Aug 14, 2017 | Landscape Photography
Jolly Ol England has been just that this past week! Not really sure where they get it from, the kids are into history as much as the old man so we’ve been visiting some really cool English Heritage Sites. This was the first because it was one of the oldest. Blackbury Camp is one of the really early “forts” created for defenders using ROCKS they would throw at their enemy. They dug to create a “ditch” in front of the mound they were making from the ditch spoils. Back in the day, which was 4000bc, the location was completely barren of trees. Now the hilltop is a gorgeous forest.
So for me, here’s the deal when it comes to traveling, family and taking pictures. Being a history buff, I wanted shots of the site while at the same time the photos saying what a peaceful, quiet and gorgeous locale out in the middle of England. When a local showed up to walk his dogs and we said hello, he said: “You’re not from around here!” “Not many locals find this place, how did you?” And that’s really the point of the photographs I take while on holiday. They are simple, clean photos of the experience to capture the memory so when I or anyone in the family who was with me looks at the photo, they will remember the afternoon we walked through Blackbury Camp.
Aug 7, 2017 | Landscape Photography
There are many ways to give our one-dimensional landscape photos visual depth. One quick and easy of doing it is by including the sun. Just knowing this though isn’t your salvation because including the sun has its own ying and yang. The first thing to think about is the sun will be the brightest element in the frame. The eye will go to it with missile speed and lock onto it. Now that can be good, that could be bad. The difference between the two is the visual path you create to and from the sun in your frame. This is the hard part because the power of the sun is great but not so great it can’t be used in your favor. That’s the challenge and at the same time how you bring visual depth to your photo. There are two examples here of that happening but in two totally different ways and there are much more, probably infinite the possibilities. Here’s what you gotta watch out for in this process.
The sun poses its own rules when you include it. First is its brightness which will always extend the range of light in your frame beyond its five stops. There are many solutions to this from Split Grad Filter, underexposure, and post to HDR. Next, there is the flare from the sun itself to the sun reflecting off the dirt on your front element/filter. Lastly is any type of airborne interference between the lens and the sun. Getting the starburst is really simple, just close your lens down to its smallest aperture (and avoid looking directly at the sun with your eye). Some lenses create better sunbursts then others and to determine which is the best in your bag, simply go out and shoot a test. The last thing to ponder in this equation is where to put the sun in the frame. Because of its power, once you solve all the rest you can literally place the sun anywhere you want in the frame. The trick to that is placing it where it will pull the eye through the frame over and over again. When you do that you create the visua depth and that’s our goal. We want to move the eye thru the frame!
Jul 12, 2017 | Landscape Photography
Mammoth Flats
captured by D500 / 10-24AFS processed with my “Procontrast”
It’s SO cool to see so much excitement and curiosity about MacPhun’s Luminar! The Windows Beta should be available shortly to all and right now only the Mac version is available for purchase. Knowing Nik was going, I’ve been using Luminar since last October. In that time, I have been working to recreate in Luminar my favorites in Nik which is not really fair to Luminar because, in many ways, it does a better job (for example with the following Procontrast Preset, I can tweek a whole of small details you can’t in Nik and that’s huge!). For example, I’m posting here for the first time my Preset for what I call Procontrast. Procontrast is a Nik Color Efex filter I’ve used since I was part of the team that developed it. It is essential to my workflow! There is no easy or clean way at this time to share my Luminar Presets like I have in the past for Nik recipes. So for right now, watch Scott Kelby’s class on how to make a preset and then you can plug these numbers into it to get Moose’s CURRENT number he likes for Procontrast (I say current cause it will evolve).
Moose’s Procontrast as of 07.12.17
Understand this is a pluggin inside of Photoshop. In my workflow, it replaces Nik (it is not how I process a Raw file). My only complaint with Luminar is that in my workflow working with Smart Objects in Photoshop, it just doesn’t automatically reapply the filter I go in and out of the Smart Object, I have to click Apply which in reality is no biggie! Will I share more? Of course, I have no secrets and once I’m TOTALLY satisfied with my creation and know they will work for others I will post them.
