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Thursday, March 31, 2022

Photo By Garry Everett

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Flyout” by Garry Everett. Location: Walnut Grove, California.

“Four Sandhill cranes take to the air in the foggy sunrise light,” describes Everett.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

 

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Photo By Brent Newman

Covering 275 square miles of the Chihuahuan Desert in southern New Mexico, White Sands is the largest gypsum dune field on the planet. Designated on December 20, 2019, White Sands National Park incorporates about 41 percent of the dune field, with White Sands Missile Range encompassing the remainder. Runoff from the surrounding mountains transported dissolved gypsum into the Tularosa Basin, where gypsum crystals grew in mass quantities. Over time, the crystals weathered into sand-size grains and were deposited by the prevailing southwest winds to form the snow-white dune field.

Perhaps more impressive than its geomorphological history is the park’s archeological history. Human footprints were recently found in White Sands National Park that date back to 23,000 years, suggesting humans lived in the Americas several thousand years earlier than previously thought.

Before I knew about the history of White Sands, I saw a photograph of the unworldly white gypsum sands at White Sands National Monument, and I knew I had to go see it for myself. That time arrived on December 27, 2019, a week after its national park designation. As I drove into southern New Mexico, it was a nice day as I imagined how I’d capture the white dune field with yucca in the foreground, ripples of sand leading deeper into the scene toward the setting sun and cool mountains. But when I arrived, it became clear that I’d have to rethink my intentions, since a strong breeze and storm clouds were rolling in. By the time I got out in search of my composition, the opaque sun was low on the horizon, and the wind was gale force. I was in a sandstorm.

A bit deflated by how my shoot was unfolding, I waited for sunset to see what I could salvage. A stroke of luck happened before sunset as the sun found a hole in the clouds to the southwest and brilliantly highlighted the suspended sand blowing high above the dunes.

I knew a tripod would be futile in the 50-plus-mile-per-hour winds, so I pulled up my telephoto lens and began searching for a composition. I spotted a couple of hikers in the distance pausing at the top of a prominent dune. Normally, I don’t include human subjects in landscapes, but I was delighted to see them silhouetted against the sand-shrouded sunlight and how they portrayed their relative insignificance within the vast, turbulent dunescape. I set my exposure to freeze the blowing sand and clicked once. Happy with the capture after a brief inspection, I pulled up again to view one of the individuals dropping their day pack and pulling out what appeared to be a map. After another click, the sun eclipsed the horizon, and the show was over.

I remember feeling the raw essence of the storm as I tried to stand steady for a shot, the feeling of the sand exfoliating my exposed skin, and observing the vulnerability of the hikers who may have been caught off guard during the storm with the setting sun. I wanted to express the primal vulnerability of the hikers as they were navigating a sandstorm as the paleo humans did in the white sands 23,000 years ago. I achieved this expression with modest adjustments in tones and white balance while retaining my vision and feelings when I viewed the scene through the lens. OP

Sony a7R II, Sony FE 24-240mm F3.5-6.3 OSS at 240mm. Exposure: 1/3200 sec., ƒ/11, ISO 640.

See more of Brent Newman’s work at brentnewman.photography.

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Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Congratulations to Timothy Van Minnick for winning the Winter Grandscapes Assignment with the image, “Glacier Bay Vista.” See more of Minnick’s photography at 

View the winning image and a selection of submissions in the gallery below. And be sure to check out our current photography assignment here and enter your best shots!

[See image gallery at www.outdoorphotographer.com]

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Photo By Tina Faye Photography

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Golden Light Juvenile Eagle” By Tina Faye Photography. Location: St Croix County, Wisconsin.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Safety Advisory notice.

To our readers, contributors and friends in the Outdoor Photographer community, it has come to our attention that an individual using the name James Logan has been contacting photographers claiming to be the editor of Outdoor Photographer under the pretense of collaborating on editorial projects. This individual has attempted to gather personal information and collect fees with the promise of future compensation in return.

It’s an unfortunate part of being a notable, regarded publication that attempts at impersonation and exploitation happen from time to time. Something similar happened in 2020 when a fake Instagram account created under my name was used to contact photographers with offers of freelance assignments. We attempted to work with Instagram to remove the fake account but the company prioritized its user numbers over its users’ safety and ultimately didn’t remove the account.

