Wilderness Images

The next step is editing and rating. You should do both, ruthlessly! I do this in Adobe Bridge and will soon be switching over to Lightroom. Everyone should edit, the longer you shoot the more ruthless you become. But my rule is if I would not send it to my agent and I would never submit it to an editor myself for something I don’t want it and I trash it. In short if I don’t see me or anyone else using an image for something I don’t keep it. I don’t keep duplicates of digital files because there is no reason I have backups of everything and I can make as many exact copies as I need. If I make twenty images of a bird sitting on a branch I would keep the best one as well as a couple other head positions and loose the rest.

I edit and rate images on the same pass. I use a five star system of rating images. I pull up a day’s shoot in Bridge (soon to be Lightroom) with thumbnails running down one side of the screen and a large preview of the selected image filling most of the screen. Then I go through one image at a time and evaluate each for esthetic and technical merit and rate each image as follows. Five star images are something really special, a family jewel kind of image, I don’t have many of those probably one or two percent of my files. Four star images are again something special maybe a unique behavior or really special light, definitely an above average image these makeup maybe 5 to 8 percent of my files. Three star images are really the bread and butter of my files these are images that are technically well done and of a good subject in a good situation. Making up over 90% of my files I would not hesitate to send these off to an editor or my agent, for any purpose. Lastly I have some two star images these are images that I really probably should not keep and will never use or send out but for some reason I just can’t let go of. Maybe they are near misses of something I have put a lot of effort into or special moments that I want to have a memento of, these are less than two percent of my files. Any images that don’t get a star rating are deleted.

The beauty of having all my images rated like this is that if I am working on a slide program or calendar submission or other project and I just want to see the best of my files. I can just pull up all the four and five star images and see only the cream of my files.

Image: Violet-tailed Sylph, Ecuador  One of my five star images.

Happy New Year! If you are like many photographers it is very likely that one of your new year’s resolutions is to get your image files organized. So, for this next series of posts that is what I am going to write about. The fancy buzz word for this process is digital asset management or DAM. If you have tons of digital files and want to really set up a very detailed system I highly recommend a book called The DAM Book. For most of you though you just want to be able to find the image that you want quickly and easily, with a minimum of effort. The good news is that with digital files this is very easy to accomplish. The bad news is it takes some discipline and some effort to setup your system on the front end.

The first step on this journey to total organization is importing the images from your card onto your computer or hard drive (and backup hard drive). For this I use a program called Downloader Pro. It is made by Breeze Systems and I love it. Once I insert a card into my reader Downloader Pro opens up and asks me if I want to do what I always do when I insert a card into the reader. To which I reply yes and it does the following; in my master image file on my external hard drive it makes a new sub-folder with the date that any images were created (if there was three days worth of shooting on the card it would make three files with three different dates) Then it puts all the images made on each date into the appropriate file. It also adds all of my copyright and contact information to the metadata of each image file. Lastly it does exactly the same thing on my backup hard drive. So now I have two exact copies of all the images on two separate hard drives. You do backup all your image files don’t you? If you don’t backup your files, you’re just rolling the dice. Sorry but it’s true, storage is cheap, your images are irreplaceable you should backup. If your files aren’t backed up, stop reading right now and go buy a second hard drive. I even have a third hard drive that I update with any new work once a month. I keep this third drive in a separate location.

Ok I’m off the soapbox. The next step is editing and rating your images I will talk about this process next week until then… backup your files! (sorry couldn’t help myself):

Good luck and good light

Steve

Including the sun in your compositions can add impact and punch to your images. (Warning, to avoid damaging your vision, only look at the sun through your camera when it is very low in the sky). If the sun is a major part of your composition you will need to be sure not to stop down the lens down beyond f5.6, or else the shutter blades will distort the roundness of the sun in the final image. Flare can be a definite problem when shooting directly into the sun. Flare is caused by light shining into the lens and causing highlights on the internal elements of your lens, these highlights appear as aperture shaped highlights in your image. When shooting directly into the sun try to shade the front element of your lens to help cut down flare. Or line up your subject to block the sun and greatly reduce flare. Often times you can see the flare in the viewfinder prior to making the image. You could also embrace the flare and use at as a compositional element in your photo.

