Feb 18, 2011 | Wildlife Photography
I’m brutal to my group! With 20+mph winds, snow blowing horizontally, I take them out to some amazing winter photography! The challenge as I see it is to transport you who is sitting warm inside to walking with those Bison outside. How do you do that?
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp52901.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
There is a couple of things. The first is the color temp, don’t warm it up. Let the “blue” of the mismatch of kelvin and AWB give the image a blue color cast. Why would you want blue? Blue is a color that often is associated with cold and in this situation, I want you to feel that cold.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp53061.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
Next there is the wind, there is no setting in the camera or post that makes the wind hit you in the face. So then we can imply wind and let the mind fill in the blanks. In this case, the snow is blowing horizontally so by using a slow shutter speed, we can blur that blowing snow. How slow a shutter speed? That really depends on the wind and in this case, I was down to 1/45. But you can only see the wind blowing where in the photo?
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp535711.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
You can only see the white snow blowing in front of something dark, like the Bison itself. To finish this whole thing off, I think you have to capture a posture in the critter that we might interrupt and misery. I feel this bottom photo does that best with the head down gesture brings that out. Hoopefully the photos give you a slight chill.
Photos captured D3s, 200-400VR2 (handheld) on Lexar UDMA digital film
Feb 18, 2011 | Landscape Photography
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp49371.swf, 404, 600 [/swf]
The magic that is Yellowstone in winter returned and if all its glory! The 6-8″ of fresh snow greeted us as we were the first into the park (which we always are) and some drifts too big for us to go directly through. With the wind chill, we were down to around -14. This combo made for a killer day of finding and photographing crusties. What are crusties?
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp49481.swf, 404, 600 [/swf]
Crusites are my own nickname for Bison caked with ice and snow. Some see this and are amazed that a fur barer could have snow caked on them. But between body fat and the fur, very little heat escapes so the snow can stick. The one key ingredient to make this work though is some moisture and that’s where the steam from the thermals comes into play. In Yellowstone in the winter when the conditions are right, it’s easy to find crusties. This duo were literally right on the road. We simply crept up on them with the snowcoach doors open and shot a few clicks without leaving our seats. When you have this kind of opportunity, it’s time to do eyeball photography. It was a great start to a great day of crusty photography!
Photo captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Feb 17, 2011 | Landscape Photography
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp49191.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
We had heard about the fishing Coyotes but had yet to see them actually in action. We left the Bison in the blizzard, sun was history when we came across this loan animal out in the Madison River. Does he look miserable or what?
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp49121.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
We never saw him catch a fish but it wasn’t because of a lack of trying or camouflage. Look all that snow that’s pilled up on him from the storm, yikes! Winter is back in the park and instantly the photo opps are jumping out. I can’t wait for tomorrow!
Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 (HSC) on Lexar UDMA digital film
Feb 17, 2011 | Landscape Photography
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp46551.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
The sun had officially set, the storm announced with the Winter Warning had set in and we were out in it shooting. Yeah, that’s Yellowstone winter shooting. We’ve got a great group this week who didn’t hesitate for a heartbeat when I asked if there were up to standing in the blowing snow to photograph these Bison getting piled on. I just love this photo, I love the gesture you can read into the attitude of the two bulls standing in the blizzard. What a moment!
Photo captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 w/TC-17e
Feb 17, 2011 | B&W Photography
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp42871.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
We ate lunch at my favorite spot in Hayden Valley and watched winter return!
Feb 17, 2011 | Landscape Photography
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp41391.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been sharing with our Adventurers here the beauty of AWB A3. It makes a difference photographing mammals in snow. Today, Jake and one of those “what if” moments I so often write about and he followed it. It was a good one, something that I knew but never tried, until today.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp42131.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
Where A3 warms up AWB, B3 cools it down and if you’re photographing the frozen spray at Lower Yellowstone Falls, blue is a good thing. So B3 it is….
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp41521.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
Then bring that image into post and do a little finishing with ACR and you’ve got an image. I love sharing field concepts with Jake and then them working in the end. And his thinking of this, following through with it and sharing it with the group was the best thing yet. It was a grand morning!
Photo captured by D3x, 70-200VR2 w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film
