If you want a masterpiece, copy the masterpiece. Well, not exactly. Today on internet you can find anything. There are a lot of famous photographs that you can mimic. For example, Ansel Adams' "Snake River". This is the same angle Ansel Adams discovered many years ago. You can find information on the internet where a picture was taken many times. Now, all you have to do is to buy a plane ticket, go there and take the same shot. With today's technology, you can mimic the masterpiece without too much effort. Of course, it won't be original. But, it would look good in your living room and can impress your friends who don't know many famous photos. (Nikon D800E, Nikkor 16-35mm F4 at 26mm, 1 sec, f/9 with tripod, ISO=200, Graduated filter to darken the sky)
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Wide angle lenses are fun. This was taken with my 16-35 mm Nikkor lens at 16 mm. A wide angle make the picture being sucked in the middle. If you have a great cloud scape, it makes it dramatic. It keeps your eyes in the middle of the picture and that's what you want. Longer you can make people look at your picture, better the composition.
Anyone can take this pic. This was taken at the Great Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone NP. It is accessible by a car. No hiking required. It's very close to the infamous Old Faithful Geyser on the west side of the park. (Nikon D800E, Nikkor 16-35 mm at 16 mm, f/11, 1/500 sec, ISO = 200, handheld) Every picture you see in the internet on Mormon Row in Grand Teton National Park is from the left side so that the old cabin lines up with the Grand Teton (the tallest of the Tetons). Just to make it little different from all the other pictures, I took this shot from the right side. Off course, I lose most of the Tetons but there was a nice cloud scape to fill the left upper corner of the picture. The Tetons are on the west side of the park so that all the good lighting is in the morning. This one however was taken during the sunset with a graduated filter. Because I was facing more south (taking the pic from the right side), I was not directly facing the sun. (Nikon D800E, Nikkor 16-35mm at 17 mm, f/11, 1/50, ISO = 200, WB = auto, Taken JPEG, handheld with graduated filter)
It's so easy to get a good shot nowadays. Your camera does a lot of things for you. All you have to do is to bring the camera to the right place and get a decent composition (with high MPs, you can even crop them later). I took this shot with the in-camera HDR function, handheld. No graduation filter or post processing. No tripod for bracketing for HDR. It kind of takes fun out of it but saves a lot of time. Not a master piece but decent. (Sony A7, Zeiss 24-70mm FE at 24 mm. f/13, 1/60, ISO 640, not sure how shutter speed and ISO listed if multiple exposures are taken for in-camera HDR)
Good shots can be hard-to-get shots. Only those who worked for it deserve the shot. So many things other than right equipment and technique are needed to get this one shot. Here are some things that are needed to get this panoramic shot:
1) Plane ticket, rental car, lift ticket: Why some photographs are so expensive? Well, a lot of times there are a lot of money spent by a photographer to get to the place. Some photographers camp out for days to get that one awesome shot. You can have the best camera and lens, but you have to get there to take the great shot. 2) You just have to get there: I took this shot at the highest peak of the Canyons in Park City. There is multiple transfers of the ski lifts to get there. This particular lift takes you to the peak of the mountain where only expert skiers are allowed to go. The only way down is "black diamond" (expert) slopes. Not only you need good skills for photography, but you also need to be an expert in skiing to get this shot. 3) Sacrificing safety: I don't recommend this, but some good views come with risks. Sometimes safety has to be sacrificed to get that great view. Here, I'm on a steep slope on the edge of a cliff. One wrong step....I done. Warning: when you look into the viewfinder, you lose your balance sense. Make sure that you have a safe stance before you look into the viewfinder. 4) Weather sealed equipment: Some equipments are not weather sealed. You need a weather sealed equipment in harsh environment. Extreme high/low temperature, rain, mist, dust are things that can ruin your camera/lens. Make sure to have weather sealed stuff in these situations. 5) Luck: Especially when you try to take a shot at hard-to-reach places, you don't get to be there too often or too long. A lot of professional photographers camp at places for a long time so that they can be there at a right moment, but for us, we have to rely on luck to have good weather and lighting. Some things can be controlled but some things can't be controlled. Do your homework, pick the best time to visit the "hard-to-get" places. (Sony A7, Zeiss Sonnar FE 1,8/55 ZA, ISO = 100, 1/500, f/9) I took this pic in Galveston, Tx. It really doesn't have to be in Galveston, in fact. All you need is a nice sunset and few palm trees. Nice sunset comes from good timing and little bit of clouds. You can play with the white balance or post-processing to increase the warmth. Some camera even comes with a sunset setting.
The trees are silhouetted because the camera is adjusting the exposure to the bright sky. Sometimes you have to adjust the exposure manually to darken the picture to blacken the silhouette. I cropped out the top third to cutout the sky with not much action so that the picture looks more balanced. (Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 at 62mm f/4.8, 1/160, handheld, ISO = 800) When you are in L.A., take a free trip to Griffith observatory. The view is stunning. Bring your tripod and be ready to take a shot with long exposure. Here I set the ISO really low to minimize noise so the exposure was super long. That made those people waiting for the telescope show some motion. I did not forget to capture the city nightscape on the background. (Nikon D800E, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 at 24mm. f/8 for 25 sec. ISO = 200 with tripod)
Bear Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park. I took this pic in early Nov. I was in Denver for my work and decided to take a short trip to this lake. It took me about 3 hours from south Denver without traffic. I miscalculated and got there after the sun set. I barely made for some day light. Because it was getting dark already, I had no color. That's why I converted this to B&W. I heard this lake is beautiful during Sept to Oct time with all the Aspen trees changing color. I took this with very long exposure. I wanted to keep the noise down in the dark and make the lake look nice and smooth while keeping the depth of field large with very small f stop. (Nikon D800E, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 at 24mm. 8 sec and f/11. ISO = 200. With Tripod. No filter.)
Skagway is fun. You can take a heli ride to top of a glacier, train ride to Yukon and you can enjoy good seafood. This was taken just few minutes from the cruise ship. If you go north (the only way you can go) from the ship toward the town, there is a spot where you can capture all of these boats, water reflection and glacier curved mountains in the background. You can get better reflection in the morning when wind is calm. (Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-200DX at 20mm, 1/100, f/11, ISO 125)
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