MooseNewsBlog

Whenever I talk about this, folks roll their eyes like I’m selling them snakeoil. There are so MANY little subtle elements in the taking, composing and finishing of a photograph that add up to big results and drama. This is just one more to add to that list. Take a look.

Another aspect of this that I think about it adverting the attention of a shy subject. That beige, vertical line going up and down can really stick out especially if you’re wearing something dark. During the rut, the Pronghorn bucks seem to pick up on everything. Here, my simply looking over the top of the camera which was on a tripod garnished the look of, “Leave me alone, would ya!” Little things, they will get ya every time!

Photo captured by D3, 200VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

One of our Nikon Kids from Base Camp emailed in asking a common question, “what do you keep and what do you delete?” That’s a really hard question to answer since we all have our own parameters to what is good or bad. I learned long ago that once an image is tossed, you ain’t going to get it back again, ever! For example if you think that some day you might be teaching and need a before and after image, you have any idea how hard it is to go out and take a bad photo, on purpose because you threw it away? Hell, I can do it accidentally with no effort but on purpose? The answer to the question for me personally is, if the eye is sharp, I keep the image.

Then there is this image. The eye is anything but sharp! I have a lot of images like this in my file. Why? They make me laff! There are days when, well, I need to laugh and calling up my files of animal humor does the trick! They just make me smile. “Why you taking this photo?” Shaking its head in disbelief. This is no more then a American Robin looking left and than looking right and my shooting with a slow shutter speed (1/15). Life is too short to take everything seriously and if we can’t laugh at our own photographs every now and then, why shoot?

Photo captured by D3, 600VR w/TC-14e on Lexar UDMA digital film

The metering in snow posting brought in some interesting emails, I guess I got some heads a spinnin! There are some who are still a little gray about this thing. Gray, as in the ol, “If you meter a white wall the meter will expose to make it gray.” Yeah, if the meter is 20yrs old and not connected to a computer. Not sure why some still try to teach exposure that way when, in nearly 40yrs, it still doesn’t make sense to folks. Perhaps there is something wrong with that teaching method and not with folks (just thinking out loud)?

See, I look at this scene here and I don’t see “snow” that the meter is going to turn gray so I don’t need to dial in compensation. I see a darkish subject (the Bison) in sun in snow and know the snow will act like a giant fill card (look, no shadow behind the bison, all filled in).  I’m shooting with a D3 so when the AF sensor is placed on the Bison, the computer using its Expeed 30,000 LOT will nail the exposure. I ain’t gotta do a thing, just shoot! This all works for me (which might not for you based on what YOU want to communicate) because of the LIGHT and not the snow or meter.

Don’ take my word for it, go out and learn it for yourself, your photography and your ability to read the light, That’s how YOU learn how you should expose in snow. I have my answers, you need to not only find yours, but have confidence in them to the point you don’t worry about it, just enjoy and make the most of it.

Photo captured by D3, 70-300VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

“How do you get your images so sharp?” Sharpness is one of the first quests photographers and wildlife photographers in particular seek in their photography. There’s a very important reason why, it’s the 2nd thing our mind subconsciously grabs onto in a photograph in finding the subject. Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to have my own version of a mini-series here on the blog as I explore aspects of capturing a sharp images. These lessons will all be based on camera craft where sharpness has to be exact from the moment you go click. The 1st in the series is just basic settings.

We’re amazingly fortunate these days that we have camera’s with brains! Seriously. Personally, I strive to remove every “camera based” element when I’m shooting so I’m concentrating on just one thing and one thing only, the subject. The Nikon AF system fits my simple mind to a T (I can’t walk and chew gum at the same time). The new AF system in the D3 has become a good friend, permitting me to not really think about AF operation. Along with the M/A function of the AFS lenses, I’m able to make better photos, faster and as sharp because I’m concentrating on the subject.

There is no guarantee you’ll have the exact results from these setting that I have, but you can see what I use viewing this video and then this video. What variables change? The biggest being experience behind the camera. Familiarity with the camera makes a huge difference. The only way I know of remedying this is time behind the camera. Every day, whether I’m shooting or sitting here at the computer, the camera is in my hand so it remains familiar. The camera has to be your best friend, I’m a firm believer of that.  This shot is an sample of that, this is a hand heldshot of a Roseatte Spoonbill taken and it’s coming in for the night at the rookery. I hope this helps all those who emailed in recently asking this question. There’s more to come, this is just the start on this topic.

