Happy Monday everyone- Today's post is another example from the summer's HDR Collage series. I pull a lot of samples from Art Alley in Rapid City (which is a way underrated attraction near Main Street Downtown). I often ask my students to play with the idea of nature vs manmade and it is one of the themes I think about when I am out shooting.
HDR Collage - Sunflowers on the Wall
Mining has been an enormous part of the culture of the Black Hills since gold was discovered in 1876. It always seemed like understanding the mineralogy and the impact of geology was crucial to truly appreciate everything I saw as a young kid spending time there. I'm nowhere near the expert I wish I was on this, but I know a good place to start reading -
Galena, South Dakota - Summer Reading
Something a little different on this Saturday morning. One of the techniques I continue to work on is a concept I call HDR Collage. In a nutshell, it uses software designed for HDR images to combine different images into a collage of sorts. The interesting part of these pieces is that I have little to no control over the output. The test in this work is working to understand what will eventually come out of this process. The results can be quite surreal and graphic. Here is one of the ones from summer using a slate stone as the background and dark dark pattern.
HDR Collage - Gold on Slate
One of my focuses for this summer shoot was to nail down a consistent approach to the B&W images, and I really think that I am starting to get close here. I have really gravitated toward the high contrast look (inspired by Sebastiao Selgado) and I am finding that I really like the way it works with both landscapes and also on the macro work. I have lost a lot of detail in the trees and in the lower rocks on this one, but my goal was really to capture your eye on the monument itself. I need to work on the haloing in the sky and on locking in the details in the clouds. I think its a step in the right direction though.
Devil's Tower, Wyoming - The Monument
I chose this image of the "Fishing Pond" in Spearfish Canyon for the daily post as it shows a new direction in some of my landscape edits. I have started to really work on the color, mood, and tone in some of these images and this is one that shows a departure from my old, usual images. This image continues to remind me that there is always necessary to evolve and pursue new directions of interest.
Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota - The Fishing Pond