Final Blog

Reflecting on this semester of Digital Nature Photography, I recognize just how much I have grown as a photographer.  I came into this class knowing next to nothing about digital photography, and I finishing this class with so much valuable knowledge when it comes to planning the shot to taking the photograph to editing to producing the final piece of art.

When I began this class, I had no idea what all went into making a good photograph.  I had never heard of an aperture value or ISO or exposure compensation or had any concept of even how to operate a digital camera.  My growing confidence in all of these technical aspects of digital photography make me excited to pursue photography outside of the classroom.

Beyond knowing the rules and technical aspects of photography, I think the past few weeks have taught me even more about the philosophical and artistic sides that are so crucial to the field of photography.  Coming into this class, I really saw photography as primarily a way to capture a scene that only exists briefly in nature and make that scene last forever, allowing people to experience a scene that they otherwise would never have the opportunity of doing.  I saw photography more as a journalistic tool rather than a true art where creativity had its limits.  If this semester has taught me anything, it is that photography can be so much more than this.  A photographer has the power and the ability to influence not only what a viewer sees of the natural world but how they see the natural world and how the viewer experiences the scene.  A photographer has unlimited ways to accomplish what they wish to accomplish with a scene, whether it is through the manipulation of color, the use of black and white, the choice of the point of view, the use of light, and the choice of camera settings, just to name a few.  All of these considerations allow a photographer to be creative and make a photograph that is uniquely theirs and a photograph that accomplishes a specific experience in its viewers.  These elements and their unlimited possibilities are what really excite me about continuing photography.

Even without a camera in hand, I still find myself changed in the way that I see the natural world because of this class.  Photography forces one to see nature in a completely different way.  It forces one to really pay attention to their surroundings.  I find myself being so much more aware of the nature that I encounter on a day-to-day basis, appreciating the light, the color, or the shape of, say, a mountain, in a way that I was pretty much blind to previously. 

Together, all of these things demonstrate how this class has allowed me to grow as a photographer and, even more simply, as a person that enjoys nature. 

Final Photographs

Camera: Nikon V1
Lens: 1 NIKKOR VR 10-30 mm

30 mm  |  ISO 320  |  f / 7.1  |  1/320 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

30 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 18  |  1/1250 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

35 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 5.6  |  1/1600 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

42 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 32  |  1/6 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon V1
Lens: 1 NIKKOR VR 30-110 mm

36.1 mm  |  ISO 560  |  f / 13  |  1/30 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 150-600 mm

440 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 8.0  |  1/160 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

45 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 13  |  1/100 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

105 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 29  |  1/8 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

18 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 10  |  1/320 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

18 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 16  |  1/640 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

30 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 13  |  1/320 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

26 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 13  |  1/250 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 150-600 mm

600 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 6.3  |  1/2000 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

105 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 5.6  |  1/320 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

35 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 10  |  1/1000 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

24 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 5.6  |  1/1250 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50
Lens: 18-105 mm
18 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 16  |  1/800 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

58 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 32  |  1/5 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

105 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 7.1  |  1/15 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

52 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 8.0  |  1/3200 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 150-600 mm

500 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 8.0  |  1/80 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

28 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 13  |  1/4 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

25 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 5.6  |  1/1250 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: 18-105 mm

52 mm  |  ISO 200  |  f / 5.6  |  1/2500 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon V1

Lens: 1 NIKKOR VR 30-110 mm

110 mm  |  ISO 3200  |  f / 5.6  |  1/320 sec  |  no flash

Camera: Nikon V1

Lens: 1 NIKKOR VR 30-110 mm

49.3 mm  |  ISO 320  |  f / 7.1  |  1/320 sec  |  no flash

Using the Landscape in Wildlife Photography

While in last week’s blog post I focused on the differences between landscape and wildlife photography, this week I came across another Outdoor Photographer in which photographer Marc Muench discusses how he works to bring these two aspects of nature photography together to communicate his own personal perspective of the natural world.   Though including some foreground and background elements in a wildlife shot is important to provide some context, these elements are not typically the main focus in such shots.  In fact, these elements are usually blurred to focus all attention on the main attraction: the animal.  However, as Muench argues, an animal’s surroundings can reveal a lot about the animal and are important to that animal’s story.  Often, limiting a subject to its immediate surroundings (foreground and background) limits the story that can be told by the photograph.

