Best of the Tetons Archives - Page 61 of 63

December 9, 2014

Teton County Fair 2014

You Might Want To Buckle Up for Some Lights, Action, Endless Fun, and a Few Unexpected Twists!

The Teton County Fair is held each year at the Teton County Fairgrounds. I look forward to the last part of June, knowing it will be in town. It’s a welcome break after being out taking wildlife and scenic photos all summer. And, it’s fun! Frazier Shows rolls in and sets up their brightly lit rides and attractions for the last five days of the fair. It’s a photographer’s paradise! Let’s see…it’s close to home. There’s no gate fee or admission to walk around the rides and attractions. They don’t have a problem with me toting around my camera, tripod and even a remote strobe. Colors are bright. Actions is constant. What’s not to like? Based on all the big smiles and constant laughter I see and hear, it appears kids and families are having fun, too.

To be honest, the hardest part of making this post for Best of the Tetons is trying to figure out which images to include and how many of them people might want to see! I “kept” over a thousand images from the three or four afternoons and nights of shooting. That’s a huge number for me, but there were so many unique and interesting captures. What the heck!…hard drive space is relatively cheap, and once deleted, they’re gone. I went through this year’s keepers in Lightroom and highlighted what felt like a “few” I might want to show here. After processing those, I ended up with a folder of around 80 of images. Now you might understand my dilemma! Here’s a quick cross section of the processed images:

Vertigo and Cliff Hanger: I captured a lot of similar images with simple motion blur while keeping the camera still on a tripod. I froze the action on others.

Zipper: Some images had dizzying action, along with a little of the area’s mountainous backdrop and summer skies.

Livestock Auction: Away from the lights and action of the midway, I found traditional activities like this 4H Livestock Auction.

Wacky Shack: On the midway, I photographed a lot of images of the crowds, lights, and attractions.

Salsa: People make the fair, so I stopped and captured some of them testing their luck and skills.

Salsa Rewards: Tight—then tighter!

Goldfish: There are lots of details! …Details of all flavors, colors and shapes. Toss a ping-pong ball in a cup and you can go home with one these little finned prizes!

Light Details: Did I mention there are a lot of chances to capture detail images?

Ferris Wheel: This is a Ferris Wheel? Really? Each night, I spent time doing experimental photography—way above and beyond the traditional motion blurs I did in previous years. A large chunk of the keepers were shots that would be impossible to recreate. They consisted of long exposures, unpredictable motion of the rides along with variations while twisting, moving, and zooming my various lenses during long exposures.

Ferris Wheel: This year, Frazier Shows replaced the old bulbs with a state of the art “LED Package”. They were proud of it. Lights changed colors and went through a long and varied set of patterns and colors. By the end of my shooting, I realized there is a fair people actually see, and a whole other fair only a photographer with a tripod can see.

Do you want more?

If you’ve seen enough, thanks for viewing! If you want more, the rest of the page will be filled with additional keepers and a little bit of explanation for each. I hope they will be worth your time!

Vertigo, Midway, and Ferris Wheel: The first night, I added a “star filter” to the front of my Nikon 24-70mm lens. I shot with a Nikon D800 body. All of the images on this page are single shots, processed in Lightroom and then exported as JPGs for the post. The star filter was rotated so the stars were at roughly an 45° angle.

Cliff Hanger and Vertigo: I shot a while with the star filter, but a little of it goes a long way.

Cliff Hanger: I found the Cliff Hanger to be the toughest ride to photograph. Why? Most of the rest of the rides have lights on the seats or capsules. After the sun goes down, the airplane shapes of this ride go black and get almost no light from an outside source. That ride needs to be captured just as the sun is going down as seen here. Of course, you can photograph it during the daylight hours, but it lacks the drama!

Zipper: The zipper is a very dynamic ride. I rode it the first year we moved here in 1987. I was dizzy for a couple of days afterwards and haven’t been on it since. Kids have no problems. I liked this shot because it shows the ghostly capsules against the late evening light. The Zipper’s motion later in the night negates the problem of the unlit capsules.

Zipper: This ride is really a no-brainer! On a long exposure like this one, the ride does all the work! This one was shot at ISO 100, 5 seconds, and F/22 using a Nikon 14-24 wide angle lens. I was shooting almost straight up at 14mm.

Zipper Hub: This is the hub of one of the two big wheels. I like to look for broken patterns. In this case, the missing few lights and covers tell a bit of a story and make the shot interesting. Earlier, I mentioned being able to tote around a tripod. I carried my backpack with me most the time and interchanged the 70-200mm, 24-70mm and 14-24mm lenses.

Zero Gravity: This is an example of shooting with the longer lens from a distance. This was a 2.5 second exposure at F/22.

Freak Out: On one of the evenings, I went early. I had a cobalt blue sky that day. I was able to stop the action on these fast moving rides, but I wasn’t too excited about the shot. In Lightroom, I grabbed the blue slider in the HSL tab and dragged it around just for fun.

