Stuck in Paradise
It is hard to complain about being in Florida in March when the alternative is Vermont in March. Here it is 82 and bright sun and at home it is 42 and cloudy. And yet here I am just a wee bit grumpy that there is so little to do (I am not a lay-around beach person) and even less to photograph (I am definitely not a palm tree/beach sunset person). So what am I doing to amuse myself? You guessed it- taking pictures of palm tree/beach sunsets. The other part of my particular situation is that I am not in a very photogenic place- its pretty just not photogenic. So why am I here and not at some other place in Florida where there is lots to photograph? Because sometimes family responsibilities take you to places that you wouldn’t otherwise go and you have to make the best of it. Doesn’t mean you can’t be just a wee bit grumpy, it just means you have no other options. Yesterday I remembered that my sister wanted me to photograph sunsets and sunrises for a project she is working on so like the good brother that I am I dutifully went out late afternoon and this morning looking for pictures. With any landscape but particularly with sunsets and sunrises you need something other than a big orange ball in your picture. Some foreground would be nice, some pretty foreground would be even better. So last night I went searching for foreground and found nothing. There was beach, water, orange sun and fading blue water and by the time I got to the beach (family responsibilities again) the sun was mostly gone. What did I do? I did what any desperate photographer would do – I played. Playing means doing things just for the fun of it. It helps to have very low expectations. I find the lower your expectations the easier they are to achieve. So there I was sitting on the beach, sun almost gone trying to get something, anything. Getting nothing, it I struck me- shoot as slow as you can and zoom while you are shooting. This, by the way, is not something I have ever thought before but with family over my shoulder and some very nice New Zealand sauvignon blanc lubricating what was left of my brain (nothing was right) I tried it. 87 shots later I got one I liked. If you find the picture less than ideal I would suggest a very tall glass of properly chilled New Zealand sauvignon blanc, 2010. I suppose the lesson is: Why not? With digital there is no penalty for trying something, even if it is something that you are relatively sure is a strong sign of severe head trauma. And this is pretty close to how the picture came out, I didn’t screw around with it in my computer, I had screwed around with it enough in my camera. So the next time you are desperate or you want to get away from your family or you desperately want to get away from your family grab your camera and just start playing. Don’t think, don’t analyze just play, be random. 87 shots later you might get something. This morning I went out looking for someplace to try sunrise. As you can see I didn’t find a very good spot. I did find a spot I think might be better so we’ll have to see about that one tomorrow. If you find the picture less than ideal I would suggest a very tall properly chilled glass filled to the brim with a mimosa. Just to terrorize you all, I will keep posting my disappointing efforts. If I’m going to be a wee bit grumpy, you might as well be too!
My Camera Settings
Since we are talking about questions I am often asked here is another popular one- “What settings do use on your camera?” These are the settings I use for a vast majority of the time. Under specific circumstances I do use other setting but I have to have a specific reason to do so. I use matrix metering (Canon calls it evaluative metering)- the metering mode that reads the entire viewfinder. I do this because the computers in cameras are so sophisticated that they are better at figuring out exposures than I am. And with digital, I can always check the histogram and make any adjustment I need to. I will use spot metering for extremely contrasty situations or when I am doing wildlife and I can easily meter on the animal. I check my histogram every time the light changes. Mine comes up with just one push of a button so it is easy to find. I use single point autofocus with 28 points (I think that it is 28) so I can move the focus point to exactly where I want it. Anymore than 28 gets annoying and distracting. Sometimes I will use 13 points, it is not a big deal to me. If there is something moving fast that I want to photograph I will use a cluster of autofocus brackets- Nikon calls this dynamic autofocus. I will choose where to place the cluster of brackets depending on the composition. I still use the shutter to trigger the autofocus rather than the button on the back of the camera. I know there are strong feelings about this but again it is not a big deal to me. The problem I have using the back button sometimes is when I am photographing