Friends, i had to be creative today and do some artwork on photos that i took on Thursday. Cranes Flying and the moon rising were just too tempting to leave as is, so here is my rendition that depicts the crane spirits moving into winter across the harvest moon. God gave me photoshop, so i sometimes use it to express my feelings. til Tomorrow MJ
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Eagle Moon
Dear Friends, this eagle was very cooperative and so was the moon, the temps were below zero this morning so his feathers are fluffed to retain the body heat. til Tomorrow MJ
Keeping both eyes open
Dear Friends, this is not a photoshopped experience, it took me about 200 images captured to get these cranes and the moon in a single shot. I found that the secret (for me) was to leave both eyes open so i could see the cranes approaching and leaving the lens on the moon, try it you’ll like it til Tomorrow MJ
Artwork
The Moon Also Rises
Friends, while taking this time lapse of clouds drifting through crex, i noticed that the moon was rising in this series of shots, i am exploring a time-stacking technique and got a lovely surprise. This image is a result of stacking 12 images taken 1-2 minutes apart into a single image, i like this effect and will be doing more stacking in the near future, as soon as our 15 inches of new snow gets melted away. ugh! til Tomorrow MJ
Red Moon
Friends, was up early this morning (2AM) to photograph a total lunar eclipse, it is called the blood moon, but i prefer the red moon. I love that on this shot you can see the ice cap, pretty good for a 400 mm lens on a camera. This was a 3 second exposure on a tripod and a night with only a few clouds wisping through at times. til Tomorrow MJ
Cranes on the Full Moon
Friends, this is a double exposure of cranes and the full moon, I have seen this many times, but when photographing i am less than successful. Last fall i did get some images with both the moon and cranes. I will show you them tomorrow, but today i love the cranes landing like little dancers on the wind. While this shot is what i wanted to express, it is somewhat mechanical, lacking the romance of the moment and a little on the sterile side. Someday i will capture what i feel while watching the cranes landing in Crex with the full moon rising and the sun setting all in one moment. til Tomorrow MJ
Badlands in Black and White
Friends, i know this looks like a moonscape, but it is a black and white image of the badlands of North Dakota, one of our favorite places to visit. I shot this photo at an aperture of f/16 to get the great depth of field, but every time i looked at it, it looked like a jumbled mess. no clear subject was evident. Further analysis revealed that the foreground was really the subject. So i made two layers, blurring the bottom layer and painting away the top sharper layer to reveal the blurred layer underneath. I had used this technique earlier to produce bokeh in other images. I also converted to black and white to further simplify the image and emphasize the rugged topography of the eroded landscape. What do you think? did I succeed ? til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 