Apr 30, 2012 | Landscape Photography
Then when I was finished with the forest, I turned around to see the gorgeous light skimming across palms. I remembered a long ago great shot of these palms in the same light so I went off on a quest. The first problem I found was I couldn’t get high enough. Vantage point is everything! I tried to get on top of our van, but they just don’t make them the way they use to (sorry rental car company for “impression). So then it was off to find some type of elevation.
I finally found the right combo for the most part of elevation and subject. So then it was time to work the elements. The area is managed as it should be with fire so I want to include that in the photo. I also wanted the free of the palms and their patterns and then the openness of the area they grow. So multiple shots were required.
With that, it was real simple finishing in ACR and then into Nik’s Color Efex Pro > Glamour Glow & Darken/Lighten Center. While I like my shots, they are not as good as the one in my memory that someone else took long ago. I now am on a quest to find that photo to see if in reality of my memory, which is the better. It was good to have something though to inspire me to work what was at hand rather then to just blow it off and blah. There was a photo there, just had to go find and make it.
Apr 30, 2012 | Landscape Photography
We started a new tradition at our K&M Adventure Monument Valley of going to some place new neither Kevin or I have been to before. It’s a way to see not only how we deal with a new location, but share visual ideas as they come to us. So this morning on word from some birders (which turned out irronious) we headed to Myakka River State Park. It’s really a gorgeous place, when it’s not hot and there is moody light. We arrived when the ground fog was amazingly thick so we slammed on the brakes and stopped in this great forest area.
I remembered this photo of Jay Maisel’s of light streaming through the redwoods and his joke that he used a smoke machine to get the image. I thought of that because we could smell a fire and see the tint of it in the light streaming through the trees. So that’s what I went after with the camera. My composition was based on a couple of factors. The first was the sun itself, whether I used it as a star burst or hid it behind a trunk. Then there were the God Beams and finally the forest. So I did a dance working those elements into the frame.
Then there was the shooting. These are all 5 image handheld HDR starting at -1exp comp. Shooting with the 18mm, I could “cheat” DOF by shooting at f/8 which gave me a relatively “fast” slow shutter speed. Then the images were assembled with Nik HDR Efex Pro and then finishing with Nik Color Efex Pro > Glamour Glow. When it comes to my favorite, it’s the bottom image and that’s probably because the light is subtle and not in your face. That might change with time though. I do know it was a gorgeous morning and a lot of fun!
Apr 16, 2012 | Landscape Photography
See if this answers this very common question
Apr 12, 2012 | Landscape Photography
Here’s some of the clicks I like from my Winter Feeder Fun. Like I mention in the video, my goal wasn’t to make the image of a lifetime but do some real world testing of a new feature. The fact I got some images I like is just simply icing on the cake. And I like cake! Why do I like these? The top one has a little “human” gesture in it, the next I like the action, the next because of body gesture and the last, it just makes me smile. None of these are magazine covers but simple rewards from simple shooting. I’ve asked why am I using the antler for a perch? When it snows the wind blows. When the wind blows perches move. When perches move when you’re shooting at 1/60, nothing is sharp. Antlers are not only unique, they don’t move in the wind :-)
Many ask how I’m processing my D4 images. Like I’ve always processed my wildlife images. I open Photoshop > Mini Bridge > Select image, hold down the Shift key and double click. All done!
Some read the fine print (unlike my Moose Settings post) and asked about the Custom Setting e4, what’s up with that? Well, I highly recommend you read the IB and do some testing. If you’re looking for info from me, it will be in the upcoming issue of the BT Journal along with a bunch of other info making the D4 an evolutionary tool.
Apr 4, 2012 | Landscape Photography
I love storms, especially just before they start and then when they are over. It’s a time when the “normal” view is altered into some romantic gesture of time to make a change in the routine of life to celebrate that life. In the Sierra as the wind whips over the crest, clouds battle the winds to drop their moisture before being carried east. I always challenge myself to bring that emotional response to the click. Be it a tornado or simple snow fall, I just love chasing storms!
And just as much as I look for that grand landscape kind of shot, I seek those small details, patterns that convey the same emotional response. Living in snow country, I have become a connoisseur of snow. What the hell does that mean? Well this photo is a good example of that. Only certain storms produce the right wetness of snow that sticks to trees like frosting. Too light and it looks like hoar frost, too heavy and it’s just a glob. I’m looking for that just right and that’s because it creates the mental picture of a snow covered forest which in reality only last for moments. Once the sun hits it, it melts and falls off. In chasing those storms, I look for these patterns in the light and snow that suggest the amazing serenity that comes after a storm. It’s these moments I cherish, behind the camera and then the time after.
Mar 27, 2012 | Landscape Photography
And while standing for a moment taking in all the meaning and history, the folks do leave and the photo does present itself. Peace is a good thing.
