Tag: photo tips

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Seeing Horizontally

By Chad Coppess

I think of South Dakota as a horizontal place. We don’t have many towering skyscrapers, our mountains are called”hills” and even our gigantic monuments are basically horizontally-oriented.

This means that when photographing South Dakota you can typically hold your camera in its natural position instead of”uppey-downey.” There are also a lot of places where you can take the horizontalness to the extreme and shoot very wide panoramic photos.

While it is possible to crop just about any horizontal photo into a panoramic shape, better results can be obtained by shooting several photos and”stitching” them together with computer software. Some cameras have a panoramic mode built in that will match up a series of pictures taken from one spot and combine them into one shot. Even without that feature, any camera can act as a panoramic-capturing device.

All that is required is to shoot two or more photos without moving, but panning side to side to cover a wide area and overlap each image on the sides. Obviously some subjects work better than others, but you can do this just about anywhere.

Wide angle lenses might seem like an easy choice here, but the technique actually works better with 40-60mm lens. It’s also important to keep each shot as level as possible, but they don’t have to be perfect unless you’re really going for professional results.

Once you’ve got a set of images with overlapping edges, you will need to load them into software for the”stitching” part. Many cameras now come with software that does this for you, or programs like Photoshop and Lightroom do it as well.

If the idea of taking super-wide photos appeals to you a bit more instruction and practice will be needed, but hopefully you get the basic idea.

Finding horizontal subject matter is easy here. Small town main streets, prairie landscapes, wildlife in their environment, kids on the beach and scenic vistas all make great panoramics. Thinking completely out of the box, turning your panoramic on its side is also useful if you want to photograph our few vertical things — the Campanile in Brookings, aspen trees in the Black Hills and Nicollet Tower in Sisseton come to mind. Just shoot a series of vertical shots top to bottom and stitch those together.

With a little horizontal thinking, South Dakota becomes”panorama heaven.”

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.

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Working the Sun in Your Shots

By Chad Coppess

Probably from the time we were kids having to pose for family snapshots, we’ve been taught that a photographer should have the sun behind him shining on the subject of his photos. While that’s a good rule of thumb to begin with, it’s not always the way to make the best image of a particular scene.

So how do you break that rule and use the result to your advantage?

First, having the sun behind you will result in some fairly flat lighting in most cases. Shooting at an angle to the sun, where it is to the left or right of the camera position will let shadows will form and give a more rounded”3-D” feel to your subject matter. This works for photos of people, your car, rock formations, wildlife, whatever.

Time of day affects that angle as well. The lower the sun is to the horizon the more dimensional shadows it will provide and also change color very early or very late. Sunrises and sunsets can be spectacular with oranges and yellows streaking across the landscape. Many photos at that time of day are taken with the camera pointed directly at the sun. Don’t forget to turn around and see what that beautiful light is hitting. (Which is good photographic advice all the time — take a look behind you.)

Placing the sun within your photo is very fun when appropriate. Realize the camera is going to see that huge bright spot and want to darken the scene or underexpose it. The camera meter will most likely create darkened silhouettes against a bright sun. Quite often that’s okay and exactly what makes a great photo, but if that’s not what you want you will have to adjust for it.

A fun tip is that smaller apertures like f/16 or f/22 will create starbursts from bright points of light. Whether it’s the sun, street lamps or Christmas lights it can add”sparkle” to your photos. It can also be overpowering if there are too many points of light in your image.

When you want that starburst from the sun, placing the sun partially behind something helps make it a smaller point of light and creates a larger star shape. A tree branch, rock or building works well for this.

With a little thought and creativity applied, working the sun around and into your photos can improve a lot of scenes. Just be careful not to look directly at the sun, especially through a camera lens that’s focusing it into an even narrower beam of light into your eye. Also using a lens hood or shading the lens with your hand will help control reflections or”lens flare.”

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.