Muench’s view of how animals should be portrayed in their environment stems from his love of the wide open spaces.  It is in these wide open spaces that these animals are able to live relatively wild and free.  For Muench, placing animals in the context of these wide open spaces and the natural landscape helps to communicate their wildness and their natural experience.  In photographing both the broader landscape and the animal in a single shot, the animal is placed at the proper scale.  Doing this is the only way to truly communicate the wild nature of the animal and the enormity of nature itself. 

Photographing wild animals at this proper scale is much different than how we normally think of photographing wildlife.  Typically, the animal subject fills a major portion of the composition.  However, as Muench explains, “the scale of the wild world is usually 20 parts landscape to one part animal.”  This is how he personally feels his wild subjects should be photographed.  This is especially true for Muench in Africa where he has focused much of his photography work.  Though there are various game reserves in Africa, there is also a lot of wilderness that remains relatively untouched by human influence.  This is where Muench finds his photographic philosophy particularly relevant.

 

Muench’s approach toward nature photography is pretty compelling to me.  As someone who loves animals but is partial to landscape photography, I am drawn to this kind of photography and would be interested in incorporating some of Muench’s ideas into my own photography.  I think that there is a certain challenge to photographing animals in this way.  It requires one to consider both the rules of landscape photography and wildlife photography at the same time.  As I blogged about last week, the story is important when photographing wildlife and judging from Muench’s photographs, I like the story that the landscape, when combined with the animal subject, can tell.

Link to Marc Muench's article: https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/on-location/featured-stories/wildlife-runs-free/

Share 2 & Critique (4)

For my Share 2 and Critique this week, I have shared a couple photographs from the photography trip to Yellowstone National Park.  The first photograph was taken at Grand Prismatic Spring while the second is of a few members of a gang of elk that we spotted early morning on the side of the highway, and I was able to get a close up as the elk were crossing the river.

Photographing Wildlife Biographies

Though I think it is pretty obvious that I have a particular interest in the landscape side of nature photography, I think there is something about animals in the wild that draws any and all nature photographers.  Melissa Groo is a photographer who has focused her photography work on capturing images of animals in the wild.  She reflects on the whole of her wildlife photography experience in the Outdoor Photographer article “Wildlife Biographer.”  In her article, Groo gives some thoughtful insight about wildlife photography that I think is helpful for a beginner photographer like me to remember.  She says that photographing wildlife is not just about capturing an image of an animal subject but also telling a story with that image; it is not just a photograph but a biography.

Whereas I think landscape photography is about the setting and making the viewer feel apart of the scene, wildlife photography centers on telling the stories of the animal world.  Groo points out that so often photographers forget this important aspect when photographing animals.  Getting a photograph of an animal or animals is not enough.  What makes a wildlife photograph stand out from the rest is its ability to communicate a story to the viewer. 

Groo suggests several tips for getting a compelling, biographical shot.  Using blinds is a good way to get good shots.  Walking into an environment, finding one’s subject, and taking the shot will not usually work if one really wants to get a shot that tells a story.  Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible and waiting for the animals to forget the photographer’s presence is key.  When animals are not aware of a photographer or forget that the photographer is there (achieved by waiting patiently), they are much more likely to act as they naturally would outside the presence of humans.  This gives the photographer a view into their natural lives and behaviors not otherwise seen.  This often involves a lot of patience and sometimes means walking away frustrated and empty-handed but with persistence, the reward is worth it.

