Jul 16, 2012 | Aviation, B&W Photography, Landscape Photography, Random Thoughts
If you do, then run! Run to find a great foreground and subject to put with them. Clouds have the magic to transform the common into uncommon just by their very being. The key is to place your subject in the clouds but not letting the clouds overcome the subject. You want to use the clouds to give the imagination to roam and then bring the mind’s eye back down to the subject. This requires not only a great shape but also highlights and shadows that move the eye through the frame. In this process, you might have to use a split grad and the point of capture and Curves in post to manipulate those highlights and shadows. But if you have clouds, you have photographic gold!
Jul 13, 2012 | Landscape Photography
Like most of the US, it’s hot here in Mammoth the last couple of days, it’s hit 84 (I know that’s not really hot). I don’t like hot, I really don’t! Sharon and I went and say our good friends in KS and that was hot. Then we went to Phoenix for a project and it was 111, but as CNN published today, these are by no means records.
The world’s highest recorded air temperatures
1. El Azizia, Libya (136 degrees Fahrenheit)
2. Death Valley, California (134)
3. Ghadames, Libya (131)
3. Kebili, Tunisia (131)
5. Timbuktu, Mali (130)
5. Araouane, Mali (130)
7. Tirat Tsvi, Israel (129)
8. Ahwaz, Iran (128)
8. Agha Jari, Iran (128)
10. Wadi Halfa, Sudan (127)
A bigger issue though is not the heat wave but drought which has a grip on much of the country.
If you’re a wildlife photographer, this is something you can take advantage of while doing critters a favor. Water features not only help critters get through the heat, but is a free way you can attract critters to come right up to you lens. Think about light, background and approach and build your pool today. You’ll soon have friends. It’s a great weekend project.
Jul 12, 2012 | Landscape Photography
“Have you ever been to Bodie?” The calls and emails have been coming in since my bud RC posted some of his images from his recent trip there with Bill Fortney’s workshop. Since we live not too far from the State Park, it’s a reasonable question. Until you head to Photography > The Bodie Series tag above and you see I have. I even wrote a book about the town (never published) and ran a workshop there for years in the early 90’s. But my relationship with the town goes back to 1900.
No, I’m not that old but at times you wouldn’t know it. My grandfather’s cousin was the superintendent at the Standard Mine from 1900-1902 which is why my family first started to come to the Eastside. My mom came to Bodie when she was a little girl when the town was still a inhabited town. So I grew up visiting Bodie before and after it became a state park to the present day. Back in the early ’90s when doing the workshop in Bodie, I was very fortunate to meet some of the surviving citizens of early day Bodie like the Bells. It’s not a real stretch saying Bodie is in the blood.
Naturally, photographers are interested in Bodie as a subject and for good reason. It’s a great subject even if you’re only seeing 15% of the town. The rest has been lost to fire and time. When it comes to photographing Bodie, my favorite time is in August when the summer thunderheads dominant the sky and in October when the light is spectacular no matter the skies. One of the photographic problems about Bodie is it is a state park so there are operational hours which aren’t really photographer friendly. Are there ways around this? Also, once in Bodie you can’t help but look inside the windows to an era gone by.
I’ve not ventured into a building in Bodie since I had keys to the town back in the early ’90s. To say things have changed is a vast understatement! I’ve been told but do not know for fact but you can pay a fee, in the hundreds of dollars and gain access to the town and interiors. The question many pose of me is, “Is it worth it?” Having a personal history with the town, to me I never turn down an opportunity to visit it. As a photographer, I don’t have the same response. When the end game is to capture a gorgeous images, Bodie is like any location where timing is everything. Light is great and there is no finer place then Bodie. When it comes to interiors, I simply don’t have a ying or yang to provide you. Back in the day, I spent all my time in the interiors shooting with scrims on the windows and a little flash fill. I’m told you can’t do that anymore which just leaves HDR to make the most of the light. You look at my parents photos of the interiors and than mine of the 90’s and than now and it’s changed a lot! I love Bodie and if you have the opportunity to visit it with your camera, do so! Just keep in mind it’s like any location, light is everything. And yes, there are ghosts in this living ghost town!
