Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2017 i Outdoor Photographer

White Out! By Harry Lichtman “My perfect winter day includes big snowstorms and turbulent weather since the chance for dramatic images increase. Bluebird winter days can be a bit boring for my style of photography. Wind-driven snow produced this slightly abstract image, as the sun broke through high clouds to help backlight the snow. I sought shelter in a tree line to protect me from some of the wind and shot through an open field. I experimented with different shutter speeds to blur the snow while still rendering the trees sharp. The streaking snow simplified the scene and allowed the textures and lighting to take center stage and create more of an emotional impact. This image was captured in New Hampshire's Crawford Notch, where high winds are often tunneled through…

A panoramic image is one of the most beautiful ways to show wildlife in their environment. Unlike traditional landscape panoramas, however, wildlife panoramas have subjects that move across the landscape, which can be problematic. When I started shooting wildlife panoramas, I often created a bison with two heads or a moose with two butts. The success rate of these types of images can be low, but with the techniques outlined here, you'll be well on your way to increasing your success rate. As with traditional panoramas, you'll want to shoot in portrait format and overlap about one-third of each frame. Usually, you'd start at the edge of your panorama and then move left or right, but wildlife panoramas are different. It takes a planning and a little luck. When making…

Spending summers in Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, in Canada’s High Arctic provided wildlife photographer Fred Lemire with plenty of bright nights for photographing wildlife. One such night, he was visited by a drove of arctic hares. “This sudden gathering told me that something was about to happen,” he recalls. “A few minutes later, I spotted the mother. When she reached her babies, they all start nursing at the same time, in a half-circle position, for about 30 seconds. Then the action started. The mother hare suddenly bolted from the young hares, which then started to jump and bounce around in all directions, sometime as high as three-and-a-half feet from the ground! This sudden burst of energy was amazing to watch. It was like they received an energy boost from the milk.…

One of my first “big” assignments for Outdoor Photographer many years ago was an interview with Robert Glenn Ketchum about his book, Rivers of Life: Southwest Alaska, The Last Great Salmon Fishery. I admit to feeling a little intimidated meeting one of the leading landscape and conservation photographers of our time, but his friendly, candid manner quickly put me at ease and led to a series of articles over the years featuring his work. Ketchum is a tireless advocate for environmental conservation, particularly in Southwest Alaska, most recently in the effort to stop the construction of Pebble Mine. In “Alaskan Legacy” we consider the context of the proposed mine, the detrimental effects it would have on one of the most pristine and globally important ecosystems in North America, and the…

FAST STILLS & PRO 4K VIDEO Previewed at Photokina last fall, Panasonic’s new flagship mirrorless model, the LUMIX GH5 , is the latest camera to blur the lines between still and motion capture, offering 4K 60p/50p video recording and a 6K PHOTO feature that allows you to pull high-resolution stills from the video stream. The GH5 can capture 20-megapixel stills at up to 12 frames per second (or 9 fps with focus tracking) using its mechanical shutter. For even faster frame rates, 6K PHOTO allows you to extract an 18-megapixel still from 30 fps video; 4K PHOTO steps up the frame rate to 60 fps for 8-megapixel stills. The camera also offers built-in focus stacking capability to take multiple frames with varied focus points, which can be combined for enhanced…

Location Shiprock is an isolated peak in the rugged Four Corners region of New Mexico. The stunning formation soars over 1,500 feet above the surrounding high-desert plain to a total elevation of 7,177 feet above sea level. It appears to have been shipwrecked there for an eternity by the ancient volcano from which it was forged. The Navajo word for Shiprock is Tse' Bit' ai', meaning the “rock with wings." This type of isolated mountain is known as a monadnock, meaning a land formation that abruptly rises from the surrounding terrain. Shiprock lives true to its name and is visible for miles in any direction. Approximately 12 miles south of the town of Shiprock, New Mexico, Shiprock can be reached on Navajo Route 5010, a rough dirt road heading north…

“If there was one stand out highlight of my trip to the beautiful state of Oregon, it would have to be this one. Shore Acres State Park can show some serious power in the surf department. Standing there, holding tight for dear life, hearing and feeling the power as 20-foot swells slammed full force into the cliff side was an experience I will never forget. Timing, trusting my heart and intuition was everything on this trip. This is what being an outdoor photographer is all about, in my opinion.” “This is Trillium Lake at last light, my first stop along the Oregon odyssey, a lake I've seen in magazines, online and heard through story. We got there with maybe 30 minutes before sun down. I couldn't believe my eyes! With…

One of my objectives on a trip to Grand Teton National Park in the spring of 2014 was to get a sunrise photo from Oxbow Bend. Getting the sunrise shot that you've been dreaming of can be nearly impossible when you have limited shooting days and absolutely no control over the weather or the wildlife that you might encounter. Although I'd have liked to be able to get a photo from Schwabacher Landing, it wasn’t in the cards for this trip as it was under construction. Getting sunrise photos in the spring means getting up extremely early to account for daylight saving time. But, it’s also very peaceful and quiet in the early morning hours, which I do enjoy even if it’s difficult to get up and going. Having scouted…

Few outsiders know Southwest Alaska as intimately as Robert Glenn Ketchum. Remote and vast, the region has limited roadways, requiring planes and boats to explore. It’s also home to several national and state parks, wildlife reserves, complex ecosystems and the largest salmon fishery in the world, Bristol Bay, which supplies half of the global sockeye salmon catch. “There’s Katmai, a national park; there’s Lake Iliamna, one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world; there’s Lake Clark, a national park; there’s Togiak National Wildlife Refuge; there’s Wood-Tikchik, the largest state park in North America. They’re all there, and they’re all going to get [expletive] up if you put this mine in there.” The proposed mine to which Ketchum refers is known as Pebble Mine. If permitted, it would be the…

With golden aspen in the fall, fresh snow blanketing the mountains in winter, wildflower-covered beaches in the spring and sparkling blue water in the summer, Lake Tahoe is a photographer’s paradise in every season. For photographers willing to hike or ski miles for a single shot, as well as those wanting to shoot from the side of the road, Tahoe offers a lifetime of subjects that change with the weather and the seasons. Winter is by far my favorite season to photograph Lake Tahoe. While the ski resorts may be packed, some of the best locations along the shore can be completely deserted. The surrounding mountains are covered with snow, and the lake is nearly free of boats. Winter storms help to wash beaches clean of footprints, and cold temperatures…

When you first pick up SLIK’s CF-422 LITE tripod, you have to remind yourself that it’s supposed to be lightweight. It’s natural to unconsciously equate weight to quality. With photo equipment, heft often denotes better materials and construction—think expensive lenses and flagship DSLRs. That’s not the case with this new tripod from SLIK. It’s one of the sturdiest tripods we’ve used, and its light weight is exactly what most photographers want in an accessory that’s begrudgingly necessary. The CF-422 is the top model in the company’s new LITE series tripods. The LITE moniker has a double meaning: first, to imply its portability, and second, to reference the removable LED flashlight built-in to the tripod’s center column. There are five models currently in the series—three aluminum and two carbon fiber. Of…