Image Critiques...

March 14, 2019

Many times during my workshops, the discussion of image critiques comes up. We discuss everyone’s thoughts and feelings and many times I hear how some people have not submitted images that they like, to their camera club because it is not an acceptable image for the club. They have even stopped taking those types of images because they are frowned upon. The thought of this makes me ill. I can’t imagine anyone not following through with their vision because someone else told them not to.

What is the value of an image critique? Critiques should be helpful, they should not be nit picking and they should be given gently. Critiques should offer ways to improve but not change the image content. They should be given only when asked and critiques should not carry the personal feeling of the person giving them. For example, if I don’t like the color red, I should not allow that feeling to interfere with my critique.

When are critiques helpful? For me, when someone is starting out with photography and they would like to learn the guidelines to understand what may be appealing to others; this is a good time to listen to critiques from photographers that are more experienced. When you are at the beginning stages in your photography; it is also a good time to try to critique other folks images, this will help you look at an image more carefully and allow you to see flaws within the image and decide for yourself if they negatively affect the photo. Critiquing should be a learning process on both ends. I spent years on an online forum listening to and giving critiques in an effort to learn. And I have learned a lot through that process, but most especially I have learned when to walk away from those type of forums.

When are critiques stifling? There comes a time when the artist/photographer no longer needs to learn those guidelines and would like to step outside of those lines to create something out of the ordinary. An artist can express whatever they like and there is no right or wrong, it is art and it is subjective…photography is art even if some don’t agree with that thought-it really is art.

Do I care about or listen to critiques? Absolutely not, it matters zero to me if someone likes or dislikes my photograph. My image or art needs to touch my soul and never needs to appeal to others. That said, yes, I want others to like my work and connect with it. But it is not what guides me. If you follow guidelines to the nth degree then you will most likely never stand out from the crowd or create something unique. There are so many things to consider when creating an image, other than placing your subject in a rule of thirds, correct head angle or bright spots on the edges, etc.. For me, it is far more powerful to think about the flow of the image, the visual impact, the statement that the photo may convey, the connection between the subject and the viewer, the overall feel and artistry of the image.

Go out and create, worry not what others may think or say, be free to be yourself. There is only one you-show the world what you have…

The above image was created in Japan. It is snow drifting on reeds. It does not conform to many of the rules that some impose. However, it is in the final round of Wildlife Photographer of the Year. I suppose because it’s different.

Amazing Aurora On Our Last Night!!

March 12, 2019

On my recently concluded Norway Photo Tour my group and I had only photographed two photo sessions with the aurora, we were all hoping for one last chance. Then it happened, on our very last night in Norway, we were treated to our third photo session with the aurora. Our guides took us to a remote location that we had all to ourselves. The evergreens and mountain backdrop were exquisite to me. I love trees and snow so I was instantly happy, plus the aurora had already started illuminating the sky. The activity was not intense at first, which was fine, as we all had to get our compositions and focus worked out.

As soon as we had all gotten set up, it was as if mother nature knew and started the show. We were all gleefully jumping for joy when the first wave of beautiful colors danced across the sky. At one point we were turning around and photographing front and back every few minutes! It was magical. No it was epic!

Because the light was so bright and filled the sky I was able to reduce my ISO from 3200 to 1600. When photographing in conditions like this it is important to keep an eye on your histogram and evaluate the light so that you are not overexposing or underexposing the aurora.

If you don’t raise your ISO high enough and you let your shutter speed get really long, the stars can be blurry and the aurora may lack definition. If you underexpose your image with high ISO—I call that the kiss of death; when you bring up the light in post processing on a grossly underexposed image you will introduce a lot of noise. It is better to use a higher ISO in the field and nail the exposure (ETTR-expose to the right). It is also important to use manual focus. For an image like this, I start off with my settings: Manual mode, manual focus, ISO 3200, F/2.8, 8-10sec. exposure, 3200Kelvin, then make changes where needed depending on the light.

