The Way We See It

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Tip #90: Wait for the Interaction

I'm the Boss, Got It! (Cervus Canadensis) - Jasper National Park, Canada
We watched a lazy elk herd for over an hour waiting for an Interaction
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS

Sometimes is pays to wait it out. Patience and endurance are a key part of every wildlife photographer's toolkit. Give it time, and you just might transform a good photo op into a great one.

Meddling Mom! (Cervus Canadensis) - Jasper National Park, Canada
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS

Monday, August 20, 2012

Purposeful Work

Sunrise on Lake Alexander - Lake Alexander Preserve, MN
Canon 7D + Tokina 12-24mm f4.0 DX-II

“The Crow Wing County Board of Commissioners got a standing ovation at their meeting this spring when they approved the (Minnesota) DNR’s request to create the Mille Lacs Moraine Scientific and Natural Area...”

And so the story goes...

Fortunately for me, I was in the right place at the right time. Having recently won a photo contest that placed an image of red-eyed tree frogs in the 2013 Nature Conservancy calendar, I mustered the courage to offer my skills to this organization that I so admire. After requesting a few extra calendars for my files, I suggested that “The Conservancy” (TNC) tap into my passion for conservation photography.

Flagged for only a few assignment thus far, I hope to contribute images that inspire a conservation ethic. Pictures can transform abstractions into realities and convey a mood where words might otherwise fail. If our work moves others to contribute their time, their money or their vote to the conservation of wild spaces, then it is purposeful work to me.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Tip #89: Look Harder

Sleeping House Boats - St. Croix River, MN
Canon 5D markII + 24mm f3.5 TSE

Building on my suggestions in tip #69... mine your home town.

Patience and creativity can transform your boring home into a photographic treasure. Every time I leave the house, I stare at the light and study the way it scatters about and reflects the sky. I’m open to discovery and will readily shed the car’s armor to explore with my feet. It happened just yesterday while on a familiar road that I frequent regularly. I was driving, I stopped to photograph a tree and instead saw a staircase to the water. It was a new perspective of my river; it was a place I had visited but had never seen.

In the Shadow of the Sun - St. Croix River, MN
Canon 5D markII + 24mm f3.5 TSE

It’s easy to become bored after traveling abroad or experiencing life on the road. Yet, there is so much to see at home if you’re open to creative thoughts and willing to look a little harder.

Motored Waves - St. Croix River, MN
Canon 5D markII + 24mm f3.5 TSE

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Tip #88: Fill Flash

Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) & Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)
Snake River Conservation Area - MN
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS + Canon 320EX Flash

Caveat emptor... I am not an authority (or even a reliable source) on this topic. I love ambient light and will do nearly anything to avoid a flash. To be clear, I’m not anti-flash... I’m a flash ignoramus, a neophyte who lacks the hours of repetition that defines experience. Thus, I suggest you take my thoughts about flash with a bit of skepticism and consult the following links to inform your flash technique:

Balanced fill flash, when applied properly, can produce natural images that appear as if they were made in ambient light. Small birds are an ideal subject for a bit of artificial light; a little pop of flash will define feathers, illuminate eyes and add dimensionality to an otherwise flat image. My fill-flash technique works best when the subject is in shadow and at a distance from its background. To consistently produce nice images under these conditions, I do the following:

Set the aperture near its maximum (in the posted shot I set the lens to f3.2)
Select the corresponding shutter speed that will allow you to produce a natural and “correct (see prior blog post about correct exposures)” exposure. When photographing fast and unpredictable subjects, strive to shoot at 1/100 second or faster (in the posted shot I set the shutter to 1/200 second).
Use an off-camera flash cord, radio trigger or infrared trigger to move the flash off the body. Long lenses and their hoods will obstruct the flash and create a distracting shadow. Additionally, images produced with on-camera flash often appear flat. By moving the flash off the camera, you can add light from an oblique angle and thus control the shadows.
Set your flash to E-TTL (Canon), i-TTL (NIkon), or P-TTL (Sony). These are the “smart” flash settings that rely on the in-camera computer to balance the output of your flash with the subject, exposure and focus.
Final Key Step... you must reduce the output of the flash by 1/3 to 2/3 stops (-1/3 to -2/3). With some cameras you set flash exposure compensation in the camera while other systems require that you do this on the flash. By reducing the output of the flash, the burst of light will only fill some shadows and add a highlight to the eyes. The retention of these shadows adds detail and dimensionality to the image without overpowering the ambient light.

