Apr 15, 2010 | B&W Photography, Landscape Photography
Well we left Laws with intentions of going up to Bristlecones but the road was closed past Sierra View. With just a wonderful group of adventurers, I took them to one of my favorite locations, Alabama Hills. This is a locale that is never the same hour to hour and as photographers, it’s always challenging us. This afternoon was no exception.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp5206bw.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Now let’s be real honest hear, this is rock photography. Yeah, they are really cool, amazingly colorful and can take on any shape your imagination wants to assign, but they are still rocks. The challenge is, how to make them more then just rocks. It was a real challenge this morning because as you can see, there wasn’t a cloud, even a wisp of one in the sky!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp5207bw.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
I decided that since we had no shortage of blue sky that I would incorporate that as part of the design element in each photo. To do that, you guessed it, I knew I would be shooting to create B&W images. I enjoyed the challenge and at times, the rocks would win and other times, I won. Good to be pushed!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp5394bw.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
I actually really like this last image. I’m not really sure what originally caught my attention but I know I just threw the lens up to this arrangement. It’s just rocks, just a design element, but for me, it works.
Here again, all of these images, from noise reduction to B&W finishing was all done with CS5 and NO pluggins.
Photos captured by D3x, 24/45 PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 15, 2010 | Landscape Photography
We started off on a totally different foot this adventure, by starting our shooting at 10am. I took the group to an old time favorite locale I’ve never taken a group to before, Laws. We shot “late’ in the day because we were shooting the old west were long, dark shadows just fit. While I got one click I like, Fausto simply kicked butt. Wish he had a blog I could point you to, but here’s just a hint.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp5145.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
This one, simple photo took me 20min to capture. There was just one light source and while I really liked the light on these old mailboxes, the light source gave me a nasty highlight in the foreground. So I went up and down, back and forth, crawling along the mailboxes looking for the arrangement I liked while avoiding the highlights. Thank goodness I like the photo.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp5151.swf, 460, 600 [/swf]
What can I say, I’m sucker for color! Shooting wide and fast made it pretty darn easy especially since I didn’t have room for a tripod. I just jammed myself up against the corner and made the click.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp5165.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
This is not something special photo. But that 1ton fly wheel spinning is cool. The volunteers just got this 15h, 1 piston, 1912 motor going and invited us all in to see it. It was an amazing history lesson! The folks at Laws opened all the doors for the group, it was really great fun and so educational.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp5167.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
And the one shot I wanted to really get, I didn’t do so well with. The light just wasn’t right and I didn’t feel like waiting for it. Something on the to go back and get list. It was a great start to the shooting and learning a little about what makes the Eastside so special and unique.
With CS5 now announced and with the killer job the folks at NAPP are doing to bring to light all it’s features, it’s nice that I can finally talk about it. All of these images, from noise reduction to B&W finishing was all done with CS5 and NO pluggins. Before you jump on the email to ask me how I did it, just hold the protons for a moment. As time permits, I will get videos up for what are now “new’ CS5 techniques (which are up to 8months old for me). It ain’t going to happen quickly so you’ll just have to be patient. All good things come with time ;-)
Photos captured by D3x, 24f1.4AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 5, 2010 | B&W Photography, Landscape Photography
Last week at the Art of Digital (PSW), Jay Maisel had an image that was kinda cool and his only comment to it was, “I was so happy I captured a snow flake.” Wow, that was just down right cool. Then the thought struck me, “Hey dork, you live where it snow A LOT! Where’s your photo of a falling snow flake?”
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP5034.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Snow, it was snowing today and being stuck behind the desk, it wasn’t until near the end of the storm I remembered the challenge.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP5041.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
I grabbed the 24f1.4 AFS for this project. I thought its narrow DOF would help isolate the snow flake. There is actually one pretty darn sharp here but the problem is, even with the minimum DOF, you can’t see it. How did I shoot at f1.4 in sunlight? I dialed the ISO down to L1 so I had a shutter speed of 1/8000.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP5053.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
And in this photo, I have a whole bunch of sharp snow flakes but you can’t see them. And there lies the biggest and now most obvious problem. The snow flakes are white and against the white sky, you can’t see them. Duh! So, while I failed the Maisel challenge I feel I came out ahead because in the next storm, I have two pieces of the puzzle required for success. Doesn’t mean I’ll win next time either with that information, but I’ll be closer. That’s how my photography tends to evolve and slow and easy wins the race.
Photos captured by D3s, 24f1.4AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 1, 2010 | Wildlife Photography
I spent more time here on the Platte then just 24hrs, but this is how this 24hrs ended. It ended with a moral!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp5688.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
We arrived at the bridge to see this, gray skies with gray birds landing in gray water. Yuck! It might just be enough to really depress you. Unless you know better and have the Radar App on your iPhone. With it and some years behind you, you could see to the west there were no clouds. Gray clouds in front of you, clear on the horizon can only mean one thing boys and girls!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp4829.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Color! Yeah baby, five minutes before official sunset and the color started to glow. And what a cool color it was for a few moments!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp5714.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Then it went to the more typical reds of sunset. I felt sorry for those who left early, when the gray skies abound because I know they looked back in their review mirror to see this. Putting in the time once there is the easy part, especially when you’re already there and you have fifteen thousand Sandhill Cranes flying in! Mark even put up the hood on his hoodie because of the fear of being bombed! It was a spectacular end to a spectacular this 24hrs on the Platte!
Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-20e3 / 70-200VR2 / 600VR w/TC-20e3on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 1, 2010 | Wildlife Photography
The alarm went off. Got up, stuffed the sleeping bag, policed the area, set up the tripod and 600mm to the sounds of cranes calling outside. Opened the window slowly to see the cranes hadn’t walked up closer during the night.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp5389.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Now that might sound bad and if you have a short lens, it can be a little bit of a heartache, but time does cure it. The birds move about and some fly off and in a little while, there are shots to be made. Especially when the stragglers start to think about flying off.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp5540.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
“The Dance” is something I just love watching, so much so I all too often forget to hit the button. When pairs are forming or bonding, they do the most entertaining dance. The D3s was killer because of its video, I got some amazing footage! I shot the entire evening and morning with the TC-20e3 and it performed beautifully! The AF wasn’t happy with the gray on gray so I often manually focused but the images quality, well you can see it here. This isn’t the project I bought it for, but it worked great!
Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-20e3 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Apr 1, 2010 | Wildlife Photography
In my mind at least, the day starts on the Platte at sunset. That’s when the magic unfolds on a scale that can’t be communicated in a single click. When you can see five thousand cranes out the small window of a blind, that number is nothing when you know there are about fifteen thousand within reach of your lens!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp5307.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Our evening in the blind was capped off by a blazing sunset that lit up the world. The calls of the cranes which echoed in my mind all night as we slept beside them, they in the Platte and us in the blind just instills such an inspiration for these gentle creatures. It was hard for me to sleep last night, excited with what sunrise would bring. Let me show you how the rest of the 24hrs went.
Photo captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-20e3 on Lexar UDMA digital film