For the above image, I used my Canon 5D 4 and Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 III lens. I also brought my Sony ar7III with me to Norway but the buttons are very close together making it hard to fumble around in the dark with bulky gloves, so I used my Canon gear. Mostly because I needed to help others and would not have as much time to set up as I would have liked and I haven’t used my Sony gear that much. It is extremely important to know your gear very well when trying to photograph in the dark, especially with a group as you can not put on your headlamp or flashlight as often as you would like.

Sometimes, you will find that a vertical composition will work best with an aurora. It is good to have an “L” bracket on your camera so that you can easily switch from portrait mode to landscape mode depending on the shape of the aurora lights. I like to take a shot, look at it carefully on the back of my camera to check all corners of my composition making sure what I want to be in the shot is, and what I don’t want is not—like someone’s tripod legs or body.

Wildlife Photographic Magazine -article and cover shot-congrats Jim Fennessy

March 10, 2019

My longtime friend and new client Jim Fennessy won an honorable mention award from the National Wildlife Federation with the bear image (on the right below). He also has a different bear image (on the left below) featured as the cover photo for Wildlife Photographic, his article about his bear experience has also been published in that article. Huge congrats and so proud of my friend!!! Below in Jim’s words are how to access a free copy of his article ( I copied it from his Facebook page). To see more of his work, check out his new website.

Several of my other clients have won awards in this competition and other competitions, if you would like me to share your image and story and you were on one of my workshops when you captured the shot-I would be very pleased to share with my readers.

And now from Jim…

My Brown Bear image is the cover of this month's Wildlife Photographic Magazine ("WP"). My article on Coastal Brown Bear photography is also included, starting on page 14. This bear workshop was my introduction to real wildlife photography, and the workshop was as good as it gets. There is a link at the end of the article to this bear workshop, and other great workshops, from my workshop leaderDenise Ippolito.
WP is published for viewing on an IPAD or Android tablet. Unfortunately, it only works on tablets, and cannot be downloaded to a PC. It will work on a mobile phone, but the articles read much better on a tablet. WP was generous enough to allow me to share my publication, and 3 months free membership to WP, with my friends. The publication is great, and I highly recommend it. To view my article and get this 3 month free subscription to WP for your IPAD or tablet, just follow these directions:
Download Wildlife Photographic from the Apple App Store http://bit.ly/1aKP3qR or on Google Playhttp://bit.ly/1JOhMcW on your mobile device or tablet.

Tap 'Subscribe' on our app home page

Tap 'Current Subscribers' from the drop down menu

Enter code: wp3mth3004

Norway Trip Report

March 7, 2019

I am finishing up with my group in Norway. Our trip was based around aurora and snow covered mountains. We had only 2 shooting sessions with the aurora as weather would have it. Even though the trip was not filled with aurora skies, we did have some gorgeous landscapes and photo opportunities. We may have one more chance tonight…fingers crossed!

Our accomodations were small red cabins that had a central living room/kitchen combo with fireplace. Each bedroom had an ensuite bath. We had two drivers/guides with us at all times, and we travelled in two large vans. The roads here were icy and snowy and you had better be a good driver to attempt driving here as the roads are also very curvy and narrow.

We didn’t have a lot of dinner options as many of the restaurants close early due to lack of business. However, our lunches/brunches rocked; each one being unique and flavorful. We also did our share of shopping as most of the stores had beautiful woolen goods.

The temperatures here in Norway were always cold but most times they were bearable; with the exception of a few outings where we had bone chilling cold.

On our first morning we went to Hamnoy, Lofoten Islands to photograph in the pre-dawn so that we could capture the play on the blue tones and warm lights emitted from the small red houses in the iconic fishing village. We revisited it in hopes of a great sunrise.

We also photographed ice trimmed fjords and beaches as well as other small fishing villages. Our group was truly great, everyone got along beautifully and that made the trip even more fun. Below is a sampling of what we photographed during the tour.; for most of them I showed two versions from each location. I have many more images to sort through—just no time.

Flight Photography in the Snow

February 26, 2019

This is an older blog post that got deleted when I changed my blog out-I wanted to repost it, thanks.