As Groo explains, a story is often told by animals’ small gestures.  A lift of the paw, the show of the  whites of a subject’s eyes, the tilt of the head, or the lift of the tail are all gestures that can make a photograph.  Groo says that such gestures reveal a subject’s state of mind, and in effect, tell that animal’s story.  Knowing one’s subject and its patterns and behaviors are extremely helpful in knowing when such gestures are imminent, when a story is about to be told, allowing one to capture and create extra-ordinary shots.

Link to Melissa Groo's article: https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/tips-techniques/wildlife-techniques/wildlife-biographer/

Photographing Vultures

For this week's blog, I came across a video on National Geographic's website about photographer Charlie Hamilton James who has recently been working to photograph vultures, particularly in Africa.  Vultures may seem like an odd and maybe disgusting animal to photograph, but James has a broader goal in this photography mission.  Besides finding vultures extremely fascinating, he also wants to shed light on the real threats surrounding this animal population.

As James explains, vultures are the fastest declining bird population on Earth right now, facing extinction in as near as five to ten years.  The greatest threat to vultures currently is in Africa where vultures are harvested by poisoning for their brains and other parts because of their perceived power in witch doctoring.  While we often think of the likes of lions and hyenas as the top-of-the-food-chain meat eaters, James says that vultures actually consume more meat than all of these mammals combined.  Without vultures, James points out that the whole African ecosystem would be drastically changed.

To tell the whole story of these vultures, James not only gets incredible images of these birds in the wild, whether they be feasting on the carcass of a wildebeest or staring down a hungry dog for the leftovers; he also uses his images to tell the other side of the story, photographing the harvesting and sale of these birds' brains and other parts.  In the end, James hopes to bring awareness of this crisis to the world in the hopes that these gross but also fascinating creatures will remain.

Link to National Geographic video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbLE1-nOlSs
Link to Charlie Hamilton James' website:
 http://charliehamiltonjames.com/vultures/lrmgvfgpig0l2a6h8z9mw1z6snltr9

Point of View

As most people know and I am beginning to understand, photography is not just as simple as framing up your shot and snapping the picture.  There are so many different techniques that a photographer can and does employ to make a compelling shot that captivates viewers.  From the colors in the scene to the use of focus and blurring to the size of the subject versus the other elements in the scene, these and many more considerations can be made to make the most interesting shot possible.  Photographer Russ Burden, in his article “POV: Point of View Photography,” discusses just one more element/technique that can work to make a powerful photograph.

Burden says that the point of view from which the photograph is made can influence the viewer a lot about how they feel about or relate to the scene.  Making “point of view” shots can draw a viewer in, making him/her feel apart of the scene and the action.  They feel like they are looking at the scene through their own eyes and not through the lens of a camera.

Taking photographs of a scene from the standing position often results in a photograph that doesn’t give viewers a sense that they are actually there for themselves and viewing the scene through their own eyes.  There is more of a disconnect between the viewer and the scene.  To give this sensation and perspective, Burden explains several different methods.  Using wide angle or super wide angle lenses gives a large depth of field and a wide field of view, giving a view like one might see if there for themselves.  Burden also says that being low to the ground also allows viewers to see the scene from a perspective they are not used to and makes the viewer feel more present in the scene.  In nature photography particularly, photographing a subject from below normal line of sight makes the subject more impressive and significant.  It gives the viewer a feeling of insignificance, a feeling that otherwise is only felt when one is experiencing that nature scene first hand.  Photographing from this point of view works to inspire a greater sense of awe in viewers and forces viewers to see a subject like they have never seen it before.  This different perspective is what draws people in to a photograph and holds their attention.  Lastly, Burden also suggests that photographing subjects from a shorter distance will again make the subject seem more significant and awesome.  Getting the camera up close to the subject makes the viewer feel more apart of the scene.

