The Way We See It: November 2011

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Tip #20: Converging Lines and Vanishing Points

The Earth is a Sphere - Costa Rica
Canon 1Ds + 15mm f2.8

I’m no student of art, but I know the power of converging lines. Convergence creates a sense of depth and dimensionality. Strong lines can transport your audience into your pictures.

Tip #20

Use lines to provide your viewer with a pathway to Walk, See and Dream

Monday, November 28, 2011

Tip #19: When You Include the Landscape, You Tell the Whole Story

Bison Panorama - Grand Teton NP, WY
Five Image Pano-Stitch - Canon 5D Mark II + 50mm f1.4 @ f11

While animal portraits excite the shooter, a landscape conveys the ecology of your subject. When photographing wildlife, put down the long lens and become a landscape photographer. Use leading lines to frame your subject, wait for a unique composition, and tell a life story by including the land.

Solitude
Masai Giraffe - Serengeti NP, Tanzania
Canon 20D + 300mm f4.0 IS L

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Tip #18: Take the Camera

Looking for Nature - Pasadena, CA
Canon 5D markII + Zeiss ZE 35mm f2.0 @ f2.2

Tip #18: On Business or Visiting Family - Take the Camera

Travel with a camera even if you’re not on assignment or taking a photo-vacation. Pack light by selecting a few pieces of essential gear, and embrace the self-imposed constraint. Having only one lens and a body can be both limiting and liberating. Take a hike with your minimalist kit or shoot from the street. Study the way small changes in camera position, aperture and shutter speed can influence your final composition.

The posted photo was taken along a walking trail that parallels one of California’s cement rivers. Known as the Arroyo, these sterile aqueducts symbolize a great environmental paradox. Fully aware that we are dependent on limited resources, we modify, manipulate and engineer nature to meet our basic needs. Short-term need masks judgement and thus, long-term sustainability. An eyesore in the valley and throughout Southern California, the Arroyo is void of native vegetation and rich with exotic species. Ironically, these concrete waterways are perceived as quiet retreat for those seeking to escape the throngs of humanity.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Tip #17: Don't Fear Post Processing

The Grand Canal - Venice
Canon 5D Mark I + 24-105L @ f16

Tip #17: Experiment when processing your images

Redwood Trail - Redwood NP, CA
Canon 1Ds + 15mm Fisheye

Don't just take pictures... make pictures. The final image is the sum of your skill as a photographer and a processor. When sitting down to a file, stretch the image making process by pushing the contrast, desaturating the color, or over-sharpening the picture. Now, reverse it all. Study how changes in color, tone and detail influence the final picture. Experiment with plugins and presets to match your final vision.

Sneaking a Peek - Masai Mara, Kenya
Canon 40D + 100-400L IS @ f5.6
Processing: Topaz B&W Effects - Diffusion w/Color

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Tip #16: Dress for the Occasion

Tree Study - First Snow
Canon 5D MarkII + 100 f2.8L IS Macro @ f16

You're not shooting the wedding, so leave your fashion sense at home. For the nature photographer, it's not about how you look, but how to stay alive. Dress for the environment. Selecting the right clothes is just as important as choosing the right lens. If you’re photographing a hawk owl on a -17˚day and you have the wrong gloves and the wrong shoes, you'll be more concerned about survival than photography. Dress smart because the right clothes makes photography in extreme places possible.

Lake Superior
Canon 1DS + 200 f2.8L @ f4

For more winter photography tips, check out this link: When it's Cold...

Monday, November 21, 2011

Temporary Tip Time Out

I realize that today's image is not a new one for the blog, but I need to resurrect it and make a public plea. I entered this picture of a red-eyed tree frogs (Agalychnis callidryas) in a contest and we've made it to the final round. Public voting determines which image appears on the Nature Conservancy 2013 calendar. So.. please give us your vote.
Thanks!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Tip #15: Take A Risk

Poisonous Automeris (I think) Moth Larvae - Selva Verde, Costa Rica
Canon 5D Mark II + 180 f3.5L @ f3.5 in the Rain

Repetition makes the moment of image capture automatic. The tools we use to produce art should never impede the process, but instead enhance the opportunity. Yet, the very practice that facilitates mastery can also stifle vision. Let’s call this apparent contradiction “the photographic rut.”

Yellowstone at Sunrise - Color Tweak in Aperture 3.1
Canon 5D Mark II + 17-40L

Rut - A fixed mode and course of life that is dull and uncompromising. Alternatively, a technique for producing boring and uninspired images.

