Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2013 i Outdoor Photographer

Photographer: Russ Bishop Location: John Muir Wilderness, Calif. Equipment: Nikon D7000, Nikon 16mm ƒ/2.8D AF Situation: A backpacker on the Bishop Pass Trail in the John Muir Wilderness of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California is treated to a spectacular view of the high lakes in the region. Moments like this are the greatest rewards for most nature photographers. This grand vista conveys a sense of place and a feeling of being in the moment. Russ Bishop is a professional fine-art landscape photographer. He was featured in the July 2013 issue of OP, and his dynamic photography has been winning awards for years. Bishop is the embodiment of the dream of many OP readers—he’s a professional who makes a living with his photography, but he isn’t limited exclusively to landscapes.…

COMPACT SONY A compact camera with ultra-low-light capability, the Sony RX100 II with a 28-100mm Exmor R Sonnar T* ƒ/1.8 fixed lens fits in your pocket on days when you want to travel light. The 1-inch CMOS reverse structure sensor increases the sensitivity by 40% from the RX100. The 3.0-inch White Magic LCD screen tilts 84° up and 45° down to aid in overhead and waist-level shooting. A 24p video option has been added to the 1080p60 standard included in the original RX100. A shoe-mount expands versatility, allowing the addition of a viewfinder, flash or clip-on LCD monitor. A shutter-release remote control may be added with a Multi Terminal. The RX100 II includes a built-in WiFi connection and Near Field Communication technology for smooth one-touch asset transfer between devices, as…

Environmental Conservation I’m a photographer and an environmentalist. The passion for each developed within me when I was in college at the University of Colorado in the 1970s. I was browsing the CU catalog and found courses such as Dynamics of Mountain Ecosystems, Environmental Physics, Politics of Natural Resources and Plant Ecology! When finding that I could take these courses while receiving an Environmental Conservation degree, I quickly switched out of my pursuit of a Political Science degree. Soon after graduation, I moved to Yosemite for a job with the National Park Service. Since that time way back in 1977, I’ve been exploring the park. As my Yosemite portfolio developed, I dreamed of publishing a book of my photographs, a dream that came true in 1994 with Yosemite: The Promise…

The Best Of The Assignments Submissions From outdoorphotographer.com EVERY WEEK, THE OP EDITORS CHOOSE A WINNING IMAGE FROM THE SUBMISSIONS TO THAT WEEK’S ASSIGNMENT ON OUTDOORPHOTOGRAPHER.COM. That photo is highlighted on the OP homepage and in the OP Blog. In this issue of the magazine, instead of showing several top images from a single Assignment, I’m publishing recent winners from various spring Assignments here. —Christopher Robinson, Editor Winner, View From The Top Assignment 2) PHOTOGRAPHER: Harry Lichtman LOCATION: White Mountains, New Hampshire EQUIPMENT: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-105mm ƒ/4L IS USM, Manfrotto carbon-fiber tripod I’ve hiked along the Moat Mountain Trail in New Hampshire’s White Mountains many times and made a mental note of the great views. Since the ridge runs south to north, sunrise and sunset…

The stars faded as darkness gave way to soft twilight. The eastern horizon cast its gentle glow across the landscape. Long wavelengths of light penetrated the sky overhead, defining a blue shadow cast by the Earth against the atmosphere, and then pushing it ever lower in the sky. Clouds and the east-facing mountains gathered hues of pink and orange that dropped gradually toward the base of the escarpment. Then, with a flash of gold, the disc of the sun broke the horizon and direct sunlight poured in. Contrast between highlights and shadows built rapidly as the sun revealed itself. Like millions before, this sunrise, in visual terms, was an evolution from simple to complex. On this particular morning, in the crisp autumn air among golden grasses at Mono Lake, it…

Landscape photographers are concerned primarily with low-ISO image quality—the ability to record fine details, wide dynamic range and accurate (or as-envisioned) colors, while shooting stationary subjects from a tripod. While wildlife photographers certainly appreciate good image quality, key criteria also include AF speed, high ISO performance and system ruggedness. AF performance is especially important to bird photographers because birds in flight present the ultimate wildlife action challenge to both camera and photographer. The best cameras for wildlife are DSLRs for their combination of AF performance, availability of long lenses, image quality at higher ISO settings and ease of use on moving subjects. The top-performing wildlife DSLRs currently are the top-of-the-line pro models by Canon and Nikon, the Canon EOS-1D X and Nikon D4. They have state-of-the-art AF systems and provide…