Link to Russ Burden's article: https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/tips-techniques/photo-tip-of-the-week/pov-point-view-photography/

Share 2 & Critique (3)

The colors of the fall leaves are what bring appeal to my first photograph.  Here, the yellow and orange colors of the leaves along with the light versus dark are the two applicable rules of dominance.

In this photograph, the orange, red, and yellow colors of the squirrel are what draw attention to the squirrel.  Taken near sunset, the light on the squirrel's coat also works to keep attention on the subject.  The diagonal lines of the tree branches draw viewers' eyes up to the squirrel.  Additionally, the squirrel is in focus while the background is fairly blurry.  All of these things work together in this image to highlight the squirrel subject.

Black and White Travel Photography

Since in-class work has lately been focused on travel photography, I thought that an article I came across this week about black and white travel photography would be an appropriate topic to blog about.  As may be evidenced by some of my previous blog posts, I am particularly drawn to the more traditional, even old-fashioned, ways of doing photography while still recognizing the great advantages that modern digital photography can and is bringing to this art form.  Black and white photography is just one aspect of this. 

In her article "Traveling the World in B&W" on Outdoor Photographer's website, Ibarionex Perello discusses how she chose to shoot all of her photographs in black and white during one of her recent travels.  As she explains, shooting in black and white can often be so much more powerful and evocative than color images.  Black and white images have a way of making a scene, a photograph so much more personal whether the scene be the interesting architecture, people, or landscapes that one encounters as one travels the world.

Though I am just beginning my photography experience and lack considerable knowledge of the art, I cannot help but agree with Perello concerning the challenge of black and white photography.  With color photography, so often the colors of the scene are what draw viewers' attention and give the image its value.  I think that sometimes great colors act as a cop out for making a great shot, making what would otherwise be a pretty ordinary or even less than ordinary photo a photo that people want to look at.  Black and white photography does not have this luxury and must rely on such things as shadows, highlights, and strong lines, shapes, and patterns.  Additionally, as Perello points out, one has to be particularly conscious of what to keep in or exclude from the scene to draw attention to the scene and captivate the audience.  A photographer of black and white cannot rely on the reds and yellows of a scene to draw viewers in like a color photographer can.  The black and white photographer must rely so much more on the lighting conditions of early morning and later evening to capture a good image as the flat, even light of any other time of day produces relatively dull black and white images.

Both these challenges associated with making a great black and white photograph and the personal, timeless, classic nature of black and white photography are what I think draw me to this particular realm of photography.  With digital software tools such as Lightroom, turning color images to black and white is not too difficult to do.  However, as Perello seems to suggest, this does not mean that every good color photograph can make a good black and white shot.  Being able to think about a scene not as one sees it with their eyes but as it could look in black and white I think is much more of a challenge.  It is a challenge that I would be interested in pursuing if ever given the opportunity to travel the world and capture my own images for myself.

Link to Ibarionex Perello's article: https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/tips-techniques/travel-photography/traveling-the-world-in-b-and-w/

Share 2 & Critique (2)

For this Share and Critique, I have shared the same pictures as my first Share and Critique with some editing.

Platinum Printing

With digital photography technology being so widespread in our modern society, there is virtually no limitations to who can produce their own photographic work.  If you just consider the fact that everyone who owns a smartphone has the ability to take pictures of whatever whenever, you can see that this is true.  Likewise, the technology required to develop/produce physical photographs is also so easily accessible.  All you need is a decent printer.  With the ubiquity of this technology and the ability to easily transform these images into prints, the question becomes How can I make my work stand out?  How is my work different and creative?  While previous posts have addressed this issue in terms of in-the-field and in-camera techniques, there also also ways to express this creativity in the print-making stage of the photography process.  On Outdoor Photographer’s website, photographer Kerik Kouklis explains how he produces platinum prints of digital images, connecting modern photography technology with a piece of film photography tradition.

