Posts Tagged Canon 100-400
On frozen pond
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on March 2, 2010
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Couldn’t you just do that in Photoshop? During the last workshop that was the running theme. The conversations varied from whether it was appropriate to add a moon to a scene to “I don’t use filters because I can do everything in Photoshop.” I suppose that’s correct to a certain degree but there’s one filter that Photoshop will never remove from my bag; the polarizer. Adding the moon? I won’t go there.
I’m often surprised to see folks, shooting landscape images, who either eschew or ignore something I consider to be essential. Regardless of your skill, a properly adjusted polarizing filter has no Photoshop analog. Oddly enough those same folks who would never think of using a polarizer often insist on having a, useless, UV filter on their lens at all times. I like to consider the end result when considering any filter or technique; if it’s not making a positive change I won’t bother. In the case of the UV filter, they increase lens flare and cheaper ones actually degrade overall image quality. I believe people come to use them largely because of camera store fear-mongering. If you drop the lens off of a truck, that UV filter isn’t going to save it. Concerned about your front lens element? Use your lens cap.
This shot wouldn’t have been possible without a polarizer. Most people just think about their effect on blue skies, not what really makes them tick: reflections. The ability to increase or negate the impact of reflected light can make or break an image. In the case of foliage, removing surface reflections makes colors really pop; no saturation slider required. In the case of this image, I was able to completely remove the reflection from the surface of this ice. Without the filter, the leaf was completely obscured. Because the polarizer is adjustable, I was able to bring back just enough reflected light to let you see the texture on the ice while letting the leaf shine through.
Got a polarizer collecting dust in your bag? If the answer is yes, throw away that UV filter and start using the polarizer. Don’t be content to just screw it on your lens, check and adjust it on every shot. You’ll be glad you took the time.
Cheers
Nature’s Monochrome
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on February 25, 2010
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Some photographers choose to shoot in color, some in black and white. Occasionally, nature makes the decision for you. Often, I write about the differences between our own vision and that of the camera. Effective photographers exploit those differences rather than bemoan them.
On my most recent trip to the valley, Mother Nature really kept things mixed up. I can’t even count the number of times the conditions swung from rain to snow, from snow to clearing and from sunny back to rain. The constantly changing conditions made for a physically demanding 4 days. The swiftness of those changes required that we push the workshop group pretty hard. I’m not ashamed to admit I was a bit gassed after 4 days of nearly non-stop nature photography. I’m always a bit melancholy at the end of a workshop, but this time the feeling was accompanied by a slight sense of relief.
I made this image near Swinging Bridge in Yosemite last Monday morning. While the group was soaking up the classic reflection scene of Yosemite Falls and the Merced River, I was looking for other compositions. Honestly is wasn’t that hard. When covered in snow, just about the entire park is photogenic.
To isolate this scene I used my Canon 100-400 on my 7D body. The sky was still very cloudy from an overnight storm giving a “soft box” effect to the whole park. The resulting light effectively removed any trace of color from this winter scene. To my eye, the color was perceptible. In the camera the subdued lighting and the compressed tones were rendered as nearly colorless. In a genre of photography where the saturation adjustment slider, in Photoshop, is notoriously abused I’m okay with that.
Cheers
Horsetail fall
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on January 28, 2010
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Often the journey is more important than the destination. Nothing underscores more for me thanHorsetail fall (Yosemite).
First made famous by the late Galen Rowell, Horsetail fall is a tiny water fall that can sometimes be seen on the side of El Capitan. What really makes it special is the treatment it gets, at sunset, during just a couple times each year. Fed by only a 30 acre watershed it often doesn’t flow at all, but when weather conditions are right it puts on an amazing show. Best viewed backlit, the fall appears as a river of fire down the side of the granite face.
Because of the special conditions, and timing required, Horsetail can be very elusive to photograph. While technically possible in the fall, due to the angle of the sun, Horsetail fall is traditionally photographed in middle to late February. Huge crowds of photographer arrive, each year, all trying to get the classic shot. Ironically, my best memories of Horsetail are of standing in the snow, shoulder to shoulder with some other photographers joking and laughing as we clicked away at the display. The photography was completely secondary. Even after “getting the shot” several times I still go back each year just for the experience.
This particular image was taken in late January from a less traditional location. Still early in the season for the full display, I liked it because of its different perspective. I took this shot with my Canon 100-400 from the edge of Southside drive, not far from Sentinel Beach.
