A Different Perspective

Well, we're back from a week in Iceland and a week in Florida.  What a contrast!   Iceland was wild, cold, and empty.  Florida was crazy, warm, and crowded.   I'm probably in the minority here, but of the two I pick Iceland hands down.  I'll be posting photos from both trips as I work through the thousands of photos from these two weeks.

As I was working through some Iceland photos, I came across two that show the effect of camera angle and focal length and how a little change in each can make a significant change in a photo.

Both photos were taken at the same place at about the same time.   I only changed the camera position and the focal length of the lens.

Camera Position Lower, Focal Length = 24mm

To me, the first photo gives the viewer a sense of vastness.  The pool of water surrounded by ice and snow is the dominant element.  You can see the water flowing away and the mountains in the distance but you have to look for them.   It's hard to get past that dark pool.

Camera Position Higher, Focal Length = 35mm

For the second photo, I raised the height of the camera on the tripod just a bit.   This allows the viewer to better see the water flowing away from the pool towards the mountains in the distance.  I changed the focal length just a little from 24mm to 35mm.   The longer focal length in the second photo made the mountains appear to be closer.  A shorter  focal length (wider view) will make distant objects  appear to be further away.  The longer the focal length (greater zoom) the closer they will appear.  They are still not the dominant element but I can easily see them.

My friend and our guide in Iceland John "Snake" Barrett took this to an extreme.

A Really Different Perspective
Photo by Chuck Barnes

This is the same location as my two photos.    I can't wait to see what his perspective looks like.

I hope this illustration is useful.  Check back for more photos and tips.

Looking For The Unexpected

One of the funny things about photography is we may think we have a plan and go out to photograph one subject and discover something completely unexpected and wonderful to photograph.   This is especially true in nature photography where we have very little control over the conditions we are in.  While on vacation I have gotten up at completely unreasonable times to drive a good distance to make photos of sunrise only to find only clouds or fog.   I've gone to Cades Cove several times to photograph Black Bears and not see a single one.

"We may make our plans, but God has the last word" 

- Proverbs 16:1 (Good News Translation).

We had this happen over and over again while in Alaska.   Here's just a few.

While still at Kantishna a friend told us about an old beaver pond near the airstrip.   No one had seen a beaver there and the people at the lodge thought the beavers may have moved on a while ago.   We had a couple hours before dinner so off we went to see what we could find.

The path to the ponds was more of a magician's  illusion - turn your head and it's gone.   We had been given some good directions and eventually made our way to some pretty ponds. We didn't see a beaver but did see three ducks in a small pond behaving very strangely.  They were swimming back at forth and appeared to be agitated by something.  I don't think it was us because we were pretty far away.   We watched them for a while and noticed something else was in the pond with them.

This pond is not big enough for all of us.

Yep, there was a beaver in that little pond.  He would swim back and forth across the pond.  It looked like he was trying to chase the ducks off but the were having no part of that.   We went to the beaver ponds not expecting to find a beaver and found both ducks and a beaver.

One thing we did find that I didn't expect was grasses on a mound of mud with a dead tree that made a nice pleasing photo.   If I had said we were going to look for mud, a dead tree and a clump of grass to photography people would have thought I was crazy.   This was an unexpected treat.

On our bus ride out we spotted some more moose.

Daddy Moose

It's hard to tell what's going on in this photo.  It was hard to tell when we were looking at it from the bus.  The driver explained what we were seeing is a bull moose that is in the process of losing the velvet off his antlers.   There were shreds still hanging on and some blood stains on the bone.

Momma and Baby Moose

 The photo of Momma and Baby was another long shot.  It was raining and a bit foggy, making the photo a little too fuzzy for me.   I did some Photoshop magic and made it appear to be a watercolor painting on canvas.  Not something I typically do to my photos but in this case it made a poor photo into something interesting.

We had planned to spend another day exploring Denali by bus but the weather turned nasty.  We went for a hike along the Savage River in a blizzard!

Savage River Blizzard

Snow

When it wasn't snowing it was blowing horizontal rain.   I couldn't take the lens cap off and make a shot before the lens was peppered with snowflakes.   It didn't look good for exploring or photographing that day.

One the way back to the park entrance we pulled over and started making photos of an area with a lot of Aspen trees with golden leafs.  While we were there the unexpected happened.   The clouds started to break and the sun beamed down on the Aspens and evergreens.   Then a rainbow appeared!

Rainbow

There's gold in them there hills!

OK, you're looking at these photos and thinking "he edited those to make the colors more vibrant."   This is what it looked like!   I told June while we were there that no one would believe how beautiful it was.

Before too long we had lots of company with cameras along the side of the road making photos of the unexpected beauty on a miserable cloudy, rainy, snowy day.

We were blessed that day with even more beautiful scenes.  God had the last word.

Tomorrow's blog will be about our afternoon on the Denali Highway - a 135 mile long dirt road through some of the most beautiful scenery outside the National Park.

Getting In Focus

A few weeks ago I had surgery to remove the lens in my right eye that had become cloudy due to cataracts.   I had been living with blurred vision in that eye for a few years and it had finally gotten to the point where it needed to be replaced.  My vision in my left eye was good due to the glasses I wear, but there was no corrective lens that could compensate on the right side.

My vision before surgery

The thing that made the situation so frustrating for me is my right eye is my dominant eye and the one I use when taking photos.   I tried using my left eye to compose my shots and focus but found it just didn't work for me.  It was like trying to sign my name left handed.  

I could no longer tell if what I saw through the viewfinder was in focus on not.   If I could put the camera on a tripod I would use the LCD screen on the back of the camera to manually focus to compensate, but there are situations that made this impossible.  

