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This past February, I traveled to British Columbia primarily to photograph wolves. The wolves are active during the winter and wolves photographed on snow can create, in my opinion, a very striking image. Unfortunately, unseasonable temperatures and a heavy snowfall prior to my arrival, forced the local wolf population to temporarily relocate to another area. Since wolves can cover a territory of 50 square miles, given the conditions, it would be impossible to locate the wolf packs during my short visit. During the week I did hear a pack howling and barking in the distance. I had one wolf sighting but in a position where I was unable to take a meaningful image.

I was returning by snowmobile one afternoon after an unsuccessful day scouting for wolves when I noticed a lynx ahead sitting on the side of the trail. A good friend of mine was traveling with me. When traveling in the backcountry in the winter it is smart to travel with at least one other person in case of mechanical failures or injuries. We stopped approximately 150 yards away from his position, and watched as he continued to sit and eat. He was obviously not concerned with our presence due to our position relative to his. Finally, the lynx tired of eating, stood and walked into the forest next to the trail. We then moved on down the trail past where he entered the trees and stopped approximately 150 yards on the other side of his entry into the forest. I then proceeded to walk back up the trail and laid down in the snow approximately 75 feet from where he entered the forest. I knew it was a long shot, but I hoped if I remained perfectly still and did not make any noises, he might return. Sure enough, after patiently waiting 15 minutes or so, he appeared at the edge of the forest.

I slowly raised my camera and lens to my eye and began to take a few photographs. During this time, he just stood motionless in front of the forest watching. His position was such that if he sensed danger, he could quickly move into the forest using the snowdrift in front of him as cover.

After maybe five minutes, apparently realizing that I posed no threat to him, he proceeded to slowly walk out to the snowmobile trail and up the trail away from me. During this time, I held my position knowing that he would maintain a safe distance from me outside his “circle of fear”. Enter into an animal’s “circle of fear” and they will either fight or take flight.

During this time, I avoided making any sudden movements or strange noises. He walked slowly but with purpose. When he reached the snowmobile trail, he turned and walked up the trail. It was very clear to me that he did not feel threaten by my presence, since his behavior was business as usual.

As is often the case when photographing in the wild, opportunities to photograph the primary subject may not materialize. Avoid getting discouraged, keep an open mind and constantly be aware of your surroundings, and something worth photographing will appear. This trip was no exception. Besides, if this were easy, everyone would be doing it.

Many months ago now, Aubrey and I were fortunate to have found time to go on our annual adventure. For about 10 years I had wanted to explore the Gardiner Basin in the Sierra, which is the basin that the popular Rae Lakes loop circumnavigates. It takes quite an effort to get in, and out… our loop was about 35 miles and 11,000 feet up and down. But it was worth every step.

Our trip started with some thunder and rain, and for a moment it almost felt like we were back in the Northwest. After two days of weather, the skies parted and we enjoyed crisp and clear weather as we navigated our way through the granite landscape. Our route took us past the Rae Lakes, to the Sixty Lakes Basin, and up and over a remote pass into the upper Gardiner Basin. Once there, we saw very little signs of any human activity.

Our camp beside a remote lake provided stunning view of Mt Gardiner. One of the symptoms of getting older is that I now have to get up to pee in the middle of the night. On this particular occasion, the milky way was fortuitously aligned with Gardiner Peak. A cluster of Jeffrey Shooting Stars provided the perfect foreground.

The following day we descended 3,000 feet through forest and granite, alongside steep braided waterfalls. Reaching the bottom of the valley of course meant we needed to climb right back up. The faint use path barely provided any guidance, but the mosquitoes motivated us to keep moving. For our final day we scrambled up and over the pass, through an epic avalanche path, and made our way back to Kearsarge pass.

