You probably noticed a number of e-book reviews on this blog. I love reading. To be honest, I probably love reading even more than taking pictures. I buy almost every e-book available on subject of photography and consume it on spot.

The introduction of the years ago e-books allowed me the instant download. I could read them on my computer. Not very convenient. Then- on the iPhone- small screen, but I could already move out of my desk into living room sofa. And then came the iPad. It was the end of the paper.. well, almost anything, for me. I stopped printing papers to read for work. I moved all my magazine subscriptions into virtual world of Zinio. I started buying some “real books” as electronic versions. I stopped borrowing the paper books from library- I signed up for a number of electronic services. And on top of it all- more and more e-books are landing in my iBooks library.

I thought there is no way back for me printed media. I saw no advantage. The portability, accessibility, price of electronic was unbeatable.

Until one thing hit me today. None of the e-books, from Craft & Vision or any other site, can I get ever from the local library for free. Sometimes, you don’t want to pay the price, even of $5. You want to read the book, return it, and feel no need to ever go back. I found the huge disadvantage in what I thought is the perfect new reality. If the e-book ever replace the hard copies, and more and more people will go into self-publishing, the availability of the written knowledge will decrease. To those who will afford. Even the small, but still the price.

How about you? Are you embracing the new electronic world? Do you enjoy or despise it? Why?

The sunset was spectacular, with those low hanging clouds, letting themselves be just touched by the red light of the setting sun. The waterfall crated by the waters flowing from higher situated Lake McBride into Coralville Lake provided focal point for this image. The two things made this image. One, it is an HDR, which allows to preserve detail both in the water and the colorful sky, regardless large difference in the brightness of both. Second, sometimes it is worth to tale landscape in the portrait orientation. Not my idea, this time, although I knew the horizontal orientation was just not working, it was husband who thought that turning the camera will help. And it did.

Coincidentally, there just was a post on LightStalking about just that – “Composition: When to Landscape a Portrait and Vice Versa”. Check it out!

I decided to revisit some of my shots from that area. I have been there three times so far, in February, March and May different years. Only the February trip gave us some snowy shots, in fact we were travelling there through probably the only winter storm that year ;).

I have not created much black and white images from Arches, mostly because I couldn’t get enough of the red color of the Navajo sandstone. But monochrome conversion allows to focus more on the form and texture, and in case of this image- light and shadow. It was really fun to work with individual color controls and then with curve to create this image. I significantly darkened the sky, to make the sun burs more prominent, and to put more accent on the pattern of shadow cast by the grass in the bottom part of the landscape.

Thanks to IntrepidXJ for inspiring me to do something different today.

I was very hesitant to do it once again. After all, I feel most of the photography is done in the camera, not in post. I have not taken the image, thus I should not showcase it. But I really liked the image and wanted to do some work on it to give “mine” feel to it. Maybe one day, I will have a chance to visit Yosemite and make a similar photograph myself, like many photographers did before. Right now, I was admiring the contrast of the sun-lit and covered in blues shadows in the scene.

For tone-mapping in Photomatix, I took 8 out of 9 frames provided. I skipped the darkest one, in which I could not see any detail. I used for the first time one of the Fusion presets as a starting point. My image is grittier then RC’s interpretation, and I like it – especially in the details of the rocks. There is also more light on the trees in the middle of the frame, which makes the scene less moody, yet pleasing. And this branch on the right.. it was a real pain to remove it, yet the picture is so much cleaner without it. But compared to RC’s image, on mine you can hardly see another mountain range in orange sunlight behind the trees. It is lost here… and I am not sure why.

Which version of this image do you like more and why? Share in the comments, or head over to RC’s blog to download the RAW files and create your own interpretation of this classic Yosemite scene.

There is certain beauty in it. It is just different.

The whole idea of years summary comes from Jim Goldstein, who presented it for the first time in this post on Digital Photography School. It is still not too late to enter your blog in this year’s summary here.

