© 2009 Gary Ertter Photography - All Rights Reserved
1/320 sec., f8, ISO 320, Nikon D300 camera with the 24-70mm lens at 24mm

Using my photojournalism privileges, I was able to wander the street out side the spectator barriers and shoot the parade up close and personal.  Great privilege!

For some reason, this was one of my favorite shots, as it showed a lot of joy and happiness.  Plus you can see evidence of a parade in McCall in the background.  So for me, it told the story.

Here's a link to more parade photos...
http://www.ertter.com/gallery/WCMardiGras09/index.html

 
© 2009 Gary Ertter Photography - All Rights Reserved
1/125 sec., f8, ISO 400, Nikon D300 with 12-24mm lens at 12mm

 
© 2009 Gary Ertter Photography - All Rights Reserved
same as above, but with 7 different shutter speeds

These 2 images are of the 2009 Winter Carnival Snow Sculpture Grand Prize winner.  It's "Camelot" at the Hunt Lodge here in McCall.  The sculpture was built be a team led by John Schultz of McCall.  He's a local chain saw wood carver, and this is his 3rd straight win.

The first image is an "as shot" photo of the sculpture, while the second image is an HDR image.  HDR stands for "High Dynamic Range", which is a digital process that blends several photos into one, and hopefully giving the image a full range of proper exposure and detail.  The second image is built from 7 different images, each at a different exposure.

To shoot HDR you really need to have the camera on a good firm tripod.  Then shoot in aperture priority, or manual mode.  Auto-focus should be off.  Changes in focus can actually change the size of the image slightly, and changes in aperture can effect size and focus, so those 2 settings should be fixed.  I also would not have auto ISO turned on (I almost never use that setting).  So that pretty much leaves the changes in exposure (called bracketing) to changes in the shutter speed.  My camera, like lots of digital SLR cameras, can do auto-bracketing, and shoot all the different exposures in a burst. 

Then, using software you blend the images into one.  Photoshop has this feature, but I use a different program called PhotoMatrix for my HDR imaging.

This was the first time I tried using HDR on snow sculptures, and I think I'm pleased with the results.  So was the editor at the Star News, it was the front page shot for the Winter Carnival edition.

1/4 sec., f3.2, ISO 800, Nikon D300 with 24-700mm lens at 58mm.

Here's my fireworks shot for McCall Winter Carnival.  I shot this from the 3rd story balcony of the Park Street Plaza.  It's all in who you know I guess, as to where you get your shots from.  I expect to see this get used for some kind of promotion.

More fireworks here...
http://www.ertter.com/blog/post/2008/07/4th-of-July-Fireworks-Over-Payette-Lake.aspx