Tag: photo tips

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Night Lights

By Christian Begeman

I’ve never been a good planner in terms of details. I’d rather take a long weekend in a favorite area like the southern Black Hills and improvise as I look for photographs. I don’t want to think if I don’t have to. I guess that is a”me” problem. What’s funny is that I also really like night photography and night photography is hard. It requires some serious thinking. To do it well consistently you have to pay attention to detail. You have to learn your gear and your camera and most importantly, you have to plan your shots in advance of night falling. If you don’t, you will find yourself out stumbling around shooting in the dark both literally and figuratively. Believe me, I’ve tried and failed to do it without taking the time to learn and be prepared.

Over the last year and a half, I’ve devoted a lot of time to learning how to get the kind of night photos that I think are cool. That includes photographing the starry skies and particularly the Milky Way. As noted in South Dakota Magazine’s most recent issue, our state is a wonderful place to star gaze. For me, figuring out how to photograph those starry scenes only adds to the experience. I also enjoy shooting scenes where there is some traffic so I can produce light streaks from headlights and taillights. I believe an important tenet of good photography is showing a familiar scene in a new and interesting way. Opening up the shutter of your camera for longer than a half second or more can do this for you. Doing it at night overlooking a busy street or highway can produce amazing results.

I read somewhere that smart scientist types tell us that our eyes record what we see at roughly an equivalent of 1/30th of a second. So if you learn how to manipulate your shutter on your camera to be open longer than that, you will automatically record a scene in a way that your eyes do not. One catch to this… you need a tripod. If you don’t secure you camera on something sturdy then your photos will suffer from the dreaded blurs and fuzziness of”camera shake.” Not good and really frustrating.

The recent innovations in digital camera sensors have allowed much greater sensitivity to low light situations. To take advantage, learning about ISO numbers, what they mean and how to change them, is essential. The lower the ISO number means that the sensor is the least sensitive to light, so shooting at 100 ISO is great for bright, sunny days. The higher number ISO like 1600 or higher, the more sensitive your sensor is to light. The only drawback to increasing your ISO is that the resulting photo will be less sharp and crisp as the higher the ISO, the more digital”noise” is added to the photo. The good news is that technology has dramatically improved sensors so the digital noise isn’t as bad as just a few years ago.

Last summer, I finally took the time and initiative to do a project I’ve been kicking around my brain for a long time. I took my camera out to the Sioux Empire Fair in Sioux Falls and played around for a couple nights in an attempt to get some compelling photos of the midway lights. I also set up some timelapse shots for promotional video for the fair. I think that at the very least, I was able to show the fun of the fair in a new and interesting way, and that is what I feel good photography is all about. Enjoy!

A Night at the Fair from Christian Begeman on Vimeo.

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midcontinent Communications he is often on the road photographing our prettiest spots around the state. Follow Begeman on his blog.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Recapturing Custer’s Trail [Video]

We are big fans of Black Hills photographer Paul Horsted. That’s why we were so thrilled to see Fox 7 News in Rapid City do a three-part series on his re-photographing projects, where he captures a South Dakota scene or landscape based on a historical photo.

Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer’s 1874 Expedition passed within a mile of Horsted’s house. That closeness to history led Horsted and writer Ernest Grafe to retrace the Expedition’s Black Hills footsteps in their 2002 book Exploring with Custer. The two teamed up again along with historian Jon Nelson on a companion volume called Crossing the Plains with Custer, which follows the entire Expedition route from Fort Lincoln.

When we featured the books in our Sept/Oct 2009 issue, Horsted told us “I’m really excited by anything that connects us to history in a more direct way.” That includes photographing the same scenes the Expedition’s photographer captured 138 years ago and finding cartridges, buttons and horseshoes soldiers left behind.

PART 1:

PART 2:

PART 3:

For more information on Paul or to order books, visit Dakota Photographic.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Looking for Friends to Shoot With?

By Chad Coppess

For some photography is a solitary activity, but many people enjoy sharing with and learning from others with similar interests. The explosion of interest in picture taking brought on by digital imaging has also created a great interest in furthering skills in photography.

South Dakota has no shortage of photography clubs to join and workshops to attend. At the risk of missing a few, I’ll highlight some here. Rapid City, Sioux Falls and Huron are home to the most active clubs.

The Black Hills Photo Club is a growing organization with around 50 members. They meet on the second Tuesday of each month at the Outdoor Campus West in Rapid City. The club can be found at http://www.bhphotoclub.org/.

The Huron Area Photo Club meets the last Thursday of the month at the Extension Center on the State Fairgrounds. They can be found on www.Facebook.com by searching”Huron Photo Club.”

