Archive for June, 2009
Eye of the Beholder
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography, Random Thoughts on June 29, 2009
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Photography, and art in general, is incredibly subjective. I recently entered an open show at the Sacramento Fine Arts Center. My single entry was accepted, but the juror for this show rejected more pieces than he accepted. One of my local peers had a photograph rejected that took first place in another show on the same weekend. It is impossible to cater to the likes and dislikes of everyone who sees your images. While there is no denying that it is a great feeling when someone expresses admiration for one of your pieces or, better still, purchases one but really it is important to please yourself first.
I shoot landscapes and nature because I enjoy it. Since I’m not on assignment, it lifts any pressure to please someone else. Being free to create images the way that you see fit empowers you to find your own vision. All of us, as photographers, are influenced by other’s work. It is the act of shaping those influences into your own creative expression that lets your images sing.
Down in the Weeds – Part 2
Posted by Doug Otto in Geek, Photography on June 27, 2009
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In a previous article I mentioned that I’d started to play with some alternative shooting angles after hearing a talk by Rob Sheppard. Until now I’ve been using my Gitzo 2540 which goes pretty low, but just not low enough. While in a local camera shop I stumbled upon this little guy. It’s made by Manfrotto and goes under the model 345. It consists of a set of 209 legs and a 482 micro ballhead. Once I got it home I dug out an old Really Right Stuff plate and screwed it on, using the supplied bushing. The head is fully removable so at some point I might replace it with a RRS BH-25 but for the time being it’ll do the trick.
Since I have neither a live view screen nor the limberness of my youth, an angled viewfinder is an absolute necessity but I have one already. I’m looking forward to doing some playing with it and will be certain to chronicle the process here.
Cheers
Rock Creek Aspen
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on June 22, 2009
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One of the best things that you can do for your images is to learn to accept the conditions that you’re given. Too often photographers arrive at a scene with a preconceived notion of a particular shot. This is especially true of workshop attendees or people on that “once in a lifetime” trip. Nearly everyone who embarks on such a trip has an idea, in their head, about the shot that they want to get. Pre-visualization is a powerful creative tool but sometimes it can obscure your vision.
Landscape photography is all about light. Ignoring the quality of the light can mean the difference between a really nice fine art image and a travel snapshot. Unless you are content with the travel photo, sometimes you need to step back, evaluate the light and rethink the shot. That isn’t to say that you should ignore your pre-visualization but it is important that you know when to say “not today” and move on.
Has anyone seen the moon?
Posted by Doug Otto in Geek, Photography on June 15, 2009
The moon can be a powerful photographic element. It can add weight and balance to just about any scene. The problem is figuring our exactly where it’s going to be. I often talk about how important is is to be properly prepared when out photographing but I have to admit that I’m often a “seat of the pants” type of guy.
Several years ago I first met Gary Hart during a weekend workshop. One of the goals was to shoot the rising moon over Half Dome. We all followed to one of his “secret” locations because he had already done the homework and knew where the moon was going to rise. We watched and photographed as the sun went down and then we waited, laughed and talked about the day. After a few minutes someone yelled out: “Is that the moon?” We all spun around and the sound of our talking was replaced by a flurry of shutter clicks. He knew where the moon was going to be and where to place us in order to get the shot. He’s since taught me his technique of retrieving and plotting the moon’s coordinates but the caveat is that you need to do that work ahead of time.
Many of the trips that I make to Yosemite are on fairly short notice. I often don’t have time or simply forget to check the position of the moon before leaving town. Using my iPhone I am able to connect to the Internet and download coordinates but sometimes cell reception in Yosemite can be less than reliable. A month or two ago I discovered Focalware in the iTunes App Store.
Focalware is the best $9.99 that I’ve ever spent. It’s an iPhone application that calculates the time and position of the sun and moon from the palm of your hand. Best of all it doesn’t require an active cellular data connection. You can enter a location or use the phone’s built-in GPS to determine your location. Set the date and time and it gives you a table for altitude and azimuth of both Sun and Moon. All you need is a compass or map to see where the moon will be. The new iPhone 3GS, due out this week, even has the compass built right into the device. You can even save locations to a list to use later, when you have the forethought to check before you leave town.
