Daniel Ruf

Back Roads

         “I was always a dreamer, in childhood especially.  People thought I was a little strange.     Charley Pride

A few days ago I headed the truck to the West and stayed mostly on gravel county roads.  I hadn’t been back to the area that was familiar during my farming days and thought I should check out some different areas for photography.  The summer clouds were percolating and the sun was getting low in the evening sky, so that was a good enough reason.

Searching for landscape subjects is a lot like finding secrets and this day was no exception.  A few minutes earlier I was up on a hill to the left of this subject shooting three hay racks in a field overlooking this treed ravine.  A short drive and inquisitiveness brought me to this shallow “creek bed” and the work began.

I used my Canon 5D II for the capture and because of the high contrast lighting decided to do multiple exposures for an HDR.  I have two HDR programs, one is Photomatix and the other, NIK HDR Efex Pro 2.  I have two because they each render scenes a little differently and therefore each have there own purpose in the final outcome.  In this case I used the NIK program and was very happy with the results.  I finished with a little touch up in NIK Viveza. 

Thank you all for continuing to visit this blog page and you might also want to touch base with my friend Mike Houge at www.mikehouge.typepad.com as he’s just returned from northern Minnesota and has a beautiful post from the northland.  Don’t forget to check out my Facebook page by visiting Enviromental Photography or Daniel Ruf.

Go Baylor...Sic 'Em Bears.  Less than 13 days to an awesome football season!!!

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

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

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V

http://500px.com/pigs4u

Eureka!

“Ambition is  the path to success, persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.”  William Eardley IV

At long last, after many years of watching the butt end of a Great Blue Heron flying away from me, I finely found a subject that would stand……….and it wasn’t a yard ornament.

My wife and I had been kayaking on East Lake, weaving in and out around the shoreline, and passed this critter standing on shore near a lake home.  I watched it for a while and decided that the lake home wasn’t going to make a suitable background and we continued on our journey.

A while later we were making our way back toward home and I knew that we were coming upon a little point in the shore that I knew was where I left the heron when I passed the first time.  I took my time to drift around the point and low and behold he was standing in the water near a rocky part of the shore.  The only problem is that he was next to the bow of a canoe.

I let the kayak drift with the current, got to within a feasible distance and decided that the canoe was going to have to be a part of this little portrait, not wanting to spook  the heron into leaving.  The reflection were good, the vegetation provided a good background and the clicking started.

Processing wasn’t to difficult in Photoshop CS6…a little cloning out of spots in the water and the using NIK Viveza to boost the reftection and brighten the rock area under the canoe, and finally a short visit in NIK Color Efex Pro to add a “soft focus” filter to finish the presentation. 

All in all, I think it works well and the canoe becomes just a second “character” in the scene that is played out often around our lakes system.  I’m glad that we have the various shorebirds that frequent/stay in our area as it adds a touch of “wildness” to our small town and it’s surrounding wetlands. 

It won’t be long before we’ll begin to see those flying “V’s” in the air heading south for the winter…another part of the seasonal change that I can’t live without.  With that in mind I encourage all of my readers to enjoy what’s left of summer and I hope we have a few more warm/puffy cloud days for photography.  There’s a chill in the air, but I believe we have some summer left to play.

Thank you all for spending time at this site and don’t forget to stop in at my Facebook site at Environmental Photography.

Go Baylor...Sic 'Em Bears.  Less than 15+ days to an awesome football season!!!

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

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

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V

http://500px.com/pigs4u

It Begins

 "I think having nature be a part of people's lives helps all of us see ourselves as part of something larger."
                                                                 Ethan Hawke

The prairie Pasque Flower is a true early riser of spring and for me is the kick off for spring flower photography.  These ruggid little beauties are only about 2 inches tall and fight their way through late season frosts (as was the case in the early morning of the day I captured these), live in some of the poorest soil conditions under pretty dry conditions.

This image captured with a Canon 5D Mark II with a 70-200mm zoom lens with lens extender attached and processed in Photoshop CS5 with additional processing in NIK software.

There will be many flowers making their introductions over the next few months so make an effort to take that walk down some crooked woodland path to enjoy the scenery.

Thank  you all for visiting.

Go Baylor...Sic 'Em Bears. 

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

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

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V

http://500px.com/pigs4u

 

Spring Thaw

"Behold my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embrace of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love."  Sitting Bull

Having spent yesterday morning in the depths of Ft. Defiance State Park it was reassuring to see a healthy flow of water from the snow melt.  I spent the whole morning being captivated by the various designs of ice patterns...as different as snow flakes and just as beautiful.  What graceful lines the spring warmth forms on the thining sheets of frozen water.

