The Home Album - Mike Busby's School of Photography

This is gallery of places and things within an easy drive from my house. 

An easy drive meaning a couple of hours or so.

They Kayak Put in/Take Out Trail at

The Little Spokane River

Indian Painted Rocks

f8 at 1/250th, ISO 200 - Infrared 720nm

So, I've been wanting to shoot some forest at night shots, but they just don't turn out. The camera wants to make it look like daylight and I just end up with tough looking shots. However, the sun gets super low on the horizon during deep winter and it casts those really long shadows during the middle of the day. Turns out that night looking shots can be made rather easy this way. All I need is a clear skies on a bright winters day and the infrared camera.

Latah Creek - Spokane

F8 @ 10 seconds, ISO 100

Shot during a heavy snow storm, but the shutter was open long enough to ignore the falling snow. The colors are all natural - just reflections of city lights from Spokane and Airway Heights. 

The Night Sky

f2.8 @ 30sec, ISO 1600

Out in Davenport, about an hour from home. It's not the Aurora. The lighting is remains the same, but it was a sick Orange across the image. Switched it up to Green for something a bit moodier and the purple came came out naturally with it.

Out There

f2.8 @ 30 sec, ISO 1600

Out near Davenport last night. One of several cool shots. 

Moody Night

f2.8 @30 seconds, ISO 1600

Out an hour from home. Lots of distractions when shooting the night sky and lots of unexpected lights. However, in this case, the lights of Fairchild Air Force base made a nice addition to the image. The green and purples to the left of the image might be the Northern lights, but not the colors to the right of the image. 

Crazy Lightning out Indian Trail Road

Multiple Shots - f11 @ 30 sec, ISO 100

Shot last year as the storm moved in from the Palouse. I'm about a block from home in a large field. The field was developed for roads, but then the crash of 2008 came along and it's remained stalled ever since. This is several shots with the camera mounted on a tripod. The real luck of the shot is when the storm came through. It was dark enough for 30 second exposures while light enough for a lot of detail. Lightning chasing is tough, but it's fantastic when it drops right into your front porch.

"Clint Roswell"

f8 @ 1/250th, ISO 200 - Infrared

Clint is sporting a cowboy hat and posing with his spaceship. Out I-90 near Medical Lake.

Summer Days by the Creek

3 Sec at f22, ISO 100

Probably 4 to 6 stops of ND Filters

A favorite spot to photograph and only a few minutes from home. Had to use a few Neutral Density filters to get the long exposure.

Starry Night - Spokane

30 sec at f8, ISO 200 - Infrared 720nm

A favorite spot in downtown Spokane, and yes, the stars are real despite the downtown light. An iconic shot of a beautiful park. 20 minutes from home. 


The Palouse

f13 @ 1/200 sec, ISO 100

Something on the side of the road. In the Palouse Country, Eastern Washington

Light and the Backyard

f8 @ 1/750 sec, ISO 400

Photographing the small world right in the backyard. It turns out the sun starts to get low enough on the horizon to cast really cool back light. The only problem is that everything goes into shade around 6 p.m

Starlight - Eastern Washington

30 Sec @ f2.8, ISO 1600

An hour away from home is the middle of Nowhere and the dark skies of Eastern Washington.

Shadow Falls

On the outskirts of home - a couple hours out and in Idaho.  F16 @ 3 seconds, ISO 100. I don't remember if there was Neutral Density filter on it. If so, it would have been 3 or 4 stops. 

Twilight

15 sec @ f2, ISO 800

On the borders of home and in the middle of nowhere. The skies of eastern Washington just after twilight. 

Home

30 Seconds at f2.8, ISO 1600

Emotion and Story Telling

Home is where the most important connections are made. They are the connections that once were, that are, and that will be, and they shift and change with the passage of time.  Abandoned places are places where human connections have been lost, but found again by the viewer. The stars are a greater theme. That is, something that's been here before us and something that will be here long after we're gone. Greater themes have a way of emphasizing the human condition. The frame forces relationships between subjects. So, the viewer is compelled to make meaning between the positioning of the stars with the abandoned house. Dramatic and vivid color add a very cool sense of mystery. 

The Composition

Originally, this image was mostly blue with an orangish horizon on the right. So, I shifted the orange to green, fabricated the magenta on the left and shifted to a lot of Cyan in the center. These colors are side by side on the color wheel and as such, they are called Analogous colors, and this color scheme is fantastic for the night sky. 

The sky on the horizon, especially behind the house and trees was brightened to increase contrast. The bigger shapes were all placed in the center of the shot and with a dropped horizon. In effect, I'm defining the area of interest, where the mind wants to explore, by using the bright stars, the high contrast shapes, brightness of the horizon and the vivid colors. The is where I want the viewer's eye to be so I help them out. The edges were left darkened a touch to give them less interest. Less interest on the edges means more interest in the center. 

A lot of time was spent on making sure one particular focal point wasn't too strong. I want the eye moving around the image and not fixated on one particular point. 

This was a straight forward image to capture, but it was awareness in the front end composition that gave it emotion, it was the imagination in processing to enhance the meaning, and it was craft in the technicals to give a sense of quality.

