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.
Find some light, any light! On clear mornings, I head to the coast, where I can use the pre-sunrise glow and colors to my advantage. Since I like to use low ISOs like 100 or 200, and small apertures like F16, that means I'm often shooting very slow shutter speeds, anywhere from 15 seconds to 2 minutes. A sturdy tripod is a must, and I really recommend using a cable release or the self-timer on the camera. Since most cameras have a maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds, you'll need to put the camera in bulb mode for anything longer and then use a cable release to hold the shutter open the appropriate amount of time. What's the appropriate amount of time? Let's say the camera's meter is telling you that F11 and 30 seconds is too dark of an exposure. Increase your aperture until the meter reads a proper exposure. In this example, assume that it now says F5.6, 30 seconds. This equates to F8 at 1 minute, F11 at 2 minutes, or F16 at 4 minutes. Put the camera in bulb mode, dial in F11, then trip the shutter with the cable release, locking it in the on position and keep the shutter open for 2 minutes. If you have an intervalometer (a fancy cable release), you can set it to automatically hold the shutter open for 2 minutes. If you include a dark foreground like in the above photo, you will probably also need to use a graduated split neutral density filter to hold down the exposure in the sky and avoid blown out highlights.
Pre-dawn surf, Rye Harbor State Park, New Hampshire. F16, 2 minutes. (Jerry Monkman)
On cloudy days, finding light is obviously even harder. I'm finding it's still fun to make long exposures on the coast like the above shot, but there's a lot less color. Though it's not part of my normal subject matter, city scenes here in Portsmouth have proven to be a good thing to shoot when I need to find a little light on dark mornings. For many of these urban scenes like the below image of the Memorial Bridge in the fog, I'm finding High Dymanic Range (HDR) software to be a huge help. For this image, I locked my camera into the tripod and shot three exposures at F16, 2-stops apart: 4 seconds, 15 seconds, and 30 seconds. The combination of the three exposures captured detail in both the dark recesses behind the buildings and in the bright lights. I used Nik HDR Efex Pro to combine the three shots into one.
The Memorial Bridge in the fog, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. HDR. (Jerry and Marcy Monkman)
Trees silhouetted against the morning sky at Odiorne Point State Park in Rye, New Hampshire. F11, 3.2 seconds. (Jerry and Marcy Monkman)
Another technique I like to use when a "normal" shot might not work because of mediocre light or so-so subject matter is to purposefully blur the photo to create an abstract composition. For the above shot of trees against a pre-dawn sky, I used a shutter speed of 3.2 seconds and moved the camera up while the shutter was open. This is a really fun technique because you never know exactly what you're going to get. In addition to moving the camera up and down, you can try moving it horizontally or diagonally as well.
Captain Tobias Lear's 1781 tombsone in the Point of Graves Burying Ground in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. F4, 15 seconds (Jerry and Marcy Monkman)
Of course, you can always add your own light with flash, or as I did in the above photo, with a flashlight. "Light painting" with a flashlight is as easy as waving the flashlight across your subject during the exposure. For this shot, I just used a basic maglight that I bought at the local hardware store, and painted the tombstones during a 15 second exposure. I love the skull and crossbones, by the way.
I am enjoying shooting at this time quite a bit. Most days, I'm done shooting before the sun even comes up so I can go about my normal daily routine. I was actually startled to see the sun come on Saturday when I lingered longer than usual, and I have been so accustomed to shooting in the dark, that I wasn't sure what to do with all that light!
The forecast is calling for a little snow tonight, but hopefully this post has given you some ideas of what to do on those dark, snow-free, winter days.
With the snow coming in (here in the Northeast U.S. anyway), it seems like a good time to review some winter photography tips.
1) Stay powered. Cold temperatures reduce the length of time your camera's batteries will function. Always bring a spare or two, and use power-sapping features like auto focus, live view, and LCD playback sparingly.
2) Stay dry. Keep snow away from your camera and lenses as much as possible. While dry, fluffy snow isn't as bad as rain on your equipment, you should still blow or wipe it from your gear whenever necessary. Also, never bring a camera and lenses directly into a warm environment after it has been out in the cold. Pack them in your camera bag or plastic bags before heading inside and let them warm up to room temperature before taking them out. Otherwise, moisture will condense on the glass and metal surfaces, potentially damaging your gear.