Give it a try and good luck as you begin to use fill flash where natural light won’t cut it.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Hello from across the Border

Off Lake Road
Canon 5D MarkII + Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE Pano Stitch

We're in Canada again!...
This time we're with good friends on sleepy little lake in Ontario living a bit of the cabin life. There's no electricity and no plumbing, but there's plenty of beauty and solitude to inspire this contemplative photographer.
Cheers from the road,
bruce

Distant Storm
Canon 5D MarkII + Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE Pano Stitch

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Tip #87: Wait for the Moment

Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) - Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

The most valuable tool in my kit cannot be purchased in a typical shoppe; in fact, I’ve never seen one for sale. Sadly, this tool does not fit in my bag nor can it be passed on to another. It is a tool of the mind and must be acquired through deliberate practice.

Many years ago I traveled to Denali National Park with little more than a point and shoot camera and ten rolls of film. My little Pentax had a fixed 35mm lens, shot less than one frame per second and lacked the ability to adjust the focus or shutter. It was a “PhD” (push here dummy), a tool for the masses. I was a poor college student doing research in Alaska, and this camera was on loan from my family.

I learned a lot about photography during my eight weeks in Alaska, yet none of the lessons had anything to do with optics, exposure or digital noise. In 1986 modern photography was a magazine, and digital referred to the numbers on an HP calculator. Memory cards and LCD screens weren’t even science fiction, they were unimaginable. Yet, with little more than the ability to load the film into that crappy camera, I managed to find THE key tool.

Sunset from Moro Rock - Sequoia National Park, California

After spending six weeks on an island in the Bering Sea documenting seabird behaviors at five minute intervals, one learns to be patient. Long days in the sub-arctic, where the sun barely sets, offers the opportunity for focused and deliberate study. It was there, in a blind suspended over breaking waves, where I learned how to wait for the moment and see beyond the obvious.

There are many essential tools available to the modern photographer; some are fantastically expensive while others are more modest. However, the key tool for the Nature and Wildlife Pictorialist (see Gavin Seim) is endurance and patience. During a long hike through Denali with my PentaCrap point and shoot I stumbled upon a pond, I previsualized the way the sun might set, and I put down my pack and waited. That was the day I made my first image, it was the day I became a photographer.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Tip #86: Make it Your Icon

Canoes on Lake Louise - Banff National Park, Canada
Canon 5D MarkII + Canon 50mm f1.4 @ f16

We amateurs, lovers of photography, need not feel intimidated by the millions who have preceded us. We travel to experience life and we shoot to practice our craft. It is inevitable that our journeys will cross paths where masters of the art have walked before; icons become icons because they did it first. This knowledge can be paralytic or liberating, the choice is yours.

Here are a few ways that I approach iconic destinations...

I study the history and culture of the place, not the images others have made. Prior work corrupts my vision and restricts my creativity. I choose to be surprised by the unexpected rather than disappointed by the assumed.
Every time is the right time. I will visit before sunrise and shoot through twilight. Inclement weather and overcast skies are my friends. It is during the extremes that I have the opportunity to see and make something unique.
I play with my composition, my point of view and my depth of field. I strive to be excited by the experience and convey the excitement with my work.
I think about the print that I will make or the post for my blog. This gives me a purpose for my deliberate process.

Don’t be intimidated by all of the great photographers in the past, as there are many who are even better in the present. Shoot for yourself and make each icon your own.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Tip #85: Print Your Work!