Platinum printing was first developed in the 1870s by William Willis and was utilized in film development until the beginning of World War I when platinum and palladium were in scarce supply in the United States.  Platinum printing ultimately ended by 1941 when production of platinum papers ceased.  By the time platinum was again available, film photography was relying on other methods for developing images.  As Kouklis explains, platinum printing of digital photos was not really possible until the late 1990s.  This was because printers could not print a digital negative with enough UV density that would enable prints to be made.  This also meant that negatives could not be enlarged to make larger prints.  Kouklis writes that it wasn’t until about the last ten years that printers could print with enough density to produce an acceptable negative and, ultimately, a platinum print.

Today, the process to produce a platinum print of a digital image is relatively simple.  Most photographers who choose to make platinum prints will most often develop their images themselves.  To produce a platinum print, Kouklis says that a digital image is edited just as any other image would be except that at the end of editing, the image needs to be converted to black and white.  Kouklis uses an app called QTR to make digital negatives of these images and prints them onto transparency film.  The negative is then placed in platinum and palladium chemicals.  To expose the image, only UV light is needed so a dark room is unnecessary.  Kouklis suggests making one’s own UV light source, though commercial UV light sources are also available.  Potassium oxalate is used as the developer fluid which occurs very quickly (less than a minute).  The print is then washed and allowed to dry.

For me, the appeal of platinum and palladium printing is that it gives modern digital photographs an old and traditional look and feel.  It bridges the divide between modern digital photography and traditional photography of a long-gone era. In the future if I become really passionate about photography, I think platinum printing would be something that I would be very interested in trying.

Link to Kerik Kouklis' article: https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/tips-techniques/printing-output/platinum-prints-digital-files/

Abstract Nature

This week, I came across an article on Outdoor Photographer by Justin Black that relates to some of my previous posts, particularly last week's post in which I discussed the battle between objectivity and art that has come to characterize photography in the digital age.  In his article, Black discusses abstract landscape/nature photography and how this particular category of photography allows us to see nature in a completely new and unobjective way.

Whereas Stephen Mayes, in his article "The Next Revolution in Photography is Coming," points to the loss of objectivity with the arrival of digital photography as perhaps a detriment to photography and our understanding of visual reality, Black stresses the importance of photography as an art form, as a way of expressing the world in a very subjective manner completely unlike our normal visual experience.  For Black, normal landscape photography, with all of its formulas and rules, is largely lacking in any creativity.  After all, how many shots of the Grand Canyon or of a picturesque mountain with a lake in the foreground or of an ocean shoreline at sunset have we all seen?

Abstract nature photography, on the other hand, requires the photographer to see something in a way that it is not usually seen.  It seeks to strip away characteristics of the subject or scene that are explicitly descriptive and that require no imagination to understand them.  In abstract nature photography, the goal is to completely decontextualize the subject so that a viewer is forced to interpret the subject for themselves.

Black gives some techniques for creating abstract shots.  One particularly common and effective one is to increase exposure times to create a blurring effect.  Another is to take several shots of the subject from different  angles and merge these shots into one final composition.  Black also points out that we often use color in order to identify objects so even when a subject may be completely decontextualized and there is nothing in the photograph to offer explicit clues as to the identity or meaning of the subject, color often allows us to distinguish the subject's identity.  Black suggests that sometimes making such shots black-and-white can help create an abstract shot.

In the end, though I think there is a definite beauty in and place for typical landscape photography, abstract nature photography presents unique artistic possibilities for a photographer.  The most appealing thing about abstract nature work is that you are never short on subjects to photograph.  Finding the perfect landscape and waiting for the perfect moment of light are challenges that do not have to be dealt with.  You don't have to look very far to find a subject, as just about everything you find in nature has the potential to make a compelling piece of art.

Link to Justin Black's article: https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/tips-techniques/nature-landscapes/abstract-landscape-photography/

Share 2 and Critique (1)

In this picture, the sunflower backlit by the sun is more attractive than the darker rest of the picture.  The sharpness and large size of the sunflower also draw attention to the subject.