Freak Out: When looking back the other direction, I started seeing thin clouds in the late evening skies. Most of the ride than turned into a silhouette with only a few lights adding shape to it.

Freak Out: Later in the night, it was easy to get long streaking lights. This one was exposed for 1.6 seconds at F/18

Freak Out: I liked the way the kids were having to look straight up on this one. I captured it at 14mm on a 14-24 mm zoom lens. In an attempt to freeze the riders, I opened up to F/3.5 and had to go to ISO 2000 to get a 1/200th second exposure.

Freak Out: Fog came out of the seats at the beginning of each ride on Freak Out. I photographed it over and over trying to capture the essence of that moment. This one was captured at 1/20th second at F/3.5.

Freak Out: I can “spin” my camera when it is mounted onto a 70-200 mm lens by loosening the thumb screw knob on the collar. For this shot, I exposed for a split second to burn in the “Freak Out” lettering, then spun the camera close to 360° during the remainder of the 1 second exposure. It took a little practice.

Two Mikes: In one of the midway trailers, there was a big screen TV with a split/mirror effect. That’s two of me taking the self portraits.

Cotton Candy Factory: Just a simple shot of a vendor on the midway. After the first night of photography, I pitched the idea of a photo spread about Fair signage to SignCraft Magazine. They bought into the idea. The article is already on the streets with about 20 of my images from the fair.

Pizza by the Slice: I doubt this person knew I was taking her photo.

Richard Fletcher from Hampton, NH not only knew I was taking his photo, he put on his official jacket and struck his pose for me. I took this one with an off camera strobe.

Rubber Duckies 1: I shot this one with a wide open aperture, focusing on a ducky near the middle, allowing the ones in front and behind to go out of focus.

Rubber Duckies 2: I shot shot this one at F/22 and used an off camera flash.

Light Sabres: A photo of a pile of LED light sabres in a bucket along the midway.

The Line and the Light Sabre: The parents had to stand in line to ride the Ferris Wheel, but the kids were playing with their new light sabres.

Riders: I see this kind of shot in National Geographic fairly often. Something in the distance is in perfect focus, yet one or two people are severely out of focus in one of the corners. I had to time this one and it took several tries. The kids would zip by on some sort of small car.

Ferris Wheel: Lots going on here! The wheel itself is slightly in motion. Normally, you hold the camera still and twist the barrel of the zoom lens to actually zoom an image (see below). In this version, I held the barrel of the zoom lens still and twisted the camera. I clicked and held for a split second, then spun the camera in the collar of the tripod. That combination created a spiral effect during the zoomed exposure.

Sizzler: For this shot, I used the zoom feature on the barrel of the lens during the long exposure. I burned in the shot initially, zoomed, then stopped just before the shutter closed.

Still More?

There’s a lot on this page already! Instead of packing on too many more images in this post, I created a sister post The Abstract Fair from the 2014 Fair with all experimental abstract images.

The Abstract Fair

Not exactly your everyday images of the Teton County Fair!

You might recognize this image as the Vertigo ride. It is simply a long exposure using a mid-range telephoto lens mounted on a sturdy tripod. The Fair shots for me has been a “journey”. The first year, shot mostly traditional images, many of which were frozen and some with motion blur. Then I started zooming in or out to create a faux “hyperspace” look. Last Christmas, I started experimenting with twisting or spinning the camera. That requires a lens with a collar like my 70-200mm—something I couldn’t do with my regular 24-70 mm lens. Later in the year, I tried the spins on fireworks at the New Year’s Eve torch light parade at Snow King. By the time the fair rolled around this year, I was beginning to combine spins, zooms and various jiggling techniques. The county fair is great because, unlike fireworks displays, I get “do overs”. Each night, I could review my latest captures and start thinking about other possibilities for the next night. The shots below are not in any particular order, but possibly you can see how shots built on other shots. By the end, I was beginning to anticipate results, even if I could NEVER repeat them exactly.

Vertigo: For this shot, I zoomed in tight on Vertigo and exposed it for much longer. The top image was exposed for 1/5th second and the one above was exposed for 1.6 seconds.

Sizzler: This images is created by zooming either in or out during a long exposure. Total exposure: 1 second.

Sizzler (?): When I press the shutter “while” spinning the camera, everything is blurred. Total exposure: 2 seconds.

Sizzler: For this exposure, I pressed the shutter button, paused for a split second to let the bulbs and lettering “burn in” before spinning. That gives me trails behind the bulbs. Total exposure: .8 second.

Sizzler?: For this shot, I “jiggled” the camera while spinning it. Total exposure: .5 second.

Freak Out: The Freak Out ride is crazy enough, but for this image, I swirled the camera during the long exposure. Total exposure: 1.3 second.

Unknown Ride: This one is similar to the technique above. I swirled the camera around during a long exposure, multiplied by the movement of the ride. Total exposure: .5 second.

