And Those I Like the Best?

At this point, I’ve gone through all my images from our first week in Yellowstone (which was great BTW) and picked out those I personally like the best and finished them in post. Of those 100+ images, narrowed it down to 15 the images that bring back the week and put a smile on my face. “Favorite” images I think should be those that put a smile in your heart. That doesn’t mean they are the greatest photographs, but simply those that bring back the memories of that moment. That’s what you have here. How were they finished” You have everything thing from straight out of the camera (yeah, that is permitted) to images finished with just ACR or with that with Nik Glamour Glow, Tonal Contrast or Silver Efex or a combination there off added to the mix. I never spent more then two minutes with finishing any given image. Enjoy and if I’m lucky, an image or two will put a smile in your heart!

It’s all in the Steam!

Had a few folks email asking what I meant when I said “steam” makes the shot and I crank a whole bunch to get the shot. Here’s a simple series of just five images taken with the D3x at 1.8FPS over a span of perhaps 10sec. You’ll see that the images changes slightly with each click. The last image is my favorite. Why? It’s the ratio of lights and darks, information and lack there of that makes it a favorite. There is no recipe for that which is why I shoot the burst (if you call shooting at 1.8FPS shooting a burst). The small nuisances of steam here and steam not there happen too fast at least for my eye to see it, squeeze the shutter off and capture it. I see the general pattern forming which is what starts the firing sequence and I see it ending which stops the firing. But I can’t see “the” image fast enough to make the photo with one click. It’s all in the steam.

Photos captured by D3x, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

5min & Snow Make Magic Happen!

I do love watching and photographing Bison. Next to Grizzly Bear, they are probably my largest file. Spring when the calves are born and winter are my favorite times with them. In my mind though, the winter works only when it looks like winter which I think takes more then the white stuff on the ground. It takes some knowledge and some luck.

Living in the Sierra where we can watch snow storms rolls gives one some insight about coming storms. So there we are cruising through lower geyser basin when we come up to a good lookin herd close to the road and more importantly, frontlit. Even more importantly is the storm I see behind the herd, real dark clouds coming our way. Since the herd was “bare” that depending storm is the only reason we stopped.

And it stormed! Big, beautiful flakes fell and at times obliterated the herd. We didn’t run for cover but rather, kept on shooting. There were some marvelous photos taken in this “bad” weather. Some of the best photography is in the worst weather!

The snow flurry lasted perhaps 20min top and then blew out. The storm didn’t phase the Bison, didn’t phase the photographers but most certainly improved the photography. Knowing some biology, combining that with photography and adding in the magic of Mother Nature’s weather and you’ve got the recipe for great Yellowstone photography!

Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

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The moment I saw her, I was in love! She had spent some time on the downward wind side of a thermal and when the steam hit in the cold, it coated her in a splendid winter jacket. We stopped and we shot and as how things often happened, nature moved in our direction.

What does that mean? The herd slowly walked to us so the distance was closed at their leisure.

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Yeah, it was real simple. With the ice drops hanging frozen from her eyelids and just about everywhere else, she posed at point blank range just long enough to make the shot. It was an amazing Bison day!

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Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film

YA Wk1 D4-1

Holy Crap, what a bloody amazing day! We started out with a much warmer day at -7 which always concerns me but we headed out just the same. We headed up the Madison River and 30min before sunrise I spotted five wolfs across the river. I yelled out pretty damn fast, “Wolves, Wolved, 10 o’clock across the river!” in time for everyone to see five members of the Canyon Pack before the disappeared back into the forest. Wow, what a start to the day!

We headed up to the Madison headwaters and there spent a couple of great hours with the Bison herd. We had a ton of great opportunities but it was the entertainment this Black-billed Magpie brought that was a great highlight. The magpie was just doing its basic biology but when you see it go into the ear of a Bison, up its nose or up it ass, or, peek on one’s back until it actually put the Bison to sleep, you ain’t seen nothin! It was the greatest show on earth.

And then there was just those simple moments when Bison are doing nothing other then looking like the master of the plains like they are. We have a great group here who are into photographing Yellowstone and Bison. I know because this was just the start of our Bison day.

Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film

YA Wk1 D3-3

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Then there are the Bison when it’s cold, they just look their best! This lone bull was right next to the road in the soft afternoon light plowing the snow looking for grasses below. The best part of the angle of the bank it was working, it was great for shooting right down and seeing right into the action. With all of that, we had to stop and work him for a while.

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I think the biology of these massive creatures is amazing. This bull walked and walked and plowed and plowed for a good 20-30min before after all his work, he found some grass to eat. In winter, the survival game is all about calories in vs calories out. He spent a lot of time looking before finding that one patch of grass. But he is obviously healthy so whatever he is going is working for him. And with a face like that, it’s working for me too. Another 1800 image day, more to go through, and more to shoot tomorrow. I love the cold!

Photos captured by D3x, 600VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

Simple Click – Hayden Valley Classic

Just stop, point and shoot!

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We headed out to Artist Point at the Grand Canyon. The combination of steam and the height of cone basically made the falls disappear from this vantage point. No problem, there is always lots to photograph from here. I took out the big lens knowing this and had some fun. First, I photographed an old friend. I don’t know how many times I’ve photographed this tree on the point but made a note to myself to this time go home and pull them all up. I’m curious how much my photographic impression is of this tree and its change over the decades.

Then while I was looking at the cliff face, I started to see a face here and there. I like this one, look like Luke just before getting zapped by the snow monster. Yeah, I have a vivid imagination.

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But no sooner then I find Luke, I find the snow monster. It makes me smile and any photograph that does that, is a keeper!

Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

YA Wk1 D3-1

It was -38 when we headed out today, I knew it was going to be a great day. And it was! Once again, after the day and dinner with the gang it’s late and I’m cramming to get it all done so I’ve picked a couple of my favorites of the day to tell the story.

We were at Gibbon Meadow before the sun hit. It was just glancing off the immense ground fog bank created by the super cold temps. I love this meadow, spent hundreds of hours here and this morning was just another special one. Here’s the key to the photograph. How do you want to express your feeling from standing out in -38 air as the hoar frost floats by and bites your nose? You could underexpose and bring out the coming light. You could expose with zero comp and just let mother nature do the work for you or you could dial in +1/2 exp comp and bring out the lightness of the morning. All are correct, all would work and all could tell the world how you felt at experiencing this moment. Personally, I went with zero, I let mother nature do the work. What a great start to the day!

Photo captured by D3x, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

YA Wk1 D2-3

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Our third stop was with the incredibly cooperative Bald Eagle. I’ve never spent so much time with a Yellowstone Bald Eagle as this one which stayed on this one perch for two and a half hours! We spent an hour with him, leaving once the light was too much for my taste. I wish we’d been on him much earlier because the hoar frost on the tree where he was perched was to die for! That’s what really made the shot which disappeared as time went on and the day warmed up to zero degrees. But let’s look at the major problem with this shoot. Can you tell what it is?

If you said background, you hit the nail on the head! The top shot is the very first vantage we had of the eagle. Since they normally don’t stick around, we made our “record” shot. I went vertical to grab a little something in the lower right corner to attempt to overcome the horrible scuz clouds in the background. I could only take this so long and once I figured out this guy wasn’t go nowhere, I moved!

I like the middle image background the most but that’s probably because the light was still OK. If you compare the top and middle image, you can see where that gray scuz really does suck for a background. The bottom image, I like the background because it says winter but by the time I got to this location, the light had become hard. The physically distance I walked from the top frame to the bottom was about 60yards. This is in part because of the major change I wanted in the background. It is also because of the trees on our side of the Firehole River we had to shoot through. The eagle was on the other side of the river and that along with the warmth of the sun is probably why it stayed around so long. By the time we left him, it was coming up on 13:00 and we’d only traveled a few miles since the beginning of the day. Excuse me now, I’m really excited to look at the rest of the day’s images.

Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-20e on Lexar UDMA digital film

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After making an A Stop, we turned south down the road taking us up the Firehole River. The day had warmed up to -10 by this point which isn’t great but still made for some great drama with light and steam. We came around the corner to see this gorgeous view. There was NO WAY we were going to pass up this magnificent offering to the B&W gods!

