The Path, Hudson Valley

I received the following email recently and thought I would share it and some thoughts that occurred to me after reading it…

I am an artist living in Ireland but originally from the Hudson Valley. I was wondering if it would be possible for me to use one of your photographs as a reference photo for a painting I would like to do. I would of course credit you and ad a link to your site as well. Could you let me know if this would be possible. Your photos are amazing! You are a true artist, Thank You…

First, I was deeply honored and humbled that she would want to use one of my images as inspiration for her art, and of course I said yes. But more importantly it reinforced the idea that technology has connected the world in an unprecedented and fantastic way that can serve as inspiration and benefit to us all. Sure there are the negative aspects to any powerful technology, but never in any other time would someone half way around the world be able to find me, connect with me and my work, and then share the results. I’ll share the final piece here when it’s done.

There is also something to be said for sharing and generosity in this age of limitless connections, via social media, the internet, Skype, etc. Your voice and vision is as valid as anyone else’s, your personal experiences unique and worth sharing if you truly have something to say. While it may seem at times that people worry most about privacy issues, there is also the ability and potential to share your vision and creativity in a way that allows the message to truly dictate the exposure. In days past, that was never the case, and your voice would be overpowered by the status quo.

Rocks and surf at dawn, Wallis Sands State Park, Rye, New Hampshire. F16, 30 seconds. (Jerry Monkman)

If you live in the northern U.S., you are probably experiencing a low snow winter this year. In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where I live, we haven't had any appreciable snow since before Halloween! The gray and brown hues of a snowless landscape can definitely make it hard for a landscape photographer to be inspired enough to get out there and shoot. I feel fortunate that I chose his winter to start a new project I call 0630, where I go out every morning and make a picture at 6:30 (you can read more about the project in this post I made over at the Outdoor Photographer website.) The project has forced me to get out and shoot, when I normally would have stayed in bed, and it's really getting my creative juices flowing and giving me good practice on techniques I don't always use on a regular basis. For most of the last 6 weeks, I've been shooting primarily 30-45 minutes before sunrise, so here are some tips on what to do when it's winter, it's dark, and there's no snow.

Due to the fact that I had shows scheduled on the weekends when Michigan's upper peninsula's fall color is at its peak, I really thought I wouldn't be able to do any shooting up there this year. Luckily, I caught a break as we had an unusually wet summer and a very mild early fall. The color was a week late this year, so I was able to take a few days and go up and work fall color.

We struggled a little with the weather because we had bright sunny, windy days. We did however manage to get some shots, but we worked hard for what we got. I say "we" because I traveled up with two good friends. Nature photography is often a solo endeavor, and I really enjoy that part of it. While I enjoy being alone in the wilderness with my thoughts and chosen subjects, it is also very nice to be able to share these experiences with good friends. The friendships and camaraderie I have developed with other photographers as we traveled the beautiful spots of the world is very special to me. I would say in my travels I have met hundreds, no, probably thousands of nature photographers, and as a group they are some of the nicest people I know.

Madison County Fair 4-H'ers

This young man was such a trooper; I could tell it was a bittersweet day for him as he explained with a little quiver in his voice how he raised his steer over the last year, feeding it several pounds of grain a day, and caring for it just to bring it to market at the county fair. You know he had been told not to get attached, but this young guy was brave enough to show he cared for his animal.

Prepping the sheep for sale

Fourth of July is right around the corner. For all shutterbugs of all levels, that means we are all thinking about capturing that most quintessential of Fourth of July image - fireworks.

Beginner or seasoned pro, here are some tips I offer to help you in your quest for superb fireworks images.

Out of all of these helpful hints, I'll give you an important pointer up front: do some research! See what various people are recommending on the net. Don't just read this article--read a bunch! Think of these tips as a recipe; there are a hundred different ways to make the perfect meatloaf. Pick and choose which recipes you follow. Bon Appetite!