Sioux Falls Camera Club meets the first Tuesday of the month at the Oak View Library in Sioux Falls. They can be found at http://siouxfallscameraclub.com/.

All three clubs hold competitions, critique sessions and field trips. Members assist others in learning all the technical ins and outs of today’s photography. Guest speakers are also often featured at club meetings.

If intensive instruction over a few days is more to our liking for learning, workshops are offered throughout the summer and fall by a variety of instructors. Here’s a sampling for this year and links to find more information:

June 10-14 — Badlands Photo Safari with Jason Odell

July 15-22 — The Sacred Landscape: Badlands and Black Hills with Douglas Beasley/Vision Quest

July 6-13 — Indian Country, Black Hills and Badlands with David M. Cobb

Sept. 3-10 — Black Hills and Badlands with Rod Planck

Spearfish-based Outdoor Photo Workshops is offering wildlife workshops this year and held a cowboy workshop in February. Two-day workshops shooting sharp tailed grouse with longtime area shooter Dick Kettlewell are offered March through May. Dick also teaches two-day workshops on shooting pronghorn antelope in June and July. Other instructors at Outdoor Photo Workshops include Les Voorhis of Spearfish and Steve Babbitt from Rapid City.

Outdoor Photo Workshops also now coordinates the Black Hills Photo Shootout, a two-and-one half day weekend of workshops scheduled for September 28-30 this year. As one of the co-founders of the Shootout, I highly recommend it for someone who’s wondering if a group workshop is right for them. The first two years of the event have been lots of fun and brought together a wonderful group of talented people to photograph South Dakota.

Nationally-known photographer Rick Sammon will be the keynote speaker for this year’s Shootout. Headquarters for the weekend is the Black Hills State University campus in Spearfish. Registration will open in May and full details will be available at http://www.bhsu.edu/Default.aspx?alias=www.bhsu.edu/blackhillsphotoshootout and on Facebook.

South Dakota’s state parks also offer periodical photography workshops at locations throughout the state. Check the calendar of events at http://gfp.sd.gov/calendar.aspx for specific times and parks.

As I said, it’s very possible that I’ve missed some workshops or clubs in this list. If you know of more that should be shared, please leave a comment. Thanks and happy shooting!

Chad Coppess is the senior photographer at the South Dakota Department of Tourism. He lives in Pierre with his wife, Lisa. To view more of his work, visit www.dakotagraph.com.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Capitol Geese

By Chad Coppess

South Dakota’s state capitol grounds in Pierre include the five-acre Capitol Lake, which becomes a winter haven for thousands of Canada geese each year. For photographers visiting the Capitol, they are a welcome bonus.

Most often photographed from the southeast side of the lake, the geese sitting on the water make a nice foreground for morning pictures of the Capitol building. It’s also fairly easy to shoot them isolated without modern intrusions giving a natural”wild” look. A short walk around the lake and onto the peninsula in the middle will give you an idea which angles you like for shooting.

While geese and ducks may be found on Capitol Lake at any time of the day, they are most prevalent in the morning and evening. They sleep overnight on the lake and often head out of town during the day for feeding in nearby fields or on the Missouri River. They also gather on the front lawn of the Capitol and in Hilger’s Gulch to the north of the building.

These urban geese get very used to pedestrian and vehicle traffic and at times don’t really want to move for either. For photographers that means a chance for up-close images of the flock.

Standard to wide-angle lenses can be used to capture the spectacle of birds crowding the small lake. Telephoto lenses, fast shutter speeds and quick reflexes can capture flying action.

Watching for varying weather patterns can give clues to great photography on Capitol Lake. Very cold mornings usually mean the warm water in the lake will be shrouded in a thick fog. With sunrise streaming through it, the steam can look magical. On days when it’s snowing the birds sometimes hunker down and become coated with white.

I like to observe the flock and watch for behavior patterns that give me clues to when a group may fly or dip some water on their backs and then shake it off in a wing-spreading display.

If you like photographing birds you also won’t want to miss a trip through the Oahe Downstream Recreation Area below Oahe Dam where dozens of eagles tend to hang out, watching for an easy meal of goose or duck. Many species of birds can be found along the Missouri River and in the grasslands to the south and west of Fort Pierre.

As spring approaches, the geese will leave central South Dakota, but you can expect them back each fall, just as regular as lawmakers on the Capitol grounds.

