Nature Photography Articles and Reviews http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.php Nature Photography Articles, Video Tutorials, and Equipment Reviews by OPW en-us Nucleus CMS v3.41 � Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.php/nucleus/nucleus2.gif Nature Photography Articles and Reviews http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.php Getting the Shot - Star Trails http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.php?itemid=132
by Jason Hahn

Photography by Les Voorhis
and Jason Hahn Usually when I think about photography I think in terms of moments; freezing the action from a split second of time. But photography doesn't have to be limited to capturing just one moment; it can also be used to show the passage of time. Star trails are a great technique to capture the beauty of the night sky in a unique way, showing the sky's slow rotation overhead as the night passes. But to be successful, they require a lot of thought, preparation, and a willingness to sit in the dark for many hours experimenting with camera settings. Here are some tips and techniques to help you get great shots of the sky above.

Picking the Right Night
Before you even head out the door, you have to make sure the evening you have picked is going to work. The weather is key, too cloudy or windy and you will have a very frustrating night. A cool dark night with only a few clouds works best, just be sure you also check the dew point and temperature forecast as you don't want moisture forming over your lens while you are taking your shot. If you can't avoid the dew, some tricks to help with this are carrying a bulb blower to gently blow away moisture forming on your lens, or you can strap chemical heat packs ("hand warmers") around your lens. This will help keep it warmer than the night air and prevent condensation from forming.

You also want a fairly dark night, star trails work best during the period from the first quarter through the new moon, on to the third quarter. There is a balance to shooting when the moon is up, a little bit of moonlight will help add light to your foreground, too much and it lights up haze in the sky, dulling your star trails. Scout Ahead
A big key to success with star trails is planning and previsualizing your image. You can wander around in the dark and figure out a good spot to shoot, but if you want something of interest to anchor your shot, like trees, mountains, lakes, etc., scouting your location during the daylight hour will save you a lot of time and fumbling around in the dark.

Once you have found something you would like to use in the scene, figure out how you want the stars to appear in the shot. If you want long arcing trails, you'll want to be pointing toward the east or west. If you want a circular rotation, like in the shot above, you'll want to point your camera toward the North Star (Polaris). This is where a GPS and a compass come in handy to help plot where to set up, you will also want to check your GPS or a map to see how far you are from nearby towns or cities. The general rule of thumb is you want to be at least an hour's drive from any city over 50,000 people to cut down on the light pollution entering your shot. If you are near any towns or cities, the long exposure will pick up all of the city’s light and potentially wash out the stars in your image. Also, while you are scouting, see how many airplanes pass overhead. At night the lights from passing aircraft will create streaks that cut through your star field, potentially ruining your composition.

Once you have picked your spot, waypoint it on your GPS so you can get back there in the dark. If you are somewhere where your tripod is unlikely to walk off on its own, set it up and leave it, when you come back after dark you'll be all set to just pop your camera on and get started.



Heading Out
Unless you want to capture some of the twilight glow, you'll want to return to your spot about two hours after sunset. If air traffic is a concern, you'll want to start after midnight, from then until 5am has the lowest volume of planes in the sky over the US.
When you are ready to head out, you'll want to make sure you have the right gear with you in addition to your camera equipment. First are your compass and GPS, to find your way out and back, and to set up the angle of your shot. You should also bring a headlamp so you can set up your camera without having to juggle a flashlight in one hand. I also bring a second flashlight with both a high power setting and a red LED light feature. The red LED light helps you see without ruining your night vision, and can also be a cool creative tool for light painting; using the flashlight to illuminate certain objects in your scene. It is also a good idea to bring things to keep you occupied and comfortable, warm clothes, something to sit or snooze on, something with an alarm built into it in case you doze off, and some food and water.

