Have you ever noticed how moths can find even the smallest drop of light in the night? Ever wonder how they do that (or why?)? I do especially when they are buzzing about bugging me. But I don’t really think we’re much different, other than we don’t have wings. We seem to gravitate to light just like moths, but I think at times we miss the smallest, simplest light in favor of the big, bright light. This past week in Grand Canyon, I once again thought about how much light we really need?
I’m not talking exposure here, don’t want to step on that land mind. Rather, I’m talking about in the overall scheme of our image, how much of the scene, subject, story needs to have light on it? Can we make do with the smallest possible amount and still have a successful photograph? I want to propose that ya, we can be successful with the smallest amount of area lit. Why?
With the mind’s eye going to light and bright first, does it take much to trigger this response? I think when the overall scene is dark, then no, the smallest amount will do. And when you add to that color, texture, sharpness and some other elements, how can the mind’s eye help but latch onto that spot, instantly? Then if all of is true, how much light do YOU need?
Read a good book lately, a mystery perhaps? Was the book really good because the author didn’t put everything on the table at once? You had to continue to read to get all the pieces so you could get to the light at the end of the tunnel. What if you incorporated this same communication technique in your photograph?
Rather than going and lighting everything, perhaps try adding more shadows, mystery to your photograph using just a dabble of light strategically placed. This is an example of what I’m talking about. The morning sun just peeked through a hole in the morning clouds. It was raining so the beam of light was displayed in the falling rain until it smacked into the temple and lit it up. Making the photo took no more than realizing that this was all the light the photograph needed. Anymore light and the beam would disappear and the small degree of detail lost in a sea of information. So next time you’re out shooting, be it with ambient light or flash, ask yourself as you peer through the viewfinder, “How much light do you need?”
So, have you ever been to the Grand Canyon? If you have, then what you see here probably looks familiar. Why? Because the rocks haven’t changed for a while, what we’re seeing has been around long before us and our cameras. As a matter of fact, it really begs the question, can we take a photo of the Grand Canyon that hasn’t been taken before? The answer is of course but more importantly, it’s a new photograph to us and that’s what really matters. With then in mind, the Grand Canyon is totally new but we of course want to do better than we’ve seen. This means you gotta simple put yourself in front of something interesting. That’s where light comes in!
Above is a click taken during the one hour prior sunset on our first day of our K&M Adventure – Grand Canyon. You can see the moment as you watch the Time Lapse created using the Time Lapse feature in the D800 and 24f1.4AFS. With the thousands of Grand Canyon images already in my files, just adding makes no real sense. But adding just a few that not only sum up the current visit but the magnificence that is the Grand Canyon, that makes sense. Here’s where that light thing plays such an important role. Because light is never the same, never! It’s this magical force that can turn your world upset down. The trick is to be ready for that moment. That’s why I made the Time Lapse. You can see during this hour that there are times when, the light really wasn’t special. Then you can see that moment when the D4 / 24-70AFS was the perfect tool to capture that moment of light on the down pour. WB is set to Cloudy, image underexposed and the final image, that one special capture that brings home the special moment. When somewhere where I’ve spent a lot of time, I put the challenge to myself that is pretty darn simple. Can one click tell the story?
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!
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!
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.
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.
