How Do You See Light?

Feb 20, 2010 | Landscape Photography

“How do you see light?” This is a question I get a lot, a lot! It’s such an incredibly great question, it’s quite a compliment and it’s one I always struggle with answering. Why? Light is this very tangible, untangible element that truly makes or breaks a photograph. “Seeing” light doesn’t come in a day, a week or even year, but feeling light is something you do right now and that’s where you need to start!

[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP6240-1.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]

We’ve got a storm coming in, that can only mean one thing, dramatic light. But it’s not a given that just because the weather is coming, you’ll be in the right place at the right time for the light. But knowing the light should be there and will be there is you chase it, that’s the start of your feeling the light. That’s where this whole thing begins. So in the photograph above, you might be saying something like, “You’ve got to be kidding me, in that you “felt” the light?” “Feels more like moose manure!” (a cleaned up version of bullshit.)

But the light is in the photograph, I could more then feel it when I framed it up. I knew for example I would be going to black and white. Look very closely, very closely! You can see small, simple yet dramatic variances in the construction of the clouds, the play of light on the various densities of the clouds. The light on the ridgeline, that one if obvious making it easier. That’s where you start to transition the feel to the visual when it comes to light. It’s when you start to make that move that your images start to communicate the drama with mere exposure compensation. The first big step in communicating light.

[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP6240.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]

You’re probably looking at the “before and after’ and saying something like, “I would never have seen that final result!” You can and you will if you don’t, it really just takes time. The process is complicated by the fact you have to feel it and see it at the point of capture to get all the ingredients captured and preserved. Then, you have to take that and combine it with finishing in post, finishing to bring out that feel for the light. Because that’s how you grab the viewer’s eye, when they too can feel the light.

Photo captured by D3s, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

Simple Click – Moose Does Stumps

Feb 9, 2010 | Landscape Photography

It’s an inside joke, Moose & stumps. These dead trees are part of a forest submerged in Quake Lake, MT. Quake Lake is a ~real~ cool place that we enjoy hanging out at. It was created by a huge earthquake not to long ago that shut off on end of the canyon, damming it up. In the winter as you can see, it freezes and that’s when the photos come to life!

[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DLCMTQL0030.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]

The “trick” to making the image required selecting only those elements that worked while make sure everything else was excluded. I shot with the 70-200VR2 because we were stuck on a road, couldn’t actually get down to the lake. But being up high was the other important ingredient in making the image.

[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DLCMTQL0018.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]

Yeah, I stopped the bus to photograph big sticks in the snow, hard to believe I know. The shadow on the top edge of the top image I think bothers me and the lack of depth in the bottom one makes me wonder about it. Seeing them small here on the blog doesn’t bring out the texture you can see in those sticks, perhaps that’s what has me scratching my head. I’ll have to print these and stare at them. I like them, not sure, yet, if I love them.

Photos captured by D3s, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film

One Image HDR

Feb 8, 2010 | Landscape Photography

Still playing catch up, processing images from this last road trip. I was looking at some of the TrueHDR images I did and wondered what would happen if I did just a One Image HDR from the middle exposure. At the same time, tried a couple of single clicks just to see the outcome as another possible tool in the photographic arsenal. I really like the Oak Bay Bridge, not liken the Muir Woods images, the boat going to sea has me jazzed.

[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP69842.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]

As you view the gallery, you’ll see the After image on the left, the Before on the right. It’s on my to do list creating a simple how to video on this, but you can see and learn more about this from the same guy who planted the seed in my mind, RC, right here.

But this is real easy stuff, in Photomatix Pro, simply File > Open, select image and OK and you’re done! Give it a try.

Photos captured by D3x / D3s, 70-200VR2, 24PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film

RC’s influence

Jan 21, 2010 | Landscape Photography

My bud RC is not only a great friend (and designer of this site), but a killer sounding board. We talk about all sorts of things and one of them is HDR. Na, we’re long past the is it Elvis on Velvet or Art thing, but rather on how can we use it to communicate the wonders we see in our daily life. Applying it at the time of click in our mind and then see it come to life in the DD.

[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP7597.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]

This photo is just an extension of those conversations. It’s a real simple single image HDR that is used to bring out and otherwise quite scene. It’s the warm tones in the century old cabin that made me thing, frame, expose and process this into the final image you see. You could call it no more than a fancy simple click because that’s all it is.

Photo captured by D3x, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film