Sunday, May 3, 2015

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.........

24 comments:

  1. Nice pictures. They are all good. This is how I make a good picture into a great one is this, and you can try this also. I hold the camera out at arms length. Then I make sure to point it at myself and presto! a great picture!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Spanish Moss gets our vote. Absolutely stunning!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the vote, I bet you don't see too much of that in Canada!

      Delete
  3. They are all beauties! I can't count how many hundreds of picture I take to get just one that I truly like. That Dino is too funny! I tried that approach but somehow this strange old crazy person photo bombed all my pictures.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Crazy indeed, I saw that same "old crazy person" in quite a few of our pictures as we were going through them as well!

      Hope you guys are doing well and having fun out there!

      Delete
  4. Very nice photos! I really like the one with the Spanish Moss. I liked the sunlight filtering through the tree. But I really enjoyed the moss in motion. Super capture:)

    I also love the Blood Moon! I know how hard it is to capture the moon like that. I remember that one from you blog.

    I'm with Tracey. I think the beauty is in real photos. Being able to capture what the eye sees without using something else to make it a little more than perfect.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Pam! I am starting to lean that way as well as those are the ones I really appreciate, although I will often shoot it knowing that I can crop it later.

      I envy your landscape pictures, for me those are the hardest ones to perfect. I just can't seem to capture the depth, contrast and contour of the mountains and rugged country.

      Delete
  5. All the pics are great. I enjoy your post and look.forward to each new one. My favorite would be the one taken in Gulf Shores.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Gulf Shores was a great place to visit. They have beautiful beaches and fantastic seafood! I am glad you enjoy our posts, thanks for joining us on our journey. Feel free to follow our by clicking "Join this site" on our right sidebar above.

      Delete
  6. All your photos are wonderful JIm, but when I came to Spanish Moss ..it took my breath away.
    I think Scott (my son..Wandering Whelan Wagon) should also do a blog like this. It would be interesting to see which of his photos he would choose. I have one in mind that is my favorite.
    SO.Spanish Moss wins hands down for me. Keep on clickin'..there is more to see and do out there..
    Cheers, to you and Barb.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Carol, that's three votes for the Spanish Moss so far! I would love to see Scott and Detra's favorite photos they have been to some pretty interesting places.

      Hope things are warming up for you up there!

      Delete
  7. I love the sailboat in the Salt Lake shot. Buffalo and sailboats...go figure!

    One thing my dad always told me was to try to frame a shot with a little foliage, similar to the current header on our blog that shows Yosemite Valley. It is tough to do in the desert, for sure. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good advice Jim, I will have to remember that one. In fact, I took one yesterday here on the coast that is frames by some pines, I will have to try and remember to use that one in our next post.

      Hope all is going well in Michigan, don't let the mosquitos carry you away!

      Delete
  8. Great pics! My favorite is definitely the one with the tree and the cow - it's beautiful. And moon shots are SO hard - I've never gotten one that I'm totally happy with.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jen! That one was taken on our way to Florida just before we saw you guys. Sounds like you guys have had in interesting few weeks and you are fully recovered from your bite!

      Delete
  9. Jim I loved loved the buffalo picture. Combines two of my favorite things ... Landscape and animals. It's great you did your 10 best pics...I am going to take my favorite from each month we've been on the road and make a calendar for my family at the end of this year. 😄

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Tracy, love the calendar idea! After thinking about it, not all of them may be my best but maybe my favorites as the emotion from the memory of the events definitely played a role in my selection process.

      Delete
  10. One more vote for the Spanish moss picture, I love the lighting.
    I've always wanted to get better at photography as well. Getting the camera to see things the way you want is the voodoo magic of photography that seperates us from the pro's.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're right Scott, sometimes it does seem like voodoo. You can see it with your eye but when you take the picture you get something totally different!

      Delete
  11. It's a tie between the mossy tree, the pelican, moon & Barb with the walleye!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! The mossy tree is the clear winner. I love the one with Barb and the walleye as it reminds me of the great day we had on the lake that day.

      Delete
  12. You've managed to capture a bunch of really nice shots and I don't think I could pick a favorite. And awe, thanks for the kind mention. Truth be told, some of my best shots are the ones I don't over think so you're doing great :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I need to get better at taking close ups of flowers and other subjects. Not sure if I need a new lens for that or not.

      Delete