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Home > TME Community > Features > Light Diary > River Songs - December 4, 2008
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River Songs - December 4, 2008
Started December 5, 2008 @ 12:15am by Kel
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Kel
Administrator
Posts: 246 |
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| River Songs - December 4, 2008 | December 5, 2008 @ 12:15am | In this Light Diary episode, Craig discusses the thought process that led to the creation of a series of vertical river scenics of the Virgin River in Zion National Park. Craig talks about the endless qualities of reflected light that make Zion such an amazing place to shoot. Craig discusses the idea of previsualization, both in the context of movement in the water and in the context of finding foregrounds for the super wide angle lens and how those previsualizations figure into his river scenic landscapes. Craig discusses the creative use of shutter speed and implied motion for river scenics. Craig also discusses the technique of handheld digital sketching to feel his way to potential shots. Craig talks about the visual design motifs of dynamic balance and rhythm. Finally, Craig shows the digital recorder he used to record the 30 second sound clips of the river soundscapes that accompanied these shots as they were posted to Light Diary.
"There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer." ~Ansel Adams | My Blog |
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Last Edit: December 7, 2008 @ 10:52pm by Guest | |
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Wes
Posts: 8,139 |
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| December 5, 2008 @ 8:42am | Otter, I receive this error message when I click on the Light Diary episode link:
"You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'limit 1' at line 1"
Is that at my end? Thanks |
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Last Edit: December 5, 2008 @ 8:43am by Guest | |
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Flo
Posts: 15,844 |
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JPetty
Posts: 1,253 |
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| December 5, 2008 @ 10:20am | This light diary was one of the best IMHO as to workflow that I might use in similar circumstances. The explanations were clear, concise, and thought provoking.
I was born and raised near Zion, and indeed used to work for the parks in my youth. Your pictures are outstanding and really take me back home again.
Thank you for sharing your expertise and passion of photography with us.
Janet
Go ahead and play with the images. I would ask that when you post them on other sites (such as Flikr, Photobucket, etc.) that you credit my photography. I would do the same for you! Other than that, I'm E Z T D B W. |
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| Terrific Vidcast Craig! | December 5, 2008 @ 11:21am | I really enjoyed my time with you this morning Craig. My big take away is SLOW DOWN when shooting!! I always work fast and try to shoot to many things in the time I alot for photography instead of shooting a few things very well. I dought that I will every do all the things that you do but I really need to slow down my process. Thanks for sharing your work habits.
Murry |
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Larry Dickerson
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| Very Helpful | December 5, 2008 @ 11:30am | | I found this episode of Light Diary extremely valuable, Craig. Thanks so much for showing all of the variations that you shot (including your "sketch" shots) and the pieces that you incorporated into your final images. This really gave me a 'whack up the side of the head' and I'm sure will have an impact on the way I work potential shots in the future. Great stuff! - Larry |
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Al Hannigan
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| December 5, 2008 @ 11:34am | A truly excellent and inspiring episode, Craig. I am so glad that you embrace the role of illustrator in your photography.
While I can appreciate "straight" photography, I have always felt that for me it would be a major restriction to whatever creative potential I might possess.
Showing the literal scenes was a wonderful addition as it demonstrates just how easy it is to pass by potentially great photo ops.
The sketches and variations that led to the final shots gave such added impact to appreciating the final images as well.
This LD episode shows that truly great photography comes from the creative vision of the photographer and, with rare exceptions, has little to do with luck.
There are great photographers and great teachers ... and a few like yourself that are both.
Thank you for so freely sharing your knowledge with us.
Al |
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PeterTucker
Posts: 126 |
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| Light Diary Video Comments | December 5, 2008 @ 12:29pm | Two things I learned after listening to the video today:
1) How many potentially great shots I have walked by or driven by because I didn't get down there close enough for the foreground. I liked the description of how to use the hand-held shots to help pre-visualize the final tripod shots.
2) I'm used to combining shots for the differences in dynamic range, but I LOVED the explanation of combining shots to get better texture in the water! That gave me some ideas for a couple shots that have not worked for me in the past, and may now work really well in a re-shoot.
Thanks, Craig.
When you come to a fork in the road, take it. - Yogi Berra
http://www.tucreations.com
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John DeMott
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| A mundane question | December 5, 2008 @ 1:37pm | Great episode, Craig. Beautiful photos from a wonderful location. The description of how you worked the location was very inspirational with lots of ideas that can be applied in many situations. Thank you so much.
Here is a very mundane question--what do you wear on your feet when wading in the river? I have GoreTex lined hiking boots that are fine up to ankle depth but then the choice is either bare feet (cold!!!) or wet boots for the rest of the hike (blisters). |
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Wes
Posts: 8,139 |
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| December 5, 2008 @ 2:28pm |
Thanks, Flo. I just waited and tried again later and it seemed to work OK.
Wes |
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Gary
Posts: 39 |
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| Questions - mundane and otherwise | December 5, 2008 @ 2:45pm | Craig, I am glad John asked his question about boots because i was thinking about the length of time you spent in the water to get the many variations you shot in each position.
