A day spent at Clay Pit Ponds

Techniques, Updates Comments Off
Jul 182010

Thank you to everyone who came out and practiced their photography skills with me. It was a great time to get out with your fellow photographers and learning a new thing or two to boost that skill set of ours. For those who didn’t attend and are curious I taught an advanced nature photo walk at Clay Pit Ponds State Park Preserve. We skipped the classroom and went straight into the field.

We started out at Sharrotts Pond and then worked the trails. No specific shot was sought after just anything and everything that was in our path. From landscapes to macros we had it covered.

Looking to the skies for a photograph was an option I normally don’t take. I tend to have a hard time making it work. Plus a lot of the time like most if you take this shot with your typical auto settings that sky will be blown out and white. Well; the key is knowing how to deal with that exposure. I happened to like the dramatic light filtering through. This gave me the opportunity to get the sky into exposure and create something dramatic. Underexposing over a stop did the trick and made the rest fall into place. In post I added a touch of saturation to the skies and a black point to the darks.

Don’t underestimate the power of a well placed black point. Here is an image without the black point dropped.

This is the same image with the black point dropped in. It’s subtle, but I think its vital to making subjects pop. If your looking for a black point in the options for your post process workflow look for an icon like this:

Along the green trail there is a great fern meadow that I always like to look for images in. Now obviously this one didn’t come out of the camera like this. I used Silver Efex Pro from NIK to make this happen. Using antique plate II and combining it with a green b&w filter. High contrast is always a great lighting source to seek out. Knowing how to put it to work is the real key.

Posted by Jarred at 3:42 pm

Our Nations Capital

Photography, Techniques, Tips, Travel 1 Response »
Jul 112010

I recently went on a trip to our nations capital and had a great time exploring our history. Not much wildlife to be had other then pigeons and house sparrows, but as photographers we make the most of it and expand our skills. For us it should all be about architecture and angles when we get here. Trying to learn how to direct the viewers eye to the subject. You can see here that I used the bicycle lane to show you the way to the Capitol Building.

Walking the mall is a long, but fun experience. It was blocked off for the fireworks show so we had to take the long way around, plus photographically they plopped these nasty fences across it. If you look close you can see this line going across. The trick here was to zoom out and go wide minimizing the subjects in the distance. I had to balance the monument and the people, but thankfully the George Washington Monument was large enough to hold its own. Plus its not the true subject here. The people looking out are.

The view from before was taken standing in the Lincoln Memorial. One of my favorite places to visit. There are lots of people if you haven’t noticed or haven’t been. There isn’t really a great way to avoid them. The key is to work with them. We want to see that many people come to learn about our and their own Nations history. So we tell that story. Not the story of a lonesome building. This woman was nice enough by chance to point up at the building and give me a great way to lead in.

This is just part of the World War II memorial. It’s very popular both because of the tremendous war and it’s a monument that is 10 degrees cooler due to all the water features. It is situated just shortly from the base of the George Washington Monument on your way toward Honest Abe.

People, people, people. As wildlife photographers we fight the instinct to have people present in our images. Relax breathe and it will all be ok. Believe me I am not being sarcastic. It took me a while to become ok with our species inclusion in any part of our natural world. If this trio wasn’t there I would just have the concrete walkway to go on and I just don’t find that as interesting.

One of the best parts for me going to DC is the museums. My favorite of them all is The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. It is a huge catalog of our history as a collective globe. I’ve always wanted a shot of people looking at an aquarium and the people as a majority silhouette. I underexposed the shot so the aquarium was properly exposed and the poorly lit people fell dark. It’s not a huge wall of an aquarium, but I’m getting warmer.

The Hope Diamond. 45.52 Carats of pure diamond. I was disappointed it wasn’t in its setting, but we make the best of it. It holds a value of approximately 300-350 million United States Dollars.

The last monument we visited on the way out of DC was the Jefferson Memorial. A man of true inspiration and contribution to our Nation and the world. That is him standing in between the columns and the Washington Monument poking its head out from the monuments left shoulder. I could have moved 30ft or so and revealed the Washington Monument, but construction equipment would have ruined it. Plus I much rather preferred Jefferson showing through the columns.

Thomas Jefferson.

