Soleece, Kellerton Iowa.
Soleece picked out this red dress and we headed for my favorite brick wall with metal stairs to do some portraits.
Soleece in Red
Category Archives: Photographs
The Green Towel
Soleece with the green towel at Slip Bluff Lake. May 16, 2024.
If you are a nature, landscape, or outdoor portrait photographer it is a good idea to keep a towel in your car. This green towel lives in the back of my car. Sometimes I need it if I get caught in the rain or when I wade out into a lake or stream to get a better camera angle. Sometimes I drape it over my camera (and me) to protect the camera when I shoot in a light drizzle.
Water Portraits
Soleece, Slip Bluff Lake.
I love water portraits and Soleece does too, so we went out to two of our local lakes. Solace was in the shade for the first two photos so I adjusted the camera’s white balance for the shade. I used Adobe Camera Raw to tone down the highlights a bit.
Sunspots
Sun with large sunspots.
The large sunspot conglomeration at the bottom of the sun is the cause of the auroral explosion here on earth. An immense storm 17 times the size of our planet is going on in that sunspot area and a blast of plasma ejected by the storm headed toward earth. When the plasma hit the earth’s magnetosphere is set off the Northern and Southern Lights around the globe. If you have a solar filter for your camera lens you can go out and take pictures of the sunspots. I took this photo this afternoon using a white light solar filter made by Thousand Oaks Optical.
Northern Lights – May 10, 2024
Northern Lights, Home Lake, Lamoni Iowa.
The Northern Lights were spectacular last night in south central Iowa. The above image was my first click of the shutter. I was at Home Lake near Lamoni Iowa. When I arrived shortly after 10 pm, there were already a half dozen cars at the lake with people looking at the Northern Lights and many of them were taking pictures with every from smart phones and tablets to tripod mounted cameras. Tonight is predicted to be another great night. If you want to take pictures and need some advice, see the first link below. The other links are helpful too. Click any image in this article to see a larger version.
Living Arts Studios Dance Recital Photos – Spring 2024
“La Pavillon D’Armide Variation”, Soloist: Ava, Dance Recital, Living Art Studios, Lamoni Iowa.
Living Art Studios in Lamoni Iowa had its annual spring dance recital May 3 at the Shaw Auditorium, Graceland University. More photos follow. Click on any of the photos to see a larger version.
A Day in Southern Utah
Bryce Canyon at Sunrise
I was on my way from Colorado to California and decided to drive across southern Utah. I had never been to the National Parks in Utah and wanted to see them. They are spectacular. If you love landscape photography and haven’t been to southern Utah, put a trip there high on your priority list. These photos were taken April 25, 2011.
Happy Birthday, John Muir!
John Muir
Today is John Muir’s birthday! He was born April 21, 1838. He had a profound influence on how Americans viewed our wild lands and his influence led to the establishment of many of our National Parks and other protected lands. He was nicknamed “The Father of our National Parks”. Tomorrow, April 22, is also Earth Day, so I am combining the two in this article.
Here are photos from some of my favorite national and state parks along with quotes from John Muir.
Eye Close-ups
Soleece
Before I process an image, I zoom in and check the eyes to make sure they are in focus. If they aren’t, it is not a usable image and I pick a different one.
Soleece – A 24 Minute Photo Shoot
Soleece
What do you do if you have a minimal amount of shooting time? After meeting for the first time and discussing a number of portrait possibilities (see Before The First Photo Shoot), we had less than 30 minutes to shoot. I usually prefer a longer shoot which allows time for more possibilities, but you work with the time you have.
The First Click of the Shutter
Soleece
The first thing I do when I do a natural light portrait shoot is to do a custom white balance using an 18% gray card. Setting a custom white balance gives you more accurate and beautiful skin tones (details at the links below). After that, I do some simple portraits to get rid of the “first shoot jitters”. The person I am working with might be a little nervous. As for me, I am a perfectionist and I am nervous before every photo shoot and I am especially nervous the first time I work with someone. So I start off with something simple. This was my first portrait shoot with Soleece and I was super nervous.
Before The First Photo Shoot
Adobe Bridge: Portrait ideas.
It started with a text message from a mutual friend. She told me Soleece, a college student, wanted to work with me to create some portraits. Soleece saw some of my event photography in the local newspaper but she was not acquainted with my portrait photography.
Solar Eclipse Totality – August 21, 2017
The Corona.
I did not travel to the path of totality, so here are some of my favorite photos of totality from the August 21, 2017 eclipse.
Solar Eclipse Sequence – April 8, 2024
Solar Eclipse sequence.
12 photos from the April 8 solar eclipse.
Photo Data for all 12 photos: Canon 7D Mark II camera, Canon EF 100-400mm zoom lens at 400mm with a Canon EF 1.4X teleconverter. ISO 800, f/11, 1/400 second.