This picture's main draw is the light of the sun versus the darker landscape.  The reddish-orange to pink color of the sun and sky also draws viewers' attention and makes it the subject of the photograph.  The large size of the sun also makes it stand out from the less significant landscape.

The Reality of Digital Photography

Looking for something to blog about this week, I came across an article in Time magazine by Stephen Mayes that takes a critical, somewhat philosophical look at the future of photography.  With the arrival of digital technology, Mayes argues that much of what photography was and what its intent was is no longer true. 

The original character of photography as an objective record-keeper of the visual world has been replaced with the coming of digital photography and post-exposure editing capabilities like Photoshop.  The capabilities for manipulation of images both in-camera and on a computer that were not possible before the digital era tempt photographers and ultimately diminish the objectivity of photography.  Beyond this, however, Mayes points out that the digital camera itself inherently reduces the objective reality achieved by traditional photography, severing “the optical connection with reality, that physical relationship between the object photographed and the image that differentiated lens-made imagery and defined our understanding of photography for 160 years.”   Mayes explains that only one-third of the photons in an environment are recorded, meaning that two-thirds of an image is interpolated by the camera.  This, in effect, presents reality in a way that we have never really observed.

While I don’t disagree with Mayes on much of what he says, I think his article brings up an important distinction in photography.  As photographers, we must ask ourselves: Are we presenting our photography as a display of art or as a display of reality?  No matter what, the photographs can never be fully objective.  The very act of creating an image means that some amount of objectivity is lost, that some sort of interpretation of a scene has occurred and must occur again when viewing that image.  Yet, this was the case even before digital photography came on the scene.  Every photograph, no matter the manner in which it was obtained, gives a somewhat unreal, subjective view of reality.

Link to Stephen Mayes' "The Next Revolution in Photography is Coming:" http://time.com/4003527/future-of-photography/

Wildlife Panoramas

Though typically done with landscape photography, panoramas can also be used to capture wildlife scenes.  As photographer George Lepp explains, creating wildlife panoramas can be challenging but also very rewarding. 

There are some challenges to taking wildlife panoramas, the biggest one being the fact that the subjects are moving ones as is not usually the case when making landscape panoramas.   However, Lepp also points out many of the advantages of wildlife panoramas if properly done.  With the presence of a large herd or flock of animals, it is often difficult to have all animals properly positioned and unmoving to create a complete, fluent, artistic-looking photograph.  When doing a panorama, a photographer can take several images of smaller portions of the scene and wait for the subjects in a particular shot to position themselves correctly instead of relying on luck for the whole flock or herd to cooperate together.  Additionally, a panoramic view of wildlife allows the entire scene to be properly captured and framed.

Panoramic wildlife shots are also good for either when you are too close or too far away from a subject/subjects to properly frame the shot.  When piecing the photos together, Lepp says that it can sometimes be difficult to piece them together properly with moving subjects.  He suggests that when taking the shots that will be merged into one panorama, you should try to divide up the shots so that animals are not cut in half on the edges of the shot.  If this does not work, he also suggests taking a panorama shot of the same scene after the wildlife have moved.  This way, the background can be properly filled in in the composite.  Lepp adds that sometimes it is okay to remove certain subjects from the scene if the separate shots cannot be properly merged with them present.  However, he does add that while sometimes it is necessary to remove certain subjects from the scene, it is probably never a good idea to add subjects where they weren’t originally.  In the end, though, it is up to every photographer to make their own choice.

Though somewhat challenging, I hope to be able to try my hand at producing my own wildlife panorama as it gives a whole different perspective to wildlife photography.

                                                                       Wide-angle shot

                                                                               VS.

