30 Pictures for Final Project

All of the pictures I took for this project and throughout the semester while on shoots intended for this class were done in aperture priority mode. A lot of my time spent outdoors during this season was hunting, and this made for some tough lighting conditions and a plastic bag over the camera more than once. The changing lighting conditions and the subjects of my pictures made aperture priority the right choice most of the time. I also did a lot of exposure compensation and changing the ISO to get the exposure I wanted with the right depth of field for the subject matter. All pictures were taken with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT and a Sigma 70-200mm lens. I did not use any reflectors, flash or polarizers in my pictures, mostly because they weren't readily available most of the time. Due to the number of water shots I do think a polarizer would have been beneficial. For any of the pictures without snow, I made photoshop corrections in brightness/contrast and levels only. This is because I do not really like changing the image taken too much. For the pictures with snow, I began shooting in RAW and did only adjustments from the RAW format and no photoshop. For most of these I just tried to make adjustments to make it look the way it did when I was taking the picture. I also did some cropping from pictures in both formats.

F stop - 3.5

ISO - 200

Focal length - 70mm

Exposure compensation - -1.0

Location - Beartooth Pass

About the picture - Early morning sunlight on the Beartooth Pass provided night light for this picture. I tried two different shots, one with the rocks in the foreground in focus and the rest out of focus and this one. I preferred this one.

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 200

Focal length - 400mm

Exposure compensation - +.3

Location - Yellowstone National Park

About the picture - I took these sheep pictures with a doubler on to reach the 400mm focal length. I took a lot of pictures and this one stood out because of the shadow of the horns on the body of the largest sheep. I also liked the behavior of this small group sticking close together and the one in the center eating and looking towards the camera.

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 100

Focal length - 70mm

Exposure compensation - +.7

Location - Yellowstone National Park

About the picture - This was taken during a very bright day in Yellowstone so an f stop of 7.1 still allowed a fast enough shutter speed to freeze any movement in the foreground in the grass and keep it all in focus. I like the different layers presented in this composition.

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 100

Focal length - 93mm

Exposure compensation - -.7

Location - Yellowstone National Park

About the picture - I enjoy the lighting on this picture a lot. It makes me think a lot when I look at it to try and figure out what exactly is going on which is the same reaction I had to seeing this dead tree in that area for the first time. It keeps attention on a scene that might be boring otherwise.

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 200

Focal length - 200mm

Exposure compensation - 0

Location - Beartooth Pass

About the picture - I took a lot of goat pictures to get this one that I like. I have a lot of just one goat looking up and them not doing anything very exciting, so that makes this one even better because of the young one peeking over the adults  back. It separates itself from all of my other pictures of goats because of the baby looking over.  

F stop - 4

ISO - 200

Focal length - 70mm

Exposure compensation - -.7

Location - Bighorn River

About this picture - I like this picture because of the excitement Rudy is showing to get started hunting. I threw the decoy bag into the picture to show that this is what he was waiting for. I wanted Rudy in focus but not everything in the foreground such as the grasses so I used a low f stop to get a shallow depth of field and underexposed  by -.7 because it was a very bright day.

F stop - 4

ISO - 200

Focal length - 179mm

Exposure compensation - -.7

Location - Bighorn River

About this picture - I tried many times to get a picture like this with live a live duck, but I never liked the expression on Rudy's face as much as I did with this decoy, as well as the shallow depth of field focused right on his face and the color of the water.

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 200

Focal length - 70

Location - Bighorn River

Exposure compensation - +.7

About the picture - Probably my favorite picture from the entire year. The soft bright light of the snow that day really brought out the vibrant orange of the ducks feet and set up a picture with great contrast throughout. It was bright enough that I could keep a low ISO and a medium f stop to get most of the duck and all of Rudy's head in focus to get the composition I wanted.

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 200

Focal length - 70mm

Exposure compensation - +.7

Location - Bighorn River 

About the picture - This was a shot meant to show the surroundings. I took it from my duck blind, so I wanted the cattails in the picture. Having a medium aperture setting and a low ISO allowed the capture of enough detail to get the bank on the other side of the river and catch the snow and fog over the water.

