Welcome to My Blog
Here you can read about how my thought process works when I compose, shoot and edit my images. I also share the equipment used including camera body, lens, filters and and all my camera settings. Enjoy!
Aspen Abstract
The harsh mid day sun was not the best conditions for autumn photography, so I tried a little intentional camera movement and purposely muted the colors in post. The result was this abstract effect that reminds me of runny water colors.
-Somewhere in the Black Hills, South Dakota
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Canon R5
-2 sec, F22, ISO 100
-EF 24-70 F2.8 Lens @ 30mm
-10 stop ND filter
-Processed in Adobe Lightroom, and Photoshop.
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
Coyotes, Elk and Stars
I don’t know if this place is technically part of Spearfish Canyon since it’s probably a mile or two west of what I consider the canyon, but I always wanted to shoot this old shed with the milky way core above it. So, having ideal weather, I made the trip out.
It was a clear, windless and slightly cool evening which carried the sounds of the yelping coyotes, and the bugle of a bull elk as close as I’d care to have them. All that and being under the stars with my camera… well that’s heaven.
-Somewhere in the Black Hills, South Dakota
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Foreground:
-Canon 5D Mrk III, Astro Modified
-Sigma 20mm F1.4 lens
-F8, 20 sec. ISO 800
-Speed light with CTO gel placed in shed
Sky:
Canon 5D Mrk III, Astro Modified
-Same lens as foreground
-F2.8, 10 sec. ISO 3200
-15 shots stacked for detail and noise reduction
-Processed and blended in Adobe Lightroom, and Photoshop. Star reduction done with RC Astro
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
Dry But Lush
It’s a busy image, but what impressed me was how dense the foliage is on the forest floor. It’s been a dry year in northwestern South Dakota, so I wouldn’t have predicted things to be so lush.
-Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
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-Canon R5
-EF24-70mm F2.8 lens @ 60mm
-F8, 1/60th sec, ISO 200
-One handheld shot
-Processed in Adobe Lightroom.
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
Autumn in Custer State Park
We went to the arts festival in Custer State Park recently and afterwards took a short hike along the Centennial trail. It was the middle of the afternoon and the sun was rather harsh, so I didn’t take many photographs until some high, wispy clouds softened the light. That’s when I captured this image looking up the trail at some awesome fall colors and this great granite formation.
-Custer State Park, South Dakota
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-Canon R5
-EF24-70mm F2.8 lens @ 24mm
-F8, 1/350th sec, ISO 160
-One handheld shot
-Processed and blended in Adobe Lightroom.
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
A New Perspective
A friend of mine took me for a drive in the northern Black Hills on his ATV and I got some views I don’t normally get to see; like this view of Crow Peak.
-Spearfish, South Dakota
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-Canon R5
-EF24-70mm F2.8 lens @ 27mm
-F8, 1/125 sec, ISO 1000
-One handheld shot
-Processed and blended in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
Go Now!!!
A lesson I finally learned; If you want to see these ferns in their autumn colors, don’t wait until autumn!
-Somewhere in Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
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-Canon R5
-Ef16-35 mm lens @ 25mm
-F9, 1/10 sec, ISO 100
-Three focused stacked shots
-Processed and blended in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
Flashing the Old Oak Tree
There is a multiple exposure technique where several photos are taken of a subject from different angles, then overlaid in post processing, or in camera. This creates an abstract piece of art which I’ve practiced but never at night.
This image was shot from nine different angles around this old oak using a remote flash from each shooting location. After the images were composited together, this rather mysterious looking tree was the result. I really like the grungy texture and the way each flashed shot gives an uneven level of light across the leaves.
-Somewhere west of Spearfish, South Dakota
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-Canon 5D mark III
-Sigma 20mm F1.4 lens
-F8, 10 sec, ISO 1000
-Nine flashed shots from various angles around the tree
-Processed and blended in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
Beautiful But Frustrating
The ferns that grow in parts of the Black Hills are beautiful to witness first hand, but the forest floor is a complicated and frustrating place to organize a photo composition. Here’s my best effort on this particular day.
-Somewhere in Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
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-Canoon R5
-Ef 24-70mm F2.8 Lens @ 39mm
-F8, 1/10 sec, ISO 320
-Two focused stacked images
-Processed and blended in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
Two Years in the Making
I imagined this image a couple of years ago, and ever since I’ve been waiting for the right conditions. Of course the milky way had to be in the right position on a moonless night, but I also needed calm, clear weather in order to get good star reflections in the lake.
Everything finally came together earlier this week and I got the shot. On the horizon there looks to be a large fire burning which probably accounts for the orange air glow.
-Mirror Lake, Spearfish, South Dakota
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Sky:
-Canon 5D Mark III (Astro Modified)
-Sigma 20mm f1.4 lens
-F2.8, 13 sec, iso 3200
-15 stacked images for clarity and noise reduction
Landscape:
-Canoon 5D Mark III (Astro Modified)
-Sigma 20mm f1.4 lens
-F1.4, 30 sec, ISO 3200
-Single image
-Sky images stacked in Starry Landscape Stacker, processed and blended in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
The S Curve That Stopped Me
On the way to Medora, ND I couldn’t resist stopping the truck to capture this wonderful S curve dissecting this wheat field. It was just a gray, featureless sky, so I liked the way black and white sets the mood. Also, if you look closely, there’s what appears to be a red tailed hawk sitting on one of the bales. I honestly didn’t see that until I got the image home to process it.