Within hours of the surgery, I could see a drastic difference in my vision.  As the days passed I was amazed by the difference.   Everything was brighter and clearer.  It was like going from an old 1980s TV to a modern ultra high-definition TV.  The thing I didn't expect was the color change.  My old lens had yellowed over time and gave everything a yellow tint.  My mind compensated for it but now I can see the difference when comparing my right eye to my left that is still yellowed.

I've failed to adequately explain the difference in my vision. It's just hard to describe.   Then I realized I have the tools to show you the difference.

My vision after surgery

This is a photo I took this past Saturday.   The really cool thing is I was able to look through the viewfinder and manually focus on the bird.   This was the first time I've been able to do that in years.   I was a great feeling to be able to tell that my shot was in focus when I took it.  

I highly recommend the surgery for anyone dealing with cataracts.  It was quick, painless and amazing.  I only wish my left eye was bad enough to have the same surgery on that side.

Stop and Then Don't Stop

A few times each winter it will snow in our region of East Tennessee.  The rule of averages says 71% of the time it will snow on a work day.  Nothing like sitting in the office thinking about all the photo opportunities that are slowly melting away.  This weekend we hit the 29% and got snow on Saturday morning.

It was a bit too warm in Kingsport for any accumulation of the white stuff, but less than 60 miles

away is Carver's Gap at 5,550 feet and Roan Highlands.  It's usually 8 - 10 degrees colder and they can get a lot more snow.   

I've had some special times photographing winter scenes up there, but not this time.   It was in the low 20s and the wind was fierce as you can see in the video below.   At one point, my glasses fogged up then the fog froze into a nice layer of frost.  Nothing like trying to see through frosted glasses.  There was no cleaning it off without getting somewhere warmer.  

There were about a dozen cars up there with a few people hiking up the trail and a couple guys coming down after camping out the night before.   The strangest thing we saw was a young lady getting out of the car next to us wearing a fur coat with a red dress underneath and a crown if what looked like ice crystals on her head.  She and her photographer headed into the woods to take Ice Princes photos.  We stayed out of their way and didn't stick around long enough to talk with them.   I hope she had some thermals on under that dress!  I'd love to see how the photos came out.

On the way up we had passed a couple photographic opportunities that looked interesting.  Not seeing a good place to turn around and wanting to get to the top I kept driving and said we would get them on the way back down.   One was a bunch of Cattails that were covered with snow on one side.  By the time we got back much of the snow was blown off the Cattails.   As the blog title says, I should have stopped on the way up.  A little further down we stopped at the second spot. 

What we had seen was a field of dried up Coneflower stalks with the round spiked heads of the dead flowers covered with snow.   They looked like some kind of new ice cream desert - an entire field of candy balls on sticks dipped in vanilla ice cream.  Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory in the Winter.  I got this first shot showing a bunch of the cold delights.

Coneflower Field

Of course I didn't want to stop there.   This time there was a gentle breeze and the temps were in the upper 20s.  Much more conducive to spending time and looking for other shots.

Getting in a little closer to the flowers, I could see the spikes left over from better days.

Snowflakes on Coneflower

Getting in even closer, I could see the individual snowflakes where the wind had stuck them to the flower head.   Be sure to click the images to get a full screen view where you can see the details.

I need to remember to stop when I see something I might want to spend some time photographing.  If I had listened to June we would have stopped on the way up (first rule of photography - listen to your spouse).  Once stopped I need to not stop at the obvious shots but keep looking for different angles, compositions, and photos that can tell a story.

Calendar Chronicles - December 2014

The number of days left in 2014 is getting smaller and smaller.  Just a few more weeks left before it will be time to replace the 2014 calendar with the 2015 edition.  But, not yet.  

The photo for December 2014 is the road going from Carvers Gap on the TN/NC border up the mountain to the Rhododendron Gardens.   The only travelers on that road this day in March 2013 were cross country skiers.  It was a Saturday morning and I was able to get up to Carvers Gap just after sunrise before the road was plowed.  There were just a handful of hardy (some say crazy) photographers and skiers.  The snow was unbroken and beautiful.  The photo of the pines in the snow that is on the calendar page was  taken on this same day on the Roan Mountain Balds.

Taking photos of snowy scenes like this has special challenges.  You can read some of my suggestions from an older post here.

I felt very alone up there that morning.  The blanket of snow absorbed what little sound there was.  While I saw cross country ski tracks, I didn't see a single person on this side of highway 143.  It was like I was alone in the world.  But no matter how alone we my feel, The Lord is always in our midst.  I believe God rejoices when we are out in His creation, enjoying the natural beauty.  This was both a calming  and a joyful experience for me.  I am looking forward to more snow!

The Power of Red

What draws your attention when you look at a photo?   The rules of composition say our eyes are attracted to objects that are brighter then the rest of the scene.   We also naturally look at things that are sharper or higher contrast.  Look at other photographer's photos and see if your eye is not drawn to brighter and sharper elements in the photograph.

When it comes to color reds can really draw a viewers attention.    A red rose on a green background is a great combination because reds and greens are contrasting colors which are typically pleasing combinations.  You can pick contrasting colors by using a color wheel.   The contrasting color will be on the opposite side of the wheel, such as red-green or blue-orange.

Color Wheel

I was recently out shooting at a local park after one of our more significant snow storms and came across a few subjects that really show the power of red in a composition

Red Bench at Lake

Red Bench Under a Tree

Toyota Tundra in Snow

In each photo it's easy to see what the subject is and our eyes are drawn right to it.  In fact, it's hard to look at anything else in these photos.   The red is more powerful because of the lack of other color in the winter scenes.

Of course red can work against you as well.  If your subject is a more subdued color and there is a red object in your composition your viewers attention will be drawn to the red objects, even if that's not where you want them to look.

Next time you are out shooting look around and be aware of colors.  Use them to your advantage to create a more powerful photograph.