Hopefully such adventures will become more frequent again, now that we are getting settled into our new careers and home. Our little parrot is doing a great job of bringing some wilderness into the home, though. Pictures at the end

Tags: backpacking, California, mountains, sierra

November 3, 2022

Connect with the landscape and your images will be all the better for it, as Paul Sanders explains in his article on fine art landscape photography. He shares more about his long exposure work below…

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It took me a long time to discover the style of photography that matched my emotional and spiritual responses to what I was seeing, as I stood in the wind and rain that usually accompanied my expeditions. Many people see long-exposure work as a bit of a cliché: misty water and a few sticks in the sea; drifting clouds and an overly light high-key look. Yes, it can be, but the same can be said of many aspects of photography.

Personally, long-exposure photography allows me to explore a sense of calm; a visual relaxation that matches the way I feel when I look at the landscape. In my previous job as picture editor of The Times, I used to look through somewhere in excess of 20,000 images a day trying to find the perfect one for the front page. I lived my life at break-neck speed, barely taking a breath. When I left The Times at the end of 2011, I was convinced there must be more to life than what I had. I needed to get more out of myself photographically and that’s where long-exposure work came to the rescue.

Get started with fine art landscape photography

Have a connection

Before we get into the technical side of long-exposure photography and counting exposure increase, there is something far more important than the technical issues – it’s vision, interpretation and connection with your subject.

I love what Ansel Adams said: ‘A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense and is, thereby, a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety.’

You have to be able to connect your emotions to the landscape around you. It’s no good just shooting lots of images in the hope of getting a good one. Instead, shoot a picture that really captures how you feel at the time, and perhaps shoot a second image. If nothing else, long-exposure work will stop you shooting lots of needless images. The one thing you’ll need in abundance is patience, not memory cards.

My very first long-exposure image was a mistake. I set up my Horseman SW612 medium-format camera in my bedroom window one Christmas night to take a picture of the snow under moonlight over the Pennines. I’d had a glass or two of wine – probably slightly more – and wasn’t in the sharpest of mind frames. I vaguely remember taking a meter reading off the snow with my spotter and thinking it was darker than it looked. So I set the aperture to f/11 and thought five minutes would do it. Four hours later I returned to the bedroom and saw the camera, remembered what I had tried to do, laughed drunkenly and closed the shutter.

Thankfully, now my images are somewhat more considered and a lot less wine is consumed in making them!

Filters

For me, long exposures are anything over 30secs, although most Facebook groups argue that it should be anything over 1sec.

The filters are the key bit of equipment that you should pay attention to. They will depend on your budget, but – and it’s a big but – more expensive brands like Lee and Formatt Hitech are without a doubt better in manufacture, consistency of colour and density.

So when it comes to filters, buy a system with a holder and adapter rings. You can mix filters with systems too. I use Lee adapter rings and holders, and some of their filters, but I also use Formatt Hitech. They are all 100mm and are interchangeable. Don’t buy the variable screw-in filters as you can’t accurately predict what density you are shooting through, and don’t buy cheap brands of filters because the colour of a ND filter is meant to be neutral, not pink or green.

Locations and subject for your fine art landscape photography

You can shoot any subject with a long exposure, but before you invest five to ten minutes of your time you have to ask yourself what is moving and what is stationary. Are you trying to capture a fast-moving sky over a city skyscraper, water swirling through a series of rocks or the incoming tide?

As a starting point, most people begin with groynes on beaches, with the tide breaking around them. This right-of-passage shot allows you to experiment and learn your craft, as everything apart from the groyne – like the clouds and tide – moves, giving you a quick positive result.

Composition is still very important. Many people seem to think that milky water or a blurry cloud will replace a well-executed image, but it won’t. So think about how you would normally compose your pictures and work with that, or allow yourself to start from the beginning and use very basic compositional rules to help.

I always work in the same way. I’ve made many mistakes and probably still have many to make, but as a result I have a workflow that works for me.

I find my location, spend a great deal of time seeing how things are, then I start to form an image in my head. Once I know what I want to achieve, I set up my tripod and I always make sure it’s level. Good tripod craft is essential. So many people don’t bother to extend the tripod legs correctly or get the tripod level and they make life hard for themselves from the outset.

