On Thin Ice?

While I have real problems with some of the unreal imbellishments of global warming and its cause and effect as seen on TV lately, being an arctic traveler and witness, I have no doubt things are changing and not for the better. Those in the endangered species business know that what typically causes a species to become extinct is some small coup de grace able to take advantage of a weakened system. For some arctic species, the handwritting is on the wall of a coup de grace a comin. I’m not saying the sky is falling, but many of its support beams are buckling, severely. Become educated and voice your opinion one way or another. It is your wild heritage!

This photo was taken a couple of summers back at the end of our ANWR float trip, it’s what’s left of the ice pack in June in the Beaufort Sea. We saw five Polar Bears, way off in the distance, one was a family group with spring cubs. We never saw though any of their main food source. There’s way too much open water in this photo.

Alternative to white

We’ve had snow 71/2 of the last 8 days with two of those days with 30+mph winds. Needless to say, the wood pile and wine supply has been dented. You’ve probably seen a few of my snow photographs from Yellowstone and while Mammoth is beautiful in snow, let’s just say I can’t find the same character in the snow here. With all the winds, we’ve not had any birds for the last couple of days either. So to avoid getting cabin fever (couldn’t get out of Dodge either, road closed) I thought I would look at other avenues of photographic expression.

One of the vacation homes in the neighborhood has someone in it (who must be scared of snow, has every light on). The glow out the windows and the pattern of light on the tree and snow hill caught my attention. Cranking up the ISO to 6400, I went out in the falling snow and made two exposures, one for the window light and one for everything else. I than cameback to Photoshop and combined the two. I used Dfine to smooth everything out and baam, alternative to white is done.

Photo captured by D3, 24-70AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

Who’s that Masked Shooter?

Was it cold in Yellowstone we’ve been asked? Heck no, a walk in the park. Look at that face mask, it barely has any ice on it!

Here’s another example of fashionable photographer faceware. Note, there are no icicles coming from the nose so it ain’t that cold. Of course, he was standing in the middle of Norris Geyser Basin. The temp rose to -3 when you were out in the middle of it.

No rouge needed here, no Photoshop either. That glow is from a brisk -7 afternoon at Upper Geyser Basin. What this photo doesn’t tell you is that Joe’s lips were stuck like this for the next hour until we went in for lunch.

We have a tradition at DLWS, the group hug. It took on a whole new need in Yellowstone! It’s the warmth from all of the participants that made even the coldest times pass without even a shiver. Many thanks!

Who's that Masked Shooter?

Was it cold in Yellowstone we’ve been asked? Heck no, a walk in the park. Look at that face mask, it barely has any ice on it!

Here’s another example of fashionable photographer faceware. Note, there are no icicles coming from the nose so it ain’t that cold. Of course, he was standing in the middle of Norris Geyser Basin. The temp rose to -3 when you were out in the middle of it.

No rouge needed here, no Photoshop either. That glow is from a brisk -7 afternoon at Upper Geyser Basin. What this photo doesn’t tell you is that Joe’s lips were stuck like this for the next hour until we went in for lunch.

We have a tradition at DLWS, the group hug. It took on a whole new need in Yellowstone! It’s the warmth from all of the participants that made even the coldest times pass without even a shiver. Many thanks!

The Before & After

I have received LOTS of emails (& print orders, thx) from the images I blogged last week from Yellowstone. It was an incredible experience from the grandeur that is Yellowstone to the great folks who were DLWS. Those folks, you know we had them going at 06:30 and were with them until midnight everyday (there was no time off) and all they did was smile and make some incredible images! One helluva a week!

A common question about the images tends to be “Were the images worked in Photoshop?” Darn good question and the answer for all the landscape photos is, darn tootin! None of the wildlife see Photoshop, but my landscape images sure do. To be specific, they see Capture NX. I find that especially true with the D3, NX does it all for me. Here’s an example.

 

 

The top photo is right out of the D3. The biggest problems are two fold. First is the horrible color cast caused by the steam coming from Castle Geyser next door. Second is the lack of light in the pool itself. Now McNally & I thought about throwing an SB-800 into that sucker to light it up for the one shot, but there’s a big sign saying “No Flash Fill Permitted in the Pools” so we went to plan B. Knowing these two facts that I would have a color cast and no light getting down into the pool, I composed accordingly knowing the tools I have back in the computer. After finishing the image (which is totally different from fixing), it looks like this…

See a difference? The finishing took only seconds with NX doing the lion share of removing the color cast and than pulling the color out of the pool. In Photoshop, all I did was to use Tonal Contrast in Nix’s Color Efex 3.0 for the finishing touch. This isn’t some Moose voodoo, all of you can obtain the same results. If you don’t know how, come journey with us on DLWS, we’re more than happy to help you find your vision!

