On the Road with Steve and Ken, Chapter 731? (Images added 10-12)

[finnbay]

Steve and I put on over 250 miles today looking for whatever we might see. I've got to get to bed so will start a thread and Steve can post some of his when he gets them ready (over a glass of wine?). Will start with the only wildlife we saw:

These were all taken with the Canon Mark3 and 500mm. The immature is hand held and the rest were from a monopod.

Steve - put up whatever you'd like. I have to get my panos done yet.

Quote:

Will start with the only wildlife we saw:

I take that back. We did have some close (almost too close) encounters with a couple of deer and a merlin.

[Steve Foss]

I'm going with flowing water photographs for the first batch. To come as bonus images will be eagles, warblers, grouse, blazing autumn tamaracks and more.

But first I'll go to the North Shore. Like moisture that falls from the sky, once Ken and I bump our way over the Laurentian Divide between Divide and Tanner lakes in the Superior National Forest, we end up trickling our way down to the Big Lake Superior. Darn fine route to trickle.

A shrub in wind and wave

Canon 30D, Tamron 17-50 f2.8 @ 17mm, iso200, 1/125 @ f13, handheld

Encroachment

Canon 1D Mk2, Canon 300 f2.8L IS/Canon 1.4 TC Mk2, iso400, 1/125 @ f10, monopod

Peek at the Cascade River falls

30D, 17-50 @ 25mm, iso100, 13 seconds @ f32, tripod, mirror lockup, remote shutter release, circular polarizer and 4-stop neutral density filter ganged to darken scene and lengthen shutter speed.

A more intimate Cascade

30D, 17-50 @ 50mm, iso100, 1.6 sec @ f32, plus all the other details listed for the last photograph

Red Rocks of the Pigeon River falls

While the river that separates Canada from the United States along the North Shore of Lake Superior is in a volcanic geological area, this vignette looks like it belongs in the sedimentary rivers of the lower Midwest and the South

Canon 1D Mk2, Canon 300 f2.8L IS, iso50, 4 sec @ f32, all the other details listed for the last photgraph

Pigeon River falls, intimately

1D2, 300mm, iso50, .6 sec @ f32, all other details as listed for the last photographs

A head-on Pigeon

30D, 17-50 @ 33mm, iso100, 8 sec @ f32, all other details as listed for the last photograph

The deer and merlin stories? Well, North Shore highway at night = deer. No one dead. No vehicle injured. Undies cleaned after we got home. Nuff said.

Ken and I were standing 4 feet apart on the overlook of the Pigeon River. Ken was still working a bit with his camera while I was packed and ready to head back down the trail. We were seconds away from leaving when a merlin zipped at top speed between us. Not above and between us, just between us, like a fighter jet pilot celebrating the ultimate in bravado, speed and fine control. We both heard a "WHOOSH" that sounded remarkably like a toilet flushing. I'd been looking up and saw the falcon zooming in and darn near fell over. Ken, who was working his camera controls and looking the other way, felt the breeze of the dive bomber's passage, heard the whoosh, and looked fast enough to watch the merlin at top horizontal speed thread a needle between two aspen branches as it broke Mach 1 en route to Lake Superior.

We just looked at each other and shook our heads. What good are cameras during a moment like that?

[finnbay]

Nice shots, Steve!

Here's a couple more of the waterfalls:

5D and 17-40 mm

[cliffy]

Those are amazing shots. beautiful is a understatement. I would be lucky to have half the skills you two have....and it would be great if I lived closer to such amazing places. I could probably post a couple pics of local sugar beet fields

[harvey lee]

Thank you for the photo's.

[panthrcat]

~Sue whistles long and loud~

amazing footage of your adventure guys!! the animals are terrific, the waterfall shots spectacular ( thanks for adding info on how to achieve such beauty) and the story of the merlin, outrageous!!! man I wish I had a buddy to head out with and do just this sort of thing!

glad to hear you guys weren't hurt with your encounter on the road,, and the shorts got cleaned out nicely

beautiful images fellas!!

Sue

[The_Duckslayer]

You guys are sumthin else! This is the one page that I come back to every time I am on the puter! Great shots from all that post here! Thank you for sharing with us not so talented photographers! The feet and talons on eagle #2 really caught my eye for some reason. I guess because they look like the hands of a person (farmer?) that has done an honest lifes work with their hands. Take care and N Joy the Hunt././Jimbo

[Steve Foss]

Thanks so much everybody.

Here are a few birds from the day, and a request for an ID. There are some landscape images, panoramas (hopefully) and other vignettes yet to come.

Proud of eye

1D2, 300/1.4 TC, iso400, 1/1000 @ f4, + 1 2/3 exposure compensation off evaluative metering, monopod

Into the wind

1D2, 300/1.4, iso400, 1/2000 @ f4, + 1 2/3 EC, handheld

Get off the road!

1D2, 300/1.4, sio400, 1/2000 @ f4

Steppin' out! Lapland longspur? (ID confirmation needed)

1D2, 300/1.4, iso400, 1/2000 @ f4, handheld

Yellow-rumped warbler amid shoreline understory

1D2, 300/1.4, iso400, 1/1250 @ f4, handheld

[finnbay]

Thanks all! Much appreciated!

