Graf Nature Photography | Notes from the woods

A few different sources (podcasts, articles, blogs) I have come across in the past year or so have talked about the the concept of a burden that weighs down on our creativity. That burden is typically developed by our past experiences by looking at other photographs, hearing or reading about what is defined as good or the way something should be done, or perhaps just by growing up with so many rules.

It is interesting to think about how many photographers likely draw upon their past experiences and what they have learned to develop their own sense of style, or simply in trying to make their images better. Does that inner judge, as Craig Tanner from the Radiant Vista puts it, prohibit us from pushing the limits, or going that next step? Is it possible that this experience and, for lack of better term, growth could actually become a noose to future creativity? You know the saying about old dogs and new tricks.  Or is it a matter of simply being more refined in knowing what you like and don’t like?

I threw some of my HDR experiments on the table in some past posts.  I think most people preferred the more ‘natural’ looking version in comparison.   That’s OK with me - I am willing to put an image out there and have a thousand people tell me “Gosh Mark - that sucks.”    Just don’t tell me they all do, or I may start taking it personally.  ;)  Sometimes feedback helps us collect our own thoughts about a new direction when we may be unsure about it.    HDR is one of those things where I think people are still testing the waters on how they feel and react to it - myself included.   The bluebird image I placed in the previous post, well, I think most people would think that is just plain weird.

It is a strange thing to think about - being more experienced leading to a burden to creativity? Can refinement happen to an extent where your work becomes stale?  Of course, I am asking a lot of rhetorical questions, but I find the possible answers an intriguing thing to think about.   The pursuit of answers to these types of questions is often more beneficial than actually answering them.

(A special thanks to Craig Tanner for pointing to a great article awhile back.  It is a great discussion of myths, mysteries, and maximizing creativity.  Print it out and refer to it often.)

Though I haven’t photographed many birds this summer, when I have had the opportunity, I have tried to create some different bird photographs than perhaps most are used to seeing.   Part of it is just experimentation to try to expand creative thinking about a frequently photographed subject.   When it comes to bird photography, it is hard to think up something that hasn’t been done before.

The first image here is an image overlay - done IN CAMERA!   This feature is unique to Nikon DSLRs (like multiple exposure capability) and can yield some very interesting results.   You basically select two images and an ‘overlay ratio’ between them.  Results are previewed right on the back of the camera.   I find it works best with a ‘normal’ exposure, and something like a motion blur (like used here) - or an out-of-focus image.   I have used it in abstracts and landscapes before, but rarely with wildlife.   So this was a bit of a test on my part.  A bit bizarre perhaps, but nonetheless unique!

I have written about my affinity towards monochromatic wildlife images, and this woodpecker seemed to fit right in with that type of processing.  Removing color always emphasizes other graphical elements of an image, and the feather patterns in this red-bellied woodpecker are no exception.   It also seemed to strengthen the graphical relationship between the bird and the nest cavity.

These different approaches are simply my own personal attempts to break my own preconceptions of what a wildlife image should represent.   Sometimes it takes freeing your mind and just learning how to play - no matter what the result.

It is a pretty rare situation when you can use a Lensbaby on wildlife.  However, such was the case today with these Sandhill cranes.  They are wild, yet completely comfortable around humans walking right by them.   Year after year they nest here, and the next generation seems to get bolder and more habituated.   When you have wildlife that is comfortable around humans, it can be worthwhile to try some tools you wouldn’t normally use to take advantage of the situation.

It was a family of three, preening not much more than 3-4 feet away as I sat on the ground.    I used this chance to get some face portraits where you can really see some up close details of these great birds.   It didn’t occur to me until later on when they were foraging that I should try to get some lensbaby shots of them.  The lensbaby can be hard enough to focus with, let alone following along on a snail mission with a bird.   Most were scrapped, but I liked this one.   It’s different for sure.