3) Expose for your highlights – the snow. A snowy landscape will often throw off a camera's meter, sometimes to the point of underexposing your photo as much as two stops. When shooting in winter, take a test shot and check your histogram. You should have pixels stretching almost to the right side of the graph in order to ensure properly exposed snow. If you don't, add light to your exposures by using a slower shutter speed. However, if your histogram spikes on the right side (you'll probably have the blinkies too), then your photo is overexposed and you need to use a faster shutter speed.
4) When the snow is falling, try a variety of shutter speeds. A shutter speed of 1/250 second or faster will stop the motion of falling snow – if that's the look you want. For a streaky snow, use a shutter speed between 1/125 and 1/30 second, but slower than that and the snow may blur completely away and look more like fog than snow.
5) Get out in the good light. Just like during other times of year, shooting during the "Golden Hour" around sunrise and sunset will result in more opportunities for photos with interesting shadows and textures, warmer tones, and more colorful skies.
Dawn in winter in New Hampshire
For those of you looking for some winter photo instruction, I'll be leading a 3-day winter photography workshop in the White Mountains at the AMC Highland Center, Feb 10 -12, 2012.
Let me know if you have any winter photo questions, or tips of your own.
Until next time…
-Jerry
Find out more about Jerry at his website, and follow him on Twitter at @jerrymonkman
If you were to talk to many of my workshop attendees and they will tell you there are a few things I really espouse throughout the workshop, hopefully not to the point that its information overload. One of these techniques is DEPTH of FIELD. Some of of my attendees did not know what depth of field is, let alone how to achieve it. Some didn’t understand it and others thought it too complicated and therefore have never mastered the techniques. Well, it’s not complicated at all, once you understand it, and perhaps this essay will help explain it to you in as easy terms possible. I will state that Depth of Field is essential in every form of photography and must be understood and applied.
So, what exactly is depth of field? Simply, it is the amount of detail, within the image that is in focus. You, the photographer must decide on how much depth of field (DOF) is desired. Do you want the entire image in focus? Do you want the background out of focus ( often referred to as blown out—-I don’t really like that term as “blown out” might refer to overexposed, not out of focus).
Once you make the decision on how much of the image you want in focus, you must understand the technique that must be used to achieve your goals.
Decisions on setting to attain Depth of field are:
The F-Stop (see below) chosen to make the image
The focal length of the lens
Subject size (the depth of field decreases as you decrease the lens/subject distance
How far away is the subject?
LENS OPTIONS
Choosing a lens will have a dramatic effect on your depth of field. Lenses below the 60mm range are capable of attaining a large depth of field. (wide angle lenses) The DOF affect attained with lenses above 60mm will be less and when combining a 160mm+ lens on a DSLR, perfect Depth of field is virtually impossible. This is a principle of physics.
This old barn was photographed at F16 using a 80-200mm lens at 140mm. Notice the inability to make the background perfectly sharp
After reading this article, when in the field, try attaining a sharp image front to back with a 200mm lens on a DSLR. You will quickly see that it is impossible, due to the way the plane of the lens lies on the camera. It’s nothing you did wrong as long as the majority of the image is in focus. I’ll discuss options to attain DOF when using long lenses later.
CHOOSING APERTURE
I’ll try making this as simple as possible, but you need to understand exactly what aperture is, in order to be successful attaining proper Depth of field.
The aperture setting refers to the hole that the light passes through when the shutter opens, similar to the iris in our eyes. You can change this setting in camera. These settings are referred to as F stops. F-stop is the focal length divided by the diameter of the lens. F stops are typically written as F/4 etc.. meaning focal-length over 4 or focal-length divided by four.
Each F stop one lets in 1/2 as much light as the previous one. The progression of F-stops, 1 – 1.4 – 2 – 2.8 – 4 – 5.6 – 8 – 11 – 16 – 22 – 32, are powers of the square root of 2.
In the field, you decide on how you want your image to appear. Do you want the image to be sharp front to back or do you want a sharp subject and less sharp background. If you make the decision to make the background less sharp, to accentuate the subject, what level of “unsharpened” do you want the background to be? (This is why we need to think when we photograph… slow down and calculate what you are trying to attain in each image).
Think about this…Not all great landscape images are shot at F22 !
Aperture setting dictates what shutter speed you have. F8 at a 125th sec is exactly the same exposure as… F at 11/ 60th … or … F5.6 at 250th sec… however the aperture (F stop settings) determine the depth of field.
Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Oregon Coast aperture=F16
Same as on Left aperture= F 5.6
F 16
F 5.6
Which do you like?.. It’s really up to you!
Considerations:
1) On a windy day, shooting at F16 or F22 can you attain a shutter speed high enough to freeze the blowing grasses?