If you’re a nature photographer that has been wondering if the iPhone is a good idea, this should help swing the vote.
Cheers
A contrast of motion
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on June 9, 2009
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I stumbled upon this scene last month. I had just watched a very bland sunset from Cook’s Meadow and made my way to the other side of the meadow. I was in Yosemite primarily to shoot the lunar rainbow over Yosemite falls but I had a couple of hours to wait for the conditions to be right.
For much of the year, this meadow is ugly and brown but in the spring time it bursts to life wearing a lush green can only be experienced; not described. While the rivers and falls are raging, the water in the meadows remains quiet. What struck me about this scene was it’s ability to tell both stories. The absolute calm of the water in the meadow with the reflection of the raging waterfall in the distance. The meadow grasses springing to life helped to anchor and orient the scene.
Making the image was fairly straight forward. The exposure was 30.0 sec at f / 5.6 and ISO 100. I was using my Canon 24-70 f/2.8L zoomed to 57mm. I used a polarizer to bring out the reflection and the color in the grass.
Cheers
Look down every once in a while
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on June 5, 2009
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When you’re out photographing a beautiful location it is really easy to ignore the little details. As nature photographers we often default to “wide vista” mode and try to capture as much of a scene as physically possible. A problem with that approach the image can become very generic. Sure you’ve captured a very nice scene, with gorgeous light, but does the image tell a story or is it just pretty?
The number of images that we are subjected to on a daily basis is staggering. Everywhere you look there is an image being displayed. It might start with the morning paper or the bumper sticker on the car in front of you during your commute. We’re barraged by images in print media, on the Internet or coming into our homes via the television. That constant flood of images numbs our senses to the minute detail that makes up the world around us. That detail is often lost in the vast, grand landscape images that we try to create. That isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy capturing that type of image as well, because I do. It is, however, important that we occasionally look beyond the vista and see what is really happening around us. Doing to adds impact and meaning to our photographs.
This is a very simple image but it tells a really intricate story. I took it early one morning on the shore of Mono Lake. Stories suggest that the lake was actually named by neighboring peoples rather that the Paiutes that lived there. The word Mono is believed to have been derived from a Yokut term meaning “fly eater”. The extreme salinity of the lake prevents most organisms from living in the lake with just a couple of exceptions; that alkali fly and the brine shrimp. Long ago the larve of the alkali fly was the primary food source for the Mono Lake Paiutes. Today those two organisms, and their place in the food chain, make Mono Lake a huge habit for migratory shorebirds. The shorebirds aren’t aware of the political fight over Mono and it’s water, they just come for the shrimp and the fly larvae; that’s really what Mono Lake is about. Read the rest of this entry »
Down in the Weeds
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on June 1, 2009
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A few weeks ago I was working as a volunteer for a local NANPA event. At the event I listened to Rob Sheppard give a talk about some of the work that he was doing lately. He called the presentation Voices from the Ground. Rob has been focusing on very low perspectives using very wide angle lenses. The one that he’s been using the most is a full-frame fisheye. His talk got me thinking about the perspectives that I use in my shots and challenged me to mix things up a little bit. I posted an image last week from the same outing. Putting the camera down below the ground level at Fern Spring allowed me to capture a perspective that I’d never seen before.
This image was also a direct result of Rob’s talk. To get this view I had my tripod spread as low as it would go. (It was a bit of a trick keeping the legs out of the shot.) Since I wasn’t able to get low enough to see through the viewfinder, and my camera has no live view, I grabbed an angled viewfinder attachment that I keep in my bag. The next challenge was the range of light on the subject. I knew that the bright sun would cause my foreground to go dark so I did something that I almost never do; I used a flash. While I’m sure that many nature photography purists would be offended at such a notion, it fit the need. It wouldn’t have been the same shot without it.
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