Fly Fishing Photography Inspired By Nature

Along with three other artists, I was featured in a short video created on behalf of The Nature Conservancy that was recently on display at BAM (Boise Art Museum).  Produced by ComDesigns, this video showcases four artists inspired by nature. ComDesigns donated their time to shoot and produce this short piece. As a fly fishing photographer and a fly fishing guide, I am a strong supporter of The Nature Conservancy and in particular the Silver Creek Preserve essentially located in my backyard. Without places like the Silver Creek Preserve the public would loose out on access to one of our country's premier spring creeks. Not only that, but The Nature Conservancy is spearheading a project on Silver Creek, that in my opinion will positively effect the entirety--not just the Nature Conservancy section--of Silver Creek by most importantly reducing water temps and mitigating siltation issues. Check out the Silver Creek Preserve site for more info regarding what is called the Kilpatrick Pond Project. The Silver Creek Preserve is for everyone and is one of my favorite places to photograph, guide, fish, walk, bird, canoe, etc...

Making a Panorama

What is a pano and does a camera simply spit out the final product? Absolutely not. I have put together a short piece on a simple panorama--pano for short--I recently put together of Loon Point in Santa Barbara, California. Having the software to stitch a pano together is imperative (given you are shooting digital). I use Adobe's Photoshop CS5. There is other software out there but Photoshop does a remarkable job with this task and it does so much more. Other than the software, it's pretty seamless.

Left section of Loon Pano

Center section of Loon Pano

Right section of Loon Pano

A pano is simply two or more images stitched together. In this case, it is three images. I took the above three images knowing I would later piece them together for a panorama. My camera was on a tripod. Remember to lock the focus so as not to have a different focal point in each shot. I choose to focus manually for most landscape panos. Also, lock in your exposure. Setting the camera to full manual mode helps eliminate the easy mistake of forgetting to lock the exposure. You generally don't want a different exposure for each image. Level the camera. I use a bubble level that fits in the camera hot shoe.

In the case above I used the Nikon 24 mm tilt/shift lens. You do not need a tilt/shift lens for panos. Using the shift function for a pano is pretty useful though and eliminates finding the lenses nodal point. For the sake of simplicity, we'll skip what tilt/shift lenses are and can do. Really Right Stuff has a great explanation on finding the nodal point of a given lens for making panos and explains what a nodal point is. Here is the Really Right Stuff link.

The unedited Loon Pano

OK, after running the three images through photomerge in Photoshop CS5, I essentially got this. You want to select "flatten" in Photshop after generating a pano and possibly crop the image if there is "dead space" in the new pano. "Dead space" will show up if you have not leveled the camera properly and/or have not found the nodal point of the lens... Keep in mind, it is possible to fill in some dead space using "fill" and "content aware" in Photoshop CS5 and newer.

I do not edit any of the images until after generating and flattening the pano in Photoshop CS5.

Pano with a levels adjustment and a small amount of vibrancy added

All I did to the image above was make a basic levels adjustment and add a small amount of vibrancy.

Almost finished Loon Pano

My nearly final steps were dodging and burning in Photoshop CS5. I use a Bamboo Tablet by Wacom to essentially brush in where I would like to dodge and brush in where I'd like to burn. I generally set the strength slider in dodge or burn to 1% to gradually make the changes. I also slightly sharpened the image. That was it, until I showed this pano to my youngest son who is eight. He said, "Could you get rid of the seaweed on the sand? It's pretty distracting."

Final Loon Pano

So here is the final version sans seaweed. I used the content aware eraser in Photoshop CS5 to very slowly erase the seaweed. I also used the Text component of Photoshop to add my watermark and then reduced the opacity of the text so that it doesn't stand out too much. That's it.

Santa Barbara Eucalyptus

I have been driving by this particular eucalyptus grove in Santa Barbara for years. It's in an open space area and while it seems like a small public space coming from Idaho, it's really a gem that goes relatively unused except the occasional neighborhood dog-walkers. On this particular day it was drizzly with fog and there was a lot of contrast; from the darkest tree trunks to the light in the fog to the grass and the details in the better lit eucalyptus trunks. I have shot this particular grove a half dozen or so times over the years and each time I have gone back I have refined how I will look at it the next time. For example, next time I am there I will look for a foggier day and choose earlier in the AM. Simple and mysterious is what I am looking for. Bruce Lee once said something like, "The greatest form of sophistication is simplicity itself."

Eucalyptus & Fog. Santa Barbara, California

Eucalyptus Grove Pano. Santa Barbara

The pano above is comprised of 3 images taken using the shift function on the Nikon 24 pce lens. I shifted horizontally and also tilted down about 5 degrees to get more of the foreground and the center tree in focus. The above pano was taken on a different day than the top image.

