Feb 20, 2013 | Landscape Photography
I think this must be true of all photographers. Just think about it for a moment. You go looking for a new camera body or lens and most of the time, you really don’t know what you bought until you’re shooting with it. We set our alarm to get up long before sunrise and standing in place not knowing if what we’ve planned for months will unfold the way we want. Then there is the learning process, the evolution of our photography. It starts with just learning what a f/stop and shutter speed, a mystery that confounds photographers for seemingly a long time. And the list goes on and on, mysteries we go out with our camera in search of answers. So that brings up one very important question in my mind, “Do we ever solve the mystery?”
When you’re in Death Valley, you might make the long trek down the long dirt road to visit the Race Track. This is where large rocks have appeared seemingly from nowhere and then without any assistance, skid across the playas surface creating trails. Just how does that all happen? Now there are theories, working hypothesizes how these rocks skid across the dessert. But do we really want to know the answer? And as photographers, do we want to tell that answer to our viewer or as we operate, leave them with a mystery? I’ve been beatin around for over 30yrs chasing something with my camera. Along the way, I’ve come across a lot of mysteries which to this day, the answer still eludes me. This is why I tell folks I don’t know all the answers and, I don’t want to. That mystery of the unknown is what compels me to go out everyday with a camera. And if I’m really lucky, I convey that mystery in my photographs. And for that reason, I hope I never do find out all the answers because I think life would then be very boring!
Feb 18, 2013 | Landscape Photography
01.01.2013 Pages are in the process of being updated. In the meantime you can watch our videos on our YouTube Channel as well as all Videos are available on iTunes as Podcasts!
On the second night of our Star Trails Workshop, I wanted to created a Time Lapse of the passing heavens as the moon set on the Alabama Hills. What you see are 1920 images taken over 10hrs by a D4, 24f1.4 AFS using “The Box” (pictured below). Key to this is not only the moon phase, stars and the passing clouds, but a big ass Lexar 128GB card and extra D4 batteries. After that, simply told The Box what I wanted, pushed the Start button and then at 23:00 carefully swap out batteries and go to sleep. Assembly of the video was done in Photoshop which, with the Mac Retina was done in a snap!
Now you’ll see a bunch of stuff in the Time Lapse. You’ll see the vehicles of a couple of the students, their little harbor from the cold. You’ll see clouds floating by to the east, planes flying through, the momentary headlights of a lost soul. And if you watch real carefully, you’ll see the Ghost of Moose as he walks to check on the students. Most importantly, you’ll see the moonlight which is lighting The Hills fade as it goes behind the Sierras. Enjoy, had fun creating it for you!
Feb 18, 2013 | Landscape Photography
Star Trails, talk about bigtime fun! There is the challenge of making the image, the investment of an entire night for just one final image, and for many, the guess work if any of it will work. We had our first Star Trails Workshop this past weekend in Alabama Hills and the heavens put on a killer show for us to address all of these aspects of Astro photography. There are a number of star photography styles. There is the classic Star Trails that you see above, there is the single click “Heavenly Bodies” style you see below and Time Lapse encompassing an entire night’s sky. These three can easily be accomplished these days with nearly digital camera gear you might have. You just gotta have batteries, time and a desire to embrace a long, cold night. Above is a simple click, 192 of them actually shot over 6hrs using a D4, 18AF and MC-36. It was assembled in a heartbeat on the Mac Retina using StarStax which did a marvelous job!
Now creating star trails is fun, there is NO doubt to it! But like many techniques in photography, just because you can do it doesn’t mean you always do it. The top photo was taken on a nearly moonless night. It’s enough to light the landscape but still permitting Star Trails / Heavenly Body shooting. You can see The Hills in the foreground in the upper photo, that all coming from moonlight. I wanted to do something more than just a Star Trails so went to incorporating the moon in the photo. Even though a sliver of a moon, against the dark sky, it looks like a full moon. The best part was the flare it creates. I had the idea of creating a “syfy” looking Heavenly Body shot and have attempted them before, but none turned out as good as this one. It was a great night of shooting and a ton of fun sharing my passion for the Heavens with others new to this type of photography.
