Photography In Bad Light

Forget the hassles of shooting in snow, rain, wind.  It's worth chasing bad light.

Early morning rainstorm provided a lovely sheen on the wet tracks.

 For whatever reasons this summer, the weather gods seem to have it out for photographers.

Sure, we've seen sunshine off and on. But, rarely that lovely light that inspires us to grab the lenses, go out and shoot. For the most part, its just been hot & humid or dark & rainy.

Like most shooters, I always find something to photograph in poor weather. In fact, I see it as a challenge and embrace the concept that fewer photog's will be out there. Thus, offering more opportunities to capture something no one else will get. Still, day after day of dank weather takes a toll. When the light finally breaks, you feel energized. But, the wasted time digging deep for treasures in that awful darkness that produced minimal rewards.

Welcome to being a photographer!

The diner lighting was great, but the people were in deep shadow. Over exposing allowed room for post-processing dodging and burning and not letting a wonderful street portrait get away.

 There is no perfect life, just life. Those difficult challenges are usually the ones you remember most anyway, right?  When you capture something worthwhile in poor conditions you learn a lot. New ways to see, how to protect your gear, where to go in poor conditions, ect.

Terrible mid-day light, a white colorless sky and black frigate birds flying over.....Hmmmm, what can I shoot? A perfect situation for a silhouette. Already mostly monochromatic, nature's design pops off the page.

 Next time its pouring, snowing like a blizzard, tree whipping in the wind, grab the cameras and get out there. Cool stuff awaits you.

Raining outside, but the softened light gave this still life inside the kitchen of the Grand Portage National Monument a wonderful glow. Natural poor light can be really effective at times.

Using your umbrella, walking around in the rain with the camera around your neck provides opportunities in inclimate weather you won't find on sunny days. Its real life and worth the hike out-n-about.

Tornadoes, Global Warming & Photographers

A tornado touches down May 19th, 2013 near Elmore, Kansas

As a young photographer, something Ansel Adams did as a photographer first, conservationist second, had a profound impact on how I view our medium. It stuck to me like a view camera on a tripod.

The joy one obtains from creating photographs can't be lost in the persuasive power photography has to push forth ideas. Adams used his marvelous prints of the Sierra's as a tool to convince lawmakers in Washington that wilderness needed protection. Certianly, it was easier and more cost effective sending prints to persuade members of Congress than to take the long journey to the mountains of California to witness the wilderness on their own. Let's face it, that could've backfired. What if it rained or snowed the whole time? Sending beautiful prints was a brilliant idea.

I've been lucky to be able to participate in a similar circumstance here in my own regional neighborhood. Wisconsin resident and wilderness advocate Martin Hansen loved the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior. The archipelego of 21 islands is designated as a National Lakeshore and is managed by our National Parks. Hansen loved these islands and wanted to prevent any further development from compromising their wilderness status. Hansen hired writer Jeff Rennicke and myself to do a book on the Apostle Islands. Hansen then took copies of the book to Washington D.C. to use just as Adams had, as a vehicle to persuade lawmakers to protect the islands.

It worked. Once again, my belief in the medium as an art form and instrument for change was confirmed.

Today many of my peers are working on projects to further their photography but also use their work as a voice for change. James Balog's incredible film CHASING ICE, documenting the receding glaciers of the world, Karen Kuehn is working on protecting our waters, Daniel J. Cox is documenting the rapidly changing arctic. Personally, I'm very interested in global warming and the effects it's having on weather patterns especially here in the Midwest.

Over the last decade I've experienced warmer winters here and our summers are producing more violent storms, especially those involving straight-line winds. Those selective and damaging storms have tripled in numbers in recent years. The issue of global warming is indeed controversial. The debate over its causes shifts constantly between science and politics. However, the bottom line is, it's happening. A warmer planet is changing our weather.

Rain released over Oklahoma/Texas border

Since the Midwest is here, it makes financial sense for me to cover this area. So, I've decided to embark on covering storms and weather patterns here as they affect people, crops and landscape. As time allows I will chase storms, photograph crops, drought, floods, wildlife, all I can to shape together an era of changing weather through photographs.

Green color indicates hail inside super cell storm, Oklahoma

This May, 2013, coverage continued by joining Melanie Metz, a veteran storm chaser/educator based in Minneapolis. We followed storms in Tornado Alley in both Kansas and Oklahoma. A few of those images can be seen here. Photography is such a valuable tool in educating people in an instant. A good caption carries the purpose one step further.

