Posts from the ‘Nature’ Category
If I were to ever record an album, I think I would use this image as the cover art. In college, when my band recorded a demo, the cover art was nothing more than contact information. Obviously my rock n’ roll fantasy didn’t work out. It sounds cliche, however my band fell victim to ‘creative differences’. I think we would have been a great band. I doubt we would have headlined a stadium rock show…..without question we would have opened for someone headlining a stadium rock show. Anyways, I added a page to the site where you can check out monthly playlists I have created to spread the word about bands I would have loved to open for. Click here to take a listen.
Capture Notes:
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VR II
Exposure: 1/4000 sec
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 85 mm
Processing Notes:
Capture
NIK Silver EFX Pro
NIK Color EFX Pro (Color Stylizer)
Photoshop (Resize for web)
LightAsMagic.com
I believe great images lurk right outside your door. You don’t have to travel far to find beauty and interest. I spend my summer days running by this tree and I knew northern clouds would compliment it beautifully. This afternoon the clouds were building in the north, but the sky remained a brilliant blue. I knew this would be the time to visit my running partner. It just so happened to be the end of a year!
Nikon D300
Tokina 11-16
Gitzo Traveler
Capture Notes:
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal Length: 11 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Processing Notes:
Capture (8 images)
Photomatix (HDR/Tonemapping)
Photoshop (Curve adjustment)
NIK Color EFX Pro (Tonal Contrast)
NIK Color EFX Pro (Brilliance/Warmth)
Photoshop (Crop to 4×5)
Photoshop (Size for web)
LightAsMagic.com
By no means do I consider myself a wildlife photographer, I don’t have the patience for it. If you want to see great wildlife photography visit Moose Peterson’s site. His name says it all. I discovered this little fox, along with his brothers and sisters, on my way to the post office. I had my camera with me and thought I would try my hand at ‘Dancing with Wolves’. After a deliberately slow approach, I settled into a seated position and waited. I would yawn, blink, look away, etc; Everything you might learn from watching episodes of the Dog Whisperer. The one thing I didn’t do was immediately start shooting. After about 20 minutes, a reluctant mom let her kits out of the den. She didn’t let them walk up and sniff me, but they were allowed to make eye contact and observe me from a distance. I stayed there as long as a 1 gig CF card would let me (in 2002 that was a boat load of memory). Actually, I stayed a bit longer than that. It was an experience I will always remember.
Nikon D1x
Nikkor 80-200 2.8 AFD
Processing Notes
Capture
Photoshop (Curves Adjustment)
NIK (Sharpen selective to the eyes)
LightAsMagic.com
Tip: In a situation like this you might be tempted to open your lens up as wide as it will go to try and soften the background and emphasize your subject. However, at 2.8 in this case I was barely able to get the eyes in focus if I was focusing on the bridge of their noses. I think f/3.2 – 4 might have been a better choice.
On occasion, you just want to fill the frame with something interesting and click. This one was one of those times. The waves of clouds lit by the rising sun made everything on the ground meaningless, so I pointed my camera to the sky and……click. From my camera to your computers, with nothing in between.
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VR II
Processing Notes
Capture
Aperture (Raw Conversion)
LightAsMagic.com
Tip: To achieve a silhouetted foreground and a brilliant backdrop, you want to set your camera to capture the appropriate exposure for the sky which will leave your foreground dark and detail-less. To do this you can set your camera to ’spot metering’ mode, and meter for the sky. If you don’t have spot metering capabilities, you can use exposure compensation by reducing the metered exposure by several stops. Try making a couple image and review them in your LCD until you like what you see.
If you are are looking for a great 3 day backpack trip in Colorado, make sure you check out the Lost Lake loop in the Flat Tops wilderness. The loop offers terrain that your rarely experience in the Rockies.
The Story: The distant ridge line, where it angles up near the clouds, is the entrance to the basin. You spend 2 days exploring the lakes at the base of the wall to the right. The last day of the loop is spent on top of the plateau as you make your way back to where you entered the basin. The only way off the plateau is to cross a 20ft stretch of rock, 300 ft above the valley floor, and only 3ft wide. I attempted to make a quality image or my team crossing it, but lightning forced me to pack up early…..and run the remaining 3 miles back to the car. Spooky!
Nikon D300
Nikkor 17-35 AFS
Nikon CPII
Gitzo Traveler
Processing Notes:
Capture (5 images)
NX2 Raw Conversion
Photomatix (HDR Tonemapping)
Photoshop (Levels adjustment, saturation boost)
NIK Sharpen (Display)
Below is the image of our lightning induced evacuation.
