After all of these years one would think I might tire of sharing photographs and babbling on about what comes to mind when I see them, and/or what I remember about making them. Apparently not. In today’s world I suppose, it’s an escape from all that is bad. For you too I hope.

Coming soon at a location near you?

Frost and snow is in the near future for many of us. If you are a photographer, that can be a good thing.

Making photos of white can be a small struggle. It was once a large struggle.

Make sure that your camera is not pointed at a scene, it that is primarily white when you arrive at an exposure for a frost or snow image. Even auto exposure can and will be fooled by all that bright white.  You will have an underexposed or dark image. An incident reading with a hand held light meter is one way of solving the problem. That means your exposure will be arrived at via the light falling on the scene rather than from the scene itself. I know very few will have one. Then instead, point at the scene while in manual metering and meter read the scene. Then open up one click at a time while reviewing your image until you have what you want. You can of course also just shoot and attempt to add light to fix your image after the fact. I am confident that many will choose that path.

New frost. The first thing in the morning, is a wonderful time to find “new frost”.  Number one frost photography rule, you cannot make frost photos after the first has melted.

Close-up images of branches make for nice pictures when you have a blue sky day. With this shot, I used a polarizing filter and turned that filter while viewing the scene. The sun seems to have been to my right. When I hit deep blue, I made the image. Always make sure that the entire area of sky that you see, is even toned blue, not some dark and some light. At least do so when you can. I used a 70mm lens for this. Wide angles, 38mm and down, visually spread the sky and make even blue more difficult.

Backlighting with sunny day frost, can be a problem. Using a frosty tree, in between you and the sun, can provide spectacular images. My exposure reading I am sure, was created by reducing the area read, by using a 1% spot reading. I metered only the area I wanted, likely the lower left blue, to arrive at a reading.

You all know how much I loved creating images of orb webs with dew. Most of the images I have shared were super close-ups, and were created with a dark or black shadow in back of the web. While I love making those sorts ow dewy web pictures, sometimes I searched for scenarios where I could have a background that was equally lit to the web. Then back off, capture more of the subject. 

Always make composition a major part of what you do. Where I compositionally placed the branch and the center of the web in this shot, is in some ways everything the photo is about.

Okay, I have made a lot of images of unspectacular subjects in my life. I think the reason for that is I find so many things visually interesting. Even beautiful or powerful.

A bunch of wild grasses after some rain was a fascinating enough subject for me to set up the tripod and make a few pictures.

Beauty and inspiration is always in the eye of the beholder. All a photographer can do is capture what you “see”, and share it with the world.

Water is actually one of nature photography’s most used subjects.

The edge of the falls!!

I have been in moose country many times in my life. I’ve seen more than I have photographed and I have never really gotten close to procuring a photo that I could not wait to share. That said, I will share with you this pre-yearling moose chomping down of some greens. Its mom is just out of sight to iur left.

Macro photography is ignored by a fair percentage of outdoor photographers. It can be time consuming to accomplish and physically challenging as well. I love close-up photography.

With all that said, one of nature’s more popular subjects for macros are flowers.

One portion of a Lily, or a crisp shot of a wild Lupine flower in front of out of focus flowers of the same species. Two very different treatments of flowers.

Compositionally, the Lily photo was designed by me to contrast the green background and red and yellow flower. It also contrasts the smooth featureless background with the busier look into the flower.

Even fungi in the form of wild mushrooms, deserved a few moments of my photography time.  The colorful subject on top of the dark tree stump, also provided a nice contrast.

Okay, this snail without a shell met with my camera. The wild world is fascinating

Landscapes need not be the traditional imagery that we think of. Light, shadows, crepuscular rays, beauty and power is on the eye of the beholder. This was made in Washington State I believe.

Even traditional scenes do not need to be composed in traditional ways. This hillside and old barn were minimalist in regards to the size of scene. I gave more credence to the “big sky”. This image in fact is considered to be a minimalist photo.

View everything you photograph, in a variety of ways.

Well we started today with our nest season of winter, let’s finish with what is left of the current autumn season.

Grasses, a Birch tree which has shed its leaves, some Pines with their needles, and one lone deciduous tree in all of its fall glory. Nature keeps on giving.

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Originally, I was going to write about the Kyle Rittenhouse trial in this spot. I have decided to wait a while, not wanting to offer my opinions before anything happens to change my mind.

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Luke 9:23-25

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?

God Bless,
Wayne
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