Dec 3, 2013 | B&W Photography, Landscape Photography
The entire gang from our Yosemite Adventure wanted the shot of the tree over the rock. I said Olmstead Point was the place to go. Once there, they said, “Where’s the tree?” so i turned and pointed up, up the mountain. And before you could say Half Dome (which we shot at sunrise), up the hill we went. Two folks unknown to me until we got down, had sever fear of heights. But when it comes to getting the photo, even that didn’t stop them from climbing to the top as well. I went up with minimal gear, D4, 18-35AFS & 16Fish knowing two things, I wanted the big vista and was shooting B&W (also, I was going up so less was more!). In the background is Clouds Rest & Half Dome, so this is the lang of big vistas and B&W! The dome behind Olmstead Point itself is a picture rich area so we shot all the way up and all the way down. With the sun just coming over the horizon, it offered us many great opportunities, this is just one of them.
This dome is polished smooth from the same glacier creating Yosemite Valley. The pines that find a crack to germinate and grow all have great character. This is one of the larger ones so the combination of it and granite, well make for a photo. So with the 18-35AFS attached shooting at 18mm, I bent down and took the shot. It’s truly one of those, “I was here shots” at best. Boring! I knew that there was a photo here, had to get it out. What was it lacking? First was the sun, it wasn’t helping. Close the lens down to f/22 and then move so it was just peaking through the tree, we’d get the starburst. OK, with that I can change position and use the shadow as a line for the eye to move through the frame. To do that, I need to go wider so the 16Fish replaced the 18-35. OK, making some improvement but we can do better. OK, gotta nice boulder, small but it works. Lay on the granite face, get close to the boulder in the left corner (knowing I was going to light it in post) and move so the sun was peaking through the tree and wham, a photo was born. There are those times when you know there is a photo but the first click just doesn’t work. Those are the times when you gotta dig down and ask yourself what’s not working and do the dance. Because your heart knows a photo exists, you’re in there somewhere.
Dec 2, 2013 | Aviation, Landscape Photography
When you’re out shooting, you have two options, shoot or don’t shoot. Since I put a high premium at being out, I see it as we only have one option, shoot. That means that if the weather sucks, finding photo opps priority hasn’t change. Nothing drives me more nuts that when photographers say, “if only the weather was better.” Since we have no control over it, it is like all variables we must cope with once we leave our homes to go shooting. The huge down pour I talked about in Worst Weather post left a tremendous amount of water on the ramp, go figure. So even before the sprinkles had stopped, we were out shooting. With gray skies, it’s time to look down, not up.
Armed with the D4, 18-35AFS & 70-200VR2, Jake & I started looking for those shots not otherwise possible on a good weather day. The first photo is all Jakes, he saw it as I was looking for just the “clean” shot. I had blinders on. The reflection of both the B-17/clouds was so much better than reality (no hangar) is why reality is smaller in the frame than the reflection. i waited for the crowd to have the design element and color combo that you see before I took the shot. Had to wait for a couple of boys jumping in the giant puddle to stop as well (I wanted to join them). The photo of the B-29 came from the stories from my dad of the planes on the ramp at Clark during the war and the giant culverts along the ramps to drain them off from the constant down pour.
Now in the perfect world with the perfect weather for whatever you had previsualized, these photos probably would not have been on your shot list. The sunrise surely hadn’t unfolded as we planned by any measure but that’s how it goes. But then again, the images we came back with were in reality more of one of a kind from an otherwise common subject. And whenever you can take the uncommon of the common, there are good odds you’ll come out ahead. So when the weather isn’t exactly what you had planned, head out just the same with an open mind and make the most of the light at hand.
Nov 29, 2013 | Landscape Photography
make for the best photography! My rule of thumb is, if I can handle the weather, so can the camera. In this case though, we needed the assist of a big ass hangar. It was Sunday of the Wings Over Houston airshow. As is normal, we got to the Texas Flying Legends Museum hangar well before sunrise to get to work on the sunrise shoot. Driving to the airport, saw the lightning in the distance and looking at my favorite lightning app, RadarCast, I saw a whole lot more was heading right for the airport. We pulled in, got our gear into the hangar and the skies opened up, oh my, did they let loose!!!
