Daniel Ruf

Transitions

"Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountains and sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.  John Lubbock

It seems like the transition from autumn to winter has happened at least three times here in Northwest Iowa. We have seen the East Okoboji Lake surface freeze at least 4 times and each time the ice succumbs to another warming system that passes through for a week or so at a time. We've had about 3 inches of snow which has also disappeared leaving more leaves to collect, which I hope I've done for the last time this year.

The blog image is a morning a couple of weeks ago showing the ice retreating and the sunrise glowing. This has been a year of many glowing sunrises and sunsets and I presume it's largely the result of the western forest fires which have resulted in days and days of haze over the landscape.

This image was captured with my Canon 5D Mark IV using the HDR process in camera. The editing processes started in Lightroom with finishing touches in Photoshop CC, which mainly was focused on brightening the shoreline landscape.

Thank you for joining me here and I hope you have a marvelous Thanksgiving. Stay safe, use your mask and be aware of social distancing. I'm sure we are all tired of hearing the well meant warning, but when I'm out in public it seems that there is a certain deafness to caution by many.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Entering From Stage Right!

"Great Photography is about depth of feeling not depth of field." Peter Adams

I've spent a lot of mornings waiting for a sunrises, not knowing for sure what the outcome will be, but always with hope for a surprise. There have been a few occasions when Mother Nature adds a significant tune that I wasn't expecting, such as the duck showing up with perfect timing. I'll take these circumstances any way I can get them.

Just when I posted the above blog image I noticed a distraction that I missed in the processing of this image. That distraction would be that buoy left of center. Rather than replace or correct the infraction I thought I'd use it as a lesson.

The change is subtle, but the duck is now the center attraction as opposed to the confusion of the buoy near the horizon. It may be a little thing to many, but removal of distractions either by changing the camera position or software editing is essential to make the story clear and without distractions. It's always a good idea to check the edges of an image for little distractions as well. I use Photoshop CC in most of my work and a Canon 5D Mark IV, which I still love. Lightroom is the first order of editing and Photoshop does the rest, including clean up. I used Topaz AI Denoise to rid the picture of the noise as I had to use a high ISO to achieve the shutter speed to stop the ducks movement. With that being said it's necessary to realize that using multiple editing processes takes a certain bit of balance in the handling. No matter the choice of editing processes used they all seem to leave "artifacts" if not used with a light hand. It's taken me a long time to learn this and, at times, it seems I'm still learning.

Thanks for visiting and enjoy the beautiful Spring weather

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Past....Forward

"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death."   Robert Fulghum

This mornings walk brought me to the above scene with splashes of color in the morning sky. I started to pass but as I did I saw the ladder leaning against the tree as well as a sturdy platform erected among the sturdy branches.  I couldn't help but wish that I had such an "imagination tree" back in my childhood, but even though it was missing, the imagination part was not. Cowboys, pirates and spaceflights were some of the imaginary characters of my childhood. I even recall drawing dials and clocks and windows on the inside of larges boxes to help create the imaginary flights to the moon and back long before it was achieved.

With all of those mental images floating in my head it wasn't a leap to think of what dreams and creative drama took place on the platform.  Was it seeing the new land while sailing in a large schooner, or was it covered with dolls or colored papers. No matter the activity, I'm sure that children were involved and creativity was the color being used to pass the time.

Here again I used my trusty iPhone and did much of the post editing in Photoshop CC.

Thanks for visiting.  Walking is indeed not only important for health, but the imagination and creative muscles as well.  You're never too old!

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center  lakesart.com 

500px.com

Facebook - Daniel Ruf Photography  (I can't believe I'm on Facebook again???)

Pocket Camera

"Creativity itself doesn't care at all about the results - the only thing it craves is the process. Learn to love the process and let whatever happens next happen, without fussing too much about it.  Work like a monk, or a mule, or some other representative metaphor for diligence. Love the work.Destiny will do what it wants with you, regardless.                                                                  

Elizabeth Gilbert

Walking everyday has been a daily agenda item for some time, but this summer I've made it a priority and in the process have been averaging  3 - 5 miles a day. I usually go out in the early morning hours specifically for the light, but if there is a partly cloudy forecast, then I'm traveling in my truck with my camera looking for sunrise and special light situations.

The "pocket phone" has been a nice tool to have along when walking. In my case it would be the iPhone as well as a library of photo apps at the ready. The good thing about having a "camera" tagging along is that it's another tool of discovery along the way. It helps keep the creative juices flowing and ready for those just right opportunities that may come along.

The blog image is from the iPhone and is a field I pass many times during the week.  In this case the tree on the right was just getting a brush of sunrise light that attracted my attention. After getting home I sat down to develop the image and found my way to a painting process. In this case I used some textures, a JixiPix painting app and combined it with a Topaz painting app on my MAC to get the results that I was looking for.