Some of you may be curious as to how I navigated Washington DC. Well I decided to use technology to help me out. I would highly recommend getting a Google account strictly for this purpose. You don’t have to use the Gmail Account for e-mail that is your decision. The reason you should get one is to use its Google Maps feature. I created a Google Map and marked all the locations of where I wanted to go. I used my Motorola Droid (any smart phone with access should do) as a tour guide as I wondered The Mall.

This is a copy of the map I created. Click on it to go to a full size image and click HERE for the actual interactive map. This is a true gem of a feature I will be forever using this when I wander to locations. I don’t have to even bother inputting into a GPS. I can see what I want in real time. Plus on my phone it will have a cursor telling me my location in relation to it all. The possibilities are endless. I decided I wanted to make the map public and share it with you all. If you decide to investigate; yes we decided to splurge a little since we were there for a short while and stay at a hotel of a little more expense, but look at the proximity!

P.s. Do keep in mind it requires a data connection to access the map and it may cost you money if you do not have a plan to use these services on the go. (for example I am using Verizon’s Unlimited Data plan at the moment)

Posted by Jarred at 9:41 am Tagged with:

Celebrating with a bang!

Techniques Comments Off
Jul 022010

The time of fireworks is approaching and it’s one of my favorite times of year. There is almost nothing more interesting to photograph on or around the Fourth of July. The only problem is how do we approach it. Well rather then reinvent the wheel check out a previous post on how to do just that (click here)!

I wanted to provide a few more tips via photographs. I recently went to a summer celebration at mid-land beach on Staten Island to give it a try. I like that with fireworks although some destinations may feel the same they can all be approached differently. Rather then just go to the shore I stayed back and incorporated people into my scene. The fireworks being bright enough created a silhouette of them that just turned out to be fantastic. Better then your typical and simple bursts in the sky. Now this isn’t they only way to go about this. Just one approach.

When you get there and your all setup now you wonder where to point the lens and if it’s a zoom how much of the sky you may want. Now with a zoom you can adjust on the fly more quickly, but that still doesn’t help with composition. The bad news is it isn’t a win win situation. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. You start by choosing a composition and then a few fireworks later the bursts are now higher in the sky. What I would do is find an average. You will never get it all and shooting real wide with cropping later will just degrade the picture. Having space in the image above though can leave room for text :-)

Wondering how long to hold that shutter open is the real difficult part. I will tell you there is no rule of thumb. Typically just not too long. A few bursts will do. That gets thrown to the wolves sometimes as some fireworks are super bright and others are quite dim in comparison. Experimentation is key and keep on shooting. Vary your exposures. One thing I will tell you is finales are super bright and fast. Long exposures there will probably kill your shot.

This is the same shot held longer.

And even longer then that. See if you hold out too long you will burn out your highlights and ruin your image.

Some blown highlights may work. Here there are some blown highlights, but we accept the fact they are huge bursts of light and there are many other colorful bursts to compliment them. Variation is key. I highly encourage you to go out with your equipment and experiment. These shows are your taxes at work. So go out have a great time with the family and come back with some awesome pictures!

Posted by Jarred at 2:08 am Tagged with: , , ,

Details and new events

Techniques, Updates Comments Off
Jun 302010

Wow, I’m finally back. Technology can be so much fun and then such a major pain in the ass all at the same time. Finally got a new machine and I am up and running now. Where to begin? Well I left off with posting about the last nature photography lecture/photo-walk. It was a ton of fun. Had some great people come out and share in our love of photography. Sitting in a class learning is great and all, but don’t we all just want to get out and shoot sometimes? Well you are in luck! My next teaching event will be exactly that. All photography. We will be exploring the Clay Pit Ponds area and see what we can make of it… photographically of course. You will be shooting along side me and be encouraged to ask all the questions you have and I expect you to hold nothing back! I will also be making pointers as we walk around trying to make our images just that much better. The price for all of this? FREE! Yep you heard it right. Free. So come on down and have a great time with me and your fellow photographers. It is guaranteed to be a ball!

Now down to business. I wanted to recap a concept or two that we talked about when we went out for our photo-walk. One was exposure. A major concept that isn’t the easiest to grasp and the other involved working on depth of field and understanding it on a physical plane.