Sunrise on Lake Louise - Banff National Park, Canada
Canon 5D markII + Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE

This is a message to the Weekend Warrior, Wannabe Photographer, Blogger, Facebooker, Instagrammer and Twitterati... Print your Pictures!
Back in the day, making photographs meant creating an artifact... a tangible product, a something that could be held, smelled and passed on. You are not obligated to relive your experiences on a monitor, touch screen or LCD because you trapped light with pixels instead of silver. If you want your memories to get lost on the increasingly tangled web or disappeared by a crashing hard drive, then keep on doing what you've been doing. But, if you want to love your photography and remember the physical experience of being there, make an artifact... and print it out.

Lake Agnes - Banff National Park, Canada
Canon 5D markII + Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE

In a future post, I'll share a few ways to get your work printed and describe my workflow for making fine art prints. Until then, review your files and a select a few precious images that deserve to be passed around and shared with friends.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Bow Lake... A Remnant of the Little Ice Age?

Bow Lake - Non Traditional View
Canon 5D Mark ii + Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE v1

These hot summer days leave me dreaming about my recent travels to Canada and the Little Ice Age (LIA) that was. I first learned about the the LIA from a 6th grade teacher who had a penchant for all things science (sound familiar?). A discussion about dinosaurs meandered into topics about extinction and the “current” North American Ice Age. To a desert rat of a kid in 29 Palms-California, I figured the guy was bonkers and let the story pass without a second thought! Thirty-some years later, I’m driving from Banff to Jasper on the Icefields Parkway and see a sign commemorating the “Little Ice Age” that ended around 1850.

The glacial remnants that fill the alpine valleys of the Canadian Rockies remind us of the ephemeral state of any given point in time. While the present is now defined by the reckless dumping of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and subsequent warming trend, I find it interesting on this hot day to contemplate the cause of a cooling pattern that ended less than 200 years ago.

Anyway, the period known as the “Little Ice Age,” was initiated by a minor geologic event that occurred between the years 1250 and 1300¹. A series of volcanic eruptions dispersed sulfate particles into the upper atmosphere and blocked the sun’s solar radiation that warms the planet’s surface... just a sidebar here, it appears that sulfate reflects solar rays and initiates cooling, much like carbon dioxide redirects infrared radiation that would otherwise escape into space, and stimulates planetary warming!... The effects of the cooling trend is visible in the European and Asian art of the period that depicts scenes of winter, failed crops and ice festivals. Furthermore, a study of Canadian and Icelandic icecaps reveal the expansion and contraction of glaciers, and succession of plant species that accompanies a dramatic climate change. Interestingly, recent research suggests that the onset of the ice age was the product of positive feedback. Specifically, volcanic eruptions reflected solar radiation which cooled the planet and allowed for the expansion of northern ice sheets. As the amount of atmospheric sulfates diminished, the expanding ice continued to reflect the increasing solar radiation and thus extend the cooling trend. Were it not for the industrial revolution and the burning of fossilized carbon, we might still be in an ice age today... just a little something to ponder.

Bow Lake in Black and White
Canon 5D Mark ii + Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE v1

The two images in the post were taken along the Bow River at Bow Lake. With an altitude of 1920 m, Bow Lake is south of the Bow Summit, east of the Wapta Icefield, and can be found along the Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper. On this rainy evening, the sun was obscured by a thick ceiling of clouds and a cold wind was agitating the water. I chose a vertical composition to include both the lake and mountain peaks. Using a variable neutral density filter on my wide angle lens, I was able to produce a 13 second exposure and capture the movement of the wind on the lake’s water. While I was amazed by the broad color spectrum on this day, I feel like the black and white treatment more accurately conveys the cold and dreary nature of the experience.

1: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16797075

2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_Lake_(Alberta)

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Tip #84: The Tips are Back!... Tools (Part 2: The Wildlife Lens)

Grizzly After the Rain - Banff National Park, Alberta Canada
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS @ f2.8

In Tip #83 I described my five (plus one) essential camera features for the nature generalist. Today’s thought will broaden this discussion about the gear to include my essential characteristics of the wildlife-shooter’s lens.

