Fine Art Photography Techniques: Sunday's Tech Shot

Hello everyone!  Sorry for the long pause between posts – it has been a furiously busy summer!

Though not a landscape frame, “Horse” is becoming one of my favorite images in my new Glacier National Park landscape series, captured during an intense 2-week adventure through Glacier National Park, spanning the area between Whitefish, Montana to the Waterton Lake region in Canada!

So, the experienced photographer will learn to make quick adjustments to camera dynamics and position in a series of calculated decisions (or guesses) based on the subject, and its position and of course, lighting.  Let us dissect this photograph.

"Horse"  L. A. Lewin Captured near Glacier National Park - 2013

Prepare & Shoot:

Suggested by a local in Browning, Montana, we turned north to transverse a beautiful back country scenic route - Hwy 49 - passing local farms - (wandering cows) and gleamed at meadows rolling up and down the hill side framed by snow capped peaks majestically looming to the west.   The sky illuminated bright grey and was shredded by a light, but steady rain – my favorite combination for bright colors, soft focus and little to no shadows. Perfect.  The road is narrow, so Anne is driving slow – posted speed limit is 35mph and in some places 25mph.

As we make a couple of sharp turns we came upon several cows crossing the road – actually these were tagged steer, wondering from one meadow to another.  Going forward we stayed alert in case another encounter suddenly appeared, and it did!  But, not steer, but a small group of 5 horses grazing just off the right shoulder.  The rain had picked up and the scene – the shot – came into focus for me!  I felt the connection and began adjusting the camera.

 So here was the situation: angled steady rain, a moving subject, low light and no place to stop get out and position for a shot.   At once, I made the decision to shot the subject as an intimate portraiture: aperture was set wide open on the Canon F/1.4 50mm (which happened to already be connected to the 5D Mark II).   Because the F/1.4 lens opening will create a wide and deep area of Bokeh (or soft blur) around the point-of-focus, I was aware crisp focus on the subjects eyes will make or break this shot!  The “sitter”, the Horse, and his buddies stopped momentarily – I composed through the viewfinder – rain quickly began showering me, camera and seat – click, click!  I was done, up went the window – I looked back and the leader, “Horse”, followed my gaze as we slowly sped away from view.  A very pleasing, even emotional and rewarding experience to meet and photograph these beautiful wild horses.

Post-production included very little: slight dodge & burn, small color correction and a minimum application of a polarizing filer in Color Efex Pro 4 software.  Done.

Conclusion:

Be alert, know your equipment, and focus on the eyes - Shoot!

Of course, as we pulled away I checked my preview and saw the shoot was successful.  Because of this subject, lighting and softness the rain provided (the emotional experience), if the review showed I did not get a clean frame, I would have asked Anne to turn around.  But this time, all went well – luck is a great friend to all photographers!   As always, I welcome your feedback and similar stories of your adventures!  Ciao.

Tech: 5D Mark II

ISO 100

Canon F/1.4 50mm lens

Aperture Priority Mode – set wide open at F/1.4 

No exposure compensation

Manual focus

Hand held through the SUV’s opened window