After a week of imprudent and uninhibited British Columbian cutthroats, Mark's advice hit me like a punch in the gut. Technical and Presentation. Four letter words, however they're spelled.
Montana's Missouri River rainbows and browns have seen it all. And with the tricos coming off so thick that you kept your lips pinched tight lest you breakfast on bugs, there was no lack of natural fare. Hell, the floating mats of expired spinners could carpet my house. Anything the slightest bit off was ignored.
I throw a lot of off.
So when the frustration of refusal-upon-refusal by actively feeding fish got to be too much, it was good to fall back on the scenery. One of the meccas of our sport, and deservedly so. The Mighty Mo.
Enjoy the view.
15 comments:
Like you, I visited the Mo this year as well. Unlike you, I didn't capture such beautiful photos. I throw a lot of off, like you, too.
I think we're in good company, Kirk. And next time, let's coordinate our visits and be off together.
Your photos make me want to drop everything and go there.
DO IT, Justin!!!
Good Lord, those look like paintings! God's country indeed!
Make sure Kirk is off before you get together
Indeed, Juan. Montana is amazing country, especially to this easterner.
And Clif, I think that Kirk is pretty much always off. It's a big part of what I like about him.
Beautiful shots Mike, which got me curious.
Straight out of the camera, or some post shot tweaking going on?
I always tweak my own to get the colors the way I thought I saw them. I'm curious about what others do and how much time they spend playing with them. I set myself a limit of a minute at most. Not sure why I do that, but it works most of the time.
Mike, where are the boats? How'd you navigate the river -- how much walking, how much wading, how much floating?
Lightroom is a wonderful thing, Ken, and solves a lot of problems introduced by the masher-of-the-shutter. Most pictures get a little touch; crops and exposure, mostly, while others might get more attention depending on what I'd like them to convey. You're spot on that the brain does a lot of editing and that it takes a tweak or two to get the camera's contents to reflect what one perceived.
Which, then, is the reality?
There were plenty of drift boats, Howard, but I worked to keep them out of the frame, wishing to focus on the river itself. Many of the shots were taken upstream of Craig late in the day after the boat hatch had passed and others were taken downstream in the morning, before they arrived. The first shot was taken after everyone hauled ass due to the thunder and cracklin' stuff that was approaching.
We did a little walking and waded the two days we were there. Next time, at least one day on the drift is required.
"Which, then, is the reality?"
I've always been intrigued by this Mike.
One of these days… camera, notebook computer, halfway decent color printer (battery operated?) all on location.
Take the picture, manipulate like usual in Photoshop, print it out. Compare print out to screen to what I'm actually looking at. I'm curious if the photo images still won't compare to what I'm looking at. If they'll fall short or be an actual improvement.
It would be an interesting experiment, Ken.
A beautiful day for a walk, a beautiful walk on that day, and the dual reality of through-lens and real life.
Eh. You don't need to catch fish Every time, right?
Sure don't, Austin. And it's a darn good thing, too.
Post a Comment