Lining up these shots can be frustrating I am always surprised at just how fast the sun is actually tracking across the sky when I try to make images like this. I find it easier to figure out the direction the sun is tracking, setup the shot just ahead of where it will soon be, and let the sun move into my composition.

T’was the night before Christmas, when all through the house.
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
in hopes that new photo gear soon would be there.

The photographers were nestled all snug in their beds,
while visions of great light danced  in their heads.
Dreaming of great images they soon would make,
pictures of animals, field, forest, and lake.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
I grabbed my camera and snatched up my flash,
tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
made magic the light on the objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
but a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
I must get this shot and I must be real quick,
I push down the shutter, but alas there’s no click!

I can’t believe the luck, my batteries are dead,
where is a spare set I think in my head.
I fresh set of lithiums I have in my bag,
If only I could get there, man what a drag!

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof,
the prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
I think to myself I know his next move,
down the chimney he’ll come, I really must move.

I grab the fresh batteries and say a few prayers,
I load up my camera as I dash down the stairs.
I hit the landing and stopped with great awe.
Standing before me I must relay what I saw.

He was dressed all in fur,from his head to his foot,
and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of new photo gear he had flung on his back,
all kinds of new gadgets filled out his great sack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! His dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
I stood there slack-jawed utterly dumbfounded,
my camera at my side, all my plans were confounded.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
With a twinkle and a nod, up the chimney he rose.
I fired off the camera. All I got was his toes.

Once he was gone I snapped out of my trance.
I smiled as I realized I had missed my big chance.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, good luck and good light!”

Because lighting can vary greatly in a silhouette setting the exposure can be a challenge. There are two ways that you can set your exposure for a silhouette.  How you do this depends on your chosen shooting mode. The first option would be if you are shooting in either full auto, aperture priority, or shutter priority mode. In any of these modes you would meter the scene and dial in an exposure compensation to compensate for the usually brighter background, and make the picture.  The downside of this method is that depending on the situation (how bright the background is, whether or not the sun is in your composition etc.) you could be dialing in an exposure compensation anywhere from +1/2 a stop to +3 stops, and even if you do this a lot you are really just making an educated guess as to how much compensation you’re particular situation will need.

The method that I prefer is to use the manual metering mode and the spot meter of my camera. When using this method I look at the scene and try to decide what area of the scene I would like to appear as a mid-tone. In an image such as the silhouetted frog image a medium green. So I would place my spot meter on the leaf set my camera and make the image. In the case of a sunrise or sunset the spot I meter will become a medium orange color. Using the example of the mother and chick loon below I would place my spot meter on the area just over the top of the birds use this reading to set my camera and shoot the scene as metered this would place that color as a medium or mid-tone orange, rendering my subject as a dark featureless silhouette.

The correct exposure for a sunrise or sunset silhouette can be a very subjective thing; generally as long as your subject is rendered a dark featureless shade the background can be as light or as dark as you choose.

This series of tips as well as many others are posted on my facebook page

Good luck and good light

Steve

Silhouettes can be among some of the more graphic images that an outdoor photographer can make. When you know what to look for and a few simple tricks, silhouettes can be easy images to create. Silhouettes occur when your subject is in front of a background that is much brighter that your subject. This situation most often occurs when your subject is in front of a sunset or sunrise sky, when you set your exposure for the brighter background this will render your subject as a dark featureless silhouette.

The old adage “less is more” very much applies when composing silhouettes.  For these types of images to be effective, they need to be very graphic and very simple. You want to distill the image down to just the silhouette and the background. When you are making silhouette images you want to try to position your subject so that is in front of the most colorful part of the background. In order to isolate your subject against your chosen background you will often want to use your longest lens because the narrow angle of view provided by these lenses will help you select the best section of background for your shot.  It is also important that you not allow anything else in the frame to merge with your subject. Because anything that touches your subject in a silhouette will become part of your silhouette.  You want to work to make sure that the outline of your subject is free of these distracting elements.

The rut is on, at least in the northern half of the US. This is an excellent time to get outside and photograph whitetail deer. At this time of year the males look their very best, with beautiful new coats, nice polished antlers, and necks swollen with the rut. They also have other things on their mind so they are not quite so secretive. Another thing I really like about this time of year is you have a lot more opportunities to photograph unique deer behavior. The deer in this photo is checking a scent post as he walks along a deer trail. Some of the other possibilities include fighting, scent marking, and various mating behaviors.

