Tuesday, June 26, 2012

T4T: AstroArn and Farbspiel

Two for Tuesday - our time to pass along the two websites that caught our attention this week. We hope you enjoy these links and encourage you to visit these sites. So onto the picks - here is our Two for Tuesday sites for you to lounge around with on this fine Tuesday...

Portfolio/Gallery - AstroArn Photography by Robert Arn

AstroArn Photography - http://www.astroarn.com/home

Living in the country, like we do, there are many nights we spend watching the stars and staring up into the dark sky playing amateur astronomer.  So to see a whole website combining astronomy with photography, we were absolutely thrilled!  Robert Arn is an astronomer, photographer, and mathematician who now churns out his own type of astrophotography, he calls "Nightscape Photography."

Obviously, he prefaces his work stating that with this type of photography, there is always going to be processing and image combinations to achieve the final product.  And they are amazing pieces of work.  We encourage you to roam around within his galleries checking out what we miss with the naked eye in the midnight sky.

Don't forget to check out his Books & Tutorials page.  It is one thing to gaze in wonderment at some else's photographs, but a totally different wonderment in creating those images ones self.  Robert's "Photography at Night: An Introduction to Astrophotography on a Budget" e-book and tutorials will help you along your way to creating your own "Nightscape Photography."  Robert, we've purchased and are reading up - we hope to try this type of photography soon!  Thanks and keep up the great work.  We can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve next...

Photography Blog - Farbspiel Photography - View. Learn. Connect.

Farbspiel Photography by Klauss Herrmann - http://farbspiel-photo.com/

Klaus Herrmann specializes in High Dynamic Range (HDR), panorama, and vertorama photography.  You say, what is vertorama?  This type of photography consists of multiple exposures that cover the scene in a vertical direction and then stitched into a single image.  In fact, a great tutorial can be found here: Taking Interior HDR Vertorma Shots

And you will find many more tutorials like that on Klaus' blog.  Farbspiel Photography has had a solid background in providing "text-based recipes or tutorials" but now have moved into making video-based tutorials including their own You-Tube channel. 

Hopefully you'll take the time to review all the different tutorials and HDR recipes provided by Farbspiel Photography, but we encourage you to at least take the opportunity to read: 21 HDR Photography Myths Busted.  I like Klaus' take on the best way to learn, is to debunk some myths about a subject.  We are looking forward to following more of Klaus on video!

These are our picks for this T4T Tuesday post! We hope you enjoyed the sites that we've found for you and spend some time this week getting to know them. Stop by their sites, add them to your Google+ circles, or give them a like on Facebook. Spread the word about the great work that is out there just waiting to be found...

And while you are at it, join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , or sneak a peek at our own photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Weekly Photography Challenge: 'Y' - Young Antelope

There are still antelope that are carrying their young, but for the most part - the young antelope are out in force in Custer State Park. For this weekly photography challenge we chose to focus on the young ones.   

"Mom, mom...MOM!  There is a crazy guy with a camera running around over here.  Aren't you going to do something, Mom...?!"

Young Antelope in Custer State Park in the Black Hills by Dakota Visions Photography LLC www.dakotavisions.com

The still pregnant antelope are generally kept at arms length from the young antelope.  This mother with her young antelope almost immediately left the area when the other pregnant antelope showed up in this clearing.

Young Antelope in Custer State Park in the Black Hills by Dakota Visions Photography LLC www.dakotavisions.com

And who can resist those big eyes of a young antelope?!  One of the greatest times to be roaming around Custer State Park is during this wonderful season of the animals raising their young.

Young Antelope in Custer State Park in the Black Hills by Dakota Visions Photography LLC www.dakotavisions.com

We hope you enjoyed the photographs of the young antelope roaming Custer State Park. Keep an eye out for more photographs of the antelope, deer, and buffalo young! If you have any 'Y' photographs to share for our weekly challenge, just put the link to your photograph in the comment box below. Join us next week's photography challenge finding something starting with the letter 'Z'.

And while you are at it, join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , or sneak a peek at our photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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Sunday, June 17, 2012

Weekly Photography Challenge: 'X' - Xylem!

Huh?!  You thought I wouldn't be able to come up with an 'X' photograph this week?!  Well, we fooled you - xylem it is.  For those of you who remember your high school biology, think of it as the xylem and phloem vascular transport tissues in plants.  It's basic function is to transport water, but it also transports some nutrients through the plant.  So enjoy the 'outside view' of the xylem and phloem of wild daisies, ferns, and snow on the mountain plants.

