Week Eight

 

Forgotten Bridge
Frog

West Virginia Hills


This week I tried to focus on  'unplanned' outdoor photography. I usually take my DSLR with me when I am fishing or on a hike, just in case I come across something that interests me for a photo. The first photo is a just an old, dilapidated bridge I came across while fishing last week. Unfortunately I only had one lens with me in my pack, so I was limited with the angles and depth of field I could get. I wish I would have had an ultra-wide-angle lens on hand so I could have gotten closer to the bridge and got more detail while still keeping it dominant in the frame. It sort of gets lost in the foliage in this shot. I tried boosting the clarity a bit and messing with some filters and masking to bring the foreground slightly out of focus, but I wasn't really satisfied with the results. 

Next is a macro shot of a frog I came across on a hike in the woods. I have no idea what kind of frog that is, but I really liked the colors and subtle patterns. I followed him around for a few minutes until he would cooperate for a photo. In post I played around a bit with the colors, but I wanted to keep the image fairly raw and realistic.

The last image is a panorama I stitched together from a trip to the hills of West Virginia. I was trying to go for an HDR effect here - I'm not sure if that really comes through in the final image. I like that the clouds turned out more gray - I think it gives them more texture. However, I wish I could have saved the highlights in the rest of the sky so it isn't so blown out. 


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