The Perfect Picture

One of my goals over the past year was to become a better photographer. I have loved photography most of my life but I would never consider myself very good. It is so hard to capture something that looks so good with the naked eye to an actual photo! As I said in a previous post, even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while so I decided to do a post on what I think are my 10 best pictures since we started our adventure.

Barb and I follow a lot of blogs from fellow full-timers and have been inspired by many of the great photographs posted by other amateur photographers. One that stands out to me is the photographs posted by Ingrid whose blog is Live, Laugh, RV. She takes great pictures and has an eye for bringing the beauty out of a scene as well as the detail in stunning close ups.

Tracey from Camper Chronicles recently did a post on whether a Photoshopped picture is one that is taken or created. Tracey believes the excitement of photography is in the hunt for the perfect picture without the need to Photoshop it while her husband Lee sees nothing wrong with editing to enhance the picture. I tend to lean towards Lee’s philosophy in trying to make each picture the best it can be. As I was going through the pictures something very interesting struck me, each of the pictures I selected were ones that had little (cropping) or no Photoshopping. Maybe Tracey is onto something and truly great photographs stand on their own.

So, without further ado, here are what I consider my 10 favorite pictures…..

This picture was taken in the Lake Mead area while visiting our friends Steve and Joan. I love the colors and contrast of this photo, how the sunlight is hitting the mountains in the background and how you are able to see the depth and contrast of the mountains. One of the hardest things for me to do it to actually show the contours of the landscape.

 

Although I know the coloring on this one could have been better, I love the overall content of this picture. The buffalo themselves set the stage but in my mind, the dried grasses, sand, the water from Salt Lake and the mountains in the background all add to it. This one was taken on Antelope Island State Park north of Salt Lake City.

 Again in Lake Mead, this one is special to me as it captures a rare moment in Bighorn Sheep mating ritual. The ram is in a "fleming pose" where he is checking to see if the ewe is ready for mating.

Taken outside of Yuba State Park in Utah, I captured this picture on an early morning drive with my son Forrest. There is something peaceful about grazing horses, the varying colors of each of these horses make it even more unique. If you look closely, you can see the legs of a baby under the mare farthest out.

Barb had all her ducks in a row when she captured this picture on Northwind Lake in Ontario last summer. Barb and I were boating up a river to the lake when we rounded a corner and there they were. It pays to have the camera handy at all times as you never know when an opportunity will present itself!

Although most of my favorite pictures I like this one as it was a moment in Louisiana where Barb and I were driving down the road. I actually recognized this one on the drive by and backed up to take it, placing the morning sun behind the tree helped accentuate the Spanish Moss.

Have you noticed how most of my favorites contain some kind of wildlife? I love the detail of this picture, you can see the detail of the feathers, the beak and the eyes. Barb and I were walking on a pier in Gulf Shores Alabama when this guy was cooperative enough to let me get close enough to capture this one.

 



Continuing with the "wildlife" theme, this is the only one  that had a person in it and is a favorite for several reasons. Not only for the beauty of both of the subjects, it also capture the deep golden brown colors of the walleye and reminds me of the great time we had this day fishing a remote lake in Ontario last summer.

This picture of the Blood Moon during the recent solar eclipse is by far the most technical picture I have taken. I did some research on speeds and f-stops the night before the eclipse and took almost 300 pictures over the course of an hour resulting in about a half a dozen that I could consider good.

Last but not least...... I can't really pinpoint it but I really like this picture of a female cardinal taken in Saguaro National Park is my favorite so far.  The detail of the bird and her perch along with the saguaro in the background make it my favorite so far!

I wished I could say that I was thoughtful and deliberate in taking each of these pictures but truth be told most of them were quite by accident and only a few were thoughtful and deliberate. When the pendulum goes the other way and only a few are by accident and the majority capture exactly what I was picturing in my mind I will know I have turned the corner and went to the next level in photography. In the meantime I will take every lucky shot I can get!

I would love to hear which one of the 10 were your favorite as well as any tips or thoughts you have on taking the "perfect" picture.........