Landscape photography only works if one gets up off the couch and walks out the door. The getting off the couch is the same effort required of any type of art that I'm aware of, even if robots are involved. One has to get up to make the effort to turn on the switch.  For me, being in the outdoors is the switch for my adventure to begin.

Thank you for joining me and I hope that you grab a little of the Fall season before it's gone.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center  lakesart.com 

500px.com

Facebook - Daniel Ruf Photography  (I can't believe I'm on Facebook again???)

 

Bits And Pieces

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.  Art is knowing which ones to keep."  Scott Adams

Years ago when I first got my taste of digital photography after years of film based photography, my editing process was pretty simple.  My camera was still set to turning out Jpeg results with the camera making many adjustment through its default settings.  My task, if I chose to do so, was changing the color a little, increasing or decreasing the contrast, darkening or brightening the image, and that was about it.  During that point in time photographers had to deal with a lot of the weaknesses in the digital realm like horrible noise reduction programs, poor sharpening adjustments, etc. Today, programs have improved, expanded and moved digital photography into more artistic areas.  Now granted, there are some programs that are of little use, but a lot of new programs and new camera adjustments that allow the photographer the discretion to move into new areas of creativity.

The image above was captured in the Smoky Mountain National Park in 2014. In my opinion it's impossible to not find something beautiful in this park.  That being said, I did come home with a few "what the heck" types of images that will not see the light of day in my lifetime. In the case of this particular shot I was standing on a rock in the middle of this rushing stream with balance being the biggest issue and a good image a prayer. Nature had provided the rest and I couldn't resist the challenge of staying dry in the process, but I did survive.

The image comes out of the camera as a RAW product, meaning that 100% of the data is available in contrast to the regular Jpeg type image which has data left out. If you need more details just do some searching online.

The RAW image generally comes out of the camera a little flat in contrast, a little dull in color and a little soft with respect to sharpness.  All of these are correctable, in most cases, in most editing processes. But, in todays digital age, many of us that can't avoid the creative nudge, will take images a bit farther, or maybe a lot farther in our creative search/journey.

In the case of this shot it is all about "selections", an editing term which allows one to select specific areas to make specific changes in that area in the computer.  And example here is that the deep background at the end of the stream was very dark in the original RAW form.  By selecting only that area I was able to both brighten and increase the color saturation to my taste. This kind of selection adjustment was brought into play through out the scene. All adjustments were made with the concept of keeping the viewers eye involved in the image.

The most fascinating and thrilling thing about digital photography in this day is that when one makes a capture, no matter how far away from the computer they may be, they can make the capture knowing that there are certain editing processes available to correct or enhance the final outcome.  This does not mean that the capture doesn't need to be done well, as the camera and operator are still part of the early stages of the creative process and needs to be done properly.

We're hopefully into our last winter snow and I get one more chance to search the fresh white stuff with the camera.

Bits And Pieces

"You don't take a photograph, you make it."  Ansel Adams

Winding down an evening of photography in the rural areas of northwest Iowa with a beautiful sunset taking place and as always I was looking for something to put in front of the color.  I sped by this farm scene, which I usually shoot from the other direction, and caught the lighted window from the corner of my eye and decided to give it a look.

A lot of things attracted me to this scene including the glimmer on the light bulb, the window, the shapes and angles, the triangles, horizontal, textures and vertical lines, etc.  I knew the light was going to slip away if I didn't get moving with the process....tripod up, camera attached, and bang, the shot.

There is obviously a lot of contrast here and I decided to take it through the Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) HDR process as I seem to have less problems with artifacts that are the norm with so many HDR plug-in's that I have or have tried.  Doing the process in this way allows me to stay in ACR and continue to fine tune the image before I load it into Photoshop to finalize the editing process with tweaks in NIK or Topaz software programs.

While standing in front of such scenes in rural Iowa I am constantly reminded of how the landscape and rural architecture is changing...old barns giving way to steel structures, corn cribs to steel bins, and on and on.  I've spent my most of my adult life working in and around these familiar places, while much later I was working in and around the shiny steel confines of livestock buildings. Each style has it's place, but I will always be attracted to the monoliths of the farmsteads where my family worked. 

Thank you for visiting and please get out to enjoy the fall season...winter is not far behind!

