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Category Archives: Pine Forest
When the Magic Happens!
Steaming Tree, Light Rays & Reflections
When the magic happens, all is right in the world. This was one of those moments. After several days of rain, and a relatively cold night, the rising sun heated the dark, wet tree and created steam. A scene I have walked by numerous times was transformed into a mystical wonderland. It was thrilling to experience. As the steam filled the air, obscuring the forest beyond, and filtering the rays of sun breaking through the branches, I immersed myself in the experience. This isn’t a mere photograph. This is a translation of what I feel when Mother Nature is kind enough to let the magic happen.
I chose to shoot black and white film on my 4×5 field camera, as this image was all about mood. The tones of black, white and grey were necessary to translate the emotions of the light show, narrowing the scene down to light, dark and form. i love making these artistic choices in the field, as opposed to shooting haphazardly, and hoping to fix it in a computer later. This is the only way to translate the feelings we experience in nature with our art. For me, the art is the experience. My photography is the simple artistic representation.
Photo Tip:
This is a classic example of using the Zone System in order to capture a huge exposure range in one sheet of film. I metered on the dark shadow on the tree, then underexposed 2 1/2 stops. This rendered the tree relatively black, with a touch of detail remaining in the shadows. The areas of bright light (lit grass & backlit fog) metered 7 stops brighter than the shadow. To remedy this, I used a N-2 processing time on the film (under processed 2 stops) in order to narrow the range between shadow and highlight to 5 stops. Using these tactics, I was able to create a negative that rendered detail in both shadow and highlight areas, while keeping a full range of contrast. The craft of large format film photography is a real joy to work with, and when done well, renders amazing results!
Equipment used:
Canham 5×7 metal Field Camera, 4×5 Reducing Back, Rodenstock Sironar-S 150mm lens, Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ball Head, Gitzo Carbon Tripod, Kodak T-Max 100 Black and White Film, Ilford ID-11 Developer.
Let Emotions Lead You to Great Images
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"Winter Aspens and Pine"
This image is the product of emotions, a true connection with the natural landscape and patience. I had passed this location numerous times over the years in search of wildlife, but never “saw an image”. One Spring morning, while hiking through, this section of trees pulled me in. I didn’t see an image that day, but I didn’t ignore what I felt. I returned to this spot every season for several years. The feeling remained, but the conditions didn’t quite fit my emotions. Fall colors, new Spring green, snow covered. They all lacked…something. I stayed true to the emotions that kept bringing me back. Finally, it happened! This particular morning had just the right even light and brightness. It was snowing lightly, the wispy dormant aspens had a delicate, wispy lightness to them. The pines in the background showed there subtle detail and subdued, yet rich color, which set off every nuance of the aspen branches. This was the moment where my emotion matched the visual moment! The art happened. I was able to “bring the fine art of nature home”.
This process of “bringing the fine art of nature home” is something I have been basing my art around for years. It is also what I base my photo tour concepts on. I don’t want to create massive volumes of pictures. I want to do justice to those moment in time that make me feel…right. And I want to share that with the world in the finest print possible. That is my passion. For this image, I felt it was imperative to choose my medium carefully. With the fine detail and subtlety in this composition, I chose to use my 8×10 inch film camera, which I have adapted to also take 4×10 inch panoramic format images. This huge format not only records amazing detail, but also forces me to take full responsibility for every aspect of the final exposure and image. Along with it’s cumbersome nature and great cost to shoot, I find that I must shoot very deliberately and consciously to make sure my exposure and composition match my emotional vision. This has helped me grow as an artist, and enables me to express the emotion I feel in the natural world through my fine art prints.
Photo Tip:
Stop thinking technically (about all the functions on the camera and all of your software), and focus on that which brought you to the outdoors to begin with. Yes, we have to understand enough about exposure, light and composition to capture an image, but we need to have a feeling about the subject to compose a piece of art! Trust yourself and the emotions that draw you to a particular image, and use the technical aspects of photography as the final part of capture. Immerse yourself in your natural surrounding, enjoy the experience and let your art go beyond a two dimensional technical capture.
Equipment:
Canham 8×10 Metal Field Camera adapted to also Shoot 4×10 Panorama, Rodenstock 360 mm APO Sironar-S lens, Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ball Head, Gitzo Carbon Tripod, Fuji Provia RDP III 100 speed Transparency Film.
Fall Photographic Workshop in Grand Teton National Park!
A Fall Photographic Adventure in Grand Teton National Park
Grand Tetons in the Fall, 2012: September 27-30.
