Mountain Bluebird

Female Mountain Bluebird at Mormon Row  

After a sunrise we were entertained by this female Bluebird and her mate. I loved getting to photograph a bunch of new wildlife while we visited the area. This little lady was just amazing to watch. I also love the complimentary colors of the fence and the sky with her colors. Image made with Canon 7dmii and Tamron 150x600 at 600mm f/8 ISO 3200 and shutter speed of 1/800 of a second  in manual mode. Edited in Lightroom  CC and On1 Raw. Gear carried in MindShift Gear FirstLight 40L. 

Sunset at Oxbow Bend

Here's an image from Oxbow Bend. There wasn't much color in the skies. But the flowers were colorful enough. I used graduated neutral density filter by Sirui to help me get a bright foreground and not blownout the skies. As you can see it also caused the clouds to be darker. Image made with a Canon 5dmiii and Tamron 24x70 lens at 24mm f/16 ISO 100 resulting in a shutter speed of 1/25  of a second. On top of my Sirui N3204x tripod and K-30 ball head. Gear carried in MindShift FirstLight 40L edited in On1 Raw and Lightroom CC. 

Bison

A bison in Grand Tetons National Park

He spent a bunch of time chasing wildlife while visiting the Tetons. Then all of a sudden there was wildlife everywhere we looked. We photographed these guys having some guy fun. They are quite amazing. Image made with Canon 7dmii and Tamron 150x600 at 600 mm ISO 800 f/8 resulting in a shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second. I did crop this image a little to remove a pair of tails on the left side. Edited in Lightroom CC. 

Working On technique.

A NutHatch on the Stump.  

I've been working on shooting using Auto ISO in both manual and aperture priority modes for photographing birds. Cecil Holmes had mentioned it while in the Tetons and having not used it much, I didn't use it there much  either. There's a certain amount confidence as a photographer that needs to be built when photographing in various ways with your camera. Like shooting in manual mode or understanding bracketing. Honestly in every aspect of photography. I trust my camera to do what I need it to do. After all I'm telling it what I need it to do. In the end I always want a sharp image with tolerable noise levels. I've always tried to stay at ISO 1600 or less. Because I know I'll get good quality images. Auto ISO has opened options to shooting at higher ISO. High ISO paired with perfect exposure leads to a very sharp image for two reasons. Fast enough shutter speed and no noise from underexposure. I was working with high ISO the other morning and I was quite impressed with the overall image right from the camera. The image above is unedited. I did view it in Lightroom CC. Image made with Canon 7dmii and Tamron 150x600 at 600mm f7.1 Auto ISO at 3200 and shutter speed of 1/600 of a second. On top of my Sirui N3204x tripod snd K-30 ball head. Gear carried in MindShift Gear TrailScape 18L and Peak Design Strap. 

The Grand Tetons

John Moulton Barn Mormon Row GTNP.  

It has  been a few weeks since I returned home from the Grand Tetons. The trip was exhausting with an emphasis on seeing as much of the area as we could. We packed a months worth of experiences into a week. Every second was amazing. We had very little clear skies for sunrises or sunsets. But it was incredible either way. The wildlife was amazing. The food being served in the area was superb. We even went to Idaho for the best huckleberry shakes. We made the trek to Yellowstone twice in hopes of shooting some night skies. We didn't get the clouds to cooperate but we did manage some waterfalls. I have hours of editing to get to over the next several months. 

This image was made on our first attempt for  a sunrise at Mormon Row. The clouds got progressively heavy and eventually rained. Offering us an amazing double rainbow. We honestly were in awe of the scene before us. I used my Canon 5dmiii and Tamron 24x70 at 50mm f/16 ISO 100. I also used Sirui's filter system with a 5 stop grabdusted Neutral Density filter. On top of my Sirui N3204x tripod and K-30 ball head. Gear carried in MindShift Gear FirstLight 40L. And Peak Design Slide strap. Edited in On1 Raw and Lightroom CC.