Flower Plant Photography by Dakota Visions Photography LLC www.dakotavisions.com daisies

The xylem transports water and soluble mineral nutrients from the roots throughout the plant.  It is also used to replace water lost during transpiration and photosynthesis. 

Flower Plant Photography by Dakota Visions Photography LLC www.dakotavisions.com ferns

And one more quick biology lesson, if you can remember your school biology lessons - you'll remember that there are two reasons that water or sap flows in the xylem: transpirational pull (resulting from the negative pressure of evaporation) and/or root pressure (a positive pressure caused by osmosis). 

Flower Plant Photography by Dakota Visions Photography LLC www.dakotavisions.com daisies

Well now that your head is spinning, we'll drop the science lesson and move on to the letter 'Y' next week.  If you have any 'X' photographs to share for our weekly challenge, just put the link to your photograph in the comment box below. Join us for next week's photography challenge.

While you are at it, join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , or sneak a peek at our photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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Sunday, June 10, 2012

Weekly Photography Challenge: 'V' - Velvet Antlers

We couldn't have had any better luck than having the 'V' photography challenge coming during the velvet antler season.  Antlers grow as highly vascular spongy tissue on deer covered in a skin called velvet.  Before the mating season, the antlers calcify under the velvet and become hard bone. 

Velvet Antlers White Tailed Deer in Custer State Park Black Hills by Dakota Visions Photography LLC

In a month or two, the velvet will be rubbed off leaving dead bone which forms the hard antlers that most of us think of when we envision a buck. 

Velvet Antlers White Tailed Deer in Custer State Park Black Hills by Dakota Visions Photography LLC

After the mating season, the pedicle (the attachment point on the skull) and the antler base are separated by a layer of soft tissue, and the antler falls off.  And so, the velvet antler begins a never ending cycle of antlers on the male white-tail deer.

Velvet Antlers White Tailed Deer in Custer State Park Black Hills by Dakota Visions Photography LLC

If you have any 'V' photographs to share for our weekly challenge, just put the link to your photograph in the comment box below. Join us for next week's photography challenge finding something starting with the letter 'X'.

While you are at it, join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , or sneak a peek at our photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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Friday, June 8, 2012

Mato Tipila or Devils Tower

Whether you call it an igneous intrusion or laccolith, Mato Tipila or Wox Niiinon, the 1,267 feet of Devils Tower creates a feeling of awe and drama.  President Theodore Roosevelt declared this the first United States National Monument on September 24, 1906 because of its beauty, splendor, and dramatic properties. 

Mato Tipila or Devils Tower by Dakota Visions Photography LLC Black Hills www.dakotavisions.com

The monument's boundary encloses an area of 1,347 acres and has close to 400,000 annual visitors. Whether you visit as a reminder of the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind or to be one of the 1% of visitors to climb the summit reaching 5,112 feet above sea level, this monolith continues to draw people from around the world.

Mato Tipila or Devils Tower by Dakota Visions Photography LLC Black Hills www.dakotavisions.com

Devils Tower did not visibly rise out of the landscape until the overlying sedimentary rocks eroded away.  As the elements wore down the softer sandstones and shales, the more resistant igneous rock making up the tower survived the erosional forces.  Even today, the cracks along the columns are subject to water and ice erosion.  Pieces, or even entire columns, of rock at Devils Tower are continually breaking off and falling.  This scree - or piles of broken columns, boulders, small rocks, and stones - lies at the base of the tower indicating that it was once wider than it is today.

Mato Tipila or Devils Tower by Dakota Visions Photography LLC Black Hills www.dakotavisions.com

It is believed that Devils Tower got its name in 1875 when Colonel Dodge's translator, on a scientific survey, misinterpreted the name from the local Native Americans to mean Bad God's Tower, later shortened to Devils tower.  Some Indians call it Mato Tipila, meaning Bear Lodge.  Other Native American names include Bear's Tipi, Home of the Bear, and Tree Rock.

