by tmoffett | Jun 29, 2010 | Color, Landscape, Photo tips
Moonlight, Lake Lowell
Just about when everyone else packs up and leaves because it is too dark, I begin my quest for a great photograph. I love shooting after the sun has set. Some of my best images were 20-30 minutes after the sun has gone down. The light is wonderful. The only problem is that there is not very much of it, so you must use a tripod.
On this evening, I was out with Christeena and we also had our 11 year old son with us. We had picked him up from his Boy Scout meeting and went directly to the lake. He was not very excited to be there, and when he kept hearing me say, “Just one more…this is the last one,” and then I would see something else and have to shoot another image. Both he and Christeena had packed up and were in the truck waiting for me as I continued shooting.
This image was shot well after the sun had set. The moon is rising over the lake and there is still enough light in the sky to get good definition in the clouds. I love the blue color. The color is due to everything being lit from the sky. There is no more warm sunlight, just the sky and moon to provide illumination. The image is very simple. That is the strength of it.
by tmoffett | Jun 28, 2010 | Color, Landscape
Wild Water, Yachats, OR
Here is another image of the Yachats shoreline during a storm earlier in the month. With the tide coming in and the waves up due to the storm, it was a matter of technique to create beauty in the midst of the storm. I know many who would retreat to the shelter of their homes, but I chose to stay out and enjoy the sight. The sea is so powerful, even dangerous at times, however always beautiful if you only search deep enough. Our eyes see the literal crashing of the waves into the rock, they stop the action of the water as it sprays upward. The shock of the cold water as it splashes up and drenches you is not so beautiful, but if you can slow down the water, see it as it moves gracefully across the shelf and runs back to the ocean, it truly becomes a scene of wonder.
This image will always bring back memories of a struggle against nature. Battling the wind as it tries to invert the umbrella that is protecting me and my cameras from the elements. Being cold and wet from not only the rain, but from the ocean spray as I position myself out on the rocky shelf, composing and waiting for the right wave to flow over the shelf at the right speed to show beauty in the midst of the storm.
How I love to find the beauty in a storm.
by tmoffett | Jun 27, 2010 | Color, Landscape, Photo tips
Pastel Sunset
There is a saying among photographers that goes something like this: “If you like the light where you are shooting, turn around and look the other way.” I can’t remember when or where I first hear that, but it is some of the best advice I have ever received. It is so easy to become engrossed in what we are doing that we fail to look around and find something even better. This image is an example of this concept being put to use.
I was photographing a great sunset one evening while out shooting for my series on Lake Lowell. I was completely focused on what I was doing. This was to be one of the best images in the series. Then I heard a voice within myself say, “turn around, turn around.” I looked up for a second, turned my head and saw this. Beautiful pastel colors in the sky and reflecting across the lake behind me. I had never seen these colors on the lake. It seemed as though the image was handed to me on a silver platter and I nearly refused to take it, not because I didn’t like it, but because I didn’t see it!
A great photographer will always be aware of his/her surroundings. He will look at all angles and directions in order to capture the best possible image. He will be aware of the light and learn to see the subtleties in its quality. He will become one with the environment.
by tmoffett | Jun 26, 2010 | Color, Landscape, Photo tips
In Flight
Ever feel like you’re going in circles and never going to get ahead? I know I have, many times! Moving from one problem to the next without any forward movement at all. That’s what I thought of when I woke up one morning while camping at Stanley Lake in the Sawtooth Mountains here in Idaho. These birds were circling the lake, round and round for no apparent reason. I guess they were working out, kind of like running laps around a track, or else protesting NASCAR because they were turning right instead of left! It was an interesting sight, none the less. I thought there was no way I would have time to get my camera and document the event, but they kept on racing for quite some time. I broke out the camera and was able to get off a number of shots as they circled the lake. In this shot, it is quite amazing how the wings of the birds seem to be synchronized. They flow from front to back in a fluid motion. It was perfect. The trees, slightly out of focus help the birds stand out and become the focal point of the image. This is done by selecting a wide aperture, in this case f2.8. This creates shallow depth of field, allowing only the line of birds to be in crisp focus. I was lucky, as well to have a nice mist rising off the water. It seemed that everything was in my favor that morning. I wish it always happened that way!
by tmoffett | Jun 25, 2010 | Color, Composition, Landscape, Photographic Philosophy
Into the Unknown
Wednesday evening about an hour before sunset I went out to the lake. I am working on a personal project where I am documenting, fine art fashion, Lake Lowell. I am a big believer in photographing your local area. Don’t get me wrong, I love to travel and photograph other locations as well, however I feel that we can create more intimate and meaningful images of areas that we frequent often. Lake Lowell has become my personal, local photographic project.
When I first started this project, it was a challenge. Many of the local don’t regard Lake Lowell as a very attractive place, so I needed to get beyond that and show my vision of what we have in our own backyard. I now get very different reactions when the locals view these images. In fact, just last night, my son looked at an image that I shot Wednesday and asked, “Is that in Oregon?” He was surprised when I told him I had just shot the image out at the lake the night before.
This image, “Into the Unknown,” is an image just created the other night while out at the lake. I had shot this staircase before, but was not happy with what I had done. An advantage to being local is that I can go back until I get what I want. The light was much better this time and the brush was also better. Just enough green in the midst of the drying weeds to create interest. Offsetting the stairs a bit helped as well. Good use of the rule of thirds. Last time I shot it symmetrically, and I didn’t like it at all. It was too predictable and boring. This is much more interesting.
by tmoffett | Jun 24, 2010 | Color, Composition, Landscape, Photographic Philosophy
Payette Lake
Simplicity. It is what I strive for in my photographs. It is how I see. It is also a concept that is very hard to teach young photographers. This is possibly due to the fact that the world today is very complex. We are surrounded by busyness. If we get caught up in it all we don’t take time to slow down and really think, meditate, smell the roses if you will. The internet has bred a generation of shallow thinkers. Those who know much about so very little, and it affects our way of thinking, which in turn affects our vision.
I like to find the simple things in the world. It helps me relax. It heals my soul.
We are surrounded by simple things, we just need to look for them through the complexities of our everyday life. This image of Payette Lake is one such example. I was with my son at his 5th grade campout. We were on the dock with about 20 11 year old kids. there were, just off the dock, 5 canoes filled with more kids, trying to figure out how to maneuver them without hitting another boat. It was chaos. However, as I looked to the south, there was this view. The lake receding and blending into the tree-lined shore, and the trees into the deep blue sky. Soft wispy clouds floated by. I blocked the sounds of chaos from my inner ears and focused on the scene that was unfolding in the viewfinder of my camera. For a moment I was in a world of my own, and now, whenever I view this photograph, I am taken back to that world.
Simplicity in imagery is powerful.
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