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Image #8 

   “Capturing Alaska”
    with Wayde Carroll






  Winter Stock


 
   I thought I’d go over some images I’ve taken on recent stock shooting explorations. I want to talk about various techniques and processes just to get you thinking about ways to see while you’re out shooting.
   I try to plan my photography trips in advance so I know what I’m looking for. I have an extensive list of subjects I WANT to shoot but I also check the paper every week for coming outdoor events. If something looks exciting to me I’ll go shoot it. At other times, I’ll just plan on an area I want to explore, pick a date and go. I’ve learned that, even if the weather looks bad, the skies are dull and grey, and all I want to do is go sit in a coffee shop and read, I go anyway. Especially here, you never know when the sun will poke through and bless you with some incredible light. Many of my favorite images have been taken in less than ideal situations.   
   This first image, #1,  was taken at the Campbell Creek tract owned by the BLM. They hold a sled dog race during their annual “Winter Trail Days” celebration. I wanted to get images of the dogs and musher’s without any onlookers in the background so I hiked beside the trail until my background was clear.
   The two keys to this photo were pre-focusing and a fast shutter speed. Typically for action shots I use my cameras auto servo mode to track my subject but in this case I wasn’t able to see the dogs until they were almost upon me so I composed the shot I wanted and pre-focused on the spot where I wanted to “stop” the action. Remember to take your lens off of auto-focus! Too many times I’ve started shooting only to discover my lens auto-focus was still on and I missed the shot. I also had my camera set so I could shoot at four frames per second.
   Image #2 is an example of the auto focus servo tracking in use. There was a flock of mallard ducks congregated at the edge of some open water on frozen Westchester Lagoon in downtown Anchorage. I took a lot of images of the mass of huddled fowl but wanted to get some action. Every now and then a duck would take off and head towards another group not far away. I put my camera on servo mode and continuous shooting and made sure I had a fast shutter speed (at ISO 100 and F4 I was able to shoot at 1/1250 of a second!). I also selected an auto-focus point in my viewfinder that placed the focusing point in the lower right third of the viewfinder to make for more interesting placement of the subject.
   The keys to image #3 are composition and selective focus. By using a wide aperture (F4) I was able to isolate this hen surrounded by drakes. She remains in focus while the ducks in front , and behind , are out of focus. It is clear what the subject of the photo is. Having her placed in the lower right third of the image adds to the images impact.
   Image #4 is almost “just another moose shot” but it is more interesting due to the angle of view. By being down low and shooting through the hoarfrost covered grasses, the image has more of a feel of “being there”.
   For image #5 it was really critical to pay attention to my exposure. The sun was so bright and the white snow was so dominant that I knew my cameras meter would try and render the white as grey. To counter this I set my camera to open up (+) one and a half stops of exposure. I also knew that with such a bright background the trees would be rendered in silhouette. Composing so that the fox tracks led diagonally out of the frame into the horizon, to me, adds a sense of mystery and wistfulness. What’s the story of this lone traveler?
   The main ingredient for image #6 was patience. Warm clothing and a tripod helped as well but this simple image took a while to capture. I was out exploring on a very cold morning, it was about five degrees, and I came across this white pine tree with these fascinating hoarfrost crystals built up on it’s needles. I really wanted this photo so I set up my tripod and a macro lens and composed the shot. I tilted my tripod head until I had a diagonal composition. A straight vertical or horizontal would have been too static.
   The problem was the slight breeze that seemed to come through every time I pressed my cable release! So I had to stand still in the freezing cold for about twenty minutes waiting for several opportunities to try and capture this scene. I very quickly rewarded myself with some hot coffee from my thermos!
   Don’t tell anyone about image #7, but to get this I shot through my windshield as I was driving down the Seward Highway. I saw the drifts of snow blowing over the road and knew this would be a quintessential image of winter travel in Alaska. Again, I pre-focused because my auto-focus would not know where to stop while the car was moving forward and I added the additional one and a half stops to my exposure to compensate for the white scene. Once again I placed the focal point of the image, where the lines converge on the oncoming car, in the upper right third of the image to make it more dynamic.
   Image #8 is similar to image #4 in that I’m shooting through foreground objects to give a sense of place to the subject. I think a straight on architectural photo of the church would have been much less interesting. It’s always good to remember you can employ techniques you discover while shooting one type of subject on a completely different subject.
 That’s it! I hope some of these experiences are helpful to you.