Tag Archives: nature photography

Photography is All About The Moment… Or is it?

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We all know that photography is all about the moment. That one brief, yet perfect instant, or as we so fondly know it as, that decisive moment, when the the elements of our composition come together in an exciting and unique way.

It’s the peak of the action, the perfect expression, the split second when all other concerns in the world drop away from our consciousness because, well frankly, there is nothing else at at time that deserves our attention than The Moment.

Unless we’re talking about the light. You know, that rich, warm light that only happens at certain times of day, or when there’s a fire or volcano nearby, that bathes the world so vividly and imparts such a special character to our scenes.

We live for that light. We seek it out. We pull ourselves out of bed and out of the tent at ungodly hours while the rest of the people in our time zone still slumber in dreamland for that light.

We stay outside until dark and trade a reasonable dinner time for the potential of wonderful visual experience. We chase it in order to preserve and capture it as it falls on the shapes, landscapes and people in the world that draw us in.

Absolutely. Photography is all about the light.

Unless it’s about the artistry. Anyone can snap a photo with their camera, but it takes someone with skill and vision to take that jumble of stuff in front of our cameras and arrange it into a simple and appealing composition.

Think about all the creative elements that are required to make a great shot. You need to consider the framing, the position of the subject, the inclusion or exclusion of certain elements in the scene, the color, the shapes, the dynamic qualities of the scene, and of course, you need to consider which lens to use. 

Definitely. I’d say that photography is all about the artistic vision. 

Unless it’s about the equipment. After all, you need good gear to make the best photographs. We’re talking high quality glass, lots of megapixels, high ISO capabilities, low noise. You don’t get that with a cheap camera, it takes…

Money.

Photography is all about the money.

Forget what I said about that other stuff, I was way off base there. If you want to take great photographs, you’ve got to spend lots of money. Like I said, you’ll need a pro camera body, expensive fast lenses that don’t distort, and that let you shoot fast in low light, and probably a couple or a few flashes, wireless triggers, diffusers and other light shaping tools if you’re into that artificial lighting stuff.

Oh, but wait. We’ve all seen people out there with really fancy gear and the kinds of big lenses that most of us will never be able to afford. And you know what? Some of them can’t a picture to save their life. They try to force it. You can’t do that. Sure, you can zoom in on a far away subject, but just snapping a photo at the wrong time is only going to get you so far. 

It takes patience. You’ve got to wait for just the right…

Moment.

See, I was right. Photography is all about the moment. 

Or is it…?

Shooting Against The Light

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For those of you who used to shot film, you might remember that there was a basic set of instructions printed on the inside of the box. They pretty much said, “For the best exposure, stand with your back to the sun.”

In most situations, this will generally give you good results, especially in especially pleasing light. Of course, that’s not the only approach, nor is it necessarily the best approach. When you shoot with the light off to your side, you start to accentuate your shadows, which highlights shape and texture. Sidelighting can be a very effective photography technique and it can lead to dramatic results.

What about backlighting? Shooting straight towards the sun can be a tricky proposition, but it can also yield very interesting lighting effects and compelling compositions.

The main benefits of shooting straight towards the light is that your camera is often pointed at the most brilliant colors of the scene. You can use this to your advantage. At dawn and dusk, the low sun illuminates the sky and any clouds that are present with a bright colorful glow. Even if you don’t include the sun in your composition, you can focus on these especially bright hues.

The other obvious benefit with backlighting, is that’s the exact light you need for creating silhouettes. As an added plus, you’ll find that when you do this, you’ll see that the direct sunlight often creates a halo effect, which illuminates the edges of your subject. The intensity of this effect is increased the closer you are to your subject. You can see this in the two images above.

This type of situation also allows you to create a sunstar. You get this look by hiding the sun behind an object in your frame and having it just peek out a little bit, and by stopping your lens down to the neighborhood of f/16.

Another cool effect with backlighting is that it will accentuate any kind of haze, dust, rain, hoar frost or falling snow in your scene. It’s also the right kind of light for creating sun flares.

If you scroll back up to the lead off picture in this post, you can see this effect with the hoar frost crystals that are being lit up by the sunlight. They actually become little tiny points of light themselves, taking on a visible shape that mirrors the aperture of your lens. (See below.)

With translucent subject matter, such as leaves and foliage, the sunlight will shine through the object and illuminate then with increased vibrancy, just like slides on a light table.

Keep in mind that shooting against the sun comes with one big inherent challenge: the potential for greatly increased contrast. Keeping the direct sun out of your frame will help reduce potential problems, shooting closer and using long lenses can help as well.

Perhaps the biggest problem solver is to shoot in wintertime. The high reflectivity of snow in your scene will go a long way towards eliminating any contrast issues. Even with very bold light, you’ll still be able to discern color and detail in your shadows.

 

Finally, I love shooting portraits against the sun. The dramatic warm light at the end of the day creates a wonderful backdrop for a great expression or personality or when capturing particular memorable moments in life. I find that this effect is accentuated when using long lenses.

