Ideas for places to visit in the Midwest
An early morning near St. Genevieve, Missouri. A sunrise or sunset can produce a wide variety of light from very bright to very dark. HDR photography can help record all levels of light and produce beautiful photos. This is a combination of three photos taken at different exposures and processed in Lightroom and Photomatix. A wide 14mm lens helped capture the whole scene at an ISO of 100, 1/3rd of a second shutter speed at f13.
Circus Flora is a one ring circus that has been entertaining St. Louisans for about 30 years. A circus can offer a lot of interesting photo opportunities but there are issues:
On thing you have going for you is that a circus is a show and there are spotlights and other forms of nice lighting. Here is what I used on this photo: I turned the (light) metering to spot to take advantage of the circus’ special lighting effects; turned my ISO up to 2000; opened my aperture as much as possible (in this case f5) and used a telephoto lens. As always I shoot in RAW to allow more light for post processing.
The name Great Rivers Imaging represents an area in the Midwest where great rivers merge. These are the Mississippi, the Missouri and Illinois rivers. Here is a view of the Mississippi valley with the Illinois River in the foreground. This area is so vast that the Mississippi in the distant background and cannot be seen. Pere Market Park, just north of Grafton, Illinois, is a great place to see this whole area.
Panorama of the area:
North of St. Louis is a scenic area near the convergence of the Illinois and Mississippi. The drive along this area is called The Great River Road and visitors can take days to explore the area. One feature of the area is that the highway runs through a narrow area between the river and the bluffs. Tucked away in a break along the bluffs is a little town lost in time called Elsah. This little 19th century town takes you back in time with old churches, city buildings and classic homes. Here is an old church tucked away in this little valley:
This was taken off Interstate 39 just North of Bloomington, Illinois. This is one of those situations where you are driving along the highway and you see one scenic barn after another and finally have to stop and take a photo!
This is a 3 shot HDR photo using the corner of my car window as the tripod.
I did not have to go too far for this photo! I live in University City and this is an area here called “The Loop,” an area filled with bars, restaurants, boutiques and college students. Needless to say, it is a colorful area.
Photos taken during the “golden hour” (about 20 min before/after sunrise/sunset) can provide the perfect lighting for photography. This deck at Big Cedar Lodge, near Branson, MO, reflects sunlight a few minutes after sunset.
Photo taken with a Nikon D90 and a Nikon 18 – 105mm lens. Settings: f5, 18mm, 1/30th second, ISO 500.
Here is a night photo taken at Big Cedar Lodge near Branson, MO. This was taken hand held with a Nikon D90 using a Nikon 35mm 1.8 lens.
In Southwestern Missouri there is a private park (open to the public) called Dogwood Canyon. Filled with waterfalls, unique bridges and scenic vistas, this is a “must visit” place! A 6½ mile paved path lets you see it all.
Be sure to bring your camera!
A friends farm had a number of Peacocks wandering around. There were so many that I had to be careful not to run over one.
This particular character framed himself at the entryway into a barn, sort of framing his plumage for all to see. So I had to stop and take his photo!
This is taken with a Nikon S9700. The color of the bird himself is bright blue and the picture is not oversaturated.
Great Rivers Imaging 