Jan 21, 2010 | Landscape Photography
My bud RC is not only a great friend (and designer of this site), but a killer sounding board. We talk about all sorts of things and one of them is HDR. Na, we’re long past the is it Elvis on Velvet or Art thing, but rather on how can we use it to communicate the wonders we see in our daily life. Applying it at the time of click in our mind and then see it come to life in the DD.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP7597.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
This photo is just an extension of those conversations. It’s a real simple single image HDR that is used to bring out and otherwise quite scene. It’s the warm tones in the century old cabin that made me thing, frame, expose and process this into the final image you see. You could call it no more than a fancy simple click because that’s all it is.
Photo captured by D3x, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jan 20, 2010 | Landscape Photography, Moose Adventures
After a picnic lunch at one of the best spots on the planet to have a picnic, we headed back down the road. We came around the corner when the skies opened up. It wasn’t for long, but long enough to make some really gorgeous clicks of a gorgeous winter landscape.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp1353h.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Now with the one frame success from the previous day with this new processing thought, I had to play with it more today. I found some images that didn’t work so well. I found a couple others that I was kind of impressed by. This is one of them. Above is the after, below is the before.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp1353.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
The extra drama in the clouds is what I’m liken and what I’ll keep focusing in on. Those who follow me on Twitter got this additional hints tonight: 1 camera, 1 lens, 1 click, no in camera or software filters and handheld. More to come :)
Photo captured by D3s, 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jan 20, 2010 | Moose Adventures, Wildlife Photography
This might sound really weird and contrary to common belief, but Bison in Yellowstone, those massive, historic herds have just not been around for the past month. The popular theory is the warm winter has left open meadows higher up so the Bison have had no need to move down to the thermals to graze. Not that the 3″ of snow received today was any great dump, but we finally found some Bison to work.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp1173.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Just after the sun rose (but still hidden in the snow storm), we found some lone bulls and with the knowledge of the day before, we parked, waited and worked them while we could. Nowhere near great stuff, it was good lessons in Bison biology (two main traits, food goes in, crap comes out). When this bull moved out of range, we wiggled down the road. A while later we were in Hayden Valley and there we found the herds that they day before weren’t present.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP7486.swf, 465, 600 [/swf]
Both of these photos demonstrate the one aspect of Bison in winter I’m lookin for, that crusted snow on the face. Neither one of these photos (bull top, cow bottom) is the final image I’m looking for but it’s a good start. We’ll keep working the herds in hopes of making that one clean, snow crusted face shot.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP7488.swf, 465, 600 [/swf]
And then there is this shot. You might be thinking this should have the cut line of “The End” but that’s not actually what I was seeing. The symmetry of this pregnant cow just caught my attention. True, it’s an ass that only a bull could love but I found it photographically pleasing. And I’m going to leave that and that!
Photos captured by D3s / D3x, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jan 19, 2010 | Moose Adventures, Wildlife Photography
Have you ever seen that photo of a Coyote frozen in mid air as it pounces on a mouse under the snow? Well right now in Yellowstone if a Coyote tried that, its nose would be smashed back into its head. There is no snow here for all tense and purposes! This Coyote demonstrates the hunting style when there is no snow, cocking the head and licking.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP7339.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
With that said, we had a great day! No, not a Bison to photograph. No, the sun didn’t make an appearance. Yeah, it’s literally +50 degrees too warm but it still produced some really cool images. How? Simple, you push the envelope, you open your mind to new ideas and try a lens you would never thought of using before. Yeah, coming back to the lodge in the snowcoach I thought to myself I didn’t do so well today behind the camera. Total frame count for the day was only 287 but then I looked at my images and now I’m very excited to go out again tomorrow when the forecast is for more the same. It’s going to be a great week, I just feel it!
Photo captured by D3s, 200-400VR (handheld) on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jan 15, 2010 | Photography
On our 2nd morning at SF DLWS (killer event by the way), we headed over to Treasure Island to photograph the city. The weather was perfect, the rain has moved through making everything all sparkly and screaming for a pano. The problem, it was damn early, way too early to be working hard and making a technically perfect pano. So, I simply swung the lens, made the clicks and took care of the slop in post. There, I matched up exposures, took care of missed water or sky and after a couple of quick clicks, this is what I have. Not perfect yet, but it’s sure is purty! To see a larger pano, click HERE!
Photo captured D3x, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
Jan 14, 2010 | Photography
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP7245.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Our last evening shoot was from the only view of the Golden Gate we hadn’t taken this week, from the Marin Headlands. It’s such a gorgeous vantage point as the sun sinks and the bridge light rise in the darkness. The famous fog didn’t perform as we desired but the traffic we count on was no disappoint. I put the camera’s ISO down to LO1 and aperture to f/22 to get the slowest possible shutter speed to blur the headlights. I shot in Cloudy to pump up the reds, underexposed by 2 stops to do even more so. Didn’t like the results.
So I turned to a simple HDR and that did the job with a simple 3 image set. I then applied a little Glamor Glow and called it a night. I have more images to finish from the week and a little video. I hope to get it up. Gotta a great photo contest to announce tomorrow so stay tuned!
Photo captured by D3x, 24-70AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