I guess I am a little sensitive these days to falls on rocks and in water having recently done a nose plant from a boulder on a rock platform to write off a tripod and 18-200 VR lens - not to mention take a lot of bark off myself! The thought of all that randomly fast moving water so close to your gear - have you ever lost any in action?
Second question relates to your comment about the many potentially usable images that you have not worked up. How long in post would each one of the four images that you posted have taken you to produce? I am surely aware that with practice on Photoshop you get faster but the experimentation with multiple layers blending modes and masking must take a lot of time!
Gary
Gary
"You can't get to wonderful without passing through alright." - Bill Withers |
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Last Edit: December 5, 2008 @ 2:46pm by Gary | |
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| Two Comments | December 5, 2008 @ 4:40pm | Craig -
First, thanks for your discussion of "sketching" before taking the final shot(s). I find myself doing that when I've worked on flowing water, but nearly not often enough. Time to get out and practice sketching more! 
Second, I see no need for you to feel apologetic for creating composite images. There's hardly an image out there that hasn't had some sort of manipulation. As far as I'm concerned, the final result justifies the methods
Great work!
Dave
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Flo
Posts: 15,844 |
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| December 6, 2008 @ 8:31am | Craig, another terrific DC. The one thing that stands out in my mind, tho, is the fact that you take sketch-shots first, before deciding how to set up to make the images you really want.
Lots of times, tho, I don't have this luxury of extra time. So if you have ever been in this situation, how do you work, then?
Flo
Flo - PPY
"May we live in peace without weeping. May our joy outline the lives we touch without ceasing. And may our love fill the world, angel wings beating." aziza
http://photos.tonebytone.com |
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Craig
Administrator
Posts: 697 |
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| Thank you | December 6, 2008 @ 8:53am |
Hi Everybody,
I had a travel day yesterday so I am just getting back to TME to respond to this thread.
First, thank you so much for so many very, very supportive comments.
To answer the questions
John - The water in the river was just warm enough to let me get away with wearing water sandals and shorts. I always wear socks with my sandals to keep the rocks out of my sandals and I always carry multiple pairs of socks so that I can switch out to dry socks when I get back to the car to help my feet warm up faster. That being said it did get extremely cold because of how much time I spent in the water. Waders would make more sense for most people... and so many people hike in the river at Zion that multiple outfitters rent a variety of wader / wet suit solutions.
Gary - sorry to hear about the fall. I have taken my fair share of those wading around in rivers. Most of the gear I have lost over the years has been from falling while hiking in water. So here are a few practical tips.... sorry if these are master of the obvious.
I almost always first walk out to the location in the river where I think I may want to shoot without the camera (or any of my gear) . That way if there are any tricky underwater hazards and I fall I am the only thing that gets wet. It also lets me get a good feel for the best way to navigate the water to get my self into position for the shot. If I see something I like then I go back out with my tripod and get it set first and then return with my camera and one lens. I put the camera and lens in my fanny pack and wear the fanny pack around my neck. That way if I fall the gear has further to go to hit the water (you can also use a wet bag or put the camera in a big zip lock bag for an extra layer of protection) and both of my hands are free to help me quickly right myself if I should fall. I never, ever walk into moving water with a pack full of photo gear. I learned this the hard way.
Once I start shooting my camera strap stays around my neck all of the time including / especially!!! when the camera is on the tripod.
All of that being said and with all of those precautions I still took a dip with my camera body and the 16 - 35 both of which went, very briefly all the way under. Both pieces of equipment are weather sealed and survived but I did have to go back to the hotel and use a hairdryer and the heater in the room to dry everything out real good.
Now to be fair to myself and to chance I did spend the better part of two days in the water and the odds catch up with you no matter how many precautions you take. I think the way to look at this shooting in the water scenario is what strategies can you use to minimize falls and what strategies can you use to minimze loss in the case that you do fall because if you spend enough time in the water.....
And about the Photoshop question... I spend an average of about one hour on any image that I decide to finish in the darkroom.
Thank you again everybody for all of the great questions and thank you so much for your generous support..... Craig
“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” -Soren Kierkegaard
“The secret of life…is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” - Paulo Coelho, from The Alchemist
PPY
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Last Edit: December 6, 2008 @ 8:54am by Craig | |
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| River Song | December 6, 2008 @ 6:08pm | Craig,
Great Vidcast, informative and instructive. The barely hidden
statement, however, is that you are a man of many interests
and responsibilities. And as you also indicate this is both a
good and a bad thing! Good because all the interests and
responsibilities keep you intellectually satisfied—bad because
they don’t allow you to delve into any one thing deeply.
Your background as a commercial artist keeps you grounded
in the REAL world. And that is a very good thing!!!
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| I Can't Get Thi | December 6, 2008 @ 7:42pm | | The screen never changes. Ihear Craig talk, but now video. |
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Craig
Administrator
Posts: 697 |
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| Thank you! | December 7, 2008 @ 12:37pm |
Hi Focus and Paris.
