Feb 17, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
I knew that after posting on my Instagram account one of my favorite bird photos of 2015, I’d be asked if I have a favorite mammal, landscape and aircraft. Most equate favorite with best or perfect. Understand, I don’t. Favorite means just that, it’s my favorite, no more and no less. In this case, this photo of Cous’ has a lot of back story that I know and feel when looking at the photo. It’s no secret that photographing Moose, a favorite subject of mine, can be a challenge and that certainly plays into the favorite filing. And the photo has “issues” that will really drive some photogs nuts. But none of that really comes into play why I love the photo. Favorite for me encompasses all that went into making the photo, but more importantly the relationship between the subject and myself. That’s a very personal thing that there is no way for the viewer to know and most of the time, feel. So, this is one of my favorite mammal photos from 2015. Will I post more? Probably not, my favorites tend to be a private and personal thing.
Feb 2, 2016 | Landscape Photography
With greeting the sun comes surprises and photographically, always something fun to work. In the 21 degree fog of Fargo, Hoar Frost blanked the landscape. Chuck had never, ever, never, seen Hoar frost let alone photographed it! His head was spinning and spinning and it wasn’t from the Clover coffee and Starbucks, so off we went looking for great examples to photograph before he jumped on his flight home.
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What really made this location so sweet was the light on the horizon. The sun was up and hidden in the overcast but there was a stripe of light still with the morning glow. That stripe of light sets the mood and being yellow, makes the white that much visually white. The last element to setting off the hoar frost were the dark tree trunks. The shooting was simple, D4s / 70-200f4 AFS and the finishing was ACR, Nik Pro Contrast, Tonal Contrast and Detail Extractor. And Chuck, he was all smiles when he boarded his flight. Can’t ask more from a simple morning greeting the sun!
Feb 1, 2016 | Landscape Photography
It was like a syfy movie, one moment blue skies and the next a dark, ominous fog rolled in and covered the landscape. At first, it kinda put a blanket on our fun but then we started to drive about looking for targets of opportunity. There are rows of trees between the large plots with most not having any real character, just serving their roll as wind breaks. This particular row though with its shape and the fog caught our imagination so we stopped. The photos came easily, the top photo taken with the 24-70VR and the bottom taken with the 70-200f4AFS. The finishing is right out of ACR, even easier. I really love these kinds of photos and simply don’t get the opportunity enough to make them!
Feb 1, 2016 | B&W Photography
Had a marvelous week up in Minnesota with some great folks enjoying new territory for me. Cruising the countryside, we meet some more nice folks and saw some really cool pieces of Americana. Originally when we stopped for this photo I was seeing it in color but as we shot I went from long lens to short and from full sun to partial. After I switched to the 24-70VR, the sun went behind the clouds and that combination changed my mind from color to B&W. What changed is the play of whites from the foreground and the sky when the cloud came. It sounds likes a simple thing but it’s all it took for my mind to see this in color and then B&W. It’s a small thing but it’s the little details that make all the difference.
Jan 26, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
Most think of heat shimmer as a summer issue when in reality, it can happen anytime. The last place folks think heat shimmer might occur is in winter and with snow on the ground. What you have here are two images, soft images because of heat shimmer. The top image is the most common example of heat shimmer issues, a photo that you know should be tack sharp but simply isn’t. The bottom photo if you look at the elements behind the Coyote, you will see a “shimmer” in them, elements not sharp but lines are just not straight. Both were taken with the 800mm / TC-14eIII with the subject across an expanse of snow. There is only one way I know of dealing with heat shimmer when it occurs, wind. When there is a breeze heat shimmer disappears. So in this case I watched the grasses around the Coyote and when I saw them moving in the breeze, I would shoot. And when I saw the grasses still, I didn’t shoot. Hope that makes sense because seeing heat shimmer through the lens is a bitch!
Jan 22, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
We’d past it some time back on the road, a bunch of vehicles had gone by the coyote, it just kept on trotting down the road. Along the Firehole River in Yellowstone, the groomed road the NPS maintains is a highway for critters as much as folks because it’s easy walking for them. This individual seemed very much on a mission so we went passed it and up towards Fountain Pots and began photographing the steam on the landscape. We shot with the wide lenses (24-70VR) and pulled out the really long lenses (800mm) and even drank some coffee. We spent some time just taking in the gorgeous view! Then we saw the coyotes make the bend in the road still walking on the road and coming our direction. Then the wait began.
Where we were parked in a pullout that was alongside a massive meadow so figured the Coyote would leave the road and start across it to go hunting. It did for a short moment and then came back on to the road and continued walking towards us. It was kinda mousing, stopping and listening for little critters under the snow it can make a meal out of but still seemed to be on a mission. But it kept coming down the road. I switched to the 300PF with the TC-14eIII on the D4s and laid down on the road next to the giant tires of our vehicle. And there I waited. Just when it about filled the frame (still a ways away) it stopped, listened and a moment later went off into the meadow and started to hunt. Shooting from the snow, shooting long (420mm) wide open (f/5.6) is what creates the intimate view of this distant critter. But the real key was to let the Coyote do what it was going to do and as it turned out, its hunting path was on the road we were shooting from (where I shot this pano). All of this combined along with time is what made the final click. It was just an half an hour later.