                                                                             Panorama

Link to Outdoor Photographer article: https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/tips-techniques/wildlife-techniques/wildlife-panoramas/

Photographing Wildfires

With wildfires raging all around us in Montana and beyond, I thought that the work of Stuart Palley could not be more relevant.  National Geographic's Shaena Montanari gives us a look into the complexities and challenges associated with photographing these destructive and dangerous yet awesome natural disasters.

The biggest issue in wildfire photography and the main reason why it is so rare to see professional images of wildfires is safety.  Only certain members of the media with proper credentials are allowed into fire zones in the first place.  Even when allowed into these zones, members of the media usually cannot get near the same look as the firefighters themselves.  Photographer Stuart Palley, however, is also a trained wildland firefighter and therefore is able to gain access to parts of the firefight where very few others can.

Besides the safety challenges involved in Palley's work, he also has to deal with the challenges of using equipment not meant for high temperatures in extremely hot surroundings.  Because of such hot conditions, Palley is always faced with having to replace much of his camera gear.  As the article mentions, he often has to deal with melting lenses and other camera equipment failure.

Despite these challenges, Palley is able to make impressive shots that give a whole new look and perspective to wildfires and to firefighting.  His photographs capture not only the devastation caused by these fires but also the enormous power and awesomeness of them.  Palley is able to find and capture the beauty and power in something that only leaves destruction and ugliness in its path.  Even at its worst, nature still impresses.

Link to article: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2017/09/california-wildfires-drought/

Black-and-White Landscape Photography

As someone who is particularly interested in exploring landscape photography during this class, I was searching for something related to landscape photography that I could blog about.  I came across another blog on Outdoor Photographer that gives a creative perspective on landscape photography.  Photographer Jack Curran gives readers an insight into how to create interesting and beautiful black-and-white landscape shots.

Most people, like myself, probably do not really associate black-and-white photography with landscape photography.  It seems that in landscape photography, you are always trying to capture the vibrant colors of nature that the scene provides.  However, as Curran points out, black-and-white images can be just as powerful, if not more so, than color images in landscape photography.  In fact, some scenes that may appear somewhat boring in color can actually make amazing photographs when converted to black-and-white.  This is often the case in settings where there is not a lot of color range.

There are a few aspects of a landscape that suit black-and-white photography best.  Curran advises to look for scenes with a good mix of light and shadows to give a black-and-white photograph depth and visual appeal.  Additionally, a scene with lots of texture and good contrast gives the best effects when converted to black-and-white.

As Curran's photographs show, black-and-white photography gives landscapes a completely different and even other-worldly feel.  Since coming across this article, I am excited to pursue some black-and-white landscape photography as I continue to experiment and learn.

Link to Jack Curran's blog: https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/tips-techniques/nature-landscapes/think-feel-do/

Creativity in Digital Photography: Using Infrared

As someone who is completely new to photography in general, I am quickly realizing that the art is not nearly as simple as just snapping a photo, not by a long shot.  With its complexities, I am beginning to also see that the limits for creativity are infinite.  I came across an article on Outdoor Photographer that exemplifies this point perfectly.

In her blog, photographer Piper Mackay describes how she is using infrared photography to bring a whole new aspect to her art.  Rather than capturing light within the visible spectrum, Mackay experiments with using infrared light to give a certain unique quality to her photographs.  Obtaining such images requires either using an infrared filter to filter out the visible light or converting a standard camera to one that only shoots infrared through an internal filter exchange.  With raw IR images, colors that we normally see are completely transformed.  For example, what we normally see as green appears red while brown becomes blue and red appears white.  Mackay then uses these raw images and converts them to black and white, giving her photos a very dramatic look and style.  Using this technique makes her animal subjects stand out from the background.

Mackay's work is a reminder to me to not be afraid to experiment with my photography.  I am inspired to try a lot of different things as I try to become a little more experienced in the art of photography because the possibilities for taking and making unique and awesome photographs are vast.

Link to Piper Mackay's blog: https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/on-location/featured-stories/exploring-infrared-photography/