Ever since I arrived on The Palouse, the one overwhelming feeling I have is, “How do they do it?” The love and dedication the generations of farmers have had to have to make this landscape what it is and produce the grain they do is staggering! And they are only the 5th largest wheat producer in the USA! It’s on a scale that is beyond my comprehension. Even more is just how infrequently you see a home, barn, farm machine. We came around a corner and found this old barn all by itself in the hills and with the clouds, just had to stop and make its portrait. Looking through the D850 / 14-24 I so wondered its story, the good and bad times it’s seen, the snowstorms and blistering summer heat. If only it could talk, I’d sit and listen forever!
The Palouse continues to be a spectacular tapestry providing amazing patterns and textures at every turn! There are said to be over 3k square miles of this rolling hills and I plan on seeing as much of it as I can. Now the challenge is how to bring what I’m seeing and feeling back in my photographs to share with you! As I mentioned in my Podcast51, the Long landscape is just one way I plan on doing this. It’s in principle really simple using the D850 & 80-400VRII as the cornerstone.
The Palouse captured by D850 / 80-400VRII
It all starts by seeing the pattern, texture, alure of the Palouse with your imagination. Next is to pull out the tools which include camera gear, proper long lens technique and Digital Darkroom knowledge to frame up that photograph in the viewfinder. Now, why is digital darkroom in this equation? Because some finishing is required to bring out some drama in the clouds and you need to know that before you go click to help with the arranging of the elements. When you’re shooting at a locale like The Palouse the long landscape is easier than some locations but it’s a technique that can be used anywhere. And even though it is raining, thunder and lightning, we keep being offered up more and more opportunities around every turn. It’s up to us photographers to bring that back to share with you and one of the key techniques will be the long landscape.
The 180degree view of the Fisheye lens like the 16Fish or 8-15Fish can be stunning and essential to a visual story. At the same time, the natural “curve” the Fish can create might be desired. Here’s a simple digital darkroom lesson how to deal with it. Keep in mind everything was done at the time of capture to “plumb” the subject at the time of capture. That makes a difference in the digital darkroom.
On our final day in the UK, we saved what we figured would be the best for last, the Dover Castle. It did not disappoint! One of the first stops has you walk through this massive and incredibly impressive piece of history is the St Mary’s Church that just happens to be next to an AD1000 Roman lighthouse. These structures from the outside are so majestic perched on the hillside commanding a spectacular view of Dover, the English Channel and France in the distance! Taking photos was soooo easy, the subject did all the heavy lifting!
Since landing on English soil, I’ve posted many a “light” photograph on my Instagram account. I’ve received a whole lot of emails asking me how I’m taking these “great” photos? It’s actually really easy. It starts with the gear I’m shooting with, the Df / 8-15Fish. The Df works wonders IMHO in low light, I’m often shooting at ISO 1600. Then the nature of a Fish taking in so much area like the 8-15Fish that the light is able to fall off naturally in the frame (Often shooting at 14mm). Then I just look for that gorgeous spec of light and walls where it is falling off. Since the mind’s eye goes to the brightest, the rest is done by you when viewing the photograph. I now have a vast collection of these “windows of English light” in my files from the past two weeks, all captured in this way but oh my, St Mary’s of Dover!
Our good friend Michael arranged a photo walk while we were in London with the Nikon Users Group. It was a great day, 9 miles along the canals of London. Many don’t even know they exist. Built back in the 1920s to move commerce around the country (there are over 300 miles of canals), today they are home to many as well as a path back through time.
These boats are actually home morred in place for a while until the move to another location, different scenery. Every manner of ingenuity is used in making these boats a home. That includes from tomato gardens to solar panel to sun decks, all in the space of a postage stamp. It was a photographic rich target that just kept on providing amazing possibilities!
Knowing how busy such a locale could be, I went fast in lens selections. Attached to the Df might have been the 24f1.4, 50f1.4 or 105f1.4. All three lenses used to create these images, all shot at f/1.4. Want to thank all 30 folks who joined us, it was simply a marvelous day!!!
It was simply a gorgeous night to walk the Thames with friends and family! How do you incorporate the delightful temp, the sea air smell, the sounds of people enjoying the outdoors and of course, the view, in a photograph? What you see above is how I went about that challenge. Shooting with the Df / 24f1.4 hand-held, I got up high so I could have them in the foreground but not a dominant silhouette. I then crank the ISO up to 3200 (even though shooting at f/1.4) and shot as the kayakers floated by. I used the lights of the bridge and tower to move the eye through the frame and the folks in the foreground for scale and story. The rest I hope the viewer fills in with their imagination.