Star Trail Settings
Generally speaking, you want to shoot with a low ISO and a large aperture (small number like f4, 5.6, 6.3, etc.) on the "Bulb" setting. Usually with landscapes we think in terms of small apertures (f11, 13, 16, etc), which give us large depths of field. But with star trails we really aren't worried about getting the stars in focus so much as we are in capturing the dim light they are emitting. With the large aperture we can still get any foreground elements in focus while making sure that our camera is sensitive enough to pick up the light of the stars, plus any ambient light we want to appear in our foreground.

Now we could set our ISO higher to increase this light sensitivity also, but that comes with a big drawback in the form of noise. Noise is the byproduct of a long exposure, when the shutter on a digital camera is open for longer than a few seconds, you will see an increase in the noise visible in the image. The longer the exposure, the more noise there will be in the shot. Using a combination of a low ISO (usually 200) and the "Long Exposure Noise Reduction (NR)" feature found on most modern DSLR's will help dramatically reduce this noise. Just remember if using NR the camera will take an additional blank exposure after you have taken your shot, and during this time you cannot shoot another picture. So if you take an hour long exposure, plan another hour after this exposure for the NR process to be applied to your original image. I find a nap during this time works really well :)

The "Bulb" setting allows you to keep the shutter open for as long as you hold down the button. This is how we are able to make extremely long exposures. Instead of standing there with your finger on the button for an hour you'll probably want to invest in a remote that allows you to lock the shutter open. There are a variety of releases and remotes available from simple one button cabled remotes to high end wireless programmable remotes.
How long of an exposure you choose depends on a variety of factors, but mostly how long you want your star trails to be. The shorter the exposure, the shorter the trails. Anything less than half an hour and the trails will be pretty short. Just remember the longer you leave the shutter open, the more ambient light will be picked up, too long with too large of an aperture will result in a blown out shot. Nearby city lights, the moon in the sky, or passing traffic are just a few of the things that can increase the ambient light in the area and affect your exposure times.

Patience
Okay, answer truthfully, does the thought of sitting out in the middle of nowhere at midnight waiting for your camera to get through an hour(s) long exposure sound like something you really want to do? Honestly, making star trails can be a little boring because once you press the button, there is a lot of waiting around. If just the thought of sitting through one of these gives you a case of the fidgets, this may not be for you. But, if you are up for a night of stargazing, then give it a try. Bringing something to do can help pass the time, I usually bring a book and a headlamp (properly directed away from my camera of course :) ) or an mp3 player full of music. On long nights, I bring a pillow, set an alarm, and snooze in my truck until the exposure is done. This way I get to enjoy two things I love: photography and a nice nap!



Experimenting
The fun-cool-aggravating-rewarding thing about star trails is that they are so experimental. You've scouted, set everything up, waited for the heavens to majestically rotate, and the end result, is, well, blah. But, then you do it all over again, make some tweaks, and presto-chango, you produce an amazing image. There are so many different settings, compositions, and techniques to try, the possibilities are endless. Experiment, experiment, experiment, you never know what you might come up with!
]]> Getting the Shot http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.phpindex.php?itemid=132 Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:41:47 -0400 Getting the Shot - Roaring Fork Falls http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.php?itemid=130 Roaring Fork Falls- North Carolina WaterfallLast summer I spent a week exploring waterfalls throughout the Smokies in North Carolina, with the help of Kevin Adam's excellent book, "North Carolina Waterfalls". Our visit there was right at the height of wildflower season, catching the wild rhododendrons in full bloom. This image is from one of my favorite falls, "Roaring Fork".

For this image, I picked a spot on the edge of the falls laying my camera practically on the rock, to capture the full expanse and sweep of the falls, while using the foreground rock to anchor the image and give it depth. I like my images to take your eye on a journey, here I use the flow of the water to do so, framing the scene so water exits the frame at the lower left corner. I played with a variety of shutter speeds, settling on 5 seconds, using an aperture of f16 and a polarizer to achieve this slow speed.

Work It - With landscapes like this, it is a good idea to move around and look at the scene from a variety of different angles. Use elements like the lines of the rock, waters, trees, etc., to create a composition that leads your eye on a trip through the scene. Walking up to a scene and taking a straight on pic can work some of the time, but subtle changes in angle and position can really make a composition pop.