The safety of our community is a top priority for us. Following are guidelines to keep in mind if you receive a communication from someone claiming to represent Outdoor Photographer:

  1. Outdoor Photographer staff will never request payment of any kind to consider editorial submissions. If you have received a communication from someone claiming to be editorial staff requesting sensitive personal information or any form of payment, please let us know.
  2. We don’t use personal social media accounts to contact photographers for professional reasons. If you receive a communication through social media from an account with my name or another individual claiming to be Outdoor Photographer staff, it is not authentic.
  3. From time to time, we may use our official Instagram, Facebook or Twitter accounts (@outdoorphotomag) to contact photographers, but any genuine communication from our staff will include a Madavor Media email address (xxxxx@madavor.com) for follow-up.

In general, if you receive a communication from someone claiming to represent any publication or company with an offer of freelance work, be sure to confirm the identity of the person contacting you. One way to do this is call or write the company through the contact information on its website, or by direct message to its official social media accounts. Never provide sensitive personal information through social media or to unverified email accounts or those using free email services like Gmail.

Please share this information with your friends in the photo community.

–Wes Pitts, Editorial Director
Outdoor Photographer

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Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Photo By Linn Smith

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Identical Goals” by Linn Smith. Location: Oviedo, Florida.

“Two anhingas fly off in the same direction in pursuit to accomplish a like goal of finding some food in the waters of Lake Jessup located in Central Florida,” explains Smith.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Giraffes at sunset in Kenya.

If you’ve been following my work for a while, you might know me as an underwater and ocean dude who grew up in Southern California.

I still am at heart. But these days, working strictly with the oceans is not all that I do. In fact, it never really was. I have centered my life around the deep blue because I’ve been in love with that environment and its otherworldly feel for as long as I can remember. I have loved anything and everything that had to do with oceans. But then, a few years ago, I went to Kenya for the first time. My experience was moving to say the least. I recently returned from my second Kenyan experience, which touched me more than my first. It was so breathtaking that I feel compelled to compare it to my enduring love affair with the marine world.

One of the things that fueled my love for ocean anything-and-everything was learning to scuba dive. When I finally got around to it nearly 30 years ago, I created a life that was all about working in and near the water.

Lioness in Kenya.

When I jumped in, my feelings and life changed forever.

I distinctly remember my first dive or “open water checkout dive,” as they are called, like it was yesterday. It was at Anacapa Island, off the coast of Ventura, California. I was nervous as hell (as I suspect all new divers are at first), but incredibly excited at the same time.

Immediately after I jumped, I had to orient myself. I was in a sea of bubbles (pun intended) and didn’t know which way was up. Once I had my bearings, I made my way to the surface, looked around, and found the anchor line hanging off the bow of the boat. As I began pulling and kicking my way down the line, I remember seeing a blue color like I had never seen—it was enveloping and seemingly infinite. There was no floor, no horizon and no lines anywhere other than the one I was hanging onto for dear life. It was like being in space. But this space was no vacuum; it had sound and life. Even though I could only see blue, I heard a crackling noise, like Rice Krispies after you pour milk over them. It never paused and I still hear it when I dive most places. I later found out that the Rice Krispies noise was a cacophony of crustaceans snapping their appendages. Amazing! Just the first 60 seconds of this new place had me totally captivated. Then before I even hit 10 feet, I had a visitor.

Elephants in silhouette.

A young and playful sea lion swam right up to me and looked directly into my mask. He quickly looped around me several times before stopping right in front of my mask a second time, once again looking right into my eyes. I interpreted this as, “Hurry up, slowpoke. Come on and play!” He then swam around me several more times and looked again into my mask before giving up on me and moving on to another potential playmate. And that was just the beginning of entering a new world that captured my imagination.

I was in awe. Not by one thing, but so many: the sea lion greeting coupled with the excitement of diving for the first time, the infinite blue, the sounds of the regulator breathing and Rice Krispies, the weightlessness, and then going deeper into that first dive to encounter life on a scale unmatched by most places on land. Every dive since has been that incredible. It’s a full immersion experience that’s challenging to describe, but I’ve spent years creating thousands of photos to try and explain it. The only thing that’s come close to captivating me in this way is Kenya.

Lions wrestling in Kenya.

