So, have you ever been to the Grand Canyon? If you have, then what you see here probably looks familiar. Why? Because the rocks haven’t changed for a while, what we’re seeing has been around long before us and our cameras. As a matter of fact, it really begs the question, can we take a photo of the Grand Canyon that hasn’t been taken before? The answer is of course but more importantly, it’s a new photograph to us and that’s what really matters. With then in mind, the Grand Canyon is totally new but we of course want to do better than we’ve seen. This means you gotta simple put yourself in front of something interesting. That’s where light comes in!
Above is a click taken during the one hour prior sunset on our first day of our K&M Adventure – Grand Canyon. You can see the moment as you watch the Time Lapse created using the Time Lapse feature in the D800 and 24f1.4AFS. With the thousands of Grand Canyon images already in my files, just adding makes no real sense. But adding just a few that not only sum up the current visit but the magnificence that is the Grand Canyon, that makes sense. Here’s where that light thing plays such an important role. Because light is never the same, never! It’s this magical force that can turn your world upset down. The trick is to be ready for that moment. That’s why I made the Time Lapse. You can see during this hour that there are times when, the light really wasn’t special. Then you can see that moment when the D4 / 24-70AFS was the perfect tool to capture that moment of light on the down pour. WB is set to Cloudy, image underexposed and the final image, that one special capture that brings home the special moment. When somewhere where I’ve spent a lot of time, I put the challenge to myself that is pretty darn simple. Can one click tell the story?
It was our very first day at Luna Lodge, Costa Rica and we were in meetings about our shoots for the next two weeks. We were in the open dinning area overlooking the rainforest when Gary, our guide came up to use kind of excitedly. “They found a Two-toed Sloth and it’s really low!” The species (Two-toed being the harder to find) and being low were both the important part of the statement. “You want to photograph it?” It was on the list so we suited up with gear and headed out.
With the D7100, 70-200f4 & TC-20e3 in hand, we got in the Rover and headed down the canyon. In not too long of time, there we were right next to the Sloth. Man, what a cool animal! Not really much bigger than a watermelon, there is “sat.” It wasn’t going anywhere until nightfall so we could take our time to make the shot. There was a number of avenues through the forest to get the shot, I looked for the one bringing out the character of this unique critter. I had to shoot stills and video so I was busy. In my mind, the priority was the stills first, video second so that clicks were being made.
It was all going really well. In fact, despite the tremendous pressure I was putting on my self to produce, I was having fun. The one feature about the D7100 I enjoyed was the dynamic range. You’ll notice in this photo the highlights on the leaves in the background aren’t blown out, the camera held the detail, which made the shooting just a little easier. With the stills in the can (I shot everything on Lexar 64GB 600x SD cards), I moved to get the video. I needed to shoot both DX and Cropped video (New feature for a Nikon DX camera). So I moved over to capture some more forest for movement in the video since the sloth wasn’t moving, a hair! With it all set up, there I stood whispering with the rest of the group what I was doing.
The D7100 was on the Really Right Stuff Tripod / BH-55 just running away. I had set up so I was standing on the edge of a cliff with the tripod right in front of me. The group was at my three o’clock and the sloth at my ten o’clock. The filming was going great, really cool stuff being captured. I was standing there behind the tripod talking with the group when, all of a sudden….NO MORE MOOSE! The tripod was there and the D7100 was still running, but I had completely disappeared!
Without any warning, the edge of the cliff gave way and like an elevator ride, I went straight down into the tangles of the rainforest below! One moment I was looking at the gang and the next, I was staring at rock and dirt! I didn’t know what happen but all of a sudden, I heard a bunch of excited voices and hands grapping me. They got me up and back on top of the cliff without seeming too much problem and amazingly, I didn’t have a scratch on me. But I had injured my right wrist in the fall, fractured it (didn’t tell anyone until after we left Costa Rica). Everyone was pretty calm, making sure I was OK and then after a short time, looking at me, they all broke out in full blown laughter shaking the monkeys from the trees!
I didn’t get it until I looked where they were staring. They were all starin at my crotch! I looked down to see that my convertible pants had completely and fully, blown out from front to back leaving EVERYTHING hanging out! I mean everything! Well, I finished the video and we all got back in the Rover. All I had to do now was figure out how to get through this five star lodge and to my bungalow without embarrassing myself further. And there you have the glamorous life of a Nikon shooter on assignment for a new product launch on his first day….. and there’s more to come!