I like to work deer in local parks and sanctuaries where they are not hunted. One reason is that with all the hunters in the woods at this time of year, it is a lot safer for me. The main reason however is deer that are not hunted are quite a bit easier to approach and photograph. Even though I am photographing deer that are more acclimated to the presence of people, I still make sure to take my time when approaching. Because I would much rather earn the animals trust and be able to spend some quality time with it. Then do a sloppy approach and get one shot of the terrified beast before he bounds off never to be seen again. So take some time and do a good stalk. Never walk straight at your subject. Pause often, and avoid direct eye contact. Tail flicking, head bobbing, foot stomping, are all signs of nervousness. If you see any of these things take a break and let things settle down, before you move any closer. If you take some time here and don’t push your subject I guarantee it will pay off with more photographic opportunities on the other end.

When people look at my work one of the questions I get asked more often than any other is how I get such nice backgrounds. The answer is I work very hard to control the backgrounds in my images. I like to get nice monochromatic, out of focus backgrounds because this type of background makes my subject stand out. These monochromatic backgrounds are also free of distractions that would pull the viewers eye away from the subject of my photograph.

The way I achieve these backgrounds is by making sure that there is separation between my subject and the background. This renders my subject sharp and makes the background a nice out of focus blur. This separates my subject from the background which gives the image a sense of depth.

For the image of the Cedar Waxwing accompanying this post the background is a line of trees 50 yards behind the bird. I shot this at f8 which is enough depth of field to cover the bird and its beautiful perch. But at f8 the trees are rendered as a completely out of focus blur of color.

No doubt about it most outdoor photographers love to travel to new and exciting locations to capture the subjects we love.  But truth of the matter is that most of us can’t be jetting all over the globe whenever we want.  Most outdoor photographers I know are able to take one two or maybe three major trips a year.  Sadly, I also know many photographers that only use their cameras when they are on one of these major trips.

But I would argue that those same photographers are missing one of the greatest locations available to them… there own backyard. Most of us live within a short drive of a local park or piece of undeveloped land where we could practice our craft.  There are many benefits to working an area near your home.  One of the greatest benefits is simply the ability to be out working more often, it is impossible to make great pictures if you are not in the field working.  Another important benefit of working close to home is the ability to go out on a moment’s notice, say when the lighting is really nice, or during unique weather conditions.  Also you can get to know a smaller piece of land and its inhabitants more intimately.  You can make sure you are there when the cardinals nest in that bush, or you can photograph that patch of wildflowers when they are at their peak. 

Another benefit to working an area close to home is the ability to develop the area to suit your needs. Get permission to put up some feeders and birdhouses to attract birds to the area.  Often times you can obtain permission from a developer to rescue wildflowers from an area that is going to be developed into yet another subdivision or stripe mall.  Take these rescued flowers and transplant them onto suitable habitat where you will be able to photograph them.  Sure this is a long term prospect, but you will find these small steps payoff over the long haul and payout huge photographic dividends.

All of the images used to illustrate this post were taken on a small (20 acre) parcel of land less than a five minute drive from my home. I have made thousands of images in this location. These images were chosen simply to show the diversity of work that can be created on a smaller piece of land.

Remember to look at our own backyards with fresh eyes, the eyes of a traveler.  Keep in mind that your backyard is very often someone else’s hot travel destination try to look at things with the eyes of a visitor, you will often be surprised by what you see.

Whenever I am teaching nature photography one of the things I really emphasize is that, in order to be a better photographer it really helps to be a better naturalist. The more you know about your subject the more likely you are to be able to predict its whereabouts and actions.

The images you see here prove that statement as true. Earlier this spring I was out photographing when I heard a bird calling that was not immediately familiar to me, stopping to listen more I decided that it might be a Prairie Warbler. Prairie Warblers are only occasionally seen in Michigan, usually during migration. I decided to spend some time searching for the bird, and ended up getting to spend the entire morning with this bird, a species that I had never had the opportunity to photograph before. All because I knew its song!

I was told by a couple of birders (who driven four hours just to see this bird) that this was the only Prairie Warbler that had been seen in Michigan this year!