Wheel Line Silhouette
The above image was taken this morning just before sunrise and converted to black & white using NIK's Silver Effex Pro.
Nikon D3S & Nikon 80-200 afs f2.8 lens
The new Winter addition of Sun Valley Magazine is out and I have done the photography for a small piece on winter fly fishing on the Big Wood River.
Agave
Hammonds Meadow, Santa Barbara
I have been editing a bunch of older images using Nik's Silver Effex Pro 2. It's really fantastic software...
On another note, here's the link to a phenomenal short video on skiing lousy street conditions with incredible videography. That's right, street conditions. It's a must see: http://www.sherpascinema.com/theatre/jp-auclair-street-segment-allican
Solitary Grandstand. Shoshone, Idaho
Abandoned Stone Building. Shoshone
Tracks & Downtown Shoshone
Union Pacific Building. Shoshone
Grain Tower. Richfield (2 image pano)
Nikon D3S & Nikon 24 pce lens
Boardwalk. Mammoth Hot Springs
Nikon D3S & Nikon 24 pce lens
Boiling River & Winter Color
The Boiling River, pictured above, nears its meeting with the much colder Gardner River. The temps in the water pictured above are scalding hot.
Gardner River
Steam from the Boiling River confluence can barely be seen in the background...
Nikon D3S & Nikon 24 pce lens
Scorched Trees & Mammoth Hot Springs
Nion D3S & Nikon 24 pce lens.
The above image was captured without using the tilt or shift function on the Nikon 24 pce lens. It was taken handheld at an aperture of f14 and it's a manual focus lens...
The above image is essentially the same as the first in this post compositionally but I rotated the lens 90 degrees and fully tilted downward and focused on the tree trunks. The plane of focus now runs horizontally across the mid section of the image in a wedge shape from left to right. The plan of focus is "thinner" on the left than the right, hence the wedge shape, despite the fact it's hard to notice. This image was also captured at f14 to essentially "widen" the horizontal focus plane. At f3.5--the max aperture on the Nikon 24 pce lens--the plane of focus would be substantially narrower. Both images were processed differently using Nik's Silver Effex 2.
Winter Contrast. Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone
Nikon D3S & Nikon 24 pce lens
Star Trails Over The Boulders
Nikon D3S & Nikon 50 f1.8 lens
This is my first image using the software StarstaX. It's about 80, thirty second exposures stacked together. One of the benefits of doing this is reducing noise. Another benefit, as the 1/2 moon was behind the camera and essentially front lighting the boulders, would be allowing for longer star trails without over exposing the image. If there is any negative I can think of so far it's that StarstaX cannot yet read RAW files. I convert my RAW files when exporting them from Aperture to StarstaX. Pretty easy and the best part is StarstaX is free. For more info check out the StarstaX site HERE.
Star Trails & Burned Area. Idaho's Frank Church Wilderness
Nikon D200 & Nikon 14-24 2.8 lens
I have been reworking a few images in Nik's new Color Effex Pro 4 now for a few weeks. The image above is a year or so old but I just ran it throgh Color Effex Pro 4 and have consistently found the new system to be far better. The biggest reason for me is the ability to "stack" different filters which means you don't have to leave Color Effex to then open it again. This alone has saved me a lot of time. More to come...
Grand Tetons as seen from the Idaho desert...
Nikon D200 & Nikon 80-200 afs 2.8 lens
Rick McIntyre, pictured above is and has been a Biological Technician for the Yellowstone Wolf Project essentially since its inception with the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone in 1995. There's no doubt he's the wolf guru in the park. His knowledge based on years of experience observing--it is said that he spent over 3,500 consecutive days watching Yellowstone wolves--is unsurpassed. While his voice is quiet with a slow cadence, he candidly answers questions from tens of thousands of visitors each year. Imagine the patience needed to answer questions from that many people. In the image above, Rick is watching the Lamar Canyon pack on the west side of the Lamar Valley. 11 wolves in all. At the time of this image, 3 Lamar Canyon pups were pseudo-stalking 3 large bull elk while the adult wolves sat in the background and watched. I asked Rick why he thought the large bull elk didn't run and he said he believes the larger and healthier bulls stand their ground and the adult wolves know and respect that. "The pups may try to make a go at the bulls but the odds are low they will try and if they do they will not likely succeed."
