Winter Wildlife Tips

This article reiterates some of the other tips for winter photography, but adds some other advice. The authors note that photographers should also keep in mind how to highlight the winter aspects of the scene and that photographers could also take the time to look at their scenes in the summer months and think about how they change in the winter months. The authors also emphasize the importance of considering how snow changes a photo. Tracks in the snow could also ruin the clean slate that snow provides, and can also disrupt the way that cameras expose pictures.

Exposure compensation is something that could be extremely difficult for amateurs to master and I would recommend that when beginning, photographers should take multiple shots with different exposures so there are options to play with later in post processing. As seen in multiple other places, it can also really pay off to research the behaviors of the subjects and migration patterns would also be useful information.

This is the article.

Final Project

 ISO 400, 194mm, f/5.6, 1/2000

 ISO100, 74mm, f/6.3, 1/10

ISO400, 250mm, f/5.6, 1/4000

ISO100, 85mm, f/5.6, 1/400

 ISO100, 85mm, f/5.6, 1/250

ISO100, 85mm, f/5.6, 1/250

 ISO100, 85mm, f/5.6, 1/320

ISO400, 250mm, f/5.6, 1/2000

ISO400, 50mm, f/5.6, 1/640

ISO400, 250mm, f/5.6, 1/2000

ISO100, 17mm, f/4.0, 1/320

ISO100, 17mm, f/4.0, 1/500

ISO400, 33mm, f/4.5, 1/4000

ISO200, 34mm, f/4.5, 1/640

ISO400, 55mm, f/4.5, 1/1600

ISO400, 250mm, f/5.6, 1/2000

ISO200, 55mm, f/7.1, 1/640

ISO200, 53mm, f/7.1, 1/800

 ISO200, 36mm, f/7.1, 1/800

ISO200, 55mm, f/7.1, 1/500

ISO100, 30mm, f/4.5, 1/100

ISO100, 96mm, f/25, 1.6

ISO100, 74mm, f/6.3, 1/10

ISO100, 56mm, f/5.6, 1/200

ISO100, 17mm, f/4.0, 1/500

Winter Tips from Rick Sheremeta

This article has good insights that are especially applicable now, when the snow could happen at any time, no matter when you plan on taking pictures. Having experienced a few of things myself while we were in Yellowstone, these challenges should not be ignored and it is way more useful to gather information in advance than it is to learn on the spot when you could be missing good light or an animal.

The author talks about choosing good metering points to get correctly exposed photos, and some example shutter speeds that work well in falling snow (either to blur it or freeze it in motion). This was something that we had to learn in the job while shooting our bison, but I didn't think to make all of the adjustments he lists out, and I kicking myself for it now. It was also a learning curve when we got to the park and had to compensate for the snow in all of our shots.

I know we talked about these things in class, but I definitely learn better from being in a situation and having to do these things myself, and then I also have to learn from the consequences later rather than discussing them in theory. I think all of these things are best learned when you have the memories to attach to the photos and can also remember the easy corrections to make next time.

This is the article

Share Two and Critique #4

This is slightly edited, but I liked the pose of the mountain goat here, it felt very natural.

I also picked this landscape because of the little bit of red brush, I thought it was a good eye catcher, so I tried to play up the color and also the color of the pine trees to add dimension. 

Tom Mangelsen

This article talks about a wildlife photographer, Tom Mangelsen. He has been in the business for many years and, even though he was older at the time of the article, he continues to use high standards for shooting wildlife. The author made it a point to mention that he doesn't photograph animals in captivity, he goes to national parks and other traditional environments to find his subjects. I think that this shows a good deal of integrity, especially when there are other people in the industry, who are decades younger who take shortcuts and still try to sell their photos in the same venues.

Throughout the interview, Tom also says repeatedly that he has learned the most about his camera and his approach during the winter. He calls this time "humbling" and really emphasizes the changes that have to occur for photographers in winter. I think we got a small taste of this when visiting Yellowstone, but I can't imagine what it takes to be a person dedicated enough to wait around all day to watch a wolf eat an elk (we only waited for an hour and I was losing steam) or for a bear to maybe cross your path. The fact that there is this element of patience in nature photography is something that I missed earlier in the course, but after this weekend, I feel like I have gained more respect for it.

This is the article

Lightroom Editing Tips

This article goes through some different ideas of how to use various features of Lightroom. The author talks about a way to adjust multiple hues at once, which was a feature that I didn't even knew existed until reading the article. This would be an interesting feature to play with if you had a picture where you wanted to draw the viewer's attention by desaturating all of the other colors, except one subject.
The author also takes the time to review more about the sharpening feature, which explains why it wasn't quite working the way I wanted it to while editing photos the other day. He also has a different way of explaining noise and the noise reduction tool, which I found to be a very helpful review.

