Apr 29, 2015 | Landscape Photography
Sharon and I ended up walking 9 miles with the London Nikon Group on a Photowalk of epic proportions! Twenty-five folks meet at Big Ben (the bell, not the clock) and for hours and hours walked, shot, laughed and as advertised took the Yank for a walk. I wish I could share with you everything that was shared with us as it was stunning! We did many of the iconic London things and then we did some of the more hidden sights. For example you’ll see a green detail shot in the slideshow below. That’s from one of the last 11 taxi stands from the turn of the century. The group was simply brilliant with all they shared and the excitement they had to share it. Half way through the day we had a great lunch in the bottom of an old pub down a tiny alleyway, so English is was killer! We finished off our day at the Tower Bridge with gorgeous skies. It began at 09:30 and ended at 18:30, a nine hour photowalk! Sharon & I want to thank the ENTIRE group for such a brilliant day and taking us under their wings to share THEIR London with us. I’m still shaking my head realizing this adventure, these new friends all come from photography. The power of the click … wow!
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Oh … what did I walk with? I had the Df, 24f1.4AFS & 85f1.8AFS
Apr 28, 2015 | Landscape Photography
Sharon and I left for London starting off on our three hour drive from our home to Reno. We have done this drive hundreds of times, the truck know the road so well, I can sleep in route. That was not the case this morning. I’ve been very fortunate to enjoy sun rise in the Eastern Sierra for decades, but none come close to the majesty we had this morning! It made the drive one that is burned in our hearts as it was so glorious! The sad note, had to keep going, had a plane to catch to England and that was frustrating to be polite!
Finally, at Bridgeport, 45min in our drive I could stand it no more! I had to pull over and at least make one click as a preservation of this special memory of the beginning of our trip. So I grabbed out of the Think Tank Int’l the Df / 24-70AFS and shot for a couple of minutes before jumping back in the truck, speeding back up the highway. The photos you see here have had nothing in post done to them, they are straight out of the camera. That’s just how perfect it was!
The Pano was assembled in less than 30sec in Adobe Camera Raw. If you didn’t know, ACR now has AMAZING HDR and Pano assembly built-in (LR isn’t the only Adobe product to have that upgrade!). As you can see, it looks just a marvelous as the single click with, just a single click in ACR. It’s just one of many reasons you should have Photoshop CC in my opinion. Cause when you have such a spectacular site as we did creating such deep memories, finishing should be as simple as the view, creating the every lasting joy.
Apr 22, 2015 | Landscape Photography
It’s a day to celebrate the treasures we’ve been so fortunate to embrace. The wonders this planet has to share are incomprehensible. Take your camera out and tell its story and share it with everyone. Remember, your photographs can change the world!
Apr 14, 2015 | Landscape Photography
Simply by putting the word Crop in the title of this post, I increased my site traffic today by 20%! Cropping is a hot topic and why, because it is truly poorly understood. I’ve written about The Crop many times before but this is not a repeat of those. Cropping, be it in the viewfinder or in post, why? What makes cropping so powerful, so misunderstood and misused? In looking at a ton of images lately, when I make the comment that this or that element is distracting, 100% of the time the solution voiced back to me to solve this problem is, crop! But cropping is not a solution but rather, often becomes the problem. Like every single tool and technique in photography, there is a place when cropping should be used.
Is there one time cropping especially in post shouldn’t be used? IMHO ya, to make the subject size larger! Having the subject smacking the viewer right between the eyes is the goal. It’s how we tell it’s story. This necessity though doesn’t dictate the subject fill the frame. Rather, the subject can be the smallest element in the frame and still smack the viewer right between the eyes. What about when it’s not subject but an unwanted element? Well, crop is often the common answer. When you do that, aren’t you quite often throwing the baby out with the water? Ya, you crop out the unwanted element but what about the other elements that go with it? Aren’t they part of the story being randomly tossed for the sake of that one unwanted element? When you took that photo, the majority of the elements in the frame are important to you which why they are there. So why randomly throw them out later?
I prefer to do all my “cropping” in the viewfinder. I understand many love to do it post, and that’s just fine. But in either instance, what is the crop based on? That’s the disconnect I’m finding a lot this past month and that disconnect comes from what I just spoke about. I put up these two images I recently took on an Oregon beach and the coastal redwoods of California as an example. Shot with the D750 / 24-70AFS, the subject in both of these images are elements kissed by the light. So the subject in its most simplest terms is, light. I physically moved to arrange the elements as you see them here based on that subject, the subject I want to share with you. The subject is what YOU make it to be and the rest of the photo, the story YOU want to tell about your subject. When it comes down to the crop then, when to do it, how to do it and where to do it like everything else in photography comes down in answering the question, “What’s the subject?”
Apr 10, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
Then, the magic happens … the years of paying dues, the desire of not just seeing by sharing the spectacle fills the viewfinder and you can go … click! It’s what wildlife photography is all about!
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And while of course we’re hoping for the “best,” there is no “best.” There is only the best we’ve experienced and captured up to that point and that’s what we experienced. At 06:45 the shutters started to fire as enough light permitted photography. Still shooting with the D4s / 800mm, I scanned the cranes in front of the blind. At first, the cranes seemed to be shaking of the morning. Then, in one sudden wave the dancing began and deciding where to point the lens became the biggest challenge. When the wind is from the North, the cranes spend another day. When it’s from the South, they take to skies and head to the nesting grounds. When there is no wind like this morning, I wonder what they think. With the incredible wave of dancing overtaking the entire flock, I think simply celebrating life was on their mind. All I know is all the years coming to this fabled locale and witnessing this magnificent wildlife spectacle paid for itself this morning. The forty five minutes we had with these cranes (that’s all we had this morning) was more than worth it all. Will we be back next year? Of course. Why? Because while this was the best I’ve captured so far, it’s not the best. Better is still waiting for us out there which why we keep going out. It’s real simple when you know, hope is rewarded!
The Hope
Hope Renewed
Hope Awakened
Hope Rewarded
Apr 9, 2015 | Wildlife Photography
The alarm went off at 06:00, 90min before sunrise. It was still dark outside but the bright full moon gave some hint of who was still on the river. Around 02:30 there was a lift off from the river. Didn’t see it, heard it! More than likely a predator like a coyote made an stab at a free meal which set the flock into the skies. Since I didn’t hear them come back, I was wondering if we’d wake to an empty river. It’s happened before, it’s part of the gamble of spending the night in the blind. At least this night, got some sleep since we didn’t have to deal with a leaky blind in a rain storm.
With as much stealth as we could muster, we crawled out of our sleeping bags, got everything packed back up so we have space to set up camera gear and get ready to work. Oh, what a cup of hot coffee would do right now. Wait, no, been locked in the box for 14hrs, scratch that thought! Around 06:30 there is a hint of the coming day so I peaked out of the blind. The cranes, they are still there! Not nearly as many as we had at sunset but as I like to remind folks when shooting critters, it just takes one to make your day! So with that glimpse, the window gets closed and camera gear assembled.
With some stiffness, I get the D4s / 800mm mounted on the Gitzo. With it in place, chair ready and bundled up in everything I had with me, the window was opened and you can see the view above. While a long lens helps, the subject has to be physically close to make it all work. As I scan around, I see birds everywhere and they were the closest we’d ever had, but still not that magical distance we desired. Then as the light brighten the flock began to move as they often do. Then some birds flew in and they were right in front of our blind. This was a first and the closet we’d ever had the Sandhills to our lenses. Mark & I looked at each other with big smiles. The day had started on the right note, hope awakened!
The Hope
Hope Renewed
Hope Awakened
Hope Rewarded
