Sunrise at the Grand Canyon, shot using the Cloudy White Balance setting as per Kemper's advice. (photo by Dan Havlik)
Hundreds of thousands of visitors once again flocked to the country's national parks this summer and came back with hundreds of thousands of photos. While many of those photos of scenic landscapes and shy wildlife in places like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, or Yellowstone were likely very nice, there were some that were downright spectacular. Those eye-catching photos by amateur photographers were helped, no doubt, by an on-going series of free workshops in the National Parks sponsored by Canon.
As part of Canon's third annual Photography in the Parks Photo Contest, professional photographers from Canon's elite Explorers of Light program have been instructing park-goers on how to take better pictures during free workshops aimed at beginner, intermediate, and advanced shooters. The workshops, which took place at Yosemite in June and the Grand Canyon in July, continue at Yellowstone beginning August 18th through August 24th. The workshops are held twice a day -- once in the morning and once in the afternoon -- with an evening presentation during which a Canon pro presents a slideshow of their work while discussing their experiences and techniques. Sign-ups for the Canon workshops are based on a first come/first served basis and demand has been heavy.
Aspiring photographers can also submit their best photos of any of the country's 58 National Parks in the Canon Photography in the Parks Photo Contest with the chance to win a trip to a park of their choice and a package of Canon professional photography gear. The theme for this year's contest is "Inspirational Nature Images" and eligible participants include any non-professional photographer, age 13 and up. The contest deadline is September 30, 2008. For more information on the workshop and the contest visit: www.usa.canon.com/parks.
A Classroom with a Grand View
During a trip to the Grand Canyon in July, I got a chance to trail a Canon class led by Explorer of Light Lewis Kemper who has been photographing the National Parks for most of his life. As temperatures pushed into the 90s, Kemper -- clad in a grey shirt and cap with a heavy black photo pack strapped on his back -- led a class of about 10 advanced photographers along the south rim of the Canyon, stopping periodically along the edge to offer tips on technique and composition.
"Take advantage of what's in front of you," Kemper told the class. "Include rocks in the foreground so that they become part of the composition. Move through an image using three plains of focus." He explained that by setting your camera's aperture to and "F/Stop" of f/16 -- which creates a deep depth of field -- you can focus a third into your image, and everything in front and behind with still come out sharp. He demonstrated by focusing on an outcropping of rock filled with park-goers peeking down into the Grand Canyon.
"At f/16, the hole in the lens is smaller, creating more depth of field," Kemper said, while asking class participants to cup their hand and look through the hole to simulate the aperture in a lens. Because the class Kemper was leading was for advanced photographers, most of the participants were using digital SLRs which allow extensive manual control and customization. As part of the workshops, Canon provides free loans of some of their best gear including EOS 5D and 40D digital SLRs along with pro-level lenses.
Kemper asked the photographers to try the "Depth of Field preview button" on their digital SLR which, when pressed, will stop (aka "close") the lens' aperture down, showing you how much of the foreground or background in your image will be in focus when you take the picture. In the case of f/16 -- which is about as small an aperture as many lenses allow -- the depth of field was extreme, and the image in the preview would appear dim.
"Push the Depth of Field preview button down and count to ten and slowly release it so your eye becomes adjusted," Kemper advised. "And then push it down again."
The Right White Balance
During a discussion about White Balance -- one of the more confusing features on a digital camera for photographers -- Kemper explained that the setting is designed to make something white in an image -- such as a cloud -- look white, no matter what the color temperature. While for most circumstances, such as bright sunny days, the Auto setting for White Balance will produce fairly accurate results, in more unusual lighting it helps to experiment.
For instance, he noted, when shooting a sunrise or a sunset, the Auto White Balance setting is going to remove colors and make the image look bland. Instead of Auto, experiment with using the Cloudy White Balance setting during a sunrise or sunset shot to further increase the warmth and color in your shot. (I took Kemper's advice on White Balance while shooting a sunrise at the Grand Canyon the next day with excellent results. See my sunrise shot on this page.)
RAW vs. JPEG
As Kemper's outdoor class strolled around the South Rim of the Canyon, he also discussed the benefits of shooting digital images in RAW vs. JPEG format, another hot topic among photographers.
"When shooting in JPEG, the camera does the processing for you. When shooting in RAW, the camera captures the image info, and you have to go home and be the 'lab' technician," he explained. The benefits of shooting RAW is that since it captures so much more info than JPEG -- typically 14-bits of info vs. 8-bits of info -- you have a lot more of the image to play with and perfect.
"With a RAW file you have billion of colors and shades and tones. If you're shooting with JPEG, you're throwing out a lot of that important information. All these shades of blue," Kemper said, gesturing toward the azure sky. "They're really close in color and with JPEG, you're going to throw out those gradations. With RAW, you can capture the nuances of those shades."
The downside to RAW, is that you will have to spend a lot more time working on your images in Photoshop afterwards. The plus side is that it really lets you get the most out of your images and your equipment. "A lot of people spend a lot of money on these cameras and they throw it all away by using JPEG."
Students of Light
Kemper's evening slideshow featured breathtaking images from his 30 years of photographing the National Parks. During his presentation, he discussed compositional techniques for using different types of light -- sidelight, backlight, diffuse light, and reflected light -- in shots of nature and wildlife to add drama to images.
Kemper also showed examples of his work that intentionally juxtaposed different colors to draw the eye and produce a visceral effect. Some of the color combinations he looks for when capturing images include: cool colors with a warm accent; warm colors with a cool accent; saturated color; pastel color; and using the absence of color to conjure color, what he described as: "monochromatic color" and "no color, color."
"Make yourself aware of light," he advised the audience. "Become a student of light."
To view Kemper's images, visit his website at: www.lewiskemper.com. To find out more about the Canon Photography in the Parks Program and contest, visit www.usa.canon.com/parks. The Canon program is produced through a partnership with the American Park Network. For more info on APN, visit: www.ohranger.com.