|
July 2006 Newsletter
Links |
|||
|
Welcome! We live in the most beautiful region of the greatest country on Earth - the Great American West. As photographers we have before us an endless palette of scenic locations, national parks and monuments, wildlife, and wildflowers - photographic possibilities to test us year after year. This newsletter is meant to inform and educate regarding nature photography opportunities and tactics in the West. I have spent the past 23 years photographing the west and never has their been a time when more opportunities exist to shoot professional, publishable, fine art quality images. Recent technology advances have led to sophisticated cameras and equipment in all price ranges that are capable of shooting incredible images. While I’m beginning this newsletter and expect to do the majority of writing - I hope that those who read it will share their experiences, locations, and tactics with all the readers through submissions. They can be in the form of e-mails or images and stories on CD, but no matter what form they take - I want this newsletter to be a forum for you. So please feel free to forward the newsletter to others and to contribute your own thoughts and images. Also, selected images from the submissions will be featured the Image Gallery in future newsletters. I expect to publish this newsletter every 2 months in both PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format and on my website in HTML. I will send it electronically to everyone on my mailing list but you can also download it directly from my website at www.amwestphoto.com. To be added to my mailing list just enter your e-mail on the main page of my website. E-mail me directly if you would like your e-mail removed. Your contributions to this
newsletter will make it a success. BRP |
|||
Scheduled Date |
Cost |
Details |
Meet-At Location |
|
|
|||
| Sunday, July 8th, 2006 | $55 | Logan
Canyon Workshop. Scenics, wildflowers, butterflies, macro, and waterfalls along Spring Creek. We will work on composition, exposure, lens choices, and the practical application of using the Hyperfocal Distance Charts. Waterproof boots or hip waders will help in image composition and movement around the creek. After shooting at 3rd Dam we will travel up Logan Canyon and turn-off to Tony Grove Lake and photograph there. |
Meet in the Parking Lot at 3rd Dam (Spring Creek) at 7am, approximately 5 miles up Logan Canyon. Parking lot is across the bridge to the south of the highway. We will finish at Tony's Grove Lake. |
|
|
|||
| Thursday, August 10th, 2006 | $25 |
Photography Seminar. The Seminar covers all the basics of photography - such as equipment, composition, determining exposure, flash, field craft, etc. - with sections on Scenic, Wildlife, Macro, and Portrait Photography. Printed
Seminar Notes are available and the Seminar has an accompanying A/V show.
Following the lecture there is a 30 minute Nature A/V show to music
followed by an image critique. Participants are invited to bring
samples of their photography. |
American West Photography
studio in Providence, Utah at 495 South 200 West. There is a map to the studio on my website. The Seminar runs from 6 to 9pm. |
| Sunday, October 1st, 2006 | $145 | One Day Safari
- Jackson Hole Valley. This unique photographic experience covers a list of scenic and wildlife hotspots in the Jackson Hole Valley and Teton National Park. We begin by shooting sunrise at the beaver ponds at Schwabacher's Landing along the Snake River. Then we photograph the Moulton Barn (featured in the header image - top) and the Oxbow of the Snake River. Not only will we shoot dramatic scenic images but also the areas vast herd of rutting Moose and other wildlife. Towards dusk we will shoot from an overlook of the Snake River, autumn
Cottonwoods, the Grand Tetons - along with the setting sun. |
We meet at 6:30am in the parking lot at the City Pond on the north edge of town on the main highway, across from the Dairy Queen near the beginning boundary of the National Elk Refuge. About 1 mile north of the center square of Jackson. |
Great Wildlife Photography has a number of important elements - but one of the most important is the visual connection you can make with an animal when its eyes are sharply in focus. There is a temptation to sometimes do the easy thing - focusing on the flank of a large animal or the body of a bird and hope that depth-of-field will save you. Since most wildlife photography isn’t done under ideal lighting conditions and with higher shutter speeds an important function of overall sharpness - you can’t rely on depth-of-field to provide sharp eyes. It has been my experience that about 60%-70% of wildlife photography is shot wide open, at the maximum f-stop of the lens, which provides the least amount of depth-of-field. Some camera metering grids are so far apart that it can be difficult to compose an image and focus on the eyes. For example, my Nikon D-70 has 5 focusing grids while my Nikon D2X has 11. In the past when I’ve been photographing bull elk with my D-70 I would regularly put the focusing grid on the muzzle of the elk - knowing that the muzzle and snout are parallel to the elk’s eyes. In vertical, head-on images I will place the grid just past the animal’s nose. Also, I don’t mind misaligning the composition some to make sure that the eyes are in focus. Composition can be corrected in the computer by cropping the image. But no matter what you do, if the eyes of your subject are out-of-focus the image is worthless. When you look at a wildlife or portrait image your eye is initially drawn to the eye of the animal or person - then you begin to look at the overall photograph. So, focus on the eyes first and improve the quality of your portrait images - whether people or wildlife. |