This will be a four day adventure focussing on iconic Teton landscape images, as well as wildlife photography. Along with putting us in the right place at the right time to capture our dream photos, I will be teaching about composition, exposure, light, perspective and proper technique. 100% of our time will be spent in the field, where we will learn while doing. While our days are long and tiring, they are also extremely rewarding both photographically and personally. Comeraderie is a huge part of our experience. We will have a great time in a world class wilderness environment and come away better photographers for it. This will be limited to a small number of participants so everyone has all the personal attention required to get the most out of the experience.Please call to discuss any details that may help you make your decision.Please call the gallery directly to inquire! 530-544-4269
Lily Pads & Fall Reflection Panorama
Lily Pads & Fall Reflection Panorama
I composed this image on Lily Lake, at the south end of the Lake Tahoe Basin. I love this area for it’s signature Sierra beauty, along with the peace and quiet that can be experience here. Early this fall morning the wind stood still, enabling me to enjoy the crystal clear reflections and mist rising from the water. The old cabins and row boat added to the ambiance of this Walden like scene. I chose to create this image before the sun rose high enough to illuminate the far cliffs, keeping the moodiness of the scene. I didn’t want the electric pop of direct light here. I was mesmerized by the tranquility, and the shaded light enabled me to hold the richness I wanted in the colors. Finally, I chose the panoramic format to accentuate the mist on the far side of the lake, and give an expansive view of the most detail filled portion of the scene I was observing. This image is now available as a limited edition directly through Jon Paul Gallery.
(Note: This is one of the locations available to my private field seminar participants! Contact me through Jon Paul Gallery for information on my seminar offerings.)
Photo Tip:
I love shooting in low ambient light pre-sunrise, after sunset, or in overcast conditions. Colors are very rich, and otherwise impossible exposures are tamed by the even light. However, these conditions produce a blue cast that our film or digital sensors record. Occasionally, this can be a cool effect, but most often it just looks unnatural. This can be solved in several ways: we can use a warming filter over our lens, we can set the white balance in our digital camera before shooting, we can correct the color temperature in our Raw converter or, within PhotoShop, we can open a curves adjustment layer and use the grey dropper. Shaded light is fantastic for scenes that can become too contrasty in direct light. Just be aware of the color cast and know how to correct it if you would like to. Happy shooting!
Equipment used:
Canham 5×7 Metal Field Camera, Canham 6x17cm panoramic roll film back, Rodenstock 150mm APO Sironar-s lens, Fuji RDPIII Provia 100 transparency film, Gitzo 1325 carbon tripod, Really Right Stuff BH-55 ball head.
Light “Selection”, Reflection and Beaver Pond
Beaver Pond, Spring Reflections
Many of you will remember my facebook posts from the scouting I did of this lovely beaver pond here in South Lake Tahoe. Along with a reasonable iphone image I shared, I posted a sweet portrait of my professional assistant, Toby (6), capturing his own rendition of the beaver pond and its inhabitants with a little digital camera. He always gets a great response, and ads huge joy to my excursions. Well, I returned the following morning to capture this beautiful moment.
I was drawn to this scene for its sheer tranquility. Seemingly every shade of green in the spectrum (very welcome after a never ending winter!), along with the beaver hut, all reflecting in the still waters of the calm morning. I loved the composition and the feeling, but I still had one very important decision to make; in which light should I expose my film? I was hoping to capture the scene with everything in shade and a glowing reflection of the mountains and trees above the background lit with warm morning light. Well, the light didn’t enter the scene evenly, so that wasn’t an option. Fortunately, I arrived early enough to be set up and created this exposure with ambient light softly illuminating the scene before me. After everything was lit by the sun, I felt the image lost its soft relaxing quality. Overall, this image conveys the mood I was after. From the green color, to the stillness of the leaves, the depth of its layers and the mirrored reflection, the natural perfection of the moment takes me to a place of serenity. This wasn’t exactly what I had pre-visualized, but stayed open to what Mother Nature had to offer, and let my feelings influence the final image. I love it!
Photo Tip: Light is the name of the game in photography. I prefer to use only one exposure, so I pay special attention to each phase of morning and evening light as they relate to my subject. This is important for proper exposure, but also for setting the mood of the image and how it conveys my feelings of the natural experience. For sunrise images like this one I like to arrive well before sunrise in order to experience the transition from night into a new day, and to give myself the opportunity to compose images with each phase of changing morning light. While there are many possibilities as the light changes, I like to be conscious of my feelings as the light transitions. My goal is always to share that moment in time, in that place, that makes me feel a special way. If done well, that moment in time can become eternal, and make the lives of its viewers that little bit better each time they view the image.