moving subjects and I need to move the autofocus point constantly. Then I have to keep my thumb on the toggle in back to move the autofocus bracket so it is difficult to also use my thumb to trigger the autofocus. I know, you disagree; do it however you are comfortable. I typically use single on the motor drive (one shot at a time) unless I am shooting wildlife or something where gesture or expression is important. When I am shooting at high-speed autofocus (4-6 frames/second) I will fire off short bursts when my subject is doing what I want it to do. I do short burst for people or animal portraits because subtleties of pose or expression can make all the difference. With a burst I can choose just the image I want for all the similar but still different shots. I keep my ISO generally in the middle of my useable range. For my Nikon D300s I use ISO 400 as a start and then vary from there. For my Nikon D3s I use ISO 640 or even 800. For landscapes I will bump it down to ISO 200, for moving subjects or very low light I will often shoot at ISO 1250 or even 1600 on my D3s. I always shoot Aperture Priority because the depth of field of my image is always more important than my shutter speed. I used to shoot in manual metering but that was when camera metering wasn’t very sophisticated. It got better so I adapted. I also generally have my auto-compensation set at -.7. This means I am telling my camera to slightly underexpose the images. I am just fudging here in case I don’t notice an important highlight that I don’t want to blow out. If, when I check my histogram, I notice that it is too far to the left (too dark) then I will bring the auto-compensation up to 0. By the way, if I have to move my auto-compensation past -1.0 to get a good exposure I always stop and ask myself if the light is really something in which I want to photograph. If I have to go to -1.3 or even -1.7 the light is awful and I know better to shoot. I have never shot at a plus auto-compensation number. And since you asked here are the settings I never use: I never use single servo and I don’t know why I ever would. I am always on continuous servo. I don’t think I have ever used center-weighted metering. Matrix or spot metering does it all for me. I have never shot in either program mode (I don’t want the camera making both f-stop and shutter speed decisions) or shutter priority. I have handed my camera to someone who didn’t know anything about photography and had it on Program just so they could get a shot but that is all. I only shoot in RAW and never RAW plus JPEG. Again don’t know why I ever would. I also reformat my memory cards every time I put a new one in- I do this religiously. There you have it- the way I have my camera set to photograph. Nothing says that this is the only way to do it but you better have a pretty darn good reason to stray from any of these settings. Or you just may want to. Either way works.
And Another Thing…
I am just about fed up with the out of control egos so common with bird photographers. So here are some new rules: If you have to announce that you are the best bird photographer- you aren’t, you are a jerk. If you tell everyone how much money you made on a shot, you didn’t and you are a jerk. If you step in front of other photographers because you are more important, you are not and you are a jerk. If you brag to everyone where a photo is about to be published, it isn’t, it won’t be and you are a jerk. If you have to tell everyone who you are so they understand how famous you are, you’re not and you are a jerk. And finally, if you think you’re not a jerk but you act, look and sound like one, we all think you are. In other words, don’t be a jerk. Remember, if you have to blow your own horn it ain’t worth blowing. Period! Do you want to know who I think is a great bird photographer? Glad you asked! Take a look at some of these photos by my good friend and fellow workshop teacher, Jeff Wendorff. Notice the tight compositions, the beautiful natural light (no flash here!), the magnificent background, the perfect poses, thecompelling perspectives. This is how I think birds should be photographed- straight up, no nonsense, little processing, beautifully, simply. Go to Jeff’s website to see more of his spectacular photography- www.jeffwendorff.com. He does mammals as well. So why did I bring up Jeff here and Brenda in my last post and Lisa before that? Because I know that there are photographers out there that photograph some things far better than I do and if I want to get better I should pay attention when they are taking pictures. I can’t always do as well as they are doing (okay, I have never done as well as they do) but I can still try. That’s how I get better. Imitation and persistence are great ways to learn. And if I get frustrated (okay, I get frustrated all the time), I just remind each one of them that I am the best! That always seem to make me feel better.