|||
| Some Examples: | Top: Red Fox in YNP Bottom: Coyote at Winter Twilight in YNP | ||
 |
|||
|
|
|||
This simple trick in Photoshop allows the background to show through text that has been added to an image. Here’s how: 1. Open the Image to add text to. 2. Click on the Text Tool and select an appropriate Font, Size, and Color. In this example I chose IMPACT as the Font, 120 px size, and White Color. 3. Type the Text (...which puts the text on its own new layer...) 4. Right Click on this New Text Layer and select Blending Options. 5. In this example I added a Drop Shadow. Under the Size slider I choose 76px. 6. In this example I selected Bevel and Emboss. Under Style I chose Outer Bevel and changed the size to 21px., soften to 6px. Click OK. 7. With the Text Layer selected in the Layer Box change the Fill to 20%. Bingo. You can experiment with different Fonts and different Fill percentages
to achieve the look you are trying to create. Now, if you would like to
take this one step farther and etch the text around a subject - read on. |
|||
 |
|||
|
To erase part of the text layer around a subject, this is what you do: 1. Go to Layer, select Rasterize, select Type. 2. Now Select the Eraser Tool at 100%. 3. As you erase the Text Layer (in the example below, around the hat) it will still show the embossed edge. These simple steps can add an interesting element to images. Don’t be
afraid to experiment a little bit with the different settings in the
Blending Options menu. Also, the Font you select will have a great deal to
do with the look of the text effect. The effect of seeing through the text
is minimized by using thinner fonts and your font color choice can be used
to create a fill balance that adds enhancing color to the image. |
|||
|
|
|||
|
MOOSE RUT In mid-to-late August the Moose Rut begins in Grand Teton National Park. Moose activity through late September is at a peak, with bulls moving around the park looking for willing females throughout the day. Some great locations are near the Oxbow of the Snake River, the huge willow meadows around Jackson Lake, the willow meadows that run along the Buffalo River (go east at Moran Junction towards Dubois, Wy. - go about 5 miles and turn north on a paved road that is either Bison or Buffalo Rd - go about three more miles to reach the meadows.), and the sagebrush flats around Signal Mountain. AUTUMN COLORS Late September begins the fall color extravaganza. Some great locations I like are: 1. Little Cottonwood Canyon outside of SLC, Utah. 2. The road to Tony Grove in Logan Canyon in northern Utah. 3. The Snake River bottoms with the blazing Cottonwoods in Grand Teton National Park. 4. The mountains around Park City, Utah. 5. The mountains around Aspen, Colorado. 6. Telluride, Colorado to Durango, Colorado mountains. 7. American Fork Canyon up to Mt. Timpanogos. ELK RUT Yellowstone National Park hosts one of the great wildlife events in North America beginning in mid-September. Thousands of bull elk will begin to round up harems of cows - with bugling, fighting, mating, etc on full display. Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado also has a large population of elk that will also begin the rut. BLACK BEARS and Berries The first week in October brings the ripening of many berries in Yellowstone National Park. The area right around Tower, even right outside the parking lot at Tower Falls, seem to become thick with black bears feasting on many types of berries, particularly rose hips. Its even better when its really cold and there is some snow on the ground and the bears are feeling pushed towards hibernation - then they are even more active. ZION NATIONAL PARK Late October and early November are prime times to plan a photo shoot down to Zion. The maples and oaks are changing colors (later than everywhere else due to the lower elevation) and the mule deer are very active as the rut has begun for them. Besides autumn colors and mule deer, there are also Desert Bighorn Sheep (above the tunnel to the east entrance) and wild Merriam’s Turkeys throughout Zion Canyon. If you are in good shape the hike into the Subway is awesome. Step-down waterfalls and pools lead to the Subway Chamber itself. Its about a 4 mile hike in but well worth the effort. You definitely need a tripod as long exposures are the rule. You need to register with the park service for this hike as they restrict the number of hikers into the Subway each day.
|
|||
| Grizzly Sow and Cub taken in June 2006 at Swan Flats
just south of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park (YNP). It was taken at 6:04am with a Nikon D2X body and Nikon 500mm F4 Silent Wave Lens at an ISO of 400. Exposure was 1/640 at F4 on a Bogen Tripod.
|
|
||
| This Red Fox image was taken in June
2006 near Roosevelt Junction in YNP. It was taken mid-day with a Nikon D2X body and Nikon 500mm F4 Silent Wave Lens at an ISO of 200. Exposure was 1/1250 at F5.6 on a Bogen Tripod. |
|
||
| The Grand Tetons at sunrise at the
beaver ponds at Schwabacher's Landing in Grand Teton National Park. Nikon D2X Body and Nikon 17-35mm F2.8 Silent Wave Lens at an ISO of 100. The exposure was 1/77 second at F22. I used a 1stop graduated ND Filter. |
 |
||
|
|
|||
| © 2006 Brent Russell Paull All Rights Reserved | |||
