23 Jun 14. I mentioned earlier that after having attended a business meeting in town that went way over its time allotment, we headed out to see what we could on a late Saturday afternoon. By the time we thought it best to return home the snow was once again falling but nothing more than a lovely shower. Enough however to cover a herd of bison with what looked more like a powered sugar dusting that was giving them a nice white frosting to their chocolate cake layer below. Several groups of perhaps 20 - 30 animals each made up the entire herd and in most of the individual groupings there were several young bulls practicing their sparing arts in preparation for the summer circus. One pair was directly in front of where I was standing and was putting on quite a show for the better part of 30 minutes. The snow was falling as they practiced and it gave a muted view to all the action. This was the first time I got to see the animals in a snow setting and it was truly a delight! I've cropped off a bit of material from the top ( parts of a couple of animals) and the bottom (some out of focus grass), selectively brightened the medium browns and darkened the brightest whites, and added a very tiny of micro contrast adjustment. Nikon D30s; 18 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f / 9.
24 Jun 14 . While watching a couple of videos this evening by an apparently very famous Scottish photographer, probably in his late 70s or early 80s, but one whom I've never before heard of, I was a bit taken back by his philosophy on photography. He was discussing it at length and talking about the number of images he captures on an outing. His comments were about the cost of a standard trip, $35 - 45K, to include him and his three assistants, it's length, about two weeks, and at that cost the need to get the right image(s). He went on to suggest that about 16 images would be about the correct number. I then went out to price out his equipment and was equally shocked: based on just the cost of the camera body, $34K, I'd estimate the system he was using was in the range of $75K. Now I really know why I'm just an amateur!! He shoots in color but likes to convert at least a few of his captures into B&W. So we have at least one small thing in common. But I'm certainly on the opposite end of the spectrum of everything else he discussed!! The B&W we are seeing today was taken at the end of a shopping trip to Bozeman. Montana Highway 191 travels generally north/south between Bozeman and West Yellowstone with the majority of it traveling inside the westernmost edge of Yellowstone National Park, although there are no gated portions and your only indication that you are within the park boundaries are signs that say you are inside the park. We had taken Maggie with us and she had reached the need to empty her bladder so we stopped alongside the road to let her take a rest stop. The sun was beginning to set and casting long shadows on the snow which made it a bit scary for our timid pooch! So while she was finding that required perfect "safe" spot, I was playing with the clouds and the trees in the shadows.There had obviously been a fire a few years prior so there where lots of tall bare trees to cast some interesting designs on the snow's surface. To provide for some depth to separate the layer of trees, I have selectively lightened the darker mid-tones and darkened the brightest of the highlights in the trees. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/1000 sec @ f /10.