Kenya is also a full immersion experience. It’s filled with life and sounds and otherworldly experiences reminiscent of what the ocean first offered me all those years ago. And like that first dive, I can’t point to just one thing. It’s the dust, the smells, the sounds of the lions roaring through the night. It’s bats flying through the common areas and the hippo that decided to eat grass and bushes right outside my tent at night. It’s an elephant foraging by stomping on the ground to reveal plant roots and kicking up clouds of dust that create a beautiful atmosphere that glows a warm yellow light in the late afternoon. It’s even lying on the ground in zebra and antelope droppings to get a low-angle image of an elephant. It all creates an experience I can only describe as Kenya.

I loved seeing all the animals that I’d only known from zoos, TV documentaries, books and magazines come to life and surround me so that concepts like ecosystems, webs of life, thriving habitats and the natural order of things could actually be experienced. I don’t know if my love for Kenya will become my next obsession like the oceans, but for now I feel like I want anything-and-everything from there, so I’m already planning my next two trips.

Elephant in monochrome photo taken in Kenya.

I hope my images capture a small fraction of what I’m describing. To see some of my photographs from the Maasai Mara and Amboseli, click on the links below to visit a couple new galleries on my website. I hope you like them.

KENYA: IN COLOR

KENYA: MONOCHROME

Have you ever been to Kenya, or anywhere in Africa? Is it on your bucket list? If not, where have you been that’s moved you more than any other place? Do let me know, and if there’s any way I can help you get there, please let me know that, too. Whether you end up traveling with me or go on your own, it’s worth your time and money—and I promise you won’t be disappointed.

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Monday, March 28, 2022

Photo By Heather Nicole

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Serene Spring Cub” by Heather Nicole. Location: Alaska.

“A spring cub enjoys a moment of peace in the lush green meadow on a warm summer day,” describes Nicole.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Be sure to read last week’s Tip of the Week to thoroughly digest Part 1 of Flower Power to learn all you need to know about the importance of light in flower photography. This week, we’ll focus on controlling the background.

Control The Background

Equally as important as the light, if the background doesn’t complement the flower, the best possible photo can’t be created. Factors to consider are color harmony, clutter, out-of-focus highlights and dark distracting shadows. Ways to control these are through depth of field, selective focus, lens length, the use of flash, other lighting augmentation and/or artificial backgrounds.

The flower should stand out from the background. It shouldn’t get lost in clutter or compete with distractions. Too often, photographers get tunnel vision and only notice the flower in the viewfinder. Consideration isn’t given to what’s behind it, beside it or in front of it. If the background is cluttered, alter the shooting angle, modify the light or choose a different flower.

Due to given lighting conditions, especially if the flower is darker than the background, out-of-focus highlights will be recorded. In any given photograph, a viewer’s eye will be attracted to the lightest areas first and it will be continuously drawn to them. Be aware of this situation and either add more light to the flower so the background becomes darker or darken the background by casting a shadow across it.

With regards to color harmony, note what’s behind the flower. See if it clashes with the subject or prevents it from standing out. Try to work color opposites as they’re very striking. Get down low or shoot up at red Indian paintbrush against a blue sky to juxtapose colors on the opposite side of the color wheel. Conversely, a late-season red rose against a red maple in full autumn color may not be the best pairing of subject and background.

Depth Of Field

A successfully created background is one that becomes a wash of color and allows the flower to stand out. To accomplish this, three main factors come into play: depth of field based on the ƒ-stop at which the picture’s made, length of the lens based on its angle of view and inherent depth of field and the distance between the subject and background based on how much of the background comes into focus.

In a simplified explanation, the smaller the ƒ-stop—ƒ/22 or ƒ/32—the greater the depth of field. More of the background will come into sharp focus. The longer the lens the narrower the angle of view and less depth of field. The lens “sees” less of the background and throws it out of focus due to the long focal length. The greater the distance between the flower and what’s behind it, the more out of focus the background will be when the focus point is placed squarely on the flower. In essence, the goal is to choose the proper combination of the above to sharply record the flower but throw what’s behind it out of focus. Use the depth of field preview button to give you a good idea how the final image will look.

Selective Focus

Selective focus is a technique used to draw attention to an isolated section of a flower. The end result will be just a sliver in sharp focus while the rest of it recedes into an out-of-focus wash of color. The best way to create this effect is through the use of a long lens, wide open aperture and being very close to the subject. A painterly quality is implied, which imparts a creative look to the image.