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 200

Focal length - 70mm

Exposure compensation - +.7

Location - Bighorn River

About the picture - I really like the background and foreground of this picture. If the foreground wasn't in pretty good focus it would take away the effect of the rough shadow and the picture would lose a lot. The background makes this a good shot that gives a feeling about the kind of day it was on the water. Rudy is standing right in the middle because all of the attention is supposed to be on him in this picture, the rest is just extra.

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 200

Focal length - 82mm

Exposure compensation - +.7

Location - Bighorn River

About the picture - Probably my favorite post hunting photo of the year. It worked much better having the birds up on a log where they are clearly visible. The reddish orange pheasant draws a lot of attention and leads into Rudy's face very well. A medium aperture allowed the birds to be in focus along with Rudy.

F stop - 16

ISO - 200

Focal length - 70

Exposure compensation - +.7

Location - Rock Creek, Red Lodge

About the picture - I wanted a slow f stop to slow the water down a little and capture the color of the water as best as possible. I had to hold the camera on top of a post on the bridge to keep it steady enough for the long exposure.

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 200

Focal length - 70mm

Exposure compensation - -.7

Location - Rock Creek, Red Lodge

About the picture - I like the way that Rudy looks against the snow and the slow backwater of the creek. I wanted his entire body in focus so I needed a medium aperture because he was moving as well and I couldn't go too slow with the shutter speed or he would come out blurry.

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 200

Focal length - 122mm

Exposure compensation - -.7

Location - Rock Creek, Red Lodge

About the picture - Again, I like the way that Rudy looks against the water, snow and ice. I like the medium depth of field because the lines are so jagged and interesting with a good contrast that makes the background of the composition interesting as well. I also like the angle I took the picture at above Rudy on a bridge.

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 200

Focal length - 148mm

Exposure compensation - -.7

Location - Red Lodge

About the picture - I like the way that the fence line works its way back into the trees and goes out of focus and disappears into them. I like the way that my eyes start on the fence line and follow it until it ends and then move over to the interesting trees.

F stop - 4

ISO - 800

Focal length - 70mm

Exposure compensation - 0

Location - Beartooth Pass

About the picture - This was taken just past the gates on the Beartooth pass early one cold morning and it was very windy. This made it necessary to use a high ISO and a low f stop because I could not keep the camera still long enough for a slow shutter speed.

F stop - 4

ISO - 400

Focal length - 100mm

Exposure compensation - 0

Location - Beartooth Pass

About the picture - I like the many different layers in this composition. The diagonal lines of the mountains that come down on different sides each time make it easy for my eyes to follow the trees through the different layers to the mountains in the back which are the real subject of the photo.

F stop - 4

ISO - 400

Focal length - 70mm

Exposure compensation - 0

Location - Beartooth Pass

About the picture - This is quite honestly one of those pictures that turned out much better than I had hoped for. I more or less was just enjoying the canine tracks up and down the pass road and wanted to document it and decided to get down at a low angle and get a picture of the tracks where everything else had melted already. With the road line and the curvy track pattern and the bend in the road there is a lot of interesting lines in the picture that compliment the tracks.

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 400

Focal length - 70mm

Exposure compensation - 0

Location - Beartooth Pass

About the picture - Mike was trying hard to get a good landscape shot up the canyon and was on a pretty steep slope here. I feel like I did a good job capturing that he was on a steep slope with a long drop down at the angle I took the picture.

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 400

Focal length - 100mm

Exposure compensation - 0

Location - Beartooth Pass

About the picture - I liked this tree because there is a lot going on with scars, sap, live and dead branches, and colorful bark. I wanted a pretty large depth of field to keep the composition confusing because that is the way that I looked at the tree. I didn't want there to be one obvious subject so I wanted a lot in focus.

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 400

Focal length - 70mm

Exposure compensation - 0

Location - Beartooth Pass

About the picture - I really liked the color of the moss against the snow and bark, as well as the jagged lines in the bark and the moss. A medium aperture allowed me to get everything in pretty good focus.

