Dean Sauskojus Photo Blog

The new sensors in modern digital cameras can record things at night not seen by the naked eye. A lot of the stars that were recorded in this image could not be seen while standing here gazing upward.  Neither could you see the orange glow on the horizon. This is my first experiment with night photography. I hope to continue shooting images like this and  learn as I do.  One thing I know for sure, you still have to think about the elements of composition as you would normally during daytime shooting hours. I hope you like it. Welcome to the Twilight Zone.

Technical Info: Canon 5D Mark2, Bogen 3001 Tripod, Canon 17-40mm L lens, F4.5@30 sec, 800 ASA

I didn’t get out this weekend but I processed some older files just recently. This is a photo of Baring Creek in Glacier National Park. The creeks and lakes in Glacier are full of these colorful rocks. When wet they even become more colorful. I took this image with a 4×5 view camera which produces a transparency four inches by five inches. View cameras require you to use very small apertures to get every thing in focus from front to back. Using f32, I exposed the film for four seconds. This slow of a shutter turns the water into that smooth milky look. Some people like the look, some don’t. Here I didn’t have a choice, plus the fact that this is a dark place. I could have used a faster film but then that defeats the goal of using a large format camera, because you want very good detail. Faster films produce more grain, less detail. The web doesn’t do this image justice. When you put this image on a light box you can see all the glorious detail.

Wista 4×5 DX2, 135mm Nikkor Lens, Fuji 50 Velvia 4×5 film, Bogen 3021 Tripod

All Images Copyright © 2009 Dean Sauskojus

It’s harvest season here in the Gallatin Valley so I thought I would post a wheat field image. Images like this have been totally overdone by many photographers so it was my goal to do something different. To make the image stand out I used HDR (high dynamic range software) to bring out the clouds. I’m not a fan of most HDR images, and don’t use it much, but it works very well on storm clouds. This photo placed first in the Landscape Professional Division of the “Outside Bozeman” magazine photography contest. If you are in Bozeman during the month of  November or December you can view this photo and others from the contest at the Sola Cafe’ in Bozeman Montana.

Technical Info: HDR image, Canon 30d, Bogen 3021 Tripod, Canon 17-40mm L lens, two image stitch

Copyright © 2009 Dean Sauskojus