When using this technique, I would recommend eliminating the direct sun from your frame. Hiding it behind your subject can produced a very pleasing, warm lighting effect. It still produces very strong, bold look, but it won’t overpower and kill the scene. That’s what I did in the second portrait of my dad below.

As you can see, backlighting can give you some gorgeous looks. Get in the habit of looking straight towards the sun, especially when it’s low in the sky, and you’ll open up new creative possibilities with your photography.

 

Shooting the Great Smokies in Black and White

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I just got back from the Great Smoky Mountains, where we just finished our third Fujifilm X-Photoraphers Nature and Travel Summit.

These 4-day intensive workshops are specifically designed for Fuji shooters. We teach photographers how to get the most from their X Series gear and also give them a chance to try out different X/GFX cameras and lenses in the field.

This was my third time photographing in the Great Smokies, which is by every measure, a fantastic location for landscape photography. It’s also the most popular National Park in the entire U.S., with 10 million annual visitors, most of who come to peep autumn leaves during the fall.

After all, this region is known for its amazingly beautiful fall colors, with brilliant hues of red, orange and yellow that paint all of the hillsides and thick forests.

So, what did I do with all of this vibrant, saturated scenery? I ran around shooting in black and white.

Wait… huh?

That’s right, I captured about a third to a half of my scenes in monochrome.

I’m always trying to stretch my own creative boundaries, and I enjoy playing around with different techniques as I try to create unique images that excite and inspire me.

As much as I love color photography, I love shooting in black and white on my Fujifilm cameras, mostly with the ACROS film simulation. I’m also endlessly fascinated by the notion that photography is a representational medium where you’re trying to tell a story or evoke ideas and emotions with a single still image.

One of the most most powerful creative techniques in photography is to abbreviate your scenes. This engages your viewer’s imagination to fill in the rest of the story inside their own mind. When your narrow down to very simple compositions with just a few key elements, you incite an immediate connection between your photo and your viewer that triggers a much different emotional response.

By rendering the scene in black and white, you’re accentuating that notion of photographic abbreviation. Since most people don’t see in black and white, they can’t help but perceive the scene in a different light. Without the distraction of all that pesky color, they’re allowed to focus more on the elements of shape, shadow, tone and the placement of your subject matter, and hopefully extract the message you’re trying to present.

I’ve also been having fun lately with the new B/W ADJ. setting on the Fujifilm X-T3. Found inside the IMAGE QUALITY menu, this new feature lets you apply a warm or cool tone to your black and white images right inside the camera.

I love this feature, and aside from the faster autofocus, it’s pretty much my favorite thing about the X-T3. It’s like adding a whole new brush to your creative kit. The results remind me of classic warm, sepia-toned platinum prints, and gold toned prints, which impart a very slight blue cast.

When you select this setting on the X-T3, you can dial it up or down + or – 9 steps in either direction. It’s fun to experiment and see how the feel of the image changes, depending on the level of adjustment you make.

Then, after going warm and cool for a few frames, it’s always fun to go back to a straight neutral black and white tone and see what you get.

What do you think? Does the message of “fall” come across in these B/W images?

One thing to note, if you’re bracketing film simulations on the X-T3, the B/W ADJ. setting is not available to you, even if one or more of your chosen film sims are set to ACROS or Monochrome. Also, if you shoot RAW, it’s almost guaranteed that your RAW conversion software will trash the nice warm or cool color look you’ve applied as soon as you upload the image.

However, if you’re shooting RAW and doing in-camera conversions on the X-T3, you can apply the B/W ADJ. setting in the conversion menu, but only if you’re already using a black and white film sim. If your original RAW was shot with a color film sim, this option is grayed out.

As I mentioned above, I did capture a wide range of color images during the past week. When I look through my library, though, it’s the monochromes that seem to jump out at me. Those are the ones that make me go “oooh” and “ahhhh.” Probably for the exact reason I discussed in paragraph #3.

I encourage you to try shooting or processing in black and white, at least some of the time. It’s fun to see and show the world in a new way, and digital photography makes it really easy, since most modern cameras have some kind of monochrome mode tucked somewhere in the menus.

Brand New eBook- Creative Photography Techniques

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I just published a brand new Kindle eBook called Creative Photography Techniques – 20 Tips for Stronger Images. In this guide, I present 20 simple tips that help you break out of a creative rut and throw some new excitement … Continue reading →

Lens Review: Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM

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Today we’ve got a guest gear review by British Columbia photographer, Michael Russell. Michael specializes in shooting landscape and nature and he shares his personal experience with the Canon EF 700-200mm f/4L IS USM lens and how it performs for … Continue reading →

Feature Interview with Landscape Photographer Ian Plant

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I’ve got a special treat for you today, a feature interview with landscape photographer extraordinaire, Ian Plant. Ian’s work is simply outstanding and his beautifully designed instructional photography eBooks are definitely some of the best looking and most informative titles … Continue reading →