The Disclosure Statement: Selecting the right lens will likely involve a Compromise.

COMPROMISE

High-end and advanced telephoto optics are very expensive to design, construct and manufacture. This cost will be passed on to the consumer who will then need to justify an obscene purchasing decision (Cost v Justification).
Telephoto lenses, by design, have massive optical elements. To house these elements, the lens barrels are constructed from exotic metals and reinforced plastics. As a result, telephoto lenses are heavy, bulky and difficult to carry (Magnification v Bulk).
The most expensive telephoto optics are relatively fast lenses. In contrast to the best of the best, similar focal length lenses can be acquired for less of an investment if you are willing to sacrifice lens speed. Consider the following as one example: Weighing in at 3.84 kg, the Canon 400mm f2.8L IS markII can be purchased for the mere sum of $11,499. In contrast, the budget minded wildlife photographer might decide to spend $10,000 on an incredible safari to Africa and invest the other $1,499 on a Canon 400mm f5.6L or Canon 100-400mm f4.5-f5.6L IS optic. While the additional $10,000 buys the photographer two precious stops of light, it denies her the opportunity to travel and have fun with that camera (Cost v Speed).

Curious - Banff National Park, Alberta Canada
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS @ f2.8

Three Essential Characteristics of the Wildlife Shooter’s Lens

Apochromatic Design

The lens uses exotic elements to correct for chromatic aberrations. Non-corrected lenses exhibit softness where edges meet highlights. For example, consider a photograph of a leafless branch against a bright overcast background. Poorly corrected lenses will exhibit soft edges that appear to be frayed by colors like cyan or magenta. These uncorrected optics behave a bit like a prism and fail to focus each wavelength of light at the same point. In contrast, apochromatic optics correct for this type of optical aberration; the result is a sharp lens. Canon calls these “L-lenses,” Nikon labels them as “ED-optics,” and Sony describes these as “G-lenses.”

Integrated Tripod Collar

I suggest that you avoid a telephoto lens that does not include an integrated tripod collar. A good wildlife optic will balance nicely in the hand and on a tripod. The tripod collar has two primary functions. First, it is the point of attachment for the lens onto a tripod. By placing the lens directly on the tripod, you reduce stress to the camera mount and create a stable orientation for the optic. In addition, the tripod collar will allow you to seamlessly alternate between horizontal and vertical compositions.

Optical Stabilization

Optical stabilization will increase your opportunity to capture erratically moving wildlife subjects. There are times in nature photography where a tripod can be an impediment to your success. Flying birds and rapidly moving mammals are a challenge to track when the lens is mounted to a tripod. On these occasions, you will need to brace the lens with your body and shoot it hand-held. Lenses or cameras that include internal stabilization (IS) or vibration reducing (VR) elements will increase your number of “keepers.” Nikon and Canon have designed many of their telephoto optics with elements that act as a gyroscope. These moving element counteract your inability to be a stable platform for your lens. In contrast, Sony has engineered their sensors to move in a way that cancels out camera shake. While this technology facilitates hand-held photography, it does not negate the effects of a slow shutter speed. If your subject is moving faster than your shutter speed, then no lens can counter-act the blur of that type of movement.

(3 + 1) Weather Sealing

I know I said 3 key features, but I feel compelled to add one more to the list... sound familiar Tip #83? Many lenses are designed to be used in the heat, cold, mist or snow. Weather sealed optics have gaskets where the environment meets the interior and gasket between the lens mount and the lens. The newest telephotos being released today are sealed against moisture, and some lenses now include optical coatings that are scratch and water resistant. These lenses will expand your opportunities because they will allow you to continue shooting when others have retreated to the safety of a shelter.

Buy the best lenses you can afford... cameras are ephemeral, but lenses can last a lifetime.