Oct 1, 2012 | Landscape Photography
I had the opportunity Friday morning to go out with some of the good folks from the 4C convention to the Posner Balloon Festival. I yearly festival that’s been held for decades, it’s a great event where I’m told 30 hot air balloons come to have fun. Arriving in the dark, my favorite time to start, we wondered over the field where the balloonist had parked.
I talked with some of the folks to get an idea of how they would handle the launch and then just started to watch. Knowing their general MO, in the dark of morning I looked for those with their baskets set up first. This takes a little time, hauling it our of the trailer, getting the rigging set up and clear in the dark getting ready for the preburn.
It was pretty simple really, you want to show that fire, you need a dark background. So once I saw the first basket ready to warm up the burners, I positioned myself with a background that told the story, was dark yet showed a little of the predawn light and waited. People are part of the story, so I wanted to include them as much as I could as long as they were active in the launch process. I tried to move about though to eliminate others who were just watching.
Anybody who knows me knows how much I like fire, so I was a kid in a candyshop! I mean, the sound, the length of flame, makes you want to grab a hotdog on a wire and cook! Now just like shooting blurry water, to make the shot I ripped the motordrive on the D4. This is because you just can’t see the pattern the burn is going to make, recognize it, tell your finger to shoot and the camera to fire fast enough. So when just as the big burn would go, I let the camera rip off 15-20 frames and then selected my favorite flame pattern back in the computer. I shot with fixed lenses, doing all my “zooming” with my feet. I did this because I wanted to shoot at f1.4 to make the most of the available light and minimize DOF for crowd control. These images were taken with the 50f1.4AFS and the bottom with the 24f1.4AFS. On the tech side, WB set to AWB, metering Matrix with Exp Comp at -2 to -1.3. While from the time when we arrived till the time we left was less than 2hrs, it was a great morning off to a great start. mmmm…fire…good!
Sep 28, 2012 | Landscape Photography
Making the drive to the airport yesterday, I was able to survey the fall color scene. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being killer, it might be a 5 this year. Sure, there are some pockets which will be sweet in the next week but generally, the trees are going from green to brown. My favorite grove on Conway Summit is already half brown, this scene from 2010 might happen in small sections in the next week to ten days. But don’t let that stop you from going out and shoot fall color. Look for those small splashes of color and work them. Find just one tree on a blue sky day and exploit it with a polarizer. All it takes is that one, perfect leaf and you’ll have a great day of shooting. I would suggest on the Eastern slope, look for the small draws that still have water running for the best color and photography. But any day outside beats any day inside, especially if you have a camera with you!
Sep 21, 2012 | Landscape Photography
They are predicting our first snowfall in the Sierra this weekend. Not that it will stick, but snow means lower temps and lower temps along with the shorter days triggers critters into winter mode. Talking with folks around No America, it would seem the Farmer’s Almanac is right. We’re in for a wet, long winter and it’s just starting. As wildlife photographers, we need to take note of this and prepare accordingly. When it comes to birds, migration is in full swing in most regions and the numbers heading south at one time seem greater than normal. This can produce extra drama you might not have seen in the last few years.
While it might be obvious, just wanted to point out that traditional migration stops for waterfowl and shorebirds might be the place to be the next month. Some are saying the birds might head further south this winter, a combination of the winter prediction and climate change. With that comes the assumption that they might stay fewer days in their traditional stop over locations. This means we might have a smaller window to photograph this incredible spectacle that is part of our wild heritage. My suggestion is if you don’t own long glass, you contact BorrowLenses.com and get one reserved. When it comes to looking at dates, try to find a time around the full moon as that tends (weather dependent) to increase activity during migration. And where to go?
These images of Lesser Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese were taken at Bosque del Apache, a mecca for fall bird photography. But there are LOTS of locations around No America you can tap. Personally, I start by looking at the Birding Hotlines for my area to see what birders are seeing. Spending your time behind a lens rather than travel makes the most sense to me because one day a pond could be empty and the next day overflowing. Another great resource to finding congregations of birds are hunters. While the birds might be more wary, often they will land just outside the hunting zone which provides you a shooting (with camera) opportunity. Do your homework now, think through gear and location and you’ll have a great fall shooting!
