Jun 17, 2015 | Landscape Photography
Feeling and Seeing the final photo when the camera is pressed against your eye is important. One thing we talk about a lot when we’re out shooting on our workshops is “How will you finish the photo.” There are times that part of that conversation is removing the “touch of man” and a very common removal are wires. This morning at a favorite pond of mine, we were shooting sunrise. Shooting with the D4s / 18-35AFS at 20mm, the two wires stretching across the pond were very obvious. These are actually incredibly easy to remove!
To remove the wire, you need your Spot Healing Brush tool. Make sure its Soft Edge and that you’re Sampling All layers. I prefer doing this in a Empty Layer. Click on one end of the wire you want to remove. Then move down to the other end of the wire. Hold down the Shift Key and click again. You’ll see Photoshop draw a line between the two click and the wire disappear. That simple! One other finishing tip to add here. Photographing a reflection in water, water “sucks” up a stop of light so it’s exposure and color is richer than reality, in this case the sky. So in ACR, a Split Grad is used, dialed down -1 and saturation brought up to 25. This evens out the exposure top and bottom. So knowing these tools when you go click at the camera makes going click at the computer quick and easy.
Jun 15, 2015 | Landscape Photography
When I started, it was film days and there was no Photoshop. In those days, we did everything we could to never include the “touch of man.” This is a prime example of what I’m talking about. Up at Many Glacier in Glacier Nat’l Park is this amazing waterfall at the outflow of the lake. I can stand there for hours watching it. This morning, wanted to use my new technique (this shot was taken handheld with NO filters) to capture the flow. In the process, this building was incorporated in the shot with is kinda abynormal for me. That old school thing. I’ve been changing slowly to include more when the “touch of man” brings something to the story. Now if this building were pink, it would not be in the frame. But in the Nat’l Park browns and where it’s located, I decide to include it. Shot with D4s & 18-35AFS, I very carefully included the building and not the van parked in front. I’m still pondering whether I’m “In love with it” but it’s growing on me. Can’t you teach old dogs new tricks? Perhaps.
Jun 12, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
Put simply, it kicked my ass and I enjoyed every moment of it! The Long-tailed Weasel is not a critter you see everyday. While very common, they are very illusive, secretive and simply put, greased lightning! They do nothing slowly but what always seems like panic in motion. The photo above in all honesty really visually describes the life and times of a Long-tailed Weasel. And it’s cool!
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Finding one is only part of the HUGE challenge of photographing them. We were at our very special location when looking at a Mountain Cottontail, I saw this weasel pop out of nowhere behind it. We were just scouting for the moment so had no cameras, having just literally gotten out of our vehicles. Sharon and I both saw it at the same time and in jaw dropping stance, watched as the weasel went ballistic running over this fallen log. We watched for a few minutes and then it occurred to me that it wasn’t going anywhere. So we sent back to our vehicles to set up our gear. I few minutes later I came back with D4s / 800f5.6 on the Zenelli a top the Gitzo 5561SGT and shooting at eleven frames per second, captured the images above. The series of four demonstrates just how damn fast these suckers can be! It smoked my ass!!!!
This little devil ran, jumped, hoped, skipped, and flew around this log (the size of a huge couch) with such speed, keeping up with it to get glass on it was near impossible! It wouldn’t stop and to be totally honest with you, watching it was really more rewarding than any photograph I might have taken. Then it got to a point where being beaten by this little critter became personal and getting the photo to tell its story became important. My best guess was, there was some prey in the log and it was hauling ass around it trying to flush it out and capture it. It was simply just an amazing show!
We were really lucky. It stuck around for quite a while and it had some what of a typical path around the log. Only by prefocusing at a location it had come to before and keeping an eye in the viewfinder (and Sharon telling me where it was, she’s so good at that) was I able to get a few in focus clicks of this amazing predator. Oh, and its cute factor is off the chart which makes the panic to get the photo even greater. The encounter didn’t last that long but we treasure it so! Having anytime with a critter of this type and in performing such unique biology is a real treat and why we get out everyday. But after this show, I know exactly where the song came from, pop goes the weasel!