2) If a scene is too dark and you need a large Depth of field (F22) meter open enough to focus, then adjust the shutter speed for the aperture you want.
The rule of thumb is, the larger the F stop (F16), the smaller the aperture, and the more Depth of field you have. Conversely, the smaller the F stop (F4), the larger the aperture, and the less depth of field. Yes, there are counterintuitive to our thinking but you’ll get used to how these setting work pretty quickly.
SETTING THE DEPTH OF FIELD
USE YOUR DOF BUTTON !!
I strongly recommend that nature photographers use only two modes to make photographs on their camera. These are the manual mode or aperture priority mode
I strongly recommend that if you do not have a camera with a depth of field preview button, look to upgrade to one that does. This button is invaluable… What it does is that it stops the lens down to the shooting aperture and shows you, through the viewfinder how the depth of field will appear in the photograph. Without this button , when looking through your lens you’re looking at the widest aperture the lens will provide, not the depth of field that the aperture setting you’ve chosen will represent.
Note:—if your camera is set in the AUTO FOCUS mode——your camera will negate all your hard work setting the DOF manually. A while ago, I was conducting a workshop and a participant asked why when he focus correctly, and uses his Depthof Field Button (DOF) to check his DOF and his images still turn out blurry. Well he had his camera set to auto focus, and when he pressed down on the shutter release the lens went into auto focus mode, thus canceling out all the work he did manually to create the image he wanted.
Here is an easy technique to make images sharp from front to back, (remember this is a discussion when using lenses under 60mm!)
“OK, AT F16 my viewfinder is so dark when the DOF button is pressed that I can’ t see the image, let alone the adjust of the depth of field”
At small apertures like F11, F16 the viewfinder does becomes too dark while depressing the DOF preview button.
Here how to make it work!
Set your aperture to F8 or to a setting you can see the image through the viewfinder while depressing the DOF Preview button.
Focus just above the 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the frame on a subject closest to you, and then fine tune the focus, looking into the image itself, checking the background for depth of field.
If this area is in focus, you have a great chance of the entire image being in focus when resetting the aperture to F16, or even F22
Having done that accurately, I the reset my aperture to F16 or higher and make the photograph
Some cameras have a zoom capability in playback. Zoom in, using the LCD on the back of the camera on the background to check for sharpness.
To make a photograph using a subject that is sharp with an unsharp background you must
300mm lens at F8
1) Use your depth of field preview button to focus on the subject
2) Set your aperture where you want it to attain the desired background, probably less than n F8
To me this technique is a bit easier than having the entire image in sharp focus. I love photographing wildflowers with a long lens (300mm) to really make the flower the subject stand out, and make the background unfocused.( the longer the focal length lens, the more you can really make the background blurred out.).
OTHER HELP FULL HINTS to ATTAIN PROPER DOF
this image was made up of 7 images combined using Helicon Focus
1) There is a program available called Helicon Focus. Helicon Focus is a program that creates one completely focused image from several partially focused images by combining the images (you can use an unlimited amount of images) into one focused image. The program is designed for macro photography, micro photography and hyper focal landscape photography to cope with the shallow depth-of-field problem. Helicon Focus also aligns images as objects often change their size and position from shot to shot. This function is especially important for macro photography but works quite well in certain conditions in landscape photography as well. I am very impressed on how easy the software is to use. The software can be downloaded right off the web site www.heliconsoft.com.
It’s been my experience that you really need to know in advance, in the field if you will be shooting using the HF program. Not all images will lend themselves for Helicon Focus. Any movement at all will ruin the otherwise great results. This is a good tool to use when using longer focal length lenses, however all lenses qualify if the criteria of: 1) light not changing and 2) the subject matter is not moving is met.
2) Not too long ago, lens manufacturers used to include depth of field guide marks on their lenses… but not any more. If you would like a handy little replacement for these marks, something that will let you can download Depth of Field calculators and determine the settings and effects of different focal lengths and aperture settings via the web and smart phone’s. I do not use these.(I’ll explain later)
3) I’ve seen folks with a depth of field calculator. I don‘t know who makes it but it’s a wheel that after you put in your aperture & shutter speeds, it will tell you how many feet out you need to focus. Again unnecessary.
Why do I think # 2 & 3 are unnecessary? Probably sometimes when the light is constant and you do have the time to figure these applications out they might be useful. Consider these 2 factors; 1) are you capable of gauging exactly how far, say 23 feet is from your camera? I don’t think I can. I may be at 24 or 22 feet or even further away from the target. 2) More importantly, during sunrise, sunset, the light is changing, you don’t have time to be there holding your smart phone, changing the aperture with the light, seeing out a reading that you probably can’t be accurate on anyway. You’ll miss the shot, or get it wrong. Try the method of focusing 1/3rd up from the bottom, it will work very accurately, once you get used to it.
