Blog Archives
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
Weekly Photo Challenge:Companion
Friends, Jim and Bubba are my companions on most of my adventures, especially those away from home, we like to travel and this image was taken on our spring trip to badlands, South Dakota and North Dakota to compare notes on geology, plants, animals and weather. The North Dakota bads won in my judgement, but I also have a sentimental attachment there as my grandparents lived there when i was a child. Now with Jim and Bubba I travel the badlands searching for what I have already found, love, til Tomorrow MJ
Swan Cygnets
Friends, these babies of the Trumpeter Swan are having a friendly conversation on the water. I love the pink beaks that are present on these cygnets all summer as they grow up. Mom and dad are close by and being protective, The family was headed for the weeds where mom and dad stomp around and loosen little critters for the babies to pluck off the water surface. til Tomorrow MJ
Joyous Day
Friends, lots of folks around Crex Meadows have been watching this red-neck grebe’s nest this spring, wondering when will the little ones hatch. Yesterday was the day, in the morning I watched against the sun and saw three little heads riding on the adults, when i visited again in the evening when the light was better, I only saw these two riding on mom, but a third might be hidden somewhere in her feathers. A soft comfy bed to take a nap, I will visit again today to see how they fare in Phantom Lake, this image is a little fuzzy but I had to push my telephoto to get any image at all, enjoy, I know I will til Tomorrow MJ
Prairie Smoke
Friends, this tiny flower is commonly called prairie smoke and when the flowers are in this red phase, the name is not appropriate, but when the prairie is covered with the exploded seed head as in the image below, one can see the resemblance to smoke rising from the grasses. til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 