Chad Coppess is the senior photographer at the South Dakota Department of Tourism. He lives in Pierre with his wife, Lisa. To view more of his work, visit www.dakotagraph.com.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Prairie Spires

By Christian Begeman

Back in my college days, my route to and from Sioux Falls took me south of Midland, South Dakota on Highway 63. There is a place on that road that you can see a lone country church on a ridge a few miles away to the east. I always loved that site. I’m not exactly sure why, but I suppose the scene spoke to my rural roots and spiritual beliefs. Mix the vast expanse of South Dakota’s West River prairie with a symbol of my faith and it produces a sort of transcendent and serene feeling. It’s hard to describe, really. There is something inspiring about a lone church spire standing upright in the midst of nature’s immensity — a kind of study in contrasts with these small centers of spiritual community amidst what can seem to be endless nothingness.

When I worked for KSFY’s news department right out of college, I spent a good deal of time on the back roads of Minnehaha and surrounding counties chasing stories. I noticed a lot of other picturesque country churches on these trips. Back then I had an idea that someone should do a coffee table book on these rural churches. I’ve finally taken the time to go out and photograph a few of these myself over the last year. In doing so, I’ve discovered that the buildings and sites often hold a great deal of historic value in addition to their photogenic beauty.

Take St. Basil’s Church along Highway 212 near Ridgeview, for example. During the blizzards of 1949 and 1950 it served as a haven for stranded travelers who were forced to burn some of the pews to keep from freezing. Sounds like a plot for a good short story to me.

The country churches on the eastern side of the state are primarily Lutheran and usually have a single tall spire at the front of the building. I really like how they look against the colors of a South Dakota sunrise or sunset. Another way to capture the beauty of a rural church is to get low and shoot the structure against an interesting sky. Try changing the photo to black and white and see if you like the results. One of my favorite church photos was taken on a dull gray day last March near Canova. For most of the day, I wasn’t finding any good photos because the light was terrible. As the day grew late and the sky darkened even more, I happened to drive by Immanuel Lutheran. Despite what I though was bad light, I shot what I saw so as to remember to come back at a later time when the light was better. When I got back home, I started playing with the image in black and white and really liked the image. Sometimes photography is funny like that. That’s one of the things that make the hobby fun for me.

The photos you see here are just a small sample of the many country churches in our state. I’d love to hear back from you on your favorite country church. It would be fun to go out and try my hand at shooting more of these inspiring scenes.

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midcontinent Communications he is often on the road photographing our prettiest spots around the state. Follow Begeman on his blog.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Snow Is Coming

By Chad Coppess

So far in 2011-12 South Dakota hasn’t experienced much of a winter. It’s coming though. It just has to be. Those of us with cameras will be out attempting to capture nature’s beauty under a blanket of white soon, I’m sure. So here are some tips for shooting in the snow.

Light meters in cameras tell us what they feel the “proper” exposure should be for whatever situation we point them at. In the case of white snow, the light meter is going to think everything is too bright and want to darken the scene. Sometimes we need to fool that meter so that our pictures will have white snow, not dingy gray snow. Overexpose by one to two stops and I think you’ll like the results better.

If it is snowing while you are shooting or the sky is overcast and white itself, look for subject matter that will stand out from all the whiteness in your scene. A twisted tree trunk, a Custer State Park bison or a bright yellow school bus will make nice contrasty subjects in an otherwise colorless landscape.

Using the rule of thirds — where the picture is divided into thirds horizontally and vertically and the subject placed at one of the intersections of the thirds lines — can make a nice composition.

Look for patterns and textures in snowy scenes. Tree branches, piles of rocks, animal tracks or flocks of geese against the sky all look great with a white background.

On a day when big fluffy flakes are falling experimenting with shutter speeds can be interesting. A high shutter speed will freeze the snowflakes in mid-drop. A slow shutter speed can make long blurry streaks of white against dark evergreen trees or a red barn.

Quite often the best time to shoot a snowy landscape is immediately after a fresh snow. If snow has fallen overnight and the sky clears for sunrise it can be a magical time to be out shooting. As the low angle light sparkles off the flakes that haven’t melted or packed down, truly spectacular photos can be made that won’t be available later in the day. The colder the temperature the better, unfortunately. That way the individual flakes will keep their shape longer before the sun melts them into just a snow pile.

Snow shots at Mount Rushmore can be especially tricky. Even on a cold day if the sun is out at all the snow on top of the heads begins to melt and drip down, leaving dark streaks. I always watch for predicted night time snow and a bright sunny morning, but make sure I get there very early so I don’t see faces with “tears” running down them.

Keeping your camera batteries warm can help them last longer in cold weather. When not shooting, holding your camera or the batteries inside your coat will help. I’ve heard of some photographers attaching chemical heat packets to their cameras in extreme temperatures, but I’ve never felt the need myself.

Don’t forget to keep yourself warm as you are out shooting, but have fun when the snow does fall!