Wedding Theme - Malibu California
Canon 30D + 17-85mm IS

While there is no one recipe for busting established paradigms or enriching a dogmatic pratice, consider the following ideas when you try to break free from those self-imposed shackles of mundanity.

Use your least favorite and most uninspiring optic (lens) for a week. Leave the other gear home and force a new type of vision.
Pump up your iso to enhance the noise in your images. Noise is reminiscent of grain and it adds texture to an otherwise flat image.
Suffer through inclement weather. Shoot the atmospherics, the wind, and the precipitation.
Go for long exposures. Purposefully allow your subject and background to become a blur.
Change your genre. If you are a nature photographer, try photographing a wedding or people on the street. Bring your skill-set to a new subject.

Tip #15: Take a Risk

Twilight Fowl - Rieks Lake, WI
Nikon D100 + 300mm f2.8 ED-AFS w/ 1.4x TCE Converter

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Tip #14: Tell A Story

"Damn Vultures" - Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Canon 1D markII + 300 f2.8IS L w/ 1.4x converter

Tip #14: Be a Story Teller with your Pictures

Today’s suggestion might seem obvious given the axiom “a picture is worth a thousand words,” however the story within an image is often cryptic to your audience. Distracted by color, complex interactions or the beauty in a moment, it is likely that the viewer will offer nothing more than a passing glance. More than freezing bite-sized moments in time, we photographers strive to paint a narrative with light. The goal, captivate the audience... create the incentive to take a second glance. As my own photography matures, so do my goals. I find myself searching for the stories in nature, waiting to capture the “decisive moment.” To illustrate this point, I’m sharing a seriously flawed image. The subject is centered, branches to the right distract, and the lioness is looking out of the frame. Yet, with all of its shortcomings, this was the decisive moment. One can’t help but ask... “why...” She is a solitary lion protecting a kill, competing with a pride to the South and frustrated with the vultures from the above.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Tip #13: Be an Amateur

After the Sunset - Crex Meadows, WI
Canon 5D MarkII + 30L f2.8IS L - 8 second exposure @ f18
A Shot Purely for Fun...

“Did you do it for Love? Did you do it for money? Did you do it for spite? Did you think you had to honey?” (© EAGLES - Long Run)

Yellowstone in Black and White
Canon 5D Mark II + 50mm f1.4 @ f16

Amateur - “Lover of” ...from the Latin amatorem nom. amator, “lover.” It is a word with no shame, yet viewed with disdain by those who are. Strive as we may, we are not professional photographers ...so why pretend? You are no less an image maker than one who derives an income from the craft. In fact, it is likely that you, passionate about this discipline, are more of a photographic artist than those who shoot for money. The amateur can choose his or her subject, pursue a goal and immerse themselves fearlessly. In contrast the pro, eking out an meager income, is often forced to photograph the mundane, work from recipe, and beholden to a client. According to “The PayScale Report” (May 2010), the average starting professional photographer makes between $25,000 and $37,500 annually. With experience comes a raise, but when the twenty-year photographer makes between $28,000 and $60,000 per year, one has to wonder if it’s so bad being an amateur.

Foggy Morning on Clearwater Lake - Ontario, Canada
Canon 40D + 100-400IS f4.5L @ 350mm

We amateurs can shoot for love and be passionate about our art. We are free from the hassles of a business and don’t need to balance the books to shoot another day.

Tip 13: Shoot it for Love, Make your Art, Embrace your inner Amateur

Friday, November 11, 2011

Tip #12: Shoot it Low

Baru Beach - Dominical, Costa Rica
Canon 5D MarkII + 50mm f1.4 @ f11 + Variable Neutral Density Filter
Shot from my Belly using "Live View" to frame the image

While life at 5 foot 9 inches might be typical for the average American male, it's not the only point of view. My nature photo tip of the day... "be the ant." Spread your your tripod legs, take out that center column, and get real low.

Tip #12: Change your perspective, get on your belly, and shoot from the ground.

A cautionary message to you wannabe beach photog's... immersion in your photography takes on a whole new meaning when you're shooting near the ocean!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Tip #11: Shoot RAW!

White-faced capuchin - Hacienda Baru, Costa Rica
Canon 7D + 300 f2.8L IS @ f2.8

Shoot RAW images, but don’t rely on RAW to save you from a poorly exposed or poorly composed image. RAW files allow for more aggressive changes in post-process, but they will not save you from your poor technique.