The blog image was taken with a Canon 5D II through a 70 - 200mm f/2.8 lens with a 1.4 teleconverter attached.  Processing was done in Photoshop CS5 and tweaking done in NIK software.  The sun was being filtered by some thin cloud cover which helped in taming the glare that would normally be a problem.

I was a really good boy for most of the time when I was in the valley, avoiding any temptations of  going into areas that I might have problems getting out of due to snow cover with some ice beneath.  I did, however, succumb to the urge to make my way to a small raised area in the stream to capture a nice ice formation and managed to fill a boot with some very cold water.  Such is life!

Thank you for visiting...post a comment...it doesn't take courage to do so and will be appreciated.

Go Baylor...Sic 'Em Bears. 

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

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

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V

http://500px.com/pigs4u

File Hunting

                            "Do all you can to make your dreams come true."  Joel Osteen

A couple of Fall's ago my friend Mike Houge, mikehouge.typepad.com , and myself made a trip to the Arrowhead region of Northeastern Minnesota to photograph around the Gooseberry Falls and Lake Superior regions.  I remember spending a lot of time at the site of the blog image trying to get a particular capture of this scene of which the hardest part was straddling this small portion of the Gooseberry River, which is downstream of the falls area. I can't even imagine what Mike was thinking as I tried to execute several "rubber legged" approaches to the situation.

When I got home it was one of the first files I looked for after downloading the results of this particular session, but was disappointed by the results and left the file as unworthy of consideration.  It seemed that the HDR exposure range was not good enough to render a final execution that I could appreciate.  It's not a new story, but a learning curve about the importance of not being too hasty when one is onsite and needing to fulfill the personal assignment.

The other day, as I was file hopping, I happened to realize that, judging by the file arrangement for the session, I had apparently walked away to do some other captures at the scene, and then returned for some final attemps.  As "luck" would have it I did made several other exposures which were indeed had appropiate outcomes for a final image.

This scene was taken with my ol' trusty Canon 50D, processed in Photomatix HDR software and finished with applications in Photoshop CS5, NIK Color Efex Pro and NIK Viveza.  The results are above and once again a reminder to myself that shooting sessions are never over and that file reviewing is a necessary part of digital photography just as it was with traditional film photography.  As artist, we are evolving in our approaches to our work as well as are the tools we use.  The more learning and research we do the more our approaches and tastes change, which will be reflected in our work.

Life is learning and change....and yes, about the journey.

Thank you for visiting...post a comment...it doesn't take courage to do so and will be appreciated.

Go Baylor...Sic 'Em Bears. 

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

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

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V

http://500px.com/pigs4u

Winter Fluff

"No matter how many goals you have achieved, you must set yourself on a higher one."  Jessica Savitch

While we haven't gotten as much snow as those areas of Iowa that surround us, last week we did get a nice 6 inches of fluffy white stuff that made for some nice opportunities.  This particular blog image is from the lakes edge at Mini-Wakan State Park that is on the north edge of Spirit Lake.

I had been waiting for an opportunity to photograph the interesting colors of the ice slabes that develop with the expanding and pushing of the ice that covers this great lake.  As this particular tree has been one of my favorite subjects I decided to head here first to see if there would be snow covered rocks to go along with my hope to work the ice into the composition.

The ambient light was bright enough to give help with detail and form and yet soft enough that harsh contrast wasn't a problem and I think the color of the ice was much more stiking.  This was shot with my Canon 5D II and then processed through Photoshop CS5 followed by some work in NIK Viveza software.

For those of you that are avid photographers it's always good to remember to revisit your photographic haunts on a regular basis.  Lighting, seasons and weather can always give one new opportunities for success.

Thanks for visiting and feel free to make a comment or tell a friend.

Go Baylor...Sic 'Em Bears

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

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

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V

http://500px.com/pigs4u

Welcome Snow

        "I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order."  John Burroughs

It has finally happened in our little corner of Northwest Iowa...the snow has come and lingured for a while, and today we are enjoying another several inches to finally cover a naked earth.  It's been a long while since we've seen measurable amounts as we are having and the moisture is a welcome event.

The blog image was taken a week or so ago during a short blast of winter weather.  It was processed in Photoshop and then converted to a black and white with the help of NIK's Silver Efex Pro 2.  This software is one of the best on the market (IMO) and mimics a lot of the results from a wet darkroom, which I used to use many years ago.

