skibum

Its that time for a few new uploads (AKA my newest stuff is kinda blah so gotta waste some time). An abandon place, and some fall shots.









Sunrise looking east


this is what it was doing to the west. The low intensity red causes issues... its way different on every monitor. lol. Gotta figure out how to bring the rainbow out more...


I dunno why I uploaded this other than its the one elk shot with sun I got this year....




















Check back tomorrow for more.

Fly

this one reminds me of the view at our cabin up north.


nice shot man

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BASTARD

SterlingStudios

Daoust

Colorado looks awesome. Beautiful shots there, skibum.

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intecel

I just sold everything I owned... I'm moving in next door

skibum

Thanks. Heres a few more.

blueroses

These are GORGEOUS. All of them. I don't know if I could even pick out a favorite...

Great job!

hagatha

Do you work for National Geographic? Great documentation work.

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fnaqzna

Wow! You've got talent... lots of it. Great pics.

Willravel

Well, I prefer healthy living to getting shots, eating fruits and veggies, regular exercise, but...

OH MY GOD, those are amazing! You captured the seasons as well as I've seen by any photographer. VERY, VERY, well done. You mean those kinds of shots!

ngdawg

Beautiful work. Care to share the techs? Settings, any edits done, etc. My autumn stuff comes out a bit 'soft'.

Baraka_Guru

These are great. I love the wildlife shots. They're not easy, I bet.

Number 4 shot from the top blew my mind with its dramatic motion and depth.


All in all, great work. I too would like to know your techs.

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newtx

Great photos. Really liked the color in the Fall shots.

mixedmedia

These are stunning. Seriously. Thanks for sharing them.

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skibum

Thank you everyone. Please excuse the typos and/or bad grammar, its late. lol.

Anything specific anyone wants to know feel free to ask. If I can answer I will. I say "if" because a lot of this just comes to me and I don't really think about it. But give it a try, be it a shooting or post work technique. As for the basics:

When shooting keep the angle of the sun in mind at all times. How the exposure comes out changes dramatically based off how light falls and reflects. Most of these I didn't need to worry about sun, it was overcast. Advantage of overcast is that it boosts color saturation due to less reflection. In cases where there is sun polarizers can help a ton. If you have an SLR get a circular polarizer. You lose a few stops of light, but it cuts WAY down on reflection and gives much richer colors. Even on overcast days it can help (the cascade shots).

Post work to these is basically all the same. I shoot with a Nikon D70 which is famous for its conservative metering and flat curve, really noticeable in low light. As such I do minor curve work in photoshop to bring more DR into the shot (other people load custom curves into their cameras).

Image sharpness is one of those things. Most of the leaves in these aren't very sharp compared to what I am use to (if I posted a 100% crop of an elk shot and a tree shot you'd be amazed at the difference). I have the same issue with wildflowers, and I haven't completely figured it out. Even minor camera shake at higher shutter speeds can affect a shot so make sure you aren't ever so slighty pulling to one side when you push shutter release. A lot of people do it and never notice it. Also, make sure to stop down. I will assume people know Depth Of Field and how aperture affects it, and if not please speak up. That said, lenses have a sweet spot. All are different. Some are sharpest at F8, some at F11, others at F16. Digital starts losing sharpness in the higher reaches. So try to stop down as much as you can and still hold the DOF you want.

Sharpening is a fun one. I haven't ever seen much need to sharpen my photos very much and had 2 basic ways I did it, neither good for fine detail, more of local contrast enhancement. But I will cover those 3 things tomorrow if people request it.. though I bet those even quasi serious about photog will laugh that I am just learning this stuff. But hey, maybe I am wrong. lol.

cadre

For someone who considers themselves just learning photography, you have a really great understanding of the concepts. I used to use a d70 and I noticed some issues with it also, most of it is fixable in photoshop but I never did get it to do well in low light. I recently upgraded to a d200 and I can tell you that the difference is amazing. If you're ever considering upgrading, I'd say go for it.

That said, these are some amazing shots. I like the icy branches the best but that's just my style. I'd suggest trying HDR (high dynamic range) with some of your landscapes to bring the sky in a bit. Then you could easily get details in the clouds. Just don't over do it. Great colors in all your shots!

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skibum

Sadly, HDR isn't gonna help bring sky detail for most of them. Thats just a typical snowy day in the mountains in colorado, there is no detail, its just a flat white sky. Actually makes it interesting skiing above tree line, you can't see anything but white. No detail at all in snow or sky. Just going by feel. lol

cadre

Those actually weren't the ones I was referring to, I realize there's not much you can do there. I remember it being very frustrating when I was in Alaska and the skies were blank like that. I meant that in the third, or I think it's the third, set you have the fall color shots with skies and scattered clouds. You could use HDR there to bring in the clouds a bit.

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Khazuko

Wow man, beautiful work. This is why we should work to conserve nature around the world.

lagoonguy

great stuff. love the wildlife

jewels

Breathtaking!!

Do you gallavant around the neighborhood or is all this in your backyard?

Is that your house in the second group of shots? If so, do you rent out the garage seasonally?

paint451

Indoor B&W's are great!

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skibum

Thanks everyone.

Its all close enough to "in my back yard". lol. I spend time between 2 houses, one in Denver and one south of Estes Park. Everyone posted is within a short drive of either place. The building in the second group of shots is a little church at the base of Mt. Meeker.

ametc

I love these. Especially the rainbow ones. The little coyote looks a little like my dog. haha