Synchronized Swimming “Turtles are one of my favorite animals,” says photographer Joaquin Gutierrez Fernandez, who’s lucky enough to live quite close to one of the many marine habitats on the coast of Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands in Spain. The photographer had spent several diving sessions on this particular day looking for his favored half-shell subjects, as well as other marine life. But he says that the water was much murkier than usual, making photography underwater difficult, and adding to his frustration, he had found no signs of life whatsoever. Suddenly, near the end of his fourth and final dive, a pair of graceful green sea turtles emerged from the depths, showing incredible symmetry and poise as they danced for the photographer in this pool of backlit sunlight.…

George Lepp sent me a collection of images with some pretty incredible photos he had taken with a variety of especially long focal lengths. He had gone up to and past the extremes by starting with long lenses and adding multiple tele-extenders. The results were stunning, and the photos inspired me to ask him to do the “Extreme Close-Up” article in this issue. Lepp shares his gear solutions, but more importantly, he discusses the techniques used to maintain sharpness with these setups. And, of course, you can use these techniques for any telephoto photography—birds, wildlife, travel and even long-lens scenics. The controversy over HDR continues to churn on the Internet. In this issue, frequent OP contributor Glenn Randall shows you how to get the best use out of HDR technology…

Taking It Slow Water Done Softly Q We’ll be photographing along the West coast, and I’d like to get that misty look where the waves are moving in and out. I have a polarizing filter, but I don’t think that’s going to give me a long enough shutter speed. Any ideas on how to slow everything down during the day? G. Temple Via email A There are so many options when it comes to portraying the subject of moving water. And it’s one of my favorite subjects! The creative choices range from stop-action, tack-sharp drops of spray, to flowing water, to extreme renditions that turn a crystal-clear, raging stream into ghost-like streaks between banks of verdant green foliage or crashing waves into a gentle fog. These effects are, for the…

Overflowing Stars were still hanging in the dark sky as I pulled my gear from the back of the car and headed off toward the edge of the sea. Dawn at Mo‘omomi Beach on Molokai is one of the great wonders of the world, and I didn’t want to be late. As I worked my way across the slabs of sandstone toward one of my favorite viewing spots, I realized that something was amiss. The water just wasn’t where it was supposed to be. Even in the near darkness, it was clear that this morning the sun would dawn on a super-low tide. “I’m taking a chance on the Bathtub,” I murmured to myself. The Bathtub is a large blowhole at the far end of a rock ledge jutting far…

In less than a decade, Jim Shoemaker went from being afraid of his SLR to a life filled with landscape photography and creating images that convey what the scene feels like W When Jim Shoemaker relocated from Southern Michigan to Southern California 13 years ago, the move changed his life. A graphic designer by trade, Shoemaker was inspired by the national parks and beautiful scenery he encountered on that journey to pick up a camera for the first time. It was an inauspicious start to what would quickly blossom into a career as a professional photographer. “My wife had a basic Ricoh SLR,” he says, “as she’d taken some photography classes at the University of Michigan. But I was scared of it, so I used a point-and-shoot APS film camera…

I It was just after 3 a.m., and Fredric Roberts was descending a hill above the Ganges River in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The fine white soil that advanced from the riverbank all the way up into the surrounding countryside shimmered in ghostly puffs about his ankles as he walked. Golden light from nearby campgrounds bounced off the inky black water. Roberts stopped and looked upon the river and the deluge that appeared to be flowing out from it—thousands upon thousands of people, swathed in saffron robes and peasants’ attire and saris and turbans, carrying in their hands jugs of Ganges water and marching slowly toward him, like salmon swimming upstream. “I kept saying, ‘Well, what’s going on?’ And they said, ‘This is the auspicious day, the planets…

