Moulton Barn Part II

ISO: 100  Focal Length: 24mm 

0, -2, +2 ev

Aperture: f/8 

Quite often the key to good landscape photos is to chase the light. Usually this means shooting around sunrise or sunset. When I went to Mormon Row to have a look at this other barn, I wasn't expecting great shots. It was the middle of the afternoon and the lighting was not at a good angle. I snapped a few shots of the barn just for the heck of it and starting walking away. Then all of a sudden the sun lit up the  ground and barn beautifully. It made for a great contrast against the storm that was approaching. So I literally started running back to the barn to get this shot. The mountains and clouds make for a great background with the barn as middle ground and the grass as foreground. I processed these 3 exposures in HDR Efex Pro and brought up the lighting on the barn a bit with the dodge brush in Aperture 3.

Buy this and other prints through my gallery.

Photo Contest Tips

I decided to enter my first non online photo contest. It was the Utah State Fair and I found out about the photography division. My cousin Tony from Tony Murray Photography (check out his work, it's amazing) helped me out with some tips on entering the contest. I ended up getting 4th in the landscapes division, which I felt pretty good about considering it is one of the more competitive classes.

My Snake River Overlook picture was my choice for the contest

Here are some tips on entering a photo contest

1. Find a contest, fairs are a great place to start. Look for photography groups in your area. You can also look at photographycometitions.net for national and international contests. I would recommend starting with local competitions before you go to the national or international scale.

2. Find your strongest images. Look through your library and find your best pictures. Make sure that they are well composed, sharp, and are technically well executed. If in doubt ask other photographers or friends what images they think are the strongest.

3. Read ALL the rules for the contest. I made the mistake of just skimming the rules of the contest and ended up realizing the morning I was to take my print to the fair that my mounting was incorrect. So my wife helped me to scramble to fix the mounting so I could enter. Read the rules and read them carefully.

4. Get a high quality print. Go to a professional photo lab to get your print. DO NOT go to Costco, Walmart or the like. Get a high quality print on high quality paper. I chose to print mine on metallic paper, because it is very glossy and has a metallic luster to it.

5. Pay close attention to your mounting/matting. Sometimes it is best to just have it done professionally. Many contests will judge your print and the mounting/matting of the photo.

6. Take your photo to the contest in some sort of protective covering. When I took my picture in, it was raining, which could have ended my chances before they started.

7. Go to the gallery and enjoy all the entries in the contest. If your photo doesn't win, study the winning photos so you can improve for the next contest. Figure out why they won.

Entering a contest can be a great way to examine your work and find ways to improve your photography.

If you want more info about my Snake River Overlook picture check out my post on it here.

If you are interested in purchasing a limited edition print of this image or some of my other work, keep checking back, I am currently looking at options for an online store.

Moulton Barn

ISO: 100  Focal Length: 20mm   Exposure Compensation: -.67  

Aperture: f/10  Shutter Speed: 1/125

Right after shooting at the Snake River overlook we hurried over to the famous Moulton barn on Mormon Row in Grand Teton National Park. It was lucky that we got there in enough time for the light to still be a good golden color. I composed the shot with the intent of cropping it down for a wide print. The trees on the right and left of the frame serve to help balance the shot. The dirt path in front of the barn added a nice diagonal line to the shot that helped give depth to the image. Having the path and brush in the foreground, the barn in middle ground and the Tetons in the background really helped to make a good composition. 

The post processing this image was very minimal. I bumped up the saturation and vibrancy just a little and cropped it down. It is always best to get as much right in camera as possible.

Snake River Overlook

f/8.0 ISO 100

3 Shots at 0, -2, +2 ev

I was filled with apprehension before the trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park. Ansel Adam's Snake River overlook photograph is one of my favorite landscape images and I was nervous about how my images would turn out. It is important to get to the Snake River overlook in order to get a prime spot. By the time I got to the overlook there were already a few photographers. 

In order to get a better composition I stood on top of the wall that is at the edge of the slope down to the river. In order to make this work it is important to have a tripod that has independently adjustable legs. Two of the legs can go to the right and left of you, but the third leg will go right in between your legs.

The s bend of the river really draws the eye into the image, which is one of the big draws of the Snake River overlook. In this case the river points almost directly at the peak that is highlighted by the first rays of the sun. These lines that lead you to the focal point (the highlighted peak) are what make this a strong composition.

I chose to make this image from three shots and combine them with HDR Efex Pro. The image could have also been made by using a graduated neutral density filter. The final touch was to put a slight vignette on the final image.