The FlyFish Journal

Here's an image of my youngest son, Charlie, in the new edition of The FlyFish Journal. Although it's a small image, he was pretty stoked. Perhaps this will inspire him to get out on the water a little more and if I'm lucky allow me to take a few images... If you have not held a copy of The FlyFish Journal, you really should crawl on all fours to Bellingham, Washington to grab an issue (or order one online). It's reader supported which means very few ads and lots of content including great fly fishing photography.

Charlie Price in The FlyFish Journal

Adobe's CS5 For Black & White

I love discovering a new method of editing or anything photography for that matter. While the method of converting RAW images in Adobe's CS5 via the channel mixer to black & white is not new or even close to new, it is my new favorite black and white workflow. I also love using the dodge and burn brushes as well for richer blacks and whiter whites. I highly recommend checking out Lynda.com and watching Chris Orwigs Photoshop tutorials. He's a phenomenal instructor who invokes inspiration and is also really good at simplifying a humongous program like Photoshop. He incorporates lots of great quotes from writers to philosophers and photographers. Here are two older images of mine reworked.

Idaho Desert Road

Charlie Price on a Santa Barbara beach

Portrait of A Woman In Mexico

Here are two images I recently took of a woman in Punta Mita, Mexico. She was super guarded at first and was really surprised I wanted to take her picture. The image on the left was the first image I took and the image on the right was the final. I got two completely different expressions...

A portrait of a woman in Punta Mita I

A portrait of a woman in Punta Mita II

Craters Of The Moon

We obviously received new snow today... I took advantage of the white and drove out to Craters Of The Moon where I knew I could also find a little black. Winds were at a minimum 25 to 30 mph. I walked a couple of miles as the only road that bisects Craters is closed to cars and is covered in snow. Pretty soon that road will be groomed for Nordic skiing.

Small Pine & Snow. Craters Of The Moon

Sage & Aa (Basaltic Lava)

Aa. Craters Of The Moon

Craters Snowscape

In all but one of the images above, I used the channel mixer and dodge and burn brush in Photoshop CS5. I dodged the highlights and burned the darkest tones. That's it. The channel mixer is a fantastic tool as you can modify tones through color. Want to darken a jet-blue sky? Use the blue channel. It's helpful to have a histogram up to make sure your blacks are black and your whites are white as no computer screen tells the truth like a histogram.

Fly Fishing Photography Prints

Still looking for a great gift for someone or something for yourself? How about a print? I have had many inquiries over the last week or so and have included print prices in this post. All prints are made on archival, museum quality, fine art papers. If you need help selecting a print for someone else, feel free to email me.

Rise Form. Late Fall. Silver Creek, Idaho

Here is a size & price list:

6" X 9" Print:  $80.00

10" X 15" Print:  $125.00

16" X 24" Print:  $220.00

24" X 36" Print:  $315.00

Email me at: ndprice@cox.net to order or with any questions. Print prices do not include shipping or sales tax.

Punta Mita, Mexico

Just got back from a trip down to Punta Mita and put together a dozen or so images.  Punta Mita is about 45 miles north of Puerto Vallarta and still has the small village charm. We were some of the very few gringos down there. Click on any of the images below to see a larger version.

Tzhaui, pronounced Sow ee, pictured above is a talented surfer coming in second place in the Men's Mexican National Championships in longboarding. He carries a huge smile and a perpetual stoke for the water.

Tzhaui

Street Food. Chicken & Corn Tortillas. Perfection.

A Punta Mita Face

Sunset. Punta Mita, Mexico

Putting It All Together.

Tzhaui

Punta Mita Street Life

Emma, A Talented Punta Mita Chef, Prepares Shrimp

The Next Generation.

Derek Elbert Finding His Line

The Villa

In Between Sessions. Andy Dorn Goes Poolside With The Stand-Up

Una Tienda. Punta Mita

Tzhaui. Speed Trim

Bull Moose

This moose was stuck in my back yard last night. Somehow got over the fence but couldn't get out... Anyway, I noticed him by my sliding glass window on the back deck around 6 am. He was surprisingly calm for the predicament he was in. I opened our back gate and a few minutes later he wandered out. The image is after he set himself free.

Bull Moose. Hailey, Idaho

Nikon D3s & Nikon 35mm ƒ2 lens

Image Details: ƒ2, 1/13th sec, 12,800 iso

Streamers, Storm & Silver Creek

We are in the middle of a relatively warm and super wet storm here.  Above 7,000 feet we are expected to get around four feet of snow.  Below about 5,700 feet it's been all rain so far and down around Picabo today there was heavy rain for a short period and broken stormy skies for the remainder.  Below are images shot today on Silver Creek.  It's streamer time down there.  Cloudy days are usually better.  Today was just OK but the wild skies and weather made up for it. We spent about two hours on the water.

Dan Higgins setting up for the next to-the-bank-cast.  Silver Creek, Idaho

Nikon D3s and Nikon 14-24 ƒ2.8 lens