lesson for the day. til Tomorrow MJ
Copper
Friends, the horses run wild in the badlands within the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This beautiful stallion is named Copper, and he was a herd sire of the wild ones. This year he appeared alone, no mares or foals following him around. They say he is injured and I hope he survives cause he is a pretty boy. til Tomorrow MJ
Morning Glory
Friends, this wildflower of Crex Meadows is a Field Bind Weed, but I don’t like any name that calls a beautiful flower, a weed. It is a member of the morning glory family and it grows wild in Crex. This flower blooms from a tough red stem that tends to wrap itself around surrounding plants and eventually choke them off thus making room for more glories. As a herb it is drastic and sometimes poison, but despite its sinister nature, they are beautiful. til Tomorrow MJ
Prairie Dog Love
Friends, this morning is about prairie dogs, especially why there are so many in the North Dakota Badlands, Love ! Prairie Dog Love starts with a simple hug and a kiss.
Leads to large litters of 4-6 little ones
Then lots of work, feeding and taking care of little ones leaves the adults all tuckered out in the late afternoon.
Lighting Lesson
Friends, Practicing my hdr technique, this image was composited from three exposures, one right on and one overexposed and one underexposed. The sky was trying to wash out and the shadows on the right trees were getting lost in the dark. So hdr was used to reclaim those details. When I first explored the world of photography, I was told to put the sun at my back and shoot, but this often results in a flat image with details obscured. While attending a workshop on butterfly photography, the leader emphasized that the wing details can be enhanced by side lighting, This hill is a great example of side lighting bringing out the erosion details. So are you going to try??, til Tomorrow MJ
Flower Details
Friends, I am editing some flower images from our badlands trip this spring. I cannot decide whether I like the grainy image at the top or the bottom softer version of this image. Which do you like the best? Either way I think the bottom treatment is a way to reduce the grainy noise that i sometimes get in my images or maybe i am going in circles. In the bottom image I have softened the details then run the Nik Colorefex Low Key filter. In the top image I have run the Low Key filter directly over the Extract Detail filter. I think that there is a dramatic difference. Hmmmm, a constant learning process til Tomorrow MJ
Stampede
Friends, on our recent trip to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, we found ourselves parked in front of a stampeding herd of Bison. A storm was moving in and they were leaving the high ground and moving into the ravines and gullies. I added the lightning for a more dramatic effect. Can you see the baby bison hurrying along, til Tomorrow MJ
Portrait or Blur
Friends, these images are two renditions of a western kingbird, which do you like, the sharp portrait or the pleasing blur,?, i personally like the blur because it is a challenge to capture and it is a bit different. These birds are often perched on top of the prairie dog mounds and constantly shopping for insects . til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 