The image that accompanies today's tip was made under very challenging conditions. This white-faced capuchin (Cebus capucinus) was moving hurriedly through the canopy. Unlike the more deliberate locomotion of the larger mantled howler (Alouatta palliata), these petite capuchins jump nervously from branch to branch. Your best chance at photographing a capuchin occurs whenever these gregarious monkeys congregate around a fruiting tree. The subject pictured here stopped and hesitated prior to making its leap. While I would have rather captured it in mid air, I fear that the contrast range between canopy and sky would have made for an image of a flying blob. Here, the raw file provided me with the flexibility to preserve the detail between the monkey's dark hair and pale face. Had I shot a jpeg file rather than RAW, it is likely that the highlights would have lacked detail and the shadows would have been dark and muddy.

Tip #11: Shoot RAW images, but never depend on a raw processing to save your from poor technique.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Tip #10: Get out of the Car

Tropical Doe (Odocoileus virginianus) - Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
Canon 7D + 300 f2.8IS L

Tip #10: Get out of your car and take a walk

The car point of view is now ubiquitous with "wildlife photography." So common are these images on the web, I make every effort to avoid the classic "from the car shot." Images taken from a vehicle lack intimacy, are poorly composed, and exhibit a top-down perspective.

Think before you take another image of that roadside elk! Get out of your car, take a hike in the woods and learn how to approach your subject. Many miss amazing photographic opportunities because so few are willing to carry their gear. Images from a trail evoke the emotion of the moment and offer your viewer the feeling of "being there."

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Tip #9: Practice

At the Rookery
Shot from a Canoe on the St. Croix River
Canon 7D + 300 f2.8L IS @f2.8

Strive to become a better photographer...

My deliberate focus on the art of photography began after a research excursion to the Pribilof Islands, AK. I was a data grunt; a field ecologist gathering data about seabird species reproducing on two island colonies in the middle of the Bering Sea. My three years of research became a pivotal moment in my life, and laid the foundation for the work I do today. My responsibilities varied, but my interests leaned towards the documentation of behavior. I carried a staff camera wherever I went as well as my own Pentax point and shoot body. This was 1987, digital was a thing of dreams, and autofocus was in its infancy. The field kit included an old NIkon F2 whose meter had long died and a 300mm f4.5 lens. While I had a teenage interest in photography, I left all that behind to focus on my studies in biology. After returning from Alaska I hurriedly processed my Kodachrome and black and white negatives. To my disappointment, the images were nothing short of crap. From that point on, I vowed to re-learn the art and science behind photography. I spent thousands of hours studying images, exposure theory, and optics. While I know little about the physics behind the construction of a lens or the translation of light to bits and bytes, I now intuitively understand the essence of image making.

In 1988 I returned to the islands with a Contax SLR and two lenses. Far from proficient with a camera, that summer of research began my deliberate practice in photography that continues today. I am a compulsive shooter. While I rarely produce images that make me proud, I’m on a daily quest to fulfill a vision and translate my perspective about the nature of life for others to see.

Chicken
Canon 5D Mark II w/ Zeiss 35mm f2.0 ZE @f8

Tip #9: Practice your Craft!

Practice your focusing technique by shooting a familiar subject. Practice your exposure by shooting in challenging light. Practice changing lenses and memory cards quickly. You never know when you’ll be at the right place at the right time. Practice will make these mental stressors automatic.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Tip #8: Fill the Frame

Don't Touch - Porcupine - Pine Barrens, WI
Canon 1D MarkII + 300mm f2.8L @ f4

Want to make your images more compelling? Here's a tip... move in, change your lens, or crop it tight. The way you get there matters less than the overall effect. If you've got the pixels to burn, the focal length to narrow your perspective or the skill to make an approach... do it!

Tip #8: Fill the Frame with your Subject!

Bison Bison - Yellowstone, NP
Canon 7D + 300mm f2.8L @ f4
Cropped Vertically to Tighten the Composition

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Tip #7: Don't Forget Your Memory

Tug - Samburu National Park, Kenya
Canon 40D + Canon 100-400L IS @ f5.6

Tip #7 is a no brainer, but even the brainiest of us will forget to do it.
Always bring extra memory cards and stuff them in your pockets not in the car or camera bag! It sucks to be in the heat of a shoot, working a changing scene or miles from your cards, when that camera stops working and says "FULL."
Been there, done that, don't want to do it again... ;-)

Surrounded - Moro Rock, Sequoia NP
Nikon D2h + Tamron 180 f2.8 Macro

Landing Gear - Crex Meadows Wildlife Management Area, WI
Canon 7D + Canon 300 f2.8L IS + 1.4x @ f4.0