The hangar doors were wide open and chairs set up, SOP. Grabbing a hot cup of coffee and watching the run rise behind all the aircraft with friends is a simple joy, but that wasn’t going to happen this morning. Within minutes, the rain was coming down so hard, it was bouncing up off the tarmac and bouncing into the hangar pushing us back at least ten feet and making us partially close the hangar doors. The heavens were putting on one helluva show, lightning bouncing every which way. As is typical pilot nature, I turn to see everyone standing under the wing of the Shrike even though we were all in the hangar. Then I see Jake setting up his camera … it was one of those Duh…. moments!
With the D4 / 80-400VR3 set up, I focused on the FG-1D Corsair parked right outside the hangar. It was to be the sunrise shoot but that was scrubbed at this point. What you see here are the photos taken during this time. They are 15sec exposures with all the lighting a combination of lightning and vehicles driving past. The rain pouring so hard created what appears to be ground fog and the long exposure with all the mixed light did the rest. No two images look anything like the next other than the Corsair which didn’t move.
What if there was no hangar? In this case, if I couldn’t find a wing to stand under, me and my gear would have been tucked away in the truck still. Those times when I can work in the rain, I don’t cover the gear with anything. I do have with me a dry, white towel that I will BLOT my gear dry (never, ever wipe). The thing is this, whenever you have a camera and you wonder if, follow that if especially in bad weather. If you wonder if there is a photo there, go for it! The least that might happen is, you delete that if. And the most, you’ll have a photo to always remind you of that wonder of nature you were able to capture in that click. The worst weather does produce some of the best photos!
Nov 26, 2013 | Landscape Photography
photo by Chloe Feres
Our fall B&H Photo / Lexar Moose Cruise was just a blast with a boat load of great folks! There was a father/daughter pair from Australia who were all smiles as we cruised. Now Chloe caught my attention right from the start. Now you might be looking at Chloe’s photo above (which is really cool) and thinking, “Photoshop” but such is not that case. And that’s how Chloe caught my attention.
Here, you can see one of the photos in the LCD and below, you can see Chloe’s technique. Yeap, the photo is a reflection that she creates on the surface of her iPhone and in one click, makes the photo. Now when I was across the deck looking at what she was doing, it really, really, really had me scratching my head. So I walked over and asked and got an education. Chloe’s smile the whole time she was shooting is what really told the whole story and whenever you see a photographer smiling like that, you know only good things are coming forth. Chloe, I applaud your creativity!
Nov 22, 2013 | Landscape Photography
There is a magic to the color of white when you find it in landscape photography. The eye grabs on to it and than takes every other color in view and puts it on a higher level. Working the hoar frost in Yosemite, the icing lining all the meadow grasses along with the ever changing mist made for simple killer images. Standing on the edge of the meadow, shooting in with the D4 / 80-400VR3, we simply looked for the pattern that worked and shot.
Nov 22, 2013 | Landscape Photography
I don’t profess to have the answer, but at least for my own photography, I have a hint. I’m using as an example these two photos with the simple topic, fall color. When it comes to telling the story and keeping it simple, quantity comes into play. Quantity comes in many flavors, quantity as in percentage of area and quantity as in sheer numbers. We can use either one of these by themselves or in combination but that danger is the lack of or over use of the subject. And I think the answer I like to use in solving this question is your imagination. I think that the more we can tap into the viewer’s imagination, the less we can have of the subject and still smack them between the eyes with the subject. The more the imagination, the more the storytelling takes over. Both photos were taken D4 / 58f1.4AFS so they are “normal” and they both have the same subject. But they both have different quantity. Which brings the subject to life? It’s for you to answer in your own photos.