4) Look into shooting large format cameras. These cameras, because of how their lenses work in relationship to the camera, and some other factors, will attain a large amount of depth of field using longer focal lengths.
Understanding and using these techniques are primary in your ability to make images the way you desire. Like anything else it takes practice and understanding of the concepts.
F22
F 5.6
Read more about Jack on his website here, and learn about his workshops here.
Purple Finch on the branch of a Spruce Tree - Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 500mm F4L IS, Canon 1.4x & 2.0x Extender II, @1400mm - Gitzo 3541XLS with Jobu Design BWG-Pro Gimbal Head
Sitting in my living room, I suddenly heard an extremely enjoyable and melodious tone from outside. Hearing it repeated a few times over about 15 minutes was finally enough to lift my sorry carcass off of the couch and out onto the back patio. I discovered a male Purple Finch (he of the melodious tunes) along with a female partner going about the process of building a nest in the Spruce Tree just outside of the back door of my home.
I ran to get my tripod (a Gitzo 3541XLS with a Jobu Design BWG-Pro Gimbal head attached) and set it up with my Canon 500mm F4L IS lens attached along with the 1.4x Extender II that is pretty much welded to the lens. I say welded because if you do much wildlife photography at all you know that there is rarely such a thing as too big of a lens.
I took some shots of the joyful little singer but discovered that (and as is often the case with the little song birds) that he just wasn’t filling the view finder the way I wanted. And with that 1.4x teleconverter attached to the 500mm lens I was already shooting at the maximum minimum aperture for my 5D Mark II, F5.6; assuming I wanted to use autofocus. I have a 2.0x teleconverter too and thought briefly about just throwing that on and making the best of things with manual focus.
However, I recalled an experiment I did a couple of years ago with my 500mm lens paired with BOTH the 1.4x and 2.0x teleconverters (also known as stacking teleconverters) which yielded a 1400mm focal length at F11 as the largest aperture. I was able to achieve really good results shooting with enough light and stopping down about 2/3 of a stop from F11.
I set up the combination on the tripod. The main trick when you use a setup like this is focusing. And, if you’re going to need to focus on some sort of moving object, forget about it, it’s just too touch. But with a subject like this, who upon returning to the tree that his female partner is building a nest in (she does all the work; he just accompanies her on her travels lest her attentions wander to a rival) would happily choose a branch and perch on it whilst singing his little heart out. This would allow me the time required to manually focus on him.
Purple Finch singing from the branch of a Spruce Tree - Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 500mm F4L IS, Canon 1.4x & 2.0x Extender II, @1400mm - Gitzo 3541XLS with Jobu Design BWG-Pro Gimbal Head
But still, another problem. I don’t know about you, but my 45 year old eyes have a lot of trouble looking through the viewfinder and finding critical sharpness. It can look sharp in the viewfinder but that often leads to disappointment in the cruel light from my monitor while developing the images. So I used a trick I’ve used for my snowflake photography. I temporarily switched to “Live View” and then zoomed in a couple of times on the Finch’s head. That way I could dial in critical sharpness, switch back to regular shooting mode and then make my shots until the little feller decided to move.
You’ll notice that I switched back to regular shooting mode instead of staying in Live View mode. Why? It’s all about the long-lens shooting technique that I use. This technique requires that in addition to draping my free hand over the lens to dampen down vibrations, I also jam my eye up against the viewfinder to help use even more of my body mass to help stabilize the lens. If you’re interested in the technique, you can read about it in a couple of previous blog entries in part 1 and part 2 of Making Sharper Images.
So, if you’ve got one of the good primes in your arsenal of lenses (and I’d say most of the prime lenses from any of the major camera manufacturers qualify) and you’ve got yourself a pair of teleconverters, don’t hesitate to give the combination a try and see what you can achieve. I’m willing to bet you’ll be a bit surprised by the sort of quality pictures that can be achieved with the right subject, proper gear to support the equipment along with the technique I talked about previously. And yes, you’ll probably have to employ the three “p”‘s of photography; practice, practice, practice!