Rick McIntyre & Will Price watch the Lamar Canyon pack.
Rick and many others are often generous with their spotting scopes. Pictured above, Will peers through Rick's scope.
Nikon D3S & Nikon 24 pce lens
Coyote. Lamar Valley
Nikon D200 & Nikon 80-200 afs 2.8 lens
Retired Truck & Star Trails. Pray, Montana
Lava Creek. Yellowstone
Mammoth Hot Springs
Showing Off An Early Winter Gardner River Baetis
Gardner River
Nikon D3S & Nikon 24 pce lens
Tom Williams, pictured above, at 82 is a Virginia City native. He had an approx. 40 year military career that took him around the globe and eventually he landed back in Virginia City where I had the pleasure of meeting him today. He warned me that my lens could break while taking his picture. Undoubtedly a wonderful person, I wish I had the chance to sit with him and listen to him just talk...
Bench. Virginia City, Montana
Stone Wall & Portrait. Virginia City
Old Gas Pumps. Virginia City
Nikon D3S & Nikon 24 pce lens
Baled hay in Pray, Montana.
Nikon D3S and Nikon 24 pce lens
On our way over to Chico Hot Springs in Montana and Yellowstone. First night at the Murray in Livingston, a favorite hotel of mine. It all starts though, at the Calf-A in Dell, Montana. It's an ex-school house turned cafe. The history is all over the walls and just about everything is homemade including their pies! Here are a few iPhone images from the day. The image on the bottom is an abstract of ice. All of these photos in addition to being taken on the iPhone were edited on the iPhone using NIK's really incredible app, Snapseed.
Silver Creek Preserve Cabin & Stars.
Prior to walking down to the creek to take a long exposure I took a few 4 to 8 second images of the cabin and stars. I used my headlamp to "paint" the cabin...
Nikon D3S & Nikon 14-24 f2.8 lens
Star Trails & Bridge. Silver Creek, Idaho
I just got back from the Nature Conservancy section of Silver Creek after taking a few long exposure images. It was about 20 degrees and windy. Just after starting my first exposure a beaver exploded at the surface and scared the daylights out of me. It was dark, and got the front element of my lens wet. I started over again and got this image. Lots to work on here, but it's a start... I used the long exposure noise reduction option on my Nikon D3S and it took roughly 90 minutes to finish processing after the shutter closed. It was an approx. 61 minute exposure.
Nikon D3S & Nikon 14-24 f2.8 lens
Sawtooths, Idaho. November. (4 image pano)
Nikon D3S and Nikon afs 80-200 f2.8 lens
I am using my Really Right Stuff macro rail mounted on a Really Right Stuff ballhead to find the nodal point on any given lens prior to shooting a pano. If you want a great explanation of a nodal point and how to accomplish finding it click on this link HERE to go to Really Right Stuff's site and see their concise breakdown of what is and how to find a nodal point.
Sawtooths After November Storm. Idaho (4 image pano)
Sawtooths & Passing Storm
Nikon D3S & Nikon afs 80-200 f2.8
Enjoying a Salmon River Hot Spring. The high temp was about 24 degrees in Stanley. About 4 to 5 new inches of snow yesterday in Stanley and 2" to 3" in Ketchum.
November Silver Creek East Sunrise Pano. Idaho
Nikon D3S & Nikon 35 f2 lens. Taken on a tripod.
The above image is a 9 image pano. It's approxamately 43 megapixels and about a 248 mb file. It was stiched together using Adobe CS5's Photomerge tool.
Silver Creek East. November
Nikon D3S & Nikon 35 f2 lens
As the water temps have cooled substantially downstream of the HWY 20 bridge there appear to be far more fish between approx. the Picabo Bridge and the Willows. While this section stays open through all of February, now is a great time to be down there.