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!
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
Click on the title above to write a comment
-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
Click on the title above to write a comment
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
Click on the title above to write a comment
-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
Click on the title above to write a comment
-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
Click on the title above to write a comment
-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
Click on the title above to write a comment
-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
Click on the title above to write a comment
-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
Click on the title above to write a comment
-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
Click on the title above to write a comment
-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
Click on the title above to write a comment
-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
Click on the title above to write a comment
-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
Click on the title above to write a comment
-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
Click on the title above to write a comment
-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!
Landscape or Architecture?
I was out doing some blue hour, landscape photography one evening when the real estate photographer in me got out. Actually I think this image has a bit of both.
-Spearfish Canyon Lodge, Savoy, South Dakota
Click on the title above to write a comment
-Canon R5
-EF 24-70mm lens @ 41mm
-F9.5, 0.5 sec, iso 100
-Single image
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!
Last of the Ice
It was a tiny example, but still evidence that winter isn’t quite ready to let go; even though the calendar says May!
-Somewhere on Iron Creek, Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
Click on the title above to write a comment
-Canon R5
-RF100mm F2.8 Macro Lens
-F16, 1/8 sec, iso 100
-Focus 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!
Drama Over Crow Peak
I was west of Mirror Lakes near Spearfish recently scouting the area for possible photographic opportunities, but it was a little challenging because of the weather squalls that kept blowing through with wind and rain. If nothing else, it did provide a dramatic backdrop for Crow Peak.
-Near Spearfish, South Dakota
Click on the title above to write a comment
-Canon R5
-EF24-70 F2.8 lens @ 70mm
-F11, 1/250 sec, iso 100
Processed in Adobe Lightroom and Nik Silver Effects
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!
Couldn’t Resist This One
As far as photo compositions go this is pretty low hanging fruit. Just off the highway and probably photographed a gazillion times, but I had to stop when I saw how the snow from this early spring storm was clinging to the trees and shrubs, providing a frosty frame for the falls.
-Bridal Veil Falls, Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
Click on the title above to write a comment
-Canon R5
-EF24-70 F2.8 lens @ 44mm
-F4.5, 1/4 sec, iso 100
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!
Beaver Pond
I happened to glance out the passenger side window as I was driving by a Dances With Wolves film site and spotted this perfectly placid pond. Upon further inspection I discovered it is the result of a beaver dam, but really caught my eye was the vibrant green moss under and on the surface of the water. It was early spring when this image was made, so I don’t know if it looks like this all the time, but it sure is beautiful while it lasts.
-Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
Click on the title above to write a comment
-Canon R5
-EF16-35 F2.8 lens @ 16mm
-F11, 1/8 sec, iso 100
-CPL filter to cut down on the reflection in the water
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!
Naked Trees
I’ve been experimenting with Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) for a while now with mixed results, but learning as I go. In this image the light bark of the aspen trees add definition that would have otherwise been an undefined and chaotic scene, and the dark shaded side of the canyon wall provides nice contrast. Also the leafless foliage tells the story of a late winter, early spring time of year due to just a hint of green in the lower right of the image.
-Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
Click on the title above to write a comment
-Canon R5
-EF24-70 F2.8 lens @ 35mm
-F22, 1.0 sec, iso 100
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!
First Dawn
When I look east at sunrise across the northwestern South Dakota foothills, and there are no signs of human presence or activity, I often wonder if this is what the first dawn was like.
-Spearfish, South Dakota
-Canon R5
-EF24-70 F2.8 lens @ 50mm
-F8, 2 sec, iso 100
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!
