I’ve been asked this question many times. What people are referring to is the silky, blurred, effect you can achieve with moving water, or any moving subject for that matter. The technique itself is fairly simple. What you need to do is use a fairly long shutter speed ranging anywhere from 1/4” to several seconds or more depending on the speed your subject is traveling. The faster your subject the less time you need to achieve a desirable blur. Sounds easy enough right? The catch is, if you want the stationary objects to appear sharp, you need to use a tripod! I’m amazed at how difficult it is to get some people to use a tripod. Even when they go through the effort of carrying one it is like pulling teeth to get them to set it up and actually use it! Now that you all have sworn to use the tripod you will be carrying, here is what you should do. After you’ve set up the camera and double-checked your composition, set your cameras ISO to the lowest option available, usually ISO 100 or ISO 50. Not only will this give you less noise in your image, it also aids in giving you a slower shutter speed. Now, take your camera off of any “auto program” mode you may have it on. The camera doesn’t know the effect you are looking for and only tries to achieve proper exposure. You can achieve excellent results in Manual, Aperture Priority, or Shutter Priority modes. I’ll use Manual for this description. In manual exposure mode, set a small aperture from F8 to F22 to make sure you have a nice range of apparent focus (depth of field). The smaller aperture also adds more time to your exposure thus also aiding to your motion blur effect. Now adjust your shutter speed until your in camera meter is set at zero- in the center- for a proper exposure. If you don’t have a shutter speed of 1/4 second or longer try a smaller aperture and then readjust your shutter speed until your meter reads correctly. On typical overcast days or in shaded forests or in low light scenes (dawn, dusk) this should give you plenty of blur to achieve the silky effect. Experiment with different shutter/aperture combinations to achieve the effect you like. When you have white water (rapids etc.) in the scene it is important to keep an eye on your histogram and make sure any bright areas aren’t flashing. If they are you will have no detail there. Adjust your settings so that you are slightly underexposed, ie: your camera meter is reading two or three notches in the “minus” direction. Occasionally you may want to try this effect in bright situations (full daylight etc.) when even at your lowest ISO and smallest aperture you can’t achieve a slow shutter speed. Fear not! There are options available to you. They require the purchase of additional tools but they are tools valuable for other reasons as well. Pretty much any filter that reduces the amount of light reaching your sensor, and thus increasing the length of exposure, can aid you in this situation. A polarizing filter reduces your exposure by approximately two stops. Neutral density filters come in gradations that reduce your light intake in values from one to eleven stops, also you can use more than one (stacking) to dramatically increase your exposure time. If you do stack filters pay attention to possible vignetting at the corners of your image. If this occurs, zoom in a little bit or plan on cropping in a bit. Sometimes the vignette works well. Once you’ve found the right shutter speed/aperture combo it helps to use your cameras timer or a cable release to reduce vibration. Also, if you have a mirror lock up function available it can really help. This function raises the mirror inside the camera on the first press of the cable or shutter button and then releases the shutter on the second press, instead of both being done on the same press and possibly adding unwanted vibration. Lastly, it pays to wait until any breeze has died down and make sure your camera strap isn’t loosely dangling around adding movement! Wooden walkways and bridges are dangerous as well. Anyone walking on them during an exposure will ruin your shot. I’ve spent a lot of time just waiting for a break in the wind or a lack of people. It’s always time well spent.
OK, I know this blog is supposed to cover image making in Alaska but I can’t help but include some stuff from my recent trip to Costa Rica. I was lucky enough to lead a photography workshop for a wonderful, eco- minded, travel company called Journey’s International. I spent two weeks there and was overwhelmed by the stunning beauty and diversity of the country, its’ people, and its’ wildlife. Every single day I saw birds, insects, reptiles, and mammals that I had never seen before. None of them in a cage! I was challenged to use every technique I knew and through the experience I’ve come to love a new place. These trips bring more than incredible photo opportunities. They always bring new friends into my life. I think it’s impossible to share the thrill of new discovery with someone and not be connected to that person from then on. I traveled with a group of five women and a local guide and I count myself lucky to have spent the time with each one of them. I was there to teach but I learned so much from them as well. I was also impressed with the Costa Rican people, or Ticos. They exude extreme pride in their country and seem to genuinely live by it’s well marketed slogan “Pura Vida”. The all knowing wikipedia has the following translation. (copied from Hubpages.com) Pura Vida (POO-rah VEE-dah), used by Costa Ricans since 1956, literally translated means "Pure Life." Contextually, it means "Full of Life" "Purified life", "This is living!", "Going great!" It is used as a greeting, a farewell, and to express satisfaction. Costa Ricans use the phrase to express a philosophy of strong community, perseverance, good spirits, enjoying life slowly, celebrating good fortune, whether small or large. If only we could all feel this everyday! Not a bad goal. I highly recommend photo tours. It provides one the opportunity to explore new and exciting places while honing a passion with a group of people who share your love. The guides know where to find great subject matter and the tour company knows the best lodging and dining experience. Since we’re on the subject I’ll plug the two companies I’m lucky enough to lead photo safaris for: Journey’s International for Costa Rica and custom tours abroad, and Alaska Wildland Adventures here in AK. If you’ve ever had the urge I highly recommend both!
