Hummers (my affectionate term for hummingbirds) have been part of my life since I could walk. I would go to my aunt’s house and watch their nests in her yard for weeks on end. That fascination with them hasn’t stopped and greatly influences how I prefer to photograph them today. This short video goes BTS to discuss why I shoot the style I do and then how am I bring that style to my photos. I hope it not only answers your questions but gets you into the amazing world of hummers!
While the whole idea behind the Arms Race and Mutual Destruction is over my pay grade, I can get into the engineering and technology it produced. I finally, after decades of saying I need to, toured the Titan II Missle museum in Green Valley AZ. Walking around the exhibit prior to going down into the silo (yes, you walk down in it) is really a bit depressing. Especially when you see the 6300lbs nuclear warhead! Then you dawn your hardhat and head down the stairs into the underground world of the ’60s and Mutual Destruction.
You’re allowed to take your camera with you, so I grabbed the Z7 / Z24-70f2.8 and glad I did (though the photos aren’t going on my kitchen wall). You’re down there for an hour learning a whole lot how some really smart people prepared and built for Mutual Destruction. One example I can verbalize is the command room is “hung” on giant springs so even if an atom bomb were dropped on them or the Titan II Missle were to launch that’s right next to them, they would not feel or hear a thing! I realize that not everyone is into history, especially something as dark as this. It was though, eyeopening what the world did and in many ways, squeezed by, to still be in existence today!
I’m down in SE Arizona once again in Hummer Heaven, and it’s marvelous! While I love birding, just sitting and watching the comings and goings of the hummers, getting their story told visually is really my goal. If you listened to this weeks podcast, you know I came down prepper and two main goals for my photography. The first, the lightening of my images was pretty simple, the second though, that photo still eludes me after four sessions.
These flying jewels are just that, so bringing that to life is paramount. Meeting my first goal of brighter images was easy with the gear I’ve gone with for the week. The Z6 / 180-400VR / SB-5000 permits me to meld the ambient light and two flashes (used to take these photos) seamlessly so you don’t see the flash. The second part of my goal though, now that’s been much more of a challenge. So far, I have only one click and both the birds are a blur. Yeah, these photos are OK but I want so much more than a bird hanging in the air or sipping at a flower. Will I get it? Only time will tell. Stay tuned.
There are times that you just gotta shoot! Time is everything and waiting and takin time to make everything perfect, you lose the shot. But those times when you do have time, one thing that can often improve your photograph is simply takin one step forward. Literally, place one foot in front of the other and move forward. How can something so simple work? It comes back to what I call the dance. That’s excluding elements that take the eye away from the subject while including those elements that support the subject. Taking one step forward is just one method of doing the dance that works.
Here is a simple, gorgeous, sweeping vista that was literally right alongside the highway. I stepped out with the Z7 / Z14-30 that was in B&W (Monochrome) mode as it was that kinda light and drama. I took the first shot (bottom image) as things were moving quickly. I didn’t like the bush on the left and felt I wasn’t inviting the viewer into the landscape. Then I took a step forward and that all changed. Seriously, I give photographers this tip all the time. Try it!
My sweetie and I pulled into the garage after a seventeen-hour straight drive home last night culminating a 4600-mile road trip. And it was great!!! We saw so much new parts of our country making tons of notes of locales to go back and explore to a greater depth with the camera. Meet lots of incredible folks like the lead engineer for the Apollo LEM who worked for Gruman and WWII Navy engineer who landed on Iwo Jima in the first wave. The best part might have been the quiet time to just drive, look and think. I hope you have a road trip planned for this summer and if not, you just might consider it. I might move your photography forward without even having to pick a camera up!
I have a thing for barns, especially lonely old barns. And in Montana, it’s pretty easy to find them. The challenge is finding them when light and mood makes it worth stopping and photographing them. In the past week, I’ve been able to photograph over a dozen as the skies just keep performing. And they all have ended up being dead center in the photograph. Dead center you say? I thought that was bad!
You’ve probably read or heard that dead center is bad. Did you know that dead center is the most powerful form of composition we have, if … if the elements in the frame support it. In photographing the lonely barn or building then, being lonely in part supports being dead center. The sky is what really makes it all work. I wish I had a formula for you when it comes to the skies, but I don’t. The main element in skies I look for is mood which is a combination of lights and darks. Character in the barn, the landscape and the skies comes together, dead center is really your only choice.