Use a Polarizer - To get the silky look of the water you need to have a pretty slow shutter speed. Depending on the water, light, and look I am trying to achieve, I may have a shutter speed anywhere from a half a second to 10 seconds. You can use a combination of a small aperture, low ISO, and a polarizer to get your shutter speed to where you want it. Don't be afraid to experiment with lots of different speeds to find what you like. A polarizer also removes glare from wet rocks and leaves, allowing colors and textures to come through without a distracting shine.

Control Your Colors. Light like this has a very blue green look to it, using a custom white balance tool (or alternately sometimes the "cloudy" white balance setting on your camera will work) will bring your colors back to normal, giving them a richer look.

Be Careful! Lots of people get hurt each year climbing around on waterfalls, don't be one of them! Take things slow and careful, watch your step, and obey any posted signs telling you where you can or can't go. Okay, so maybe we do a few things (correction, a lot of things) to get shots that would have our mom's waving a finger and "tssking" at us. But wet rocks are no joke, they can bust you up real quick. "And don't forget your galoshes..."


]]> Getting the Shot http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.phpindex.php?itemid=130 Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:32:21 -0400 Getting the Shot - Great Horned Owl in Flight http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.php?itemid=129 Great Horned Owl in Flight

Background - This image was made during the 2008 Images for Conservation Pro-Tour.  This was one of the final images I took in the competition, during the last hour of sunlight on the last day.  I found this pair of GHO's hanging around a pair of trees hunting in a field  and over the course of an hour they gave me some fantastic photo ops, this shot was one of my favorites.  This image was shot at 1/1250th @ f8 with a Canon 1DMkIII, 500mm f4 and a 1.4 x TC.  This is full frame, no major crops were allowed in the competition.

Body Language - To get this particular image I was photographing the owl as it sat perched on a snag.  Having photographed this species before, I had a pretty good feel for their body language, and as this one hooted and wing-stretched I knew it was probably going to take off.  Knowing the body language of your subjects is a huge asset in helping you predict and capture the action when it unfolds!

Leading your Target... - Most larger birds when they launch into flight have do do so with a lot of power, taking a large initial push and flap off of their perch.  GHO's do just this, launching themselves out into space.  To catch this shot, I prefocused on the perch and swung my camera so it was pointing a few feet right and up at what I suspected would be where that first leap took him.  I watched him out of the corner of my eye and as soon as I saw the initial flap I squeezed off a burst and began my pan with him.  This little bit of a lead gave me some much needed leeway on my reaction time (I was getting pretty tired and sluggish by the end of that competition!).  Granted you may clip a wing tip or two when you shoot big birds in flight this tight, but by timing my burst I got most of my shots "wings in" before the second flap brought his wings out of the frame.

Sometimes just the experience is worth it... - Settings and technique aside, this was one of the coolest experiences I had during the competition.  It was a real treat watching this pair up close, and whether I had gotten a single keeper or not, it was just a lot of fun photographing them.  Granted I am much happier having made this image than not , it is still an image I come back to as a favorite just 'cause I like to tell the story about it.]]> Getting the Shot http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.phpindex.php?itemid=129 Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:29:38 -0400 Getting the Shot - Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Landing http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.php?itemid=128

Background... Digging deep into the image files, this is one of my favorites from the 2008 Images for Conservation Pro-Tour. This image was taken late morning about halfway through the competition when I found this family of Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers (STF) hunting in a meadow near a pond. The family of three were perched on a variety of mesquite snags and other perches, they would fly out from the perches, snatch a bug from the air, and most of the time return to the perch they had just left. This image was shot at 1/1600th @ f7.1 with a Canon 1DMkIII, 500mm f4 and a 1.4 x TC.

