white pines state park

[rp_63]

On saturday, my wife, two dogs and i went to this park in Illinois. On the way there i stopped and picked up a new lens EF-S 17-85 IS, and a new (think stable) tripod. My wife is so good to me, she doesn't understand why i like taking pictures so much, but she supports me.

Once we got there i took my kit lens out of my camera bag (figured i did'nt need it), took the tripod and rest of equipment and took off through the trails. When we came across a creek i thought, hey great time to try out the tripod and attempt at getting the water blur right. Went to get out the Circular polorizer, hey guess what i had a brain fart, my polarizer is 58mm the new lens is 67mm. So here i am only the 75-300 or with a step down ring the 50mm will accept the polarizer i have, ok i think, i'll just use the 75-300. i think these came out nice. Of course later in the day standing next to the creek the filter slipped out of my hand and bounced into three feet of water, so i went wading. :)

The first two pictures were taken with my 75-300, the rest were taken with my 17-85.

Let me know what you think.

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http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1016/1479553041_758fac690d_o.jpg (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/%3Ca%20href=)">http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1086/1479464027_7991c7bf7c_o.jpg (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/%3Ca%20href=)">http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1030/1479557777_6e1dd59fea_o.jpg (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/%3Ca%20href=)">

[seed808]

Id like to see that last pic when autum is full blown... Must be full of reds, oranges and browns... That or the trees will be leaveless (yuck) Think you going back?

[The Conekiller]

I like the last picture a lot. Love the way the path leads your eyes down into the picture (or maybe it's just the way my brain is wired!).

[milleker]

I like the motion pics on the water, they're just the right amount of blur in my opinion and composed well. The first dog pic is nice but the second one is awesome. Too bad they have their harnesses on.

The stairs are ok but would want a subject. Those lines are drawing me down the stairs but when I get there - no reward. So as mentioned color it up in the fall or something.

[rp_63]

Thank you Everybody for the comments. I try to remember what is good or bad and then try to remember what not to do next time.
We may be going back to that area soon, it's only 80 miles or so from home if i take the tollway, a bit shorter but longer time if i take the more direct route. I drive a delivery truck and average 200 miles a day, so thats a easy trip for me. There are 3 state parks in that area (Oregon, Illinois), we are thinking of going to one of the other ones this weekend.

I spent a little time trying different crops of the water pictures until i got what i wanted, only my third try (second time posting water pictures), i am happy they came out well.

The dog pictures were just a spur of the moment thing, we had stopped to rest a little and drink some water, the mostly white dog (Summer) had jumped up on the rock so i tried to get a picture of her. She almost never looks at the camera, in fact she makes a point to look away. The brown and white dog (Roxie) is real good about looking right at the camera when her named is called, it looked ok on the lcd, but when i got home and looked at it on the PC i was real happy the way it turned out. I didn't even think of taking of the harnesses, we very seldom take them off their leashes when we are out it never crossed my mind, i will try to remember that in the future.

I liked the stairway picture, but wasn't sure what was missing. By subject would a person or one of the dogs at the bottom be a good idea?

[The Conekiller]

I liked the stairway picture, but wasn't sure what was missing. By subject would a person or one of the dogs at the bottom be a good idea?

I guess it must just be my brain then but I like the 'tease' that there's nothing at the bottom, makes me wonder what's around the corner :)

[RedHot]

I'll comment on your color balance, which you have issues. 1st dog is too green, 2nd dog is too red, and the stairs is too green. :)

[rp_63]

I'll comment on your color balance, which you have issues. 1st dog is too green, 2nd dog is too red, and the stairs is too green. :)
I am colorblind but, my wife anybody else i have asked doesn't see the color problems you mentioned, we have looked at these pictures on 3 different monitors.

[milleker]

The Stairs look quite natural to me, lumber in a woodland setting usually not only tints green with moss and other organic debris but the canopy of brightly lit green leaves doesn't help.