Posts Tagged ‘chaska’
The Horse Knows The Way
Here’s another image from the beautiful frosty morning that I spent at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum a couple of weeks ago. I love bringing this barn into my images – it’s as if they positioned it on the hill above the meadow to make a perfect background to lead your eye into the image. Yes, it’s not a mountain range – but it’s what we have to live with here in Minnesnowta.
This is actually a pretty severe crop into what was originally a horizontal picture. I had too sweeping of a vista in the original shot, and the subject got lost. I like this one much better – it’s a much simpler composition.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 70-200 f/4L @ 140mm ISO 200, f/13, 1/250 sec.
Winter Wonderland
I love winter. That’s probably good because I live in a state where we get lots of it. Sometimes I get in a rut like everyone else and think I can’t get out to shoot in the winter because it’s too snowy or cold or drab or whatever. Frankly, it often is. On Saturday I was reminded again about why I love winter – everything looked Heavenly with fresh snow and fresh hoarfrost. There was a saintly white wonderland in every direction – so bright and white I wore sunglasses even though it was fully overcast.
Shooting on days like this is a challenge too – there is no detail in the sky or the ground. Do you emphasize the negative space or minimize it? The last post maximized it – this one minimizes it to focus detail on the frosty trees. Another gotcha is the light meter in the camera. It is important to set the meter to +1EV since everything is white. If you don’t, the camera will try to make everything 18% grey – and this will mean an image that is way too dark. One final winter shooting tip? Bring spare batteries and keep ‘em warm! Battery life is shortened by a huge amount when it’s below freezing.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 17-40 f/4L @ 40mm ISO 200, f/13, 1/250 sec.
Hoarfrost in Minnesota
Today marked a milestone of sorts – it’s the first time in two years that we had a heavy hoarfrost and I didn’t have a prior commitment that kept me from going out to shoot it. I anticipated we’d get some last night since a pea-soup fog rolled in last evening. When I woke up this morning and saw the crystalline world outdoors, I bundled up and headed out to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.
The tough part about shooting there in the winter is that they close off the 3-mile drive to motor vehicles. That means a hike in the snow to get anywhere. Framing up a shot without the snowbank along the road meant trudging through 2 feet of snow with a full load of camera gear. The conditions were perfect – the sun didn’t burn off the frost and the fog rolled out leaving it nice and clear.
Strangely, this picture is not black and white. With a white sky, lots of snow, and dark tree bark there’s almost no color in the picture. A slight blue cast to the snow is about the only giveaway that it’s not black and white.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 17-40 f/4L @26mm ISO 200, f/13, 1/250 sec.
Last Rays of November
Now, why on earth don’t I get sunsets like this when I’m on a nature shoot? The late November sunsets right off of my deck have been spectacular lately – and yesterday’s was no exception. I was actually running out the door to go over to my wife’s cousin’s place when I saw this out the window. I grabbed my camera (which still had the Lensbaby mounted) and I caught this beauty.
Again, like yesterday – I’m using my new Lensbaby on this picture. It progressively blurs out from the ’sweet spot’ calling attention to the focal point – in this case.. the farm.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Lensbaby Composer ISO 100, f/5.6 plate, 1/30 sec.
Kristina and Glen
This is Kristina and Glen – and I’ve got the huge honor of being their wedding photographer. This is a shot from their engagement stills+fusion shoot two weeks ago at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. I knew it was going to be fun based on our initial meeting – but I had no idea how much fun it was going to be. We did a couple of hours of still photography in the great Minnesota fall colors – then switched over to video once we had some shots ‘in the bag’. They were great sports about the whole thing – frolicking in damp leaves in 45 degree weather, playing hide and seek, dancing on bridges, and baring their souls by talking candidly about their feelings for one another. Their love for each other really shows through!
As a little ‘behind the scenes’ – getting this session off the ground was an exercise in patience with the crazy fall weather we’ve had this year. It rained 16 out of the first 26 days of October – and it snowed several times as well. It was pretty – but it really played havoc on any outdoor shooting. The day we shot this was literally our last chance before the remainder of the leaves hit the ground.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 135mm f/2L ISO 400, f/4, 1/100 sec
Fire and Fog
It’s not my fault the spaghetti almost got burned! Actually, it is my fault – I saw this sunset forming out of my kitchen window here in Chaska and had to take a picture of it. After a lousy rainy day, the sunset was a beautiful one with streaks of red and gold high overhead. Simultaneously, the dropping temperatures caused the fog to rise out of the lowlands in the background. The two contrasts superimposed was such a cool visual.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 70-200 f/4L + Canon 1.4x II extender. ISO 100, f/22, 16 sec.