Run Away!
Sorry for the delay. Unpacking took longer than anticipated. Actually, I am working up some new content so there might be a slight lag in posts. I promise it won’t be too long, and it will be will worth the wait!
Having been the victim of a coordinated mosquito attack the night before, I decided to shoot from a secure location on the roof of the hotel the second night. The sunset was great and I was lucky to catch a boat heading back to the marina after dropping off its passengers from a day of diving in Cozumel.
This was a single exposure HDR image which helped balance the exposure for the sun and sea. In the new content I will be offering, I will provide some more details about a similar image from a bracketed capture sequence. Stay tuned!
Nikon D300
Nikkor 16-85 VRII
Gitzo Traveler
Singh-Ray 3 stop RGND
Capture –> Photomatix (Pseudo HDR) –> Nik ProContrast –> Noiseware –> Nik Output Sharpener –> LightAsMagic.com
Being a land-locked mountain man (I actually live on the front range), I don’t have many opportunities to work with the sea. However, knowing we were headed to Cozumel in Dec I began to imagine images months in advance. I took inventory of my equipment and geared up accordingly. I will write about my gear choices in later posts. I want to dedicate this post to the cosmic experience I enjoyed while making this image.
Standing on the shoreline durning my first sunset of the trip I setup an interesting composition, metered, and began turning over the shutter. I immediately realized seascapes are like nothing else I have ever worked with. The scene is incredibly dynamic. The quality of light is changing moment to moment. As the waves swirl about in the foreground the composition is in constant motion. It took several minutes until I came to terms with all that was happening in my view finder. Eventually I focused and my vision became clear. As I settled in I became hyper aware of this cosmic dance and the images became aware of me.
I can’t wait for my next trip to the coast. I have a lot to learn from the sea.
Nikon D300
Tokina 11-16 2.8 ATX
Singh-Ray 3 RGND
Gitzo Traveler
Jim Patterson is a photographer who has spent many sunsets with the sea. Please visit his site to view his works along the coast.
Less Elvis, originally uploaded by LightAsMagic.
While attending the National Geographic Traveler photography workshop, I engaged in a conversation with Dan Westergren (Nat Geo Traveler senior photo editor) regarding HDR. He jokingly described it as the Velvet Elvis of photography. A compliment in some circles I’m sure. He was open to the discussion and I learned quite a bit from him over the weekend. During the photo review session I plotted against Dan and his ‘old school’ beliefs. I knew Dan wasn’t going to be swayed into publishing HDR images in the next issue of Traveler, but I did think I would get the rest of the class on my side…….and maybe that would convince him. The excitement grew as my straight images were being reviewed. Soon, the class would witness the power of HDR and Dan would have to succumb to the will of the people! Pow, it hit the screen like $#!+ hits the fan!!! What was this monstrosity. On the projector it looked nothing like it did the night before while I was processing it. I knew I shouldn’t have helped my wife finish that lemon drop martini at dinner. Halos, saturation, cartoony…it was all wrong. I still think the class dug it. Probably because it was so foreign, I mean dramatic. But Dan wasn’t going to have any of it. Although my plan failed, Dan was still a good sport about the whole thing. I reprocessed the image during lunch and re-presented it. Although Dan admitted he was impressed with it I wouldn’t get your hopes up, I doubt any HDR will be making its way into future issues of Traveler. Unless of course, Bob has something to say about it!
This image is the reprocessed image. I like it much better than the Velvet Elvis.
9 Images > NX2 (Raw conversion) > Photomatix 3.2 (Exposure Fusion) > Photoshop (lens flare correction, saturation bump, contrast bump, sharpen) > Blog
Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Tokina 11-16
Filter: Nikon CPII
Tripod: Gitzo
Head: Markins Q3T
Early Bird Gets The Swans, originally uploaded by LightAsMagic.
To make great images you have to get up early. You also have to have patience. The final morning of the Bob Krist National Geographic Traveler photography workshop we all met prior to sunrise and set out to capture the morning twilight. Trying to get away from the crowds I stumbled upon these swans as they were waking up from their evening slumber. I approached them very slowly. I didn’t want to spook them. I took my time setting up my tripod, and eased their nerves like Mark Wahlberg would….”Hey Swan, is that your friend? Say hello to your mother for me…..” I must have snapped 30 frames, just waiting for both their profiles to unfold against the reflection. They finally did, and the moment was realized.
Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Nikon 16-85vr
Tripod: Gitzo Traveler
Zones, originally uploaded by LightAsMagic.
