Oct 11, 2017 | Landscape Photography
So we were shooting at Kent Pond at this hillside across the pond that had great color and texture but the light was, nasty! Not only the light was high in the sky, it was shooting through the thinnest of cloud cover. It had a haze to it so I took the shot wondering if, if since it had a “haze” if Dehaze in ACR might not help. Whenever I have an “if” moment in photography, I tend to follow it until it blows up in my face, or has a promising outcome to move forward. Well …
Above you can see the outcome and it ain’t too bad! The bottom photo is what was captured and the top is the Dehaze afterwards. Like normal, whenever I use Dehaze I move the Blue Saturation slider down to desaturate the blur (HSL Panel ACR). But with this kind of light hitting the fall color, the Dehaze slider did a nice job. Who would have thunk it?
Oct 9, 2017 | Wildlife Photography
White-crowned Sparrow
captured by D850 / 800mm
I’ve had a whole lot of folks ask about the D850 for wildlife photography. The honest answer is, I’ve not really had the time nor opportunity to truly photograph critters with it yet. It’s a valid question because, on paper, the D850 appears to be perfect. For example, I’ve always needed myself a minimum frames per second of 5.5FPS which the D850 blows by with 7 native and 9FPS with the MB-D18. Even better is the buffer which for all intent and purpose is endless (yes, technically there is a limit). After a week of focusing in on the backyard critters, I can easily say the D850 does a great job with wildlife!
Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
captured by D850 / 300PF
I first went with a D850 / 300PF combo chasing squirrels around the wood pile. This small, light package was pretty darn easy and fun to shoot with. The rockin D850 AF system made shooting in the low light a snap which is really important in wildlife photography. With that checked off the list for first tests, I switched to the big gun and birds. With fall color quickly disappearing from our meadow, I set up on a bird bath for the birds coming in. White-crowns just showed up for fall so I focused in on them while saying fall in the photo. The first thing I noticed with the D850 on the 800mm was the balance. To really make that work for my style of photography, the MB-D18 needs to be attached. The balance on the rig as well as vertical firing button it provides is needed for my style of shooting. But when it comes to performance, the D850 rocked it. Many have asked if the D850 will be my main wildlide body. It won’t be because I not only love the D5, I don’t need those huge files for critters. Will I use the D850 for critters though? From time to time, you bet. Can the D850 be your main body for wildlife? Oh heck ya! With that choice, you’d never have to look back, but only forward to killer performance and images!
Oct 3, 2017 | Landscape Photography
Clouds are such an easy subject to bring wow to your photograph. Now because clouds are so universal, everyone can relate to them. This can be a good or bad thing depending on how you bring them to life in your photograph. This is because we’ve all seen amazing cloud formations sometime in our life. The key here that many miss in their photographs are the relationship of the clouds with the earth. Remove the earth and they are just big white cotton balls and a lot of their drama and wow evaporates. So therein lies our photographic challenge.
This is where the landscape becomes so important to our clouds! The clouds need a visual anchor, a means to compare their size with something that we can relate to yet be so insignificant that visually we don’t give them any importance. This is where lens selection plays such a huge role in the photograph. Capturing the right slice of the earth and at the same time bring drama and importance comes down to focal length. Shooting with the D850, it was easy to capture minute detail in that small slice captured in this case using the 70-200f4 at 200mm and the 14-24AFS at 20mm. You can’t loose sight that the subject is the cloud and making sure your viewer knows that, use scale by focal length!
Sep 27, 2017 | Wildlife Photography
I’ve written many times about getting down low when shooting. The whole thing about getting down low is to control the background so the subject pops. This need comes from shooting a subject low to the ground and pointing the lens down captures too much background or, shooting up not only controls the background but adds drama. When standing up how do you know how low you need to go, or even if you need to go low in the first place? It starts with seeing that the subject is blending in with the background. After that, it’s just getting down a lot and knowing if it’s worth it or not.
Here are two photos of the same American Golden Plover and one is working and one is not. Can you tell which? I love the action of the tail in the top photo and the biology and calm of the bottom photo. That said, the light at the top of the frame in the top photo drives me nuts! The eye goes up there and there it stays. The bottom photo the background permits the eye to go around and around searching through the information to gather the story. Now getting down with a D5 / 800mm gracefully and quiet enough not to bother a nesting bird is a challenge in itself. Using the Gitzo GT5563GS takes no more than pull out the lock on the collar and flattening the rig. So when you get in position and you see you’re too low, simply take just ONE leg up just ONE notch and you can fine tune the background like you see above. The key is to SEE that bright light at the top of the frame because when you do, you know the answer to how low to go!
Sep 20, 2017 | Landscape Photography
Ever since I arrived on The Palouse, the one overwhelming feeling I have is, “How do they do it?” The love and dedication the generations of farmers have had to have to make this landscape what it is and produce the grain they do is staggering! And they are only the 5th largest wheat producer in the USA! It’s on a scale that is beyond my comprehension. Even more is just how infrequently you see a home, barn, farm machine. We came around a corner and found this old barn all by itself in the hills and with the clouds, just had to stop and make its portrait. Looking through the D850 / 14-24 I so wondered its story, the good and bad times it’s seen, the snowstorms and blistering summer heat. If only it could talk, I’d sit and listen forever!
Sep 19, 2017 | Landscape Photography
The Palouse
captured by D850 / 80-400VRII
The Palouse continues to be a spectacular tapestry providing amazing patterns and textures at every turn! There are said to be over 3k square miles of this rolling hills and I plan on seeing as much of it as I can. Now the challenge is how to bring what I’m seeing and feeling back in my photographs to share with you! As I mentioned in my Podcast51, the Long landscape is just one way I plan on doing this. It’s in principle really simple using the D850 & 80-400VRII as the cornerstone.
The Palouse
captured by D850 / 80-400VRII
It all starts by seeing the pattern, texture, alure of the Palouse with your imagination. Next is to pull out the tools which include camera gear, proper long lens technique and Digital Darkroom knowledge to frame up that photograph in the viewfinder. Now, why is digital darkroom in this equation? Because some finishing is required to bring out some drama in the clouds and you need to know that before you go click to help with the arranging of the elements. When you’re shooting at a locale like The Palouse the long landscape is easier than some locations but it’s a technique that can be used anywhere. And even though it is raining, thunder and lightning, we keep being offered up more and more opportunities around every turn. It’s up to us photographers to bring that back to share with you and one of the key techniques will be the long landscape.