Purple Finch singing from the branch of a Spruce Tree - Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 500mm F4L IS, Canon 1.4x & 2.0x Extender II, @1400mm - Gitzo 3541XLS with Jobu Design BWG-Pro Gimbal Head
Sometime you want to take pictures without your feet on the ground. Here are some tips for keeping your gear safe while shooting from a kayak. In this video, New Hampshire based conservation photographer Jerry Monkman explains how to keep your camera gear safe while shooting from a kayak.
Check out Jerry's fall Cape Cod workshop here: Eco Photography
[toggles active=0 speed=500][toggle title="Transcript"]Hi, everybody. This is Jerry Monkman from Ecophotography.com. I'm often asked how I keep my gear safe while paddling. So today, I'm going to give a few tips on how to shoot from a kayak.
First off, obviously our main goal here is not to get our camera immersed in water. Everything we do is to keep our gear safe, and the first thing you need to do to do that is to know your own limits as far as paddling. If you're not good at keeping a boat upright, don't take your camera out when you're in a boat. If you can't handle big waves out in the ocean, don't take your camera out when you're in the boat.
Otherwise, if you've got those skills, there are some things you can do to minimize the water getting on your camera. One thing I do is use this really cool camera vest called a cotton carrier, which holds the camera snug against my body so I'm not banging it with my paddle and water is not dripping down my paddle onto the camera.
It's really a pretty neat little gizmo. It's got this Velcro strap to hold the camera snug, and then you just twist and turn and get your camera out and you're shooting.
When I'm shooting, I'm shooting for shutter speeds of 1/250th, 1/500th of a second, a little faster shutter speeds. If I need to use a faster ISO, ISO 200, 400, something like that, I'll do that. There's a lot of movement when you're in a boat, obviously, so you need to use that faster shutter speed so you don't get camera blur.
Before I had a cotton carrier, I would just cinch my camera strap up so the camera was up here, a little more snug, not down here where it was more likely to get some water on it.
That's pretty simple kind of stuff, but that is the basics of what you need to do when you're shooting.
Now, if you're in really extreme conditions but need your camera out to shoot, you're going to probably want an underwater housing. If you can't afford a real expensive one, do what I do. I'm kind of cheap, so I've got this U-A Marine housing. It's still a few hundred dollars and it doesn't give you access to all your camera controls, but if you use auto-focus and auto-exposure, you can shoot all day long with your camera in here safely. If the waves are crashing over you, you don't have to worry about your camera getting ruined. This is a good investment if you're going to be shooting in that kind of stuff.
Also, you can store your camera and other gear in a dry bag, either in your cockpit so it's easily accessible if there's room, or in the hatch where you'll need to, obviously, stop the boat for a moment to get out and get your gear.
Let's see, what else. Lastly, I always have pockets in my PFDs so I can get at extra camera gear easily, such as a memory card holder. These Geppie holders are great because they're waterproof and they float. If your memory cards fall in the ocean, you can just paddle over and pick them up.
I also keep a lens cloth in here somewhere. There we go. Inevitably, you are going to get a few drops on your lens and your camera, and you'll want something to wipe those off. I keep that handy in here. I'll also sometimes throw in a polarizer. It's where I store my lens caps, things like that.
It's good to get a PFD with pockets.
All right, those are my photo tips for the day. Get out there, have fun in your boat, be safe, and enjoy your photo adventure.[/toggle][/toggles]
Until last year I had never enjoyed the thrill of making my own photographic prints. When I needed a print, I’d send off a file (or slide) to whatever lab I was using at the time and they’d ship the print directly to me or my client. With only a few exceptions my image viewing experience consisted of staring at a photo on a computer monitor.
Then, I bought an Epson Stylus Photo R2880 printer and everything changed. If that sounds like a dramatic statement – it is. It’s also quite true. I started making my own prints. Whenever I wanted. On whatever paper I wanted. It didn’t take long and I was addicted to the smell of fresh ink on photographic paper as a new print rolled off the printer, landing ever so gently in the catch tray. Is there a difference between viewing an image on a computer monitor and holding an actual print, that you made, in your hands? You’d better believe it.
As an artist I like to have complete control over my work from start to finish. While it is true that you maintain a degree of control when you do all the post-processing on your photos before sending them off to a lab, you’re really not closing the loop. The ultimate control comes when you conclude the image making process by crafting your own print. Today’s inkjet printers are capable of producing professional quality archival prints that rival and, in my opinion, exceed those made using more traditional methods like Cibachromes. They’re sharper, more detailed, just as colorful and can be made using a diversity of papers.