Watch and Learn... The real key to this image was just taking a few minutes to sit and watch these birds engaged in their daily routine. It is really tempting to go in with "guns blazing" when you spot an animal you want to photograph, but sudden movements and sound from you and your camera can spook off wildlife before you get a chance to really capture the images you want. By waiting a few minutes this gave the birds time to become accustomed to my presence, see I wasn't a threat, and allow me to gradually move in a little closer. It also allowed me time to analyze their behavior, and see the pattern of "fly/land/eat/repeat" that they were engaged in. This male in particular really liked this perch, chasing off his young'un who tried to land on it a couple of times. His predictable pattern really made it much more possible to get this landing shot.

The Pre-Flight plan... Having a pretty good idea of how he would come in for a landing having watched it a few times, I prefocused on the perch and then waited for the STF to fly back in. With the wind coming from the right side of the perch, I knew he would most likely approach from the left, so I set my auto focus sensor to one click left of center as being the most likely place I would have to focus on. As he hovered over the perch I rolled my focus to bring him fully in, only tweaking the focus as the bird hovered around the perch to land. By prefocusing, I cut the time needed for my autofocus to acquire the STF, reduced the possibility I would accidently autofocus on something in the background and lose him all together, and overall improved my chances of success for getting a sharp image. Prefocusing on the perch also allowed me to frame the area, and compose my background, so I could make slight shifts to get a nice clean background that was free of distracting elements.

See it before you take it... I am a big believer in Pre-visualization, in other words seeing the shot before you take it. I drive and hike around with a whole laundry list of images in my head all the time, and am constantly on the lookout for opportunities that would enable me to get the "shots in my head". For this image I had been looking for a chance to get a STF perched on something other than barbed wire or a power line, so when the opportunity presented itself, I already had an idea of how I would approach getting the image. Flying in with a bug in beak was just an added bonus!

]]> Getting the Shot http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.phpindex.php?itemid=128 Tue, 8 Jun 2010 10:36:46 -0400 Getting the Shot – Winter Cowboys http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.php?itemid=116
By Les VoorhisThis series of images was made at the New Haven Ranch, home of our new Winter Cowboys Photo Workshop. Photographing groups of anything can always be a challenge, whether they are flowers, puppies, insects or people. The challenge become even more difficult when you add charging horses racing through the snow straight at you! The relationship between each animal is constantly changing and therefore constantly messing with your carefully chosen composition. Add to that a need to keep the auto focus sensor on a lead animal and the process becomes exponentially more difficult.

When the herd is off at a distance, the margin for error is much greater as the given DOF is deeper, providing more of the herd in focus. This allows you to be freer with your composition and where you place your focus points…it doesn’t necessarily have to be on a lead horse. I typically like to shoot using only one photo point selected so that “I” can choose where the focus is concentrated and not my camera.


As the herd gets closer the importance of selecting a lead horse to focus on as well as fine-tuning your composition becomes more important. Learning to quickly change your focus point to move it off center as necessary is a good skill to acquire when shooting moving, running groups such as this.


For this shot I kept my focus point on center for the black pinto horse but adjusted the zoom of my 100-400 lens to eliminate horses on each side of the main grouping. For the next photo the grouping changed yet again and the palomino pinto charged ahead and off to the side, requiring me to move the active sensor to the right side of my frame and placing that on him, to give me the framing that I wanted.


To practice “on the fly” focus point selection, find a group of constantly changing subjects that can move at differing rates of speed as well as constantly changing positions. An excellent source for this is a group of kids rising bicycles. It is easy to control their speed and where and when you want them to move. Throwing a ball for a group of three or four easy to control dogs is a good next step after you have mastered the bicycles! Beware of slobber on your camera gear however!!