Manuvering to the right position where one tree isn't blending with another was the difficult task and I even had to crop the left side of the original capture due to a merging that didn't make a lot of "eye" sense.  After working with the original for a while I realized that my eye was always being pulled to the left in an effort to make sense of two merging tree trunks and I had a feeling that they would be a problem.  As you can see from the final you can imagine that movement to the right or left would cause other such blending of tree trunks in the background.

Being out in the falling snow has a mellowing effect on a person and I hope you all get a chance this winter to do just that. 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Go Baylor...Sic 'Em Bears

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

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

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V

http://500px.com/pigs4u

A Little Twist

"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang the very best."  Henry Van Dyke

Back in August I was out shooting some lakeshore subjects in the early morning when a group of gulls were making their way through for some morning "fishing".  I took the opportunity to take some bird shots using my Nikon D300s with a 20 - 300 zoom lens attached.  It wasn't until I was doing some file cleanup and "treasure hunting" that I found this capture and decided to spend some time making some adjustments.  The thing that attracted me the most was the backlighting coming through the birds wings and along the top line. 

The first issue to handle was a very distracting background of beach front "clatter".  The bird was absolutely lost in the maze of color and shapes.  In Adobe Photoshop CS5 I selected the background and applied a vertical blur which simplified the background while not losing some of it's design features.  Since it was an early morning shot the color temperature was rather cool so I tweaked that to be a little warmer and then, with NIK Color Efex Pro 4 added a Glamor Glow adjustment.  Using the Brush tool that is part of many NIK products I painted the bird with a Soft Focus adjustment as well using a low opacity brush.

My final layer adjustment was with Alien Skin's Snap Art 3 with which I applied a oil painting adjustment at about a 50% opacity.

The more I view the "final" results the more I think the line of blurred objects at the bottom of the background add a little boyancy to the bird giving it a floating quality, which I think worked rather well in this situation.

Thanks to all of you that have followed my blog and continue to come for a visit.  Please feel free to comment on the work seen here and also click on the tabs in the right to visit other sites that I find to be very energizing.

Also, a big shout out to the Baylor Football team for their impressive win over UCLA at the Holiday Bowl.

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

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

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V

http://500px.com/pigs4u

First Snow

       "When I make art, I think about its ability to connect with others, to bring them into the process."

                                                                       Jim Hodges

Around a couple of bends in the road and right back to a place that I often visit for another chance to challenge my skills.  To anyone else it's just a small pasture with an old farm implement along a fence line, but to me its another opportunity to stretch my perception of a subject...to see it from a different point.  On this day the first snow had fallen and left just a slight residue, enough to add some interest to the pasture floor and also enough to cause a fog for separation of the background.

After having done a few routine captures of the trees and machinery I was walking out through the gated area feeling a little empty and looked back.  The interesting gate structure became the challenge...making it part of the scene, yet not overtaking the implement and tree in the distance.  A panorama was the only option that put the two important items in the same image and the blog image is the result.

Taken as a color capture I made the change to black and white with the use of Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.  I felt that a b/w would be a stronger representation of the elements and I find that many times foggy scenes lend themselves well to the b/w process.

There is a farmstead just behind where I'm standing and I sometimes wonder if the residents look out their window and wonder if I'm some dementia driven farmer lost in another world.

In a way...I am.

Merry Christmas to all...have safe travels...remember those that are not with us.

 

Go Baylor...SIC 'EM BEARS

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

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

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V

http://500px.com/pigs4u

Look Down

                       "Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."  Albert Camus

A couple of weeks ago I was in Ft. Defiance State Park struggling to find something of a seasonal nature, and with the creek dry and the trees stripped I was not too happy.  I was at a point of finishing my work when I happen to look down where I found, between my feet, the subject that has become this weeks blog image.  In a world of brown I found some color and an arrangement that was pleasing.  I'm not often successful at setting up a leaf still life so this find was a "diamond in the rough" for me.

The image was shot with my Canon 5D and processed in Photoshop CS5.  I did a slight bit of detail work in Nik Color Efex Pro 4, a little color punch in Nik Viveza, a very light Fly Paper Texture layer and then a final process in Alien Skin Snap Art to convert the image to an oil painting.  My next move was to reduce the opacity of the Snap Art by about 30% to let the original details creep back in.

We all get caught up in viewing the world from the human perspective of 5 feet off the ground when sometimes the best view is straight down. 

Go Baylor...SIC 'EM BEARS

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

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

BetterPhoto.com   http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V

http://500px.com/pigs4u