(Note: This photo was taken with D7100, 70-200f4, TC-20e3 and this is a Jpeg from the Raw file, no processing)
K&M Adventures is down in the Grand Canyon where this morning is was a bright, crisp 0 with the wind! Didn’t stop the hot shooting. This image from last night is a simple D4 / 24-70AFS click. What is “special” is that the B&W was done in the new onOne Software Perfect B&W! And I’m here to tell you, I ~really~ like it! Those who have followed me know I’ve been a SilverEfex Pro guy from the get go. Well, Perfect BW has some features not found in SilverEfex including color targeted mods. You might be wondering about a “Structure” slider that is so big to me with SilverEfex? Well, try the Detail Slider…I like!!! I’m in my first week of playing with 7 and so far, really loving what I’m seeing!
PS…Thank Eric for letting me use his hot spot…first time online for days!
I think this must be true of all photographers. Just think about it for a moment. You go looking for a new camera body or lens and most of the time, you really don’t know what you bought until you’re shooting with it. We set our alarm to get up long before sunrise and standing in place not knowing if what we’ve planned for months will unfold the way we want. Then there is the learning process, the evolution of our photography. It starts with just learning what a f/stop and shutter speed, a mystery that confounds photographers for seemingly a long time. And the list goes on and on, mysteries we go out with our camera in search of answers. So that brings up one very important question in my mind, “Do we ever solve the mystery?”
When you’re in Death Valley, you might make the long trek down the long dirt road to visit the Race Track. This is where large rocks have appeared seemingly from nowhere and then without any assistance, skid across the playas surface creating trails. Just how does that all happen? Now there are theories, working hypothesizes how these rocks skid across the dessert. But do we really want to know the answer? And as photographers, do we want to tell that answer to our viewer or as we operate, leave them with a mystery? I’ve been beatin around for over 30yrs chasing something with my camera. Along the way, I’ve come across a lot of mysteries which to this day, the answer still eludes me. This is why I tell folks I don’t know all the answers and, I don’t want to. That mystery of the unknown is what compels me to go out everyday with a camera. And if I’m really lucky, I convey that mystery in my photographs. And for that reason, I hope I never do find out all the answers because I think life would then be very boring!
01.01.2013 Pages are in the process of being updated. In the meantime you can watch our videos on our YouTube Channel as well as all Videos are available on iTunes as Podcasts!
On the second night of our Star Trails Workshop, I wanted to created a Time Lapse of the passing heavens as the moon set on the Alabama Hills. What you see are 1920 images taken over 10hrs by a D4, 24f1.4 AFS using “The Box” (pictured below). Key to this is not only the moon phase, stars and the passing clouds, but a big ass Lexar 128GB card and extra D4 batteries. After that, simply told The Box what I wanted, pushed the Start button and then at 23:00 carefully swap out batteries and go to sleep. Assembly of the video was done in Photoshop which, with the Mac Retina was done in a snap!
Now you’ll see a bunch of stuff in the Time Lapse. You’ll see the vehicles of a couple of the students, their little harbor from the cold. You’ll see clouds floating by to the east, planes flying through, the momentary headlights of a lost soul. And if you watch real carefully, you’ll see the Ghost of Moose as he walks to check on the students. Most importantly, you’ll see the moonlight which is lighting The Hills fade as it goes behind the Sierras. Enjoy, had fun creating it for you!
Star Trails, talk about bigtime fun! There is the challenge of making the image, the investment of an entire night for just one final image, and for many, the guess work if any of it will work. We had our first Star Trails Workshop this past weekend in Alabama Hills and the heavens put on a killer show for us to address all of these aspects of Astro photography. There are a number of star photography styles. There is the classic Star Trails that you see above, there is the single click “Heavenly Bodies” style you see below and Time Lapse encompassing an entire night’s sky. These three can easily be accomplished these days with nearly digital camera gear you might have. You just gotta have batteries, time and a desire to embrace a long, cold night. Above is a simple click, 192 of them actually shot over 6hrs using a D4, 18AF and MC-36. It was assembled in a heartbeat on the Mac Retina using StarStax which did a marvelous job!
Now creating star trails is fun, there is NO doubt to it! But like many techniques in photography, just because you can do it doesn’t mean you always do it. The top photo was taken on a nearly moonless night. It’s enough to light the landscape but still permitting Star Trails / Heavenly Body shooting. You can see The Hills in the foreground in the upper photo, that all coming from moonlight. I wanted to do something more than just a Star Trails so went to incorporating the moon in the photo. Even though a sliver of a moon, against the dark sky, it looks like a full moon. The best part was the flare it creates. I had the idea of creating a “syfy” looking Heavenly Body shot and have attempted them before, but none turned out as good as this one. It was a great night of shooting and a ton of fun sharing my passion for the Heavens with others new to this type of photography.