For this last shot, moving to a vertical orientation can confuse the entire process and changes the way you move your focus points. Be sure to practice your group shoots and photos in both horizontal and vertical positioning so that your mind and fingers are used to both sets of movements. Be aware of what is happening in your viewfinder! Watching the edges of the frame with your peripheral vision in order to keep errant butts and heads from sneaking in, all while keeping the focus sensor on your selected subject is certainly a skill developed only from practice and one I highly recommend acquiring. Good luck and I hope to see you on a workshop in the near future.
]]> Getting the Shot http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.phpindex.php?itemid=116 Fri, 9 Apr 2010 13:14:24 -0400 Changing Your Workflow... http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.php?itemid=113 Double Damselflies -Two Damselflies perched on a blade of grass in a pond, with clear reflections
By Jason Hahn One of the coolest things about digital photography over the past few years has been the innovation and rapid leaps forward in technology. Sure I grumble about shelling out more money every time the latest software/camera/lens comes out or having to learn the latest version of CS, but deep down I really like where photography is going. These technological jumps have lead to a whole new realm of creativity, and simply put, we are making images now we didn't even dream of getting a few years ago.

That being said though, the hard part about digital photography for me has been the increased time spent in front of the computer versus looking through the viewfinder. All the post processing stuff after the shot has always been the "work" side of nature photography. Give me a bug infested swamp any day, versus sitting behind the desk inputting metadata into images! So a few months ago I really looked at my workflow, because (a) I wasn't thrilled with the end results, and, (b) I felt I was spending way too much time on this to end up with (a). I looked at my shooting, my software, my editing process, and came to the realization that frankly, I didn't know what I needed to change. Sure I teach workshops, but I am not too proud to admit when I need to grow in an area, and find an expert to learn from.


So fast forwarding now through months spent with a variety of books, websites, phone calls, and seminars, I came out the other side with a brand new workflow and am a huge fan of Lightroom. Sure it's not perfect, but I am wondering why I hadn't made this leap sooner. I had owned this program for about a year, but had never used it for much more than a catalog tool, never really using it to its full potential as a complete workflow solution. For years I felt like I was fighting with Photoshop, now I only resort to using Photoshop for a few specific tasks instead of the bulk of my post-processing. The end result is that I have dramatically cut down the time I spend processing each image and end up with a result I am far happier with.

So over the next few months I'll be posting tips and techniques I have learned from a variety of sources or by experimentation that will save time and help produce better results. There are a couple of lessons I wanted to share out of all this. First shoot in RAW. This gives you the most flexibility in your workflow, plus when you learn something new you can go back and use it on old images! Second, don't settle and don't be afraid to ask for help. If you aren't happy with any aspect of your photography, there are tons of people and resources to learn from. Last, don't let yourself fall into a rut. I was still using fundamentally the same workflow I had used five years ago. Things have changed a lot in that time, and while some of the old tricks still work, there were much better and faster ways of doing the same things. The rapid changes in photography have made it hard to keep up with everything, but it is well worth it to sit back every so often and review what you are doing, both behind the camera and on the computer.

Digital Workflow: Before and After

Double Damselflies -Two Damselflies perched on a blade of grass in a pond, with clear reflections
Double Damselflies -Two Damselflies perched on a blade of grass in a pond, with clear reflections
























On the left: Converted from RAW using Breezebrowser to TIF. In Photoshop added levels, hue/saturation, and brightness/contrast layers. Also did resizing, spot cloning, USM sharpening. Took about 3 minutes to do all this.

On the Right: Processed in Lightroom using the Develop Tab (equivalent to Adobe Camera Raw). Using a User Preset (One Click and it applies everything). Camera profile changed to Camera Standard, Clarity +25, Vibrance +12, Blacks +5., Tone Curve - Medium Contrast. Went in and tweaked Clarity to +45, White balance to 4500K and Vignette to -40 to darken foreground foliage a little. Used the heal brush to clean up a few spots. Took about 30 seconds to do all this. Exported to Photoshop as a TIF for sharpening and resizing to web size.