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http://500px.com

Summer Wind Gallery, Arnolds Park, Iowa http://www.summerwindgallery.com

This And That

 

"The best artist knows what to leave out." Charles de Lint

It's been a busy couple of months and much of it taken up with a lot of lakes area photography going up on the walls of the Summerwind Gallery in Arnolds Park, Iowa.  The top image is from the amusement park area of Arnolds Park and is always flowing with a city of people and boats galore.  On this particular evening I was there to practice on some fireworks photography as they have been doing a Saturday night fireworks display for the crowd at the park this summer after the 4th.  While waiting for the slow ticking clock hands to reach 10:00 I got a chance to do some low light shooting of the parks colors.  This a 8 shot pano image with the beginning edits done in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) and then final work done in Photoshop CC.

Due to the incredible improvements in ACR I find it unnecessary to do HDR type adjustments as most of the adjustment in ACR will give me a firm platform to work from in the final editing processes, whether in Photoshop, NIK, Topaz or Alien Skin "Snap Art".  Add such things as textures and JixiPix programs and things can get pretty interesting.  In this image, however, things were kept pretty simple with the main attraction being the carnival like lights, people and boats.  By paying attention to details behind the camera, such as sharp focus, vibrations, tripod use, shutter speeds and aperture the editing process is made much easier.

 

 

Getting out into the rural areas of Iowa is also one of my objectives as I do manage to get work published in Our Iowa magazine, a magazine dedicated to the Iowa landscape and lifestyles of its citizens.  My interest in the rural parts of Iowa is also a result of 30+ years in farming. In this image, again a panorama, the final results are from working in ACR and not opting for a HDR solution. I should point out that I'm not an enemy of HDR editing as I've had some really nice results in some of my HDR work, but some of my shooting requires some high ISO use and using HDR seems to magnify the problems with these settings as well as chromatic aberrations, which in my case, probably comes from a bag full of zoom lenses which, I've been told,  can magnify that lens issue.

Even though I've been fortunate to join several workshops in the past, done some heavy instructional reading, and watched my share of video tutorials, I've found that there are two things that have been most helpful in my learning process. 1) Making mistakes and learning from them (an activity that I doubt I'll ever be rid of) and 2) Signing up for Tony Sweet's  (tonysweet.com)  individual video critique sessions which have made a big difference in my learning process as well as weeding out bad habits.  He's an excellent instructor and both the video sessions and/or his workshops are well worth the money for a person that is serious about gaining ground with their creativity.  Also, having a good photo friend to keep you on your toes doesn't hurt either...Thanks, Mike!

In the end it's just like a regular job or going to school...a persons improvement is measured by their time spent in learning.  If you're in the Spirit Lake/Arnolds Park area of Iowa drop in to the Summerwind Gallery to meet with the owner, Roberta Williams, and also get a look at the fabulous artwork on exhibit.  As I like to say..."there's not a dog on the wall".

Thanks for joining me here again and please feel free to comment.  I hope you all have a great week.

For more views of my work visit;

Google +

http://500px.com

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota www.lanesboroarts.org

Summer Wind Gallery, Arnolds Park, Iowa http://www.summerwindgallery.com

 

Back Home

"The biggest cliche in photography is sunrise and sunset." Catherine Opie

Did you read the quote below the blog image?  It is the dumbest quote I think I've ever read and even more disappointing is the fact that the author is a "fine art" photographer. I won't comment on her work as I'm not too impressed by some of the "fine art" I see in the world no matter the art form or medium.

I absolutely love sunrises and sunsets and find much comfort in searching them out as well as standing and watching the magic take place.  Yes, I know, it's not magic exactly and realize that a lot of atmospheric elements are in play for one such as the above to take place, but to me IT'S MAGIC and I have the right to say so, just as Ms. Opie can make the statement she has made.

The story here is that this is one of 18 images that involve this dock setting going back a couple of years and, being that the docks are arranged in such a way that favors sunrise, many of the images are of sunrises and I dare say none of them are close to being a match.  To date this is probably the more colorful of all.

Before anyone gets on the high horse of criticism by saying that it's been tweaked in Photoshop to get the color I'm going to disappoint them.  The color you see here is direct from the camera.  It is a long exposure of about 30 seconds, but I purposely left the color alone as you can see it was "bleeding" color.  For those that will insist that it is a "punched up" HDR, I again will disappoint.  I've recently left my HDR editing programs behind since the newer versions of Adobe Camera Raw have come into my life.  I shoot all my work in a RAW format and, to those that are unfamiliar with that format it is a capture process that is the best IMHO to achieve high quality of image rendition.  While some will say that RAW captures are usually flat and a bit soft, on many occasions I find them to be spot on as a final product.

The only other influence here would be the process known as early rising.  Yes, that would be the process of crawling out of bed at 4'ish in the morning, checking the weather app for cloud cover and forecast (also done the night before) and then launching myself to a site that I think might have some possibilities. This sight isn't always a first choice, but it's high on th list while driving around.  Some of the listed "ingredients" also apply to sunsets except for "early rising"!

