Hi ,
It seems that February came and went as quickly as every this year. Being the last full month of winter, February always makes me feel a little pull between missing those short, but exciting frost-filled days and looking forward to the promise of warmer temps and bare dirt.
February is also my birthday month. Whereas last year, I went on a whisky-sipping adventure on the wind swept shores of Islay off the west coast of Scotland, this year I stayed in Alaska and had a different kind of adventure: I did a 100-mile fat bike winter endurance race called the Susitna 100.
I’d done the SU100 three times before, but this year I went in with a lighter bike and much stronger legs. I was hoping to ride it in record time, but mother nature apparently had different ideas and I ended up having to push my bike for 30 miles under heavy falling snow, (14 hours straight on Sunday) and finished in 35 hours.
You can read a longer, more detailed account of my bike-pushing adventure here. Now, as I look forward to the rest of my 51st year, I’m pretty sure I got the hard part out of the way first. Of course, knowing me, that remains to be seen…
Filming Rebecca Rusch on The Iditarod Trail
After a short recovery, I headed back out into full winter conditions to film Rebecca Rusch as she raced in the Iditarod Trail Invitational, a 300+ mile fat bike race that follows the Iditarod Trail over the Alaska Range to the town of McGrath.
I don’t normally consider myself a video shooter, and in fact, this was my first large scale video project. That said, I had confidence in light, framing and capturing moments, and I had full confidence in the video capabilities of the Fujifilm X-T3.
In fact, before it was announced last year, Fujifim commissioned a 10 minute short called A Different Beyond to highlight just how capable it is. The film was directed by Matthew Libatique, whose credits include Black Swan and this year's highly acclaimed remake of A Star is Born.
This is a full-on professionally produced cinematic film, and if you haven’t seen A Different Beyond yet, you should definitely check it out. If there was any doubt about whether Fujifilm was ready for Hollywood, those myths have been dispelled. Read more about my
thoughts and experience shooting video with the X-T3 here.
Photography Tip - Shooting Against The Light
This month’s photography tip is about branching out from what’s safe. Often times, the obvious vantage point for getting a good exposure is to stand with your back to the light. In most situations, this will generally give you workable results, especially in especially pleasing light.
Of course, that’s not the only approach. When you're shooting with the light off to your side, you start to accentuate your shadows. This highlights shape and texture. But what if you're shooting straight towards the sun? This can be a tricky proposition, however, it can also yield very interesting lighting effects and compelling compositions.
The main benefits of shooting towards the light is that your camera is often pointed at the most brilliant colors of the scene. At dawn and dusk, the low sun illuminates the sky and any clouds that are present with a bright colorful glow.
The other obvious benefit with backlighting, is that it's the exact light you need for creating silhouettes and sunstars. It will also accentuate any kind of haze, fog, mist, dust, rain, hoar frost or falling snow in your scene. It’s also the right kind of light for creating sun flares.
Read this post to see a number of photos that were shot straight towards the sun. Hopefully it will give you some ideas for your own scenes.
Luminar 3 - Now Has Support for the Fuji X-T3 and Nikon Z Series
Skylum Software just released a new update to Luminar 3 which adds full support for a number of new cameras, including the Fujifilm X-T3 and the new Nikon Z Series, as well as some new features and performance upgrades.
The program keeps getting better, and with the major addition of the Library feature back in December, Luminar now offers a full service solution for you to organize, browse, process and export your images.
I realize that Luminar is not for everyone, but I enjoy the simplicity and creativity it offers. Given that it has a 60-day money back guarantee, it’s certainly worth trying.
Current Luminar 3 users can update to the latest version from inside the program via the Check for Updates menu item. If you decide to purchase Luminar, use discount code DANBAILEY to save $10 on the program.
Read this post to see what’s been added to both the Mac and Windows version and see the list of cameras that Luminar now supports.
Around The Web
My friend and fellow X-Photographer Bryan Minnear isn’t actually a full-time shooter, and yet he’s a wonderfully creative and influential. Read his thoughts on balancing creativity and work with his post Why I Have a Full Time Job.
There’s no question that Instagram has forever changed the travel photography world. Here’s a great article by on The Wandering Lens by Lisa Michelle Burns called The Power of Instagram - How it’s Changing the Way We Create + Travel.
Galen Rowell is without a doubt my biggest photography influence. From my very early days with the camera, I was drawn to his incredible imagery, and also his intelligent, introspective writing style. Here’s one of Outdoor Photography column from 1998 called Grand Illusions where he talks about the power of photography to trigger strong emotions.
Check out this gorgeous collection of imagery by Dutch photographer Albert Dros. It’s a series of Iceland aerials that he calls Paintings From The Sky.
Final Thoughts
Ok , that’s all for this issue. Thanks so much for reading. I hope that you were able to get out and take some wonderful photos during February. If you’ve got a recent image that’s particularly good, feel free to share it with me or tag me on social media so I can see. Better yet, upload it to my Outdoor Adventure Photography Flickr Group, and be sure to follow my Flickr page here.
Finally, stay tuned for my first eCourses, which I’m planning to launch later this year. If you have any specific topics that you’d like to see me cover as an eCourse, please let me know. I want to make sure I’m giving you content and instruction that you want, so I would love your input.
Take care, enjoy my recent posts and happy shooting!
-Dan
Save 15% On My Latest eBook with Your Special Discount Code: BTLCODE15
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