A classic scene from Missouri Botanical Garden’s Japanese Garden. This is a tree shot HDR photo combined in Photomatix and edited in Lightroom.
https://greatrivers.smugmug.com/Galleries/Missouri-Botanical-Garden/i-BLjmMXz/A
Climatron
Missouri Botanical Garden’s Climatron
https://greatrivers.smugmug.com/Galleries/Missouri-Botanical-Garden/i-HsxR4Zd/A
The Climatron simulates a tropical lowland rainforest. In the Climatron there are about 1,200 species of the total estimated 160,000 species of tropical plants. It is an introduction to tropical plants and gives a good glimpse of a warm moist forest. No building can begin to house all of the diverse plant forms found in the tropics, but the Climatron illustrates the structure of the rainforest and many of its special characteristics.
About half of the plants in the Climatron were collected in the field, which gives them more scientific value than plants raised in a greenhouse. The Climatron is also home to representatives of numerous endangered species. Just preserving single specimens of endangered plants cannot save a species. It can help to save a species, however, if these plants are where visitors can see them, learn about them and appreciate them.
Miss River City
I had a chance to drive Miss River City in a local parade. The Miss River City pageant is part of the Miss America event. This young lady, Debrielle, will now compete in the Miss Missouri pageant and, if successful, the Miss America contest.
This photo was taken with the “selfie” camera of an iPhone 6. Since it does not produce the best photos, it gives a nice soft look.
Wild Nights at the St. Louis Zoo
Party on the Moon guitarist poses at the wild Zoo Ado at the St. Louis Zoo. And the party did get a little wild:
The Castle at Ha Ha Tonka
Here is another view of the “Castle” at Ha Ha Tonka State Park. This was actually a large mansion on a bluff overlooking a beautiful valley in the Missouri Ozarks. The man who designed it never lived to see it completed. Due to his sudden death, the property was never properly maintained and the home eventually was destroyed by fire.
This is a very large building and directly behind me is a steep bluff so getting far enough away to get the whole facade in the photo is almost impossible. Also to catch the drama of the lighting from the sunset meant capturing the scene from the dark side of the building. To counter these issues, I used a 10mm wide angle lens and took 5 shots of the right side of the building at different exposures and 5 shots of the left side of the building. Each of these 5 photos were combined in Lightroom using its HDR function. Then the results were combined in Lightroom again using its Panorama function. These results were then edited in Photomatix.
Michigan “up north”
Rather than plastering you photos all over the place, sometimes putting everything in a convenient slide show would be just the thing to do. Here are some photos from an area in Northern Michigan. As you will see, this is a beautiful area worth the visit to take some photos. See the still photos here: https://greatrivers.smugmug.com/Galleries/Up-North
Porcelain Elephants
St. Louis Botanical Garden’s Lantern Festival. Thousands of porcelain plates were used to create this fountain. This is a six second exposure using f22 to blur the water and add the “star burst” to the lights.
https://greatrivers.smugmug.com/Galleries/Missouri-Botanical-Garden/i-DsjcgCM/A
Ha Ha Tonka
This is an old burned out mansion on what is now Ha Ha Tonka State Park in Central Missouri. Waiting for sunset gives the orange glow in the windows. Processing as a 5 shot HDR photo helped bring out the effect. If you have not been to this park it is one of the best in Missouri.
Lemonade Stand
Old Town St. Charles, MO is a very well done restoration of a business district. Not only can you shop on Main Street but explore little alleys like this. This is a 3 shot HDR photo.
Rural America
Early morning in Iowa. Point your camera just about anywhere in the Midwest and you will find an interesting composition. This was taken about ten minutes before sunrise and is a 3 shot HDR photo: 32mm, ISO 400, f6.3 with an average exposure of ¼ sec.
Great Rivers Imaging 