(Original photo below right >>–>)

Example of an HDR hand held shot

Another barn to use on the geotagging/map page

A green barn, unusual. And with a chimney with lots of vines growing from it. This should be a real ‘green’ barn when the leaves come out on the vines.

A red and blue barn. I’m sure the flowers in the ‘planter’ in the foreground are plastic. First shot this year with green grass.

Add more photos/text…

What a beautiful Easter Sunday. What a nice day! On the drive back from Easter dinner, I turned on the GPS and headed for home taking all the back country roads I could find.

I am still on my quest to take as many shots as possible of anything that catches my eye for the sake of building up a ‘knowledge base’ to work from in the future. I’m not showing these shots as examples of the best that can be done. Only what I have been able to find so far and recording these ‘items of interest’ for future consideration.

I was struck by this old house (click on the photo for a larger view). At first glance, it looks rock solid. Then when you look closer, all the windows are gone, the front porch has been ripped off, and it looks like just a lot of junk stored inside.

I shot the house hand held and had a long zoom lens on at the time. I am not real happy with the sharpness. The front looks like it is out of focus. But the side of the house and posts in the foreground seem like they are, so I am having trouble figuring this out.

I do think I’ll plan on checking this spot out again in the future and will use a tripod the next time. Nothing makes me more sad than looking through a bunch of shots and seeing half of them not sharp or in focus. But we all keep learning.

Then a little farther down the road, I ran across this ring necked pheasant. Bright sun, bright snow. A nice opportunity. But the little buggers run so fast! He was moving along at quite a clip when I ‘shot’ him. I am rather happy with this one. Again, no where near tack sharp focus and that’s too bad. But the little buggers run so fast! (Or did I already say that?)

Trumpeters are the largest native North American bird. They are a protected species now, but they were nearly hunted to extinction 100 years ago or so. Widipedia has a short but informative article if you are so inclined.

Since they have not been (legally) hunted for a long time, they are not very fearful. But they definitely don’t like it if you get too close. And while I really like shooting them (with the camera), I hate to bother them too much. I rather like seeing them.

Wildlife photography is a field all of it’s own. And over the years I have become convinced about two things. First, that taking a tack sharp good photo of a wild animal is one of the most enjoyable things to do in outdoor photography. And secondly, that it is nearly impossible unless you are really willing to spend the time and effort to do so. (And going to the zoo or a game reserve with tame animals doesn’t count.)

Wildlife photography takes more than talent and gear. It takes TIME. Lot’s of time, usually. The Trumpeter shots here are nice enough for a photo to remember that you actually took a picture of one. But because of their low fear of humans, they nearly fall into the tame category. To get a true shot of a ‘wild’ wild animal, you do need to spend time in blinds, or well hidden waiting and it can take hours and hours before you actually get a good shot.

The purpose of this blog is to talk about how we (as non-professional photographers) can take better photos. Perhaps wildlife photography would be a good subject to address on it’s own. Maybe we can find some short cuts.

And here is one more barn to add to my (never ending it seems) collection of old barns that I’m building. Can you believe all the different colored shingles on the roof? (Click on the photo for a larger view.) I can’t wait for the snow to melt off the other two roofs and then go back and give this old barn a serious photo session.

I am looking forward to some stormy Spring days to try some shots of some of these barns in a little more ‘moody’ situation. They’re old and worn out, and like a lot of older things, don’t look their best in the bright light of day. But give them a little darker lighting, a little mood, and they look a lot better.

As some of you have already guessed, there will be a BARN page coming soon. We’ll set up a barn photo section for some good (and maybe not so good) barn shots. The goal will be to combine barns or other old buildings with at least one other element of interest to see if we can get some super photos.

(And just thinking, I may have to try some of these in black and white or sepia. What do you think?)

I was so busy looking at barns, I forgot about this shot.

It was snowing quite heavily this evening, so I thought I’d try some long exposure shots to try to catch the snow. The falling snow doesn’t show up, but I think the neighborhood looks like it’s in a winter mood.

This is another shot that can act as a reminder of what type of shots can be taken when the sun isn’t up. While this photo is of no interest other than the method that was used to take it, it can be used as a good reminder that some interesting photos can be taken on mild late winter nights during or after a fresh snow. Especially architecture type shots of interesting buildings or city shots with lights. Options galore.

Perhaps you have heard the story Acres of Diamonds made famous by Russell Conwell. It’s a tale of a farmer who was so obsessed with the idea of finding diamonds and becoming rich that he sold his farm and spent the rest of his life in a tragic, hopeless search for diamonds, while the man who bought his property went to work in the fields and discovered a rich diamond mine right on the farm.

Can the moral of this story, ‘dig in your own backyard’, be applied to our search for finding good photos when we have limited time to spend on our hobby or limited resources to travel far away to find the perfect spot?

This is the question I am trying to answer by checking out some of the areas closer to home and trying to see if there are ‘items of interest’ that would make good photos.

The result of my latest quest are the five photos currently attached to this post. I took these shots Friday evening after work in a two hour time frame. I didn’t travel more than ten miles from home. Are these ‘local’ shots ‘items of interest’?

The shots may or may not look ‘good’ to you. And that’s the point. I am taking them for me. To have them to learn from and as a record I can look back at a year from now when I am planning another photo trip during mid-March.

I can find a high number of items to be critical of in each one. But these five (of over 100 shots I actually snapped) each have some items that I personally like. And I can see at least one or two things in each one of them that I really like and I can learn from and add to my arsenal of experience.

For me, looking back on my own photos, it is interesting to see what different scenes looked like at each time of year. And to be able to remember how things looked when I was out on that photo trip. I do like the idea of shooting more shots without being so worried about whether or not they are good enough to hang on the wall. I think it gives me more ammunition in my hunt for really getting that better than average photo in the future.

While looking at these shots and trying to decide if it is worth the time and effort to take and process and keep these photos I think it’s time that we define a process for the hobbyist photographer that will greatly enhance their enjoyment of their hobby and do something that will really help them move on to getting great photos.

If you have a wish or are planning to become a professional paid photographer, then the thoughts and ideas I will be outlining in this blog will probably not be for you. For someone who wants to move up to be a professional fairly quickly, a lot more work and technical prowess will be required. And you will have to devote magnitudes more time than I am describing here. But if you are a serious amateur, being able to maximize your results and minimize your time spent are worthwhile goals.

And while I don’t have this theory and its methodology totally worked out, I do think we can start describing it and giving some names or tags to the different concepts. Therefore, for the time being, photos similar to the five shown here will be called ‘seed’ photos.

The goal is:
To create interesting or meaningful photos that you are pleased and satisfied with.
(Professional, meaning ‘paid’, photographers need to please and satisfy others. Perhaps someday that will be goal #2!)

The starting outline of this system/theory is:
1. Take as many photos as possible as often as possible. Don’t worry if they are ‘good’ shots. And if you do have a lot of experience and have advanced to where you get many great shots on an outing, follow this rule anyway.
2. It’s very OK to try to capture a ‘wall-hanger’ but do not fail to shoot a lot of ‘seed’ photos for future reference as well.
3. Plan ahead so that you have a plan ready when you do have the time or opportunity to get away for some photo time.
4. Make sure you have alternate plans based on the lighting you will have, the time of day and the season of the year so that you will always have something to shoot no matter when the chance occurs.
5. Keep learning. From your own experience and from others.

We will be expanding on this system and will work on expanding and clarifying it with the intention of making it usable for anyone who wants to maximize their results and minimize their expense in time and assets.