Damsels Wanted! Have Hero, Will Travel

I gotta admit, this song has been running through my mind while I've been finishing this image; it's good to be finished...so I can get a different song in there. Making pictures with these kids was so much fun, and then drawing my monster in was a whole other fun thing to do. I can't wait to do it some more!

Tryon Creek State Park in Southwest Portland/Lake Oswego is a wonderful place to make pictures.

Working It

You know how it is: you get in front of the camera and you start working it, moving and making different poses, puckered lips, sassy eyes, a little GQ, perhaps. Well, it's different with waterfalls. When they are in front of the camera I'm the one who has to work it, hiking, squatting, rolling in damp leaves,  standing on my head--whatever it takes to get the shot. Especially at Multnomah Falls, which I've already photographed three times, I'm really trying to find a different picture to make.

And it's hard at National parks and famous places because I've seen thousands of pictures that are all really good, so finding something unique isn't always my goal. Just making a good one myself is quite satisfying, something I haven't shot. It's also hard at these places because you walk down the path and there's a beautiful picture, and you turn this corner and there's a beautiful picture...and that's it. You're not allowed to venture off the path in search of a different vantage or a fresh perspective. William Henry Jackson was the last one to shoot a unique picture of these places. Sigh.

So, I'm pretty pleased with this image I made with Mel Torrie last week because it's a view I've not made before, and it's one I've not seen, either. It's a panorama of six images using a 50mm lens tipped vertically, so it's a pretty detailed view at full resolution. 

Nikon D800, 50mm f/1.4 D lens, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 100, 6 frame panorama, Nik Color Efex Pro 4, CS6.

Oregon Trail

Isn't it amazing? You can start your day in the desert and finish it off in the rain forest. A twelve hour drive will take you from Logan Utah to Portland Oregon. That's what I call the Oregon Trail.

Nikon D800, 14-24mm f/2.8 lens @ 14mm, f.8, five frame HDR, ISO 100, Nik HDR Efex Pro 2.

Nikon D800, 14-24mm f/2.8 lens @ 20mm, f/8, 9 frame HDR, ISO 100.