Posts Tagged: ice

Photo Tips / Uncategorized — No Comments
29
Apr 10

Springtime in the Rockies

Spring time brings idyllic visions of verdant meadows redolent with wildflowers and butterflies skipping along warm breezes while flutes and harps play in the background. It’s a nice image, but it isn’t springtime in the Rockies. In the high country spring resembles a battlefield between summer and winter with the pounding canon crescendo of the 1812 Overture hammering in the background.

Summer strikes a blow with a sunny 70 degree day. Winter retaliates during the night, sending temperatures plummeting to 20 degrees followed by 6 inches of snow that literally drop kicks summer into next week. That’s what happened last week while I was shooting the pasque flowers. Winter struck back with 8 inches of heavy, wet snow that sat on the flowers like concrete. The early bloomers were mashed flat. The few that found shelter under trees found themselves to be the only available browse for hungry deer.

The beginning of a 70 degree day in the foothills.

It's a good day to be a pasque flower.

Fear not, summer will strike back with its own blast of sunny warmth. Winter is doomed to lose this battle. And the pasque flowers, they’ll also be back. The early bloomers are lost, but those that sprout later will benefit from the moisture provided by the snow that crushed their over-anxious brethren.

This was the next day.

Winter is making another attempt to hold off summer a little longer today. But it is a much weaker effort—only a light dusting of snow that the sun quickly melted during a brief appearance before the clouds closed in again.

The high country is, by its very nature, dramatic. And the changing seasons match the landscape with their own drama. Whether you’re a photographer, artists, poet or just a nature lover, this is a glorious time to be in the high country.

Enjoy

Frank

Great Places — 2 Comments
20
Mar 10

Sandhill Fashion Trend

As long as I’ve been photographing sandhill cranes in the San Luis Valley, there is one phenomenon that I’ve always wanted to see. To avoid predators, the cranes spend the night standing in the water. This time of year, the nighttime temperatures usually get below freezing. It isn’t cold enough for the open water to freeze over, but it is cold enough for ice to form along the edges. When the cranes are standing in the water, their legs create an edge on which ice can form. Come morning, the cranes are wearing ice bracelets on their legs.

Sandhill crane wearing ice bracelets

At least that’s what I’ve been told. Try as I might, I have never been able to observe this phenomenon. This trip was no exception. I still did not see any ice bracelets. That is, until I got home. As I was editing the photos that I took I noticed something strange around several of the cranes’ legs. After enlarging the images and searching each leg very carefully, I found a crane with some very nice ice bracelets. This is so cool.

Closeup of ice bracelets

I got so excited I just had to share my discovery of the sandhill’s ice bracelets.

If you’re wondering why they’re only on one leg, it’s because cranes frequently stand on one leg with the other folded up in their feathers. If I were standing in freezing water all night, I’d probably try to stand on one leg, too.

Enjoy

 Frank

Great Places — No Comments
20
Feb 10

Black & White in Color

One of the things I love about winter is the absence of color. Don’t get me wrong, I love a colorful field of wildflowers or a dramatic sunset as much as anyone, but winter offers a unique opportunity to experience black and white photos without having convert color images to black & white. This photo was shot last week in South Park—in color. I have done nothing to convert it to black & white. This is the scene as it was presented by Mother Nature.

In all fairness, I have to give credit for this image where credit is due. I was shooting with a with a talented photographer, Lauren Bucholz, and she is the one who actually found this little gem. I had noticed that she was hunkered down on her hands and knees for quite a while, so I wandered over to see what was so interesting. She graciously allowed me to share in her discovery. I think you’ll agree, she has a great eye. You can see more of her work at Natural Visions.

Just because it’s cold and dreary out, the trees are bare and everything is shades of gray, don’t bury your camera in the closet until spring. Winter offers an incredible wealth of opportunities to see the world in a different light.

Photo Tips — No Comments
20
Feb 10

Add Sunstars for Drama

While I was in South Park last week, freezing everything off, I found that the sunrises and sunsets were not very impressive. The few low clouds on the horizon didn’t put forth much effort to improve matters. So I started focusing on sunstars to add a little pizzazz to my photos. Sunstars add a dramatic, eye-catching element to a photo. While they may be tricky, they’re not difficult to do.

The best way to create sunstars is to set the aperture to the smallest opening (largest number) possible. In most cases that will be f22 or larger. Reducing the aperture opening to a small point creates the star effect. The trick to sunstars is to put the sun completely behind a solid object. (See CAUTION at the end of this post.) Then shift the camera slightly until a small portion of the sun is peeking out from behind the object. Better yet, wait for the sun to creep out from behind the object as I did in this photo.

Your first attempts will point out one of the major difficulties in shooting sunstars. (Remember, I said they were tricky.) Having the sun in your shot can, and most likely will cause lens flare. Some people don’t mind a little flare and some hate them at all costs. I’m of the hate-’em-at-all-cost mentality. Lens flare is caused by the light bouncing back and forth between the lens elements. Therefore it stands to reason that the more lens elements you have the greater the chance of developing a lens flare. Zoom lenses are more prone to flare than primary lenses because they generally have more elements.  The more of the sun that shows, the more likely you are get a flare. Also, the further from the center of the image you place the sun the more likely you are to get flare. To reduce or eliminate lens flare, first, shoot with less of the sun showing and second, move the sun nearer the center of the image. A little experimentation will show what works best for equipment.

Metering for sunstars can be tricky because the light is changing dramatically and very rapidly as the sun emerges from behind the object. The camera’s metering system can easily be fooled by the extremely bright sun and dark foreground, resulting in poorly exposed images. I prefer to set my camera to manual metering mode to keep the exposure from changing as the sun emerges. It helps me to control whether I have a black silhouette or allow detail to show in the foreground.

With a little patience and practice you’ll find sunstars can add an incredibly dramatic element to your photos.

You’ll find other examples of sunstars on my website.

CAUTION! Be extremely careful when shooting sunstars. Looking at the sun directly or through your camera can potentially damage your eyes.

Great Places — 4 Comments
14
Feb 10

Lilliputian Frost Forest

Lilliputian Frost Forest

I have just returned from a few days in beautiful South Park, CO. One thing that they really got right in the South Park cartoon series is the cold. The warmest temperatures while I was there was about 25o F which was downright balmy after early morning lows of -21o F. Most of us don’t really enjoy being outdoors when it is that cold and I must confess that I had a hard time going out when it was that frigid, but there are some benefits. Unusual weather makes for some unusual photographs. In spite of the severe temperatures there were portions of the South Platte River that were not frozen over. Mist rises off that warm water (warm is relative) and freezes when it comes in contact with that bitter cold air, resulting in delicate frost crystals on everything it touches. A Lilliputian frost forest grows everywhere, including the ice on the river.

 Keep an eye on this blog as I’ll be sharing a few other gems from this trip soon.