Daniel Ruf

"It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it."

John Burroughs

We've had many days of frosty/foggy mornings this past couple of weeks up here in NW Iowa and it's a gift for a photographer. Its importance in an image comes forward once the sun throws it's bright rays on the frost laden trees. I've spent a lot of time waiting for the foggy skies to clear so that clarity comes to the rescue. I even managed to remember to pull out my polarizer and attach it to my lens. Doing this even made the scene  perkier .

Atmospheric occasions like this make winter scenes really perk up and will be candidates to send into Our Iowa Magazine for the 2021/22 winter next year. It always feels weird to think that I'm shooting for next year now. It will be that same thing for every season. And what makes it even more unusual is that the call for entry to next winter likely come in the summer when I'm shooting summer scenes.  

A few days later I went to another one of my favorite places that had the frosty covering and enough opacity int the sky to get some color from the sun.Without the sun this scene would be pretty dull and gray. 

Both blog images were captured with a Canon 5D MarkIV and edited in both Lightroom and Photoshop. 

This has been a great start to the new year as I don't think I saw much fog and frost last year or the year before. We're at the point on the calendar that I can start thinking that Spring is just around the corner.Granted, it's a few blocks away yet, but I feel better thinking it's closer.

I wish you all a fabulous New Year and encourage you to get out to enjoy the season of winter wherever you are.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

 

 

 

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

 

Options

   

"For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity."  Henri Cartier-Bresson

Spending an afternoon in a wooded area last week gave me the opportunity to work with natures figures. The oak trees in our area can take on some really graceful poses and with some nice lighting and a few flowers the options for creativity increases. In this case I was first attracted by the light in the background and the flowers in the fore ground. A pretty simple scene to work with. 

At home it went through the editing process starting in Lightroom and moving on to Photoshop to do the finishing detail process. After I finished I decided I'd like to see this scene as a black and white to weigh the differences.

While the scene holds up well, IMO, I still wanted to push this image in another direction. At first I thought I would use the opacity slider to bring in a little the color to see what difference that would make.

After a lot of fiddling I decided to use the brush tools in Photoshop and selectively paint in a thin amount of the original background yellow/green color in certain areas.

As you can see there are three images created from one particular capture. A lot of times I find my brain is locked in to certain "used" creative options and I forget to take on some different challenges.

I used my Canon 5D Mark IV camera with a 24 - 105mm "L" lens for these captures.

Thanks for visiting...Keep safe and use the social distancing options and masks

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

 

Winters Last Breath ?

"To photograph is to hold one's breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It's at that precise moment that mastering an image

becomes a great physical and intellectual job."  Henri Cartier-Bresson

Almost a week ago we had one of the most vicious blizzards I've ever experienced followed by several days of below freezing temperatures overnight. It became another several days of covering and uncovering the the tulip beds with plastic. From here on out it looks like things are going to switch gears to Spring.

Yesterday morning was my first outdoor adventure in many days. At 5:30 in the morning "social separation" is not difficult especially in a state park that is still covered in snow. The blog image was about the only interesting item to photograph, but at least I had a number of selection options when it came to ice formations sculptured by the lake water during the aforementioned storm.

The blog image was taken with my trusty Canon 5D Mark IV. I was looking for a simple composition with morning color and reflection on the water. I got most of that plus the reflection of the sunrise color in the icy fingers. The image was first processed in Adobe Lightroom Classic CC, then finishing touches in Adobe Photoshop CC, with some final touches in NIK Viveza.

Because of the quarantine I've been spending a lot of time watching photography videos on my computer. All decked out in my earbuds I enjoyed seeing different ideas, results, processes, and links to other treasures.

I happend to find a photographer, Nigel Danson, through some online search. He's a photographer of the United Kingdom and found his video tutorials quite helpful and informative. They're short, mostly 18 minutes or so, and full on info and options and includes a lot of images of England rural ares, which made it all the more fascinating, since I have a real interest in the countryside of England Mr. Danson's photography is softer in results as is English landscape. I would recommend his videos as a great way to learn simple facts and processes as well as waking up one's brain and slipping away from "cabin fever".

As the U.S. slowly starts back to the norm that we have all have been separated from over the past month, I hope to be able to get reacquainted with my camera on a more regular basis.

Thanks for stopping by and remember to stay safe, enjoy the leisure and wash your hands often.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

  

 

 

Spring Finally Made It!

"To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event."   Henri Cartier - Bresson

The morning light striking the side of this dilapidated corn crib was just enough to get my attention. The stark tree skeletons as well as the dirty snow would be an artistic definition of this past winter....cold and wicked.  This also happened to be the first day when huge migrations of geese and other waterfowl were in full swing. The background sounds of the geese along with the stunning sunrise was a complete  symphony for my enjoyment.  I'm sure that the people wizzing by in their cars were really struggling with their own reality as they passed a gray haired old guy standing behind a tripod and camera pointed at WHAT?