Jul 11, 2012 | Landscape Photography
“Moose, do you ever let your hair down with HDR?” This is an email I received yesterday and I’m not really sure how to take it. The fact I don’t practice what I call “Elvis on Velvet” HDR only means, it’s just not my schtick. In my own mind, it’s no different than I don’t do macro. Just not what I do. So I decided to go out tonight and “let my hair down” and see if I could visualize and then produce a crazy HDR photo. Ya…I could take 5 frames, no problem. Ya, I saw some colors I thought I could exploit easily in Nik’s HDR Efex Pro 2. With the D4 and 24-85VR and Nik, the process was pretty darn simple actually. And the final photo? Well, it kinda has the feel I was thinking about but my issue is, I was there taking the photo and swatting the mosquitoes and this is simply not what I saw or felt. And I guess that’s why I don’t let me hair down and do this style of HDR. I am not saying I think it’s wrong or awful or anything like that. Just that it’s not my thing and like macro photography, I don’t do it well and have no desire to do it better. So now it’s time to put my hair back up.
Jul 5, 2012 | Landscape Photography
It’s my favorite time of the year in the Eastern Sierra, monsoon season! Monsoon moisture down in the Gull of California brings the moisture and the heat of the Owens Valley makes the afternoon clouds. In the mid afternoon, we can have down pours that literally create creeks where hours before was dirt. Other than the lightning hitting a very dry forest possibly causing fires, this summer event is something I always look forward to. Why? The clouds have such drama that you can almost shoot anything with them and you have a great photo. It takes no talent, just some time.
There are many ways to photograph these massive towers of moisture but chasing them at sunset it one of the most rewarding. The challenge is finding the spot to make your stand. That’s because as the sun sets, the thunderheads loose their main power source and as such, loose their energy and dissipate. They also loose their energy as they drop their moisture (known as rain). These factors make the clouds fall apart really fast. I’ve chased these giants many times only to have them turn into nothing in minutes. See the peaks in the foreground in there photos? They are there not only because of scale but also because they keep sending up jets of energy which keeps the clouds around as long as possible. If you look at my big cloud photos, you almost will always see peaks in the foreground, that’s my trick.
Photographically, remember two things, you need a split grad and need to switch WB to Cloudy. The tops of the thunderheads can be thousands of feet above their base which means they still have sun when the bases do not. You don’t want that white at the top taking the eye up and away. Use the split grad to pull them tops back down. Switch to Cloudy WB not because you’re shooting clouds but for the reds. AWB just never captures the reds like Cloudy and your want the reds. After that, just have fun and enjoy the show. It’s one of Mother Nature’s best!
Jun 29, 2012 | Landscape Photography
Those who know me know I love history and my bud Kevin knows this really well. So we got in the car and headed up to Abilene and the Eisenhower Presidential Library. The adventure turned out to be a double header because at the Library is the Smithsonian traveling exhibit Elvis at 21. This is an exhibit from 8 days of photography of Elvis by 28yrs old photographer Alfred Wertheimer (AW) in the days of film with available light. The smallest print was 30×40 and they were all stunning! What a killer start.
A native Abilene, it was easy to understand quickly many of the decisions Eisenhower made first as a general in WWII and than president. The top photo is of his and Mamie’s resting place. Next is a photo of the home where Eisenhower grew up, the informal parlor looking into the formal parlor. If the rooms look small, they are! It was pointed out a number of times the home was on the wrong side of the tracks, the family of 8 lived in a small home but it was a happy home with simple, basic old fashion values. The Eisenhower’s raised very successful kids with Dwight being the top of the list. The bottom photo is the home itself. The home & museum took us hours to walk through, see and learn, great place to spend an afternoon.
All three of these photos are five image HDR, shot with the D800 with MB-D12 and 24f1.4 AFS with the HDR being done in CS6 using Nik HDR Pro. Looking at these images, you might be wondering why I used HDR. At least, I think you should be wondering why and at the same time thinking, “They don’t look like HDR.” The top image, the exposure range from stain glass windows to the marble floor was too great for one click. The middle image, I wanted those green shrubs to come through the drapes and the light that falls off through the room to come through. That couldn’t be done with one click. And the bottom image, why HDR there? See that deep shadow of the tree on the right, I didn’t want to loose that detail and with one click, you’d see a white bldg and that’s it. I wanted the warm summer day to come through. It was another great day learning about our own history with some good photography added for good measure. Life is good!
