Looking for a Summer Photography Project? Try Woodscapes and Skyscapes

Submitted by Keith Bridgman

I'm always kicking off some kind of photo project. Most are rather simple and short lived and can be completed in a few days or maybe a few weeks, although, I have done year long projects and seemingly endless ones like photographing the Tallgrass Prairie. Summer of course is a great time of year to kick off a project or two. Two projects I plan on pursuing in more detail this season are Woodscapes and Skyscapes.

Woodscapes are possibly one of the more difficult of projects because of the nature of the light found inside a wooded area. Often high contrast lighting can play havoc with exposures, but also coming into play is clutter. Woodscapes are notorious for clutter. As a photographer shooting woodscapes you must constantly ask yourself..."what is my subject?" There are so many competing elements found within woodscapes it is difficult to isolate what is important and focus on creating the story you are emotionally experiencing.

Effectively reproducing what you are seeing as 3 dimensions into a 2 dimensional flat image can be quite a challenge. That is why shooting Woodscapes is such a good project because it forces you to look beyond the visual and focus on the emotional.

Color is also a problem because woodscapes tend to take on a single color tonality, especially during the summer when everything is green. Translating the story from within a monotone green perspective can present quite a challenge to the photographer. A good deal of the time I will often look for opportunities to translate the moment into a black and white image. This of course almost eliminates the monotone color issue but it does not always solve the clutter issue, but it does help.

Skyscapes on the other hand are much easier to shoot simply because of their scale. Summer days are often filled with a wide range of cloud formations, and clouds are what make skyscapes work. In fact you could probably substitute Cloudscapes for Skyscapes as a title.

The contrast of a blue sky and white clouds makes for a wonderful black and white translation. It is outside the scope of this post to detail the post processing techniques to convert a blue sky/white cloud photograph into a black and white photo. The idea however is to avoid blowing out the white portions and subduing the blue areas and creating a composition that is not only pleasing, but revealing. A polarizer filter goes a long ways to taming skyscapes.

This season  I hope to spend a lot of time shooting woodscapes and skyscapes. With any luck at all I might even be able to create a timelapse video event as well. Give it a try this season and enjoy the great outdoors in the process.

Introducing Duchess Grey at Nine Days Old!

Submitted by Theresa Smith

Proud Parents: Princess and Reverend Grey

I was invited to a friend’s alpaca farm to photograph their new cria (baby alpaca). I agreed and was very excited to see and photograph the new cria. When photographing alpacas, you must be patient, they like to huddle together in a herd which makes it a little difficult to photograph them. Watch closely for them to move farther apart from each other and when the moment is right, you’ll have an opportunity to capture a special image. 

Try to get the alpaca to put it’s ears up and look alert, this makes for a more pleasing image. Duchess Grey was very small so I got down to her level to photograph her. I took my portable garden seat with me to the shoot so I could sit, observe and photograph her from her height. The alpaca farm had pretty white fences and yellow flowers in the field so this made for a good backdrop.

 In most cases, cria are born without intervention, and usually during daylight hours. This allows the cria to dry off before evening. A cria normally weighs between 15 and 20 pounds and is usually standing and nursing within one hour of birth. Duchess Grey weighed 25 pounds at birth and now, at nine days old, weighs 29 pounds. She is very healthy! Cria continue to nurse for about six months until they have weaned. The gestation period is 11 to 12 months.

 People often confuse alpacas with llamas. While closely related, llamas and alpacas are distinctly different animals. Llamas are much larger, about twice the size of an alpaca, with an average weight of about 250 to 450 pounds. An alpaca’s weight averages 100 to 200 pounds. Llamas are primarily used for packing or for guarding herds of sheep, whereas alpacas are primarily raised for their soft and luxurious fleece.

Humming is the most common sound that alpacas make. The new cria, Duchess Grey, made tiny humming noises the day I photographed her. This is how alpacas communicate with each other. They also have excellent vision.

The new cria was certainly the main focus of the photo shoot but I managed to snap a few images of other alpacas as well. It was a very enjoyable day. Isn’t that what photography is about anyway? I think so!

A Closeup Look at Croatia

Submitted by Sheila Reeves

Alan and Sheila Reeves travel the world and capture amazing photographs of their adventures. Please enjoy this video from their 2019 trip to Croatia. Filled with wonderful images of the best of Croatia's natural world, they also captured the essence of life in this tradition filled country.

The Story behind the Photo - The Photograph Does Not Always Reflect the Circumstances

Submitted by John Humkey

One of my personal favorite photo's was taken decades ago with a 2 megapixel camera. I was happy with the sequence of seven images where a moth appeared on the flower and to have captured its quivering antenna in the process. However, at the time it was one of those blistering 108 degree days and I was sweating bullets into my burning eyes as I was crouched near the ground.

A reflection from a nearby billboard at the entrance to Covington Woods/Paul Walker golf course darn near blinded me and contributed to the copious amounts of sweat running down my face. A good number of bees were also buzzing all around probably attracted by the perspiration.
Wearing shorts and having bare legs, the kneeling on gravel contributed to my discomfort.

 I believe it was the single most uncomfortable and quickest photo I have ever taken. Even so, the new camera was also my first digital camera and it was my first good weekend available to get out with it. 

Sometimes, you just never know what you have until you can get home and take a look.