Chad Coppess is the senior photographer at the South Dakota Department of Tourism. He lives in Pierre with his wife, Lisa. To view more of his work, visit www.dakotagraph.com.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Our Old Barns

By Christan Begeman

Our barn meant many things to me while growing up in rural western South Dakota. We had a small dairy operation so heading out to the barn at least twice a day was not something I particularly looked forward to. With the AM radio blasting, we would chase, feed, wash and milk around thirty Holsteins twice a day, every day. These chores were often accompanied by dodging random kickings, avoiding filthy tail swats and weathering the annoying habits of brothers, which milking time always seemed to magnify.

For as many not-so-fun memories I have of time spent in the old barn, there are good memories as well. Taming new kittens in the hayloft as well as declaring war on mice and barn swallows armed with my Daisy BB gun top the list of fun childhood memories that I keep of that old barn. Now that I’m older I see barns in a whole new light. Literally.

As a photographer, one of my favorite things is capturing the famed South Dakota sunset. The colors in the evening sky can take your breath away. Trying to capture the beauty in a photo is a challenge. One thing that I’ve learned to make better sunset photographs is to find some sort of reference point in the foreground. Silhouettes of familiar objects like windmills or trees give the viewer a sense of how big and colorful the sky is. Lately I’ve tried adding the iconic shapes of the old, weathered barn as my reference point. Adding the”rural” feel of the barn somehow adds even more to the sunset sky and allows the viewer to infuse a wider variety of emotions and memories into the photo.

I like to bracket my photo exposures at sunset because sometimes I want more detail in the final photo than a silhouetted building or structure. Using photo editing software allows me to combine these bracketed images and render the scene more like I saw it while shooting. The camera sensor is not nearly as sensitive as the human eye and can not reproduce the kind of detail we see in real life. Using the bracketing technique can make up for some of this. In the last few years, this technique of high dynamic range or”HDR” photography has become quite popular. There is specific software out there now for this purpose only. What I do is not quite that in-depth and is more akin to having a graduated neutral density filter on my lens while shooting.

Another thing to keep in mind when shooting sunsets is to wait until all the light is gone. I have seen some of the most amazing color in the sky ten to fifteen minutes after the sun sinks behind the far hills. I’ve included three photos of a barn on the northwest edge of Sioux Falls that demonstrates how much the color can change. All three of these images were taken on the same evening in late September and over the course of the ten minutes after the sun had disappeared from the horizon. These are some of my favorite sunset shots that I captured all year. Funny how life brings you full circle. I used to dread chore time and now I can sometimes be found seeking out old barns around chore time in order to capture the beauty of a South Dakota sunset as well as a few good memories of life on the farm.

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midcontinent Communications he is often on the road photographing our prettiest spots around the state. Follow Begeman on his blog.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Bright Lights and Live Music

By Chad Coppess

If you enjoy live music performances, making photographs of concerts can be a lot of fun. Bright flashing light shows, lots of motion and spectacular stage presentations seem like they were made for photography.

Whether it’s local bands playing in the city park or big name acts at the huge arenas, concert shooting can be challenging and fun.

Outdoor daytime events generally have much more even lighting, so the creativity in photography comes from choosing angles to shoot and watching for interesting expressions and poses. Not surprisingly, musicians seem to be good at expressions and poses.

Indoor and night time shows are a study in contrasty lighting and being ready for the unexpected. I usually have my camera set to automatic aperture and realize as the stage lights change quickly I am going to end up with a lot of shots that are not exposed properly. Shoot and shoot more! Not worrying about the bad shots and continuing to look for great ones is the way to go.

Some concerts specify that camera flashes are not allowed, so you’ll have to go without. In most cases that’s okay with me because a flash can wash out the dramatic effects of the stage lights anyway.

I realize that I usually have a press pass for better access than the typical concert-goer has, but it’s still possible to shoot good photos from the audience area. Look for angles where you can take photos without people’s heads and hands in the way. If you are able, move to different spots throughout the show to get a variety of shots.

Getting to know bands and artists is easier than ever these days through social media. Contacting the artists you’d like to photograph and letting them know who you are and that you are working to make them look good will go a long ways toward access. Over the years I’ve come to know several musicians as friends just by taking their photo and showing them later.

Some concerts will not allow professional style cameras, however those kinds of restrictions are beginning to disappear as more and more people are taking high-quality photos and video with their cell phones. Many bands encourage fans to post photos to their websites or Facebook pages.

More of my concert photography can be found at my blog Chad’s Concert Pix.

