Apr 11, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
From inside their covered wagons, western bound immigrants heard the haunting sounds coming from the landscape before the sun rose and thought the world around them was haunted. It was spring and the Prairie Chickens in the thousands would be on their lek doing what chickens do. When the sun shined light on their “ghosts,” the pioneers realized breakfast had been provided them. The Prairie Chickens has been in trouble ever since. There are few refuges left for the chickens and we were so fortunate to spend time at one of them this past week. The amazing folks at Calamus Outfitters are conserving their habitat on their ranch and have created for us photographers an incredible opportunity to see, witness and photograph this very unique piece of our wildlife heritage.
These are Greater Prairie Chickens and the calm you see in the top photo, it’s hard to imagine all that goes on for this male to find a mate and their less than 30sec moment with that female. They bob their heads, stump their feet, boom, flare their “horns” or pinnaes, and so much more all in an attempt to get the female’s attention. And when that and a whole lot more doesn’t work, they spar. What still amazes me after decades of watching this sparing is how, with the naked eye, they simply appear to be jumping up and down. But when you photograph them (shooting D5 @12FPS, 800mm) and look at their leap frame by frame, you see just how cut throat these chickens are to each other. They are simply nasty!
Photographically, while freezing the sparing is very cool, showing the motion in a still image to me is even cooler. So then comes the dance of a fastest enough shutter speed to freeze the eye but slow enough to blur the wings. It’s a really low, low, low percentage shot. As in, shooting 30-40 images to get one that works like the one above. Shot at ISO 400, 1/200, it has just the right combo of sharpness and blur along with the story. I mean, look at the chicken, it looks like it’s going to land on the back of the other and stomp on it! The intensity in the stare and blur of the wings, it brings out the fierce competition in an otherwise, simple chicken. It’s just one of many reasons I love Prairie Chickens.
Apr 6, 2016 | Landscape Photography
Yesterday afternoon, the skies over Nebraska were really performing. The winds started to come up keeping the birds down and big game away so we went off exploring the countryside and were not disappointed. Shots lots and lots, here are a couple of my first finished. The image above was taken as we were driving down Hwy 96. That little white cloud grabbed my attention so made the click as fast as I could. It was gone by the time I was done. Shot at 50mph with D5 / 24-70VR finished in PS using the simple B&W technique. Now if that little white cloud hadn’t been there, I would have not even though about taking the photo.
Not quite as little, but this white cloud, again was the center of my attention. Way off in the distance, this was a D5 / 70-200f4 AFS shot with HSC. Where the top photo, the cloud is way off by itself in the corner, the elements in the frame suggested to me a centered framing. The cloud was lit up by a stray God beam and that unique lighting is what grabbed my attention. I have a whole lot more including a sweet pano I need to post. mtc
Apr 4, 2016 | Landscape Photography
click on image to see larger
Ok, those chores can wait even longer! We decided to head down the flats, the skies were just getting prettier. My thought was showing a before and after, the same basic landscape of the mountains shot up close with the 18-35AFS at 18mm and then down a few miles and shoot the same thing with the 70-200f4 at 70mm. I made the first stop and I saw the clouds along the Sierra Crest and said, hell with that idea, and raced out to the last stop to shoot a pano. At 70mm with the D5, it was a slam dunk to shoot and with the Panorama feature in ACR, a slam dunk to assemble. A few moments latter, the whole crest had changed, the pano had come and gone. That happens a lot with clouds which is why when you seem, them you gotta shoot them. Cause the clouds kept on rolling.
Apr 4, 2016 | Landscape Photography
There are times when the camera just sits there staring at me and in my guilt, I see it saying, “What, you forgot me?” It was one of those weekends when photography just took back seat. That’s until the last hours of Sunday when we snuck out and headed to the lakes. The clouds were floating by, the light kissing this and that peak, it was just to inviting not to make some clicks. So with Sadie leading the way, off we walked.
In my mind’s eye, I was shooting B&W. The blue sky background with the great clouds, the dark granite behind the snow, even the dark water with the bright highlights, all said B&W to me. While everything in the camera is the same, the way that I arrange the elements in the frame is often slightly different. So I put the D5 up to my eye, zoom the 18-35AFS to 18mm and what I had in my mind went from B&W to color. Using Dehaze in ACR and Nik Pro Contrast & Tonal Contrast and it was done. I thought all was well until I went vertical. Then what I thought was a color photograph reverted back to a B&W. What changed in the frame? The lines of white on the right and left is probably triggered my thoughts back to B&W. But the short time out behind the camera put those things I wasn’t getting done way down on the priority list. There is something great staring through the viewfinder, time rolls by.
Mar 31, 2016 | Landscape Photography
The glory of spring is celebrated in the wildflowers that carpet our landscape. While I love looking at them, I’m just not into getting down on the ground, in the breeze, arse in the air photographing them. Yet, I can’t just pass them up. So over the years I’ve come up with strategies permitting to capture their beauty while minimizing the the aspects of wildflower photography I detest the most. Here are two examples of the techniques I use to give you an idea of what I’m talking about.
The top photo was taken with a 300PF and the bottom with the 18-35AFS. The two techniques are kinda focal length dependent. Both techniques are blossom quantity dependent, that is, there are more then one blossom in the photo. This is because not every single blossom as to be tack sharp for the photograph to work. So if there is a breeze, it won’t ruin the moment or cause me to stand around for hours waiting for them to stop. The top technique is using a long lens, minimum DoF with a darkish background to make them visually pop. The bottom photo is shooting wide and over the top of the subject. Over the top means, you’re standing nearly right above the foreground blossoms and then tilting the lens down so you just have a sliver of the horizon. With the tilt out monitor on the D750, no sticking the arse in the air, easy peasy! While I can’t go full blown into posey pics, I sure can get into the grander version with these simple yet effective techniques.
Mar 11, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
A great question that constantly winds up in my inbox is, “Where do you crop critters?” Unfortunately this great question has NO good answer. There is no guide, no book, no rule so in helping folks, I try my best with simply saying, “Try to avoid the uncomfortable crop.” That answer barely describes itself so with the latest askers request, I’ve posted four images here which demonstrate what I consider as uncomfortable crops. As you can see, I have these images which in itself means I saw some redeeming value if only to demonstrate, uncomfortable crop. Cropping or cutting into a critter so body parts are missing is the issue. How much can you not include and still cause it to seem, uncomfortable? The first thing I try to avoid is a crop which makes it appear I took a head down from a wall, hung it outside and took its photo. The Pronghorn and Bison are good examples of this. Too far back or too far front is another thing I try to avoid (the Moose). And random pieces of leg are definitely not a good thing (Douglas Tree Squirrel). I wish I had some rule or guide to pass along as an answer, but this is about the best I can do.
