I arrived at Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Mound City, MO, well before sunrise intent on being in place for flocks of snow geese flying in front of the rising sun. On the way in this cloud drama caught my attention and the geese were forgotten about until their voices became overpowering. Of course by then the best light had passed for my original plan. So much to photograph and such fleeting light, the bane of photography.
This was shot near the cabin after I raced out for sunset but in trying to find a good foreground missed the hot orange clouds that I originally saw. In rapidly fading light I managed to get a few images using a ND filter.
Returning to my roots of landscape photography has been fun. My dusty ND filters are getting a workout and when used in conjunction with digital techniques really make images pop. This was created with a 3 stop graduated ND filter and basic Lightroom adjustments.
As much as I like to avoid the presence of man in my images it is a reality and sometimes inevitable. The distant town also gives a sense of scale to the grandeur of the sky.
Technical: 3 stop graduated ND filter, WB @7000k
Light on the prairie was spectacular last Sunday evening. I pulled out a couple rusty graduated ND filters and put them to use after they had been idle for the last few years. For me the filters are the easiest, most efficient way to deal with HDR situations. I rediscovered this technique when listening a class by Ian Shive on CreativeLive
Technical: 2 stop hard edge graduated ND filter. WB @ 7000k. Basic adjustments in LR