F stop - 10

ISO - 100

Focal length - 70mm

Exposure compensation - -.7

Location - Rock Creek, Red Lodge

About the picture - This was a tough picture to take because it was bright outside but this was in a shadow because of the overhanging ledge of ice. I wanted the water to have a little bit of ribbon effect so it didn't take away from the icicles hanging down.

F stop - 10

ISO - 100

Focal length - 122mm

Exposure compensation - -.7

Location - Rock Creek, Red Lodge

About the picture - I liked the way this picture captures the ice running smoothly yet very quickly over the ice. It was hard to stay still enough for the long shutter speed necessary to blur the water and took many attempts to get this.

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 100

Focal length - 77mm

Exposure compensation - -.7

Location - Rock Creek, Red Lodge

About the picture - I really liked the way that this picture displayed the contrasting colors of the scene. The tree in the foreground went very nicely with the color of the creek and the woods in the background. It stood out enough to get attention but wasnt' in focus enough to take too much attention from the main subject, the creek. 

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 200

Focal length - 200mm

Exposure compensation - -.7

Location - Rock Creek, Red Lodge

About the picture - There were a lot of really cool ice formations on the creek this day, but it was tough to make an interesting picture out of some of the cool ones that were by themselves. For this picture I tried to add the element of the diagonal lines going through the image with the main point of interest being the oddly shaped icicle.

 

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 100

Focal length - 70mm

Exposure compensation - 0

Location - Rock Creek, Red Lodge

About the picture - I enjoy this composition because of how the rocks on the bottom of the creek are complimented by the different colors of the wood on this bridge. The large piece of broken ice also provides a point of interest.

F stop - 16

ISO - 100

Focal length - 70mm

Exposure compensation - 0

Location - Rock Creek, Red Lodge

About the picture - I almost dropped my camera in the water trying to get this one. I had to set it down on the bank on a log and partially steady it with some snow packed along the side and underneath to even it out. It worked out nicely and is one of the best pictures I have taken when trying to blur out the water.

F stop - 4

ISO - 100

Focal length - 70mm

Exposure compensation - 0

Location - Bighorn River

About the picture - The worst part about this picture was the pile of ducks and the goose. This is one of the best pictures of Rudy I have ever taken, with the snow and the trees and the river apparent but out of focus in the background and Rudy being very attentive but relaxed. Unfortunately the birds got covered in snow pretty quickly and the way they were set up doesn't display them very well.

F stop - 7.1

ISO - 200

Focal length - 93mm

Exposure compensation - -1.0

Location - Bighorn River

About the picture - This picture was taken on an extremely bright day and I had to underexpose by a whole stop to keep the picture from not being blown out and allow me to darken it up a little more in photoshop as well. I like the way that the ducks were set up and how they are in focus as well as Rudy.

F stop - 4

ISO - 800

Focal length - 70mm

Exposure compensation - -.7

Location - Yellowstone River, Billings

About the picture - Probably the only really good picture I have of my puppy after over a month of having him. He loses interest very quickly so I had to set up this shot pretty carefully. I had to underexpose to make sure he was not grey. A low f stop focused very well on his face and faded out down along his body which was perfect for the situation. To get him to look up at me I climbed on this downed tree and took the picture looking down at him.

Section 3 - Adventures with Wildlife

The closer you can get to wildlife, the better the chance you will have of getting more detail into a composition, and you will have more options on how to frame the photo the way you want it. One method of getting close to animals that are wary is a blind. A blind can be anything from a camoflague blind used for hunting to a vehicle. It is meant to hide human presence. Other options of getting close include slowly stalking on your knees in a way that avoids spooking the subject and shooting in locations where animals are used to human presence such as national parks or city ponds. Another method can be to bait the subject into coming closer and being more comfortable, where it is legal.

Knowing about the subject you are going to shoot is also very important. Without knowing the habitat you will never find the subject. Knowing behavior is important also in many ways. You need to know where your subject will be during the best shooting lights and when your animal will show up in certain areas to provide the best scenes. The more homework and scouting you do, the better your composition can be because you can set up in the right spot to get the background and lighting that you need if you know exactly when an amimal will show up where.