Two other ways to control the background are to use flash or place some sort of man-made material behind the flower. Because light falls off very quickly with small apertures, when flash is used, very little light makes it beyond the subject. As a result, the areas behind the flower go dark. This isolates the flower against a dark background. The effect can be very dramatic. Finally, use pieces of mottled green or brown cardboard to incorporate into the picture. When strategically placed, the flower pops out against them, which results in the viewer zeroing in on the main subject. A nice aspect regarding the use of pieces of colored cardboard is results can be successfully repeated for many different species.

Be sure to check back next week for Flower Power, Part 3, where we’ll discuss specimen choices for the most impact.

To learn more about this subject, join me on a photo safari to Tanzania. Visit www.russburdenphotography.com to get more information.

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Sunday, March 27, 2022

Photo By Susanna Patras

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Spring in the Carpathians” by Susanna Patras. Location: Bicaz Lake in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Saturday, March 26, 2022

Photo By Christopher Baker

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Spring Awakening” by Christopher Baker. Location: Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, Washington.

“An Olympic marmot on a spring outing at Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park,” describes Baker.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Friday, March 25, 2022

Photo By Stephani Holdorf

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Calm Spring in the Tetons” by Stephani Holdorf. Location: Jackson Lake near Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

The post Photo Of The Day By Stephani Holdorf appeared first on Outdoor Photographer.



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Thursday, March 24, 2022

Photo By Joshua Moore

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Sunset From Woolyback” by Joshua Moore. Location: Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina.

“Over the past year, my family has taken more evening drives than I can remember,” says Moore. “We would go out along the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) to catch a sunset and enjoy the views. Usually, we were always alone. We could pull out some chairs or sit in the car and watch.

“My wife and I were out on an afternoon drive when we came to the Woolyback Overlook after leaving the Smokies to cruise home along the BRP. The sun was starting to set, and the cloud shelf had an opening in it (I could see through past the ridgeline). We decided to stay and see if the light would break through, and not to our surprise; we were greeted with a lovely golden glow that filled Maggie Valley.”

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Photo By Denis Dessoliers

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Redwood Trails” by Denis Dessoliers. Location: Lady Bird Johnson Grove Trail, Redwood National Park, California.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Tuesday, March 22, 2022

Photo By Debbie Quick

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Fawn Waiting for Mama” by Debbie Quick. Location: Poughkeepsie, New York.

“A very young fawn sitting under a tree and waiting for mama to return,” describes Quick.

See more of Debbie Quick’s photography at www.debscreativeimages.com.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Photo By Bob Faucher

“My daughter and I attended a polar bear tour out of Churchill, Manitoba,” explains Bob Faucher. “Our group rented one of the famous Tundra Buggies on this day. Around midday, we spotted this mother and her cubs foraging on the tundra. The mother caught the scent of food wafting out the open windows of our buggy and cautiously approached. She then allowed the cubs to approach the buggy. When it became clear that they weren’t going to be fed—it’s strictly forbidden to feed the bears—she began to escort the cubs away.

“Their exit path crossed over the foreground berm, and there they settled down. Occasionally, they’d peek up to keep an eye on us. They most frequently peeked up individually or sometimes in pairs, so it took a little patience to get them all. Eventually, their curiosity was satisfied, and the family resumed their wanderings across the snow and ice.”

See more of Bob Faucher’s work at faucherphotography.com.

Canon EOS 10D, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM with Extender EF 2x at 400mm, Gitzo tripod, Really Right Stuff BH-55 ball head. Exposure: 1/125 sec., ƒ/11, ISO 100.

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Monday, March 21, 2022

Photo By Jeff Nigro

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Winter Colors” by Jeff Nigro.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Wouldn’t it be nice to conjure up majestic light on immaculate subjects any time of day? 5 a.m. wake-up calls to capture the sweet light of sunrise would no longer be necessary. Romantic sunsets with loved ones could occur every evening. Going to bed on a full stomach at 9 p.m. could become a thing of the past. The tradeoff is your subject matter will be restricted, but your subjects will still have allure. The shift in gears would have you limit your subject matter, but it wouldn’t be a trade-off because fabricating fabulous florals is fun and fascinating.

Flowers are like magnets. Their colors, shapes, forms and textures attract us, compel us to record them and whisper in our ears to experiment with light, the angle, grouping and more. Their beauty drives us to find the perfect specimen. Nature photographers are instinctively drawn to them, which makes them an often photographed subject. What is it that separates a good floral image from an ordinary one? Three main factors enter “the picture.” No one factor alone makes the photograph work. It’s a combination of light, controlling the background and specimen choice.

