Storms over Fort Robinson State Park, May 16, 2020

Storm clearing over Smiley Canyon, Fort Robinson State Park, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Midday at Fort Robinson with a chance of rain. It blew through three times while I was in the area, once at Soldier Creek and twice here at the top of Smiley Canyon. For this round, I kept my back to the wind, getting my backside soaked but keeping the camera mostly dry, and looked for quick shots of the changing scenery. Most of them didn't quite work, but a few were more promising. This is from after most of the rain and shows a bit of the storm's western edge. Each of these storms were small, fast moving cells, and I could see far enough to watch them come and go.

Thunderheads over Smiley Canyon, Fort Robinson State Park, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Looking in the opposite direction at other potential showers moving toward my location.

Storm clearing over Smiley Canyon, Fort Robinson State Park, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

One more shot of the storm passing over the landscape.

Playing with Multiple Exposures at Chadron State Park, May 15, 2020

Multiple exposure at Chadron State Park, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Multiple exposure at Chadron State Park, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Multiple exposure at Chadron State Park, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Multiple exposure at Chadron State Park, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

I'm taking occasional tries at multi-exposure photos, and mostly producing garbage. I'll have to keep playing with the technique, and see what kind of high-contrast subjects I can find. These are quick ones at the state park. There is at least one crane (I think) in this area, so I played with a 10-frame multiple exposure of it flying overhead. I like the clouds behind the bird. The color photo is a closeup crop of a 10-frame scene shot with a tiny shift between frames. At a distance it's a fuzzy mess, but the repeated details are certainly interesting. I'm getting the sense that there's a lot of intriguing textures that can result from this technique.

Sunset Series Over Chadron, Nebraska, May 7, 2020

 

Sunset over Chadron, Nebraska, May 2020. Roundtop is on the center horizon, with Wright Peak to the left. This series shows cloud and lighting changes over the course of the sunset. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Sunset over Chadron, Nebraska, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Sunset over Chadron, Nebraska, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Sunset over Chadron, Nebraska, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Sunset over Chadron, Nebraska, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Sunset over Chadron, Nebraska, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Sunset over Chadron, Nebraska, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Sunset over Chadron, Nebraska, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Uncut Panoramas at Chadron State Park, May 3, 2020

 

Archery Range panorama at Chadron State Park, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Archery Range panorama at Chadron State Park, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Norwesca Trail panorama at Chadron State Park, May 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Infrared View over Fort Robinson, April 18, 2020

Hillside view from Mexican Canyon Trail at Fort Robinson State Park, April 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

I find a need to shoot more infrared, and Fort Robinson provides a great set of trails and elevations to work with compositions. This afternoon view from the Mexican Canyon Trail hillside shows a set of yucca with the trees and rugged hills in the background. The clouds provided some good detail in the sky, keeping it from being the dramatic yet blank dark of an empty sky and the dull cover of a fully overcast sky. A simple arrangement, and it's easy to overuse yucca in this area, but these samples had good rounded shapes, providing contrast to the gentler lines of the hills.

Hilltop Views from Chadron, Nebraska, March 29, 2020

 

Yucca and cottonwood near C-Hill in Chadron, Nebraska, March 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Crow Butte viewed from near C-Hill in Chadron, Nebraska, March 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Cistern side near C-Hill in Chadron, Nebraska, March 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Cistern side near C-Hill in Chadron, Nebraska, March 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Cottonwood tree near C-Hill in Chadron, Nebraska, March 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

View toward Briggs Pond from C-Hill in Chadron, Nebraska, March 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

Sunset over Chadron, March 20, 2020

Sunset over Chadron, Nebraska, March 2020. (Photo by Daniel Binkard)

From a Chadron hilltop, I had a great view of clouds lit by the setting sun. I like this kind of busy, puffy clouds, especially the row along the bottom of the scene. This is an HDR composite, three exposures to cover most of the brightness range. The sun is still overexposed, but it feels appropriate for the sun.