As I mentioned yesterday, the trick to making steam images I think is to click, click, click. In the case of both of these images, a total of 75 were taken to come up with these two I really like. What is it about them I like? The main subject, the couple of black, predominant trees amongst the rest. Those blacks set the stage for the rest of the shades of gray and white. Then there is the stair step pattern to those shades that is highlighted by the rising steam. The last key to the puzzle is knowing the power of Silver Efex Pro 2 and its Structure slider. It can pull out detail, subtle detail that makes the B&W really zing! What a great second stop to the day!

Photos captured by 24-70AFS / 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

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Yeah baby, the weather turned our way with the morning low at -22! It was a SPECTACULAR day with great photography in God’s country of some rather basic subjects providing big time fun. I could have this day the rest of my life and be quite happy. With only five stops over 10hours, I have 2156 images to go through tonight. Wow!

Out first stop was with this massive gathering of Trumpeter Swans. I’ve not seen so many on the Madison for years so it was great to see and even better to spend time with them. I’ll be honest with you, I’ve not gone through all my images from the day yet. I quickly looked over what I shot and picked those images that tell the story of our day rather then the best photos I took today. These show the moment the sun came over the ridge and first kissed the swans.

The top image is looking west down the Madison. This family group of two adults and a Signet swam up just as the sun picked over. With their gorgeous white plumes and the shadowy background, they pop so it was a no-brainier click to make. The middle image is looking directly across from where we stood facing south. I liked the sidelight and how it pops the white subject from the white background. I don’t like the flare in the lower edge of the frame but included this in the post to show what flare looks like. This was caused from a single stray of light strikes the front element of the frame.

The bottom photo was taken looking east into the rising run. With the cold temps there was a ton of steam and I just love shooting into steam. This bottom and the very top image are my favorite because the direction of the light makes the story come to life. All I did to make the three different images was to swing the lens, I never moved the tripod with the images all made within minutes of each other. It was a glorious start to the day!

Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film

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One of my personal challenges I’ve set for myself these next two weeks shooting in Yellowstone is the ultimate “steam” shot. With the cold temps, the steam from the geyser, steam vents, mud pots freeze on the branches of the trees. This in combination with the steam creating the “icing” is what I want the ultimate photo of. The elements needed then are the steam, the trees, light and luck. Why luck? The steam is never the same, never! The pattern is in constant flux with the wind. So you have to find the first three ingredients and make the last. How do you make the luck? With the first three in the viewfinder, you hit the hammer and let the motordrive create some luck for you. BTW…this is not a B&W image. Stick around, we’ll see how I do.

Photo captured by D3x, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

YA Wk1 D1-2

The Firehole River when it’s cold and there is snow is a great venue to shoot. What makes it unique is the fact the water is hot so the snow is sharply sculpted around the rocks in the river. When it’s cold enough, the snow piles up and the shapes come to life. All you have to do then is pick and choose those that you like.

To pick and choose, you need focal length since you’re shooting down from the canyon wall. This is a challenge because you are also shooting at a slow shutter speed, these taken at 1/2sec. For many, that slow a shutter speed when shooting with a long lens with the tripod perched in snow is difficult. But that’s how these images were taken. How did I get my shutter speed down that low? Closed down the lens all the way and set the ISO to L01. I finished the images using Silver Efex Pro 2, that was the easy part!

Photo captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

YA Wk1 D1-1

Welcome Back Yellowstone Adventure! That’s how I took our very first experience on a our first week back on our first venture in the park this morning. It was pretty classic wildlife photography 101.

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We were cruising the Madison and up ahead was a lone bull walking the road. Pretty darn common since walking the groom rather then plowing through the fresh snow. He was walking into the light. So we cruised passed him slowly so as to not change his path. We then went up the road about a half mile, parked, got our gear out and waited for the bull to walk up to us. A few moments later there he came and like clock work, walked right up to us, stopped for a heartbeat and then walked right on passed us. Why stop for this bull? Look at all the frozen winter on his coat. It made him a stand out and a great start to a great day!

Photo captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

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