Winter in May

It isn't but a short drive to find a winter wonderland. These photos were taken on the 24th of May, less than an hour from my front door. Snow can be difficult to photograph because it is easy to over-expose the snow to get proper exposure on the subject. This is where High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography comes in handy.

HDR allows for both highlights and shadows to be properly exposed for. So the trees are properly exposed while the snow is not overexposed.

That is where HDR truly shines.

I love how in these photographs there seems to be struggle between Winter refusing to let go and spring fighting to emerge.

It was an amazing and beautiful day.

Winter's Last Embrace

Snow Covered Forest

A few weeks ago my wife and I took a short trip to the mountains above Scotts Mills, Oregon.

We were expecting to come across some muddy trails and partly sunny skies. Instead we were greeted with Winter's last temper tantrum.

The stark nature of the foggy forest and the snow covered forest floor begged for a black and white conversion. As I have said many times before, winter demands to be captured in black and white.

We are living in a time when finding virtually untouched beauty is harder and harder. These days you have travel further and further to find these natural and stunning environments.

Making the trip to the mountains did not deliver us what we expected, but it gave is much more than we could have hoped for. It just proves that Mother Nature can be kind and giving, if we just give her a chance.

Photography Retreat Part 3

Amy - Camp Staffer

The Salem Digital Photo Group held their first annual photography retreat this fall. The retreat was held on the beautiful Oregon coast at the wonderful Camp Magruder, near Rockaway Beach, Oregon.

To recap, the first day started down on the beach for some beach scenes followed by an amazing sunset. Then late at night we went out to attempt a one hour exposure, which ended in a bust a little before 1:00 AM.

We were up at 6:00 AM on day two and headed down to the lake for some early morning light photography followed by breakfast with the Camp Staff.

The Campers

 After breakfast we posed for a couple of group shots. A motley crew we were, but everyone was in such a good mood following breakfast. It was time for some of us to head into the woods, while a few headed to the beach.







I chose the woods...

Dream

As we headed into the woods a light mist was hanging in the trees allowing for strong sunbeams to creep in through the trees.

I shot a few frames here to capture the image on the left.


Then I moved on, shot a frame or two, moved on again, rinse and repeat.

Enchantment

Beams

Strength

Beach Grass

 As we made our ways through the woods we took time to shoot things other than Sunbeams.

My friend and fellow photographer even let me use his 60mm Macro Lens. This is one of the additional benefits of shooting with friends outside of the wonderful company; sharing equipment.

The world of macros is always ripe with opportunity for you and your camera.

Blade

Pine Cone

Miniature World

Tune in next week for part four of this blog series. It was a beautiful weekend.