Mato Tipila or Devils Tower by Dakota Visions Photography LLC Black Hills www.dakotavisions.com

We hope you enjoyed the photographs from Devils Tower and the history we have shared.  We encourage you to leave a comment if you've been to Devil's Tower and even links to photographs you may have taken.  And while you are at it, join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , or sneak a peek at our photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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Tuesday, June 5, 2012

T4T: Adamski & Improve Photography

Two for Tuesday - our time to pass along the two websites that caught our attention this week. We hope you enjoy these links and encourage you to visit these sites. So onto the picks - here is our Two for Tuesday sites for you to mosey around with on this fine Tuesday...

Portfolio/GalleryJosh Adamski

Adamski Improve Photography by Dakota Visions Photography LLC
Josh Adamski - http://500px.com/josh23

Part digital fine art, part photography, part abstraction - all beautiful.  That is the best description that I've come up with for Josh Adamski.  The digital manipulation on a lot of his work ties directly into the composition; and sometimes, blurs the line between photograph and digital manipulation. 

Enlightenment and Goldfinch originally caught our eyes, and we were compelled to keep looking, and looking, and looking...  This British born photographer now lives near the beach in Israel, so a lot of his photographs include moving water or images of the beach.  With the photomanipulation artfully applied, these images take on almost a surreal, calming quality. 

Josh quotes Ansel Adams on his digital web presence, "A true photograph need not be explained, not can it be contained in words."  While I'm sure Ansel was not describing digital fine art photographic manipulation, these sure are fitting words for Josh's work.  Josh, we can't wait to see your next works!


Photography Blog - Improve Photography by Jim Harmer

Adamski Improve Photography by Dakota Visions Photography LLC
Improve Photography - http://improvephotography.com/

Jim Harmer gave up his career as an attorney to help photographers around the world improve their photography skills.  What we love about ImprovePhotography.com is the site is not just about landscape photography, nor portrait photography, but about photography itself.  It contains the nuts and bolts, with a little humor splashed in just for fun.  (Check out, "You Might Be a Photographer If...")

Jim's articles run from "22 Things You Can Do Today to Change Your Photography Forever" to "13 Things your Camera Wishes You Knew."  The website has basic photography, the business of photography, lighting, post-processing, and landscape/portrait photography articles available.  If you can't find it here, you are not going to find it anywhere! 

Check out the ImprovePhotography.com online photo classes and e-books, too.  And last but not least, we wanted to provide a two-for-one special tonight!  Jim also has a sister website entitled, Be A Pro Photographer with great business articles and the Be A Pro Photographer Show webinar.  This site helps those who are beginning to earn money from their photography.  Keep up the great work, Jim, and we can't wait to watch another webinar!

These are our picks for this T4T Tuesday post! We hope you enjoyed the sites that we've found for you and spend some time this week getting to know them. Stop by their sites, add them to your Google+ circles, or give them a like on Facebook. Spread the word about the great work that is out there just waiting to be found...

And while you are at it, join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , or sneak a peek at our own photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

Subscribe to See You Behind the Lens...

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Weekly Photography Challenge: 'U' - Underground Animals & Under Mama's Care

What photograph do you take with the letter 'U'?  It is birthing season for the wildlife in Custer State Park - udder?!  No, no, no...we went for 'underground animals' and 'under mama's care' for this week's photographs.  We hope you enjoy the prairie dogs and feral burros this week. 

On a trip to Devil's Tower this weekend, we encountered what some see as the 'scourge of the earth', while others see as cute, little furry animals - the prairie dog.  Prairie dogs are burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America.

Prairie Dogs in Devils Tower National Park Black Hills by Dakota Visions Photography LLC www.dakotavisions.com

Prairie dogs are named for their habitat and warning call, which sounds like a dog's bark.  The rodents were first described by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804, saying they had "discovered a village of an animal the French call the Prairie Dog."  Lewis described it later in more detail as the "barking squirrel".

Prairie Dogs in Devils Tower National Park Black Hills by Dakota Visions Photography LLC www.dakotavisions.com

And who could resist a young, feral burro under the protection of it's mother. 

Feral Burros in Custer State Park Black Hills by Dakota Visions Photography LLC www.dakotavisions.com

If you have any 'U' photographs to share for our weekly challenge, just put the link to your photograph in the comment box below. Join us for next week's photography challenge finding something starting with the letter 'V'.

While you are at it, join us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+ , or sneak a peek at our photography on Dakota Visions Photography, LLC. Until next time, we'll see you behind the lens...

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