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Getting the Good Stuff

By Chad Coppess

I’m constantly on the lookout for good photo locations. Sometimes they are places that will need that little something extra to make them great. Sometimes they just need the right weather. Sometimes they are perfect as is.

I keep a small notebook and pen next to me in the vehicle as I travel across South Dakota. If I notice a particularly scenic rolling field that would look great when it’s planted with wheat I’ll jot down the location. The same goes for a spot that would make an interesting foreground for some nighttime photography. Some day I’ll come back to these locations when the conditions are right.

This summer I stumbled across a hillside filled with aspen trees on a gravel road in the northern Black Hills. A small grassy ridge was in front of it and I knew it would be perfect for some hikers to be standing on. I made a note of the location and the time of day that I thought would be best for photos.

Weeks later when the leaves were changing I talked my friend Julieanne Morse into posing for some images in that spot. I’m happy with the results, but it probably won’t be the last time I’m back there for more.

Identifying specific daytime locations that will look good in nighttime exposures can take a little practice, but once a photographer starts thinking that way it’s fairly easy to choose where to return to after dark. Looking for strong silhouette shapes will help.

Sometimes the landscape and/or the weather dictate that you must take a photo. When huge puffy white clouds float over the South Dakota landscape, you can bet I’m stopping my car at the first scenic spot I find. On a recent morning in Custer, a blanket of fog was filling the valley. I could tell the sky was clear above and the mist would soon be gone, so I made a beeline for Stockade Lake to shoot the sun breaking through. Knowing the best spot to be facing into the rising sun was critical to getting a good shot, so my mental notes on the lake came in handy.

Keeping a list, whether actually written or just in your head, will allow you to get the good shot when the situation arises.

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.

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Chasing Fall Color

By Christian Begeman

Fall in South Dakota is one of my favorite times of year. The grass turns golden, the trees begin to blush and air is crisp and clean. As much as I like the season, I find it one of the most challenging things to photograph well. First of all, fall is fleeting. There are some years that the mighty South Dakota winds remove the bulk of the leaves before their peak color, and even when the stiff breezes do not threaten, you can only really count on fall color peak for around a week at the most. It is also a very busy time of year with school and other fall activities in full swing so getting out to shoot can be difficult. Lastly, I’ve found that my camera rarely captures the essence of what I am seeing and experiencing around me without some real thought and effort. As much as I’d like it to be, chasing and capturing fall color simply is not as easy as pointing and clicking.

Let me try to explain what I mean. Have you ever looked out on a golden evening in fall in awe and were inspired to start taking photos to capture the beauty? It often feels like no matter where you point your camera, the image you create will be an award winner, only to find out later that the pictures you took are not very spectacular at all and some of them are downright bad. This happens to me a lot. I’m still learning that I have to be careful not to let the euphoria of a seeing an amazing scene take away from the fundamentals of taking a good photo. Here are some tips that help me go about it.

  1. Shoot at the golden hour. The hour or so before sunset and after sunrise will give you nice”golden” light that accentuates the fall color of the trees.
  2. Watch for and eliminate visual distractions. A lovely tree belt can be ruined if there is a cell phone tower two miles off jutting out behind it. I know because it has happened to me.
  3. Capture the detail. Wide, sweeping landscapes are wonderful if you can find them, but some of my favorite shots are of simple things like leaf veins or thistle seedlings.
  4. Try sidelight. I’ve found that direct sunlight on fall foliage can sometimes look harsh and unpleasing to the eye. Try the same scene at a different angle and the sunlight will do some amazing things with the color.
  5. Use a polarizer. I’ve had good luck with circular polarizers warming the fall colors and bringing the blue out in the sky which causes the yellows and oranges to pop.
  6. Green is good. A fall scene doesn’t have to be all yellow, orange or red. Some green mixed in can really set off the other colors and add zing to your photo.

There is still a lot of fall left in the air this year so hopefully you get out and capture some amazing fall photos before it is gone. Feel free to comment with your own tips as I’d love to hear what has worked for you.

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.

