Jan 3, 2019 | Landscape Photography
Mother Nature has many moves bringing a mood to a landscape. Those big mood swings are what bring such grandeur to our landscape photos when it encompasses it all. But more often then not, there is just a small slice in the landscape that has the mood. But we take the large sweeping landscape incorporating that little piece of mood or detail in hopes that its enough for the viewer to feel it. The problem is since we were on scene and our senses took it all in, we “see” and “feel” every little pixel of mood in our photo that our viewers never will. How then do we share with the viewer that little slice of mood?
The one tool we have as landscape photographers for those little slices, telephoto lenses. When we think of landscape photography, we often reach for the wide angle. For one reason, because wide angle lenses have been pigeonholed as “the” landscape lens. But they leave us short when it comes to capturing those little slices of mood. This is why telephoto zooms have always been a part of my kit. It started with the 70-200f2.8 with 1.4x. Then I used the 80-400 but now, my preference is the 180-400VR with its built-in 1.4x which is what I used here. Standing up at Tunnel View watching the fog, far below us in the distance wisp through the trees, it was quite gorgeous. But with the Z24-70 on the Z7, I’d have to point it out to you. But when I attached the Z7 to the 180-400VR (via the FTZ) you can’t help but see the fog through trees. There is only two tricks here, first is to pack the “long lens” when you go out to shoot landscapes and then pulling it our when you need it. That’s how you fill the frame with that little slice of mood.
Dec 27, 2018 | Wildlife Photography
Gray Wolves
captured by D5 / 800mm
With the new snows of the season, I thought I’d answer a common question that floods in this time of year. “How do you (Moose) expose for snow?” Of course, living in snow, I have a number of off the cuff answers, but I’ll move past those and get to the heart of the question as I look at it. What color is snow? Unless a Moose (4 legged) or dog has passed by, it’s white, right? The common belief that if there is snow in the scene, automatically dial in +1 exposure compensation. A recommendation that comes from the meters of the 1960s. We’re not in the ’60s. I honestly don’t think there are viewers of your snow photograph who wouldn’t recognize the white stuff on the ground as snow. With that being true, then seeing detail in every crystal of the snow (what +1 might do for you) is not mission critical to tell the viewer the white stuff they are looking at is indeed, snow. With that storytelling in place then, how do I expose for snow? Exposure is YOUR greatest tool to express the feeling, mood, and life in your photograph. Just because you see something white, don’t automatically do anything.
Bobcat
captured by D5/ 800mm
The key to exposure for both images is the SUBJECT and the RANGE of light in the entire scene and not the fact there is snow in the scene. I exposed for the subject and not the white stuff. Like with most of my photography, I try to keep the light range within 3 stops. When that’s the case, then I just have to click, the Z6/Z7, D5, D850, D500 or D7500 meter will do the rest. When it’s outside the 5 stop range, to deal with the greater range of light I shoot with the Z6/Z7, D5 or D850 and overexpose. This is totally ass-backwards from what I did for thirty years but it brings into play the 6 stop range of those cameras. Look at the light between the photos in that post and this. Can YOU see the difference in the light falling on the scene? It is exacerbated by the snow with shadows filled in by reflected light but not determined in whole by the presence of snow.
SO how does Moose expose for snow? Just like any other scene, it depends on the subject, the light on the subject, the light on the rest of the stage and then the story I want to tell within the confines of my viewfinder. The wolves, I overexposed the scene and the Bobcat, underexposed. Exposure is way too powerful a tool to just dial in some value of exposure compensation automatically. The world doesn’t need another technically perfect photograph. The world needs another photograph with the passion to move the viewer!
Dec 20, 2018 | Landscape Photography
After my podcast and “polish a turd” comment, a few comments came in asking if there is anything one can do on those days when you show up but not the photograph. Of course, there are but the main issue is image quality. On days like you see below (the scene I saw), making something from nothing you run the real risk of breaking pixels in your attempt of making something from nothing, or, polishing a turd. But I wanted to provide some answer for those wanting some direction.