Wall Clouds forming near Elmore City, Oklahoma

I'm not saying as a photographer you have the responsibility to promote and document causes. I'm saying, you have the opportunity to if you wish. And it can be accomplished on any scale. A blog, a magazine article, a gallery exhibition with a specific theme. Your art and vision can carry a message. In a world crazy for instant visual gratification, this is an exceptional time to let your visual voice be heard.

Listening To Your Vision

"If you listen carefully, you can hear your vision speaking. 

It's good to stop and hear what it has to say."

I recall coming upon this foggy curve in the road in the mountains of West Virginia. What a moving scene it was. Getting out of the Jeep, grabbing the glass and acknowledging the joy of the moment made for a nice capture.

You Never Know

Years ago I was watching a 60 MINUTES broadcast while overnighting at a hotel. The story they were covering was about a bright young man who had grown up in Harlem, became successful, and now was returning to his old neighborhood, buying old beat-up buildings and remodeling them into affordable and safe housing for people to move in to. It was a wonderful story.

As the TV crew followed him through the hallways, up the stairs, into an apartment to visit with one of the new tenants, I noticed the wall behind them had one of my photographs made into a poster. I jumped up looked closer, and sure enough, an old wolf image of mine made into a poster. I laughed out loud and shook my head with a big grin. Hey, I made 60 MINUTES..... and in a good way! HA.

Sometimes you just never know why an image is gonna end up where it does. These little surprises are a nice treat. Its part of the fun in this business. Recently, during one of my winter photography workshops, a brutally cold morning gave us the perfect ammunition to create an image that you can only achieve in this sort of hostile environment.

It was -36º F Below Zero. When you toss up a ladle of hot water into this frigid air, that hot water instantly vaporizes. It makes for a wonderful images combining both science and art. It soon appeared in National Geographic's "Your Shot" collection of online images.

Another example of how unusual circumstances result in unexpected placement, came from a photograph I snapped while shooting a Smithsonian Magazine assignment. I was in North Dakota covering a feature story on a farmer who collects tractors. While crossing from one field to another across his land, I stumbled onto a sort of "old car graveyard." I spotted this 54' Ford Crown Victoria with an Ash tree growing right outta of the hood.

It struck me immediately, NATURE'S REVENGE.

I sent the image off to one of my favorite clients, Patagonia, and they soon used it on one of the cover of their clothing catalogs, then in their beautiful book, UNEXPECTED. Now, over a decade later, they are using it again as a design for one of T-Shirts.

How cool is that?  Ya just never know.

F/8 AND BE THERE.

Great Lessons In Photography

Why is it that the most significant lessons in life are always the toughest? It probably has to do with that age old concept "we learn more from our failures than our successes." I hate to say it, but it's true to the bone. Its akin to the You Can't Win If You Don't Enter theme.

Ya gotta be out there generating images and creating the most articulate ways to visually communicate. That instantaneous moment when content and art blend together is magical. It motivates one to continue aiming their lenses at the world.

In its roots, photography has always been a science driven medium. Indeed, it can be hard to see it that way, what with all the auto-this and auto-that available today. One barely needs to understand the science to get decent exposure. For the general public this is a monumental advancement. Scoot over to the most recent photo technological advancement, iPhone's, taking a photograph is amazingly simple, can be processed and shared world-wide within seconds.

My photography roots emerged from black & white photography. I was hooked on the medium the moment I witnessed a print emerging in a well seasoned tray of dektol. I studied the works of Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Minor White, Paul Caponigro, Dorothy Lange, Wynn Bullock, and Margaret Bourke-White to name a few. One quickly learned, they embraced the science of photography. They knew what film and developer combination would produce a decent negative. Understanding the complexities of printing those negatives to show off the myriad of zones and tonal values to achieve an exquisite silver halide print defined the fine art photographer of that era. Science, all science.

Wow, times have changed and digital dominates the industry. Its still science, not as organic as the chemistry laden past, but driven by math, this technology takes such giant steps it can be difficult to keep up with the changes and the costs. But, grasping digital technology and understanding its capabilities continues to be the edge photographers need to pull the most out of the visual situations they face in field.

In a recent workshop, a participant was drawn to a very contrasty scene. She looked at it, made her composition, and snapped the shutter. As she walked away from it I heard her say, "that'll never work. I'll lose all detail in those shadows." She looked at her camera monitor and sure enough it was contrasty. But, not all is lost. I explained to her, the beauty of digital is dark areas are digitals' playground.

