Going Vertical #2

at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2010/04/going-vertical-2.html



I've decided my project is going to be to shoot and post vertical shots for a good while.

Flickr really like horizontal images, or square images. Vertical images are not as popular, although I did recently come across someone's flickr stream that was almost completely vertically composed images.

Flickr's Explorer is almost always non-vertical shots, the non-vertical shots just work better for computer screens and the site's layout.

At a recent photoclub meeting the presenter had many panoramic shots taken with a panoramic camera. Most times you'd think of a pano you'd think horizontal, right? Well this person also had some vertical panos, like 1 foot wide by 6 feet tall. It's such an odd thing that it struck me. He's a pro and said that they sell well the tall narrow shots because they can fit in to place where wall space is very limited. And wow, yeah, that makes such great sense.

I'm going to try a few vertical panos if the subject looks right for it.

Here's another vertical shot, that I posted a while back, a rare thing...



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Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Nikographer.com / Jon

Great Falls National Park Spring 2010

From http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2010/04/great-falls-national-park-spring-2010.html.

The River's water levels are coming down, and the herons are fishing in the main falls some. Over the last week I saw Great Blue Herons flying around with nesting material, as well as competing for spots to fish from.



There's a rookery up river that is pretty active, and an eagle's nest too. The eagle appear to now have a chick. I didn't follow the exact dates, but the chick might be 2 weeks old now.

I forgot and now remembered some of why I like Great Falls so much. The herons and water are such great attractions, and not having to drive a hundred miles (bombay hook refuge, blackwater refuge) is a nice change of pace.

While there I also saw a couple bluebirds, as well as many vultures (turkey and black). There was also a Red-Tailed Hawk with some crows dogging it on more than one occasion over the main falls.

I highly recommend folks visit Great Falls National Park. Bring a tripod and a short and long lenses.




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Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Nikographer.com / Jon

Make photos pop - selective sharpening

I've done a little guide already once showing off selective sharpening, here's another good example.



read on for more details



The background has a nice blur to it, but the bird needed to be sharpened.

here's the starting image with level adjustments already



And here is a layer with just the bird sharpened and everything else masked out



Then the lower layer is added back (to being visible) and you get the selectively sharpened image...

Visiting My Great Blue Heron

I've been visiting "my" GBH a couple times a week again for a couple weeks in a row, and he hasn't disappointed.



read more...


He's mostly got the pond to himself.



The lower sun angles of fall is nice as is the color of the foliage in the reflections / water...

Unlike many birds that freak at the first sight of a human, this one can be "friendly" and not bothered by people passing by or even directly interested in him.



When I visited him last night he was near his little island, and then flew around here and there, and then I approached him and he was hunting and let me get to around 10 or 15 feet.



This is the same heron that I've been checking on since August! He's the BEST!



-J