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!
I created this simple slideshow to answer a common question of late about our K&M Adventure to Churchill. And if popular, I might post more on various topics.
There are all based in the beautiful Eastern Sierras, a region John Muir called the Range of light. A photographers paradise, it’s here waiting for you and your passion!
Sharon & I wanted to make signing up a little more special so for those who sign up for one of these workshops before 31 Dec, 2012 will receive a 22×17 autographed print of their choice (an image you find on either of my two websites that I’ve taken). Now, you can keep the print or give it to someone as a gift this Christmas. To sign up, give Sharon a call (9-5PST M-F) @ 760.924.8632 or 661.204.1506. Looking forward to shooting with you!
Here’s a couple of love notes from our recent Mono Lake & Photo Bi$ Class
The Sierra’s are an awesome location to photograph, having your insight from a photographic and historic perspective adds imensly to enhancing the experience. This was the best workshop I have attended. The kick off dinner at Giovanni’s really helped set the stage and alowed folks to meet. Focusing on shooting only helped us grow a bit at each shoot, I know I did. I really liked the diversity of the locations as it forced us to adapt. shooting Mono Lake three times really helped me. i know I said after the first sunrise that I had a hard time photographing Mono Lake but, the sunset was much better and I like the images from Sunrise better too. I like how you don’t setup a shot for everyone and we all shoot the same think. Rather, you expect and encourage us to make our images our own, very cool.
Tom Walker
fantastic Mono Lake workshop. I like your style of teaching and active critique in the field. I’ll be back!
Barney Koszalka
Wanted to thank you both again for a great weekend at your photo biz class.
Good news, I’ve been shooting a touring horse show that’s starting out in San Diego as the design firm that I work for is branding the show and we are using my images to create the show collateral. Yesterday our client emailed saying that they have the cover of Horseman’s News magazine. So while I haven’t sent a text photo package out yet, and my client paid for the cover I still wanted to share with you that one of my images will be on the cover of the December issue of Horseman’s News.
I’m putting what I learned to use, the first thing I did was research the magazine and I found out that they are the largest equine publication on the West Coast, printing 25,000 copies a month. Based on those numbers I was able to negotiate a nice usage fee with my client. Thanks for sharing all of your insight in the biz class and giving us the tools of the trade.
Ryan Skinner
It was an absolute pleasure to spend time with you and Moose, and to learn so much. Oh my gosh, that business class has absolutely changed how I look at everything. The night the class ended, I started a complete re-write of my 1500 word article (desperately needed), have started shooting new pictures for it and am looking for an avenue to publish it.
I am looking at where photos are used everywhere…I had kind of looked at that before, but now I am looking harder than ever, which is opening up my mind to more ideas and possibilities. I just can’t express enough how great that class was and how thankful I am that I was able to attend.
Kristina Jacob
Saturday we spent the day with some great folks looking at light. We went to the Great Falls, NJ to take advantage of this little slice of nature in the middle of industry to play with light. We worked with nature and with models, this is the very lovely Olena. This first photo was taken in broad daylight at highnoon! Can you tell? Shot with the D4 and 50f/1.4AFS (@ f/2.8), there is a Lastolite 1 stop Trigrip diffuser literally resting on the lens barrel just out of frame. This is right out of the Joe McNally magical world of great lighting play book that I learned from him. It’s real simple, big, wrapping light source in relationship to the subject. The light is the sun, a small light source far away. The Lastolite makes that light much bigger and wrapping. And Olena, well what a great subject to wrap in light!
Then I saw this killer stairway and at first, shot it as just a cool stairway. Then the top that Olena was wearing got me thinking and you see the outcome. I would have love to had more light shaping tools to make more of the situation. What we did was a real simple click shot with D4 and 70-200VR2 (@f/11) and the light falling on the sign. Really doesn’t do justice to Olena but she had fun working it.
I was very fortunate to co-led the teaching with my good bud Jeff Cable. During his session, he had Olena working this large wall in the shade. I mean, deep shade! Using though a Soft Gold Lastolite Trigrip again just out of the frame even though it had no direct light hitting it, you can see how it opened up the shadows and lit up Olena’s gorgeous brown eyes. The background is very important to me, so Olena was leaning in a specific spot and the Lastolite was not flat but bent and curved to sculpt the light to wrap it around Olena’s feature. What we did was a real simple click shot with D4 and 70-200VR2 (@f/8)
It was a great day exploring light. We started with fall color, then worked with our models and then finished up with Great Falls. The whole time, we were looking at light which, not matter if your subject is a leaf, rock, person or critter, you learn light and you can apply it to anything to tell it and your story. Thanks to all for a great day!