That said, I wanted to show everyone a quick and easy way to pull out those dark, contrasty areas out of your digital captures. As many of you know, I tend to stay away from the techno lessons because I'm more concerned with people learning to see visually. But, part of learning to see is not walking away from compelling situations because you worry they just worn't work. Chances are damn good in today's digital world what you see in your mind can be accomplished photographically.

Let's take a look at this image below. While teaching in Cambodia on a Mentor Series Worldwide Treks (http://www.mentorseries.com/) we were photographing a small village with several temples and a small monk monastery. I spotted this young girl leaning on a railing. She appeared unhappy and very preoccupied. I heard sounds of chanting and music coming from the area immediately to her right. Curiosity begged for a more defined reason why she was not engaged in the music. As I moved closer, I could see the monks, all men, holding service. She was not allowed. I wanted to capture her mood and yet also include within the frame the source of her discontent.

But, as you can see it's an exposure problem. There's probably four f/stops in difference between her face and the dark room where the monks are holding service. While my eyes can accurately witness the scenario, it's a photographic nightmare of extreme exposure differences. Yet, for this to be a good photograph, it needs all the information in the scene. Not to worry!

Click on the images to enlarge

Proper exposure made on young girl creates severe darkness to the right

Using the Adjustment Brush tool in Photoshop or Lightroom
as a mask, we can bring up the dark areas

Wow, is it that simple?

Yes, it's that simple to bring back the image as observed on site. You won't lose the valuable editorial content necessary to understanding the moment that was hidden in the dark areas to the right.

If you are a Photoshop or Lightroom user and have not used this tool, learn to do it. It will save numerous images in your files and provide the confidence when out shooting that tough situations can be brought to life right out of your RAW files. Chances are darn good the information is there. You just need to learn how to bring it out.

This is an over simplified peek at this technique. But, one you will love if you have not used it in the past. All those images you were so worried about.... go back and give em' life. Science is a tool!

When opening RAW Files, choose the Adjustment Brush Tool, seen on top. Then, I like to check
the SHOW MASK box at the bottom, so I can see what areas I'm masking.

Here, you can see the masked areas I brushed on the right side. Once brushed, I turn off the
SHOW MASK (the fog disappears but is still there) and move up to the Exposure slider and move to
the right if I want it brighter, and magically watch the masked area come back to life. I have complete
control of how much I want it to brighten.

The finished image! You have great control over how you do this, the amount, the feathering, ect.
And, when you like what you see, when going to OPEN IMAGE, use OPTION-CLICK on
the open-image button to open without updating image metadata keeping your original
RAW file just as you had originally exposed it.

Here's another example; A beautiful blue door inside a historic farmhouse in Iceland caught my eye. I loved the color and the wonderful composition of little patches colors and lines criss-crossing about the scene. But, I also wanted more detail in some of the dark shadow areas to give the viewer more information in the room. Using the Adjustment Brush, it let me lighten those hidden areas.

Here, you can see the areas I decided to utilize the Adjustment Brush and mask
the areas I planned on boosting up the exposure to resemble a look more like my
eye had seen inside this room.

A comparison with the before and after

There's Still Hope for Photographers-Good Luck-Good Light story in the NY TIMES

With all the bad news, like this Hire A Photographer for $10 crap, its good to see something good happening in the photography world once in a while.

Check out the link below to read more about GOOD LUCK-GOOD LIGHT. If it does not take you there directly, copy and paste the link.

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/good-luck-and-good-light/?smid=tw-share

Good-Luck-and-Good-Light

And, this sort of thing (below) might become the norm for some, but rest assured it will eventually kill the photography business as we know it today. I'm not sure how it will affect the editorial world, but most photography eventually finds its pricing methods in editorial. All I can suggest, is don't be stupid and go for this sort of thing.

Its important that you understand the value of your work if you intend to stay in to make a living. If someone wants to offer someone $10 to shoot a assignment, let them use their own iPhone and post the images themselves. Even that work, which will take valuable time, will cost more than $10.

COLD REMEDY

Those people intimately familiar with winter, know that your nose will run like crazy out in the cold. It comes with the territory. That's why long sleeves were invented. Its also a great opportunity to capture images that many shooters miss.

Hot water vaporizes on minus -26º F morning near Ely, Minnesota
(CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE)

Its not easy shooting in winter. Trudging through deep snow is tough physical work. A mental mindset also needs to exist. Warding off the pain in your fingers when trying to change settings can tax even the experienced winterized photog. A different set of equipment is necessary to get places. Snowshoes, dog teams, snowmobiles, cross-country skis are all options. But getting to places to where only critter tracks
mark the snow, the velvety cotton landscape comes alive with a different kind of silence. Mainly, there's just less people out there.