Quality Of Light In Flower Photography

As with any subject, the quality of light plays a huge role in what makes or breaks the image. Because of a flower’s small size, harsh natural light can be modified or augmented with easy-to-carry, inexpensive equipment to give the flower a more pleasing look. During mid-day when the light is hard and contrasty, it can be softened through the use of reflectors, flash or diffusion material. When skies are dark and gray, flash can be utilized as a main light to provide highlights and sparkle.

Nature photographers know that sunrise and sunset bestows warm and beautiful color and that late morning, mid-day and early afternoon light should be avoided. It’s during these times we nap, download, clean gear and answer emails and texts. Overhead light creates bright highlights and deep, black shadows. This light isn’t conducive to good photography. HDR captures can help soften the contrast, but they can’t change the modeling of the light. Highlights blow out and shadows go black. But, when we work with small subjects, we can modify the light via the use of reflectors, flash, diffusers, women’s makeup mirrors, umbrellas and more. Light can be added to the shadow areas and contrast can be softened.

Using A Reflector

A reflector adds light to dark areas of the flower and/or its surroundings. This reduces contrast between the brightest and shadowed parts. The light becomes more pleasing and even. With your eye to the viewfinder, angle the reflector so the highlight portions soften. The bounced light should be directed toward the shadow areas to open them up.

Don’t let your creativity stop here. Depending on what you use as a reflector, the contrast can be controlled to a greater or lesser degree. Mirrors reflect the greatest amount of light and also create a narrow sharp beam. The larger the mirror the wider the reflection. Foil or silver reflectors are another way to bounce back a considerable amount of light. A plain white card will bounce back the least amount but create a softer wraparound effect. To more closely convey sunrise or sunset conditions, add warmth to the image. Gold foil or warm tone reflectors work great to impart this effect.

Flash can also be used to soften the contrast. The use of fill flash has become easy in comparison to years ago. Camera bodies and flashes communicate with each other so an easily obtainable balance between the ambient light and flash output can occur.

Many flowers have multi-colored sections that range in tone from bright white to deeply saturated dark hues. Depending on the contrast between the bright and dark areas, use varying amounts of fill flash to lessen the range. My go-to setting is -1 flash compensation and I adjust from there. This fills in light on the darker parts of the flower yet has no impact on the highlights. In essence, the flash brightens the shadows while the sun determines the exposure on the bright sections. When the contrast is high, use more fill. When the conditions are soft, use less. Check the LCD and scan the entire screen to fine-tune the amount.

Using Off-Camera Flash For Flower Photography

When thick clouds dominate the sky, the skies are gray. This dull light gets reflected onto the flower and creates a flat look. I rescue the light with off-camera flash. I use up to three flashes that are triggered wirelessly. One flash is offset to the side of the flower, another lights it from down low and a third is sometimes used to illuminate the background. All the flashes read the subject using TTL and I adjust the output using the power ratio. I sometimes use a tiny softbox on the head of the main flash to diffuse and soften its quality. A good technique to incorporate for the third flash is to backlight the main flower to give it a rim lit glow effect! In the amount of space I have in the weekly Tip of the Week, a detailed how-to is tough to explain, but I encourage you to take charge and learn how to use a multiple flash system with small subjects.

My favorite condition under which I photograph flowers is bright overcast. Shadows are soft yet apparent, highlights are held in check and colors saturate. It’s simple to meter the image because the contrast range is compressed and provides evenly-lit, wonderful-to-look-at photographs. When Mother Nature readily accommodates me with bright overcast skies, I exploit these conditions and head to my backyard, open field or botanical gardens.

Using A Diffuser

When the sun is intense, bright overcast conditions can be mimicked using white diffusion material between it and the subject. Whenever it’s sunny, I always carry a small white photographic umbrella to soften its intensity. To exhaust all my photographic possibilities, I take some photos using the diffuser and some without and decide which one I like better when I view them on my computer. If you’re shooting with a friend and you don’t have a diffuser, have the person cast a shadow across the image area to produce nearly the same effect.

Be sure to check back next week when we’ll discuss ways to control the background in your flower photography.