Cheers
Just a leaf
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on January 14, 2010
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If you’re a regular reader of this blog you know I often eschew the grand vista in favor of a more intimate view of the world. Such was the case with this image from my last Yosemite trip.
Along Southside drive in Yosemite, there is an unmarked parking area with two large trees protruding from the asphalt. Not far from Cathedral beach, it’s about the only location where you can see El Capitan from end to end. (Capturing that view requires a pretty wide lens) Since El Capitan gets its first light roughly 30 minutes after sunrise this location is a great place to head after you finish shooting sunrise.
On this particular morning I’d stopped, waited for the light and decided that breakfast was calling. The only clouds in the sky were jet trails and the light just wasn’t very interesting. On my trek back to the car I walked past this leaf. The frozen texture was what initially caught my eye but the angles of the branches is what really tied it together. With nothing but snow in the background it was a perfect setup for a high key approach.
The exposure was very simple. With the aperture set to f/11 I dialed down my shutter speed until my meter read +3 and took the shot. Overexposing the snow caused the entire background to go white, removing any distracting elements.
Cheers
Happy 2010
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on January 5, 2010
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To steal a quote, stumbled upon while browsing the net, “Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you are to the end, the faster it goes.” After how fast 2009 seemed to blaze by, I think it’s appropriate. I hope the New Year finds you and your loved ones well.
It’s a challenge to go to a place as widely photographed as Yosemite and come back with fresh images. The challenge isn’t the availability of the subjects as much as learning to see them. Once seen, the next step is figuring out how to make it into an image.
On New Year’s day morning, I did what I often do when presented with overcast skies, I went to Bridal Veil fall. Bridal Veil is one of the few waterfalls in Yosemite that flows all year. While the water fall is a beautiful sight, most of the photographic opportunities are in the three streams flowing out from its base. Often requiring scrambling over rocks, you can be completely alone while the tourists stream up the path to the viewing area at base of the fall.
What caught my eye here was the foam on the top of the water. Directly above my location was a small cascade that was creating these bubbles on the surface of the water. Caught on a long exposure, I knew they would imply motion. The trick was finding something else to put in the frame. I walked around the area, doing my best to keep from falling in, looking through my camera to find a scene. (When shooting in the area, my Canon 100-400 is my most useful tool. Using a long lens helps compress perspective and lets you “carve” out scenes and make them stand alone.) After finding this leaf, I knew I had my shot. While seemingly simple enough it took 10 frames, at varying exposures, to get this pleasing pattern. I settled on f/16 and 3.2 seconds.
Finding a scene like this is far more satisfying than creating it. While I didn’t place this leave, in the spirit of full disclosure, I did wash away some foam stuck to the near side of the rock. I almost never place a subject but I have no issue with removing a distraction. While something that could easily have been taken care of during processing I prefer to do it in the field.
Cheers
Cold and gold
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on December 29, 2009
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As I often do, before a trip, I was going through some images that I took last year on New Year’s eve. Like last year we’ll be snow camping in Yosemite for the holiday. The weather forecast looks promising, although honestly just being there is enough.
I made this image at Valley View. The eastern sky was overcast and grey but there was a gap in the cloud layer on the western horizon. The gap allowed the days last light to reach El Capitan. Rather than take the image of the whole scene, which would have included the flat grey sky, I opted to frame just a reflection. I liked how the the three rocks formed an opposing triangle to the shape of El Cap. The warm light also made a nice contrast against the cold monochrome of the stream and snow.
To make the image I used my Canon 5D with a 100-400L. I was zoomed all the way out, at 100mm, and set my aperture to f/22. I normally avoid settings narrower than f/16 because of diffraction but I need to slow down the shutter speed to get the look of the water that you see here. The resulting exposure was 1.5 seconds at ISO 50.
Cheers
A year of reflection
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography, Random Thoughts on December 8, 2009
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Although extremely similar to the image posted in a previous article, this is a new image. I chose it for a couple of reasons.
Nearly 3 years to the day after my first visit to Yosemite, I made this image. Both images were captured while standing next to my mentor, peer and friend, Gary Hart. Somehow, having lived my whole life just 3 hours to the North, I had never visited the park. From my perspective that makes Gary somewhat analogous to a crack dealer as Yosemite has become an addiction for me. Fortunately the analogy ends pretty quickly as I haven’t started stealing car stereos to pay for reservations at Curry Village. That said, it’s probably still a good idea for you to lock your car.