Photo captured by D3, 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

We’re still here!

We’ve received a whole lot of emails this past weekend wondering how we’re doing with the recent CA storms (thanks!). While it was predicted we’d have blizzard like conditions, all we had here in Mammoth was killer snow! We badly, badly needed it and while not the real wet stuff (which makes shoveling a whole lot easier) it’s still white and makes great water this come spring.

What does it look like, all this white stuff? Well, in the top photo you can see the day before the storm and the day it ended. We received here at the house about eight+ feet. What do you do when it’s snowing that much? You enjoy the fire, fine music, good bottle of Merlot cured up with a good book. And when it comes time to taking the dogs out, we play. Our oldest dog Benson who is now eight takes his snow and snowball catching very seriously. It just amazes me how much air he gets off powder snow to catch them flying white balls. I had to shoot from the 2nd story office deck, snow to high to shoot from ground level.

Photos captured by D3, 14-24AFS / 200f2VR on Lexar UDMA digital film (D3 trivia, all photos taken in Dynamic 51-3D)

We're still here!

We’ve received a whole lot of emails this past weekend wondering how we’re doing with the recent CA storms (thanks!). While it was predicted we’d have blizzard like conditions, all we had here in Mammoth was killer snow! We badly, badly needed it and while not the real wet stuff (which makes shoveling a whole lot easier) it’s still white and makes great water this come spring.

What does it look like, all this white stuff? Well, in the top photo you can see the day before the storm and the day it ended. We received here at the house about eight+ feet. What do you do when it’s snowing that much? You enjoy the fire, fine music, good bottle of Merlot cured up with a good book. And when it comes time to taking the dogs out, we play. Our oldest dog Benson who is now eight takes his snow and snowball catching very seriously. It just amazes me how much air he gets off powder snow to catch them flying white balls. I had to shoot from the 2nd story office deck, snow to high to shoot from ground level.

Photos captured by D3, 14-24AFS / 200f2VR on Lexar UDMA digital film (D3 trivia, all photos taken in Dynamic 51-3D)

FL Base Camp Opening

Our FL Wildlife Photographer’s Base Camp is just around the corner and we have a cancelation. These aren’t for the weak of heart, we’re talking 15hr days packed with not just wildlife photography (FL’s great spring birds), but biology, photoshop, business, camera gear, techniques and a whole lot more! I can guarantee you that not ONE question goes on answered. This will be the first with the D3 in folk’s hands, so that will make it very interesting.

There are two requirements for joining us, a passion for wildlife photography and a 400mm lens. If you’ve got those and want to take your wildlife photography to more than just a new level, but infuse your life to the grandest pursuit in photography, this is the place! (Sorry, the Nikon scholarship for this event has already been awarded.)

Photo captured by D2H, 200-400VR on Lexar digital film

FedEx case is getting heavier – 12.28.07

If things just weren’t interesting enough when you fly these days, TSA is making them even more so starting Jan 1. TSA has a whole new set of regs for lithium batteries, spare batteries in particular that can no longer fly. It’s not all grim, some spare batteries can go as carry-on though not checked (you had plenty of spare room for spare batteries in your carry-on, right?).

TSA uses a unit of measure, grams lithium, which while we might be able to decipher it, I seriously doubt most TSA agents will be able to with some of our unique camera batteries. Especially on the fly as bags go past them with the pressure of time on their shoulders. I contemplated adding my spare Dell batteries to this photo but I didn’t want to totally freak you out with the news. So, I guess I’ll be shipping all my spare batteries in my FedEx Pelican along with lenses and other items that simply can’t be trusted to fly in the belly of the plane.

Update: This explanation of the new regs was just posted. Interesting that the TSA site pictures rechargeable batteries, has it in its text, yet it’s supposed to only cover non-rechargeable batteries as a possible fire risk. Clear as mud!

