Nov 14, 2016 | Landscape Photography
Isn’t it obvious with this photo? Why is that? Well, in this straight shot taken at Kodachrome Basin, just like everyone else, I saw a beautiful moon in person and the mind’s eye made it big and special. But put that cold heartless bastard to your eye and instantly that beautiful moon looks like what I’ve always called a “processing mistake” (an old reference back to the days of film). We’re drawn to the moon like a moth to a flame, and we all know how that turns out for the moth. Technically, it’s real easy to get the exposure, a full moon is Basic Daylight (ISO-Shutter Speed f/16) or you Spot Meter off the moon. The problem is visually, the moon, unless you use a long lens is always small in the frame. That’s why I’ve always gone old school when I really want a big moon in a photo, double exposure (photo below). That is the actual moon that evening, but when the photo of the buildings was made, it was hidden behind a dust cloud. It was also smaller. So once the dust thinned I zoomed in on the moon and made a double exposure. Not a great shot but it was fun and that’s really the important part. And while I suck at taking the photos, I do recognize photos those are well done. Those are the ones where the moon is part of the story, not just sharp.
Oct 11, 2016 | Landscape Photography
You can’t help but be swept up in the landscape that is Alaska! While we were up here to photograph specifically Moose, the search for them took us to gorgeous locales. That’s why the 18-35AFS was packed in along with the rest of the gear. So in the lull in the action, off we went to photograph the wonders around us. The skies were perfect to tell the story of how cold it was where we were shooting. Using the very simple Multi Exposure technique, capturing the flowing creek handheld and bringing that story home was easy. This is important because the Gitzo had the 800mm with the Zenelli head. That’s why this technique is so cool, you can do it even without a tripod!
Oct 3, 2016 | Landscape Photography
Mono Lake Nigh Skies – looking North w/Milky Way
captured by D5 / 16Fish
Click on image to see shooting stars
There is one aspect of the Sierra that stands out amongst all the rest and that’s its night skies. Right now with the new moon and cold temps, it is literally so bright you can walked around without the aid of a flashlight. With that overhead, it was only natural we held our Mono Lake Weekend Workshop and on Saturday, made it a Scott Kelby’s World Wide Photowalk. We had a hearty group that meet not just one but two mornings at 04:30 at South Tufa to bring home those skies to you, those who weren’t with us. We had the usual aircraft heading towards San Francisco every so often but we had the great fortune to have a meteor shower going both mornings. Many were real faint but some, well they lit up the night. It was just glorious!
Mono Lake Nigh Skies w/Big Dipper
captured by D5 / 24-70VR
Click on image to see Big Dipper
How where the pictures taken? I started by giving folks my usual formula for getting the photo. While it works great for me, it seems to confuse folks. One of the hearty souls asked if I had heard of the “500 Rule.” I had not so he explained it to me. Set your camera to ISO3200, lens wide open and then divide 500 by the focal length you’re shooting to get your shutter speed. With the 16Fish, this gives a time of 34second, blowing away my formula especially for a sharp photo. But it works and works really well as you can see above. I shot the whole time with the D5 and switched out lenses between 16Fish, 14-24AFS and 24-70VR and it worked with them all. So not only was it a spectacular weekend of photography and being with friends, I learned something new which I really love. So out with the old and in with the new. Perfect! I can’t think of nothin better in life then learning while celebrating our wild heritage at Mono Lake under its stary, stary skies!
Sep 19, 2016 | Landscape Photography
Living in paradise comes with a price and wildfire is one of those. Saturday around 16:00 we looked outside to the northeast to see our skies black! We knew instantly it was a wildfire. I grabbed the Airport Security with all me gear, jumped in the truck to see if we needed to evacuate from our home right now in the Sierra. Having been on the fire line in my younger days, I know the speed and ferocity a wildfire can bring and the devastation it can leave behind. It scares the crap out of me!
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It wasn’t hard to find a safe place to park and watch the fire to see if it was heading for the house. I could also see the brave men and women (thank you!) who were there on the line. I could easily see all those pilots in the tankers (thank you!) who put their lives on the line to battle these blazes (you look closely, you can see small specs which are aircraft that give you some scale). I watched the blaze which quickly grew to 4500 acres and was thankful to see it grow to the north, opposite direction from all structures including our home. And as I write this, I can hear the roar of the aircraft right over our home as they make the bombing run. They are saying it won’t be 100% contained until the 30th and being the 4th fire in our backyard this year, we won’t breath a sigh of relief until the snow falls. We can’t thank enough though all who battle these blazes protecting what we call, paradise. God bless you!
Aug 22, 2016 | Landscape Photography
Lamington Nat’l Park
captured by D5 / 24-70VR
click to see larger
I’ve been shooting panoramas or “panos” since I first picked up a camera. Back in the old days, to share the panoramic views I was so fortunate to witness, I had three Kodak slide projectors aligned so when projecting, the three images of the pano would come together on the screen into one photo. Sharing the wonders our vision brings to us with others is the heart and soul of photography! But carrying around three projectors to share the pano was never practical. Then came digital and the internet making sharing the pano much, much easier. But the taking and assembly of panos up until a year ago was still a challenge. Now, it’s literally a snap but many don’t seem to realize this, at least that’s what the emails I’ve received in the last week indicate.
In more than one email came the question, “What gear did you leave at home to take all the gear to shoot your panos?” Actually, I own no pano gear any longer, got rid of it years and years ago because the assembly of panos is so simple. You can see above the three individual images used to create the pano at the top. I literally grabbed my D5 / 24-70VR and walked out to the balcony of our room at O’Reilly’s and clicked them off. I then opened them up in Photoshop and since they are Nefs, they opened first in ACR (Adobe Camera Raw). I then selected the three files, then selected Merge Pano and I was done. You’re probably wondering what about a tripod and pano head? Used none, shot handheld. What about the overlap? Ya, there is some but that was dedicated by the pano not the assembly. What about unwanted items? We’re in Photoshop, answer that question? The bottom line is, our vision takes in much more than our cameras in one click. The times when this translates to a pano that we can plan on in advance are far and few, so we take them on the fly. That’s what makes today’s technology so cool, we can have fun and take advantage of the spontaneity of the moment to make the pano. And that’s really important because we need to use the pano to tell stories.
Aug 14, 2016 | Landscape Photography
After 23hrs of travel, we arrived without a hitch in gorgeous Australia to O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat high up in Lamington Nat’l Park. This was the view off our porch this AM as we headed out to shoot. Eighteen species of birds photographed already, so much mtc!