15-17 Feb, 2013 we’re pulling a couple of all nighters as we stare at the heavens and photograph the stars. We’ll meet in Lone Pine, CA on Friday evening to go over strategies, gear check and howdies and then head to the Alabama Hills for our first all nighter. The next day we’ll meet up long after the sun is up and go through our images, look at the different methods of assembling our previous nights work and get ready for Saturday night shooting. After grabbing an early dinner, we’ll go out for sunset and getting into position for a fun night of shooting and ghost stories. We’ll finish up after breakfast on Sunday morning. The price is $495 which includes preclass materials, instruction and guiding only. This is one workshop where bringing a sleeping bag might just be a must. Look forward to shooting the stars with you! 760.924.8632 / 661.204.1506 9-5 M-F. (no cancelation, refund for bad weather)
Just finished another great, fun Photoshop for Shooters class this past weekend with some great folks. They had some great questions, these are the top ten from the written ones they had to turn in at the beginning of the weekend.
If you bought a digital camera, why not let the camera do all the work and shoot in P Mode?
P Mode can be a great mode when you’re just goofin like at a party and you don’t want to think about photography, just capture the fun. But when you’re using photography to tell a story, you want to be in control of depth of field. The depth of field or better, depth of focus is a powerful tool in visual communicating and you want to use that to tell your story!
Could you explain layer mask and when you use it?
Layers are one of the most powerful and yet flexible tools we have in Photoshop. The mask permits us to add or subtract important subtleties to that layer and the image. When we make an adjustment with a layer, often it affects the entire photo, what we call a global change. There is nothing wrong with this. But when we want to target just a portion of an image, the layer mask is our tool.
When you are trying to capture moving water, what techniques do you find beneficial?
My general MO when wanting to communicate “flowing water” is to use a slow shutter speed. The question is what speed? Flowing or blurry water is a function of water speed vs shutter speed. I generally shoot at shutter speed between 1sec to 8sec. I get to those low speeds by a combination of lower ISO and filtration (Polarizer, Big Stopper). Once I determine the shutter speed I want for the effect I want, I rip off 30-50 frames. That because no two images will be the same and the blur of the water creates a pattern and not until I see it in the image will I know the exact one that I will like.
Do you have any tricks for keeping your bracketed photos for HDR together?
Whenever I do anything out of the ordinary in my photography, an experiment, a pano, a HDR series, the first and last picture will be of my hand. Just like in the movies that use a clacker, I take a photo of my hand, do the experiment, pano or HDR and then finish with a photo of my hand. That way when I look at my images either later that night or a year later, when I see my hand, I know something different will follow and will end with the photo of my hand.
How do you know when a photograph is worth editing or simply stands on its own?
This is a great question! And it’s a question not for Moose to answer about anyone elses photos. Photographs are a very personal thing, often a record of a memory or an expression of art. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to that. For me for example, my wildlife images must always stand on their own since I won’t “edit” this in Photoshop. On the other hand, my landscape images often see Photoshop to finish those elements that I could not finish at the time of capture. We should all strive to create images that can stand on their own yet not be afraid of finishing in post. When we push our photography to be its best, we always advance our photography!
I struggle with what photos to delete. I delete out of focus photos, poorly composed photos, and photos that don’t capture the moment—do you save only what you think are great photos?
If I saved on the images I think are great, my files might only contain 1 or 2 images at best! Since I personally don’t think I’ve taken my best images yet, I keep on shooting. The images I do delete though are only those that are not sharp. Every other image I take, I keep. But here’s the deal. After shooting for over 30yrs, I tend to only take those images I like. This makes the deletion rate a whole lot less than perhaps you. You are your own best teacher! You teach yourself by keeping those images and than going back after time and looking at your images. Look at what works, what doesn’t work, what you want to explore later with your camera. Keeping those files will push your photography forward.
Do you still use external filters when filters are easily available in Photoshop?
Oh heck ya! The subtleties in light and gesture you capture the moment you go click using a filter cannot be reproduced the same in post. The magic of light is best captured real time. Now is there time when filters at the point of capture can be replaced by post? Ya, either because you forgot your filters back in the car or simply too lazy to carry them (that’s me). While you can come close in post at times to mimic that real time filter, it is never though, truly the same.
When you approach shooting, do you have in your mind what you want the shot to be or does the shot evolve as you are shooting frames?
In the perfect world, ya, I head out and what I envision appears in my viewfinder. I tend to never shoot in that real world so I approach a photograph with an idea yet with the tools to be flexible to go with the moment. Within that frame work, incorporating your own style I think is a must and that’s where the challenge begins. We would love to be in control but we often are not. As long as you ask yourself, “What’s the subject” and than work the elements in your viewfinder, you will comeback with the best images the situation had to provide.
Was there a single thing that you did to improve your photography?
Shoot everyday!
What are the pitfalls of all the processing power we have?
Oh, we could a write a book in answering this question. The biggest pitfall is giving ourselves an easy out in pushing our photography. When you have the mind set of “I can fix it in post” then you don’t push your photography. When you don’t push your photography, your interest and love for it will soon fade.