Today also marks the 1 year anniversary of this blog. My original goal was to just find a way to share my images with more people. An unintended benefit, I believe that it’s also made me a better photographer. I started out with a simple desire to explain the process that I used to make the images that I was sharing. Over time, the process of describing how and why moved from my office to the field. Understanding that there needs to be a reason behind each image has caused me to slow down and ask myself “why” before I click the shutter. A result of that process is that I’m not taking as many pictures but I’m throwing fewer away.
I’d also like thank you, the readers, of this blog for taking some time out of your lives to wade through my ramblings and to view my images. Photography is something that I do primarily for myself but it’s a lot more fun when I can share my work. To help say thanks I’d like to send a print to a couple of lucky readers. Just be the first two people to contact me on Facebook and correctly answer the following question: “I bought one new camera and one new lens within the last year. What did I buy?” Winners will receive a print of their choosing from last years blog images. Click early, click often.
Contest over – thanks!
Cheers
Big leaf, little leaf.
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on December 1, 2009
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Water, granite and yellow leaves; the essence of fall in Yosemite.
I talk about it quite often but it’s really easy to get caught up in “the big picture” in a place like Yosemite. Honestly, for many first time visitors, looking past the giant looming granite walls, the huge water falls and wide open meadows is next to impossible. Traditional thinking leads you to believe that landscape photography requires wide angle lenses, a hyperfocal distance chart and a complicated array of filters. All of those items certainly have their place in any landscape photographers tool kit, but none are essential to the making of successful images.
I’m not immune to being “sucked in” by the classic scene but lately I’ve been making a more conscious effort to break down scenes into their component parts. Not unlike trying to determine a recipe just by tasting a finished dish, it forces me to step back and feel the image versus just seeing it. The result of the exercise is an image that I’m more emotionally connected to. My hope is that connection translates to a similar experience for you, the viewer of image.
This pretty little scene was captured using my Canon 100-400, zoomed to 190mm. To maintain sharpness throughout the frame I chose f/16 as my aperture. I generally like to leave my ISO at it’s lowest setting, which is 100 on this camera. That combination resulted in an exposure of 13 seconds.
Cheers
Round and round they go
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on November 19, 2009
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My camera is a time machine.
If you’re a frequent reader of this blog then you’ve seen me talk about limitations of the camera when it comes to how it compares to the human eye. Successful photographers know that and learn to exploit those limitations. We see the world in real time. It’s like being in the center of a continuous movie. You can’t “go back” if you missed something. Unlike our eye, the camera has the ability to both stop and accumulate time. It can freeze a water drop in mid-air or, in the case of this image, capture motion that occurred over several seconds. Time is a creative tool not available to artists working with other medias; a tool worth exploiting.
I shot this in one of the streams below Yosemite’s Bridal Veil fall. When there is sufficient water, the run-off divides into 3 individual streams as they tumble on their way to join the Merced river. It’s a shady, rock strewn, area that is incredibly photogenic. I was looking, very specifically, for an eddy to make this type of shot. During a several second exposure the leaves caught in the current just become swirls of color. The rocks in the stream and the motionless leaf in the foreground also provided a nice balance. I tried several different exposures until I got what I felt to be the right amount of motion. 8 seconds at f/11 was where I finally settled.
Cheers
A sense of scale
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on November 12, 2009
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I took this shot on the final day of the last Gary Hart workshop of the season. We’d taken the group to one of his favorite spots. It’s a similar perspective to the traditional Tunnel View but a bit off of the beaten trail.
The anticipated star of the show that evening would be the full moon rising directly next to Half Dome. While we sat and waited we laughed and joked about the previous 4 days. Some folks did a little shooting but mostly it was a waiting and reflecting time.
I had my 100-400 lens on because I wanted to revisit a shot that I’d taken 3 years prior (almost to the day). While waiting, I spotted this tree standing against the profile of El Capitan. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed it because shortly after this shot Gary pointed it out to the group and I’m certain that mine wasn’t the only shot of this tree made that evening.
“Big” is a common adjective when describing iconic views in Yosemite. The huge granite face of El Capitan is an imposing structure but the dark silhouette of this lone pine made an interesting contrast. The tree’s ridge had just dropped into shadow while the warm orange of the evening sun glowed on the granite behind it. Even with no camera, it would’ve been a great way to end the day.
As a side note, this is another example of why you don’t want to leave a lens in the car. While many consider Yosemite to be a wide-angle location, there are a ton of intimate scenes, such as this, if you’re willing to go looking for them.
Cheers
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