Oct 3, 2014 | Landscape Photography
The Grand Canyon is simply, breath taking! But the photo Gods haven’t been really kind to us, bald skies. This limits our shooting hours in the morning to less than an hour. Not really an issue, plenty to shoot and it’s simply gorgeous. I shot the whole morning with just the D750 and 20f1.8AFS and I’m blown away by the 20f1.8. I love the pattern its aperture creates for starbursts. I love its light weight but most of all, I LOVE its quality! Man, it’s a sharp lens!!!
And I’m talking sharp at f/1.8. Both of these photos were taken at f/1.8. F/1.8 for a landscape photo? Ya, f/1.8 for a landscape photo because the subject is at infinity and infinity has no depth of field. Now that fact won’t sit well with most but that’s the way it is. You don’t need to crank the aperture down to f/16 or more to have a sharp landscape photo. Just look above. And you don’t have to own the 20f1.8 or take my word to this fact. Just go shoot a subject at infinity and look for yourself. mtc
Sep 30, 2014 | Landscape Photography
The weekend was full of good stuff from chores to photography. When out on the property working, I like having a camera with me because you just never know what’s going to appear. 99% of what I take doing this just goes on the refrig under a magnet, just a fun memory of fun times. And these images belong there are well but hell, everyone loves a rainbow. We always stop to watch the sun set in the Sierra as no two are ever the same and they all seem gorgeous. This was no different so the Nikon V3 happily clicked away. Then a few heartbeats later, the heavens gave us a little bit better show. And that’s why you always have a camera with you because those simple life moments that make you smiled should be captured. Any photo you take that makes you smile is a great one!
Sep 29, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
Starring through the D4s / 800mm at the Red-breasted Sapsucker, I’m looking for those images aren’t the basic “perched” shot. This means looking for and picking up on the biology that might just make for the uncommon shot from the common. That is the main reason I’m shooting with the D4s.
I use a camera that shoots 11fps a lot to make up for my “day dreaming.” Often, I get so involved in what I’m seeing I forget to push the button. Then when reality hits and I do hit the button, the 11fps makes up for the “day dream lag” I suffer from. And in order, often to catch that uncommon moment, you need that rapid burst of frames. I offer up these three images as examples of what I’m rambling on about. The top photo, the sapsucker is looking at a Red-breasted Flicker that landed in the adjacent tree. The middle image, it’s watching Stellar Jays raising a ruckus about whatever it is jays talk about. And the bottom photo ….
it’s the one I like the best. Not that it’s a killer image, but I didn’t have a “wing stretch” photo of a Red-breasted Sapsucker in my files. Another photo I was really pleased to get but you don’t see it here, is that of the sapsucker fertilizing the meadow. Didn’t have that photo either but now I do. Coming up with these photos started with the subject, then the gear and the most important ingredient, the time to watch. Now crossing the fingers that he sticks around the next couple of weeks until the Apsens turn yellow. Another uncommon possibility for a common shot.
Sep 29, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
With that, I came running out to the living room to see what Sharon was looking at. Sure enough, the Red-breasted Sapsucker that first visited last fall had returned to his wells. We’ve been watching but we’d not seen him since he left last year until today. You can see the wells he drilled last year in this photo, they seem to be all dry and useless. It’s hard to tell so far if he is opening these up or drilling new ones. It’s sure fun to see him though!
I’m on the deck shooting, so I’m able to shoot basically at eyelevel with him. I’m shooting across the meadow so having to use the normal rig: D4s / 800mm w/TC-.25 on the Gitzo 5561SGT w/ Wimberley Head to get the shot. What was cool about shooting him this day, was it was literally cool, so cool it was snowing! Ya, the “rosie” whitish background is the background being diffused by the falling snow. Of course, that made for a soft wrap around light. It really brought down the light level so to stop the action and take advantage of that light, I raised my ISO, not my favorite solution. He turned out to be a great subject all weekend and I’m sure for the next couple of weeks. mtc
Sep 26, 2014 | Wildlife Photography
With nearly 500 earthquakes in the last 24hrs, Sharon & I wanted to see what the Pika were up to. I mean, you’d think they’d feel them just like the rest of us, so how would the react? This population is kinda unique because of their home on the slope of a volcano, with minimal talus cover and very little food. There were 53 earthquakes while we were on the slope with the little guys this morning, ranging from 2.6 to .3. We didn’t feel any of them and didn’t see any unusual reaction to them in the Pika. As you can see in the bottom photo, they live on a kinda steep slope. The cold snap has finally hit the Eastern Sierra this morning so the Pika spent a little more time sunning themselves before getting busy. Both photo were taken with the normal rig: D4s / 800mm w/TC-.25 on the Gitzo 5561SGT w/ Wimberley Head with the addition of the killer eyes of Sharon.
The top photo (a favorite with his shadow there) was taken at about 75′. At that distance, when it squirts around the rocks, by the time I take my eye from the viewfinder to follow it visually around the slope, I’ll loose it at times when it shoots down a crevice. Sharon’s great eyes help me keep track of not only where it is, but more importantly where it’s going. This is #4 and while we’ve seen it in the sand, the goal of getting photos of it foraging there hasn’t happened it yet. The second photo is of #2 (18′ away) who I am convinced is a ham! Literally, when we’re over with #4, a couple of hundred yards away, we hear #2 calling. We get over there and this is what we find. He hams it up for a while and then goes back about his life once the clicks are made. He always makes the morning fun! But Sharon & I swore we’d have rocks rolling down on us with all the ground shaking, but not a one moved. Since the earthquakes are a pretty common place thing for us, I can only assume the critters pay them no never mind. It sure is a grand way to spend the morning!
Sep 24, 2014 | Landscape Photography
What do you do if you’ve gone out for fall color and you find it’s gone? That’s happened many, many times to me. It’s really hard to predict weeks, months or a year in advance the dates when the fall color will be peak for photography. Mother Nature will do what she wants to do and with all the outside influences the last couple of years, it’s all over the map. So that amazing weekend of fall color photography might not be that amazing. While not as glorious there is some great photos waiting for you. Here’s one idea. Last fall, not only was fall early in the Tetons, the park was closed because of the government shut down. Talk about a photography downer. Finding “great” color just wasn’t going to happen but in some instances, just some color can get the story across.
The subject in these two photos is not the fall color but the pattern made by the Aspen trunks. In diffused or overcast light, the trunks take on an almost “glow” quality that along with their black striping, is very eye grabbing. The two tricks in making this photo is a longer lens and finding small amphitheaters. The gear is pretty simple. I shot with the D4s, 24-70AFS and 80-400VR3 which gave me the ability to be further away from the trunks and visually “stack” them up in the frame. The amphitheater is what I call a bunch of trees surrounding a clearing. It’s avoiding the preverbal “seeing the trees from the forest” issue. No, not the big, grand fall color shot but it’s making lemonade from lemons. I’ve got the feeling for many locales, we’ll be shooting more images like this in the coming weeks. Still gorgeous and just a challenge that will make our photography grow.
