Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Congratulations to Tom Elenbaas for winning the recent High-Flying Photo Ops Assignment with the image, “Kilroy Was Here.” View the winning image and a selection of submissions in the image gallery below. And check out our current photography assignment here and enter your best shots!
[See image gallery at www.outdoorphotographer.com]The post High-Flying Photo Ops Assignment Winner Tom Elenbaas appeared first on Outdoor Photographer.
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Monday, July 1, 2019
A few years ago, in the dead of winter, I took a trip up to the Nordegg, Alberta, region of Canada in hopes of photographing those methane bubbles frozen under several feet of ice throughout Abraham Lake. Every time I saw someone share a photo of that subject, I told myself that I needed to make my way up there. Fortunately, I was able get a trip going with a good buddy and finally experienced what it was like to traipse along the frozen surface of a gigantic lake. Despite outfitting myself with the appropriate complement of cold-weather clothing and gear, I’ll never forget what that frigid wind felt like. It was a sort of cold that I hadn’t known until that point.
Despite the freezing temps and howling winds, nothing could put a damper on my spirits once I saw the sprawling expanse of those frozen bubble clusters. It’s one thing to see someone’s beautiful photo of a particular subject on your computer display or mobile device. It’s a completely different story to see it with your own eyes. Another subject that reminds me of this truth is the Aurora Borealis. No photo or video can ever come close to seeing that amazing phenomenon with your own eyes and I highly recommend budgeting a trip to see it for yourself one winter.
Over the course of several days, especially during sunrise and sunset, I visited various parts of the massive lake, hunting for different bubble clusters. Other times, I focused on the multitude of deep and craggy ice cracks stretching into the distance. The compositional opportunities were plentiful indeed.
However, it was while walking from one position to another that I noticed my camera’s LCD. The camera was mounted to my tripod and I was holding it in such a way that the lens was pointing straight down. I had my Sony 24-70mm lens on and it was zoomed in to its longest focal length. All this time, I had been taking photos with my camera parallel to the frozen surface yet I never considered what creative opportunities were available simply by looking straight down. All of a sudden, I was immersed in all sorts of unique ways to arrange those very same bubbles and cracks, plus I now had the added bonus of finding grass and branches that were suspended in place under the ice.
All of this is to serve as a reminder to look straight down once in a while. Nature often looks amazing while gazing into the distance, but there is as much wonder and beauty to be found right at your feet.
The post Don’t Forget To Look Down appeared first on Outdoor Photographer.
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I love to make images of the grand scenic. There’s nothing like the warm light of sunrise or sunset to bathe a mountain, desert vista, seascape, winter scene or forest in gorgeous golden color. The dilemma behind this is most grand scenics are iconic and have been photographed numerous times, especially in the season for which they’re known to peak.
Unless something spectacular happens with the light, your image will look very similar to the millions of others made in the same tripod holes that have come before you. Would this stop me from making a photo if I’ve never been there before? Absolutely not, but it will force me to look beyond the obvious to try and make something different.
So, what can be done to capture something different? My primary way to look at scenes that have been photographed by a magnitude of photographers before me is to hone in on smaller details. I refer to them as the “intimate landscape.” I refer to them like this because I try to make a personal connection and become one with the smaller sections of what lies before me.
I may even resort to using a macro lens and totally disregard the entirety of what everyone else photographs. It all depends on how deep a connection I make. My goal is to return with an image nobody from the past has made. Continue to work with warm light to paint potential subjects in golden hues. They’ll be more picturesque.
The intimate landscape became popular during the mid-1900s thanks to the artful eye of Eliot Porter. He eschewed the grand scenic in favor of getting up close and personal with every landscape he confronted. Since introducing the concept, it’s become popular unto itself. It’s with this in mind that I always remind my students to “Exhaust All Possibilities,” to include shooting every subject wide, in tight, vertically and horizontally. In doing so, the intimate landscape will always be included.
While I’ll always profess to make landscape images at sunrise and sunset, one of the huge benefits of photographing the intimate scene is it expands the shooting day to every hour of daylight if it’s cloudy or overcast. You can even make great images in fog, rain or snow.
If the sun is out, try to avoid hot spots of light as they’ll attract the viewer’s eye as a distraction. If possible, cast a shadow or use a diffuser. This will depend on the amount of subject matter you include in the composition. If it’s practical, use fill flash to add light to the shadows as an option.
A critical factor to determine the success of the photo is the composition. If you include too much information, the viewer gets confused. If you include too little or oversimplify the composition, the viewer yearns for more.
The strategic use of lines, shapes, texture, and form become paramount. “S” and “C” curves work well as leading lines in addition to ones that course the viewer’s eye through the image. Patterns of autumn-colored leaves that take on these shapes are a great example, as are striations of desert varnish and rock scaring found a lot in western desert lands.
Balance is also important. If one side of the image is too heavily weighted with a strong compositional element and the opposite lacks impact, the heavier side takes precedence and leaves the viewer wondering why the opposite side is included. If there is a key subject you want to highlight, darken the surrounding area when you optimize the image so the important feature becomes more prominent.
Visit www.russburdenphotography.com for information about his nature photography tours and safari to Tanzania.
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