At one point I was sitting waiting for one of the birds to approach me - hoping to get somewhat of an ‘upward view’ with the lensbaby.   Well, the bird became a little too curious with the funny looking lens on the front of my camera and zeroed in on it.   I am not sure if she was upset I wasn’t doing my share in the snail hunt or that the little knobs protruding from the lensbaby looked a little bit too much like small snails.   I had to scold her with a “Back off snail breath”, letting her know it wouldn’t have tasted good anyway.   They eventually realized I was quite useless to them in finding something to eat and went on to other hunting grounds.

I have been going somewhat crazy trying all of the new applications available now for the iPhone.  Even though I still have the older, original iPhone - I still gained the benefit of the free 2.0 software upgrade that allows access to all of these new apps.

One in particular that just amazes me is called “Shazam.”   This app is a listening program that will “listen” through your phone to any song playing on the radio, or in a store, in a club, or wherever - and identify it for you - artist and album it is on.   Now, I realize there are music phones out there that already have this feature - so iPhone isn’t exactly first on the block to have this.  But it is new to me - and is just a very cool piece of technology.   It is also quite obvious that the iPhone has just started a completely new computing platform, opening up a world of software in the palm of your hand.   It can have an amazing number of photographic applications.

Take it another step beyond music, and apply it to nature - how about bird song ID - which I suck at.   Crickets or other songs of insects - how about frogs?  It would be quite cool to be able to use it in this way.  Will and Lang - are you listening?

It also got me thinking, especially regarding Google’s previously announced image recognition software they are working on.   It isn’t too much of a stretch to think that someday you may be able to apply this audio recognition to visual objects.  For a nature, landscape, or wildlife photographer - this could be like having a complete library of field guides in the palm of your hand.   You take a picture of a mountain peak with your phone - it sends the data to a central database (hmmm…. Google Earth perhaps?) - and reports back to you the name of the mountain.   Need a tree identified - take a picture of the leaf or bark and send it to the sky.

Next thing you know - it will judge your images for you…   amazing stuff.

You are probably wondering - what the heck is that thing?   This is the “maintenance tank” from my Epson 4800 which had to be changed recently.   As the printer goes through cleaning cycles, it dumps waste ink into this tank filled with cotton pads.   Unfortunately, it is also a very environmentally unfriendly aspect of Epson’s wide format printers.  This isn’t no ordinary waste bucket - it is a ’smart one.’  It has a chip in the side that prevents you from cleaning it out and putting it in again.  Epson implies that this tank should be thrown out, and you buy a replacement one from them for 40 bucks.     Making money on me from $1,375/gallon ink and cleaning clogs is one thing, but making money on me because of 2 lbs (yes, I weighed it) of landfill waste you caused by design is going too far.

Given Epson has a large environmental awareness section of their website, I decided to write to them to ask of their plans to address this anything-but-green feature of their professional printers.   I was really hoping for a better response considering this waste tank design has been in the market for many, many years now.   I believe it is the same in their latest generation as well.  I feel like it is a somewhat canned response since she refers to inkjet cartridges, not the waste tank I specifically wrote about.

Of course, poor designs lead to others’ capitalization of it.   I have options other than buying brand new tanks:

1.  Sending the tank into a recycler, who will sell back the tank back to me with the chip reset and new absorbent guts, or a refurbishment tank left by someone else.   Cheaper than buying from Epson, it doesn’t end up in a landfill, but still too pricey for a waste tank.  Nice try - but no thanks.

2.  Get my own chip resetter from Ebay and replace the absorbent material myself, (could be papertowel, sponges, anything that prevents the ink from sloshing around) which is what many owners of the Epson wide-formats have done.   (Simply search Ebay for 4800 (or whatever model) chip resetters and quite a few show up)

I am going for Option 2.   It is a real shame we have to resort to such workarounds when manufacturers don’t listen.   It saves the consumer money and more importantly prevents these containers from ending up in landfills.   If you are finding this post in a Google search on maintenance tanks (which will undoubtedly happen within a few weeks) - I encourage you to also write to Epson complaining about this.   If they get enough concerns, perhaps the responses will stop being so generic and contain a bit more addressing the actual issue.