One of my recent “favorite” places is none other than Talkeetna. I’ve had the extreme pleasure of doing various work there and enjoy it more each time. I don’t think I’ve been in a Alaskan town that retains so much of the essence of the “real” Alaska while being a regular stop on the tour bus line. As usual, if you can get there during the slower season your rewarded with no crowds and stellar photo opportunities. But even during the annual “Moose Dropping Festival” in July, when the town is packed, it still feels worlds apart from the business bustle of Anchorage. Many climbers use it as a base before attempting to summit Denali. You don’t have to be an extreme adventurer to have plenty to do there though. Not only can you wander around a rustic old town looking for photo ops, but you can Flightsee, go on river boat tours up the Susitna, eat at wonderful cafes, and oh yeah, it’s a great place to capture views of Denali. In the winter you can find great snowshoeing and cross country skiing as well as dog mushing. It’s only two and a half hours from Anchorage and you can stay at one of three hostels for a mere pittance or you can luxuriate in the grand Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge. Not a bad place! I have a couple of trips planned there this summer and I can’t wait. See you there.
Lately I’ve been taking a lot of outdoor portraits for various reasons and I thought I’d go over a few relatively simple techniques that can help to make nice “people” photos. Most of us visit the outdoors with friends and loved ones and invariably we end up taking the obligatory “Look, I was here!” photo. How many times have you seen the grand scenic with this speck in it and your friend claims “That’s me!” and how often do you see the uninspiring image of someone standing in the exact center of the composition? Mmm Hmm.. Well, let’s work on that!
I know this is "Capturing Alaska" and most of these images are from California,but these techniques will work anywhere! The first thing I always look for is a great background that will give you a sense of the place you’re so happy to be. You can give a feel for a place just by showing a small portion of it. You don’t have to show the entire grand canyon to show you were there. Take the beautiful landscape shot, but for your portrait search for something that represents the scene. The next thing I look at is the lighting. Lightly overcast days are great because the sky acts as a giant softbox and you have nice even lighting everywhere. The light just before sunrise and just after sunset is beautiful. You can get a nice soft, warm, light and your subjects aren’t squinting. Obviously we can’t always wait around for the perfect time of day so the next thing I look for is open shade. If my background is in shade, that’s great. Then all the light is even. I’ll usually add some fill-flash to my subjects to warm up the skin tones and put a highlight in their eyes. If you can get your subject in the shade but your background is in bright sunlight, it takes more effort but you can still get a nice photo. In this case you need to set your exposure for the background and add light, via on-camera flash, external flash, or reflector, to bring up the exposure on your subjects. An off- camera flash cord works well here because you get a more interesting lighting when the flash is up and to one side. A direct flash creates a very flat look. The most dreaded scenario is having direct, mid-day sunlight straight overhead creating deep shadows in the eye sockets and causing serious squints. You can add fill-flash but the squints remain. If everyone insists on wearing their sungl**** then no worries, shoot away! Then I think about composition. The dead center of your frame is usually (though not always) the least interesting position for your subject. Experiment with different compositions and see what excites you. Above are four recent portraits. The top was taken here in Alaska but the others were taken in California last week. Spring has sprung her but we haven’t caught up to the Outside yet! The first image was taken at Kincaid Park. We don’t have much greenery yet but I thought we could still get a nice outdoor feel by placing the couple amongst the aspen trunks. I had the couple meet me just before sunset so I could get a little highlight from the sun but still have nice even shade to work in. They really wanted an outdoor photo so I made sure to make them part of the environment. This was taken with natural light, no flash. The second image is from a wedding in Auburn, California. I had taken several nice fill-flash photos with this background earlier but just before sunset I noticed a beautiful golden glow and rushed to grab the bride and groom and get this photo. This is natural light as well. It’s my favorite photo of the day. It pays to keep an eye on the light and take advantage of it! The third image was taken in the American River Canyon in the early morning, just outside of Auburn, California. This couple also wanted to be photographed in the outdoors. I scouted this location the day before and new exactly where I was going to shoot. The combination of the shade, foreground and background wildflowers, and river in the background made this a perfect spot. For this photo I used a little fill-flash, with my flash mounted on a bracket, to reduce ugly shadows, and set to –1 stop so it just adds some warmth and catch-light in the eyes. I also used a split neutral density filter at an angle to keep the sunlit river from being overexposed. The final image was taken in the middle of the day. As you can see the contrast from the shaded areas to the sunny areas is extreme. To avoid harsh light on my subjects I brought them into the shade and used my flash to bring their exposure up to the level of the bright sun. I have a small photographic umbrella and a mount that allows me to shoot my off camera flash through it and create a softer “studio” light.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008, 11:15 PM AKST [General]
“Capturing Alaska” with Wayde Carroll
Wrangell, Alaska
During my southeast Alaska trip last summer I spent a few days on the island, and in the town, of Wrangell. I don’t think I’ve ever been more comfortable in a new place. Everyone I met was extremely friendly and generous. I had total strangers offering me rides, bicycles for the length of my stay, and a promise of a car and a place to stay if I return (which I definitely will). Add to this the mind numbing beauty surrounding the place and you’ve got one of my favorite destinations ever. This is another stop on the Alaska Marine Highway accessible to the state ferry but not to the giant cruise ships and there are only around 2000 people who call Wrangell home so the pace is laid back. Its’ close proximity to the Stikine River ( compared by John Muir to Yosemite Valley) and the Anan Bear and Wildlife Observatory, makes it an ideal base camp with plenty to offer. Besides the scenic river and the bears, you can search for the ancient mysterious petroglyphs, or rock carvings, that can be found at Petroglyph Beach State Historic Park. For such a small community it is surprising that they have a world class museum that houses many historical displays from its’ Tlingit roots through the Russians occupation through the gold rush and up to todays tourism and fishing based economy. Explore Chief Shakes Tribal House and Totems, hike through the stunning Tongass National Forest up to Rainbow Falls, or climb the Mt. Dewey Trail to the spot where John Muir camped during one of his Alaskan adventures. Oh yeah, there’s a pretty nice little golf course as well, Muskeg Meadows.