The image was taken with my Canon 5D Mark IV, which I think was one of the best camera purchases I've made in my life....except for the first Canon F1 years ago.  I used a Canon 70 - 200mm f/2.8 L lens (another purchase that I've been happy with) just to keep from having to cross a speedy highway.  As it turned out a sizable formation of geese did make a pass and I still had my camera mounted and waiting.

I've been trying out two new editing programs put out by Topaz; one is the A.I. (artificial intelligence) Clear, for dealing with noise like artifacts in digital images, and A.I. Gigapixel which is for magnifying sizes of images.  They both are a real surprise and do a much better job than what I had been using. Since I've been able to get much better high ISO pics with my Canon, I've been shooting more in the ISO 1600 - 2500 ranges, which wasn't possible even with the Mark 2 due to noise reasons.  A.I.Clear has been helpful to remove any noise that might come from the results of high ISO's as well as post processing issues. The A.I. gigapixel has been really helpful in upsizing digital images from years ago that had more issues with resolution caused by cameras of earlier editions. It also be helpful for producing large panorama images for metal print processing.

Both Topaz products can be used for 30 day trial options for free which give one ample time to test them out.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the nice Spring days ahead.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center  lakesart.com 

500px.com

Facebook - Daniel Ruf Photography  

When It Rains......

"Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity, because if you're passionate about something, then you're more willing to take risks."  Yo-Yo Ma

....it pours, at least it did at yesterdays annual Art In The Park held by the Pearson Lakes Art Center.  It started with a little sprinkling and by the time we were midway into tent raising, with much help from other artists next to us, the sprinkles turned to a pour and lasted until about noon. My wife and I scrambled until 1:00 p.m. getting panels put up, work hung, cards laid out, etc.  Meanwhile people are walking in and out, asking questions and purchasing items. It was crazy, but the best 3 hours of sales I could imagine. While I was drip drying for an hour after we set up, still wearing a pair of water proof chore boots from farming days, I regained my composure after the whirlwind set up. I owe all the visitors and customers alike a big thank you for visiting with us, asking questions, purchasing work and showing their kindness and understanding.

The blog image is from the wooden boat show at the Arnolds Park Amusement Park in Arnolds Park, Iowa a week ago.  This annual event is always a show stopper as some really beautiful and unusual wooden boats are lined up for the afternoon while visitors window shop, day dream, and reminisce.  This was a hand held shot with my Canon 5D Mark IV using the HDR setting in the camera, which is pretty amazing...to me at least. I just finished the editing/creative process a few minutes ago after using Lightroom, Photoshop and Topaz Studio during the processing, including the Studio Impression painting app.

Thanks for visiting and enjoy the rest of summer.  Where did summer go?

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center  lakesart.com  Also on Facebook for up to date activities

500px.com

"I search for realness, the real feeling of a subject, all the texture around it... I always want to see the third dimension... I want to come alive with the subject.  Andrew Wyeth

We had a really foggy morning a couple of days ago and the farther away from the boat ramp that I got with my kayak the more dense the fog became.  It was so dense that I finally decided that the safe option was to stay close to shore in case boaters were zooming through the lake.

I was intentionally headed toward a wetland that I was familiar with, but the water level is so high in our area that shore birds were none existent.  I continued paddling and the sunlight was starting to get brighter which, with the dense fog, might show as a crisp fireball on the horizon.  A workable spot came into view and I got the kayak positioned so that I could catch the sun coming up over the landscape.

The blog image is the result, but with some alterations. I was fortunate that I had a duck fly through as the shutter was released  which gave a sky attraction.  I've added some textures as well to give the sky some interest, opened up the shadows a slight bit and also did a digital watercolor version pulling a bit of the original back through using a layer mask.

My camera was a Canon 5D Mark IV with a 28-105mm lens with an ISO setting of 1600. Initial editing was done in Lightroom, with the final  work being done in Photoshop

We're starting to dry off here in NW Iowa after several days of rain and saturated soils. It should start to look like summer and be wonderful weather for a while.

Thanks for visiting and enjoy summer!

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center  lakesart.com  Also on Facebook for up to date activities

500px.com

 

Spring Found Northwest Iowa

"Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography."  George Eastman

Yes, Spring has finally returned to our part of Iowa.  The lakes are open and the fishermen are making up for lost time.  I'm glad I was standing on the dock making use of the sunset and my camera.  I'm even more happy that these dudes showed up before the light show was over. It doesn't take much to make me happy, but sometimes it takes a miracle to get all the subjects in one place at the same time that I have my camera.

It's was a very cold and lifeless winter in my opinion.  Lots of wind, lots of cold, lots of ice, lots of snow and little to focus on. So, as you probably know, I spent a lot of time  behind the computer editing work from the past, which helped pass the time and also bore some fruits.

The blog image was taken with my Canon 5D Mark IV and I still am in love with the camera.  I've always had Canon's, but this is becoming my favorite. The image was processed first in Lightroom CC and then finished off in Photoshop CC.

I hope you all have an incredible Spring and Summer.  Turn off the t.v. and get out of the house.