Swampfrog's Oregon Photography Tour

[swampfrog]

I feel like the saturation feels a little too rich on these. Some of the leaves have a bluish hue in places, on my screen. Like the tips of the leaves in this one:



They also seem extraordinarily bright. They're still gorgeous, but I was distracted from their beauty by the things I mentioned above.

Here's a couple reprocessed. It was exceptionally bright as it can be at higher elevations, it was also chilly. The saturation was definitely overdone. It's interesting how my mood can sometimes affect my processing choices.

[BigPiney]

These were on the climb up Steens Mountain. I suspect higher elevation/extreme conditions. but I don't really know.

[swampfrog]

Any idea why the trunks of the trees are so bent? Are they in an avalanche zone?

These were on the climb up Steens Mountain. I suspect higher elevation/extreme conditions. but I don't really know.

[mtnbiker]

Any idea why the trunks of the trees are so bent? Are they in an avalanche zone?

[swampfrog]

Some of that is intentional in this particular set. We we're cruising around near midday, when I typically don't like to shoot anyway. Many are HDR composites. I juiced the contrast and pulled them cool/blue. I was getting tired of all the yellow/warm. I would have liked to have shot the area in the morning or evening, but we had an agenda for birds to meet. I'll look at pulling down the saturation some.

[wuapinmon]

I feel like the saturation feels a little too rich on these. Some of the leaves have a bluish hue in places, on my screen. Like the tips of the leaves in this one:



They also seem extraordinarily bright. They're still gorgeous, but I was distracted from their beauty by the things I mentioned above.

[swampfrog]

[swampfrog]

[swampfrog]

[swampfrog]

[swampfrog]

Some HDR work in the round barn. Need to try this again some day, should have taken off the polarizer. I think I can get better results.

[swampfrog]

I look at your bird photos the same way I used to marvel at Daryl Strawberry ripping homeruns down the rightfield line at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium when I was a boy. He'd hit a 400-foot homerun every pitch in batting practice, and then he'd usually hit one during a game. It seemed effortless. I have never, ever taken a photo like the ones you do. I do not believe that I ever could, even with the same optics and body. You generally try to demure about your photos, that anyone could take them, but the natural talent with your practiced hand/eye are gifted. Gifted.

You could. I'm pretty fast at this point, practice helps. It's essentially true that I could likely produce more consistently and a higher rate, however anyone with access to a 400mm f/5.6 or greater lens and almost any recent DSLR (last 4 years, even 10 years) can produce fantastic nature photos. It takes some training via instruction or youtube, and some basic editing skills, but nothing that couldn't be taught in a couple of hours.

For example, birds. Take the basic full body portrait. I didn't discover any of the following, all youtube.



Shoot RAW. Put the camera in continuous autofocus mode. Let it auto expose (for now), set for the widest aperture (or somewhere f/4 - f/7.1). Make sure you're above at 1/350 (faster for twitchy birds) of a second by setting ISO as necessary. Frame the bird so that the eye is in the upper 1/3 of the frame. Put 3 times the distance in front of the bird as behind it. Get a focus point on the eye (you do have to learn how to move your focus points--sometimes quickly). Take multiple pictures. Use one where the head is just slightly turned towards you 3-5 degrees. When possible, shoot in overcast conditions. Otherwise try to get the sun directly behind you (even when overcast this is helpful). Done. Some basic editing is all that is left.

[wuapinmon]

I look at your bird photos the same way I used to marvel at Daryl Strawberry ripping homeruns down the rightfield line at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium when I was a boy. He'd hit a 400-foot homerun every pitch in batting practice, and then he'd usually hit one during a game. It seemed effortless. I have never, ever taken a photo like the ones you do. I do not believe that I ever could, even with the same optics and body. You generally try to demure about your photos, that anyone could take them, but the natural talent with your practiced hand/eye are gifted. Gifted.

[swampfrog]

Killdeer have a very interesting nesting strategy. Right out in the open with camouflaged shell patterns. Then they give you the broken wing behavior to lead you away from the nest.

[swampfrog]