End Result: I like the image on the right better. Most of it is pretty subtle, but to me it has truer color, better contrast, and overall looks crisper. Looking back I was pretty happy with the one on the left when I did it, now it looks a little washed out and softer than what I can produce in Lightroom / ACR in less time.
]]> Digital Photography Workflow http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.phpindex.php?itemid=113 Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:33:50 -0400 Getting the Shot - Double Damselflies http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.php?itemid=90 Double Damselflies -Two Damselflies perched on a blade of grass in a pond, with clear reflections

This is one of the images that I submitted as part of my portfolio in the 2008 ICF Pro-tour. While making my daily circuit of the waterholes on the ranch, I found this little pond had hundreds of damselflies flying over it. I found a couple of pieces of grass sticking out of the water that these guys would regularly land on, and was fortunate to get these two landing and facing each other for a split second.
This image was made using a 1D MkIII with a Tamron 180 macro lens at 1/320 sec, f/14 @ ISO400, aperture priority (Av), +2/3 exp comp, handheld laying on belly on the bank of the pond, slowly sinking into some fairly smelly mud...

Narrowing your Focus - There were literally hundreds if not thousands of these guys zipping around the pond. With so much activity it is really hard to narrow your focus down and pick what to shoot. Over the years I have developed a habit of just sitting back and watching the activity for a while, not only is it fun to me to just watch, but it helps to pick up on repetitive behaviors that the wildlife engages in. I noticed them landing on these little stubs of grass dotting the pond, which helped me narrow my focus and zero in on this action, ignoring all the other distractions taking place around the pond. Cutting out small slices from the big 360 degree world we have to choose from to make our photos can be a real challenge. Slowing down and watching for a moment helps you do just that.

Low Down and Dirty - Usually I work off of a tripod, it results in crisper shots, less fatigue, and fewer missed opportunities. However, there are times when the tripod just plain gets in the way of getting the shot you have pictured in your mind's eye, and you have to come up with other solutions. The shot I wanted was eye level at close to the water's surface, and the tripod I was using at the time just could not go that low. So I laid down on my chest in the mud at water's edge and inched forward until my elbows were in the water, bracing the camera just above water level. With both elbows on the ground, I could still hold the camera very stable, and also get the angle I was looking for. Taking this shot from higher on the tripod would have lead to a more cluttered background and given a top down view I didn't like as much in contrast to this more intimate eye level view. Would this work in every situation? Probably not. But here I had plenty of light to work with giving me good shutter speed even at the small apertures I was working with, and a way to lock the camera against myself to control my focus point and depth of field.

Wait for it... - With tons more damselflies than grass to land on, I guess it was just a matter of time before I got two on the perch I was looking at. But it sure did not seem that way while I was laying there in the mud watching this same scene unfold a number of times on every tuft of grass but mine. I was sorely tempted to try to move to get those, convincing myself that there was something wrong with my blade of grass, and the others were all so much better. But, the little voice in the back of my head kept me where I was, knowing that as soon as I moved it would spook any damselflies at rest back into flight. I picked this tuft initially because I saw lots of activity around it, it had a nice clean background, and could be shot at the angle I wanted from the shoreline, so I just needed to trust my instincts and wait it out. Not that sometimes it isn't worth getting up and moving if your instincts don't pan out, but you have to at least give a spot a chance. Often with wildlife we may see "the shot" happening somewhere else and want to move to capture it, but in reality, patience is key. Sit back, watch for a bit like I mentioned earlier, pick the best spot you can and wait for it. Too often I have seen folks get so excited about what is happening "over there" that they never settle down and make great shots of the action unfolding right in front of them.

]]> Getting the Shot http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.phpindex.php?itemid=90 Wed, 3 Feb 2010 12:32:09 -0500 Getting the Shot - "Roseate Spoonbill Launching" http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.php?itemid=86
by Jason Hahn

This image was captured in the waters of Tampa Bay while wading near a collection of spoil islands. The spoonbills congregate here in the shallow waters to forage, flying in and out throughout the day as rising or falling tides change the landscape of the area. While photographing this bird, I noticed that it had stopped feeding and exhibited a series of behaviors that from my experience told me he was getting ready to fly off. I prefocused on him, and swung my camera so it was pointing a few feet left and up from where I suspected that first wing-flap would take him. This image was taken while waist deep in Tampa Bay, with a Canon 1D MkII, with a 500mm lens and 1.4x extender, at 1/1600 at f8 and ISO250.