Bosque Del Apache/White Sands November 30 to December 6, 2013 What could be a better combo than some of the best birds in flight photography in the country, and some incredible sunrise and sunset landscape photography? Your adventure starts off in Bosque del Apache, where you’ll learn to take great birds-in-flight shots or take your skills up a notch or two, as well as discover tips on bringing out the best colors at sunrise or sunset, as the birds fly into one of numerous lakes and ponds for some amazing flight silhouette shots. After five days at Bosque, you’ll venture south for two days to White Sands National Monument, where sunrise and sunset shoots will bring out the best colors of the rippled white gypsum sand and colorful sky, as…

Forest, Marin Headlands, California On a foggy morning in May 2012, Simon Christen was on the Morning Sun Trail in the Marin Headlands, just north of San Francisco, Calif., looking for a time-lapse opportunity for his film, Adrift. Describing the scene, he says, “I was trying to get to the top of the hill in order to capture the fog flowing into the bay from a new vantage point. Unfortunately, the top was completely covered in fog and I couldn’t see a thing. On my way back, the fog started to lighten up, and all of a sudden the sun started to peek through the trees in front of me. I noticed the beautiful blades of grass alongside the trail. As soon as the sun cast rays through the fog,…

Location Captured as the sun was setting over a ridge on the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range, these fighting stallions are part of a herd of 150 free-roaming mustangs and feral horses known locally as “wild horses.” Located adjacent to the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area 80 miles south of Billings, Mont., the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range was established in 1968 as the first protected refuge for mustangs and only the second area for feral horses in the United States. The recreation area straddles the northern Wyoming and southern Montana border while the Pryor Mountains continue through the Crow Indian Reservation to the east and Custer National Forest to the west. A group of federal agencies led by the Bureau of Land Management administer the wild horse range, consisting…

In the last 30 years, Antarctica has opened up, enabling travelers to witness some of the most spectacular scenery on the planet. But when you carry a camera on such a once-in-a-lifetime journey, it’s good to be aware of the difference between moments worth remembering with an easy shot and opportunities to get creative that may require more effort. On a recent cruise to the Antarctic Peninsula, I passed through the Lemaire Channel, a dramatic strait with glacier-covered mountains on both sides. The water was in afternoon shadow, with sunlit scenery mirrored on its gently rippling surface. When water undulates in waves, the reflections bend with it, creating phenomena known as “skypools” and “landpools”—elongated ovals that form ever-changing patterns that show distorted images of sky and land. Watching water in…

One of the most frequent questions I’m asked by students in my landscape photography workshops is, “How do I make my HDR photographs look more realistic?” To answer that question, we first need a clear understanding of the problem. Our eyes can see a range of light intensities, from brightest highlight to darkest shadow, of something like 10,000 to one. A print can only display a range of light intensities of about 50 to one. In that sense, it’s impossible for a print to ever look completely “real.” But it’s possible to get close—close enough that a print evokes many of the same emotions in the viewer that the real scene evoked in the photographer. My guide when preparing prints has always been what I saw rather than what my…

L Looking for ways to get closer to your feathered, flying subjects? We’ll show you how a steady hand, a respectful distance, sophisticated techniques and lots of awesome technology combine for great wild bird photography. 1) Fast Glass And AF. Each fall, tens of thousands of migrating birds gather at the beautiful Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in southcentral New Mexico. With so many subjects, it’s the best possible place for wildlife photographers to add to their portfolios of birds in flight. Armed with a new Canon EOS-1D X and EF 400mm ƒ/2.8L II lens, Lepp was equipped with the fastest possible combination of camera and lens to freeze this snow goose in midair. An ultrasharp EF 2X III tele-extender multiplied the focal length to 800mm on the full-frame…

Tele-extenders, also known as teleconverters or multipliers, are small optical accessories that mount between your lens and camera to extend your focal length. Tele-extenders come in several different multipliers, with the most common being 1.4x and 2x. The 1.4x will increase your focal length by 40%, making your 200mm lens act as a 280mm, while the 2x will increase focal length by 100%, turning the 200mm lens into a full 400mm. This can have exciting implications for wildlife photographers. For one, having extended focal length that fits in a small camera bag gives you the tools to capture make-it-or-break-it moments while letting you be flexible and mobile. Not only do side-by-side comparisons of tele-extenders versus postprocessing crops show extenders to have a quality advantage in sharpness and precision, but tele-extenders…