Here is another example of the color in Utah this fall. I would be in an area where all the trees were yellow. Then turn the corner and they were red. Then a mixture of yellows, reds, and oranges. This photo was taken at the end of my walk and it was starting to get dark. Since I didn’t have a tripod I needed to boost the shutter speed. I wanted the iso to be as low as possible so I dropped the f/stop.

The Specs.
iso 200
38 mm
f/6.3
1/30 shutter speed

I like the yellow against the black tree trunks.
I like how the path wanders throughout the photo.
I like the cliff in the background.
I wish I would have had my tripod.

Let me know what you think, and if you like what you see share this site with your friends.

~wr~

This fall I had a blast taking photos of Utah’s fantastic colors. The color this fall was as spectacular as I have ever seen it. For this shoot I laid my camera on top of a rock in the middle of the path and took the photo. I processed the picture using Topaz Simplify.

The Specs
iso 200
29mm
f/22
1/4 second

I like the leaves on the path.
I like the color of the trees.
I like the texture of the light and dark tree trunks.
I like how the path disappears.

I like using Topaz plug ins on some of my photos because it gives them an oil painting type of look.

Let me know what you think and please share this site with your friends.

~wr~

I decided to go out and take a few photos of some wildlife before the turkey dinner. Everywhere I went the animals would quiet down and hunker down in their hiding places. After quite some time I spotted this American Coot feeding amongst the reeds. Just watching the scene in the cold water made me more thankful for everything I have.

The Specs.
iso 200
340mm
f/4.8
1/800s

I like the yellow color of the dead reeds against the blue water.
I like the ripples around the bird. They guide the eye toward the bird.
I like the shallow focus. This also guides the eye toward the bird.
I like the reflection in the water of the bird.
I would like to have a tighter crop on the bird.

I have added this photo to a new section called wildlife. I plan on taking many more photos of wildlife in the coming weeks.

Let me know what you think, and share my site with your friends.

~wr~

This is another photo from our recent trip to the Rocky Mountain National Park. Shortly after we had arrived at Estes Park I snuck out of the condo to take a few photos. I wanted to take some water pictures with the fall colors, but the cold snap had effectively killed all color. The trees had no leaves on them. Instead I took a side road and came to a location where you could see into Rocky Mountain National Park. After a short hike I found a high vantage point just as the sun was setting.

The specs.
iso 200
40mm
f/22
5 exposure HDR

I like how the clouds and the forest frame the Colorado Rockies.
I like the color of the clouds.
I like the snow on the Rockies.
I wish I would have remembered to shoot this in camera raw.

For this type of photo it is necessary to use a tripod and cable release. This is a five exposure HDR picture. A very simple explanation is that you set your camera to take five different pictures each at a different exposure. Two are overexposed, two are underexposed, one is exposed exactly the way you set it in the camera. You then load all five exposures into a program that blends the correct exposure of each photo into one picture. The program I use is Photomatix Pro.

For this picture I used five exposures, but you can do 3, 5, 7, 9. Photomatix Pro is an easy to use program that produces great results.

Let me know what you think by clicking the link at the bottom of the page. Please share this site with your friends.

~wr~

This is the last image from my recent photo shoot. This one is looking South on Utah Lake toward West Mountain and Maple Mountain.
I was originally going to use this in a panoramic shot of the sunset, but several birds flew overhead and in trying to get them in the photo I forgot to go back and finish the panoramic. Again this was shot with two split neutral density filters. This a a must if you want detail in the dark and light areas. In a sense these filters fool the camera into thinking the entire area is equally bright.

The Specs
iso 200
24mm
f/22
0/6 second exposure

I like how the clouds direct the eye to the bright portion of the photo.
I like the wide variety of colors throughout the photo.
I wish I could have more reflection in the water and not have it so dirty looking.

Let me know what you think. If you like the photos please share my site with your friends.
Fill free to e-mail me your thoughts by pressing the contact me link on this page.

~wr~

Here is another shot from my trip to Utah Lake. The key to this type of photo is a tripod with a cable release. This keeps the camera steady during the entire shot. Also to be able to get detail in the entire photo you need a split neutral density filter. In this case I used two and effectively changed the exposure by 6 stops on the top.

The Specs
iso 100
29mm
f/22
.5 second exposure

I like the reeds. They calmed down the waves, and allowed the water to reflect more of the sunset.
I like how the horizon is a beautiful yellow and orange.
I like the rocks in the foreground. The help direct the eye to the reeds.
I wish I could tone down the bright yellow on the bottom of the clouds.

Let me know what you think.

~wr~