Oct 19, 2010 | Landscape Photography
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP5453.swf, 402, 600, [/swf]
So hopefully, you’ve been wondering about how when shooting at 1/20 – 1/45 I was stopping the action. This little bull wasn’t holding still, was always on the move. Under those conditions, how do you stop the movement?
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP5452.swf, 402, 600, [/swf]
Stopping the action is something I talk about alot in my new book Captured in many places in many ways. The most common methods are fast shutter speed (not available in this scene) or working with Peak of Action. That’s simply what I did here. As the Moose raised its head, it would stop at a point and for a heartbeat, hold still with its head raised. That’s when I went click. Regretably, you can’t see here that the top image is not tack sharp and the bottom one is. I only kept the top image for this post, I deleted it from my files.
Is there an issue with both photos I don’t like? Something else I talk about in my book is the subject’s appearance. In this case, the ears are back and that just drives me nuts!
Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film.
Oct 19, 2010 | Wildlife Photography
One of the cool things about Sandy Stream Pond is that you can get so close to the Moose. They literally walk right up to you and say HI! With that knowledge in advance, what do you do with it so YOU come back with THE photo?
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP5399.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
It was sad to see that now though, this has been abused by the public and now there are signs and a ranger making sure folks keep their distance. Even despite signs, folks would walk closer to the Moose, into areas they weren’t permitted and literally chase the bulls to get a better shot. When with the public learn. When a ranger says thanks for obeying the rules, I never know how to take it anymore. Am I a chump or a hero?
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP3559.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Knowing how close the Moose can come and knowing that even staying on the boardwalk like you are supposed to do, the Moose can literally come up and kiss your lens. So I took my 24f1.4AFS to make some close up shots with it. And what did I do? Totally forgot that’s what I wanted to do and shot with the 18AF attached! What A DORK! I did have the split grad attached by the DOF is way too much. Sometimes I’m thankful that at least my head is screwed on!
Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 / 18AF on Lexar UDMA digital film
Oct 19, 2010 | Wildlife Photography
You just knew, knew that with a blog title like that, I would be talking about my four legged cousins, didn’t you?! I’m often asked what’s my favorite critter to photograph and while there are many, this is certainly one of top five.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP5373.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
We were in Maine with our latest MLP Vinnie going after one cool mammal, Moose. On the east coast, one excellent location to photograph them is Baxter State Park and Sandy Stream Pond. So after a couple of days of being blown out, it was good to be standing face to face with a Moose.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP54081.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Na, not a giant Moose, rather a goofy lookin Moose but it was great practice for Vinnie who has never photographed a Moose. With shutter speeds of 1/20 to 1/45 (ISO 100 f/4 Cloudy A3 WB, -1 exp comp), perfect camera technique was a must to get a sharp image. The Moose never stopped as is normal on mornings like this. But rather, just kept grazing his way along the shore.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP5425.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Vinnie was hitting the hammer pretty hard. This time I didn’t take a whole lot of clicks but rather just watched with my eye not to the viewfinder and enjoyed the encounter. When I say an opportunity come up, I would make the click and then simply go back to watching. It was a grand time!
Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Oct 19, 2010 | Landscape Photography
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP3478.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
We headed out our last morning to see a gorgeous sun rise. It lit up the remaining fall color which we took as a positive sign. No matter what you have on your agenda, when you see great light, you gotta stop and click.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP3621.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
No matter looking up or looking out, in all directions it was gorgeous. I’ve been to Baxter I don’t know how many times but I’ve never seen it this explosive with fall color! It was just spectacular, so spectacular I could have easily forgotten out objective….for a moment.
Photos captured by D3x, 24f1.4AFS on Lexar UDMA digital flim
Oct 18, 2010 | B&W Photography, Landscape Photography
You gotta love mother nature. No matter what you plan, it really doesn’t matter because she is going to do whatever she wants to do. So the sign in the Appalachian Cafe was so true. No Rain, No Pain, No Maine!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP3362.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
The first day, we didn’t even try to get out, the nor’easter pretty much kept us pinned up. The next day despite the rain and drizzle, we made an attempt. We drove up to Baxter State Park and waited in the truck for 90min while the worst of the rain went by. We then made the short walk up to Sandy Stream Pond only to stand in the wind in drizzle. With the best eyes in teh business scanning the pond, after a couple of hours, we called it.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP3384bw.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Heading back to the room wasn’t an option so we started to cruise the park looking for targets of opportunity. We were pleased to see that even with the big rains, leaves still remained in some locations. So out we popped to make some clicks.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP3433bw.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Why B&W? The wet trunks just suggested to me that B&W worked better so, B&W it is.
Photos captured by D3x, 24-70AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Oct 16, 2010 | Aviation, B&W Photography
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPARRR29308bw.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
“You can always find something to do while you’re waiting for the paint to dry!” Being a year older then Sharon, I “waited” around to start college the same fall as she did. So I took a cool job for that year. Working in a woodshop where we had to finish the work, while that paint was drying we found other tasks that could be completed. I guess you could call is a work ethic, something we’re finding to be critical in moving things forward.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPARRR29318bw.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
So yesterday while sequestered in our hotel room because of the weather we had a couple of options. Yeah, we did take a moment to just catch our breathes but then after that, it was to work making the most of our “idle” time. Since I’ve been on the road now for six weeks, not all my images have been dealt with. So, I got all my Reno Race images keyworded (the only thing I do Keyword). With that really fun task done, I decided to reward myself with finishing a couple from a special shoot from the races.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DAPARRR29324bw.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
I’ve already written about and posted images from the flight, but before that all the shooters were provided an opportunity to photograph the very special and rare P-38s Lightnings and F7Fs Tiger Cats. The top frame is one of my favorites of the week because of the shadows in the foreground. It communicates the excitement of all the photographers able to photograph this special event. After that, trying to make clean clicks was a real challenge. The only real option for cleaning up the background was lying on the tarmac which is what I did (watching not to lay in oil). After that, the rest was cleaned up in Photoshop. So even though I wasn’t out behind the lens like I would have preferred, thanks to photography I could visit some good memories and finish them. Pretty cool!
Photos captured by D3x, 24-70AFS / 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
