Jul 25, 2013 | Landscape Photography
As the sun kept creeping lower, the drama in the color increased. The separation of clouds and smoke at times was very dramatic. Looking for that drama kept me spinning because the wind was constantly upending everything. These images were taken at Minaret Vista, a location behind our home with dramatic views. Shooting with D4 / 80-400 / 18-35 was all that was needed. The WB was set to Cloudy to capture the deep red and a little Photoshop was used to remove the tops of trees that were at the bottom of the frame. Otherwise, what you see is what we saw last night.
Jul 25, 2013 | Landscape Photography
We’ve had some very weird weather for the Sierra. While they keep predicting rain, we’ve had enough to spot our windshields and that’s all. And with that was to be some lightning, but we’re only heard distant rumblings. Well a couple of days ago, they had some south of us and it started a fire. The cloud cover trapped the smoke until just a little bit before sunset and then it was just a swirling collage of pastel colors. It was gorgeous so I grabbed the D4 / 80-400 and went clicking.
Now those who have talked in person with me about photography know one of my first questions is often, “What’s the subject?” These photos instantly could lead one to ask that question. That’s because there is no subject. There is texture, color, pattern and emotion, but there is no subject. When you remove that subject, you risk failure because without the subject, there is no story. No story and it’s up to the viewer’s imagination to make sense of the photograph. That’s real risky. In this series, there are stronger images than others when you see them small like here. None the less, I wanted to share the soft moments of sunset with you,
Jul 24, 2013 | Landscape Photography
We’ve had really cruddy weather that last three days, deep cloud cover, a little lightning and even less rain (which we so need). With the cold, the hummers have been pounding our feeders. Well, Monday around noon a Allen’s Hummer came in and really challenged Caesars dominance to the one feeder. The rest of the day Monday and then all day Tuesday they flew the most incredibly aerial battles around the feeder. Felt sorry for Caesar, it couldn’t drink enough to keep up with the constant challenge. Well this morning we woke to find the Allen’s on Caesar’s perch and no Caesar! Been watching for hours now but no sign of him. The Allen’s that took his place is a male that appears to be going through a molt. That along with the fact that he lets me walk right up to him, within a foot, makes me wonder if Alvin is back. Only time will tell.
Jul 23, 2013 | Landscape Photography
Ungulates; deer, elk, pronghorn, moose, bighorn sheep, simply don’t like heat. About this time, they have shed their thick winter coat and are starting to store fat for the fall rut and winter. In this process, they seek the cool. At the same time, the light this time of year gives us about, oh, two minutes in the morning and four minutes in the afternoon when it’s not nasty. This combination makes for tough big game photography which leaves you with a couple of options. The most obvious is, wait until Sept before heading out to photography big game (my personal favorite). In Sept, they are back out as the hot days are fewer and they are starting to grow their winter coats so look much more like magnificent wild critters.
The other option is to be in the field before sunrise heading to locations where you’ve done your homework the night before to find where they are bedding down. Once you know the location where they are bedding down, find the closest water because they’ve got to drink and typically they’ll do that early in the day. You’ll have to wait to see if mother nature will be nice to you and give you the photo. While you’re doing your homework, look also for shade that’s being used. You will be able to tell, the ground cover will be beaten down and much of the shrubs will be browsed. Because if you want to photograph big game now, this is what you’ve got to do. Oh, looking for racks like the one this Mule Deer is wearing, you’re too early. You’ve got about 45 days before they are this big and longer before they are this clean. When it comes to lenses, I prefer those in the 200 – 400mm range, my preferred is the 200-400VR2 but will be trying out the new 80-400 this fall.
Jul 18, 2013 | Landscape Photography
Well, spent basically all day with Caesar and it’s clear, he’s no Alvin! Nope, Caesar is like most hummers, just not really sure whether he can trust me or not. Unlike Alvin who would greet me, land on my lens, Caesar really wants nothing to do with me. He did finally by late afternoon permit me to be on the deck with him, but I’d best not move or he moves to another perch further away. Shooting with the D4 / 800mm, I started the day by setting it up and leaving it in place while I went on about my business. I did connect the Pocket Wizards and shot some video but remote photography just doesn’t work for me. During the day when Caesar was out chasing other hummers, I would move the rig closer until by late afternoon, the rig was at the 800mm MFD. With him coming and going with it there, I than sat at the lens. When he first came in, I didn’t do a thing. Then slowly I started to shoot. By the time the sun was leaving the perch (flash is not a pain in the ass to do with a hummers), he sat and slept which is a great sign. It means he’s OK with me being there. Today is another day, fingers crossed.
Jul 15, 2013 | Landscape Photography
This was the scene just a month ago. The majority of our street signs have at least one active woodpecker nest. This spring the one by our home had a Hairy Woodpecker nest. Setting up the D4 / 80-400 as a remote, I fired the rig with a Pocket Wizard. With the street sign being right on a corner, standing there behind the camera just wasn’t a wise thing to do. So from across the block I watched with bins and clicked as the parents came in to feed. They fledged two kids, a male and female.
So while having breakfast on the deck, one of the kids that just fledged dropped by our feeder. Still shooting with the D4 / 800, it was fun to see the youngster. Now I’m not really thrilled with the lighting on the lower half of the branch, but I do like having one more click in the kid’s life. One of the cool things is, this kid is like generation 13 or 14 to come to our feeders. Their parents bring them so they are very use to our just doing our thing. Unlike the Band-tails, we can walk up to the window just a foot away from them and they don’t even bother to look at us. So once this kid has all its feathers all popped, it will be a great subject!