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Photographing Our Famous National Memorial

By Chad Coppess

Thousands of photos of Mount Rushmore National Memorial are taken each year. However, most of those photographs do not take into account that the carvings on Mount Rushmore are best photographed in the morning. The heads face southeast, so receive sunlight best from sunrise through approximately 10 am.

Sunrise can give the faces a pleasing orange or golden cast, but time of year has a large effect on shadows that form on the mountain at that time of day. Mid-summer sunrise will cast a shadow from the Lincoln head that will completely cover Roosevelt’s face. In early winter the sun has moved far enough south to eliminate the shadow almost completely.

Late afternoon and evening places the heads in full shade no matter what time of year you visit.

For an angle on Rushmore that’s a bit out of the ordinary, try these spots:

  • The profile of Washington’s head can be isolated against the sky at a turnout on Highway 244 about 1/2 mile west of the memorial parking area.
  • The Presidential Trail, which makes a loop from either side of the main viewing platform, leads to the bottom of the rock rubble pile below the faces. This gives the mountain carving a grand “monumental” feel as you look steeply up at the faces.

Two spots on the Presidential Trail are especially noteworthy:

If you took the left side branch of the trail from the viewing platform, just before you reach the rock pile you will see a short staircase leading downward to the left. It leads underneath two huge boulders leaning on each other. Through the crack between them you can frame the Washington and Lincoln heads.

A short walk past the boulder crack (or at the top of the steep staircase climb if you started from the right side of the viewing platform) is another short staircase leading upwards toward the carvings. Rounding a large rock you will come to what the park rangers call the “Hot Tub Terrace,” evidently because it would be an ideal spot for a backyard spa. There is an aspen tree here that provides some nice foreground contrast to all the rough granite piled around it. The tree also creates one of the few places to shoot fall colors with the faces at the appropriate time of year.

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.

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The Stars Above

By Christian Begeman

King David of the ancient Hebrews wrote that the heavens declare God’s glory and is proof the Creator exists (Psalm 19). Just over a century ago, Vincent Van Gogh painted his magnum opus”The Starry Night” which is now one of the most recognized images in the world. I can easily sing along to Skeets McDonald’s”Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes” from hearing it so often in our 1988 Oldsmobile car that featured a new-fangled car stereo cassette player. (Great Country Hits of the 50’s, The Statler Brothers and The Mamas and the Papas are all burned in my memory from those days. We only had a few cassettes at the time.)

All these thoughts and memories run through my mind when I’m out trying to capture photos of the stars. Just over a year ago, I happened to view some amazing timelapse videos of night scenes in Arizona and instantly made a decision that I needed to learn how to do that. Before I could start, I needed to learn how to take photos of the night sky.

The essentials include a tripod, flashlight, remote cable and a camera that allows you to set long exposures. Vampire sleeping habits are helpful too. My first attempts took place at Palisades State Park near Garretson, SD in mid-November of last year. One of my favorite images from that night is an example of what I call”flashlight graffiti.” I set a long exposure on my camera and proceeded to paint the rocks with light from my flashlight. I did my initials in one image and one of my favorite bands, U2, in another. I figure I now have something to send Bono and the boys if they need some unique artwork for their next album.

I went out to the Palisades again on a crisp, clear night in February. I brought two cameras and spent roughly two hours scrambling over the rocks in the dark getting scenes of the stars passing overhead. Once I got over scaring myself with horror movie scenes that kept popping into my head, the night turned into a magical time of just being in awe of our vast universe and God’s creation.

This spring and summer I have been trying to capture the Milky Way in the night sky. To do this you need to be well away from the light pollution of larger cities (I would suggest at least 20 miles) on a moonless night. It is also helpful to have a fast lens (f2.8 or less) and a sturdy tripod. I typically shoot around 30 second exposures at 1600 or 3200 ISO. It takes time and patience, but the rewards of capturing the starry hosts and being humbled by them are worth every minute of lost sleep. Just don’t watch any “Friday the 13th” movies before you go.

