Polarized Filter or Not?

I watched a tutorial video by ON1 the other day and the photographer Scott Davenport.

The link goes to his website and some of the books, so it sort of is a shameless plug for him. His tutorials on the ON1 website are pretty darned good.
His photography is pretty amazing.

Well, let's just say, I don't think I will travel to all of the areas he does to get those incredible shots.
I have to stick around here for the time being. Farming, caretaking, and work all make it difficult to travel.
[However, I am looking forward to soon being able to explore as many State Natural Areas and State Parks as possible!...That is my dream goal.]

So I went down to the creek. The Awesome Creek. The sun was too bright for getting good 'water' shots, but I thought I'd not waste the opportunity and see what I could do.

I brought my Nikon D3100 with me along with that...Nifty 50mm lens. Of all lenses I could have, I think I like this one the best. It never disappoints me.

I had a rather inexpensive Circular Polarizer filter and a .6 ND [neutral density filter].

Here is a shot with the ND filter only. f16/ISO 200/1/5 second.

Same settings with a polarized filter and ND filter

The big difference is the ability to see the rocks through the water. I like both. The top shot shows more movement and the second shot clarifies the water.

So I tried another experiment.
I left the polarizer on and went to see how much reflection I could get off the water that was flowing.

And then I turned the polarizer filter and got this....

Encouraged by what I saw I thought I'd try some more.

However I learned that certain kinds of light and angles don't really have that much effect. I think I need to go out and do some more experiments.

However, let me say the filter did help me get a shot of the Trout on Sunday when I was in the Back Valley.

I hope to get out and try some more experiments.

Today I plan on using some things I learned regarding lighting and DIY lighting with flashlights to accent exactly what I want lit up in Still Life.

Low perspectives

The woods look pretty dreary and uninteresting right at the moment, but I still believe there can be interesting things found.

I grabbed my Nikon with the Nifty 50mm lens and decided to explore. The challenge is to not have a zoom focus but a fixed lens where you have to really think about getting the shot you want.

The shot of the creek bottom shows exactly how 'uninteresting' the woods appear to be. The shot of the Skunk Cabbage shows exactly how interesting the woods actually are!

When I came back from the woods, I found some crocus blossoms in the yard along with daffodils poking their brave stems out of the ground. I laid down in the yard to take some shots. There I was wiggling around trying to find the right composition, what did I see?

A little bug of some sort climbing around inside the crocus flower.  I peered at it after I took the shot and discovered that is was a very small bee and it was covered in pollen.

Imagine my surprise. If I stand up, the crocus plant is nearly impossible to spot. If one were to casually walk near the creek and not keep an eye out, they'd surely miss the Skunk Cabbage.

I'd place a skull next to the crocuses so that I could see them from further away and not step on them.
I was also surprised to see that a spider had climbed onto the skull!

And then there was the lone yellow crocus...it was very hard to find.

Yesterday some new crocuses came up and I didn't get out until the evening to get a shot of them while doing chores.

The daffodills are coming up around them and soon they will be gone. The daffy's will be the next blossoms to grace the yard.

Meanwhile out in the woods, under the debris I was able to see the very tips of Leeks just breaking the soil under the leaves.

They will come out when the weather is right.

The Robins however believe it is spring. This one sang the night song to me just before the sun blinked out of our hollow.

Lucky for me he perched on the branch long enough for me to attempt a shot.
This fit in my low perspective as he was higher than I was??

Well spring is coming and I believe I can say that I am looking forward to it. It was with deep regret that I put my cross country skis away yesterday and stored my snow shoes for next year.