Jan 18, 2016 | Landscape Photography
I’m back at home watching the snowfall after an amazing week in what is truly a winter wonderland, Yellowstone NP. Most go there for the critters which is understandable. Personally, I love being in Hayden Valley which, while it can have critters, it’s its vast expanse of white that grabs my imagination. The snow blows in from the west and blankets the landscape in white, molding and sculpting the hills and valleys, the creeks and draws into seductive forms and shapes the wind howls through in an unique call of the wild. That chill of the wind bites at your cheeks and numbs the finger making the whole experience personal and very real. It tells you that you’re alive and witnessing Mother Nature at her finiest.
We had the opportunity to shoot in Hayden twice when the sky added the needed backdrop of speak of the drama. For me, just any old sky doesn’t work for this white sculptures. Nor does any old finishing, here one is in color and one is B&W … tell which is which? The shooting is pretty straight forward, D4s with +.07 dialed in to minimize shadows. The 24-70VR at 28mm nailed all the detail which is so important as there is little and without it being sharp, the softness of the shapes wouldn’t come through. The real key ingredient though is being lost in the silence of the experience, embracing the cold and taking those feelings and incorporating it all when you go click. It was a rich, full week of experiences, views, emotions and insights that are good for the soul of a photographer. None as special though as being in such an environment and enjoying the silence of snow.
Jan 13, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
This might seem like an odd title when you realize this photo of a Bobcat was taken with a 800mm / TC-1.25E. Filling the frame seems like a common quest of wildlife photographers often leading them to crop in post just so you see just the critter. While there is nothing wrong with this if you still tell the critter’s story. Often though, the story goes with the crop. And that robs that critter of telling its story, that’s sad.
It was the end of the day, temps hovering around 10 degrees. There perched in a down tree reaching out into the Madison River, a Bobcat does what a cat does so well, waiting for its prey to come within reach. This Bobcat has become very efficient at catching waterfowl. If you look in the foreground in the right corner you’ll see the ripples of the Goldeneye that just saved its own life by diving for food. If I had moved in closer, used a different teleconverter, I could have more than tripled the size of the Bobcat in the frame. But I would have cropped out the water, its cover and the most important thing, the story. Next time you frame up that critter, even if you’re shooting with long glass, go wide and tell the story.
Jan 11, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
Shooting in winter has some abnormal challenges, one is really boring but turns out to be important. Condensation can really cause us issues if not nipped in the bud from the start. Condensation normally occurs when warm, moist air hits a cold surface. It can start as simply as our breathing on our gear and ice forming while shooting. The gear with that ice goes in your camera bag and once in your warm room, the condensation issue is born. To avoid this, I do these simple but I think important steps. When I put my gear away for the last time after shooting, the memory cards are removed and put into my pockets. Once I get into my room, I grab a clean bath towel and on the bed, I will lay out all my gear and quickly cover all of it with the towel. I then open all the section of my photopack, unzip them but have the flaps closed. I then put the cards in the computer to upload and then go eat. When I come back to the room and hour or more later, the gear normally has warmed up to room temp (never having the room above 70 degrees). Any condensation will have formed on the towel. I then clean the gear and put it back in the bag and put it all in the coldest corner of the room. Boring stuff, but simple and it’s never lets me down keeping my gear dry and operating even down to -32.
Jan 7, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
It’s been a few years since I’ve been able to enjoy winter shooting from the office. It’s actually real simple; put out some food, set up the gear, have it snow and shoot. It’s all real simple but the white stuff when you’re in a long drought, but such has not been the case this last month. Who you see above is a female White-headed Woodpecker (and how she came to be here is a whole other story). I’m shooting with the D4s / 800AFS with light provided by the ProPhoto B2 with the 2′ Octa w/grid. Why am I using flash and why the B2?
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The key here is, I don’t want you to see flash! The final photo has to look like what you think the light should look like. I shot this before and after of the perch so you can understand how and why I’m adding and melding the light. When it’s snowin, it’s dark and wanting to blur the falling snow, I need a long shutter speed. Birds are always moving so the first role of the flash is to stop the motion, get a sharp photo. Then, I want to remove the very blue quality of the light which flash brings back to an even 5500k. Lastly, the ProPhoto B2 w/Octa & Grid creates a very large light source for the size of the subject while having it “wrap” around the truck keeping it’s shape, form and texture. This of course is also given the birds so they look like a living critter and not a cardboard cut out. Now Sharon doesn’t really love when I do this as the open door is right next to her desk and snow piles up on her keyboard. So she takes advantage of my shooting to go out to the warm fire and leaves me to the cold and the fun ‘n the snow!
Jan 4, 2016 | Wildlife Photography
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The background in a photograph is so important! It can do so many things positive, and negative, and seeing and working the backgorund is important because of this. It sets the stage for our subject, gives it a place to stand out and tell its story. The relationship between the subject and the background is directly linked so we as storytellers must see and use this in our storytelling. In this case, a yearling Moose was simply browsing along in the fall willows. I was shooting with a D4s / 200-400VR2 / TC-14eIII, shooting wide open at f/5.6, using the lens and teleconverter combo to narrow my DoF to control the background. In one photo, the willows are just behind the calf and even at f/5.6, they are busy and distracting. In the other shot, the willows are now a substantial distance behind the calf and are softer, not so busy so the calf pops out more. But the man made structure even further away in the background while out of focus, isn’t even disappearing. It’s still not far enough away. In the dance of aperture and DoF, while focal length, f/stop and distance to subject are important variables, don’t forget the background. It’s distance from the subject makes all the difference.
Dec 31, 2015 | Landscape Photography
It’s that time of year when we reflect on the year past. I’ve always found it a kinda funny tradition because for myself, I try everyday to reflect on what I learned the day before to improve on my photography of tomorrow. I’ve never really been one to rest on my laurels, always pushing forward to the next day, year, constantly incorporating lessons learned. In the creative world and the business world, the future is more important, more exciting than the past because improvement is just a heartbeat away. In this pursuit there is one question I like to ask photographers when they seek words of wisdom from my photography. “Where do you want your photography to take you in the next five years and where do you want to take your photography?”
There is no doubt that our past directly and indirectly influences our craft. Our life experiences go into every click. But the spark of imagination and passion is what drives our photography into the future. So as that clock nears the bewitching hour on New Year’s eve, perhaps you can use the moment to challenge yourself and your photography by looking forward and coming up with a photographic project worthy of the new year. When I say project, I’m talking about going beyond your comfort range and really pushing yourself and your storytelling. I would encourage you to incorporate in that project the sharing of those photographs to influence your audience into action. Whether you hang your work on the wall of a coffee shop or some grand gallery, use your talents, passion and photography to impact just the life of one viewer. As they say, it is a new year bringing with it the promise of change. With that challenge, with that goal, in a year when New Year’s eve rolls around again and it’s time to look back, you’ll actually be looking forward when it’s comes time to reflect.