I place the camera and lens on the tripod, then attach the cable release and the filter holder. At this point I turn the camera on, and make sure the ISO sensitivity is nice and low. One very important thing to check before you start shooting is in the menu. Find the ‘Long Exposure noise reduction’ and turn it off. If you leave it on, the camera will shoot a second exposure that is essentially a black frame to eliminate any noise generated during the exposure.

This will take as long as the first exposure, but will render your camera useless for the duration, meaning you can’t take as many images as you may want to.

Framing

Fine-tune your composition. Make sure that only the things you want are in the frame and they are where you want them. When shooting long-exposure images, errors in composition stand out like a sore thumb. If you’re trying for the minimalist look, make sure there is no clutter around the edges of the frame. Place the elements deliberately where you want them and think and see the image in your mind’s eye before you press the shutter.

You can then think about taking your image. Using a heavy-density ND filter means that it’s a little more complex than simply firing the shutter. See my step-by-step guide below on how to calculate the exposure.

Remember, though, that the key to success is practice, practice, practice – but also to enjoy using the technique. Hopefully, you’ll persevere through the learning curve and produce some beautiful images that reflect a sense of space and calm.

Fine art landscape photography: Common mistakes

Some ND filters have a slight blue cast, but you can easily remove this by shooting raw and adjusting in post-processing. Alternatively, you can adjust the white balance at the time of shooting. Use the custom white balance setting and set it to between 8,000K and 10,000K, and the blue cast will disappear.

You may have flare down one side of the image, as the sun can cause flare if it’s to the side of the camera and reflects through the edges of the filters. On a sunny day I often shield the filters either with a cloth over the edge, gaffer tape or even just my hand.

If you use very strong ND filters – 10-stop and above – you may notice the subtle branding from the front of your lens is reflected onto the back of the filter. This normally occurs when using very wide-angle lenses. So I use black tape or paint to cover the white writing on the front of my lenses.

Need some more fine art photography advice? Check out our guide here.

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Paul’s step-by-step guide for calculating exposure

Base exposure

I usually do a test exposure to establish what the image will look like without any filters. I expose for the shadow areas, aiming to get detail in them, which pushes the histogram to the right. Then I add an ND graduated filter to control the contrast from the sky or brighter areas of the scene.

Note exposure

Once I am happy with the addition of the graduated filter (if I have a straight horizon I’ll use a hard grad, otherwise I use soft grad), I re-check the exposure – this becomes your base exposure. For the sake of argument, let’s say the exposure is 1/4sec at f/16 – make a note of this or remember it.

Focusing

Before you add your ND filter, double-check your focusing. Then turn off the AF and just check again to see if your image is sharp. Most AF systems can’t see through the dark glass of a 10-stop ND filter, so if you leave the AF on and try to take the picture, the AF will hunt and your image will be out of focus.

Set to bulb

Add your ND filter and turn your camera to its bulb or ‘B’ setting. Check that your aperture hasn’t changed. On some Canon models the aperture doesn’t carry over to B and you have to reset it, so please double check! You now have to recalculate the exposure to allow for the 10-stop ND filter in front of the lens.

Calculate

Some filters come with a piece of paper that gives you approximate conversions. Or you can – as I do – use one of the many apps available. I use ND Timer, but there are lots available. Some have a countdown timer too, which is very useful if you haven’t got a timer on your cable release or camera.

Shoot

On the app, input your base shutter speed and the strength of filter. Here, a shutter speed of 1/4sec becomes 4mins 16secs with a 10-stop filter. If you have an eyepiece blind, use it to prevent stray light entering and causing strange flare. Now press the button on the cable release and lock it, start your timer and wait.

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Kit List for Fine art landscape photography

Camera

Although most cameras have built-in timers, a camera with a bulb (B) is very useful. Plus either an electronic or screw-in cable release with a lock.

