Travel Images Photo Gallery, the Palouse, Washington, Idaho

Photography © John Baker, Travel Images

The following images represent the typical range of subjects for this particular Travel Images photo tour or workshop. They were selected in the knowledge that every client is able to obtain similar images, but should a particular technique be new to you I will share everything I know so that you reach every one of your photographic goals.

Please scroll down for images taken on Travel Images trips by John Baker.
In most cases, links to client images from this destination are at the bottom of the page

It's harvest time during my trips to the Palouse, and for this shot there is a nice balance of light and shade as the grain leaves the hopper on it's way to the truck.

There is a farmer on the south end of the Palouse who has assembled a fence of old wheels and cogs etcetera, and they make ideal 'frames' for his barn. Now if only we can get him to paint that barn a shade of brick red!

Looking in the other direction you can see how much work, and miles, have gone into putting the fence together.

This is typical of the serendipitous jewels that one can stumble on while going from one particular image to another on the Palouse. The bold line of green Cat-tails gives 'strong support' to the main subject.

This shovel was in a barn with the light falling in just the right place. There are compositional guidelines out there that we are all aware of, and I suggest to clients that they are useful but are to be broken if you feel you can improve the picture. Here I opted for the right-hand third, and have no regrets!

An Aspen leaf contrasts beautifully after falling into a grain hopper.

A shot that could be found almost anywhere, and was improved by moving my camera angle until the subject was set against a dark background, which on this occasion was a distant stand of trees. The long lens used throws them well out of focus.

Something I consider as 'classic Americana' shot near Colfax. I should pay the owner to leave the pick-up there!

These are wild oats, the bane of the grain farmer. There are often some growing among the other crops, but the ones easiest to locate will be at the edge of the field. Try backlighting such as I did here, and the darker the background the more they 'pop'.

This old school on the Washington side of the Palouse has stood for a number of decades, and is still a worthy photo subject despite the rusted farm machinery all around. For this shot I got down low with a 19mm lens for a different perspective.

A crop duster doing his stuff in the shadow of Steptoe Butte. Does he use Pledge I wonder?

The lines of stubble were pleasing to the eye, but without some PhotoShop manipulation it lacked impact.

Another image I just had to play with. Besides the color, I also find the composition very pleasing to the eye, and that's a major ingredient of successful images.

Harvesting in the late light. Note that the header on the combine adjusts to the terrain while the cab stays vertical. Exposure for a shot like this can be tricky, and thus I underexposed by a half a stop.

One of those typical Palouse scenes that one knew was going to need cropping when all was said and done.

Backlit stubble . . . yeh stubble!
Well, I for one see an image that tells a story!

I go on and on about how blue skies are nice, how overcast light reduces the contrast, but better still is this kind of changeable weather when it provides golden moments such as this one. That's just what makes my trips to the British Isles and New Zealand so interesting!

An empty truck heading back to the fields after having unloaded it's load into a 'community' grain bin.
This particular perspective was achieved with a lens in the 300 to 400 mm range.

The best preserved round barn on the entire Palouse to my knowledge.

Nothing more than a section of a barn near Steptoe. You either love or loathe this kind of shot, right?!

Early and late light on the Palouse is the best time to be out with a camera, and this image is a dawn shot from Steptoe Butte. All you need is an alarm clock, tripod, long lenses and to be there!

The lines in the stubble complement this image of the stark tree. I used a tripod with my lens set at f.22 for maximum depth of field. Trees like this become trusted friends when I take group after group to such spots. This tree however is unfortunately no longer with us.

On each trip I pick up a few wheat or barley stalks - these are wheat - and attach them to my tripod so that folk can get shots such as this. It sort of sums up the whole Palouse experience really.

The symmetry of the grain bins at Staley recorded with a 200 mm lens. It tells the Palouse 'story' more than anything else.

More typical rolling Palouse, enhanced once again by a red barn. Barns disappear almost annually, but then newer ones 'come of age' and become photogenic after a few years.

More wheels, this time south of Moscow, Idaho. To get the image sharp from front to back a setting of f.16 or f.22 has to be the aperture of choice.

A different interpretation of the image above. Of the two I prefer this one.

Some Deer are hard to identify as a rule, but when the White-Tail Deer is alarmed, up goes it's, well, erm, white tail.
This one was spotted [literally] on Steptoe Butte, and although shots like this are more miss than hit, it helped that my camera settings were conducive to the grab shot.

A close-up of a parked combine's header. If you look at the crooked horizon in the corner of the image, it'll tell you that I tilted the camera to keep the converging lines within my viewfinder area.

So the group is out shooting in broad daylight when we notice a Great Horned Owl on a power pole. We'd have preferred he be in a tree, but we didn't say no to some sort of shot

Minutes after this was taken the wheat was in the hopper. Silhouettes give you the best return for minimum effort, and all you need do is 'see' your subject. In most cases your exposure will be 'as is' too.

An 'action' shot of sorts! Looks better cropped and a lot larger!

The Palouse by Rachel Hull

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