Yellowstone Falls from Artist Point is a sight to behold, but at this particular moment the view was extraordinary. The sun broke through heavy clouds, bathing the falls with light, and leaving the rest of the valley cloaked in soft shadow.

This was a waiting game…I watched the clouds for over 3 hours on this cold and rainy day before the spotlight illuminated Yellowstone Falls. I chose to under expose the image to ensure that the bright highlights in the water were not blown out. Even with under exposure, the falls were so bright that I had to process a single RAW image twice, and than combine them using our iHDR workflow.

By the time I was ready to put away my camera, my gloves were wet and my fingers were cold and numb. But it was worth the result… I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

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Jökulsárlón was, without question, my favorite of the places we visited on our first trip to Iceland. I wanted an incredible simple composition for this image – so I chose a single iceberg as my point of interest, and used a long shutter speed to blur the waves. The clean shades of blue simplified the image even further. A short time later, I was reminded of the awesome (and dangerous) power of nature – but for the moment, I tried to capture the incredible peace and tranquility of this beautiful scene. I hope you enjoy it!

As always, these images are provided for personal use as computer wallpaper or backgrounds ONLY. Copyright belongs to the photographer, and photographs cannot be used, redistributed, or recreated in print or on the web or on any other medium without written permission from the photographer.

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On my first visit to Yellowstone, we stopped for lunch and my daughter fell in LOVE with the orange juice. And so, right in the middle of nowhere (somewhere along the Idaho/Wyoming border- farmland stretching for miles in every direction) she REALLY had to go. Well, here is a photo from that road-side stop.

This image highlights the emotional impact of human beings in a photograph. If I were to remove the two small figures from the photograph would this photograph have the same impact? It would be just another pretty landscape photo of a field and clouds. I chose the composition because I wanted to remember the time (clouds and sky) and the place (nothing for miles but freshly planted fields).

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I have always loved snow drops because they bloom sometime in February – when there is still snow on the ground. For me, they are the very first sign of Spring – and when I see them, I feel lighter somehow. It’s such a relief to see these delicate beauties appear after months of shoveling snow in freezing weather, and searching for sun under heavily overcast skies.

It’s easy to capture an image like this… even without fancy equipment.

I brought a single flower into the house and used a clothespin to hold it upright on a small stool. I placed a sheet of white paper behind it, making sure that the sunlight from a nearby window illuminated the paper. I used a small reflector (a sheet of shiny poster board would do… or even a piece of glossy photo paper) to reflect light from the window back onto my pretty subject.

I used a tripod to hold my camera steady, and I took several shots from different angles… making sure that my background was far enough away from my flower that the soft textures were completely blurred out. I chose an aperture of f8 in order to make sure I had enough depth of field to get the whole flower in focus.

Processing was very easy. I selected Photoshop’s default “daylight” white balance, and then brightened up the image just slightly to keep those whites as bright as possible – without blowing the highlights. I also removed a few tiny specks of dirt with the clone tool.

Flower portraits can be a lot of fun – especially when you are shooting the very first flowers of Spring!

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Take a look at these two photos of the same waterfall. Notice that the water in the image on the left is overexposed. This is a common problem when shooting scenes like this. The brighter water tends to lose detail even though the rest of the scene is properly exposed. The image on the right is properly exposed in every area. Notice the clear details in the water. I used our iHDR manual blending technique to make sure the entire image was properly exposed.

How do you know when you need more detail, and when you don’t? Take a look at the scene you are photographing. Can you see details in front of you? When I was was photographing this waterfall on an overcast day I could see details in the flowing water. However, if I look directly at the sun, I can’t see any detail at all… so if I’m shooting into the sun, I don’t expect to be able to see details in my finished image. The photograph below shows what I’m talking about. You can see lots of detail in the trees and the mountains… but the area right around the sun is “blown out”. In this case, it looks natural.

Of course, it’s important to keep in mind that photography is art. Only the artist can decide how much detail is right for a given situation.

To Learn more about our iHDR Technique check out our online webinar recordings:

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One of the biggest reasons I choose to photograph nature is because I love solitude. I find that this is true for many nature and landscape photographers. We seem to share an appreciation – no… it goes beyond that – a NEED for solitude.

I get along with people just fine. I don’t mind speaking to large crowds. I can navigate my way through a city without a problem…

But I’d much rather be in the middle of nowhere. No cars driving by. No airplanes flying overhead. No lawn mowers or leaf blowers or weed trimmers. No radio or television. Just birdsong and the breeze through the branches and the trickle of the water over the rocks. I’m perfectly happy out there for hours. Days. Weeks.

How about you? What is it about nature photography that keeps you coming back for more?

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A few days ago, a comment was made on my blog article about perfect moments : “I hope you run a travel workshop in the near future. Something really laid back, relaxing and being about experiencing the place. It’s not always about the shot.” In response, I quipped something along the lines about how people would be unlikely to pay for a workshop not about getting the shot. Given that one of the most successful TV series of all time was based on the premise of a ‘show about nothing’, perhaps there is more to this idea than meets the eye.