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.

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Shooting in the Dark

By Chad Coppess

Photographing in caves is literally shooting in the dark. Any and all light found in the depths of a cave is man-made and artificial. Why nature forms spectacular crystals and intriguing passageways in places that normally couldn’t be seen is a mystery to me.

Taking photos that show the underground beauty can be a challenge. One of the photos accompanying my last column sparked a reader question about how I took it.

I was shooting inside Black Hills Caverns near Rapid City, but it happened to be a slow day without many visitors. With no people in the shot, the cave looked a little stale. So I positioned my camera on a tripod, attached a flash with a cord on a second tripod off to the left of the camera.

Exposure time was set for around 30 seconds and the self-timer for the same, which gave me time to move down the passageway to a starting point for the photo. Carrying a small flashlight, as soon as I heard the shutter open I walked toward the camera wiggling my hand enough to make an interesting light trail. The tricky part was timing my walk so that I reached the spot just in front of the camera at the end of the exposure when the flash would go off and illuminate me.

I tried this around 25 times and was successful on two of them, but I got the shot. It’s been used in several publications promoting cave tours in the Black Hills.

Most of the natural caves in South Dakota have a gate, doorway or building built over the entrance so a photo from inside the cave looking out isn’t possible. Abandoned mines however quite often have openings that let some sunlight in and allow for fun silhouettes of people. Adding a person to many shots gives some idea of the scale of the landscape, whether it’s a vast prairie or a huge hole in the earth.

All three of the people in the mine photos accompanying this column are me. With a self timer and a little sprinting, you can add an explorer for scale to just about anything. That grizzled old prospector’s beard was added in later.

When looking for old mines and/or caves to photograph, make sure you aren’t trespassing and be very careful. Wandering into a dark tunnel can lead to falling down an unseen hole, twisting an ankle on uneven floors or waking up some critter that may not be happy about your intrusion.

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.

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The Little Things

By Christian Begeman

South Dakota is known for beautiful, wide open spaces, but did you know that compelling images can be made in a seemingly boring pasture or even your own backyard or garden? Up until last year, I had occasionally heard the term”macro” photography but really didn’t pay that much attention to it. Big mistake! Once I got a macro lens on my camera, my world of photography was literally given a brand new dimension to play in.

A macro lens is engineered to allow a photographer to focus on things that are very near to the camera lens. This allows for amazing close-ups of the little things. I have found interesting images in the pistils and stamens of colorful wildflowers as well as intriguing detail of things that normally would make you squirm, like bees, beetles and moths.

In early June, the temperature dipped to 38 degrees in Pierre, SD overnight. I happened to be out at Isabel Lake that morning as the sun came up. All the low lying areas were thick with fog and one of the heaviest dews I have seen in West River. I spent a couple hours wading and kneeling in the prairie grasses getting dew shots on grass and dew shots on spider webs and dew shots on pretty much anything I could see. It was really quite magical. When I got home, it looked like I had waded in the lake all morning as I was that soaked to the bone. Leave it to South Dakota to offer up such diversity in weather and photo opportunities!

The next day I was out looking for Prickly Pear Cactus blooms on the river hills and found some amazing drama on a rock face. A Dung Beetle had wandered too close to a foraging group of red headed thatching ants. The (relatively) big beetle had no chance as the ants firmly attached one to each leg and was pulling the beetle taut so he couldn’t move. It was really amazing to see, although I had to move on before the drama was over as the ants quickly discovered me and were half way up to my knee before I left. Until next time, enjoy the South Dakota scenery (and the little things)!

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, www.cbegeman.blogspot.com.

Contact Christian Begeman via email: begs@rocketmail.com

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Our State Photographer

By Chad Coppess

Welcome to the new photography column at SouthDakotaMagazine.com. Feels like I should introduce myself, so here goes.

I stepped into photography seriously around 1979 after my dad borrowed a camera from his office and shot some drag racing cars. I originally thought I wanted to work for Hot Rod Magazine, but soon began shooting for the Custer High School newspaper and yearbook.

