Hints of Fall

Labor Day is only a week away and this week, the weather has turned to beautiful cool mornings and bright sunshine for the day.  The cool mornings remind us that fall is just around the corner.

Fire in the Sky

Another from Legend Lake, WI

Loons on Legend Lake

This year, a mated pair of Loons are hanging around the same stretch of lake all season long.  In the morning and evening they appear on the lake in the same place.  Approaching them slowly, they seem to tolerate me getting close enough to photograph them although always keeping a watchful eye.

More Wind Point

A Cold Start to the New Year

Spending New Year's up north on Legend Lake was a wonderful way to relax.  It was cold though.  But there was also a blue moon.  I caught a few shots but the one shown here is a setting moon on the morning of January 2nd.  It was about 5 below zero but the winds were calm and it was quiet.  It was so quiet that all I could hear was my own breathing.  Soon the sun came up and I was able to watch my little world wake to new day.

Infrared & Color

I've always been fascinated with Infrared (IR) photography. I converted an old Canon 20D to shoot only IR. The conversion was done at Lifepixel.com. Mostly, I dabbled with black and white conversions but this week, I decided to try color IR. While I used a custom white balance to take this shot (focusing on green grass), I found that by cranking up the vibrance and bumping the saturation in Lightroom, I could achieve the colors you see in this image. I'm pretty happy with my first colored IR image.

Boat Trails

Labor Day weekend brings the end of summer and with it the end of another season on the lake. While there's plenty of good boating weather left in September it seems that most people are distracted toward other activities and so the crowds thin out very quickly. I like our lake in September. There's often fog in the morning, the fishing is great and the colors of sunrise are crisp as cold mornings become more the norm and a sign of things to come.

South Point Pipes

South Point Pipes, originally uploaded by RJIPhotography.

Long Exposure. I've been playing around with my Singh Ray vari-ND filter for some time now. I gives me a wide range of neutral density settings in a single fllter. I've seen others taking images like the one here but I've longed to put my own stamp on this technique. Exposure was 30 seconds which was long enough to give a dynamic sky and smooth water. I'd like to go further . . . maybe 2-3 minutes and show more movement in the sky.

In this case, I like the mix of industry and nature created by the pipes, the old pier and the stormy skies. The location here is the shore of Lake Michigan, south of Milwaukee. I plan to shoot more like this. Since I'm in Wisconsin, these winter months should offer plenty of similar stormy skies.

Brrrrrr

Brrrrrr, originally uploaded by RJIPhotography.

Winter has arrived and for the second consecutive December, we seem to be getting snow storm after snow storm. Another is on it's way as we speak. This means it's cold outside which translates to ice along Lake Michigan.

So, I visited North Point (again) this past Sunday to find the old pier covered with ice. The four pillars resemble four gnomes marking into the icy waters of Lake Michigan. It was a frigid morning for sure with temperatures in the single digits but I had to continue to play with my Canon 5D Mark II. The detail this camera captures continues to amaze me.

Milwaukee Harbor LIghthouse II

Milwaukee Harbor LIghthouse II, originally uploaded by RJIPhotography.

It was a beautiful pastel morning. However, I decided to play with some lightroom presets. I love the clarity slider in LR version 2 since you can now add negative clarity. It gives this image its ethereal glow.

More Wisconsin Loons

This weekend I was fortunate enough to see my favorite loons on Legend Lake.  This guy let me track him from my boat and stay reasonably close without him diving into the deep only to show up somewhere out of reach of my telephoto-equipped camera.  Luck was on my side when he suddenly stretched his wings to reveal the beautiful patterns and texture.

Legend Lake Sunset

I've spent the last several weekends on Legend Lake. I absolutely love the serenity of sunrise and sunset on the lake. The image here is a typical scene yet every time I capture one of these sunrises or sunsets, they are completely different.