While difficult to quantify, there is a certain pleasure and satisfaction in handling an honest to God hand-crafted print. It is a tactile experience. You feel the weight of the paper, the texture. Unseen details emerge. Perhaps you feel pride in the knowledge that the print you are holding was born of your own creativity, and that without your vision and skills it would cease to exist. I get none of this from viewing an image on a computer monitor.
I’ve also noticed that people react differently when viewing my photographs in print. On the computer (or iPad), they quickly flick through the images. When I hand over my portfolio book I’ve noticed that they linger on each image. They don’t madly flip from one page to the next. Do people, even non-photographers, appreciate a fine art print more than they do an image on a screen? It would seem so.
What is your experience with pixels vs. prints?
Learn more about Bret, view his images, scout his workshops and read his blog here.
Here’s a short video that I shot on Feb 1, 2011, of a Blakiston’s Fish Owl Feeding in the town of Rausu, Hokkaido, Japan.
The pool from which the owl feeds is rocks covered with snow. The rocks were put there by locals, and they drop fish into the pool each night to feed the owls. This is done whether photographers are there or not, and is helping the owls to grow in numbers for the first time in decades.
You can also view the embedded video right here on your iPad, thanks to Vimeo!
Don’t forget to hit the full-screen button in the video window to view the video full-screen.
Note that there is an iPod/iPhone version of this video in iTunes, which is good for portability, but if you’re watching on a computer, the video above is better.
A couple of months ago I was asked by OPG to try out a new camera carrying system by Cotton Carrier.
Their Camera Vest system works much like a Baby Bjorn for cameras, holding a camera snug to your chest and distributing the weight comfortably on your shoulders and torso. When I am on my shooting adventures, I usually carry my camera and a spare lens or two in a waist pouch, which I position so that the gear compartment is in front of me. This has always seemed to be the best way to have my camera easily accessible for action shots, but either I'm getting older (o.k., I know I am) or my gear is getting heavier because I'm finding the waist pouch option is increasingly putting pressure on my lower back. I was eager to try out the Cotton Carrier vest to see if it fit my shooting style. After a few outings over the winter and this spring, I've decided it will be my "go to" system for adventure shooting.
To see how the system works, you can check out the above video made by the Cotton Carrier crew. Basically, a mounting plate attaches to the bottom of the camera, which then slips into the mount on the vest. A Velcro strap can be placed across the camera to keep it snug, a feature I found to be very helpful at keeping my camera from swing around and banging into rocks and trees as I made way way along the trail, especially on steep climbs. You can also attach a leash to the camera to prevent accidental drops.
In addition, you have the option of adding a second mounting holster down near your hip, where you can mount a second camera or a longer lens that has a tripod collar. Once the camera is in the mount, it won't come out until you turn it 90 degrees and pull it up, so there's no risk of it falling out of the mount. The vest distributes the camera's weight very well. I spent one day cross country skiing about 8 miles and did not all feel encumbered by my camera and felt no pain from carrying the camera at the end of the day. And being able to access my camera and start shooting in just a few seconds is a great advantage that I'm looking forward to having this summer as my shooting schedule fills up.
If you are a plodder who mainly shoots landscapes with a tripod, this system may not be for you, as you do have to remove the Cotton Carrier mounting plate to then attach your regular quick release plate. However, if you're an active shooter who wants to have your camera at the ready, this is a great way to carry your camera comfortably.
You can see all of the Cotton Carrier products at the Outdoor Photo Gear website here: Cotton Carrier
Until next time…
-Jerry
Find out more about Jerry at his website, and follow him on Twitter at @jerrymonkman
Pick up most any coffee table book featuring landscape photography and you’ll likely be confronted with image after image of sweeping vistas and vast panoramas. Most of the images are probably photographed using a wide angle to moderate focal length lens. What you won’t see are a bunch of photos created with a telephoto lens.
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.
My most rewarding images are those I’ve made with my venerable 100-400mm lens. It isn’t the sharpest lens in the stable but it’s certainly one of my favorites, especially in autumn when intimate landscapes abound. Colorful aspens, cottonwoods and oaks…oh my! It’s worth noting that some of my most popular fine art prints are images I created using a long lens.
Another benefit of photographing the landscape through a telephoto lens is that the probability of creating a truly unique image skyrockets. Imagine this: you’re standing along the shore of Maroon Lake on an autumn weekend at sunrise along with 50 other photographers. What are the odds that all 50 of you are going to hone in on the exact same section of aspen covered hillside with your 300mm lens? I say, not at all likely.