I'm not saying this is perfect or that it's high art, but it was a fantastic image to openly share with you. 

Over the River

30 seconds @f2.8, ISO 1600

Okay, one last shot of the Comet over the Spokane River.

 "Home"

30 seconds @f3.3 at ISO 800     15-30mm Tamron on a Nikon D810

The last night of shooting the Neowise Comet. It's starting to fade, the moon is starting to light up, and it's been a really good run over the last week. 

We'll just call this one home as this is literally just down the road from where I live, and the processing on it was minimal. 

The Sun, The Moon, and The Stars

This gets to go into the Home Album - About 25 minutes from home

This was shot last night, July 22, 2020 and it was inspired by the idea of shooting the sun with the stars. An impossibility with one shot, but doable with multiple exposures.  All of these shots were taken and the same place, same camera, and same lens over a 2 hour period of time. 

Shot with a Nikon D810 and 50mm 1.8D Prime Lens.

So, the overall images is a large stitched pano consisting of 5 or 6 images. Individual shots were then used for the sun and moon, and then they layered and blended into the larger pano  The large pano with stars and foreground was shot at 30 seconds @ f1.8, ISO 200. The Sun was taken earlier in the evening at 1/1000th sec @ f11, ISO 100. And finally, the moon, as it set on the horizon, was shot at 4 sec @ f4, ISO 200. 

 I'll end up reworking this image, but this is a great start, and it's the execution of a specific vision with intent. It's also something that will be developed and used in future images.

Let me know if you have any questions on the shot.

Mike

Starlight

Infrared 30 sec @ 1.8, ISO 400

So, we went out last night for a little comet shooting and the center of our universe decided to pose for us. This was shot using infrared. We were maybe 25 minutes from home. Not the best camera for shooting the night sky, but it was fun to get something a little unique. 

Mystic Falls

f16 @ 2 sec, ISO 100

4 Stops Neutral Density Filters

Only 15 minutes from home and a 15 minute walk



On the Border of Home

f16 at 1 sec, ISO 100 - 2 stop ND 

I don't have a rain forest near me, but I do have the outer reaches of Home on the Eastern Border.

Palouse Night Scene

F2.8 @ 20 seconds, ISO 2200

Tamron 15-30mm

We took a side trip when coming home from Steptoe Butte. This is lit with a quarter moon up and to the right. I've planned heading out here with other people for a Milky Way shot, but this was a pleasant surprise. I have got to be going and doing more night landscapes when the moon is out. 

A Break in the Clouds

On the Palouse

An hour from home. The rolling hills of the Palouse in Eastern Washington

Riverfront Pavilion 

F6.7 @ 1/8th sec, ISO 400

Downtown Spokane and in the beautiful Riverfront Park. Too Cool!

March 20th, 2020 Super Moon

f6.3 @ 1/1500 Sec,, ISO 450 

Hand Held using the Sunny 16 Rule 

for guidance.

Out near Ritzvelle on our way home from the Palouse Falls.

Edge of Night

f11 @ 15 Seconds, ISO 100

One of the tougher shots around town to get right. The Clock Tower in Riverfront Park.

Nine Mile

f13 @ 6 sec, ISO 100

Nine Mile Dam. There was a lot of mist in the air which led to a very blue image. Color correcting it led to these cool sepia tones. 5 minutes from home.

Star Chasers

f 2.8 @ 30 seconds, ISO 1600

Lacrosse Cemetery

f8 @ 1/125th sec, ISO 100

Lacrosse is about an hour+ outside of town and deep in the Palouse.

A New Place

1 Second - f16 @ ISO 64

6 Stops of Neutral Density Filters

2 images - Nikon 20mm 1.8 Lens

A friend showed me a new waterfall maybe 40 minutes from home. It's about as tall as my house and it's running really good.

After Hours

F2.8 at 15 sec, ISO 1600

Out in the Davenport area, about an hour from home.

Starry Night, on Long Lake

f2.8 at 30 sec, ISO 1600

My practice spot for shooting the stars. On the North shore of Long lake near Tum Tum - about 25 minutes from home. The bright lights are from Spokane and this was shot a night or two before the stay at home order.

Moonrise over Palouse Falls

f11 @ 30 sec, ISO 100
And a second shot to stop-action the moon.

Deep Creek

f16 @ 3 seconds, ISO 100

Found near one of the trail heads in Riverside State Park. 10 minutes from home, but it runs for a month or so out of the year.

The Washtuchna Bus - Eastern Washington
3 Speedlights - One shot

A well known bus in the Washtucna area and close to Palouse falls. This was one shot. The shutter opened, the flashes fired off to light the bus, and then shutter stayed open for 30 seconds to get the stars in the background. Lets see, Washtucna is about an hour and forty five minutes from home and it's a fantastic place to photograph farmlands. 

Eastern Washington Nights

30 seconds at f2.8, ISO 3200

An image from the Sprague area. A place where the Palouse and the Scablands meet. This was a very good night with very good friends. About an hour from home.

Little Spokane River - Infrared Sunset
f9.5 @ 1/250th of sec, ISO
Hanging out with the boys - 3/16/20
5 minutes from home

Mike Busby's School of Photography

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