Jul 11, 2017 | Landscape Photography
This question came in not once, but twice over the weekend in response to an Instagram photo I posted. I take that as a great compliment! There is a reason my bud McNally calls me “Dances with Clouds” and that’s because I can’t pass up a good cloud. And that’s where it all starts the challenge for many, determining if it’s a good cloud or not. There are a couple of key elements in my approach to a romantic cloud photograph and that does it have character and will finishing bring out that character? What’s cloud character? In my mind that comes from the shape(s) in and about the cloud that shades of blacks, whites, and grays create (foreground earth is key here as well). The way the light plays on the shape and texture in the cloud is key! To see this I think you need to have a vivid imagination which I have. I’m not talking about seeing a face or critter in the clouds but rather, design elements that move the eye around the frame while touching the heart. Clouds require heart. The challenge in this is seeing what’s actually there and what will come forth in the digital darkroom tying this all up in drama.
Mammoth Flats
captured by D500 / 10-24AFS
What you’re seeing at the top is the finished photo, the bottom what the camera captured. You can see what I saw in both instances, the character I saw in reality and that in which I envisioned. In this photo, the main character is the “formation” that is dead center in the frame with the highlight on the right and the darkness on the left moving the eye through the frame once finished. Now part of this equation is knowing how the image will finish in post. It’s kinda which came first, the pixel or the egg? Working with Luminar, I knew exactly how the Preset I created would make that center formation pop. So those two elements I count on in my cloud photography might be the biggest challenge for your cloud photography that only time and playing in post will make successful. Until you come across that next great cloud, take one you have in your files now and start experimenting with the post processing that makes your passion come alive. Then remember that as you frame up those floating pillows of drama.
May 9, 2017 | Landscape Photography
Central Park
captured by D3x / 50f1.4AFS
It might sound like some awful disease, but when I say photo consumption, I’m talkin something much worse! As I mentioned yesterday in my podcast, I consume every photograph I get in front of me. And one of the weird things about me is I remember the photos I see, which includes small details. Because of that when I go to locations and in particular new locations, my mind often races back in my memory for images I’ve seen that I really like that I would like to have myself. I’m not out to make exact copies but rather the same photo but with a “Moose” twist. There are times when this makes all the difference in the world in my success. And there are times when it just brings great frustration. But then, that’s photography … right?
Case in point is the photo you see here. You might not know this about me, but I’m really into spring greens. The multitude of shades of green in spring is simply a wonder of nature. Sharing all those shades of green in a photograph while bringing the feeling of “spring” to life in a photograph I find very challenging. On this particular day while walking through Central Park, NYC, the light was perfect for all the shades of spring but bringing all the elements together in the frame eluded me until I remembered a photo I had seen long ago and liked. It was taken with a 50f1.4 at f/1.4 so I took mine out and made the click. It’s still a favorite because it’s just a simple click. You might help your own photography by having some “photos” in your mind by looking at all the published photography you can, the horrible disease I call photo consumption!
Mar 20, 2017 | Landscape Photography
Light is this powerful tool that moves the mind and tugs at the heart. You can witness this every time you see a live presentation on stage. While contained within the physical space of the stage, the lighting crew moves you through a scene creating depth and tapping emotion with light. What is lit and what is not, the warm light here and cold light there, what’s in the spotlight and what is hinted at, each light doing a job that the mind grasps onto and the heart relishes. This is the same light we must seek in our photography! We are so very fortunate to witness the many wonders of our world and with that great fortune comes the responsibility to share it with others not so fortunate. That chilly morning you’re up early in the high desert where the newly white topped mountains are veiled in the last clouds of the storm. The sun battles to get all its rays through to warm the day only to be entangled in the heavens. You can’t help but be in aw of such an experience. So your stage is set the the lighting crew has done their job, it’s now upon you to bring back that story to share. What lens do you select, where is the exposure compensation, what is the subject you focus in on to make all these decisions? The responsibility can be overwhelming at times but if you trust your heart and not your mind which means letting go of the technical and tapping the personal, YOU can do it. You just need to fell it, the dance of light.
