First Snow of the Year – Grand Teton National Park
Canon 5DMKIII, 24-70mmL II @ f/20, 2 second timed-exposure, ISO 200, Singh-Ray LB Polarizer

NOTE: Utah has taken control of their (9) National Parks and will fund them while Washington tries to figure things out. I’m off to Moab today for my Arches/Canyonlands Workshop!

When one lives in “sunny” California as I do, it’s easy to get excited about fresh snow! On my recently completed Fall in Grand Teton Workshop(s), we had multiple mornings of fresh snow for our groups to photograph.

While I taught during the day, my two assistant instructors, Scott Schilling and Pierre Steenberg, drove endless miles searching for shooting locations. They found this idyllic scene near the Jackson Hole Ski Resort and when we awoke to fresh snow and a clearing storm, we loaded up the group and made a beeline for this location.

Upon arrival, my first thought was, where are all the other workshop groups and local photographers? Another group did arrive about 45 minutes later but for some strange reason, decided to shoot towards the east and away from the beautiful snow-covered Teton Range.

Scott and Pierre had found this intriguing fence (always thinking foreground objects) to help add a layer of depth to the scene. Similar to a well-composed song, compositions (both musical and visual) build on depth.

I was in the gym the other day and the song, Viva La Vida, by Coldplay, came on my iPhone. I really like this song and noticed how each verse musically built (or layered) on top of the previous. Finally, by the time the chorus came around, all the instruments were fully engaged.

Depth in a visual medium like photography is also important to creating successful images. Photography is a two-dimensional medium but there are ways to add the “illusion” of depth. Let’s take a look at some techniques I teach and use in my own photography.

Highlight / Shadow (Japanese artists call this Notan)

Leading Lines

Perspective Control

In-Focus vs Out-Of-Focus

Stopping Eye Leaks

In the book, Understanding Composition :: Understanding Line, Notan and Color, author Arthur Wesley Dow explores the movement of the viewer’s eye via line, color, and oscillating black-and-white tones (Notan). The use of dark vs. light tones is one of the ways to move the eye and build depth in your image. In the image above, we start with a light layer (foreground snow), then add a dark layer with the fence, which in turn moves the eye to the meadow (light), then back to dark with the line of cottonwoods and evergreens, then back to light (Teton Range), and finally dark again (storm clouds in sky). Remember, light tones move towards the viewer while dark tones recede.

Line movement is also a way to help move and guide your viewer’s eye. There are Real lines (such as this fence and the horizontal created by the trees, and Implied lines (think about a row of rocks in a stream for example). Studies have shown that the brain will fill in the missing information and complete the line. I’m always on the lookout for similar objects in nature that can create an implied line if real lines are not present.

The next example is perspective control. Most of us (myself included) make the mistake of setting the tripod to our eye-line (I’m 6’2″). What this did for the image above was placed a lot of the meadow (which wasn’t that interesting) in the frame. By lowering the tripod and camera, I could control how-much or how-little of the meadow appeared in my composition. I felt this perspective (the camera was about waist high) was just right (it was a feeling and not a mathematical formula – trust your feelings). By lowering my position to the fence line, I in-turn pushed the fence line higher in my composition. In my first try (at 6’2″) the line was too low allowing for too much of the meadow to occupy my frame. I tell my students to be aware of how much “real estate” each element in your frame occupies. There has to be a good reason for allocating space to every element. Sometimes it just “feels right,” but at least think it through and question yourself as to why?

Another way of directing the eye and producing depth is through the creative use of what is in-focus as opposed to what is out-of-focus. We can do this through either using a larger (or smaller) aperture, and/or using a telephoto lens. After I set my ISO and my composition, my first question is always, “what aperture should I use.” For this scene, I needed sharpness from foreground to infinity; thus, I used a wide-angle less and a very small aperture of f/20 (f/16 was not quite enough). This allowed my hyperfocal point to be 30 feet from the camera (there are many smart phone apps that allow you to calculate this), and my image was razor sharp!

My last thought, after I have set my shutter speed (thankfully there was no wind on this particular morning), is to allow my eye to drift around the perimeter of the frame and check for either distractions, or what I like to call, “eye leaks.” These are areas around the edges of the frame where generally a line or a hot (overexposed) part of the image will draw or lead the eye out of the scene. It can happen in any layer of your image, so pay careful attention. Eye leaks are a way to ruin image depth because they allow the eye to escape the frame.

When it all comes together, it’s like the chorus of a great song, I trip the shutter and my image is full of depth and contains my viewer’s visual interest!

2013 Photo Workshops

5th Annual Arches/Canyonlands National Parks – Full Moon Over Red Rock, Arches and Canyons – October 15-19, 2013 (WORKSHOP SOLD OUT :: WAITING LIST ONLY)

3rd Annual Bryce/Zion National Parks – Hoodoos and Fall Color – November 4-8, 2013 (WORKSHOP SOLD OUT :: WAITING LIST ONLY)

2014 Photo Workshops

5th Annual Magic Light, Moonlight, and Pfeiffer Arch Workshop – Winter in Big Sur and the Monterey Peninsula – January 15-18, 2014 (Only 6 spots remaining)

6th Annual Northern Arizona Workshop – Grand Canyon (full moon), Page (Horseshoe Bend and Upper Antelope Canyon) and Sedona – March 14-18, 2014 (Hurry – Only 1 Spot Left)

7th Annual Springtime in Big Sur and the Monterey Peninsula – Wildflowers, Misty Fog and Headland Color – April 14-17, 2014 (5 spots remaining)

5th Annual Kauai Workshop – Garden Isle and Tropical Paradise – June 20-24, 2014 (early-bird signup discount – contact me for details!) (6 spots remaining)

2nd Annual Monsoon Photo Workshop – Grand Canyon National Park – August 9-13, 2014 (co-taught by Don Smith and Gary Hart – filling fast)

3rd Annual Fall Color in Grand Teton National Park – September 23 – 27, 2014 (5 spots remaining)

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