May 20, 2013

Traveling the Backroads

I love to explore, find new places, or things to photograph. I have made it a goal to try to stay off the beaten path when I travel so I can find new photographic treasures.  These are the little known beautiful spots that are all around us. Like this shot of an old country road and a windmill.  On this day though,  Carol and I were out driving the backroads taking shots of old barns and windmills that I knew about.  We were on our way to a barn that I wanted to shoot when we passed this spot, and Carol spotted this windmill and advised me to turn around. So I spun the car around and went back to the windmill which was kind of hidden behind a stand of trees. Probably why I hadn’t noticed it before.  What I found was amazing! I had an old dirt country road along a barbed wire fence with a windmill just on the other side.  The sky looked beautiful with the white clouds and the sun setting behind the windmill. So I got out and set up my equipment, which was my Nikon D3 with a Nikkor 14-24 f2.8 lens on a tripod with a cable release.  In this situation I knew the only way to make the camera see what I was seeing was to shoot several images so I could create an HDR. Because I was shooting directly into the sun the exposure range was greater than what a camera can record. If I exposed for the sky the foreground would be dark, likewise if I exposed for the foreground the sky and the sun would be blown out. So I took a series of shots at the same f-stop (f/16) but varied my shutter speed to go 3 stops over and 3 stops under the desired exposure value. Then in post processing I used my Photomatrix software to stitch them all together so I could create the beautiful scene my wife and I had witnessed. To see more of my landscapes click on the following link...http://countryimages.smugmug.com/F/Open-Edition-Art/Landscapes-A/28521693_x35HfH#!i=2515151954&k=mLTsVWQ
6122 windmill-s
Wind Farm, Tug Hill Plateau near Lowville, New York
Wind Farm, Tug Hill Plateau near Lowville, New York
Windmill, Kansas
"Hoorn, Early Morning" was juried into the A.E. Backus Museum show, running May 16 - July 16, 2013.
"Windmill Trail Head"

Gooseberry Mesa.  Utah.
The Netherlands Open Air Museum (Nederlands Openluchtmuseum) in the city of Arnhem, province of Gelderland, shows off an excellent collection of some of the best historic buildings and items of the Netherlands. Transported from a lot of places in the country together the collection items make some astonishing village by its own. Pancake restaurant and the little windmill.
The Netherlands Open Air Museum (Nederlands Openluchtmuseum) in the city of Arnhem, province of Gelderland, shows off an excellent collection of some of the best historic buildings and items of the Netherlands. Transported from a lot of places in the country together the collection items make some astonishing village by its own. Windmills
May 20, 2013

Traveling the Backroads

I love to explore, find new places, or things to photograph. I have made it a goal to try to stay off the beaten path when I travel so I can find new photographic treasures. These are the little known beautiful spots that are all around us. Like this shot of an old country road and a windmill. On this day though, Carol and I were out driving the backroads taking shots of old barns and windmills that I knew about. We were on our way to a barn that I wanted to shoot when we passed this spot, and Carol spotted this windmill and advised me to turn around. So I spun the car around and went back to the windmill which was kind of hidden behind a stand of trees. Probably why I hadn’t noticed it before. What I found was amazing! I had an old dirt country road along a barbed wire fence with a windmill just on the other side. The sky looked beautiful with the white clouds and the sun setting behind the windmill. So I got out and set up my equipment, which was my Nikon D3 with a Nikkor 14-24 f2.8 lens on a tripod with a cable release. In this situation I knew the only way to make the camera see what I was seeing was to shoot several images so I could create an HDR. Because I was shooting directly into the sun the exposure range was greater than what a camera can record. If I exposed for the sky the foreground would be dark, likewise if I exposed for the foreground the sky and the sun would be blown out. So I took a series of shots at the same f-stop (f/16) but varied my shutter speed to go 3 stops over and 3 stops under the desired exposure value. Then in post processing I used my Photomatrix software to stitch them all together so I could create the beautiful scene my wife and I had witnessed. To see more of my landscapes click on the following link.. http://countryimages.smugmug.com/F/Open-Edition-Art/Landscapes-A/28521693_x35HfH#!i=2515151954&k=mLTsVWQ
May 20, 2013

Traveling the Backroads

I love to explore, find new places, or things to photograph. I have made it a goal to try to stay off the beaten path when I travel so I can find new photographic treasures.  These are the little known beautiful spots that are all around us. Like this shot of an old country road and a windmill.  On this day though,  Carol and I were out driving the backroads taking shots of old barns and windmills that I knew about.  We were on our way to a barn that I wanted to shoot when we passed this spot, and Carol spotted this windmill and advised me to turn around. So I spun the car around and went back to the windmill which was kind of hidden behind a stand of trees. Probably why I hadn’t noticed it before.  What I found was amazing! I had an old dirt country road along a barbed wire fence with a windmill just on the other side.  The sky looked beautiful with the white clouds and the sun setting behind the windmill. So I got out and set up my equipment, which was my Nikon D3 with a Nikkor 14-24 f2.8 lens on a tripod with a cable release.  In this situation I knew the only way to make the camera see what I was seeing was to shoot several images so I could create an HDR. Because I was shooting directly into the sun the exposure range was greater than what a camera can record. If I exposed for the sky the foreground would be dark, likewise if I exposed for the foreground the sky and the sun would be blown out. So I took a series of shots at the same f-stop (f/16) but varied my shutter speed to go 3 stops over and 3 stops under the desired exposure value. Then in post processing I used my Photomatrix software to stitch them all together so I could create the beautiful scene my wife and I had witnessed. To see more of my landscapes click on the following link...http://countryimages.smugmug.com/F/Open-Edition-Art/Landscapes-A/28521693_x35HfH#!i=2515151954&k=mLTsVWQ
May 20, 2013

Traveling the Backroads

I love to explore, find new places, or things to photograph. I have made it a goal to try to stay off the beaten path when I travel so I can find new photographic treasures. These are the little known beautiful spots that are all around us. Like this shot of an old country road and a windmill. On this day though, Carol and I were out driving the backroads taking shots of old barns and windmills that I knew about. We were on our way to a barn that I wanted to shoot when we passed this spot, and Carol spotted this windmill and advised me to turn around. So I spun the car around and went back to the windmill which was kind of hidden behind a stand of trees. Probably why I hadn’t noticed it before. What I found was amazing! I had an old dirt country road along a barbed wire fence with a windmill just on the other side. The sky looked beautiful with the white clouds and the sun setting behind the windmill. So I got out and set up my equipment, which was my Nikon D3 with a Nikkor 14-24 f2.8 lens on a tripod with a cable release. In this situation I knew the only way to make the camera see what I was seeing was to shoot several images so I could create an HDR. Because I was shooting directly into the sun the exposure range was greater than what a camera can record. If I exposed for the sky the foreground would be dark, likewise if I exposed for the foreground the sky and the sun would be blown out. So I took a series of shots at the same f-stop (f/16) but varied my shutter speed to go 3 stops over and 3 stops under the desired exposure value. Then in post processing I used my Photomatrix software to stitch them all together so I could create the beautiful scene my wife and I had witnessed. To see more of my landscapes click on the following link.. http://countryimages.smugmug.com/F/Open-Edition-Art/Landscapes-A/28521693_x35HfH#!i=2515151954&k=mLTsVWQ
See photo in original gallery.