Not only did we discuss how to expose for this type of shot, but more importantly looking for light! It’s vital to have an eye for that selective lighting. You don’t always want everything lit. It can be a lot more appealing when you only light the parts of the story you are trying to share.

We didn’t use spot metering and just have it do the job. We used a combination of matrix metering, exposure compensation and then using the highlights or “blinkies” in the playback details. Once you see the light and then know how to expose for your subject, can you reach your true potential as a story teller.

This is a moth that we found as we walked the trails at Clay Pit Ponds State Park preserve. It’s amazing what you can find when you just slow down for a moment. Something we are all guilty of not doing from time to time. It was so dark in the woods as we walked that I was shooting at f/2.8 in order to get a decent enough shutter speed. Even with that I had to remember to use proper hand holding and shooting technique. Making sure that focus point was where I wanted and then hoped one came out sharp. I got lucky here. One thing that is vital is to remember from what angle you are photographing your subject. Regardless if it’s an animal or a person. If you are pointing it downward opposed to eye level or straight on, things will look drastically different. I highly encourage you to get out there and try it out. You might just surprise yourself.

If all this sounds interesting and you want to learn more directly in the field then make sure to sign up and reserve a spot for our advanced photo walk July 17th at the Clay Pit Ponds State Park Preserve. More info can be found in my event section in the  upper right hand corner. Hope to see you there!

Posted by Jarred at 10:25 pm Tagged with: , ,

Photographing shorebirds

How-To, Techniques, Tips 2 Responses »
May 262010

When photographing shorebirds at Cape May I picked up on a few bits of information. There are some obvious items we will talk about to watch and look out for, but just by spending time with a of group of birds you get a feel for what works and what doesn’t. I hope you will take away some tips and also learn some new ones as you go out there and try some techniques for yourself.

Shorebirds are often on the move. They don’t stand idle on the beach or perch like song birds. They are constantly probing the sands as they look for food. I will often find myself having to pan with the birds as they walk. I will track them and shoot as they move in continuum. Not stopping once the shutter has been snapped. If you plan on trying to freeze the action make sure your shutter speed is on the higher end. Their bodies as a whole tend to move at a steady pace, while their legs move much faster. It may seem obvious, but if you don’t shoot too fast you may get a bit of motion blur to convey motion.

That probing is also something to look out for. You will want to either have a very high frames per second (FPS) on your side or to shoot for ‘peak of action.’ This will enable you to get a crisp shot. I went out just thinking I could blast away. You will often find that this technique won’t work. You need to be quick and not hesitate when there are those moments where the bird will check its surroundings. That is the peak moment when you need to roll that shutter and make the shot.

Don’t be afraid to shoot vertical or include elements to give a sense of place. Shore birds are not all large like a willet for example in the first photograph. This semi-palmated sand piper is incredibly small and very difficult to grab full frame. I made use of some scraps on the beach and ocean behind him to make the shot. Much more interesting then just plain sand wouldn’t you agree?

Make sure to watch your background. You might not always be able to move, but you can control when to shoot. I found this to be the perfect combination of blue and green to compliment the shot. I got myself close enough to be intimate, but not too close to where they wouldn’t pass by me.

That is a key goal in wildlife photography. Paying attention to Nature’s cues. If you can locate a food source or use the tide to push them toward you then you will be that much more lucky. The more luck we create the better chances we have at nabbing that magical shot.

If you are lucky enough to have more then one subject of the same species try and get them grouped together. It will make your image appear larger. Lets not kid ourselves. More often then not we won’t be getting a personal experience with a subject. We must try, be patient and sit incredibly still many a time, before we get that golden moment. Sometimes it comes sooner for some and other times longer, but if you put the time in you can bet the effort will be worth the reward.

*Update* My friend Pat Ulrich pointed out that I forgot to mention to shoot from a  low angle! Getting lower to the ground or to eye level with any of your subjects is always a good idea (be safe and smart depending on your subject.) Your depth of field will be parallel with your subject allowing it to be as fine as possible. You will get your subject tack sharp and blow out the background to remove any distractions. Great catch Pat, thanks! *update*

Posted by Jarred at 5:17 pm Tagged with: , , , ,
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