Love in the Foothills

I live at the edges of a magnificent sloping mountain meadow ringed by ponderosa pines and gently rolling hills. The view from my home office has brought me much solace and inspiration over the 25 years I have lived here.

Today was a day for smiles. We have a group of amorous male turkeys right outside our front door. They gobble from dawn until dark. They preen and strut and fan for the coy females, oblivious to dangers they would normally heed, like nosy humans or the coyote who stands vigil at the top of meadow, on the prowl for a turkey dinner.

To get closeup photos of turkeys, I have learned that if I walk into the field, they will flee, but if I climb in my car, using it for a blind, I can coast slowly down our dirt driveway and get close, often within 10 feet. They seem almost oblivious to me, lost in their love-smitten quest.

This is one of many photos taken with a Sigma 150-500, handheld out the car window. It was then lightly processed in Topaz Adjust to give it a painterly effect, leaving some detail in the face using layers and layer masks.

I wonder if the coyote enjoyed a turkey dinner?

Spring Poppies

The spring day began auspiciously. As our little group started on our hike near my home town of Coloma in the Sierra Nevada foothlls, movement on a close-by snag caught our eyes. Vulture? Hawk? No. The bird took to the skies, its steady wingspan enveloping us with its grace and beauty. Its great size, feathers and flying patterns marked it as a golden eagle. They nest in this steep river canyon, yet I had never seen one locally.

Moments later, we found ourselves on a precipice of sorts, marbled by a network of homemade trails that zigzagged hundreds of feet downward to the American River, which made a blue, roaring curve at the bottom of the canyon. California poppies proliferate here in spring, and today was poppy perfection. Great fields of orange--seasoned with little white popcorn flowers and blue lupines-- beckoned us. We had brought cameras, but mostly we took the time just to sit and to absorb these magical moments of spring.

The photo attached to this little remembrance is altered in Topaz, a Photoshop filter. I used Topaz Adjust 4, labeled the exposure correction tool, but I simplified the photo drastically to get this painterly effect. I applied the filter on a duplicate layer, then used a layer mask to bring back the detail of the poppy in the foreground.

Spring Flowers

The longer days and profusion of spring blossoms gladden our hearts. But photographing flowers can be among the most challenging of subjects. A friend invited me this afternoon to her glorious spread of daffodils and pink peach blossoms. I came equipped with macro gear: 105mm macro lens, extension tubes, tripod, Plamp, and cable release.

This tiny insect was barely visible to the eye, but the camera found it resting on this daffodil. The sun backlit the flower.

A Stormy Day

In this photo, spring hasn't yet arrived, and the old vines have yet to sprout tender tendrils. Thus, these vines, in the Shenandoah Valley of Amador County, are here in their stark black glory. Dramatic storm clouds form a backdrop.

To achieve this surrealistic effect took a bit of work. This is a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image, made up of seven bracketed photos. The seven images were then composited using Photoshop and Photomatix software. I then added a layer, and on that layer, used a gradient from black to transparent, changed the blending mode to Soft Light, and this darkened the sky even further.

Struggling

The weather was cold, the wind bitter on this morning of a clearing storm in Amador County. Several of us had come here together, looking for early spring flowers in the vineyards, but winter had other plans. Then, this forlorn remnant of a tree manifested itself against the glowering sky. Edging into a dubious wide spot on the road, cars honking, we climbed out our vehicle and paid homage.

This is shot with a Nikon D40x camera that has been converted for infrared use. In Photoshop, a second layer was added and gentle color was added with a low-opacity brush. A Soft Light blending mode eased the colors even more. Finally, a third layer was added, and using the Gradient tool (black to transparent), edges became darker. Opacity was dialed back on this third layer.

Cabin Shingles

Ebbetts Pass in the high Sierra Nevadas gets many feet of snow every year. Not too far from the top of the pass is a 100-year-old cabin used by generations of the same family. These shingles on the side of the cabin have endured this weather for all these years.

I enhanced the original wooden shingles, adding color with the Topaz plugin, dialing down the details to create this semi-abstract look. It gives the effect of broad playful brush strokes.

An Old Cowboy

I was recently at a photography conference where I heard Phil Borges (www.philborges.com) show some of his amazing photos of Tibetan people and also of women worldwide. His goal now is to empower "ordinary" women in simple villages and towns who are making a difference. He used an interesting photo technique that I have let lapse in my own arsenal of tricks: selective color. He also is amazingly gifted in using local backgrounds.

My own life is not as glamorous as his, but I have long been fascinated by the cowboy and western culture that surrounds me in the hills where I live. I decided to apply Borges's technique to this photo of Ron Scofield. I visited Scofield a couple of years ago with a mutual friend. When we arrived, he had been doing some sort of outdoor work, but immediately dodged back into his house and donned his cowboy duds. Scofield is something of a local legend, known for his careful rebuilding and repairing of nineteenth century carriages and wagons.

To get this effect from what was originally a color photo, I desaturated it by about half, applied a black and white adjustment layer, and then used a layer mask to bring back the color in Scofield, leaving the background black and white.

Anan Creek Eagle

Two years ago I was at Anan Creek, south of Wrangell, Alaska. Here, amazing numbers of bears and eagles congregate for a salmon feast during spawning season in late summer. Perhaps 300 eagles were within half a mile of our small photography group. Walking the trail from the bear viewing area to the beach where we would board our Zodiac for the return trip to our boat, I saw this bird on a branch, almost hidden by dense forest. Quietly shooting through the branches, handheld using a Nikon 80-400, I made a quick series of images before the bird moved on.

Today, I revisited this image using Topaz filters. I then brought back the detail in the eye and mouth with a layer mask.

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The Beauty of Kale

Often I revisit photos taken years ago, armed with new technologies to look at these images in a fresh way. I took this photo on a rainy day a few years ago in the wonderful kitchen garden at the Gustavus Inn, at the mouth of Glacier Bay. It stands well alone, but recently I've been playing with a Photoshop plug in called Topaz, which can create painterly effects, among other things. I ran the filter on a duplicate photo layer, added a bit of fine tuning with some layer mask work, and voila!