Jun 11, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
Photographing ground birds can be a challenge at times. The reason being, they are on the ground. The natural debris can hide them to make the photo incredibly busy. And in the case of this California Quail, foraging around in a freshly mowed lawn just isn’t the best of worlds for the subject. This is when understanding basic biology can keep you waiting around to capture the better photograph.
What you can’t see in these frames is the female. The pair came walking down the lawn and we moved into place so if everything worked out, they would walk into the lens. This is because “stalking” ground birds tends to push them back into the cover where they find safety. In this case, the pair kept walking right down to us and but doing it on their terms, all was good and we didn’t matter. Now with the female in tow, the male was looking for other males that might challenge him for his mate. That sex thing which SO makes us photographer meld right into the background.
The other piece of basic biology you need with California Quail is the males constant need to get higher to look around. Normally, he’s looking for predators but in the spring, he’s looking for other males that might make a move for his mate. Shooting with the D4s / 800f5.6 on the Zenelli a top the Gitzo 5561SGT, we had stopped where there were a number of possible perches the male could hope up to. Now the boys with me heard me chant for the rock but it was only after the great light was on the rock did the male hope up there.
A quite often once on a perch where he can easily watch the female for a time, the male preens. It’s during this moment when on that perch all nice and T’d up that the common becomes uncommon and that’s what we’re after. We were standing on the bank of a creek so we were physically low which permitted using a background WAY in the distance providing the clean background. So combining camera gear, time, basic biology and a passion for the story and the photo is captured. Our entire encounter lasted perhaps fifteen minutes but man, did it produce. It is simply how Mother Nature when given the opportunity can entertain while sharing her glories!
Jun 10, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
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This past weekend during our Sierra Bird weekend, we took a little field trip to a very special location of ours. It has always produced, but you just never know what. We’ve been heading here for over 30yrs and like usual, we had a new and difference subject occupying a bunch of our time this trip. Sharon discovered a nesting pair of House Wrens that were just finishing their nest and seemed to have laid their first egg. The post your see in the photos is where the male would come over and over again to sing, broadcasting his territory and keep his better half interested. We spent over an hour with the male and it was just killer. You will notice a change in nearly every photograph and that’s from both the behavior and the light. There were thunder clouds forming and as they came and went, I would move around the perch to get the better light on both the subject and the background. How close were we able to get? I was shooting with the D4s / 800f5.6 on the Zenelli a top the Gitzo 5561SGT and we were at the minimum focusing distance of our lenses. The male could care less, he had just one thing on his mind and it’s the wildlife photographers best friend, sex! It was just great fun keeping up with him and looking to make the uncommon out of the common.
May 28, 2015 | Landscape Photography
One of the sweetest way to grab a viewer’s attention to our photograph is a kiss of light. Also known as dapple light, I offer up these two photos as examples of what I’m talking about. The top one is a favorite of our recent K&M Adventure to The Smokies. Both were takin on the Roaring Forks road where you drive for a forest just chuck full of this kind of light. But stopping at the right spot to make the shot takes a critical eye. Here’s some thoughts on what to look for.
These were shot with the D750 / 14-24AFS cause lots of detail while going wide was important to me. Taking that all in, you have to be careful and watch the “spots” of light in the viewfinder. The mind’s eye goes to light and bright. If you have more than one “spotlight” of light in this type of scene, they all need to lead the eye to one thing and not multiple. “The” spotlight of light needs to be what the mind’s eye goes to first and then, led through the rest of the frame and back again. This is where the critical eye is so important because often emotions grab as, as they should, but more dabble light confuses the eye and that’s not good for our photograph. Does this mean you should only have one spotlight of light? No! It means you have to have a critical eye and “feel” the light as much as measure it. They are special when you find them. Make them special in your photograph.