Sunrises and sunsets, as some of you may realize, can be tempermental in that they can entice you with early indications of color and fall flat in the finish...something kin to a bad date.  The other issue is that they can be incredibly brief at the colorful stage.  In the case of the blog image about 20 minutes of color was working, but a peak time of maybe 5 minutes for the real show as seen here.  Late starts can be fatal as far as a pleasing result, but luck seems to always be involved.

With all that being said and with apologies to Ms. Opie, I find the time spent hunting and finding such a scene to be emotionally therapeutic, and you can decide what that might mean.  At its best I find such daystar shenanigans to be absolutely stunning as color goes and well worth the wait and anticipation.

My advice is for everyone to sit and enjoy as many of these events as possible.

For more views of my work visit;

http://500px.com

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota www.lanesboroarts.org

Summer Wind Gallery, Arnolds Park, Iowa http://www.summerwindgallery.com

 

Other Parts

"Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression."  Isaac Bashevis Singer

Just returned from a trip to the Southwest including stops in Sabino Canyon near Tucson, Zion National Park and Bryce National Park.  Along the way my wife and I took every opportunity to visit as many galleries and museums as possible, which put us in contact with several incredible gallery people and artists.  I especially like seeing other work, including the traditional arts of painting, pottery, etc. as it is an opportunity for instruction, reflection and insight into other visual concepts.  On this trip I found, but not surprised, that much of the work that we liked best were those that did the most with light.  In the Vail, Colorado we came across the "Claggett/Rey Gallery" which had a great deal of beautiful western art which was absolutely luminous.  In another collection of western art at the American Museum Of Western Art in Denver the work that had been painted during the Hudson River School during the mid 19th century was stunning and largely due to the use of light in the work.

Since photography is the capture of light, the use of light in a composition is nothing new to most photographers.  The blog image, taken at the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area near Tucson, was taken early in the morning when the light hadn't yet reached the canyon floor, but was being reflected from the walls around the subject. As I rounded a corner the subject seemed to jump out at me largely due to the radiance of the light off the rock formations along the creek. This is an iPhone shot that has been edited in Photoshop. The three large rocks along with the three clumps of grass and reflections were the focal points of the composition, in my opinion, with the rocks in the center background being the "trailer" to the composition.

While it's not rocket science, standing around in enough galleries as well as looking through online sites has led me to believe that a lot of photography/art is lacking the use of light as a "subject", and to be totally honest, it does slip my mind on occasions.  This is why the tromping through numerous galleries is so important to me as it reaffirmed the importance of light in art, whether it be artificial  or natural.  Light is what defines shapes, textures, depth and volume and to me is a building block towards composition.

Thank you all for stopping by and I'd like to remind you that I will be part of a new "reconstructed" gallery in Arnolds Park, Iowa called Summerwind Gallery (summerwindgallery.com), owned and operated by Roberta Williams, an outstanding artist as well.  She has managed to put together a group of artists that will be displaying some beautiful work of many differing subjects and mediums.  The gallery will have a "soft" opening on May 1 and the grand opening on June 4. This gallery is going to be a great edition to the arts in our area of Northwest Iowa.

For more views of my work visit;

http://500px.com

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota www.lanesboroarts.org

Summer Wind Gallery, Arnolds Park, Iowa http://www.summerwindgallery.com

North Woods

"Nature always wears the colors of the spirit."  Ralph Waldo Emerson

A short trip to Three Lakes, Wisconsin to pick up my exhibit work gave me the chance to slip out one foggy morning, race around areas unfamiliar roads with hopes of finding some "eye candy".  As the sun continued to rise and the fog started to dissapate I was starting to get a little concerned.  My mind is calling for patience, but knowing that I would be leaving the next morning didn't make things any easier.

A few more turns and bends in the road brought me to Seven Mile Lake with one lone goose on the lake obviously waiting for me to arrive.  Wisconsin has so many areas of silence and I had just fallen into one of them.  So quiet that I do believe I could hear the sun rise and clouds moving.  It's hard not to just stand in awe of the scene, but time was of the essence as the scene, the light, the fog was changing rapidly.

This image was processed as an HDR image in Photomatix and later processed in Photoshop CS6  CC as well as NIK Color Efex Pro.

We need enjoy all the moments we're given as days pass to years, then to decades, then to centuries and our lives are only a dot on the timeline.

Enjoy the summer breezes and the shimmering sunsets.

Sic 'em Bears".  The Baylor football season is just around the corner!

For more views of my work visit;

http://500px.com/pigs4u

Arts On Grand, Spencer, Iowa http://www.artsongrand.org/

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota   www.lanesboroarts.org

Summer Wind Gallery, Arnolds Park, Iowa