Ready for my recipe? Here we go…

First, and most important, let’s all put down our camera(s). Come on…. I can wait all day… did you put it down? Good.

Zen Trees

Nothing has influenced the way I see in nature more than learning to work with light, and its many qualities. This seems to me like an endless process, one that I will never be able to complete in my lifetime. Yet each experience I have teaches me something profound, both mentally and emotionally.

Working with light is photography at its essence, where everything else is stripped away and all that is left is your vision and intuition about how to convey what you feel. I know, we all want to know more about settings, lenses, exposure, best use of everything we have in our camera bags. So at the end of the post I will share the details.

We are so distracted by the technology and complexity of digital photography these days, that this essence is missing most of the time. So here’s a useful exercise- put the magazines down, shut the computer off, put a camera around your neck with one lens (yes, leave the backpack home), and find your favorite spot in nature close to your home.

Then just look. (Feel free to substitute look with watch, see, feel, and breathe)

Observe how the light changes throughout the day, or in different weather conditions. Study not only what it does to the landscape around you, but how it affects you and your emotions. Notice how the same tree can evoke different feelings, and symbolize different ideas based on your own perceptions and experiences.

The same Viola Image as above but with a different texture applied

In this mini-tutorial I will walk you through some creative texturing applications as well as multiple filtering applications to bring your textured images to life. Adding texture to an image can really change the look of it. Knowing how to blend an image with the right textures and learning some highlighting techniques can really improve your final product and that is what we will be discussing here. Most of the things you will need to create textured images can be found in Photoshop, however there is a cool program out there called Dirty Pictures by Totally Rad. It allows you to very easily change out the texture backgrounds by blending them automatically for you. This is by far the easiest way to apply the textures. But convenience comes with a price. The software is not free it costs $149.00. You do not need to buy this program to apply the textures- it just makes it easier. You don’t even need to buy the textures; they are available all over the web for free. All of the textures that I used here are from Shadowhouse Creations they offer lots of great free textures and tutorials.

Choosing the Texture:

When choosing a texture to use for an image there are some considerations to think about. First of all you never want your texture to completely over power your subject. For example, if you are applying a texture to a dainty flower you don’t want to choose a texture that will be too strong either with its color or its pattern. Heavily raised textured looks can be very nice for the right image but a dainty flower needs a softer approach in my opinion. Use complimentary colors but don’t be afraid of strong contrast, just learn to use it well and you can create some dynamic images. Always try several out before you settle on one. Also some of the textures have brush strokes going in a vertical or horizontal direction, you can always change the orientation in Photoshop so don’t let that stop you. Another thing that I do is change the hue and/or saturation to suit my image. Below is an image that reflects a hue and saturation change to the texture layer.

Chipping Sparrow perched on a branch

Learning wildlife photography – Making sharper images – Part 3 – In this final installment on making sharper images, we’ll discuss a few more things to think about when you’re trying to make the sharpest possible images.

Shutter Speed – You need enough shutter speed to have a reasonable chance at making a sharp image. The general rule of thumb is that your shutter speed should match the focal length you’re shooting at. E.g. For an image made at 220mm you should be shooting at a minimum of 1/200th of a second. With an image stabilized camera or lens, you can generally get away with a shutter speed that’s a couple of stops slower (1/50th of a second in this example).

• If your subject is moving around, you need enough shutter speed to freeze the motion. In most situations, you probably need shutter speeds of 1/250th of a second or faster to freeze the motion.
• One of the big advantages of digital photography is that you have the option of boosting your camera’s ISO setting in order to achieve a higher shutter speed. Of course the trade off with the higher ISO settings is increased noise in the images.

Camera Support – Many photographers are not accustomed to making images with the aid of a tripod. They find them cumbersome to use but instead enjoy the flexibility that hand-holding their camera gives them. However, I am a strong advocate for using a tripod whenever it is practical. Even with today’s advanced image stabilization system and cameras capable of reasonable images at high ISO settings, it is still generally advisable to use a tripod to enhance your image quality.

