It’s a simple question … know the answer for your photography? It’s a serious question that I don’t think I can help you answer in a blog post. It’s a question you must explore and answer for your own photography. And there lies the challenge!
When I asked the question of the group, Eric instantly said, “B&W!” Now how do you get to that point in your photography? That’s really a damn good question! Eric has shot with me for years and gone through my MLP so he’s really, really good at seeing light. Now what is B&H light? Here’s two examples from the scene we were seeing when I asked the question. The qualities I was seeing in the light that I shot B&W are: mood, texture, detail, story and romance. One is on the “darkish” side of life and the other is on the “bright” side so that’s not part of the formula I see when making the call. Rather, I some it all up in the “romance” of the light that first, makes me stop and then what to share it with you. One hint when you’ve struck it right is in the finishing, it was a simple two click, ACR & then Luminar. Does this come quickly to one, seeing this and shooting it? Normally not but the only way is to keep shooting, failing and learning from the failure until it’s no longer a failure. That’s when you know the answer when you ask yourself, “what kind of light is this?”
Arctic Ground Squirrel
Remember to tell those you love, you love them everyday!
The White Mountains
captured by D5 / 70-400f4 AFS
When a storm breaks in the Sierra, it’s a gorgeous thing! The question is, where to the point the lens. The moon made it a pretty simple answer. I grabbed the D5 / 70-200f4 AFS and made the click above. I liked it but it just didn’t seem complete. Then I took a simple two image pano putting the moon dead center (below) and I knew it that was the answer. It was easy after that, Photoshop to make the pano and Luminar for the B&W. I love it when making the story is so simple!
The White Mountains
captured by D5 / 70-400f4 AFS
Bobcat
captured by D5 / 800mm
For the last 24hrs, we’ve had rain here in the Sierra. Our snow is slowly melting under the 3+ inches we’ve received at the house. As I look out at the slush, I’ve been watching our critters. It might be blowin a storm out, snowing like mad and they tend to just go about their business of getting food and staying warm. But with the rain, they hunker down and try to wait it out. But as the day goes on and the need for food for calories to stay warm grows, they venture out grudgingly. And that’s how most spend their winter, seeking those precious calories for mere survival.
Long-tailed Weasel
captured by D4 / 600mm
And as wildlife photographers, we need to recognize this basic yet vital biology and not get in the way of this activity. You can summarize their daily life simply with, calories in – calories out, basic survival. In the winter time when food is not as plentiful in snow bound habitats makes this basic biology a challenge. If photographers hamper critters seeking this basic life requirement, there is the direct issue of not getting those calories. You can take it further because photographers can stress a critter further stressing the calories equation.
Mule Deer
captured by D3 / 200f2
Photographing critters in winter is grand quest. When you think about all we do to keep ourselves comfortable and camera gear happy, you can quickly appreciate the critters challenge. We can come back into warmth and food with ease. Our subjects, well they are still out there looking for both of those things on a hourly bases. When looking to make those great photos then, remember this simply thing when you tread with care. No photograph is worth sacrificing the welfare of the subject.
I had a couple of folks ask why I’m using flash when photographing birds in snow. The reason has to do with the same reason anytime you need to pull out flash, light. In this case, it’s the quality of the color of light that is most important to me. The bottom photo was taken with no flash. Notice not only the down nature of the light, but the lack of life to the light? The perch the female White-headed Woodpecker is a stick I’ve screwed to the railing of our deck. Above her is the suet she came in for and she’s waiting in line to get her bite. The dull texture on the perch, the white head and black body all bring us to a dull photo.
The flash is literally in the snow in fact, out the door and right next to the perch. Using the Hexi 24 Speedlight Softbox with the SB-5000 inside, brings a big light just eighteen inches away from the birds. This big light wraps around the bird and if you didn’t have the bottom photo for comparison, the top photo would look just like you would imagine and that’s the point. It’s a very subtle thing and that’s when flash is at its best. One other small technical point, the SB-5000 is talking to the D5 via the WR-R10. I can directly change the exposure comp via the D5 body and in this case, the body was set to -1/3 and the flash was set to -1/3 exp comp. And that’s why and how I did the flash in snow.