Solar Eclipse Photo – April 8, 2024
Solar Eclipse – April 8, 2024
This is my favorite eclipse photo because I can see all of the sunspot areas before they disappeared behind the Moon.
Beth
Beth
One year ago today I had a fun photo shoot with Beth. These are some of our favorite images from that shoot.
Using PeakFinder To Find the Names of the Mountains in Your Photos
Colorado Rockies (Front Range) from Keenesburg Colorado.
I have always loved the view of the Colorado Front Range as I approach the mountains from the eastern plains. I was going to stop in Keenesburg Colorado to get gas, so on that stop I found this county highway northwest of town to take a picture of the mountains. Back home at my computer I decided to figure out the names of some of these mountains.
Artist’s Statement
Artist’s Statement. Photo: Northern Lights, Camp Denali, Alaska. Click for a larger version.
KIA Project – The Human Web
The Human Web.
I created this image for a photography class I was teaching at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (KIA) in Michigan. It was so popular that Jim Riegel, the head of the photography department, asked if he could exhibit it at the KIA faculty exhibit at the annual Kalamazoo Art Fair in Bronson Park in June. Jim was in charge of the faculty exhibit. When June 2, 2001 rolled around, he used it as the centerpiece work of art for the KIA exhibit. At the end of the day he told me it was the most talked about work of art in the faculty exhibit. All kinds of people stopped by to ask questions about it and how it was created. This article explains how I did it.
This Morning’s Best Photos
Greater Prairie Chicken
Some mornings I take our dog on a tour of the four local lakes. I always have a camera and at least three lenses with me. Our first stop was to see if the local Greater Prairie Chicken was out and about. He was.
More Greater Prairie Chicken Excitement!
Greater Prairie Chickens, Elk Chapel Road, northwest of Lamoni Iowa. Sunday, February 25, 2024. 8:27 am.
I’ve been back to the prairie chicken location a few times over the last week, but I have not spotted him since February 18. That all changed Sunday morning. And there were two males instead of one!
Greater Prairie Chicken Excitement!
Greater Prairie Chicken near Elk Chapel Road, Decatur County Iowa. February 15, 2024. 5:24 pm.
A male Greater Prairie Chicken has taken up residence on the edge of a cornfield about 30-40 feet from a county highway, much to the delight of bird watchers. I got a call from a friend, so I grabbed my camera gear and drove out to the location. This image (above) was taken with the sun low in the west so this prairie chicken has wonderful, warm backlighting. Compare this light to the next photo.
“Black and White”
“Black and White”, Giulietta Luna, Columbus Ohio. Click image to see a larger version.
These images were created 14 hours apart, the first at night against a black backdrop and the second in the afternoon against a bright, window shade. In the second she is entirely backlit. It did not occur to me until this week that these two images could be combined. It is a happy accident that they are facing each other.
Beth in the Snow
Beth playing her violin in the snow.
February 12 is a red letter day! It started when Beth and I did a photo shoot in a snow storm in January 2020. We had so much fun we wanted to do it again. I was working in my office four years ago today and I looked out the window. Big, beautiful snowflakes were falling. I said to myself, “This would be a great day for another photo shoot in the snow.”
Rachel in Rembrandt Lighting
Rachel
This is Rembrandt lighting. The best clue is triangle shaped light on her right cheek.
Selina
Selina, Downtown Columbus Ohio. January 29, 2010.
Selina and I created this image 14 years ago this evening. Some models are a dream to work with and Selina is one of them, which is why we did more than one photo shoot. The windchill when I took this photo was 4°F. We scheduled this photo shoot weeks ahead of time and we knew it would be cold in January, but not THIS bone chillingly cold. I contacted her before she left home and asked if she wanted to re-schedule. She wanted to go ahead with the shoot despite the forecast and she drove up from Kentucky.
How to Photograph a Musician in the Cold and Snow
It was my happy privilege to do winter portraits of Beth Presler who is a superb violinist. This article has suggestions for photographing any musician on a cold, snowy winter day.
Metering Evening Winter Scenes
Snow Hummocks, Merced River
Just like metering daytime winter scenes, the key to metering evening winter scenes is knowing what to meter and deciding how much exposure compensation to use.
Metering People in the Snow
Kristina in the Snow
The white snow in a winter scene can and often does fool a camera meter into underexposing a portrait, so here are the steps to take to get the right exposure. I throw in a few portrait suggestions too.
“How To” Series: Winter Photography
Last Light on El Capitan, Yosemite National Park
In addition to all of the usual photographic challenges, winter provides some extra complications, especially in terms of metering. So I began this series of articles on winter photography. Check out the links below. The articles will help you meet the unique challenges of winter photography. So get out there, have fun, and create some great winter images!