Here is a series of pictures I made a few years ago. The pictures show the main stages of a monarch caterpillar turning into a beautiful butterfly. This group of pictures was made over about a two week period. All of the action takes place at the beginning and end of that two week period. Near the end you can tell when the butterfly is about to emerge because just before the hatch the chrysalis becomes transparent allowing you to see the butterfly inside.

I came home early one afternoon and found a transparent chrysalis, I knew that the butterfly was just about to emerge. So I got my gear ready and kept a close eye on things. As the day went on I could see the butterfly moving inside struggling to break free. About ten o'clock that evening I had myself completely convinced that it was going to happen very soon. At midnight, (twelve hours in now), I'm quite certain that the chrysalis is just about to burst. By three in the morning I'm seriously considering using a razor blade to perform an emergency butterflyectomy. Well, five am comes and I certainly can't go to bed, I had already spent fifteen hours waiting for this thing! I could not imagine going to sleep and missing it at this point!  The clock on the mantle announces eight in the morning, and still no butterfly, OK this is just getting ridiculous!  In the end the butterfly you see here was 'born' at 11:00 AM on a beautiful July morning, after I had spent just over 23 hours on stakeout!

I can tell you that I took a much deserved nap that afternoon.

Spring Rain, Hudson Valley

Spring is here, and with the warmer weather comes rain which transforms many parts of small creeks and streams into waterfalls. I find photographing waterfalls particularly challenging because it is such a popular subject, and light is difficult to work in this limited setting.

Here I tried to capture the essence of the waterfall, which to me is the sound of the water as it makes its way over the rocks. Of course the water has to come in contact with something before it can make a sound, so the bare  rock in the foreground provides something for the imagination, as well as visual weight to anchor the image away from the brightest area in the top left. The diagonals are all working here from lower left to upper right, as well as the background rocks pulling in the opposite direction – again visual tension and interest. Narrowing my focal length to this small section left the the rest to the imagination again, wondering where the water is coming from and where it is going…if it even matters.

Self Portrait - Hudson Valley

I recently received the following question from a reader, and thought I would share my answers here – hopefully they offer some insights to help those of you with similar questions.

“…I can’t capture an outstanding mountain or river view…I know a big part of that is that my camera is a pocket camera, and I don’t have real editing software, but I’m curious if you could give suggestions or tips on how to really catch a remarkable view.”

I have written here many times about the role of technology in photography, and as many of you know I am definitely of the opinion that it doesn’t really matter. Yes it certainly helps in technical aspects such as resolution, sharpness, clarity, and over all image quality. But in my opinion, the single most important aspect of any photograph is it’s ability to convey a story, and create an emotional response in the viewer.

Long lens landscape photography isn’t as easy nor is it as natural as using a wide angle lens to compose a landscape photograph. Our eyes don’t see at 200, 300 or even 400mm. Normal human vision is similar to the field of view of a 50mm lens. The most challenging aspect of using a telephoto lens to photograph landscapes is learning to see like a telephoto lens. Your goal is to extract small, interesting sections from a much larger landscape. As if that isn’t difficult enough to do with the naked eye, a telephoto lens will also dramatically compress the distance between foreground and background elements. Factor in the technical challenges of working with a long lens and you might be tempted to just throw in the towel. Don’t do it! Here’s why.

To many images made with flowers are shot from the front side, with  little imagination.  A flower has so many different angles that you have to explore all the possibilities.

Here is the typical frontal shot, and rather then place the flowers center in the middle of the frame like you see most photographers do, I’ve offset the center of the flower in the lower left corner. Because every part of this view has interesting designs I want everything in focus, so I set my f/stop as the highest number at f/22.

The next shot is also a frontal shot but I moved in closer and only included a quarter view of the flower center by placing it in the lower right side and making the image as a horizontal. Again I’ve set my f/stop at f/22 to bring the whole flower in focus.