Shooting animals in motion can create a very realistic yet abstract way to make what would be an ordinary image a little bit more exciting. Making images with motion blur is really difficult to achieve on just one shot, so this isn't an easy thing to try and do with very rare and wary animals. The best places to try and experiment with motion blurs are areas where the animals will not be spooked for very long. Another option is during mating seasons or the rut where animals are more focused on each other than they are humans. Action shots are most readily available during the early daylight and late evening hours for most species.

The foreground, midground and background planes can all be used to add to the main subject. With most compositions the subject itself will take up the midground plane. Some things that could be placed in the foreground include grasses, tree leaves or limbs, or flowers. The important part of this is that it is part of the species natural environment. For example a picture of a mountain goat would be helped by a jagged rock in the foreground that is out of focus but you can still tell what it is. The background could be composed of mountains or trees or other out of focus subjects that can add color or habitat implications to the photo.

The two most important ideas to take from this section are to do your homework and take a lot of pictures once in the field. Going out and just hoping to see an animal will more than likely turn into a waste of time. Seeing the animal is only part of it. Getting close enough to capture detail and being in the right position to have the foreground and background wanted are very important in getting an excellent composition rather than an average one. Taking a lot of pictures is also very important when trying to get action shots. Just as with people, eyes close and animals look away.

Section 2 - Essential skills

The most useful tool in determining if the exposure you are taking is correct is the histogram. This tool can be made to show alongside of the picture as soon as taken or when reviewing the pictures on the camera screen. A histogram has five basic areas. Tall bars to the very far right indicate something that is bright white. Tall bars to the very far left indicate something that is black. The middle area is called the midtone area. The areas close to the far right or far left are the highlight area and shadow area, respectively. Another key tool for exposure is exposure compensation. This tool helps fight the camera which would normally turn something that was very bright or very dark gray because it reads the light as if it were an average scene. Exposure compensation allows the user to increase or decrease exposure by a specified amount of stops.

One of the most challenging aspects of nature photography is dealing with varying light conditions. A general rule is to avoid the direct light of the midday sun due to a loss of detail that is caused by the excessive contrast caused by shadows and highlights. Clouds help during the middle of the day but the best time is in the early morning and afternoon when the sun is close to the horizon. Front lighting is generally preferred for shooting animals in the early morning and late afternoon because it helps give the animals detail. The opposite would be backlighting. Backlighting can create interesting abstract photos such as a halo of light around the subject or a silhouette. Side lighting gives a feeling of movement into the picture and is most useful for landscapes on a large scale where shadows add to instead of take away from the picture.

A key tool to nature photographers in fighting ever changing light conditions are filters. The most popular filter is a polarizing filter. This filter can be used most of the time while taking pictures to help increase color saturation by reducing glare off of water and other surfaces that reflect a lot of light. They usually reduce brightness by one to two stops. Another type of filter are split neutral density filters. These come in different stops and are most useful for taking pictures of a colorful landscape with a bright sky. They are then used to darken the sky by the number of stops. If the landscape does not fit with the straight line of a neutral density filter, a graduated neutral density filter can be used.

Even with proper exposures and the right lighting and camera settings, there is still much more work to be done. Image compensation seperates the best photographers from the average ones. It isn't hard with a lot of practice to know how to make a good exposure, but the composition of an image is just as if not more important. There are seven rules of visual priorities listed in the book that can help compose an image: red is more attractive than yellow; large draws more attention than small; difference drows more attention than conformity; jagged lines are more striking than curved ones; diagonal lines are more attractive than vertical ones; sharpness is more attractive than blur; light is more attractive than dark.

A good exposure will not be very interesting if the center of interest is in the wrong place. The center of interest is the reason for taking the picture, and the purpose of the rest of the composition is to support the center of interest. Generally the center of the frame is not a good place for the center of interest because eyes travel to it first in the center and then there is nothing else worth looking at in the picture and it doesn't have any kind of movement for eyes to follow and really examine an image. A dynamic picture will lead to the center of interest through other interesting parts of the composition. The rule of thirds is good to follow, placing the center of interest one-third of the way from the top or bottom and sides.