The Chapel of the Transfiguration

The Chapel of the Transfiguration.

 

St. John’s Episcopal Church, also known as the Chapel of the Transfiguration was built in 1925. It still holds services to this day. It is absolutely an incredible place to sit and reflect. I don’t understand how anyone can sit in the chapel, look at the window, and not believe.

 

Tamron 18-400mm Di-II VC HLD lens on a Canon M6 via an adapter, Manual Exposure mode, f13, ISO 200, 1/160th of a second, Sirui N1204X tripod and K10X ballhead, processed in Lightroom Classic CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Sirui, #SiruiUSA, #SiruiProfessional, #NatureInFocusPhotographyWorkshops

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Bull Moose

Bull Moose.

 

With little snow in the valley around the Tetons, the moose are taking advantage of the conditions and eating the grasses that would normally be under a few feet of snow. This time of year they would normally be eating twigs and small branches along the river. We saw several large groups of bulls, this day we saw one with 13 gathered together in the open. This probably helps to keep them safe from predators as well. They are such large animals, and their size alone dictates you should stay at least the minimum 25 yard distance required by the Parks.

 

Tamron SP 150-600mm Di VC USD G2 lens on a Nikon D-500, Manual Exposure mode, f8, ISO 500, shutter speed of 1/500th of a second, handheld utilizing the Vibration Compensation feature of the lens, processed in Lightroom Classic CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #NatureInFocusPhotographyWorkshops

Reserved

Reserved.

 

One of the most beautiful horses I saw at the Triangle X Ranch was a white/grey/black horse. I am not a horse expert by any means so I don’t know what kind of horse it is, but it was beautiful. It was very reserved and shy around the group and wanted to just stand at a distance and observe. It was very content to just watch, never tucked back its ears, just wanted to enjoy a peaceful evening. I tried different attempts at images and one of my favorites was looking over the back of another horse. I thought it reflected how the one horse was most comfortable just observing. It did get curious a few times and approached me but you could sense the reservation every time the camera made the shutter noises. I look forward to visiting out to the Ranch again soon. Hopefully in May when I am out in Jackson again, I can go by and visit. Those folks become family, and they treat you like family. You have to visit the Ranch!

 

Tamron SP 24-70mm f2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens on a Nikon D-850, Manual Exposure mode, f2.8, ISO 200, shutter speed of 1/250th of a second, handheld utilizing the Vibration Compensation feature of the lens, processed in Lightroom Classic CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #TriangleXRanch, #NatureInFocusPhotographyWorkshops

Triangle X Horses

Triangle X Horses.

 

When we decided to do our Winter Workshops in the Tetons, we knew there would be only one choice for our home base, the Triangle X Ranch. Nothing says Tetons and Wyoming to us more than this great location. We wanted our folks to wake up each morning with a great view of the mountains, enjoy nice cozy cabins, and to be able to walk a short distance and photograph some beautiful horses. We have become good friends with the folks that are at the Ranch and it is almost like visiting family each time we go there. Our participants feel the same way when they leave usually. We look forward to doing this workshop again next January and to see our “family” at the Ranch as well.

 

When I was walking through the horses I noticed this one white and grey horse between the two black horses. When the black horses both turned their heads to my left, it set the perfect composition for me. The snow made it even better, and I knew when I shot the image, black and white would be the way to process it.

 

Tamron SP 24-70mm f2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens on a Nikon D-850, Manual Exposure mode, f2.8, ISO 400, shutter speed of 1/100th of a second, handheld utilizing the Vibration Compensation feature of the lens, processed and converted to BW using Lightroom Classic CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #TriangleXRanch

Just a month away

Just a month away.

 

In just a month from now, we head to Wyoming for our annual Winter in the Tetons Workshop. So far this winter the snow has been sparse in the valley, but that is supposed to change overnight. We want some snow out there. It has become one of, if not my favorite workshop Cecil and I do. The conditions can be tough, but very rewarding. I teach all the time that the best compositions in nature are those with simplicity as a theme. Simply using the blank canvas of snow to isolate a bare tree is, to me, a very pleasing visual composition. The negative space of the snow leads you to the tree and no where else. Simplicity.

 

Tamron SP 150-600mm Di VC USD G2 lens on a Nikon D-500, Manual Exposure mode, f8, ISO 800, shutter speed of 1/800th of a second, Sirui N3204X tripod and K30X ballhead, MindShift Gear FirstLight 30L backpack, processed in Lightroom CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronUSA, #TamronLensesUSA, #TamronImageMaster, #Sirui, #SiruiUSA, #SiruiProfessional, #MindShiftGear

“Lefty”

“Lefty”

 

One question I hear often when photographing moose, deer and elk is regarding their antlers. “How come we never see males in the winter or spring?” Well you do, but it isn’t simple to identify them unless you know that males lose their antlers each winter and grow new ones each year. The difference between moose, deer and elk vs. Pronghorn Antelope and Bighorn Sheep is they have horns, like cows. Each year the horn continues to grow and don’t fall off. Each year antler will grow while covered in “velvet” then near the beginning of the mating season or “rut”, the velvet drops off revealing beautiful antlers. Males battle rivals to earn the title of dominant bull and mate with the females in the area, or with elk, the harem. Antlers can grow at almost an inch each day with large bull elk.

 

This young bull has lost one of his antlers and the other isn’t too far off from falling off as well. When the antler drops, it is rich in calcium and will provide nourishment for carnivores and rodents. The size of the antlers are determined by age, genetics and the amount of proper nourishment the male gets as they grow.

 

Tamron SP 150-600mm Di VC USD lens on a Nikon D-500, Manual Exposure mode, f8, ISO 1600, shutter speed 1/500th of a second, handheld utilizing the Vibration Compensation, VC, feature of the lens in Mode 1, processed in Lightroom CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronImageMasters, #SiruiPro

Working with Challenging Exposures

Working with Challenging Exposures.

 

If you were faced with this exposure, a black horse in snow, could you get the exposure right in one shot? I tell my students to concentrate on composition but understand your camera. In a situation like this, shooting in a matrix or multi-segment metering will give you fits. Back in my early days I was lucky enough to have learned the technical side of photography from John Shaw. There are none better at understanding exposure for nature images than John. We used to do exercises in the field where he would constantly ask me as he pointed at an object, “what’s the exposure?” At times it would be frustrating but it taught me how to properly calculate exposure. Today in digital, we aren’t often faced with a situation where we have to flip over to spot metering and manual exposure. I’m not saying it isn’t right to always shoot in manual mode and spot metering, just that it isn’t always necessary. The exposure latitude of film vs. digital was very limited and post processing allows you to make up for the difference often. If you can get it right out of camera, even better.

 

So, knowing the horse was black and the snow was white, I spot metered the horse and adjusted the meter to be 1 stop below zero. This means, since the camera always wants to zero things out, make everything a medium tone, I wanted it to be darker, so I made my shutter speed faster to allow less light to strike the sensor, thus making it darker than zero or medium (for those old film guys…18% gray). I purposely made it a little lighter than it should be in reality because I wanted to capture the detail in the horse. This is the very short version of how to do exposure, if you want a longer one, please visit my website BearWoodsPhotography.com and check out the workshops…we would love to have you join us.

 

Tamron 16-300mm Di-II VC PZD lens on a Nikon D-500, Manual Exposure mode, f8, ISO 400, shutter speed 1/80th of a second, spot metering, VC active, processed in Lightroom CC. #WithMyTamron, #TamronImageMasters, #SiruiUSA, #SiruiPro