Nov 7, 2014 | Landscape Photography
So I’m there totally inthralled with the water and the reflections. I’m looking at most of the time reflections of the fall color on the opposite shore. I’m screwin around looking for shots and only coming up with a couple worth clicking. I’m still shooting with the D750 & 80-400VR3, just now pointing up towards the real thing rather than the reflection.
Now I realize this is not everyone’s idea of landscape photography or even fun. But I’m still a bit giddy being able to shoot fall color in my own backyard. At the same time, I like just as much, if not more so having a touch of color more than a frame chuck full of it. Including trunks, dead branches, a rock here or there works for me. I think those elements bring more life to the color in a real and perceived fashion. I know that after a week of doing this, the attraction will fade and I will want to move one. But until then, I’m having a blast in Yosemite with some really neat folks in a gorgeous place. Life is good!
Nov 7, 2014 | Landscape Photography
There are times when in California, those are my sentiments. Fall in Yosemite is usually dry but even after the snow storm last week, the place is still pretty dry. None the less we found some water today, some really cool water so had to play. Shooting still with the D750 & 80-400VR3, I went about my usual routine for shooting “blurred water” (which is actually bubbles). I arrange the elements, in this case the portions of white with the rest of the scene. The green leaves trapped under the surface are what really pulled me to this portion of the Merced. I then shot a number of frames, each one with a different shutter speed to find the one that had the “blur” effect I liked. With that determined (5sec), I shot off about 20 frames to find the one I liked the best. Been a while since I’ve chased water, fun to find, rewarding to spend time with.
Nov 6, 2014 | Landscape Photography
Seeing fall color in my home state, well I’ve not experienced that for a number of years. I’ve enjoyed it in other regions, other countries but not in my own backyard for a long time. So this morning’s walk in Yosemite Valley was a real treat to see all, and I mean alot … of fall color on the Black Oaks. So, with it being such a treat, I fell into the old grove of shooting the trees. But then, the old saying snapped back into my mind, “Seeing the trees from the forest.” That’s when I looked up.
I had a lot of fun this morning cruising with just the D750 & 80-400VR3 doing basic optical extraction. Then once the light came up and I was walking into it, I saw the leaves and off to the races my mind went. Oh, my achin neck! Handholding the rig, I looked up for those leaves that were backlit, had great veins and a little color and wear to them. I found more then I thought I would, these are three of my favorite clicks. Just real simple stuff from one of the simple pleasures of fall.
Oct 30, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
I have a whole new appreciation and admiration for the very endangered African Wild Dog. No, never once felt threatened by the Dogs or any critter at anytime on safari. This adult who’s pack had just made two kills, was as well fed as Wild Dogs can be. It’s one of those moments I look for in my files after a shoot like this where I’ve laid down on the hammer and taken 50+ images in a few seconds. Shooting the D4s / 800mm, it’s the tilt of the right ear that connects with my warp sense of humor. As I go through my images, I just see things like this and most of the time, just say the caption with an inside voice. Then there are times I let it out.
Oct 30, 2014 | Landscape Photography
I was mentally prepared for nearly everything we saw accept for one thing, the African landscape. It’s just amazing! The book on the trees of the area is three inches tall, oh my! While it reminded me a lot of California’s Oak woodlands, accept it has Lions, Leopards and Elephants and we have squirrels and a couple of deer, the beauty of the open African woodland habitat we ventured through is, stunning! If there is one regret I have from the trip is there wasn’t enough time to sit and smell the roses. Sitting on the deck and just looking out over the landscape and watching life grazing on by, that was adventure in itself. And it didn’t hurt either that Mr. G (seriously, his name) was there to fill up your cup with killer coffee and offer awfully good tasting pastries (oh, did he make a great Vodka Tonic!).
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I’ve talked about my principle wildlife gear but I’ve not mentioned my primary landscape gear. And I have to admit I didn’t see this coming. 99.9% of my landscape work was shot with the Nikon 1 V3! And many of those taken while the Landie was moving, there wasn’t much stopping for landscapes with all the wildlife. And there certainly was no getting out of the Landie for landscapes because, well, you might get eaten. That fact kept me in my seat! The V3 is so small, light, takes big, gorgeous files and with its tilt monitor, a simple joy to use as my primary landscape tool. And its video ability … oh my! I’ve NOT even gotten through a tenth of that I shot! One reason why I am so excited to go back in 2015 is in large part to enjoy more of this magical landscape.
Oct 28, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
We have such marvelous tools available to us, but in order to select the right one for the task at hand, we have to first ask, “The problem is …” and then come up with the answer. We all approach our photography differently, that’s how it is supposed to be! And while that is true, there are many aspects of the craft we all have in common. One of those is this thing called exposure. The light and how it falls on our subject and then is related by our meter to the pixels is a magical and maddening process at times. There are many aspects to this formula but the one that is the hardest for most to wrangle with is the light. While we can see with our eyes/brain a range of 14 stops of light with a single glance, most cameras can only hold detail in 5 stops, and a couple, 6 stops, in a single click. And I know right there, in that one sentence, I just lost many of you. That’s why I think I was flooded with questions from the confusion generated by my post yesterday. To get the full, long winded explanation to this, I encourage you to get our FREE Photography FUNdementals. But here’s the abridge version.
If we were to measure the light using a spot meter (this is a “IF” proposition, I DO NOT use a spot meter) falling on the top and front of this Leopard, keeping a constant f/stop, we would see the shutter speed change by just less than 5 stops. That tells us we have a 5 stop range of light on the subject. The camera can hold all the detail in one click. The background, which is shadow, if we measured it the same way using the top of the Leopard’s head and just the background behind the head, we would see we have a 7 stop range in the shutter speeds. And because of this, the background shadow is going black, loosing detail in that busy bush. I have no doubt this very, very, very brief description of the problem is just as confusing to many. That is to be expected because we are trying to use words to describe a visual issue that manifests itself technically. Yuck! That’s why in the 90’s I came up with the Teddy Bear Exercise in my own process of mastering this very important part of our visual storytelling. In grasping this limited 5 stop range of light, you have three important variables: Light, Camera, You! Exposure = Emotion but to get to this point in your photography, you must master light, camera and your storytelling. So before you try to grasp how the D4s works with a 6 stop of light of light, master how your camera you have now works and communicates light through exposure to tell your story. There is no race, time is your friend, you just gotta remember to find the right answer for your photography when you ask, the problem is …