So, now that you know why long lens landscape photography is so enticing let’s discuss a few things to help you tackle this fun and rewarding style of photography. Let’s begin with an obvious one – the lens. As mentioned, I use the Canon 100-400mm zoom lens often and with great zeal. It’s a truly amazing focal length range that allows you to reach way out there and bring home a killer image. Perhaps a more popular option is the 70-200mm lens offered by most camera manufacturers. Canon’s new 70-300mm lens has received high marks for image quality and will soon replace my aging 100-400mm lens. Bottom line: whatever you’ve got that extends beyond 100mm will work. (Update: I’ve since sold the 100-400mm lens and replaced it with the new 70-300mm. Results thus far are impressive. Watch for a full review of this lens in a few months after I’ve had plenty of time to get to know it’s good and bad sides.)
Composing a dynamic image through a telephoto lens isn’t about adding more and more elements to the photo. To the contrary, it’s about eliminating everything extraneous until you’ve distilled the composition to its simplest form. When you use a telephoto lens to compose an image you’re essentially creating an intimate landscape, albeit from a greater distance than you may be accustomed to working. The key point here – simplify!
Most of my long lens landscapes have one of two common themes: patterns and/or colors. I seek out contrasts, such as the image you see here of a lone evergreen tree nestled amongst colorful gambel oaks and aspens. The evergreen not only contrasts with the surrounding foliage, it anchors the entire scene.
In the next photo, rows of young autumnal gambel oaks reclaiming an area charred by wildfire create a semi-abstract image through the use of bold color and natural patterns. Patterns abound in nature. Some are easy to find, like those formed by the stark white trunks of arrow straight aspen trunks. Yet other patterns aren’t as easily identified but are equally thrilling to discover and photograph. And, the more you work at finding patterns in nature the easier it becomes.
The image below, of strange cloud formations over the Cottonwood Mountains in Death Valley NP, could not have been created without a long lens. I was working roadside using my Canon 70-300mm lens to photograph the Mesquite Dunes from a distance. The light wasn’t cooperating as it was everywhere else but on the dunes so I began to look for other opportunities. I watched this cloud form and then stretch for miles over the mountains and decided to train my lens in that direction. When a section of the mountains lit up with storm light I knew I’d hit the jackpot. The lesson: long lenses allow you to simplify in ways a wide angle or moderate focal length simply can’t and they open up opportunities that wouldn’t exist with any other lens.
Often it helps to identify an area of interest with the naked eye, then mount your camera and long lens on a tripod so you can slowly and methodically scan for a composition. There may be interesting elements that are only visible when magnified through your telephoto lens. Using a tripod while doing this allows you to slowly pan through the scene and, upon finding something that catches your eye, it is easier to fine tune a composition than when hand-holding your rig.
Use of a tripod is an absolute must, even with an image stabilized lens. Longer focal lengths require smaller apertures for maximum depth of field, which means your shutter speeds will likely be too long for acceptably sharp, hand-held images. And, it is much easier to fine tune a composition when operating from a tripod as you’ve minimized movement introduced by hand-holding a long lens.
Unless you make a creative decision to use a large aperture and shallow depth of field, you’ll find that it isn’t uncommon to use apertures in the f/22 to f/32 range. As this will vary greatly based upon your composition, the best way to learn is to experiment while in the field. Start at a large aperture, say f/8, and work your way through to a small aperture in one stop increments. View the images on your computer at home to understand how each chosen aperture affected the depth of field within the image.
When photographing foliage with a long lens I always use a polarizing filter to remove unwanted glare from leaves and saturate the colors. When you use a polarizing filter on a wide angle lens it is easy to see the effect – just look for the blue sky that gets bluer as you twist the filter! On a long lens, the effect is much more subtle. I find that it helps to hone in on one leaf or a small cluster of leaves that exhibit glare and slowly turn the polarizer until the glare begins to disappear.
Overcast light or open shade are ideal lighting conditions for long lens photography. You can make successful images in any light and with any lens, but the soft, diffuse light of an overcast day makes it much easier to identify workable scenes. This soft light also eliminates harsh shadows that can ruin an otherwise fantastic image.
I’ve given you a lot to ponder and I hope I’ve inspired you to put away the wide angle lens on your next photo outing. Reach into your camera bag, pull out the big guns and have some fun with long lens landscape photography!
Learn more about Bret, view his images, scout his workshops and read his blog here.
Last week I read a great article on friend and photographer Gary Crabbe’s blog about the reality of working a photo assignment. Gary’s article, and my own experience last year on assignment in Goblin Valley State Park, inspired me to write about a technique you might try next time your creative fire needs a little stoking.