To learn more about this subject, join me on a photo safari to Tanzania. Visit www.russburdenphotography.com to get more information.

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Sunday, March 20, 2022

Photo By Nadeem Sufi

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Amazement” by Nadeem Sufi.

“While visiting Emerald Lakes, the most striking thing was a pool of water that was left after the rest of the lake had been snowed out,” explains Sufi. “While the mountains right in front of the lake were reflecting perfectly, it was the simplicity of the snow-burdened trees that seemed just stunning! While photographing, it struck me how gorgeous the image would look if someone would stand at the beautiful bridge right in the middle of it all. And who better than my wife, wearing this lovely reddish snow jacket/pants that we had specially packed for these kinds of moments. All I had to do was ask her, as we were both amazed by this serene landscape. She stood at the bridge and I feel like it completed the image perfectly!”

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Saturday, March 19, 2022

Photo By Hi il Lee

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Winter Flower Forest” by Hi il Lee. Location: West Virginia.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Friday, March 18, 2022

Congratulations to Christopher Baker for winning the Winter Waterfowl Assignment with the image, “Gabbling Geese.” See more of Baker’s photography at cscottphoto.smugmug.com.

View the winning image and a selection of submissions in the gallery below. And be sure to check out our current photography assignment here and enter your best shots!

[See image gallery at www.outdoorphotographer.com]

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Photo By Gary Fua

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Crinkles” by Gary Fua. Location: Gates of the Valley, Yosemite National Park, California.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Thursday, March 17, 2022

Photo By Bill Sisson

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Liquid Ice” by Bill Sisson. Location: Ricketts Glen State Park, Pennsylvania.

“Ricketts Glen State Park in northeastern Pennsylvania features more than 20 waterfalls along steep hiking trails,” explains Sisson. “The trails are open three seasons, but during the winter they’re closed except for hikers with proper ice climbing equipment. Especially during cold snaps, the waterfalls freeze over and sections of trails become covered with ice. The waterfalls and trails are transformed into an icy, winter wonderland. Hikers have to be experienced and more careful on ice, but they’re rewarded with a landscape that looks very different from other seasons. I usually hike the trails at least once a winter. I often take wider-angle photos of waterfalls there, but I also try to take time to notice details in the landscape. On this hike 10 years ago, I photographed this detail from a small waterfall to capture the contrast between the falling liquid water and the static frozen water. Because the lighting was very flat and the scene was mostly monochrome, I converted the image to black and white and increased the contrast during processing.”

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Photo By Jon Reynolds

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Tracking the Trails” by Jon Reynolds. Location: Lassen Volcanic National Park, California.

“As I snowshoed past Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center and ascended the snow-covered Lassen Peak Highway, I stopped to notice the myriad meandering tracks of more intrepid snowshoers down in the valley below,” describes Reynolds.

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Photo By Kathleen Wasselle Croft

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Frozen Waterfall” by Kathleen Wasselle Croft. Location: Banff National Park, Alberta.

“Banff National Park is amazing during the winter months,” says Croft. “Waterfalls like this one in Johnston Falls State Park freeze every winter each year with a new look.”

Want to get your images in the running for a Photo of the Day feature? Photo of the Day is chosen from various galleries, including AssignmentsGalleries and Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

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Photograph of a bighorn sheep taken with the Nikon Z 9.

Bighorn sheep at Rocky Mountain National Park. To not disturb the wildlife, I often stayed pretty far away and used the Z 9’s DX crop mode to magnify my lens’s telephoto reach. Preproduction Nikon Z 9, AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR via Mount Adapter FTZ II.

In the summer of 2021, I was rock climbing with my 10-year-old stepson, Miles, and my husband when I got a call from Nikon that put me in tears. For years, I have been promising Nikon, “If you give me a campaign, I will kill it.” I have always dreamed of having the newest technology in hand and creating content for a launch campaign around my photographic passions. This was the call to do just that, and it was for Nikon’s new flagship mirrorless camera, the Nikon Z 9.

Miles looked at me while tears poured down my face and asked with concern, “What’s wrong?” At the time, the level of confidentiality around this new camera was so high that I couldn’t share the news, even with my family. I replied, “These are happy tears that I can’t tell you about now, but I can’t wait to share with you in a few months. Let’s climb.”

Image of a Yellow-headed blackbird.