I am back from the Bob Krist National Geographic Traveler Photography workshop and my soul is filled with inspiration. If Bob and his stories aren’t inspiration enough the passion of all the other photographers is contagious. Both Bob Krist and Dan Westergren (National Geographic Traveler Senior Photo Editor) were more then willing to share their insights and encourage you to expand your horizons. If you ever have an opportunity to attend either of their workshops I suggest you do. You will surely make new friends and sharpen your vision.
If you can’t make it to a workshop, read Bob’s blog at http://www.bobkrist.com/blog or pick up a subscription to National Geographic Traveler.
Critique: Since Dan and Bob aren’t here to do it, I better take it upon myself for some hard hitting self reflection and criticism. I know I will learn from it and if you are reading this you will too. I’m not over the moon about this image. After review, I think it might have been more powerful as as a static image or possibly reducing the amount of sky. I feel the crazy big moving sky is taking away of the power of the mountain itself. There is tension, but not a a good way. I don’t have a static image to compare it to so I won’t know. Lesson learned. I will try it next time I am in the area. What do you think? Feel free to leave me a comment, it will only make me stronger!
Tip: This image was made on my drive home from the workshop. We were taking our time as we drove north out of Colorado Springs when we passed the Garden of The Gods. I noticed the wind was blowing and the clouds were building. Because I am always looking for motion in my landscapes I decided to pull over, slap on a 10 stop neutral density filter and hold the shutter open for around 70secs. When shooting with a 10 stop neutral density filter you will probably have to pre-focus your camera. It is nearly impossible to see through the viewfinder. You will also need to put your camera in bulb mode. With you cable release attached and you exposure length calculated, start your exposure and use your stopwatch to monitor the duration.
With a 10 stop filter, and a small aperture (f22 here) I find exposures around 50-70sec are about right.
Villard De Lans, originally uploaded by LightAsMagic.
My first experience of the French countryside was a fast paced hike through the high mountain meadows of Villard De Lans as I raced to see the finish of my first stage of the Tour de France. This was also the first stage that Lance Armstrong won in the 2004 Tour de France. LA went on to win the remaining decisive stages and complete his record breaking 6th consecutive TDF win. He would go on to win the Tour again the following year.
After we had witnessed the beginning of a historic record breaking TDF we hiked back down from the ski village where the stage had ended to eat dinner with thousands of our closest French friends. What a time! It was on this descent that the crazy cycling fan in me had subsided and I was able to experience the beauty that was surrounding me. The TDF is the most scenic sports event on earth. I suggest to everyone that you visit France and let the race be your guide.
Camera: Nikon D1X (yep, you read it right!)
Lens: Nikon 20mm 2.8
I run or ride by this spillway at least a couple of days a week. This spring after a recent snowfall, while I was training for my first and probably only marathon, I noticed this island of frost perched atop of the chaos of the current. That night I set my alarm for a bit before sunrise. It wasn’t until dawn that I realized I couldn’t drive to the location because the park gate is closed until 8am. I grabbed my gear (which at the time included a antiquated aluminum bogen tripod that weighs nearly 8lbs) and started a short 2 mile run. My legs held up fine, but my arms were pretty wasted. I made it in time to catch the last rays of the warm sun reflecting on the snow. All in all it was a good morning.
John, if you are reading this, thanks again for the guide service. I came away with some nice images. An evening in the Pawnee offered a breathtaking sunset. The clouds revealed their depth as the sun descended below them. There is much more to explore in the Pawnee, hopefully I can get back up there next summer.
Lost Lake – A Bit Far?, originally uploaded by LightAsMagic.
A beautiful location indeed. However, we were constantly distracted by the squadron of mosquitoes buzzing about. Honestly, while one person was pumping filtered water two others were defending him against the attack. Amidst the chaos I still found time to shoot. It is incredible the focus of mind that certain activities provide. While I am fly fishing, photographing, or scuba diving my mind is silent and focused on the task at hand.
I don’t feel that this image is complete. I have some post processing yet to do. I just thought I would share a work in progress since it was such a remarkable trip.
Bird Rock – One, originally uploaded by LightAsMagic.
We call it Bird Rock because every time we pass it there is a single tiny bird perched on the top of it enjoying the sunset. You will probably see several variations on this theme. This image is a work in progress. The rock is close enough to my house that when the light is right I can head out to hone my HDR skills. For being a rock, the sun and clouds make it a very dynamic subject.
This is the straight output of 5 images fed to Photomatix 3.2.
