Today was a cold windy day. We had a storm that had moved in. Al it brought was a few clouds and lots of cold North wind.
I decided to head down to Utah Lake as the sun was setting. I arrived a few minutes before it set and got my gear set up. I only had a few minutes for this shot.

The specs
iso 100
24mm
f/22
.8 second exposure

I like the varied color of the sky.
I like the blurred water.
I like the reflection.
I would like to have more color in the clouds.

For this shot to work I used two split neutral density filters. For the top half of the photo the filters stopped the exposure down to the equivalent 6 stops. The bottom half was exposed properly. In using this technique you don’t have half of the picture blown out or completely black. The low iso and high f/stop allowed for a longer exposure. I didn’t want the exposure to be too long because I wanted the clouds to be in focus. I did want it to be a little slower so that the water was slightly blurred.

Thanks for visiting. If you like what you see share with your friends.

Let me know what you think.

~wr~

I woke early on a Sunday morning and took my daughter to the Uinta Mountains. The goal was to photograph the Upper Provo River. We were the first to arrive. It was chilly, but a beautiful morning. Each time I found a place I liked my daughter would curl up on the rocks on top of my camera bag and take a short catnap. After an hour of peaceful photo taking other people arrived to take pictures. They had missed the best light. This picture would not have been possible without the assistance of a tripod.

The Specs
Iso 200
24mm
f/22
2 second exposure

I like how the river is cutting through solid rock.
I like how the stream weaves its way through the landscape.
I like the deep colors of the water.
I would like to not have the log in the middle of the river.

Let me know what you think.

~wr~

When we took our daughter to BYU Idaho to take a tour of the college we decided to take a detour to Yellowstone. We went to all the regular places. I had the perfect location scouted out when all of a sudden we were evacuated. The rangers didn't think we should be near a large herd of buffalos. So they moved the entire crowd to the other side. This was the shot.

The Specs
iso 200
34mm
f/18
1/250s

I like the solid blue sky against the water spout.
I like the contrast between the forest and the grass.
I like having Old Faithful centered.
I would like to take this photo at sunset.

For this photo I used a tripod for the steady shot. I had a polarizing filter for a nice blue sky. When I processed the photo I took it into CS3 and ran Topaz Clean and Topaz Simplify to give the photo the look of a painting.

Let me know what you think.

~wr~

We had just had a storm move through and the temperature was cold. The wind had blown off most of the leaves. There was a light rain sprinkled with snow, but I had to try to get one last trip in to capture the fall color. This was taken a few miles up Santaquin canyon. For this type of photo you must have a tripod or a place where the camera will not move.

The Specs
iso 200
38mm
f/22
3 second exposure

I like how the leaves are hanging on to the rock and fighting being washed away by the stream.
I like the mix of moss and colorful leaves.
I like how the water is moving in and out of all the rocks.
I like the large rock covered in leaves.
I would like to get rid of the two strands of grass.

Let me know what you think.

~wr~

We were traveling through Colorado recently. With the kids in the car and a long day behind and in front of us we didn't want to stop the car. Getting home was more important then stopping to take a photo. This mountain has alwas facinated me. There is practically no vegitation on the mountain, yet it has an increadible amount of detail and character. This photo is the perfecte example of adapting to whatever conditions present themselves to you. I rolled down the window set the iso higher with a shallower f stop which created a high shutter speed. I needed this in order to have a fairly sharp photo. After all we were traveling at 80 miles an hour.

The specs
f/9
shutter 1/1250s
iso 400
+0.3ev

I like the contrast of the blue sky and the earth tone mountain top.
I like teh black and greys.
I like the patterns the water has cut into the mountain.
I wish I could have stopped the car and properly taken the photo, but we can't always have what we want

Let me know what you think.

~wr~

This is the second installment of the spiders I found south of Saratoga Springs on the Western side of Utah Lake. This spider was standing guard next to it recent kill.

The Specs
f/13
1/160s
Exposure +.7

I overexposed this photo in hopes of getting a faster shutterspeed. My depth of field was shallow. In order to increase this I cranked the f stop up to f/13. I had to have a faster shutterspeed because the wind was constantly blowing and the spiders were moving. These spiders can move fast.

I like the symmetry of the legs.
I like the dark spider it has a mysterious look like it is ready to pounce.
I like the detail on the legs.
I would like to have a darker background may I will photoshop that in.
Next time I would shoot this one horizontal not vertical.

Let me know what you think by clicking on the contact me form.

~wr~

We were in Idaho looking at BYU Idaho as a possible choice for our daughter. The sun was starting to set, so I grabbed the camera and decided to try my hand a HDR photography. This was the result.

I like the dark storm clouds.
I like the bright color of the temple.
I like how the colors of the temple and the clouds interact.
I would like to take this photo again with the help of a tripod.

f/2.8
iso 400
standard exposure 1/10s
Hand held
Five exposures to get this look.

I had to shoot this at f7.1 because the light was low and I didn't have my tripod with me. I would like to do this one over at a lower iso, higher aperture and with a tripod and cable release.

Let me know what you think.

~wr~