Neahkanie Beach
captured by Z7 / 8-15Fish
There are some places where hanging for sunset is just cool, sunset or not. Neahkahnie Beach is one of those locales, at least the cliff overlooking it. I sat there for about an hour loving the view, watching the crab boats and the incoming storm move into position. It was a spot made for the 8-15Fish as it not only took in the whole view, but also the symmetry of the view. Because of that perfect fit, in my mind I named it, Fisheye Bay!
Bosque del Apache
captured by Z6 / Z14-30
New Mexico skies are so very unique! The colors they produce at sunrise and sunset are never the same with the most subtle shades of orange and red. The combination of wind and dust scatters the light and with the slightest degree of cloud wisp, the skies come to life like nowhere else. The challenge often though is turning a blind eye to all the cranes and geese and other birds to actually work the heavens. This morning, we lucked out as the birds were “late” giving us a few moments to find a great place to take in the sunrise show.
Bosque del Apache
captured by Z6 / Z14-30
The challenge for me was deciding where the photograph I was feeling resided in the viewfinder. Looking south (I think my favorite view) the graphics of the two clouds really caught my imagination. The view north, I really like the shoreline and the clouds. Both of those views were taken at 30mm (I was shooting Z6 / Z14-30) and when I went to 14mm, you see from south to north. They all looked sweet which is why you see them all here. But in the final analyses, I like the graphic nature of the southern view the best. Many ask how I “expose” for these shots. In this case, my WB was set to 9k and I had dialed in -1 exp comp at f/4. Bosque has may rewards for those who travel there, the sunrises and sunsets are just one of them!
Bosque del Apache
captured by Z6 / Z14-30
Hwy 95, NV
captured by Z6 / 70-200f4
As everyone in the US knows, we’ve had some wild weather this past week. Knowing bad weather was en route, Sharon and I of coarse made the wise choice, Road Trip! The timing actually worked out perfectly only dealing with snow-covered roads going over the Blue Mountains of Oregon on our way to Washington. Otherwise, cruising the backroads at 80mph (maybe, higher) was smooth going. Like normal for me, when in route to a location, I tend to not want to stop to take photos, I’m on the mindset to get to the destination. But the trip home, I tend to plan in lots of time to stop and shoot.
Hwy 95, NV
captured by Z6 / 70-200f4
So we were cruising down Hwy 95 through Oregon on the way home and there was a spooky, thick layer of fog. At times, it was causing us to radically slow down. For nearly eight hours, we were under the same dark, gray, foggy skies. My plan for having time to shoot was working, but there wasn’t anything to shoot! We crossed into Nevada as we headed south and came over the pass and bam, sun! And not just sun but something to shoot. I left a little rubber on Hwy 95 when I found a pullout where I could take advantage of the sunlight. All I had to do was get the Z6 / 70-200f4 out, dodge traffic as I walked the highway to make the shot and work quickly. Because no sooner then we stopped and the fog started to drop again on us. It was well worth the stop but within minutes, I was once again doing 95 on 95.
Idaho Wilderness
captured by Z6 / Z24-70f2.8
While we were turning to check out Magee below, we were about 200-300 above the forest. I love pine trees and seeing them looking straight down is such a fascinating and cool pattern. All I had with me was the Z6 / Z24-70f2.8 which I had set to Monochrome (B&W to you and me). With the viewfinder smashed against my face and my hand holding the front element as so to not scratch up the window, I shot when I saw a pattern I liked.
Idaho Wilderness
captured by Z6 / Z24-70f2.8
I don’t do a ton of aerial shooting so I kinda go the easy way out. I raised my ISO to 1600 so I had a 1/500 shutter speed. I use autofocus which isn’t the best policy as we were moving 138mph ground speed so there was about 50% out of focus images that got deleted. Then I would start shooting just as the pattern appeared in the viewfinder and kept shooting until I saw it disappear. These are some of my favorites from the short shoot.
Idaho Wilderness
captured by Z6 / Z24-70f2.8
Idaho Wilderness
captured by Z6 / Z24-70f2.8
Idaho Wilderness
captured by Z6 / Z24-70f2.8
Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic
captured by Z7 / Z24-70f2.8
With the new snows of the season (coming down at the house right now), I thought I’d answer a common question that floods in this time of year. “How do you (as in Moose) expose for snow?” Of course, living in snow I’ll get to the heart of the question as I look at it. What color is snow? Unless a Moose or dog has passed by, it’s white, right? The common belief that if there is snow in the scene, automatically dial in +1. A recommendation that comes from the meters of the 1970s. We’re not in the ’70s. I honestly don’t think there are viewers of your snow photograph who wouldn’t recognize the white stuff on the ground as snow. With that being true, then seeing detail in every crystal of the snow (what +1 might do for you) is not mission-critical to tell the viewer the white stuff they are looking at is indeed, snow. With that storytelling in place then, how do I expose for snow? Exposure is YOUR greatest tool to express the feeling, mood, and EMOTION in your photograph. Just because you see something white, don’t automatically do anything.
Yellowstone’s Norris Geyser Basin
captured by Z7 / Z24-70f2.8
We have two photos here, both of snow. The feel of both is totally different. The top photo has a bluish-gray cast, the bottom photo the snow is your basic snow white. The top image makes me feel cold, that’s why I underexposed it in camera and did not remove the color cast in post. The bottom image, I exposed normally (no comp) and did remove the color cast in post (using ACR). The key to exposure for both images is the RANGE of light in the entire scene and not the fact there is snow in the scene. I exposed for the EMOTION and not the white stuff. Like with most of my photography, I try to keep the light range within 3 stops. When that’s the case, then I just have to click, the D5 / Z7 or 6 system will do the rest. When it’s outside the 5 stop range, to deal with the greater range of light I shoot with the D5, and overexpose for the range of light, not the snow. This is totally ass-backwards from what I did for thirty years but it brings into play the 6 stop range of those cameras. Look at the light between the photos in that post and this. Can YOU see the difference in the light falling on the scene? It is exacerbated by the snow, but not determined in whole by the presence of snow.
SO how does Moose expose for snow? Just like any other scene, it depends on the emotion, the light on the subject, the light on the rest of the stage and then the story I want to tell within the confines of my viewfinder. Exposure is way too powerful a tool to just dial in some value of exposure compensation automatically. The world doesn’t need another technically perfect photograph. The world needs another photograph with passion to move the viewer!
There are times when the wide-angle just doesn’t do it for that landscape photograph. There can be many reasons for that, the most common is simply you can’t zoom with your feet to do the dance: remove elements that take your eye away from the subject while including those elements that support the subject. That was the case this week when in Mammoth Hot Springs and wanting to work the gorgeous light and cold temp making the steam come to life.
The water flows of Mammoth Hot Springs is not what it once was so much of its glory has dried up. There is one edge though where you can still see that spectacular formation and color. It’s a ways off the road with no path to it so can’t zoom with your feet. In order to get the shot, you gotta pull out the big guns. Shooting with the Z7 / 180-400VR with the internal 1.4x engaged, it was possible to literally zoom right in on that detail and make the click. All that was really required was waiting for the breeze to move the steam about so the detail I wanted sharp was clear in the frame. Gorgeous part of our wild heritage!