Feb 13, 2013 | Landscape Photography
There’s a place in FL where I love spending afternoons, North Pier. You can see it looking east from Fort DeSoto as it hides under the Skyline Bridge. Slowly falling into the bay, the pier still provides fisherman a place to relax and catch fish. And those birds that want to be free loafers, a place to work their trade. And photographers, a place for some easy, fun and rewarding photography. I’ve shot there with the 200-400, 300f4 but most of the time, I’m shooting with the 70-200VR2 which I used to get the top image. Now the majority of the time I’m going after flight shots. The key you want in flight shots is the sun and wind on your back. In the afternoon, that’s all you have at North Pier. But when this Brown Pelican after getting fed a fish from a fisherman went over to this perch, I loved the attitude and had to get the shot.
Here’s where you’ve gotta make a decision because the Pelican is on a section of pier separated from where I stand by a big expanse of water. What you see below is the final photo that I really like. Did I get there by putting a teleconverter on the 70-200, use High Speed Crop, Crop the image, use a 600mm? Being on a public pier where you really stick out, keeping a low profile is kinda of a good idea. The thing is, you gotta move quickly because at any moment the Pelican can be off to grab his next free lunch. I went with my favorite and best option, grabbing the 600mm but I didn’t take time to set up a tripod, just handhled it and shot. I took my handful of images, switched lens and went right back to shooting. I realize that everyone does not have a 600mm so that is not an option for all. I’m fortunate, it has been an option for me for a longtime and I make use of it whenever I can. You’ve got take advantage of the tools you own to get the shot at the moment. But keep an open mind that there might be other, better options in your future you need to explore. I think photography takes an attitude.
Feb 12, 2013 | Landscape Photography
Photography is a mixture of so many elements, most can easily site off the technical. While important, my mind when the eye is to the viewfinder goes to the subtle. Little details which get overshadowed by the technical I find more challenging and the little elements that separate a photo from a keeper to a favorite to one I want to share. When you consider that you often have less than a second to grap someone’s visual attention with your photograph, favoring towards the mind’s eye often gains you a longer glance and time with your photo. I’m greedy, I want all the time I can earn which is just one of many reasons I shoot with the D4.
This series of an American Osytercatcher photographed down at Fort DeSoto a few weeks ago is an example of what I’m talking about. Using a panning plate, attach a D4 with 600VR2 with TC-14e attached, I laid on the sand waiting. The Oystercatcher doesn’t really like to be approached by will approach you. With that, you don’t have complete control, the Oystercatcher picking the place for its portrait. When this Oystercatcher strolled up for its session, I waited for the pose and then laid on the hammer.
What am I mumbling about? If you look closely at the 3 images, you will see a very slight difference in the background any body gesture. It is very slight but I was able to capture it by letting the motordrive rip. The difference in the wave, leg and head though is what I seek but seeing it and hitting the button at times just isn’t possible so I let the motordrive make it happen. Then, back at the Mac Retina I look for that moment as I go through the images. In the end, it’s just the one, single image that goes out. In this case, it’s the bottom image that I like the best. It’s a really small detail, very subtle but that’s what I’m lookin for to grab just a few more moments of your visual attention.
Feb 11, 2013 | Landscape Photography
“Where’s the blog, you OK?” has been a common email the last month. This has been in response to many days where there simply was no blog. You might remember a while back (nearly 2 yrs ago) I said I was going to challenge myself by posting five days a week, multiple posts a day to see how that would effect my basic daily activities. I can tell you honestly, it greatly impacts it since blog posts take time, especially since the majority of the time, it’s new image content. Well when the year flipped over to 2013, I looked at my goals and the blog which was at the top, went to the bottom. The reason is many the biggest being I’ve decided to shoot more than ever (filed over 3TB in 2013 so far). I’ve also taken on other projects that simply are more important to me than blogging like a madman. Now I’m not going to stop blogging and those days when I can do what I’ve been doing, multiple posts will go up. But there will simply be days when there is no new post and you’ll have to satisfy yourself with the nearly 3500 pages already present. I want to thank you loyal few who keep dropping by and write and will continue to help you the best I can through the blog.
What you see here is the eastern view from Dante’s View this morning in Death Valley. Just concluded a great week with some great photographers! They were up for any challenge including this morning with below freezing temps a giant breeze to make some gorgeous images. This is a simple click taken with the D4 and 24-70AFS with +.3 exp comp to pull the detail. The light is doing all the heavy lifting for me, I just had to frame it and go click. I like that kind of photography.