Chad Coppess is the senior photographer at the South Dakota Department of Tourism. He lives in Pierre with his wife, Lisa. To view more of his work, visit www.dakotagraph.com.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Early Winter Wildlife

By Christian Begeman

Last month I was driving back to Sioux Falls from Bismarck, ND with a friend. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shape moving in the field to the north and quickly blurted out,”That’s a coyote!” in mid-conversation.

My friend looked at me and asked,”What is it with you? How can you see that?”

I didn’t really have an answer for him. We then both agreed it was pretty cool that we lived in an area that still affords the chance to view real and untamed wildlife far away from any zoo.

As far as his original question, I spent some time thinking about it and I started reminiscing about long trips across the Dakotas with my family. This was long before DVD screens and iPods kept the kiddo’s attention. One of our forms of entertainment was to be the first to spot deer and accurately get the right number of the herd before anyone else. My brother and I became very skilled at this talent as it passed the time better than fighting over which radio station to listen to (even though that still inevitably happened.)

Another family tradition of ours is either hiking or driving through, around and over the Moreau River Breaks after the family Christmas dinner. First it was with my cousins but as I got older it evolved to going out with my uncle and/or dad. Recently it has been with my brother and nephews. However it ends up, we almost always see good numbers of deer, and at the very least, tracks and signs of other interesting Dakota wildlife.

This year was a banner year for me for seeing and photographing wildlife over the holiday break. I’m not exactly sure what made this year better than others but I do have a few tips I’ve learned for you to increase your chances of spotting some of South Dakota’s abundant wildlife from your car.

Location. To see wildlife, you have to be where they are. Your best bet is in parks or wildlife production areas. Badlands National Park, Wind Cave National Park and Custer State Park all have top-notch opportunities to see wildlife all from the maintained park roads. Other areas to check out are river breaks and valleys. Wildlife need to drink so can usually be found near sources of water.

Timing. Your best bet to see animals out and about is the hours around dawn and dusk. I’m not a morning person at all, but this year alone I’ve been able to hear the coyotes serenade morning’s first light on three different occasions and it thrilled me every time.

Equipment. I realize not everybody can afford the best long lens or camera body to get close-up wildlife shots, but I highly recommend that you take time to review your own camera and make sure you understand the best setting to shoot in low light situations as well as the best shutter and aperture settings to shoot at maximum zoom. Take the time to dig out that manual or do a search on the internet to see what other users are doing. It may make the difference in turning an average shot into an amazing photo of some of South Dakota’s great wild creatures.

Christian Begeman grew up in Isabel and now lives in Sioux Falls. When he’s not working at Midcontinent Communications he is often on the road photographing our prettiest spots around the state. Follow Begeman on his blog.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Backyard Wildlife

By Chad Coppess

This time of year my thoughts go not only to holidays and family, but to photographing the wildlife in my own backyard.

I live in town, not out in the wilderness where you might expect a lot of critters roaming, but I’ve found with a few bird and squirrel feeders it’s easy to attract animals right to your camera.

With a little research you can learn what kind of feeders and food will bring what kinds of birds and animals. Squirrels tend to like corn, nuts and sunflower seeds. Different varieties of birds like various seeds.

Photographing the wildlife can be done through the windows where it’s easier to hide and not scare them away. Wearing dark colors and keeping the lights off inside the house will help as well. If you’ve got a window that opens toward the feeders your images will be clearer and sharper, but even shooting through the window glass can provide decent photos.

I realize everyone isn’t going to spend the money on the equipment to do it, but I’ve had fairly good luck setting up a remote-controlled camera on a tripod outdoors and then sitting inside to watch and fire the camera with the push of a button.

One of the tricky things is that these smaller animals tend to move quickly and not sit in one spot for too long. This makes photographing them good practice for shooting other action activities like kids’ sports or rodeo. Choosing higher shutter speeds to freeze motion and working on your reaction to interesting poses helps capture fun moments.

Birds in flight almost always make great photos, but tracking them, keeping them in focus and catching just the right position of the wings can be tricky. Practice, practice, practice! Digital photography makes it easy to shoot many photos and simply delete the bad ones. So don’t be afraid to keep trying until it all comes together in that one spectacular shot.

Another fun tip is to make sure your bird feeder is next to a bush or tree with handy branches for perching on. After you’ve watched a while you can begin to guess where the birds tend to land before approaching the feeder. Pre-focusing on that spot will give you a head start on getting a good photo. I have a small branch attached to one of my feeders for that purpose.

Have a great holiday season and if you aren’t traveling far from home for photo opportunities, take a look in the backyard!

Chad Coppess is the senior photographer at the South Dakota Department of Tourism. He lives in Pierre with his wife, Lisa. To view more of his work, visit www.dakotagraph.com.