I have for you today, three awesome pix from three superb photographers.

I have never been this fortunate. Kerry Singleton who is an excellent
photographer is also either very lucky, or she fed this Snowshoe
Rabbit (not hare) a flower out of the car window. Even if she did, it
is still amazing to have the critter pick it up and look straight into
the camera lens with that blossom beautifully displayed in its mouth.

Lucky or not, Kerry is a master wildlife photographer.

“Here’s looking at you kid”

Mike Moats has been one of my favorite macro photographers for several
years.  His compositional excellence combined with his ability to
recognize and capture light, is top notch. I suspect some extremely
well-done use of contrast during the editing process was also
employed.

Mike is one of outdoor photography’s top workshop teachers. I have
never heard anything but good news from participants.

This Common Loon image, with the little ones riding on the back and
trailing close behind, is the sort of picture that absolutely everyone
loves. The dramatic light only serves to put some icing on the
cake….so to speak.

Ellen Anon is the artist and a great one she is.

I found long ago that if you are photographing birds in action, and
doing so in manual focus (some of you are asking what’s that?), it is
easier to manually follow focus a bird that is going away from you,
than it is one that is “coming at ya”.

Sometimes a “leaving” picture, is good in and of itself.

Of course, grounded birds can also sometimes tell a story from their
posterior that cannot be told from the front end.

This is a male Sharp-tail Grouse in its courtship dance.

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Many, many moons ago when I was in high school, we went through a
series of tests to judge our acuity to or perception of, color. I was
judged as being color deficient. Not color blind, I can easily see the
difference between an obvious red and a blue. It is those in-between
mixtures that are hard for me judge.

I have long thought that my awareness of that deficiency, has actually
been an aid to me in color photography. I often study and scrutinize
the color of subjects that I photograph meticulously, in order to
visually and intellectually understand their relationship to one
another.

Every weakness can become a strength if we give it a chance.

Also the fact that so much of my early photography was done in black
and white, aided me in my color photography.  Especially because I did
my own darkroom work.

I began to see the world in tones and contrasts instead of only color.
That “learned ability” served me well in seeing tone separations in
color images.

I have had my share of weaknesses as a photographer, so turning a few
more potential weaknesses into strengths, was a blessing.

Ansel Adams, always said that his black and white negatives were a
musical score, and the finished print was the performance. He also
said that when he viewed a great photograph, he could almost hear the
music.

Below is a fine Ansel Adams photograph.

While you could always print a color negative in black and white,
today our ability to take a color file and turn it into black and
white, and then work in gradations of tone makes black and white image
making easy and fun.

Arches N.P., Utah

Have a great day,
Wayne