Consider the iconic photographic destinations, like our national monuments and national parks. If you visit these places in spring, summer or fall, those classic photographic gems are often jammed with people. Everywhere in your frame is a person, tripod or goofy hat. They are shooting the location, each other, others shooting each other, and so on. Its almost impossible to obtain a clean shot. The super-duper secret to getting that shot? You can lessen the distractions by going in the cold months. And, the bonus? Obtain images and an experience that few others care to tackle. It sets your work apart and presents a new and fresh perspective.

I plan several annual winter outings for shooting. One is a dogsledding adventure photoworkshop I teach at WINTERGREEN DOGSLED LODGE in Ely, Minnesota. We just wrapped up our 21st year and experienced quite the temperature swing. We started at 33º F and ended with minus -36º F. Its the best of two worlds really. We spend our days out in the wilderness mushing and our evenings in a cozy lodge with food prepared by a wonderful French Chef, Bernard Herman.

Wintergreen's French Chef Bernard Herman

Dogsled teams gliding across frozen lakes on the edges
of N.E. Minnesota wilderness

Don't let the temperature swing concern you. Its not normal. But, there are opportunities on both sides of the mercury to photograph. On those warmer, often overcast days, when a weather system is moving in trapping the mild air, the light is more often evenly lit. When high pressure moves in, it shoves out that cozy temperature and replaces it with biting, gin clear air where even the slightest breeze creates a wind chill that cuts you like a razor. And, with that bright light comes extreme contrast. You have to choose your battles. Even in the contrast however, a silhouette can speak volumes. Use what you have. It is what it is.

Harvesting ice blocks from a frozen lake.
Harsh light allows room for experimenting.

Overcast skies provided the perfect light source that brought to life
this frozen rock wall covered in frost crystals and ice formations.

Remember the key to a good winter experience is being prepared for the cold. Not only for your equipment, but you. Dress in layers. Stay away from fabrics like cotton. There's an old saying in winter
locations; "Cotton Kills."  If you get wet, cotton holds the water next to your body yanking the warmth right outta your skin. Synthetic clothing, like fleece wicks the moisture away keeping you insulated and  warm. Wool does the same.

When active, like dogsledding, I wear a pair fleece thin long-johns on top and bottom along with a good windshell. This keeps the heat in and the wind out. If I get chilled, I'll pull on another layer of thicker pile fleece or down, and pull over the wind shell. I can't stress how important the wind shell layers are. The key to comfort in winter is this; if you start to overheat, drop a layer. When you get chilled, put on another layer. Keeping dry is essential. If you are traveling over sea ice or frozen lakes, its a good idea to carry extra clothing just in case you flop into the drink. A good hat, balaclava and neck gator offer protection. If you are in windy conditions, use your ski goggles. They'll make you life like a day at the beach. Lastly, have thick mittens on hand. The kind that have a wind shell on them. Gloves only protect individual fingers and in really cold weather, you get cold fingers fast. When the fingers can work together keeping each other warm, the difference is remarkable. Light fleece gloves for shooting so you can feel the dials. Stay away from those fingerless gloves in winter. They're useless.
After your shot, pull the mittens back on.

Bad light can be great light for some subject matter in winter.
I knew B/W coverage here would set the ice apart from a scene already monochromatic.
Waiting for just the right moment when the ice block caught the backlight was essential to the images success.

For your equipment, if you are out all day in temps around zero degrees or colder, those little hand-warmer packets that keep working for 8-10 hours, are good to toss in your camera bag next to batteries, and your extra batteries. Just keeping the chill off them keeps them in smooth working order. Extra batteries in extreme cold is a must. And, remember when you return back to the vehicle or your lodge, after being out all day in the cold, don't expose your camera or lenses to the warm air. Condensation will carpet them instantly. Wet and digital electronics are not friends. They need to be kept away from each other. Keep your cameras inside the bag, wrap your coat around it and let it slowly come back to room temp to prevent the condensation.

Experimenting with visual options. This entire day felt like a walk back in time.
I used pixlr-o-matic app to help create an image that looks like it came
out of Grandpa's old shoebox.

I predict you'll find that being cold is just a myth. The sights and sounds winter offers are as unique as underwater photography. Not many do it, and those images waiting be captured are there for the taking.

And don't forget that ever handy iPhone. This little video was made using a app called Vintagio. Buckets of fun.

Safe journey's!