That longspur (?) took you for quite a run! Lookin' good ol' buddy! I'll get a couple of more shots on after work today.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Awesome fellas... Fun stuff for sure.. thanks for sharing.

[Dbl]

Ditto what Deitz says! Nice work.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks again, guys.

Here are four panoramic images, each composed of from four to nine separate images and stitched together using Adobe CS3 bridge.

All were shot on manual exposure settings. You have to do stitched panos that way, because if you let the automated in-camera metering handle it you'll get changes in aperture/shutter speed as you move through the sequence, and those slight differences in exposure are a nightmare to normalize for stitching.

Glowing candles

Composed with backlighting along Divide Lake which, appropriate for its name, sits right on the Laurentian Divide. Canon 1D mk2, Canon 300 f2.8L/1.4 TC, iso400, 1/1250 @ f5, monopod.

Away from Lake Superior

A small bog lake opposite the Grand Portage overlook along Hwy. 61 just a few miles south of the border. Canon 30D, Tamron 17-50 f2.8 @ 47mm, iso400, 1/20 @ f29, tripod.

A Grand look

Overlooking Grand Portage and Lake Superior. 30D, 17-50 @41mm, iso400, 1/30 @ f29, tripod.

Nothing but gold

30D, 17-50 @ 50mm, iso200, 1/250 @ f8, tripod extended to full height while I was sitting on top of the roof of Ken's Blazer.

It's difficult to appreciate a panoramic on a computer screen. Taking a bunch of 8 Mp files and stringing them together yields amazing image quality at large sizes. I've got panos composed of 21 separate images that could easily wallpaper a 20-foot wall and allow magnifying-glass quality detail. When conditions are right, and if you've got a sturdy tripod with a leveling device and a pan-tilt head to keep the scene level as you move through the composition sequence, pano stitching allows phenomenal quality.

[Jim Uran]

Wow Steve those are awesome, the 3rd one especially. I've seen that overlook many times. But never in the Fall. I've got relatives in GP, it's a BEAUTIFUL place, hard to believe you are still in Minnesota while visiting Grand Portage.

[MN Shutterbug]

Nice set of images, guys.

[finnbay]

Great lookin' panos, Steve! You've got a couple that I didn't get, and I might have one that you don't have. Will git 'em on later today!

[Steve Foss]

Here are the rest. Happy viewing, everyone.

Lingering cottongrass

30D, 17-50 @ 17mm, iso200, 1/400 @ f10, handheld

Cartopping at the Island River

1D2, 300 f2.8L IS, iso400, 1/250 @ f2.8, handheld

Fields of Gold

30D, 17-50 @ 50mm, iso200, 1/250 @ f11, handheld

Ken on the Shore

30D, 17-50 @ 50mm, iso200, 1/80 @ f16, handheld

Locked for the winter?

30D, 17-50 @ 40mm, iso800, 1/50 @ f20, handheld

Fingers of snow

30D, 17-50 @ 46mm, iso800, 1/125 @ f20, handheld

Season's changing

30D, 17-50 @ 17mm, iso200, 1/80 @ f13, handheld

Struggling green

30D, 17-50 @ 17mm, iso200, 1/30 @ f13, handheld

[wishing for walleyes]

Outstanding pictures guys.Everyone of them is awesome.

[fishinfey8]

Absolutely amazing photos. Nice work, that has to take a lot of time and dedication. Well worth it!!

[finnbay]

Here's my two pano's from yesterday. Steve, you're absolutely right. The pano's on a computer don't do anything close to justice on what they look like as a print. This first one is of that pond and was taken with a 5D and 17-40mm. Five panels taken vertically and stitched together. My final crop is 30 inches by 10 inches. Have already ordered a print to hang in my studio.

This one is taken horizontally of 3 panels stitched together. Overlook of Lake Superior just before the border:

Will put up the last of mine a little later this evening.

[Steve Foss]

Nice work, Ken!

[CFRay]

Very nice work. I wish the snow images were taken on Nov. 11, not Oct. 11.

Great looking neighborhood you guys travel in.

[finnbay]

Okay, here's the rest of mine:

Tammies from high in the stratosphere, or at least from the roof of my car:

This reminds me of some flavor of ice cream:

See ya next spring!

No color like a tammie when it changes:

Lichen on the North Shore:

And a guy out standing in his field, er, swamp:

[Spearing Machine]

Holy Smokes guys! I wish I was there rght now!! Bothof you make it look just too easy!! I would have to say these are some of the best shots you guys have put together on one trip I have seen yet! Keep up the awesome shoting so I can at least dream and make it seem like I am there.

[DTro]

Sure looks like you guys have fun doing these trips.

I sure like seeing the images you capture!

I think my favorite is Steve's "Seasons Changing" reminds me of Candyland or something.

You guys almost make me want to give up my fishing pole for a Camera, and that takes a lot.

[Hwood]

Nice stuff guys.