The setting moon nicely framed this Yellow-headed blackbird. Preproduction Nikon Z 9, AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR via Mount Adapter FTZ II.

My assignment was a photo and video campaign that I would have five days to shoot. Though I’ve lived in Colorado for only a year, I have fallen in love with the wildlife in the mountains. I pitched to Nikon that I wanted to work with high-altitude wildlife, and hearing my enthusiasm for it, the company gave my idea the go-ahead. But my initial excitement slowly changed to extreme nervousness, as it was a short time frame for a wildlife shoot, we would be at altitude, plus it would be with a pre-production camera I didn’t know—it didn’t even have a manual yet. Nikon would be there watching me all along the way, and I had promised it would be epic. What if wildlife wasn’t there? What if my team couldn’t handle altitude? Most of our shoot was at 12,000 feet and above. How was I going to handle using a camera I hadn’t even touched? All these thoughts caused sleepless nights that led up to what would eventually be a wonderful and crazy adventure.

Michael Corrado, senior manager of Nikon Professional Services and Pro Relations, arrived in Colorado a couple of days before the shoot to help him acclimatize, and we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park to see how he would handle the altitude. As we drove up to the Alpine Visitor Center, I heard a familiar sound. Anyone who has heard an elk bugling knows that it is this strange, screechy call, but even in its off-pitch oddity, it is powerful and beyond beautiful. There was a male elk sitting close to the road. This was one of the wildlife encounters I was hoping to have, and it was right before our shoot technically started. Here I was with a new camera. I grabbed the Nikon Z 9 and took what would be the opening shot to my video campaign.

All the fear and nervousness went away when the camera’s animal eye tracking grabbed the elk’s eye and stayed with him as he raised his head to sing. I got down low and shot from behind to mix up the angle and get a composition emphasizing his horns. Since I was filming through tall grass and no eyes were in the shot, I used manual focus and the focus peaking feature to make sure everything I wanted to be in focus was actually in focus. Focus peaking overlays a color in the electronic viewfinder on the area in focus. In the Z 9, the focus peaking was stronger and more accurate than I had seen before in other cameras, which helped build my confidence that my focus was right while the elk sang again.

Still frames extracted from a 4K video.

Still frames extracted from a 120 fps 4K video of an elk bugling. Since I was filming through tall grass, I used focus peaking to make sure the elk was sharp. Preproduction Nikon Z 9, AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR via Mount Adapter FTZ II.

One of the keys to creating stronger wildlife images is the ability to connect with our subjects. My favorite images always seem to come when I allow myself to feel more in tune with what’s happening and think less about the camera. When I am distracted by my camera, my settings or my autofocus, it can cause a disconnect from my subject, and in effect, I end up with an emotionless image. When I was there with the elk, even with a new camera, the technology wasn’t an obstacle. The camera felt as if it was an extension of my eyes and heart. Looking through that camera and my 500mm with the Mount Adapter FTZ II, it was like I was right there next to the elk. The hair on my arms stood up with each bugle.

I took that footage home that night and checked it out on my 4K monitor. The details in the texture of the horn, the subtlety of color—things I didn’t even notice while in the field—were on my screen. All my fear and anxiety went away, and I was filled with confidence. I was so beyond excited for what the next five days would bring and what I could create with the Nikon Z 9.

Image of elk taken with the Nikon Z 9.

Elk at Rocky Mountain National Park. Preproduction Nikon Z 9, AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR via Mount Adapter FTZ II.

As a wildlife and conservation photographer and filmmaker, I aim to connect people emotionally to wildlife, to show that animals have personalities, characters and feelings. Having the right tools is vital so that I can allow myself to be fully present while creating every photo. The confidence the Z 9 gave me in getting the shot allowed me to put my energy into composition, emotion and narrative.

Wildlife is often on the move, and to show animals in action, I need fast autofocus and sharp images. When I first moved to mirrorless, I treated the camera like I did my DSLR, setting up my autofocus the same as my DLSR, using single focus points and not embracing new AF technologies. Eventually, I started to try out the new focus modes and other technologies made possible by mirrorless camera design. Once I finally did start to trust the new technologies, I found a higher percentage of my shots to be in focus. With the Z 9 and its animal eye tracking and 3D tracking, I found pretty much everything to be in focus. The Z 9 and its new autofocus system just seem to melt into the background and let me connect with and capture the moment as I feel it.