Pacific Rim National Park workshop
I wanted to let everyone know that there are just a couple of spots left on my Pacific Rim National Park workshop in Tofino, Vancouver Island. It is a great workshop in perhaps the prettiest, most wild spot I have ever done a workshop. Some of the things we are going to see are magnificent tide pools, old-growth cedar trees 15′ across and black bears turning over shoreside rocks from less than 50′ away! The other big attraction to this workshop is my co-leader, Brenda Berry. Brenda is the nice, energetic, enthusiastic, fun version of me and she takes great shots as well. She is particularly adept at finding the ordinary scene and taking the extraordinary photo- for instance abstracts in harbors. I can’t do it and I have followed her around and watched what she shot and still have gotten nothing. I included some of her shots from years past for you to see what she likes to photograph. So for all of you that have learned to tolerate me, come to the Pacific Rim with us and hang out with Brenda. You’ll learn something, take some terrific photos and have a great time. I’ll try to stay out of the way as best I can. Go to my website and check under the workshop/schedule tab for more on the workshop and info to reserve your spot.
Shooting Like a Pro class
My class on professional photography- Shooting Like a Pro- is officially being offered for June 19-25 this year.The workshop is my favorite class that I teach because there is a lot of student participation and involvement and it is great, supportive creative environment where each student gets lots of help developing their own path to follow.
I Shoot Horses, Don’t I?
This is how I amuse myself in a snowstorm- I go out and photograph horses.
Town Meeting Day
town meeting day
Too Much!!!
I learned the other day that there is actually a time when it is possible to have too much of a good thing. I never would’ve though this was possible- all the other good things in my life I can’t get enough of but yesterday things changed. This last week we have had a series of snowstorms that left a couple of new feet on the ground already covered with several feet. This is the most snow we’ve had on the ground in the 12 years I have been in Vermont. Remembering a shot I have always wanted I called my friend Pete and together, with his snowmobiles, we rode up into the Green Mts. near my house. Our destination Black Brook and the Appalachian trail crossing that is 6 miles from my house. To anyone who has been to one of my Vermont workshops this is a favorite location of mine. It is also where the cover of my book The Nature of Vermont was taken. I have the shot in every season except winter- it is a three season road- so snowmobiles are essential. Waiting for a snow day for the winter wonderland look, Pete and I drove up and I stumbled through the deep snow to the one opening I could see in the stream. Unfortunately, with 4 feet of snow on the rocks and a winter’s worth of freezing the rest of the stream was hidden to the point of being invisible. The shot I got is okay but certainly not great and probably not worth all the trouble of getting up there. What did I learn? In winter, if you wait too long streams can freeze over and snow-up to the point where they are not picture-worthy. You need to be able to see mostly water to call it a photo of a stream. I now know that I need to do this shot in December right after or during an early snowfall. Then there would be lots of water showing and the rocks would all have great pillows of snow on them. That is the shot I wanted! Oh well, there is always next year, and the year after, and the year after, forever. By the way, I handheld a 16-35mm Nikon lens on my camera at ISO 1600 and f16. My shutter speed was 1/250th.
Hugh in the Barn
I am often asked what it is like in the barn in the winter. My response is usually, “It is not as cold as you might think inside and it is much colder than you can imagine outside.” Today, I got a different answer to the question care of Hugh.
Serious snow on the farm
Here is what happens on the Bromley farm when we get lots and lots of snow followed by a day or two above freezing. This is the side (an alcove) of the horse barn- what is called the calf barn- where the new calves are kept during the cold months. When the snow slowly crept off the roof it formed an arching wall about 4 feet in front of the door to the calf barn. So Roger got out his trusty chainsaw and cut a nice new ‘door’ in the nice new ‘wall.’ So what is wrong with this shot? No, its not the light although it isn’t great. Two things I should’ve done better- First, I should’ve waited until Roger was coming out on the ‘door’ with the wheel barrow. Adding a person to this scene gives the picture some life and a nice sense of perspective. As it is now it is just a still life, as in no life. Without a person there is no story. Second- I shouldn’t have said to myself “I’ll come back and do it right tomorrow.’ because tomorrow the entire roof slid and the door is no more! I know better than to put pictures off but sometimes I just don’t pay attention. Let this be a lesson!!!