Shooting in Sand and Salt - Beaches and coastal waters provide some of the best opportunities for nature photography, from wildlife to scenery, but sand and salt are probably two of the worst substances to expose your photography gear to. Sand can scratch lenses, jam up tripods and focusing rings, and find its way into every nook and cranny in your gear. Saltwater can be death for electronics. While the extreme way to handle sand and salt is too avoid shooting in areas where they occur, doing this limits you from shooting in some great locations.

Carry a paint brush - In sandy areas keep a 2 or 3 inch wide paint brush with you. You can quickly knock loose sand off of tripods, cameras, clothes, and hands. Of course do not use this on lens elements, as it may scratch them.

Use a closed fist to get off the ground - If going after subjects on the ground, either by crawling or kneeling, when its time to stand up, prop yourself up with the knuckles of a your closed fist. Do not set your hand flat on the ground, as your palm will become covered in sand, which you will then have to get off before you can take another photo.

Keep a dry rag hand - If around water, especially salt, keep a dry rag handy to wipe off any accidental splashes or spray. Be sure you have it somewhere that will stay dry. I usually keep a small cloth inside a sealed plastic baggie in my pack. While wading I have had large fish jump directly in front of me and splash water all over my gear. A quick wipe with a rag was all I needed to keep shooting.

Clip and Zip - If you are in salt water, minimize the chances you will drop something by clipping everything to you. Use retractable cords or lanyards if necessary. Make sure all pockets are zipped or buttoned shut, you don’t want to have something fall out if you bend over (…which is how I lost my first cell phone at Ft. De Soto…).

Keep items high and dry - A lot of times when wading after a subject I get so caught up I don’t realize how deep I have gotten. I try to keep all items that are vulnerable to water damage waist high or higher. I never put items in pants pockets, preferring pouches on my belt harness or shirt pockets instead. Periodically check the bottoms of pouches on belts or vests to see if you have gotten them wet. If so, take a moment and check the contents to see if they need to be dried.]]> Getting the Shot http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.phpindex.php?itemid=86 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:04:45 -0500 Getting the Shot - Dead Horse Point Sunset http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.php?itemid=81 Dead Horse Point <br /> Sunset from Dead Horse Point Park
by Jason Hahn

This was shot in Dead Horse Point State Park, near Moab, Utah. This image was shot as a five image series to create an HDR (High Dynamic Range) image using Photomatix and Photoshop. The huge difference in dynamic range between the bright evening sky and the deeply shadowed valleys are exactly the type of situation where shooting for an HDR makes sense, to capture details in both the highlights and the shadows. The series was processed using Photomatix to create two versions of the image, a "details enhancer (DE)" tone map, and a "tone compressor (TC)" tone map. The tone mapped images from Photomatix were then brought into Photoshop with the DE image layered over the TC image, using multiply and a 50% opacity for the DE Layer. I know that all sounds complicated, but it is really a pretty quick and straight forward process once you have done it a few times, and are familiar with Photomatix. The images were shot at 1 stop increments from 1/8 to 1/125 at ISO 200 and an aperture of f8 with a Canon 1DMkIII and a Tamron 17-35mm lens at 17mm. An Expoimaging "ExpoAperture2 Depth-of-Field Guide" was used to calculate the hyperfocal distance and appropriate f-stop .

