Blog Archives
Sunset in the Badlands
Friends, yes there are trees in the North Dakota Badlands. These cottonwoods are along the Little Missouri River near Medora and the cedar and junipers are on north-facing slopes.. At sunset. the mule deer bucks head over the hill. Hope you like the sunset in the badlands. til Tomorrow MJ
Practical HDR or natural high dynamic range
Friends, we have all seen the garish images created with high dynamic range tool in photoshop, but here is a real life situation where this tool was necessary to achieve my goals. The water is high key and has some details and the rocks are very dark but contain some details and i wanted to retain both sets of details in the same image. Enter high dynamic range tool. First of all one needs to plan ahead while in the field, and shoot three exposures of this scene. One exposure is 1 stop over-exposed and one shot in under- exposed 1 stop, and a third image is shot with exposure compensation at zero. So three exposures, bracketed around zero by 1-2 stops. Now to photoshop where the three images are combined with the HDR tool. Now the image has retained details in both the water and the rocks in a single image. til Tomorrow MJ
Weekly Photo Challenge:Contrasting Owl Eyes
Friends, the weekly photo challenge this week is contrasts, and this mama great horned owl is a contrast to her baby who is just a few weeks old. I think the old eyes show wisdom and quiet, while the youngster is wide-eyed with wonder at all the new things surrounding him. Especially the crowd of photographers standing beneath his nest tree. til Tomorrow MJ http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/contrasts/
Happy Face
Friends, this coyote boy is hunting for his lunch in the prairie dog town in the badlands of North Dakota. Despite his predatory nature, he has a happy face. My what big teeth you have, granny, a famous line from little red riding hood, a story of my childhood. til Tomorrow MJ
Hair on Fire
Friends, this female hooded merganser is leaving quickly, like her hair is on fire. They always give me a chuckle, with their feathers all in a tizzy. The perfect reproduction of her head feathers was reflected in the quiet waters of early spring I love this portrait of her taken before she built a nest and hatched some youngsters. til Tomorrow MJ
It’s all in the Name
Friends, these red rocks are called scoria in North Dakota, but they are also called clinker. They are very fragile and break into pieces when dropped or otherwise subjected to blunt force trauma. It is formed from layers of bentonite clay being baked by a burning coal vein hence it official name, porcelinite. The formation of a china cup in the badlands of North Dakota. til Tomorrow MJ
Independence Day Eagles
Friends, here a happy fourth of July to you all, these Bald Eagles are symbols of our country, so from top to bottom, an immature leaving a perch, a first year bird on the first day out of the nest, and a watchful adult teaching his youngster how to hunt. til Tomorrow MJ
Northern Flicker
Friends, this Northern Flicker is looking for a nesting spot before the leaves came out this spring. The underside of his wing is shown in the bottom photo, a macro photo of the yellow feather shafts on his wing encased in ice. so til Tomorrow MJ
Black Tern Catch
Friends, every now and then you catch a shot that you really had to work at, that is prefocus and wait for this bird to get to the pre-arranged site. This black tern was fishing back and forth down the waterway in Crex, He was very quick so i pre-focused on a spot and waited for him to be in focus. I was totally shocked when i saw that he had caught his prey in this image. The image is a little soft and the shutter speed of 1/1000 was not quite enough, but I wish to share so you can understand what i do all day in my retirement. til Tomorrow MJ
Rose Breasted Grosbeak
Friends, this cheery fellow is a rose-breasted grosbeak in his finest plumage. I love getting close up and personal with the pretty songbirds of Crex. This boy sings his heart out all the way through the spring and in early summer, he is still singing every morning. til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 