I shoot in manual mode all of the time and most especially when shooting birds in flight. Why manual mode? Well, for me, I like to have complete control of my camera. I like to decide which of the factors I need to adjust to come up with the correct settings for any given situation. Understanding how to work in manual mode will help to make you a better photographer as you will learn intimately how ISO, shutter speed and aperture relate to each other and your exposure. Once I determine and set the right exposure for the bird I am photographing I can keep making properly exposed images no matter the background as long as the light does not change.

Comfort plays a big part on how well I’ll do in the field. Included in my comfort factors are my clothing: Do I have freedom of movement? Am I warm enough? Do my gloves interfere with my handling the camera and pressing the shutter button? These and a ton more of little factors add to my comfort.

My position: standing, kneeling, or sitting? It is much harder to capture a fast moving bird in flight from a kneeling position than it is from a standing position. You should stand fully erect and not bent over your tripod for flight photography. You will also need to level your tripod and make sure that your camera and lens are well balanced on your tripod. The goal is to have the weight on your head distributed so that once you have the tilt and pan mechanisms loosened it will stay balanced. Doing so will allow fluid movement in any direction. You will also need to have quick and easy access to your teleconverters. In the early morning when there are low light/low contrast conditions, I keep my teleconvertors in my pocket and not on my lens.

A sturdy tripod and gimbal head is a must. I use an Induro GIT304L Grand Series 3 Stealth Carbon Fiber Tripod with the Mongoose 4th Generation M-3.6 Action Head w/the Integrated Low Mount Arm.

I use AWB 100% of the time unless I want to mess with the color tones or if I notice the images are looking funky. I also use Evaluative metering almost all of the time. I always use AI Servo and rapid fire (High Speed Advance) when photographing birds in flight. I prefer not to use flash whenever possible, so no flash here. I also like to use a fast shutter speed when photographing birds in flight or wildlife in action; therefore my starting ISO when in those situations is ISO 400.

Let’s talk about shutter speed and how it relates to the snowflakes in the scene. I try to keep my shutter speeds between 1/800 sec. and 1/1600 sec. when it is snowing to capture the snow without any streaks. If you use a slower shutter speed (1/60) the snow would be rendered as streaks; that would be OK if that is what you wanted. I prefer my snow as dots. I suggest experimenting with your shutter speeds in the field to obtain the result you want.

It is important to understand how distance affects depth-of-field (d-o-f). If you are far from your subject using a telephoto lens then choosing to use a wider aperture –like f/5.6 is often a good choice as it will allow you more shutter speed or it will allow you to use less ISO. If, however, you are close to your subject using a telephoto lens and you are filling the frame with your subject you will need to stop down (choose a smaller aperture) in order to capture sharper detail over a greater area.

It is also important to understand how distance from subject to background will affect your image and most especially the background. If your subject is far away from the background then it is quite easy to create an image with a blurred out background. The problems start when your subject is set closely against the background; creating a pleasing, blurred background in these situations will be problematic at best especially if you choose to use a small aperture.

When photographing in the snow with cloudy or overcast skies you will most likely need to add between 1 1/3 stops of light and 2 1/3 stops of light (or even more in some situations) to the meter reading off the snow in order to avoid having the snow look grey. I always expose to the right (ETTR). To expose to the right means to have information in the 5th box on the right side of the histogram for Canon users and the fourth box of the histogram for Nikon users. If you are not sure if you have the best exposure I suggest taking a test shot and checking your histogram to see that you have some information in the fifth box and check for blinkies (flashing highlights). Be sure to enable the Highlight Alert feature on your camera's menu so that you will be able to see flashing highlights on your LCD screen. If you have blinkies then you will need to back off of the exposure by using less exposure compensation when working in AV mode or adjusting the shutter speed, aperture or ISO when working in manual mode.

For the shot above there simply was not enough light in the early morning to acquire focus so I had to rely completely on focusing manually. It wasn't long until autofocus was able to pick up the birds. To help it along, I pre-focused on a tree that was about at the same distance as the landing birds. That helped a lot with acquiring focus. Between the snow and low light the contrast was at an absolute minimum; many of my images looked like whitewash on the back of my camera. It wasn’t until I set my black and white points in post processing that I could even see my true images.

I hope that reading through this you get a sense of what I am doing in the field. I encourage you to get out there and give these tips a try.