This is the article

Share Two and Critique #3

For my first one, I would also like to bring up the shadows to draw some more attention to the shore line of the creek. I also like the water moving through the shot.

For my second one, I have a landscape from just before the Beartooth Pass. I didn't quite line up the shot in line with the rule of thirds, but I could crop it in to bring the focus more on the mountain, and lighten the shadows a little.

Bird Photography

In the spirit of my midterm project, and the amount of theoretical bird photography I would be doing, I found an article with useful tips and equipment listings for this specific type of wildlife photography. This person recommends a telephoto lens of at least 500mm. The author also emphasizes the importance of shutter speed for this type of photography. There is also a section dedicated to locating the birds and how to approach with tips this author has found useful, like: don't wear bright clothes, approach slowly and quietly, in a zigzagging pattern, try not to move when the bird is looking, don't stare, shoot from a distance while approaching so that the shutter doesn't scare the bird.

For all of the useful things in this article, I didn't find the camera settings portion particularly useful because the settings were all listed for Nikons, and I currently have a Canon. This author clearly has a lot of experience, but it seems to boil down to using your best judgement when approaching wildlife, have a fast shutter speed and a telephoto lens, and use a blind whenever possible.

This is the article

Share Two and Critique #2

These pictures are from Red Lodge, around the Beartooth pass. I think they could use some editing, but I'm pretty happy with the raw files too.

I liked this overlap of the mountains, but I had to move the mountains to the lower portion of the shot because there was a road in the way. The light also wasn't ideal, so I need to bring up some of the highlights and see if I can get some more detail.

This is a play on the light reflecting through the leaves and really bringing the yellows even brighter than they actually are. 

I like this shot because of the clarity of the ripples of the water, and the distortion of the rocks of the stream. Looking at this shot after taking it, I don't know how I feel about the plant overhanging into the middle of the shot, it makes it look more natural, but it wasn't what I wanted a lot of the focus to be on.

Backlighting Wildlife Photos

This article was written by Melissa Groo, and she makes a really interesting case for its uses when capturing animals. One of the main considerations that she lists is that it opens a new door for easier shots when the wildlife are easily scared or in a bad position for pictures. These pictures also need special consideration because there may be lens flare, or distractions in the form of dust or bugs that may catch the light in addition to the subject.

Backlighting a subject could draw some intense attention to the outline and other features of the subject. I just wonder if the details of the subject are also washed out in the picture because the eyes are naturally drawn to the outline of the subject. Maybe if its done well, the other rules of dominance can be used to keep the audience's attention on the subject, and allow the viewer more time to look at all the smaller details of the animal that make it unique.

This technique may be easier for me to try because there isn't always good lighting in the conditions I want to capture, which are usually low light, with light only supplied through windows. However, if I were to try this technique on some of the horses, I would have to be really careful about stray hairs and other things that would draw attention away from the subject.

This is the article

Night Photography

Night photography is something that I would like to try out, and since the days are getting shorter, I suppose my chance will be here shortly. The article I read for this week talked about a wide variety of types of night photography and broke down the settings as well as the easiest ways to set up your camera for a great shot. They recommend using a low ISO and a low aperture setting, for a long exposure to allow the light from the stars to register on the image.

I also wonder how a night shot in the winter would work, because to my naked eye, it always seems that nights are brighter with snow on the ground. This would make taking pictures easier, and I also wonder if this could help to correct the overexposure of snow that happens during direct sunlight hours. The weather conditions would be hard to endure, but I think the pictures made would be worth it.

Overall, I'm fascinated by the possibilities that this type of photography could ope

Share Two and Critique #1

My first picture is from a Snowy Range Pass near Saratoga, Wyoming. It is more of a snapshot, this view was too cool to not take a picture, but I didn't line up the shot with any rules in mind. Looking back at it now, I see the jagged edges of the stream drawing my attention, and the white of the snow drawing my attention to the upper third of the picture.

This picture is from Two Moons Park, it was taken while some more of the wildfires were burning, so the main thing I was interested in while taking this picture was the contrast between the colors of the sunset and the colors of the trees as the sun went down. I'm definitely trying to use the color contrast and the red of the smoky sunset to draw the viewers to the center of the picture.

Wildlife Photography Tips from Robert Caputo

This article was very useful, and it reinforced some of the same points made in class. One of his biggest tips was to observe the group of animals for a period of time before taking pictures to help get a sense for their individual personalities and quirks, which can then translate into shots. Looking for this type of shot may take some investment, but it can also connect viewers to the subject even more than a simpler close up. The author of the article also suggested including a wider angle shot with some closer ones of the animals to give more of a sense of context as to where the animals live and their behaviors.

