by tmoffett | Jul 21, 2010 | Color, Photo tips
Untitled
I very rarely photograph in the middle of the day. The light is harsh and direct. I have to work too hard to control the midday light, so I just don’t do it. However, I took some students on a field trip one day, and it just happened to be during the midday sun. What do you do? I look for smaller subjects, the landscape within the landscape, or as I like to call them, intimate landscapes.
This small plant I found just outside one of the buildings on the Boise State University campus. It was in total shade, but had a little bit of light being reflected on it from a pillar at the entry to the building. This soft, directional light is just what was needed to highlight the tips of the leaves and maintain good detail in both highlights and shadows, something that is near impossible to do in the direct sunlight at noon.
With smaller subjects, it is quite easy to block the direct light and create a soft directional reflected light. Some things that I have done in the past is to block the light with my own body, and often times if I am wearing a light shirt, that will reflect just enough light to do the job. Other times I will use a piece of mat board to provide the shade. Black foam core is a great tool to keep on hand for these situations. By blocking the light with black and bouncing in some light with white foam board you can gain total control over the light.
Remember, photography is all about the light. Learning to control and manipulate the light will give you a creative edge over those who can’t. It will most certainly open doors for creativity that would otherwise remain closed. It is one way to take your work to the next level and separate you from the amateurs.
by tmoffett | Jul 20, 2010 | Color, Composition, Landscape
Haystack Rock
I have many images of Haystack Rock and all of them are different. The light is different each time I go to Cannon Beach. Other differences that influence the final images are the tides and weather. I never know exactly what I am going to get, but I am never disappointed. I love the surprise factor. It makes me work a little harder at times, but that can be a good thing.
The morning that I made this image of Haystack Rock, a marine layer began forming and thickened throughout the day. You can see the haze forming just above the ocean and creating an interesting band that breaks up the blue of the sky and the blue of the ocean. As I set up for this shot, I watched the waves coming in and placed myself where I could catch the edge of the incoming water to create a line leading from the edge of the frame to sea stack, then I waited. The Needles, just to the left of Haystack Rock help to visually balance the composition.
by tmoffett | Jul 19, 2010 | Black and White, Landscape, Photo tips
Partial Eclipse, City of Rocks
Three weeks ago I was with some friends at City of Rocks. We had a wonderful time photographing and socializing. About an hour before the sun rose over the mountains the moon, in a partial eclipse was about to set over the western horizon. It was a beautiful, quiet morning, and just soaking it all up was worth the drive. Photographing it was even better. I didn’t have much time to scout location, as it was dark out and I had never been here before, so I took what I was given. The foreground was dark, but the sky was turning out to be quite nice. I had the headlights of the truck to skim across the foreground and throw just enough light to brighten up the brush and the nearest rock formations. This helped create the balance that I needed between foreground and sky.
When mixing light sources like this, be careful. The color of the light from the truck lights is so different from the natural pre-dawn light in the rest of the scene that if you want color, it will be very difficult to correct it. That really didn’t matter to me because I knew from the start that this would be black and white. I just needed light, I didn’t care about what color temperature it was.
by tmoffett | Jul 18, 2010 | Color, Family, Photographic Philosophy
Salt Lake LDS Temple
I love the song Photographs and Memories by Jim Croce. This photograph is one that brings back great memories for me. It is where Christeena and I were married over 20 years ago. We have had a great life together and I look forward to an eternity of happiness with her!
Making photographs is one way that we keep memories alive. Not every photo is a masterpiece or a work of art, nor need it be. Often, as a photographer I have a hard time taking “snapshots” because I have it in my head to make every shot count. I slow down and think too much when I should be shooting away, and before I know it the moment is gone. For this reason, Christeena takes most of our snapshots. I need to change. There is a time and a place for the artwork, and a time and a place for snapshots, and I need to learn the difference.
Sometimes a photograph can create great memories and be a piece of art at the same time. This image was created years after our marriage while on a family trip back to the Salt Lake area. While helping the younger kids at a drinking fountain I looked up and saw this image. I had wanted to make a photo of the temple that was different than all of the others I had seen, and this just happen to be the one. Fortunately I had my serious camera with me and I quickly set up and made the image. A 20×30 print hangs in my house as a reminder of that wonderful day more than 20 years ago.
by tmoffett | Jul 17, 2010 | Black and White, Landscape, Photographic Philosophy
Cloudy Skies
I love the edges. The edge of the light. The edge of situations. The edge of a storm. It seems that everything is more exciting on the edge. Buried in the center is predictability. The light becomes lifeless. The storm is dark and wet. On the edge of a storm you will find clouds that are lively and exciting.
This image was made a couple of years ago and I haven’t been to excited about it. I finally, after passing over it numerous times, decided to print a small print. I do that as I prep images to see the progress and make sure everything is perfect before doing the final, master print. When the 7×10 came out of the printer my heart immediately jumped! the clouds popped and I was hooked. This image definitely has potential. It still needs a bit of work, but it will get there. My process for getting to the master print is a long one. I have in my minds eye a good idea as to what the print will look like when I shoot it. However, I tweak the image and refine it over a period of time until it is just right. Sometimes this takes hours, sometimes days and sometimes weeks. It just depends on the image. But when it is finished, it is just right. It will have a feel to it that sens a message to the viewer and hopefully let them feel what I felt when it was created.
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