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!
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!
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.
The 180degree view of the Fisheye lens like the 16Fish or 8-15Fish can be stunning and essential to a visual story. At the same time, the natural “curve” the Fish can create might be desired. Here’s a simple digital darkroom lesson how to deal with it. Keep in mind everything was done at the time of capture to “plumb” the subject at the time of capture. That makes a difference in the digital darkroom.
Fall is less than a month away and with it comes colder temps and thicker fur. At the same time for many mammals, it’s time for fall mating rituals. When you add into this mix the colors of fall and the gorgeous light and you have a wildlife photographer’s nirvana! This all can bring to the table a huge challenge as a visual storyteller. You might think gear can be an issue, but I think that’s the least of them. The basics of photo creating gets in there quickly. There can be a lot going on in excluding those elements that take the eye away from the subject while including those that tell the story. But on the scale of the biggest, it has to be the romance. Here are some thoughts.
I’ve selected the images I have illustrating this post based on all the varied gear used to make the photos. The only common thread is it’s all Nikon and all digital. After that, it’s kinda all over the map on bodies and lenses. This is to make the point that while I might prefer the 200-400VR2 for my big game photography, I’ve used all sorts of varying focal lengths with success (you can click on links in the captions to learn more about the lenses). What’s the key to the right lens? You need a focal length that YOU are comfortable with to tell YOUR story. How to find that focal length? I quick way is to rent a lens like the Nikkor 200-500, and then photograph a big dog/horse at 200mm, then 300mm, 400mm, 500mm (nothing in between, not zooming to frame your subject) by using your feet to zoom. You will find the focal length you prefer to tell the story pretty fast. That is as long you don’t go to the “eyeball” camp. But there is more to this than just gear.
If you take a moment and look at these four images, they all have one important thing in common. At least I think it’s important, and that’s the light. Showing off that thick fall/winter fur, I prefer and overcast light that has direction. And that direction is backlight. Why? Lack of contrast I feel is very important because too much contrast brings shadow and that makes the fur look “thinner” because individual hairs appear. The lack of shadow makes the fur “thicker” as the hair is in mass. The backlight gives a slight sheen to the hair as well as poop the critter from the background. But most importantly, this combination of light brings out the bulk of the critter, its muscle and fur bulk that comes with fall. These are important ingredients leading down the road of romance. But there is still more to get to that final image.
Wrapping all this up into a photo that reaches out and grabs the heartstring is a combination of background and biology. Where does your critter live, how does it survive, what makes it unique, how does it procreate? These are just some of the questions you can ask and answer in your photograph that begins to tap the viewer’s imagination. And this is still not enough! The final punch has to come from gesture in the entire photograph, critter, and its world. And the time to work all this out is not while you’re standing in front of battling Moose, perched Dall Sheep, foraging Polar Bear or dozy Pronghorn. The time to work this all out is with that big dog/horse. It’s from that practice that you can make the most of those precious moments with that critter in the wild. It’s only by thinking it through and working out the kinks that you’re ready for the season of fur!
On our final day in the UK, we saved what we figured would be the best for last, the Dover Castle. It did not disappoint! One of the first stops has you walk through this massive and incredibly impressive piece of history is the St Mary’s Church that just happens to be next to an AD1000 Roman lighthouse. These structures from the outside are so majestic perched on the hillside commanding a spectacular view of Dover, the English Channel and France in the distance! Taking photos was soooo easy, the subject did all the heavy lifting!
Since landing on English soil, I’ve posted many a “light” photograph on my Instagram account. I’ve received a whole lot of emails asking me how I’m taking these “great” photos? It’s actually really easy. It starts with the gear I’m shooting with, the Df / 8-15Fish. The Df works wonders IMHO in low light, I’m often shooting at ISO 1600. Then the nature of a Fish taking in so much area like the 8-15Fish that the light is able to fall off naturally in the frame (Often shooting at 14mm). Then I just look for that gorgeous spec of light and walls where it is falling off. Since the mind’s eye goes to the brightest, the rest is done by you when viewing the photograph. I now have a vast collection of these “windows of English light” in my files from the past two weeks, all captured in this way but oh my, St Mary’s of Dover!