See our buyers advice and reviews for the best options.

Filters

A 0.6 (2-stop) graduated ND filter, a 10-stop ND filter and a 3-stop ND filter should get you started.

Lenses

Don’t always choose a wide-angle lens and think it will make the best focal length. Lens choice for is personal and entirely related to the subject. The lens I use most is my Fujinon XF 35mm f/1.4 R.

See our lens reviews and buying advice here for guidance.

Tripod

Give your camera that extra support and use a tripod to keep the camera steady. Especially when experimenting with long exposures in your fine art landscape photography.

The ultimate guide to tripods

Protection

If it’s windy you may have camera shake, so try shielding the camera with your body or an umbrella.

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Further reading:

Fine art photography and how to do it

Top fine art portrait photography tips

World’s best fine art photography revealed

Improve Your Photography

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Follow AP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Lighting Photography Prints In Your Home Like A Pro

Now that you have found the perfect photograph to transform your space, it is important to choose the best way to illuminate your artwork. Quality lightning can make the difference between a piece of art being overlooked or commanding the attention of every guest entering the room. Soft, targeted lighting also brings out beautiful detail, tonal transitions and colors that may otherwise be lost to the viewer. You have a fair amount of choices when it comes to lighting, each having its own set of benefits and considerations. The best lighting enhances the artwork, without distracting from the rest of the decor in your room. Before we go any further, lets discuss the various types of lighting available to you.

Ceiling-Mounted Accent Lighting

Spotlights mounted from a ceiling facing downward offer an easy and adjustable solution for illuminating art. They can be surface mounted, chosen for their aesthetics as part of the overall design of a room or recessed, completely obscuring any housings in the ceiling for a more clean and minimalist approach. Either way, ceiling mounted lighting should be placed at a 30-degree angle, directed at the center of the artwork and should provide a soft even spread of light, illuminating the majority of the print without distracting hot spots or unbalanced coverage. Lighting directed at this angle reduces the amount of shadowing cast onto the wall below the art and eliminates reflective glare caused by fixtures mounted too far back from the wall.

Track Lighting

While essentially providing the same benefits and overall look of ceiling-mounted lighting, track lighting can be beneficial for those who have multiple pieces of art across a room or for those who enjoy moving or changing out their artwork seasonally or as their decor changes. Track lighting is also typically easier to install and carries a reduced cost of installation as well. Today, track lighting can be found that is much more flattering than the bulky cream-colored tracks you may be used to seeing, but regardless of the design, one must still consider the overall aesthetics of track running across the ceiling.

Wall Washers

Wall washers offer a more convenient and flexible way to illuminate large or multiple piece art installations. Wall washers can be mounted from the ceiling or floor and come in many forms and styles. This style of lighting often works well in modern homes full of symmetry and contrasting lines and shapes. While I have seen varieties of this type of lighting that worked well in my opinion, I personally prefer a more targeted and specific approach.

Picture Lights

Picture lights are mounted directly above or even from the frame of individual artworks and in most cases are low wattage light sources with a very small spread of illumination. You have probably seen paintings utilizing this style of lighting and while the fixtures themselves can be decretive and add to a rooms overall decor, I personally have never appreciated the look or the lack of uniform illumination they offer. With the exception of the most inexpensive battery-operated lights, an outlet or hard wires will still be needed where the artwork is to be displayed.

Conservation And Considerations

It is important to take preservation into account when illuminating most types of artwork. Photographic prints are no exception to this rule. While they may not be as delicate as that Vincent Van Gogh or Claude Monet you dream of stumbling across at a local estate sale, improper lighting can cause fading and unsightly color shifts that will destroy the visual appearance of the work over time.

There are some easy to avoid mistakes when hanging and lighting artwork that should be considered to avoid damage to your artwork:

* Avoid Direct Sunlight. Ultraviolet light and radiation can cause fading even when artwork has been protected against direct lighting with a UV coating or other surface protection.