The major of the polishing was done in ACR (working with Raw file, the greatest amount of info) and I like to start with the biggest problem first. To me, the biggest issue is the top half of the photograph that is all in flat gray. It has no character and is pulling down the whole mood. Our fastest and best tool is Dehaze. Dehaze though when cranked brings a blue color cast and creates noise. So I started with a Graduated filter pulled to the top of the falls and used Dehaze to about 50%. I then took saturation DOWN to about 60% and brought up Noise control to 70%. I then used the Brush to brighten Bridalveil falls 1 stop because we need a subject, we need a white to make the rest of the mood of the photo come through. I then went into Photoshop and with a Curves Layer, created a +1 stop exp comp and brushed in highlights in some of the clouds to give them texture (refer to my KelbyOne class). Now I could have just shot B&W with the Z6 for a little more drama but I’d still have to have gone through the same steps.
I can print this file up to almost 11×14 but then you can see my foot tracks from finishing and it falls apart completely at 24×30 size. I’ve truly polished a turd here but at least I have a memory I can enjoy but if I wasn’t doing this blod post, you wouldn’t see this photo. I hope this helps some of you and gives you an idea for those gloomy day photos.
Dec 11, 2018 | Wildlife Photography
Sandhill Cranes
captured by Z6 / 500PF
There’s one place that always rejuvenates the soul, and that’s Bosque del Apache. The birds, cold air, the silence broken by their calls, the skies filled with their flights and so much more bring life and awe to all that witness it. I’m down at Bosque with my dear friends for a few days of R&R. I’m shooting with the Z6 / 500PF and having a great time not carrying all that weight around. While I’m still getting used to the EVF for action, as you can see it does an excellent job. I’m shooting in Auto-Area AF and Continuous-High Extended. The other thing I’m having to get used to is not using my ears to determine how much I’m shooting. I came back from the morning shoot think I’d not shot much to find I have over 1500 images! Thank goodness, I like them or I’d be really bummed.
Dec 4, 2018 | Landscape Photography
Our wild heritage is a vast treasure we are so fortunate to have been left to explore and photograph! Yosemite Nat’l Park, Yosemite Valley is like no other place on this planet. And it’s never the same twice. That’s why we are there a lot, I mean a lot! We’re real fortunate that when the pass is open, we’re on the valley floor in a couple of hours from our home. We take advantage of that because its granite walls contain a celebration every season of the year. The beauty of the place is extensive, even if you could visit ALL of the park in a day, the next day it would all be different again. A classic example of this was last week when on numerous occasions, we visited one spot over and over again, Tunnel View. Tunnel View is a classic view of the entire valley you see coming in on Hwy 41. It is a breathtaking locale taking in Bridalveil Falls, El Capitan, Half Dome all the way back to Cloud’s Rest. It is simply, spectacular!
John Muir called the Sierra the, “Range of light” and that’s why no two days are the same. Both of these photos were taken from Tunnel View around the same time in the morning on two separate days, three days apart. The top photo is the morning before the storm hit and the bottom one is the morning after the storm left. And while the light might be coming in from the same direction at the same time, the way the light is bouncing in, around and through is different. The rain & snow brought in ground fog, the same water filled the falls. Shooting with the Z7 and the Z6 with the Z24-70, underexposure of -1.3 stops, WB of K9000 and simple hand-holding is all it took to make the shot. Oh, and being there to witness the natural magic that comes every day in The Valley. You might notice that the arrangement of elements is not quite the same. The top image, the Z6 is pointed up more to bring in the character of the sky. And the other, the Z7 is pointed down to bring in the fog. But the rock, well, it’s the same rock day after day, decade after decade. All our lands, Yosemite, should be explored, enjoyed and shared over and over again. It’s Never The Same Twice!
Nov 14, 2018 | Landscape Photography
I’m sure I’m not the only photographer to mumble under their breath as someone enters their landscape photos. I learned long ago though that most folks don’t stay in the same spot for five minutes so simply waiting often takes care of the issue. And then again, there is that thing called Photoshop which is a very effective tool for removing unwanted folks from our photo. But can we turn this negative into a positive in our photography?
Especially if you’re in the commercial end of landscape photography, having folks in your photo is a huge plus. We have made a lot of editorial sales of well-known locales because we did have people in the photo. In part because of so many photographers want those photos without folks. Showing our wild heritage being loved is a money maker (and shows those folks for getting in our photos)! But what about including them to give our photo scale, a sense of size? Shooting in Arches last week with the Z7 / Z24-70 (with the Silent Shutter in action so folks don’t know I’m shooting), I used people to let you know the physical size of the arches. And with the Z7 / Z24-70, it was really simple to bring extra drama to the photo by underexposure and shooting B&W which the Z7 excels at. And thinking this all through, you might enjoy your shoot more not worrying if folks are in your photo. Darn people in my photo! Not!
