![]() Small sizes collapse down to round disks about a foot in diameter, yet expand big enough to reflect light for portraits. Collapsible reflectors work great for adventure sports photography. Reflectors come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. The person holding the silver reflector can be outside the field of view and still reflect light onto the subject. This works great when you are photographing a large scene and want to add some reflected light into the scene. Silver reflects light the most efficiently, and can reflect light into a scene from a long way away. One important characteristic of a reflector is its throw, or the distance it can reflect light back into a scene. If the reflector is gold, then the light will have an orange color. If you use a white reflector, it will reflect white light on the subject. Reflected light also reflects color onto your subject. Light reflected back on your subject will fill in shadows and reduce contrast. Luck is certainly a part of the equation, but you have to be out shooting in the field to be lucky. Sometimes, a viewer will tell me how lucky I was to get a shot. The more you shoot, the better your chances of creating a good image and improving your technique. Images aren’t made sipping coffee on a rainy day at the café they’re made out in the rain. If you want to take good photographs, you have to get out and shoot. Invariably I reply, “The pro photographer takes more pictures.” Of course, this isn’t the whole story-most pros have advanced technique and a strong style. Sometimes during photo workshops, a participant asks me what separates the pro photographer from the amateur. And I have another option with natural light: I can alter the direction and quality of available light using light modifiers. If it’s overcast with pasty-white skies, I’ll focus on smaller scenes or shoot in the forest. If it’s sunny, figures in a landscape with lots of blue sky will work great. What I see determines how I will proceed on a shoot. On overcast days use a slower shutter speed (since there is less light) to create pan-and-blur images (Chapter 6, “Photographing Water Sports”).Įvery time I head out the door on a photo shoot, the first thing I do is evaluate the light ( Figure 4.2). Put your model in the sun with a dark-shadowed background and you should have a dramatic image. Seek out warm light for pleasing landscapes. If you use the lighting and design principles outlined in Chapter 3, “Creative Composition,” your images should look good. And the good news is, natural light creates stunning images. Adventure sports take place outdoors, so the easiest and most logical source to use is available light. Natural light has been the mainstay of adventure sports photography for years. But I had my shot ( Figure 4.1).Ĥ.1 Climbers roping up on a ridge on the Matanuska Glacier, Alaska. I squeezed off a few shots, and then the clouds pinched the sun out. But then the sun broke through a hole in the clouds and perfectly illuminated the climbers. I was sweating bullets since the shoot depended on good light. There was no scene only dull shapes on featureless white. The climbers had climbed up a ridge for a shot, and I had set up a quarter-mile away with a telephoto lens to compress the scene. I had hired climbers to be the models since they would actually be climbing in serious situations. We had decided mountaineering would be a great way to illustrate what the new clothes could do. Once I shot a new clothing line for Columbia Sportswear in Alaska. The climber’s Gortex jacket brightens, and his skin tones rosy up. Detail emerges in the snow, and steep ridges and deep crevasses are revealed. Not good.īut then the sun comes out, and this mountaineering scene is transformed. If the climbers are wearing drab clothes, they look like brown boulders in a snowfield. The viewer can’t see any detail in the snow it’s a featureless, foggy mess. ![]() Everything is flat and murky with no contrast. Photographing mountaineers on a glacier on an overcast day is like shooting flies in pea soup. ![]() Photographers are joined at the hip with light.Īdventure sports photography relies on good light to make compelling images. Without light, there would be no photographs. Lighting is key to the success of any image. Using flash on this wake surfer adds drama and tension to the image. ![]()
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