If you’re lucky enough to land a photo assignment, it means that someone thought enough of your work to pay you to create photos of a specific subject for them. The key word at work in that sentence is photos – as in more than one. Perhaps there are exceptions but every assignment I’ve ever worked required that I provide a healthy collection of images to the client upon completion of the job. Adding to the pressure to deliver is the fact that you are likely given a short time in which to make the images. You’re probably charging a day rate. Unless you’re a brilliant negotiator your client probably didn’t tell you to take as many days as needed and to send a bill when you’re done. No, it is more likely that you’re told that there’s only enough money in the budget for a couple of days. This means that during the “couple of days” you’d better be able to fill some memory cards with enough images to satisfy your client’s needs.
If your natural style of photography contradicts the “spray and pray” method, filling memory cards can be quite challenging. Although I use a D-SLR I feel my style is more contemplative, not unlike large format photography. I make far fewer images in a typical day of photography than most, but for the Goblin Valley assignment I had to maximize my time in the area to ensure I delivered enough images to my client.
In the field I discovered that I was taking more chances than usual. I was staying out past sunrise, photographing all day long and not heading back to the truck until well after sunset. Knowing that I had to produce forced me to look at the world around me through a different set of eyes. And, I had to find ways to make compelling images in the middle of the day. Fortunately, some nearby slot canyons solved that problem. I found other things to photograph, too. Grand landscapes, macros, abstracts, intimate landscapes – I found myself burning through memory cards creating all sorts of images. If there is such a thing as forced creativity, this was it.
Consider this: Your creativity is in the trash and you’re stuck in a rut. Your mojo is on hiatus. Why not give yourself an assignment? Find a local park or nature preserve, or even do something totally different and try your hand at photojournalism. Pretend that you’re on assignment for a prestigious magazine and you’ve got to deliver images to your client or you’ll risk losing out on future business. Find ways to photograph mid-day. Shoot a variety of compositions – some grand, some intimate, some abstract. Change hats and imagine you’re the client. What types of images are needed for the project? Do you need to tell a story about the place? If so, how are you going to create a visually compelling story with your photographs? Immerse yourself in your environment and you’ll begin to see differently, with increased sensitivity and regard for your subject.
Give yourself an assignment some time. I think you’ll find the challenge to be fun and rewarding, and it may just help you claw your way out of the creative doldrums.
Have you ever tried a self-assignment? Do you have any tricks to share that have helped you find your creative spark? Please leave a comment!
Learn more about Bret, view his images, check out his workshops and read his blog here.
Pixels Vs. Prints
Thursday, June 9th, 2011Until last year I had never enjoyed the thrill of making my own photographic prints. When I needed a print, I’d send off a file (or slide) to whatever lab I was using at the time and they’d ship the print directly to me or my client. With only a few exceptions my image viewing experience consisted of staring at a photo on a computer monitor.
Then, I bought an Epson Stylus Photo R2880 printer and everything changed. If that sounds like a dramatic statement – it is. It’s also quite true. I started making my own prints. Whenever I wanted. On whatever paper I wanted. It didn’t take long and I was addicted to the smell of fresh ink on photographic paper as a new print rolled off the printer, landing ever so gently in the catch tray. Is there a difference between viewing an image on a computer monitor and holding an actual print, that you made, in your hands? You’d better believe it.
As an artist I like to have complete control over my work from start to finish. While it is true that you maintain a degree of control when you do all the post-processing on your photos before sending them off to a lab, you’re really not closing the loop. The ultimate control comes when you conclude the image making process by crafting your own print. Today’s inkjet printers are capable of producing professional quality archival prints that rival and, in my opinion, exceed those made using more traditional methods like Cibachromes. They’re sharper, more detailed, just as colorful and can be made using a diversity of papers.
While difficult to quantify, there is a certain pleasure and satisfaction in handling an honest to God hand-crafted print. It is a tactile experience. You feel the weight of the paper, the texture. Unseen details emerge. Perhaps you feel pride in the knowledge that the print you are holding was born of your own creativity, and that without your vision and skills it would cease to exist. I get none of this from viewing an image on a computer monitor.
I’ve also noticed that people react differently when viewing my photographs in print. On the computer (or iPad), they quickly flick through the images. When I hand over my portfolio book I’ve noticed that they linger on each image. They don’t madly flip from one page to the next. Do people, even non-photographers, appreciate a fine art print more than they do an image on a screen? It would seem so.
What is your experience with pixels vs. prints?
Learn more about Bret, view his images, scout his workshops and read his blog here.
Tags: Art, Bret Edge, photography, printmaking
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