Thank you for being here.
Focus you make a good point. I am trying to simplify..... commercial work is going away and I am making an attempt to narrow the focus but a very wise person told me one time to keep moving and never let myself get bored and I think she was onto something. I have delved pretty deeply into teaching. It might surprise a lot of people to know that thing I would most like to loose myself in is writing and playing music.....
Paris.... please try another browser or reload the site and clear you cache and try it again... unfortunately that is my best technical tip for help simply because no one else that we know of is having an issue playing this video. Please let us know if you are still having an issue. Send us an email letting us know your machine type, browser type, and browser version.... Craig
“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” -Soren Kierkegaard
“The secret of life…is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” - Paulo Coelho, from The Alchemist
PPY
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April
Posts: 2,225 |
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| December 7, 2008 @ 5:57pm | Ohhhh, this is what I imagine it might be like to be a photographer's assistant on a shoot! Learning first-hand from a behind-the-scenes look at visualization and capture; then viewing the finished results. What a tremendous vidcast.
April (PPY)
Photos on Flickr
Just the other day (a photoblog)
"Seeing something you never saw before, that was always there but you were blind to it."—AG |
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Stephen
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Tom C
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| Workshop Suggestion. | December 8, 2008 @ 8:40pm | Craig,
I really enjoyed this vidcast! It certainly brought together a lot of things and gave us excellent insight into your process. I think the concept of sketching will add a lot to my process. I am always in too much of a hurry to get the camera on the tripod!
I thought one of the most valuable parts of the Zion workshop was the scouting field trip. I think you could expand on that concept by having a session (could be in bad light) where the students leave their cameras behind and simply watch you going through your process. You could explain what you are doing and why. I know that would be very valuable for me.
I had not thought of it before seeing this vidcast, but maybe the gap between your composition lectures and your critique sessions is too big for me. I need some filler instruction to help me correct and refine my process.
Thank you again for your continual giving spirit. It makes us all better photographers and people.
Tom C |
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Mark Sisco
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| Thanks and Question | December 8, 2008 @ 11:39pm | Craig, this is without a doubt one of my favorite vidcasts. Thank you so much for sharing your visual process of finding your images and compositions. And thank you for being such an effective teacher. You often mention your love and passion for teaching. It shows, and you are one of the very best I've ever experienced, photographic or otherwise.
I would really be interested in knowing a little more about your technique for achieving/maximizing DOF in the images where you are only inches from the rocks. I recall your RV podcast on DOF and various practical techniques, but please share a little about these if you can.
Thanks as always for being such a giving person.
Mark |
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Dan
Posts: 76 |
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| Thanks | December 9, 2008 @ 10:13pm | Craig--
Like so many of the other comments,I really enjoyed this vidcast. I never thought of sketching with the camera and I think it's a great idea. I really liked all of the images and hearing about how you did them was just amazing. Thanks again for all you do.
--Dan
- Dan
"Life is more than just how many breaths you take--it's the moments that take your breath away."
djrphoto.zenfolio.com
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Craig
Administrator
Posts: 697 |
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| Thank you | December 10, 2008 @ 6:31am | Hi April, Steve, Tom, Mark and Dan,
Thank you for the very kind and generous words of support!!!
Mark.... my DOF in shots where I am shooting super wide and my camera is almost touching the foreground is managed by shooting two shots.... one focused at infinity and one focused at three feet (or closer depending on just how close my foreground is) and I blend those in Photoshop using layers and a layer mask to make everything sharp from near to far. The reason you didn't hear me talking about that part of my process in these shots is because all of the foregrounds were going to blurred anyway due to water movement. So I just focused to about four feet into the scene (hyperfocal focusing) and let the foregrounds go a little soft in the shots where the camera was right on the water..... Craig
“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” -Soren Kierkegaard
“The secret of life…is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” - Paulo Coelho, from The Alchemist
PPY
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Mark Sisco
Posts: 10 |
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| DOF | December 10, 2008 @ 7:11am | Hi Craig,
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my question! I remember this technique from the RV podcast you did on DOF, but was very curious whether you used it here or if you ignored it due to the soft/blurred water foreground as you mention.
Thank you so much, and best wishes this holiday season!
Mark
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Tim Clifton
Posts: 145 |
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| December 12, 2008 @ 11:23am | Craig,
I know I am late to view this episode, however I thrilled to see your sketches, and mulitple images to create the finished image.
Thank you so much for the information and being the teacher and giving your process and thoughts on creating this series. This is what many of uf what and need to be inspired to take that extra time to see the images and potential, and hopefully visualize what we want it to become.
All you vidcasts are a wealth of information as well as inspriation, and this one is basically over the top.
Thank you for a great vidcast and inspiration to take those extra steps, and to look closer.
Happy Holidays,
Tim |
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assignment
Community Assignment #53
Picture Window
Due Date: September 16, 2011 |
Have you heard about the Backyard Shots Photography Guide "Street Portraiture with CraigTanner"?
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