Details: KB Kanhan 5×7 metal field camera, 2 1/4 x 6 3/4 panoramic back, Gitzo 1325 carbon tripod, Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ball Head, Rodenstock 150mm APO Sironar S lens, Fuji RDPIII Provia transparency film, no filters.
Celebrating Spring in the Mountains with My 8×10 View Camera!
Dwarf Lupine and Pine Forest
This image is my first release shot with my 8×10 field camera. I had discovered this location while on a mountain bike ride. I kept pedaling, but took note of the location and decided to return the next evening. As I set up my 8×10 field camera, I decided to keep the camera just below eye level, giving the feeling that you can walk right into the picture. I also wanted to show the expansive degree to which the Lupine had blanketed the forest floor. I was also taken by the vibrant light green of the new needles on the young pines, especially the way they stood out against the dark bark of the larger trees. I waited until the moment the sun sank behind the mountains to the left of the frame to expose the film. This gave a nice even and rich light to the scene without the harsh contrast of direct light in the forest. As with most of my large format work, after standing back and feeling “invited” into the composition, the fine detail brings an intimate mood to the scene. Welcome to my home in the forest!
Photo Tip: As I mentioned above, I consciously chose the camera height for this photo. Many people I teach overlook the importance of camera height as a part of composing an image. Most people either set the tripod (if using one as you should) at eye level for the sake of comfort and ease, or get down extremely low with a wide angle lens for a dramatic view. Each image requires specific consideration relative to camera height. Choose your camera height carefully when composing and you will create unique images with the strongest angle and composition possible.
Details: Canham 8×10 Metal Field Camera, Rodenstock 240mm APO Sironar-S lens, Fuji Provia 100 8×10 Transparency Film, Gitzo 1325 carbon Tripod, Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ball Head.
This image is now available for purchase through the Jon Paul Gallery in several limited edition sizes. www.jonpaulgallery.com
Schedule a private field seminar and join me in the field!
Impressionist “Painting” With Light!
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- Painted Aspen & Pine
In a departure from my methodical large format film process and tack sharp realistic imagery, I decided to experiment with photo-impressionism using my digital SLR. I was able to create this unique image as the fall colors were on the decline, but my desire to be outside creating images was not. My intention was to create a series of painterly images that depicted an other worldly view of the forests into which I escape. Using a long exposure and controlled linear motion with the camera I was able to create the feeling of a forest having been created in the imagination and brought to life with the stroke of a painters brush. Adding to the surreal feeling, I used the saturation function with selective colors in PhotoShop and punched up the colors to depart further from the usual.
This experience accentuated the fact that a solid understanding of the foundations of photographic technique enables us to experiment with alternative visions and produce successful photographic images. This is something I stress to my seminar and photo tour students that first become buried in (and overwhelmed by) the concepts of digital art while overlooking the the basic photographic techniques that enable them to create the imagery they wish to work with in the first place.
Feel free to follow me on my Jon Paul Gallery Facebook Page, and subscribe to my E-Newsletter for updated information on new images, seminars, tours, etc. You can also contact the Jon Paul Gallery directly to purchase original prints or receive information about any of Jon Paul’s offerings. I have uploaded a new Portfolio page on www.jonpaulgallery.com titled Impressionist, which currently has six new images, including the one I shared today.
Enjoy my images painted with light!
Persistence Pays Off…Again!
Cave Rock Sun star Panorama
I had envisioned this image for a couple of years, and finally was putting the time in locally to pursue it. I wanted to compose an image that included Cave Rock, and loved the way the angle of the slope and shape of the tree line framed lake Tahoe. A panoramic image was perfect. I just needed Mother Nature to cooperate. Over the course of three weeks I visited this spot almost every morning and evening. We had a span of inclement weather, so I really focused on the sky and put in the time. Ironically, this was not exactly what I have envisioned, but perhaps better! I had set up my large format bellows camera with the panoramic film back and a three stop Split ND filter covering the sky. I was anticipating the possibility of a brilliant sunset, and clouds much brighter than the foreground. Instead of the color show, the sun exploded out from under the clouds, just bursting onto the mountain line, both creating a sun star, and back lighting the foreground foliage with amazing yellow light. I immediately removed the split filter, as the clouds were now darker than the foreground, and quickly exposed the four sheets of film that the panoramic can consume on one roll. That was it. The show was over. Just a few seconds (and three weeks). Fortunately, I put in the time, I was prepared, and I was open to the possibilities. The experience was fantastic, and the image is amazing. That’s why I keep doing this. I hope you enjoy!
Note: I have left some time available during the holiday season for private field seminars. Let me now if you want to head out and look through the lens together!
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