My first thought when I got this assignment was of a little mammal that has captured my heart over the last year. I had just finished an article for National Geographic on pikas, a potato-sized mammal that is a relative of the rabbit, with mouse ears. I had recently spent countless hours in the mountains watching them build hay piles out of flowers and plants. They are quick and, in some ways, even more challenging to photograph than birds. With their rabbit-like back legs, they can run at up to 15 miles an hour, in and out of rock piles at ease. To check the speed of the Nikon Z 9, I wanted a real challenge—to see how well it could track a pika and to capture video of this amazing animal.

Image of an American pika.

American pika, Loveland Pass, Colorado. For this shot, I had the Z 9 set for continuous shooting at 20 fps. During its scratch that took a little more than 2 seconds, I was able to fire off 52 frames, which helped me find the one with its eye in a perfect squint. Preproduction Nikon Z 9, AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR via Mount Adapter FTZ II.

We spent two of our days in rock piles at 12,000 feet, watching pikas run and collect hay. I was so impressed by the Z 9’s autofocus and how it was able to lock and track the eye of the pika. I tried the camera’s 20 fps continuous burst shooting and was able to get the moment in which a pika partially closed its eyes during a quick scratch. The scratch lasted just over 2 seconds, and I was able to get 52 frames fired off, all tack-sharp.

Not only was the photography impressive in the Z 9, the video also exceeded my expectations. Photography allows us to grab fractions of seconds, while slow-motion video helps alter time so we can see things that we can’t see with our eyes. Patterns created by the movement of an insect’s wings while they are in flight or the wind picking up the eyelashes on bighorn sheep are examples of why I love slow-motion video. Having the ability to shoot video of animals at 120 fps in 4K resolution showed me more detail than I have ever seen. Even while editing, I was exploring, discovering and connecting deeply with my subjects. While I don’t edit for 8K output, being able to shoot in 8K gave me some serious cropping ability for 4K footage.

When shooting video, I am a minimalist. I rarely use tripods and instead find ways to rest the camera on my knees or a rock. I like being flexible and quick and super low impact on the terrain. The combination of the Nikon Z 9’s in-camera stabilization and vibration reduction systems in the lenses allowed me to record nearly every scene of the campaign handheld.

Macro photo of a cabbage white butterfly.

A cabbage white butterfly’s details are beautifully revealed in this macro shot. Preproduction Nikon Z 9, NIKKOR Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S.

I have been happily surprised by how easy it is to make high-quality video with a minimal setup using the latest cameras. Before, I was overwhelmed with gear, feeling like I needed jibs, steady cams, focusing rings and such, which for me makes it very hard to connect with my subjects. For this campaign, my equipment was simply two Z 9 cameras, a few different lenses and an occasional tripod.

We ended up getting everything we needed on the first four days of our five-day schedule. The team took off, and Corrado and I went for an easy last day, not in the mountains but at a local lake by my home. I found a resting butterfly and was able to have fun with the Z 9 and the NIKKOR Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S macro lens, revealing the pattern in the butterfly’s eye.

While we had so much wildlife in the mountains, from elk, bighorn sheep, pikas, marmots and even a weasel, we barely saw birds. I was a bit surprised, but one of the many things I love about wildlife photography is that it is totally unpredictable. I really wanted to try out the camera’s autofocus system on birds in flight, so I was excited to find many there at the lake. One pelican flew in from the distance, then started heading toward me before turning across the lake from left to right and then off into the distance to land. I had the camera set on 3D tracking, and it maintained focus on the pelican while it moved toward me and throughout the turns of its flight.

Image of a pelican in flight taken with the Nikon Z 9.

Pelican in flight. I used the Z 9’s 3D tracking to follow the pelican in flight as it circled the water before landing. Preproduction Nikon Z 9, AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR via Mount Adapter FTZ II.

The hardest part of the campaign was when it was over, and the Z 9 was taken out of my hands and sent off to Joe McNally, where he was planning to mount it on a high-speed vehicle in the desert and test the camera in a totally different way. I miss it and can’t wait to get my hands on one again. I know the first thing I am going to do is to head high into the mountains in search of weasels.

It’s exciting what technology can do for our art when it is so advanced that it disappears, and the camera becomes an extension of who we are as creators. I can’t wait to get my hands back on the Nikon Z 9 again.


See more of Kristi Odom’s work at kristiodomfineart.com.

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