A four-year degree in photography from Black Hills State University and an internship with the South Dakota Department of Tourism led me to jobs at newspapers in Spearfish, Sturgis and Princeton, Indiana. In 1993 I landed the fulltime position shooting for South Dakota Tourism and I’ve been here ever since.

If you’ve seen any promotional materials produced by the State of South Dakota or the other tourism organizations in the state you’ve probably seen my photography. I travel year-round attending fairs, festivals, rodeos, etc. and photographing attractions, historic sites, landscapes and wildlife. I also shoot for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

In 2007 I began publishing a photography blog at www.dakotagraph.com. It contains tips on when and where to shoot photos in South Dakota, best times of the year for certain locations, and examples of my work.

A few years ago co-worker Scott Howard and I noticed that digital photography had created a resurgence in picture taking, which lead us to co-found the Black Hills Photo Shootout in 2010. With a weekend of workshops taught by knowledgeable local photographers and some nationally-known shooters, the event drew 120 participants from 18 states. This year’s Shootout is Sept. 30-Oct. 2 and will feature a keynote presentation by cowboy photographer David Stoecklein. Check out the details at www.blackhillsphotoshootout.com.

I am constantly brainstorming ways to use my photography to promote South Dakota and the great opportunities here for travelers and photographers. You’ll find my photos in video games, connected to the hobby of geocaching, and in blogs about movies and music concerts.

So what we hope to accomplish with this column is to help you find what all there is to shoot in South Dakota, some tips on how to improve on your photo skills, and most importantly, get you out there shooting. It should complement what you’ll find at www.dakotagraph.com. If you’ve got questions along the way or topic ideas you’d like to see covered, send them this way. I’ll do my best to help everyone get photos they are proud of.

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On the Road

Christian Begeman’s photos are regularly featured in our magazine and on our website. They are also a fan favorite on our Facebook page. He is now one of our photo columnists and will be discussing his favorite South Dakota shooting locations and techniques. The slideshow on this page gives a glimpse into his photographic style. See more of his photos on his blog www.cbegeman.blogspot.com.

Begeman’s first column is an introduction to his South Dakota upbringing and his passion for photography.

By Christian Begeman

Hello, my name is Christian Begeman. I live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and grew up south of a small West River town called Isabel. If you live (or have lived) in South Dakota for any length of time you know well that amazing scenes can suddenly appear before you at any given time while traveling through the state. Whether a poetic sunset, a massive thunderstorm or the simple beauty of the rolling plains, South Dakota has a lot to offer a photographer of any skill level.

My interest in photography began when I was in high school. My dad had an Argus film camera with one lens. I remember taking it out to shoot some fall color photos in a creek near the Moreau River to fill out a roll of film. The results drew high praise from my mom, aunt and grandma, plus it was fun, so I was pretty much hooked after that. While in college, my folks helped me buy a used Minolta film camera with a couple lenses and flash and the following year I got a tripod for Christmas. Over the years, this hobby turned into more of a passion and lately I’ve found myself more out on the road than home when not working at my day job with Midcontinent Communications.

I can’t claim to be a professional photographer as I’ve only had a couple classes in college. Most of what I learned has been trial and error, or finding images I like from other photographers and then using tutorials on the internet or magazines to learn how the images were created. The digital camera revolution has made this kind of learning much easier (as well as less expensive). Now one can see and correct errors immediately after taking a photo rather than spending money to process a roll of film and forget how or why you took the picture in the first place. Needless to say, my digital camera has accelerated my learning and passion for photography by leaps and bounds.

Landscape and wildlife photography has always been my first and foremost love. Often you’ll find me driving the back roads of South Dakota with my camera”at the ready” in the passenger seat. Lately I have begun to learn and love night photography as well as macro photography. I hope to post more on those two topics in some of the future columns. Until then, enjoy the South Dakota scenery!