I think I started to develop at least the favorite photographic subject, if not a beginnings of the style. I shot far more around the place I live, and I made a conscious effort to have subjects available. I had a small tomato garden and a bunch of wild flowers on the deck, which kept me occupied most of the summer. Also the number of trips I took, I tried to make each of them a photographic opportunity for some type of subjects.

Establishing myself as nature photographer, please take a look at some of my favorite images from last year. Please leave a comment, if there is something you particularly like. Or dislike.

Favorite flower

Last year, I created a small wildflower garden in front of my house. It made the flower subjects available to me even if had only 15 minutes to photograph on a given day. I created many of my favorite images there, and it was really hard to pick the best.

See more images in flower category.

Favorite wildlife

As much time as I spent photographing flowers, I also had some time to take trips to three large towns around my place. Two of those have large zoo’s – Chicago and St Louis. I could practice the wildlife photography. Among the images I created, trying to exclude all the captivity indicators, this one is my favorite.

See more images in wildlife category.

Favorite landscape

I used to present far more landscape images on the blog in the previous years. Last year, however, I did not have many chances to shoot them. Only the trip to Badlands in May gave me the occasion for real landscape shooting. This image was a result of patient waiting for the weather to break for spectacular sunset.

See more images in landscape category.

Favorite abstract

In contrast to previous one, this image was an outcome of growing frustration. When you cannot beat the weather, and create sharp image on the windy day, try working with what you have. I took the movement of this spring grass to extreme, creating this abstract.

See more images in abstract category.

Favorite HDR

I shoot HDR images on interior or cityscapes usually, where it gives me a chance to open shadows and show details and texture. But this scene just opened up in front of me on a trip to a park this autumn. If I wanted to have star burst and fall foliage in one image, it was the only way to go. Now I am thinking to make a large print for the wall of it. I like it that much.

See more images in HDR category.

Favorite B&W

Compared with previous years, I almost havent’t posted any black and white last year. Something to keep in mind this year. But this scene was the perfect candidate. Great light, and it was all monochrome, all green. Might as well loose the color and focus on the light and form.

See more images in black and white category.

I am aware and know images of some of classic photographers- Cartier-Bresson, Lange, Adams. But none of them shoots subjects I am interested in shooting. I would like to look at work similar to what I want to create, at least by subject. But how do I know where to look for them? How do I find those photographers, either past or current? Yes, I might be (and I am not) looking at pictures on Flickr or 500px, but how do I know if those pictures are any good? I might be inspired or admire some of the photographers whose blogs I follow, like David DuChemin or Moose Peterson, but how can I know if they are today’s masters or are just skilled? Who decides who bears the title of master? Does having a picture in the museum count? Does it mean that Trey Ratcliff is a master, because his image hangs in Smithsonian?

I really don’t know answers to those questions right now. If you have any thoughts, I would love to hear from you.

Todays image was one of those you discover after some time. I came across it looking for yesterday’s image and it really jumped at me. It almost looks better in thumbnail then it does large. I was trying to make sun star burst, but it was first too high, and then too low, and it just didn’t work. Afterwards, I thought this image si s useless. But now, I see shapes. The half-circle of sun. The two lines of land, none of them horizontal, meeting on the right side of the image. And the boat, also moving in the direction of those lines. It looks so graphic. I like the contrast of yellowish sun and just about everything else in blues. It makes me feel calm, enjoy the evening on the lake along with the single fisherman, yet not interrupting his solitude.

There was also a lot of discussion on the merits of the image. Some (like Jeff Revell) do not think the photograph is anything special, some claim that his phenomenon lies entirely in how the images get finished. Just look for the artist’s name or image title on various Social Media sites to see the emotions it stirred…

I actually could appreciate the Rhein II when I first saw it. And later search on Google for more images of Andreas Gursky helped me to understand his phenomenon. Many of his images are just so simple. They show the fragment of reality in a way that it turnes into abstract of line, texture or color. There is not a single distracting element, the composition is pure and focused on the subject.

I always liked looking at as much as creating those types of images. LIke this one of the grass on a windy day.