Photo captured by D3, 600VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

A number of folks have emailed in asking for a list of my favorite places to shoot. To be quite honest with you, my favorite places if I made them public, probably wouldn’t remain my favortie places for long. There are some public places though that I really enjoy visiting and I wrote about one in the current issue of Outdoor Photographer, the  St Augustine Aligator Farm (introduced to me by my then assistant Laurie). This is a really cool place where you can see literally first hand, up close and often too personal (hope you like white wash) an active rookery. The article has the info you need to work this great place.

What’s not covered is depth is how images like this were created. Would you believe that in the background behind this nest is a tangled world of branches, moss and a building? Why can’t you see all of that? You sure could with your eyes but the camera couldn’t. Why? The photo was all lit with flash and it is one of the rare instances when I set the camera to Manual Exposure mode, 1/250, f/11 to control the background so none of that “stuff” in the background would literally not see the light of day. Exposure is a great tool for controlling background, especially when flash is being used. The range of light from the white Great Egrets to the shadows was a minimum of 6 stops, add flash and raise the shutter speed and basically all you’re going to see is what the flash will light. Since I was at f/11, the light from the flash falls off so quickly, what you see above is all you’re going to see. In photographic terms, the flash was the key light, the ambient light was the fill.

Biologically, nothing really much going on. One of the parents is preening, waiting for the other parent to comeback with food, as are the chicks. The chicks crack me up at this age, the are so comical, so alien looking and so loud. And, take this as a warning, seem to know where the photographer is standing when it comes time to spray.

Photo captured by D2H, 200-400VR, SB-800 on Lexar digital film

Wildlife photography is so full of challenges, it’s amazing we live through it. But we do and as we keep pushing forward the rewards come to our photography. Nearly all of us start out with lenses with less umph than we’d like, especially when you compare them to someone established like me who loves the long glass. We started to talk about solutions to this dilemma in the roadrunner Moose Cam where we used basic biology to get close physically. Shooting with a 300mm lens at 8 feet yields the same basic image size as shot with a 600mm lens (camera body doesn’t matter) at 16feet (just compare my photo with Jake’s to see what I mean). While you can get the same image size by getting closer, your challenge of background control becomes bigger the shorter the lens you use.

Here’s a perfect example, a female Spruce Grouse photographed up in Alaska. We were out cruising for big game (my Alaskan cousin actually) and we came across this small group of grouse. They aren’t a very smart bird which is why they hunt them with a bow & arrow, you can walk right up to them. That’s if you go slow and don’t corner them. All I had on at the time was my faithful 200f2VR. Getting close wasn’t the challenge, it was background control. As you can see in this photo, we were in a spruce forest with light falling in places not making for nice photography.

This particular hen stopped where you see her. I slowly walked around a tree and got to where I previsulized the background I wanted. I then, and this you can only do with really stupid subjects, lowered myself to the ground (yes, my butt was sticking up in the air). With only 200mm, I had to put myself as close as possible and position the lens so I controlled the foreground and background the best that I could. I was about 9feet away when I took this snap. It can be done with short lenses and it’s a great teacher for cleaning up backgrounds but to be honest with you, I prefer the ease of shooting with the 600VR.

Make it your weekend challenge, to shoot something physically small with a short lens and yet make it big in the frame. It’s a great lesson for improving your photography.

Photo captured by D3, 200VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

While shooting on Saturday with Jake and Jeff, we had the perfect opportunity to answer a very common question asked in response to this post. “Please tell us how to take big pictures with short lenses.” I more than understand that the price of the 600VR puts it out of range for many, it did for me for the first four years of my career. My 400f5.6 EDIF taught me many an important lesson those early years, the biggest one was to learn basic biology and use it to get close physically.

We had a Greater Roadrunner on a killer perch out in not so great light. No matter, it made for a great shoot because of what the roadrunner is doing. It’s not just sunning itself, it has flared its feathers on its back so the sun can kill the feather lice. The roadrunner wasn’t in a hurry to go anywhere unless we gave it one. Knowing this basic biology permitted the three of us to make some cool images using big and small glass. See if this Moose Cam helps you make the most of your small glass (if it does, share it with your friends!).

All of us at WRP wish everyone a great Happy New Year!

Photo captured by D3, 600VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

Moose Cam by HF10 on Lexar UDMA digital film.

We were incredibly lucky to experience this past summer an adventure long in the making. It was so special, so amazing, we have dedicated an entire  issue of the BT Journal to it, just one piece running its entire 28pgs, The Greatest Grizzly Bear Viewing in the World! Wanta small taste, you can read a very small portion of it here. It will go in the mail shortly, we don’t think you’re going to want to miss it.