-Somewhere north of Buffalo, South Dakota
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-Canon R5
-RF 70-200mm F2.8 lens @ 190mm
-F8, 1/180th sec, iso 100
-Hand held
-Processed in Adobe Lightroom
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
In the Grove
The trail to Spearfish Falls is a veritable botanical garden with many plant species to enjoy along the way. This large grove of coneflowers was difficult to photograph at first until some dappled sunlight fell on the flowers closest to the camera. It then became a matter of isolating a few for a pleasing composition, and waiting for the perfect light.
-Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
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-Canon R5
-RF 100mm F/2.8 macro lens
-F2.8, 1/60th sec, iso 320
-Four focus stacked images
-Processed in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
Keep an Open Mind Please
I know, I know it’s a composite, but please keep an open mind. You see, I love landscape and astro photography and this is the only way I can combine deep space and landscape images in one photograph. I got a new toy, the seestar s30 pro telescope/camera and took it out for the first time recently to image the Andromeda galaxy.
It’s pretty much in the same area of the sky you’d see Andromeda and someday it might be just as prominent because Andromeda and our own Milky Way galaxy are on a collision course. However, at 2.5 million light years away, we won’t be seeing this sight for quite a long time, but here’s a preview.
-Friendship Tower on Mt Roosevelt, Deadwood South Dakota
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-Foreground:
-Canon R5
-EF 14mm F/2.8 lens
-F3.5, 6 sec, iso 500
-One light painted exposure
-Sky:
-ZWO Seestar S30 Pro
-50 tracked and stacked 30 second shots
-Processed in Siril, Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
Pretty but Nasty
St John’s Wort is classified as an invasive species in South Dakota, but it sure makes a good foreground subject.
-Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
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-Canon R5
-EF 24-70mm F/2.8 lens @ 70mm
-F11, 0.5 sec, iso 100
-Focused Stacked
Processed in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
Just a Cloud
I know it’s just a cloud, and it would be so much more dramatic if it were behind a mountain, or reflected in a calm lake, but darn it, it’s still pretty!
-Spearfish, South Dakota
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-Canon R5
-EF 24-70mm F/2.8 lens @ 45mm
-F3.5, 1/125th sec, iso 100
-Hand held shot off my back deck at sunset.
Processed in Adobe Lightroom
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
Natures Fireworks
Finding wildflowers to shoot in Spearfish Canyon isn’t hard, but finding the right light is. To get this kind of fireworks effect, I need a shaft of light on the blossoms while trying to keep everything else in deep shadow. With a one second shutter speed I hold the camera as still as possible for an instant, then give a quick twist. My success to failure ratio is probably 1/20, but I’m having fun.
-Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
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-Canon R5
-EF 24-70mm F/2.8 lens @ 35mm
-F11, 1 sec, iso 100
-6 stop ND filter
Processed in Adobe Lightroom
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
Something a Little More Conventional
Taking a break from ICM (intentional camera movement) and getting back to conventional landscape, this is an image shot along Little Spearfish Creek just upstream from Rough Lock Falls in Spearfish Canyon. It caught my eye because of the way the sun was back lighting the the leaves and foliage. I focused on the leaves with a wide aperture to intentionally blur the back ground creek and canyon, and kept the middle ground in deep shadows to make the leaves pop, an artistic choice on my part that may or may not appeal to everyone.
-Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
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-Canon R5
-EF 24-70mm F/2.8 lens @ 60mm
-F4, 1/60th sec, iso 100
-Two shots focused stacked
Processed in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
Continuing A Theme
Continuing the ICM theme, I tried several different camera movements and focal lengths before finally getting a shot I liked. This image is the result of quickly moving the camera in a circular motion as I pressed the shutter, giving the blossoms a soft, round look.
-Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
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-Canon R5
-EF 24-70mm F/2.8 lens @ 50mm
-F22, 0.3 sec, iso 100
-Single image hand held
Processed in Adobe Lightroom
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
ICM - Am I Getting Better?
After admiring several images from real intentional camera movement (ICM) pros, I’m starting to get infatuated with this genre of photography. These methods produce an artistic, abstract image of course, but the challenge is to make an image that isn’t so abstract that the subject matter isn’t recognizable.
This is a singe image ICM shot and hopefully you can recognize it as a path winding through a stand of spruce trees, with a single birch in the background.
-Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
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-Canon R5
-EF 24-70mm lens @ 55mm
-F8, 1 sec, iso 100
-Single image hand held while panning up
Processed in Adobe Lightroom
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
The Black Hills Not So Black
What makes the Black Hills black are the forests of ponderosa pines that blanket the region, however there are pockets of aspen and birch if you know where to look. These colorful pockets are easy to spot in autumn because of their vibrant yellow leaves, but in early spring, not so much. I like photographing them in this state because of the delicate detail in the branches, but I’ll return in the fall to see which scene I prefer.
-Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
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-Canon R5
-EF 70-200mm lens @ 88mm
-F8, 1/180 sec, iso 320
-Single image hand held
Processed in Adobe Lightroom
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
A Watery Abstract
You may look at an image like this and think it was a double exposure, but it’s actually some type of aquatic plant just below the surface of a really clear and still pond with the reflection of a steep canyon wall overlaid on top. My kind of abstract art!
-Little Spearfish Creek, Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
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-Canon R5
-EF 24-70mm lens @ 70mm
-F8, 1/90 sec, iso 1250
-Single image hand held
Processed in Adobe Lightroom
If you don’t see this image for sale and would like to a buy a print, please contact me for ordering details. Many thanks!