My Hyperfocal What?! I mentioned above that I used a cool little gadget to calculate the hyperfocal distance for this shot. The Hyperfocal Distance is the point in the scene you are shooting from which everything on all the way out to infinity is in focus. The reason we want to know what this is because in most cases is it allows you to get as much in focus in your scene as possible. For example, say you're on the beach, and you want a sweeping image with the seashells at your feet in sharp focus, as well as the rest of the scene extending out over the surf to the horizon. By knowing the hyperfocal distance for your particular combination of lens, camera, and distance to your nearest subject, you can get all of this in sharp focus. There is a pretty complex set of equations to use to figure out the exact hyperfocal point for your particular combination of lens, focal distance, and aperture, usually photographers use a couple of different tricks instead of trying to figure this out on the fly. One way is to carry around printed charts listing all of your lenses at different distances. Another old trick a lot of photographers use, and with pretty good results, is to focus about 1/3 into the scene, which is pretty close in a lot of cases to where the hyperfocal point will be. But you may lose sharpness in the foreground using this trick, this is where using a tool like the "Depth of Field Guide" comes in handy to really nail the settings and get the sharpness you want throughout your image. With this tool you just spin the three dials built into to it your settings and it shows you where to set your f-stop and focal distance, no math in your head required.

Don't Overdo it! As I have mentioned in other articles on HDR images, it is very easy to overdo things in the post production and end up with an image that looks like, well, an HDR. To me a good HDR is subtle, where it has the viewer wondering how the image was done, without slapping them in the face screaming "HDR!". I like to use one of the images in my original series as the "foundation", and layer the Photomatix file(s) over it, changing the layer blend to multiply, lighten or darken (depending on the image), and using the opacity slider to get just the effect I want. Also be careful of noise and over-saturation, the very nature of HDRs intensify both of these. Shoot at a low ISO, usually 200 or less, and be careful not to over intensify the saturation in Photoshop.
]]> Getting the Shot http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.phpindex.php?itemid=81 Sun, 8 Nov 2009 14:21:00 -0500 Getting the Shot - Scrapping Sea Lions http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.php?itemid=71
"Scrapping Sea Lions" by Jason Hahn
by Jason Hahn

This photo was taken on my recent trip up to British Columbia, during our whale watching portion of the trip.  The area we we were cruising through in search of whales (of which we found plenty!) is also host to a series of islands on which hundreds of Sea Lions haul out, rest, argue, and generally do what Sea Lions do.  This image was shot with a Canon 1d MkIII and 100-400, handheld from a boat, 1/800th sec @ f8 and ISO640

Settings for Sharpness - Shooting hand held in soft light from a bobbing boat sounds pretty much like a good way to come home with a lot of out of focus images.  But you can make a lot of choices in your settings to still get sharp images despite these factors working against you.  One of the easiest things to do as light levels drop is begin moving up your ISO to allow you to continue shooting at higher shutter speeds and equivalent apertures. The latest generations of digital cameras have exceptional noise characteristics, I find I rarely shoot wildlife at anything lower then ISO 400 anymore with the Mark III.  It is far better to get a sharp shot with a bit of noise, than no shot or a blurry shot.  Noise can be fixed, out of focus, not so much...  There are some great noise reduction programs out there, I find Noise Ninja to be an exceptional plug-in for Photoshop to clean up noisy images.

On the Fringe - While I certainly took plenty of large group shots, this image is an example of working the "edges of the crowd" to isolate individual animals or small group interactions.  To capture images of single animals, instead of shooting into the mass of animals, which can sometimes provide very "busy" images with clipped parts of animals in your backgrounds, keep an eye on the edges.  Look for animals entering or leaving the group, and constantly scan for opportunities as they arrive or depart.  If possible, try to position yourself nearer an edge also, instead of directly opposite the middle of the group.  Not only do you get better opportunities at individual action and portraits, but you end up with much cleaner backgrounds, such as this, that really frame your subject.

Remember though, there is nothing wrong with group shots, just be very aware of your composition to best "tell the story" of the rookery, herd, or flock.

"Getting the Shot" is regularly featured on our Facebook page, please check it out for the latest installments in this series.]]> Getting the Shot http://www.outdoorphotoworkshops.com/nucleus/articles.phpindex.php?itemid=71 Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:56:35 -0400