It was a whirlwind of a day today dealing with snow, end of the year sales, stuff! As I buzzed from one thing to another I noticed Jake setting up his 600mm out the corner door. I looked over to see our friendly neighborhood Brown Creeper was busily working the tree in front of his lens. They disappeared from the yard for a long time this year and than came back in big numbers about a month ago, but I hadn’t made time to work them.

While Jake was playing with one of his xmas games, I decided to take a short break and set up my 600mm to see if I would get lucky. Sure enough, a creeper stopped by. Well, actually came up the tree and stopped for only a moment to grab a seed and than keep moving up. Creepers start at the bottom of a tree and move their way up as they search for food, their long bills probing the cracks of the bark inch by inch. They are a really cool bird that is smaller than a mouse and just about as secretive.

Hope you’re able to get out this weekend and find a secret in your viewfinder!

Photo captured by D3, 600VR w/TC-14e on Lexar UDMA digital film.

So taking the Weekend Challenge a step further, lets explore using the same set up with flash being the main light rather than fill. Some who know me too well asked why the photos I originally posted looked so “bright?” I think they were asking about how even the light appeared, the ratio between the ambient light and flash so close. As I mentioned in the original post, the flash was at -2/3 comp. Let’s change that ratio and the final look of the photo. This photo above is with no flash at all, it was a dark, snowy and windy day today so not much bird activity.

Using the same flash set up, this time the flash was set at +1 and the camera was set to -1.5 stops. I’m underexposing the ambient light by 1.5 stop and letting the flash be the main light. Because of the miracle of iTTL, the camera’s meter figures it all out for me, I just have to click the button. If this math confuses you, set up a Teddy Bear outside and try it for yourself. Grasp it and you’re photography will take another step forward.

Photos captured by D3, 600VR, SB-800 on Lexar UDMA digital film

Heard from some of you asking what the fill light added to the photograph. Darn good question, especially if fill flash is new to you. Seeing light is a challenge, mastering even more so. I just happened to save a couple of before and after shots, with and without flash fill. The photo above, if you look to the left, you’ll see the left side of the trunk and the White-headed Woodpecker are in shadow. The goal is not to fill all the shadow as much as bring up the color temp so rather that I don’t have a blue-black bird, but I have a black bird. If it were a person and not a bird, a warming gel in the flash would have been the ticket.

This is the after or with flash fill photo, you can see a change on the left of the trunk and the woodpecker. This is because of the flash that is just out of scene to the left running at -2/3 stop under the ambient light exposure. Subtle detail but important to me. What amazes me still to this day is that computers are making this all work for us, not screwing with f/stop of moving flashes closer or further away from the subject.

List of gear used was requested:

• D3, 600VR on Gitzo 5540 Tripod, Wimberley Head & Flash Arm
• SB-900 connected via shortened SC-29
• C Stand with SB-800, SD-8a and EZYbox

Want any of this gear, contact my good friend Jeff Snyder at Adorama. Tell him you saw it on MooseNewsBlog and you’ll get free shipping! Hope this helps you with your weekend shooting!

We had a snow storm blow through this morning, perfect opportunity to shoot  a little and create a little teaching video. Flash is a must in such lighting so flash fill was used, but in a way you might not expect. You’ll have to watch the Moose Cam to see what I mean. Of course, the fact the use of flash isn’t obvious is the key.

What’s bringing the birds in like this Clark’s Nutcracher? On the other side of the branch is a suet feeder. It is attached so when shooting, you can’t see it. But the birds can find it.

And here’s the bird that’s in the video, a female White-headed Woodpecker. It was 19 degrees, quite windy and great shooting!

We heard from alot of you this week, alot! There is a real thirst for information about photography and in particular, wildlife photography. I’m more than happy to quench that thirst by producing these short videos to help the education process and posting them for you to take advantage for FREE but they’ve got to be worth my time. So here’s the deal, I produce and post the videos, you tell your friends to come to the blog. and watch them The more we see the numbers rise, the more videos (better quality than this) I’ll make time to post. No one is paying for these to be made, no pay for the increased traffic. I just want to know that the time I’m spending to produce them is time well spent. RC & I have a lot of new plans in this regard, up to you how much we act on. Oh yeah, you might want to see this video, here you go.

On a similar note, I’m very thrilled to promote my good bud Joe McNally’s new lighting workshop. I have no doubt it will be filled within a few days. I wanted to go but I think Joe picked dates he knew I couldn’t make. Go out with your camera and make it a great weekend!

Photos captured by D3, 600VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

Moose Cam captured by P6000 on Lexar UDMA digital film