In case you’re wondering, I use the Pelican 1660 to ship my extra gear to locations. These days, typically this contains the 200-400VR, 200VR, Lastolite panels, SB-800s, Leatherman, litestands, Justin Clamps, binoculars and now, spare batteries.

We are so blessed! – 12.24.07

From the entire Peterson Family…Merry Christmas!

Chasing the light – 12.09.07

Sharon & I along with the dogs went for a walk this afternoon to see the new snow on Mammoth Mtn. And than the light started to dance so up we went.

And while I was loaded for photographing wildlife, none was around but darn if the light just didn’t keep kissing the mtn side. I just couldn’t ignore it. So up we continued.

It was just a fine afternoon to take the dogs (or they took us) for a walk.

To make the most of the warm glow of the light, I switched to Vivid Picture Control. Since I’ve added this to My Menu in the D3, it’s real easy to switch to it when desired. At this point, I’m still playing with Vivid to see when it does and doesn’t work for my images.

We have been receiving many a phone call asking if WRP has gift certificates. You can’t get them off our webstore, but you can call our office and talk with Sharon. You can get a “gift certificate” for just about anything we offer from DLWS, Base Camp, gallery print or private tutoring. And for xmas, we send out an autographed “gallery print” gift card as your gift certificate. Give us a call if we can be of service.

Photos captured by D3, 24-70AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

Blog-email notification – 11.29.07

Sign me up for Moose News! Those of you who are “old” Moose News readers remember when it use to be a simple email I sent out. Then come modern times and the blog version of Moose News and RRS Feeds to keep up you up to date with new postings. Then came devices like the iPhone where you can easily receive emails on the road, easier than checking RRS Feeds. So my brilliant webmistress (who is responsible for our new cool D3 site) just found and added to the blog email subscriber. You click on it, type in your email address (which goes no further) and you’ll receive an email notification when the blog is updated. And right now, you can do it right here on this blog posting!

Kids are home – 11.23.07

Our boys are home from college for the holiday weekend and of course, the notebooks are out and the new things they’ve discovered are being shared. Now the majority of the time, it’s stuff that, well, only college kids would be into (like YouTube videos) but than they told me about this. It’s called Stumbleupon which is a website that helps you stumble upon other websites. You can just let it randomly stumble upon sites or tell it something specific like photography or photoshop or biology and than it stumbles on just those kinds of sites. It’s not only fun, but you can find some really cool things out on the www that you otherwise would probably never stumble upon. So, while you’re playing couch potato this weekend with all the games on, give it a whirl!

Who Said Turkey Day? – 11.21.07

With so much to be thankful for, everyone at WRP wishes you

all a great Turkey Day!

I LOVE Photography! 11.11.07

We’ve spent the weekend working in MT on a new, very exciting project you’ll soon hear about. In the process of working on that project, snow started to close in on us in the mountains. We decided to make a run to the plains and work Big Sky magic. Living up to its name and reputation, the snow storm circled us with the plains’ up draft opening the skies directly overhead. All this as the sun headed for the west, making appearances every now and then lighting up the speeding clouds. It was a magical afternoon of chasing the light and romancing the landscape (thanks Scriv!) I just love photography!

Photos captured by D3, 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

One Fine Week! – 11.09-07

Our first Base Camp came to an end tonight and it was one great week. We want to thank Bill, Skip, Mo, Kim, Mike, Vince, Tom, Dave and the kid Andrew for making this first Base Camp the one which all others will be measured against!

We couldn’t have had a more fitting ending for the week than one of those famous Big Sky sunset.

Photos captured by D3, 24-20AFS/14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

And at the end of the day – 11.04.07

The photo gods blessed us with a Big Sky sunset!

Photos captured by D3, 24-70AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

Hard Day’s Night – 11.02.07

We’re up here in Big Sky country and after getting the morning’s work done, we headed out to check out some new country. When you’re in Big Sky country (MT) and there are no clouds, you have lots of hard light. Lots! We found this very cool little place, Sedan (thought of you flyboy) where this old, one room school house old playground stood abandoned. Lucky for me, a 16f2.8 (along with 24-70AFS) arrived today so I decided to play. Had a great time shooting with the 16 on the D3 (better than the 10.5 IMP) and with a little assist from Color Efex 3.0 B&W infrared, came up with a couple of fun images.

While I might have had bad light, it didn’t compare at all to this bad night

Photos captured by D3, 16f2.8 / 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

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