This morning, I engaged in my first landscape shoot of the year. Driving into Bude after a week of fine weather in Paris, I was reacquainted with my old Cornish friends : dense fog, driving rain, strong winds and a featureless overcast sky. Nothing had changed by the time I drove out to the beach the next morning. Fortunately this was one of those locations that has never failed to deliver a memorable experience, whether I came back empty handed or not. Even when blowing a gale, the conditions only add to the windswept ruggedness of the place. I was content to walk up and down the shoreline and marvel at the rusty cliffs, smooth rock formations, orange sand and the aquamarine water in the tidal pools. There was no hurry; whether I even made a single exposure was of no consequence.

At its most transcendental level, landscape photography becomes an almost spiritual pursuit. Watching the elements of earth, sea and sky interact, you are confronted by higher powers whether you believe in a higher entity or science. To take this analogy a step further, does a person pray because they have faith or because they expect results? Is the success of a morning outing dependent on whether the photographer bagged a shot or not? What is the best measure of how good a workshop is? The number of images added to a portfolio. How much you learned? Or perhaps how much you enjoyed it?

One aspect of landscape photography that I find increasingly tiresome, is the persistent trophy-hunting style of making images. It’s photography on steroids : more extreme angles, more intense colours, more post-processing and the rush to nail a shot at the most recent discovered location. Of course there are times when it is necessary to pursue an idea relentlessly, after all photos don’t take themselves. However when the hunt becomes an ingrained part of the art, it’s time to slow down. Instead of trying to score a great sunrise or sunset, with time I’ve become more concerned with listening to the story a place has to tell and what I have to say.

Caressing the Sea

So what happened this morning on my first landscape shoot of the year? I eventually settled on a composition that incorporated the features that I had found most striking during my stroll. While setting up, a small break opened in the sea mist and sky – too long after sunrise to produce any colours but it added luminosity to the subtle colours of the scene and a touch of mystery. It was the perfect expression of my mood this morning.

Of course the large version on the website is much nicer and can be found here.

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This shot required very little special post-processing… just setting the correct color balance, and a bit of subtle mid-tone contrast. The real work of creating this particular image happened in the field… well… on the beach, actually.

This is a mid-day shot – I took it around 2 pm. Deep blue storm clouds were moving in. The water at Bahia Honda in the Florida Keys is this incredible turquoise or emerald color (depending upon light conditions and how rough the water is) and the sand is smooth and white. I wanted something different for this image. Jay I were playing around with our cameras… and this is the result.

There were a couple of problems with this scene as I stood there. First, the waves weren’t big enough to blur out easily… but they were too small to look good frozen in time. No matter what I did with my camera settings, I wasn’t getting a very interesting image. Second, there were strands of dark seaweed floating in the water. They created distracting streaks in the water, and left my test shots feeling pretty unappealing.

The solution to both problems? A whole lot of Neutral Density Filter. I used my own filter, and also borrowed Jay’s. The filters significantly reduced the amount of light entering the lens – by about ten stops in all. So, in order to get a correct exposure, I had to use a long shutter speed. 10 seconds at f/11 produced exactly the effect I wanted. The waves were completely smoothed out, so that the water seems calm and almost surreal. And all that floating seaweed? Well, it moved around so much with each wave that it blurred itself into oblivion! I didn’t have to clone out a single strand.

Even the clouds are softer – because they shifted during the long exposure. The rock in the foreground provides a clear point of interest, and since it is in clear focus, the scene doesn’t feel too blurred. Sometimes it’s helpful to have a sharp foreground object when you blur an image like this – it helps to anchor the scene.

So – what do you think? Was the technique successful? Does the image work for you?

Have you ever used a Neutral Density Filter? Or a long shutter speed to produce an effect like this? If not – maybe you should try it! It’s kinda fun!

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Where would you rather be? Sitting in an office or on this boardwalk exploring the coastal rain forests of Olympic National Park? There’s nothing wrong with having a desk job… the trick is to find a way to take “the road less traveled” before it is too late.

How was this photograph created?

This photograph highlights the use of a human element in composition. Many nature competitions adhere to strict rules that no “hand of man” should be visible in the photograph… but sometime a man-made element provides a  bit of impact.  Without the board walk, would the image be as effective?

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I spent a good chunk of my childhood growing up in a beautiful valley in the Rockies… and every time I find myself back in those mountains, it feels like coming home. I’ve visited this lovely overlook several times in my visits to Glacier National Park. I’ve been on this overlook before sunrise and after sunset – in blinding winds and on a day when the water seemed smooth as glass. But this was my first visit to the overlook – and I remember these brilliant sunbeams every time I’m there. The scattered light was so beautiful reflecting off the surface of the lake and the rocks at my feet. America the beautiful indeed.

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