Sep 19, 2012 | Landscape Photography
We continued west and when we came down from Westgard Pass and looked towards home, we saw the eastside in gorgeous light with God Beams showing us the direction. Of course we stopped, got out and enjoyed the view and preserved it for all time with our clicks. John Muir called this the Range of Light for a very good reason. It is nearly a daily occurrence, this gorgeous light on an spectacular landscape making photography really quite simple. To make the shot, I made a 5 image handheld HDR that was finished in Nik HDR Pro.
Sharon & I are very fortunate to have two incredible sons who not only like hanging with mom and dad, but are also shooters themselves. We have been doing this photography thing as a family from the very beginning but we never really thought it would turn into a family affair. With that being said, you have to be careful, especially when you hear the request to “hold still.” In this case, Jake was kind to dad making a cool capture. But there are times when my very Photoshop wise sons take creative license with their photos of mom and dad. We are very fortunate!
Sep 11, 2012 | B&W Photography, Landscape Photography
You know when you have a friend in Joe McNally when on his blog he bestows you with such a title. While I don’t think I’m that light on my feet, I do love clouds! During our Napp Photo Safari during Photoshop World, the heavens gave us a heck of a show and I was more than happy to watch, shoot and hopefully inspire others with the experience. Both of these shots are in my book simple clicks, taken with the D4 and 24-70AFS
The scene above is the one Joe describes in his blog. For me, such a scene is a simple click but for many, clouds and B&W is a mystery so I explained what I was seeing with my eyes and how I would translate that to a photograph. We start with the light and how we want to use it to pull the eye through the frame. With that known, we than look at those elements that prevent that movement of our eye and do what is needed to exclude them from the frame. Than we make sure we still include those elements we do want, set the exposure comp to -2/3 and go click. Than head into Silver Efex Pro 2 and do a simple 80 structure move, a little levels for the blacks and we’re done. Some from the safari have emailed asking for the video I mentioned. You will find those along with all my videos in, yeap, the Moose’s Video Library. Thanks to all the folks who joined us…great day!
Aug 27, 2012 | Landscape Photography
OK, you had a great weekend of shooting and now it’s Monday and you’re back to work, now what? It’s no time to stop! I know, you’re at work, how can photography continue when you’re at work? Here’s some thoughts:
Plan for next weekend – Think about what you want to shoot this weekend. Places, people, critters, something totally new, whatever it is think about pushing your photography forward. This has to include challenges, how they might arise and how you think you might solve them. Write it down and plan.
Practice your handholding – this is something you should do everyday even if you’re not “shooting.” Grab a body and lens, find some object is poor lighting forcing you to work at slower shutter speed and keep this very important skill sharp and ready for the coming weekend!
Go through weekend images – Take the time to go through your images and look for successes and failures. Look for the reason for both! Don’t go into “Fix it” mode in post but rather, “get it right in the camera” mode in your mind! Look for commonality in both successes and failures so you can repeat the successes and avoid the failures. If need be, right these down and leave them in the top of your camera bag so the next time you go out, you have to see the note to remind yourself.
Plan flash shoot for Wed – Think of a simple shoot you can do on Wed that requires flash. It doesn’t have to be a photo you want to frame and put on the wall, but just something with flash to push that skill base forward. It can be as simple as lighting a salt shaker so you can see the flash. This can do wonders for your photography, not the salt shaker but just getting the flash out and looking at light!
Read a good book – Open you mind to other thoughts and let words paint pictures in your imagination. This can free your creative spirits and shut down the technical which can vastly improve your photography. Do go for the technical, go for the romantic that uses big, descriptive words making you previsualize, a important exercise for photographers!
Look at images from a year ago – You’ve come a long ways in your photography in the last year but you might not realize it! Looking at images from a year ago brings back memories, technical challenges and ideas of what you want to accomplish now let alone the feeling of satisfaction. Looking at your own images is the best way to crit those images you took over the weekend. Only You can improve Your photography!
Phew…where did the day go…now what do you do for Tuesday?