* Do Not Allow Direct Facing Light Sources. This will protect your artwork from heat damage. If you are unsure, place your hand near the surface of the artwork while under the light source. If you can feel the heat, it is too close.

* Avoid Fluorescent Lighting. High levels of UV light accelerate fading and color shifting.

Halogen vs LED

While Halogen bulbs historically have been a favorite of many art galleries around the world, many are now being replaced with LED’s. Halogen bulbs produce large amounts of infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) radiation that can be damaging to your artwork over time if mounted too closely. These types of bulbs also run very hot and can cause burns if touched. Halogen lighting has been widely used due to the quality of the light source itself and its bright, white illumination. Also, when compared to incandescent bulbs, there are many advantages.

Today, we have the benefit of LED technology. Where LED bulbs were once shunned due to the bluish light that they cast, LED’s have come a long way in a short period of time. A wide variety of color temperatures are now available, and while a more expensive option up front, LED lighting pays for itself over time with lower energy costs. Even Michelangelo’s painted ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was updated using a staggering 7,000 LEDs. After fading from sunlight exposure and harmful halogen lighting, the switch was made, extending the opportunity for the work to be enjoyed for decades to come.

SoLux ColorView LED Artlight

Tailored Lighting Inc., is the maker of Solux, a patented light source that provides an unparalleled replication of natural daylight. SoLux is used by many of the world’s top museums including the Musee d’Orsay, Van Gogh Museum, and Guggenheim Museum and the National Archives.

The ColorView LED Artlight is the result of nearly a decade of research and development. The ColorView LED light fixture offers unsurpassed light quality, stability, and flexibility of use, providing optimal presentation and preservation of art. The color temperature is 3150K, has excellent color consistency fixture to fixture and tilts and swivels in all directions. The ColorView LED Artlight offers flexibility of use with continuous beam spread adjustment from 12 degrees (5721 Candlepower) to 60 degrees (1302 Candlepower).

The ability to change beam spread from 12 to 60 degrees provides the perfect solution for lighting artwork. There is minimal light spill around the painting. The ability to dim with with a standard incandescent dimmer switch means perfect light levels every time with no flicker.

The team at Solux will help every step of the way in creating beautiful lighting for your home or office. Please reach out to them directly to learn more about the great lighting systems that they offer.

For past, present and future collectors of my work, I am always happy to help in any way that I can. I look forward to discussing your vision and how I can help you create a beautiful space you will love to come home to.

Fine Art Photography Lighting With LEDs

There are many ways in which you can light art and photography on the walls of your home and office. However, how you light your walls and art matters! It is not as simple as getting the most powerful light you can find and setting it upon your favorite artwork. The quality of light matters, and if you want to be able to tell those hues apart with any accuracy, you’ll need to opt for the right kind of lighting.

We call it fine art photography lighting, and the good news is that with today’s LEDs, it’s easier than ever. Gone are the days of trying to match tungsten or fluorescent bulbs to your viewing areas and preferences — modern-day LEDs are capable of achieving a light similar in quality and consistency to the sun, which is the ideal lighting source that provides a cool and natural blue light.

Compared to traditional tungsten, fluorescent or halogen bulbs, LEDs represent some of the best fine art photography lighting options available today. Not only do they render colors with greater accuracy in the crucial natural range (5000K to 5300K), but they also won’t cast a yellow or orange hue to the imagery that adorns your walls, giving a faded, dull or warm look that hides the true colors of the art.

While halogen lighting can achieve those same hues and vibrant colors, it’s unfortunately not the desired fine art photography lighting option due to both the heat and UV rays that are emitted. Over years and years, that can start to oxidize the surface and cause damage, potentially altering the image itself.

Ideally, the best fine art photography lighting is cool-running LEDs that won’t deceive your eyes. LEDs are also much smaller and lighter than traditional lighting techniques, allowing for easy track lighting installations or adjustable recessed lighting that offers the utmost in flexibility while also being friendly to the budget.