Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category
Bull Thistle on the Buena Vista Grasslands (HDR)
July 17, 2008
This image is a HDR, a composite of several images taken several f-stops apart. An off camera fill flash was used to brighten the back side of the bull thistle. The images were captured just prior to sunrise on a very still morning. The ridge line 3 miles in the distance is the terminal moraine from the Wisconsin Glaciation.
Morning Fog on the Buena Vista
July 14, 2008
The Buena Vista Grasslands in central Wisconsin is a wet lowland. Many mornings it is shrouded in fog when the rest of the countryside is clear. This image was captured looking up a former sand dune formed from the run off of melt water from our last glaciation. The ground fog hung just a bit off the ground making for a spectacular sunrise. I great way to start your morning.
Double Monarch Butterfly
July 8, 2008
The Buena Vista Grasslands just south of Stevens Point, Wisconsin is a great place to find butterflies. These two had spent the night on a bull thistle and had not warmed up enough in the early morning light to take flight as I approached. The pre-sunrise dawn provided a neutral back drop and an off camera flash was positioned to the right and a little above.
The location is along Taft Avenue within Prairie Chicken habitat. The grasslands is a broad expanse of flat land extending about 20 miles south. The Green Bay Lobe of the Wisconsin Glaciation extended to within 2 miles of this location. Runoff from the melt water contained great quantities of sediment that was deposited over the future grasslands and leveled the terrain.
St. Peter’s Church
July 3, 2008
Stevens Point grew up along the Wisconsin River. The area was initially inhabited by Polish immigrants who built St. Peter’s Catholic Church in 1897. Recognizing the strong Polish roots, Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla visited the church in 1976. He later became Pope John Paul II.
This image is an HDR and looks over the Wisconsin River as St Peter’s tower is back lighted by the rising sun.
Blue Flag Iris (iris versicolor)
July 1, 2008
Just north of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, is the Dewey Marsh, home of mosquitoes and blue flag iris. Some consider the mosquitoe as our state bird, but most will list this iris as one of their favorite wildflowers. Relatively common along our marshy water ways, it blooms in early summer.
This image was obtained in the Dewey Marsh and is an HDR composed of 4 different images obtained using an off camera flash. The flash unit was moved between each image in an effort to illuminate most of the iris. The flash was brought closer to the left on the last image to provide highlight.
Bog Pond
June 19, 2008
Water gardening has become fairly popular in central Wisconsin. We created this bog garden about five years ago. It is roughly 30 feet in diameter and kidney bean shaped. Most of the pond is less than six inches deep with a section in the middle about 2 feet deep. The shallow sections are for bog plants that like to be very wet and the center section is for deeper water plants. The edge is rimmed with stones that is now covered with various rock garden plants. In front of the pond is a two foot wide section within a liner extending about two feet down and poked with holes. The dirt in this area stays very moist but not as wet as within the pond itself.
The plants are all winter hardy and most have survived temperatures to at least -30. There always seems to be something blooming. The pond has attracted turtles, frogs and dragonflies. We’ve tried keeping fish but the local blue herons clean us out fairly quickly.
The pond has become a true source of enjoyment for my family.
Spring Greens
June 17, 2008
For a several week period in late spring, Wisconsin is filled with a wonderful mix of greens as vegetation emerge from a long winter. Grasses and spring wildflowers emerge first and tend to have the darkest greens while trees bud later resulting in softer lighter greens. The contrast of the greens in the image above was accentuated by an early morning sun brightening the trees but not yet reaching the forest floor. A hint of a footpath seems to add to the magic of this image.
The image was obtained near the Wisconsin River just outside of Stevens Point, Wisconsin along West River Drive.
Crepuscular Rays Over Lime Lake
June 13, 2008
Beams of light radiating from the sun become visible when shadows are formed and light is scattered by particulates in the atmosphere. These crepuscular rays can be seen forming at three distinct cloud banks above Lime Lake in eastern Portage County, Wisconsin. If conditions are just right, the rays can be seen traveling the entire sky to the opposite horizon.
Lime Lake is one of the few lakes in Portage County draining initially to the east. A remnant of our glacial past, it was formed by a huge block of ice left behind by the retreating glacier. The ice chunk depressed the ground underneath forming a depression that would become Lime Lake. The image was captured from the western ridge overlooking the lake. Drainage for the lake exits through the gap seen in the distance.
This image is an HDR and was constructed from five separate images. The images were captured using a static aperture but variable shutter speed resulting in a full f-stop between images. Images were combined using Photoshop CS3 and a Photomatix tone mapping plug-in.
Crabapple Row
June 10, 2008
The Stevens Point County Club has a row a crabapple trees on it’s entrance drive that tend to bloom in unison. The Wisconsin climate is just too severe to support many of the flowering trees seen further south. Crabapples do very well, as can be seen in this image.
This image is an HDR and was constructed from three separate images. The images were captured using a static aperture but variable shutter speed resulting in a full f-stop between images. Images were combined using Photoshop CS3 and a Photomatix tone mapping plug-in.