The equipment suggestions he has are to use a telephoto lens, but he has a different stance on tripods than we have talked about in class. And personally, I don't like the idea of carrying a lot of equipment around with me, so I'm more likely to use his approach of using a rock or my bag to stabilize my camera than I am to use a tripod. He also talks about cushioning his camera  with a jacket or setting it on the ledge of a car window, to keep a safe distance from the animals.

The article wraps up with a mention to not neglect the possibility of photographing smaller animals, though they made pose some different challenges than the larger subjects. I also find myself gravitating to larger subjects because they are easier for me to locate and get in the frame than some of the smaller flight animals that may be startled easily.

This is the article

Robert Caputo's website

Tips for Focus

This article brought up some good points that we talked about in class. Bringing subjects into focus can really mark what a professional photographer does that a layman doesn't. Some of the concepts we talked about in class were solidified by this article and it really helped to lay out some of the settings used to get great sharp shots. The author also made a point of applying all of the tips he uses into different styles as well, from macro to portraits. The many applications of these tips will be really useful in the future as well.

I liked this article because I had some issue with this when I was out shooting last weekend, I couldn't quite get the focus that I wanted to set my subject apart from the background. Granted, I have less equipment to choose from than a professional, but it helps to know that some of the adjustments he made are relatively simple and can be applied. I also struggled with the playback of my pictures, I wasn't sure how the little screen on the back of the camera was portraying my picture, or making it look worse than it would expanded on a better screen.

This is the article

5 Useful Tips for Macro Photography

This article is super useful for creating a sharp depth of field when taking macro photos. Articles like this make photography much simpler for amateurs who want to try their hand at some of the same techniques that pros use to get usable shots. Some of the tips are simple, like using manual focus to get as close to the subject, and then moving the camera back and forth to get the subject sharp. Speaking for myself, I may not have tried this, mainly because manual focus is an intimidating concept to me, but just trying it is much simpler than I thought it would be.

I'm really excited to try these techniques out because I think that humans can often overlook the world around us because we get involved in our own lives too much to consider the smaller things in life. Macro photography allows the viewers to really appreciate all of the details found in nature. I also think that macro photo gives the audience less to focus on, and more time to really appreciate the subject of the picture. However, I didn't realize that there many more technical aspects than I had considered previously until we talked about it in class.

I do wonder what types of compensations I will have to make because of the lower quality of my camera, but I do hope to explore this type of photography more throughout the semester. I hope that maybe a different lens or lighting will help me bridge the gap between the types of photos I can make and the more professional grades of photos.

This is the full article from Outdoor Photographer

Andrius Burba's New Look at Animals

I'm sure we've all seen the feature video that floats around Facebook of the photographer who has begun a series of projects featuring the undersides of animals. His name is Andrius Burba, and his project is based out of Germany, but his work is gaining popularity quickly, thanks to the internet. There are series of different animals, including dogs, cats, horses and rabbits. 

To get each series, Burba situates himself below the animal, which is sitting on a piece of glass. The background of each picture is black, keeping the focus of the audience on the animal, and also allowing for the light of the flash to reflect upon all of the details of the underside of the animal. The photo series of the horses was the most in depth, because of the nature of the shot and of the animals. A hole was dug into a pasture, and a sort of wooden box with a glass top was situated into the hole. The horses also wore a custom rubber cover over their shoes to prevent scratching the glass and for more traction as well. The horses were well trained, and performed some tricks to provide the angles for a good shoot. There were a few challenges in the shoot, they choose to shoot in winter and had to deal with condensation and frost on the glass. Horses also have ways of communicating boredom, particularly when they are forced to stand in one spot for extended periods, one of these behaviors is pawing, which could have scratched the glass or chipped it. 

I like this photographer because it really does provide a change in the typical perspective that we usually look at animals with. The cats and dogs are interesting to look at, but I think that more personality is conveyed through the pictures of the horses (though I could be biased). By looking at the animals from above, the photographer exposes a whole new set of details on the animals body that aren't as well known. 

The whole project has its own website: underlook.org

Using Drones for Outdoor Photography

After reading this article, it has allowed me to really consider the pros and cons of owning a drone. Normally, I consider people with drones a little ridiculous. All of the equipment involved and the cost of it automatically make me think of the people operating a drone as slightly pretentious. 

However, after having seen some more of the shots captured with drones that would have been impossible to take (reasonably) just a few years earlier reinforces how much this industry is changing, and fast. Even though I have been watching technology advance for my entire life, for some reason it had never occurred to me that this would cause such drastic changes to this industry.

And for all of my eye rolling about the idea of owning a drone, if I had the opportunity to take pictures with a drone, I would be the first person in line. And according to this article, it seems like drones are becoming more accessible to people who maybe didn't play with the early more technical models as children. 

This is the full article referenced in this post.