Lake Selmac

This is a nice little lake in southern Oregon, where we pulled off to take a break during a road trip. As we pulled over, the setting sun was bathing the snow covered hills in warm light. So I started walking along to lake, looking for a good spot. Eventually I found this place, but in order to get some kind of foreground I ended up having to take the shot laying back on the ground. Fortunately, I was able to frame a shot with out my foot in it!

Sunset at the Beach

Contemplating

After a couple tasty, Full Sail (made in this pub, woohoo!) beers, I decided to try my luck at taking an "action shot" of the business at the bar. Unfortunately, they really sucked. After regaining my confidence, I decided to try a shot of this unsuspecting bar patron. Which came out much, MUCH better then the previous shots. I like a couple of things about this shot, aside from just the overall. I really like the blur of the waitress working at the bar and I quite like that the "unsuspecting stranger" didn't move over the course of the 12 second exposure.

This was taken at the always classy Full Sail Pilsner Room at McCormick and Schmick's at Riverplace.

Cape Kiwanda

A beautiful sunset at Cape Kiwanda, Pacific City, Oregon.

This was taken from the balcony in our hotel room at The Inn at Cape Kiwanda, which is one of the best places to stay on the Oregon coast. Not the most interesting story for a photo I know, but thats how it happened! It is amazing to step out on the balcony and watch a fantastic sunset like this.

Here's a quick tip to make your sunset pictures pop. Under expose your sunset pictures by up to about one stop. For your standard point-n-shoot this is that +/- button or option and you want it set between -0.3 and -1.0 or so. This will make those sunset colors pop and make the silhouettes darker. Like all things relating to photography, for the best results, play around with it until you find something you like and then do that!

Dramatic Spring Fields

Oregon Coast in the Winter

A family plays on the beach at Cape Kiwanda (Pacific City), Oregon during a break in the weather.

This was taken a couple of months ago. I really enjoy the Oregon Coast in all seasons, but the variance in the Winter weather is really inspiring and dramatic. This shot has a little bit more post-processing then I typically like to do, but I really wanted to have more control over the details in Haystack Rock. So, from the RAW file, I generated two images, with three exposure stops between them. I then fired up the trusty GIMP and layered the two together. Not a full blown HDR, but I like the control I get doing it this way.

Towering Redwoods

Standing under the redwoods and gazing up, you begin to compare them to cathedrals or monuments or simply stand awestruck. To get a hint of that in a picture involves a bit of problem solving. First off, to fit all of this in, I needed a wide lens. After I had that part hashed out I needed to frame the shot. If I was shooting something like this straight across, I'd be moving back and forth to get just the right amount of the tree in the shot. But with the tree towering above me, and the ground below me, I had about six feet of leeway. So to get the shot, I ended up basically laying on the ground, pointing the camera up into the trees. I'm really happy with the look of this shot (easy to say now that the dirt is out of my hair) and I hope that it conveys the sense of smallness these trees impart.

This was taken on a trip to Crescent City last month at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.