Sizzler: These lights were intentionally set to be Out of Focus. It was just an experiment. Possibilities? Hmmmm. Yes, I can visualize a few right now! Total exposure: 1/60th second.

Ferris Wheel: I used a star filter the first night. There were some interesting effects, but I got tired of it quickly. Total exposure: 1/10th second.

Ferris Wheel: I had to go back and look at images captured just before and just after this shot to know which ride it was. I just swirled the camera towards the colorful lights. Total exposure: .8 second.

Freak Out: I was using a Wimberly Sidekick mounted to my tripod. I locked the pan lever down, but left the up and down knob loose. For this shot, I clicked then raised the lens upward over the period of the exposure. This opens the door for locking the up and down and panning side to side. Next year… Total exposure: 1 second.

Vertigo: This is a six second exposure of a fast spinning ride. Total exposure: 6 seconds.

Ferris Wheel: For this image, I zoomed into an area of the hub of the wheel. I clicked the shutter and held still for the first part of the exposure, then zoomed out, stopping again to get the two sets of circles with connecting lines. Total exposure: .8 second.

Ferris Wheel: This shot has both a zoom and a spin. Total exposure: .6 second.

Ferris Wheel: Zoom, twist, and move! The new LED light package ran through a series of patterns and color changes. All I had to do was learn the sequence, then wait for my favorite colors to come around again. Total exposure: .8 second.

Zipper: I jiggled the camera as the hub of the ride spun. 1 second

Zipper: Similar to some of the other shots, I just spun the camera during the exposure. Effects are somewhat controllable by experimenting with the speed of the spin and duration of the exposure. Total exposure: 1/5th second.

Sizzler: More spinning. Total exposure: .8 second.

Vertigo: Back to where I started. I angled the vertical post and exposed for a long exposure to let the chairs streak across the image. Total exposure: .8 second.

If you already read the sister post to this one, you’d know I kept over a thousand images from three or four nights of shooting at the fair this year. I deleted quite a few of them on the first pass, but I had trouble wanting to delete the rest. I can’t possibly show them all here, but you should get a good idea of what I was going for this year. The fair ended following the last Figure 8 event on a Sunday night. In most years, the crews broke the rides down and were driving out of town at day break. This year, they had a few extra days to get to their next fair so they took their time. I went to the fairgrounds to take a few photos of the rides, some of which were fully packed and some somewhere in the process. An official looking guy came out when he saw me taking photos. Turns out he was the manager of Frazier Shows. Next year, he said I could ride the Ferris Wheel and they’d stop it with me at the top to allow me to take photos from up there shooting down. I can hardly wait!

Embracing Fog and Low Clouds

Always Challenging—Sometimes Rewarding!

It’s easy to want to roll back over in bed and sleep through a foggy morning. That could be a mistake!

Fog usually settles into the lowest portions of the valley. If the weather reports forecast fog, I can usually count on it, but we regularly get fog without their forecast. During the summer and fall months, I can almost always anticipate fog in the morning after a late evening or overnight rain. Throughout the winter and spring months, fog can be “generated” by the relative “warm” waters of the Snake River, Gros Ventre, Buffalo River, and Flat Creek. Some mornings, the entire Jackson Hole valley can be blanketed with a thick layer of fog.

Much of how you experience a foggy morning depends on where you are at the time. (Click this image to see it much larger!)

The image above might shed some insight on foggy morning opportunities. It illustrates three “zones”. On the far right, there’s a thick layer of fog in the river bottom across from Triangle X Ranch. Anyone there, or at Cunningham Cabin, Moosehead Ranch, and probably Elk Flats would think the entire world is socked in with fog. Their chances of getting a sunrise shot is almost non-existent. The center section of the image above is the area I’d be searching for on most foggy mornings. I think of it as being along the “edges” of the fog. There are lots of possibilities for photography there. Lastly, the area on the upper left has very little fog. Someone standing of the sage flats might have no clue there is fog anywhere in the valley. They’d be looking at the featureless blue sky towards the mountain range.

Thick Fog: The photo above shows a few of the possibilities while in the thick fog. The following four or five images were taken at the “edges” of the fog or as the thick fog is lifting.

Fog can come in many colors, depending on the time of the morning and how the sunlight is being filtered. About 30 minutes before first light on some mornings, Alpenglow light is often lavender, rose, and pink. It takes a half mile snow shoe hike to get to Cunningham Cabin in the winter.

Aiming through fog and back into the sunrise can bring out both cool and warm colors. This period doesn’t last long. Interestingly, I have very few fog images with clouds above the mountains. The areas near Triangle X and along the Gros Ventre might be the two best places to get both in the same scene. This image was taken along the Gros Ventre River.

As the sun clears the eastern hills and mountains, the light is often amber or gold for a few minutes and the fog picks it up beautifully. I believe this shot was captured next to Cunningham Cabin.

By mid-morning, fog is often a variation of neutral gray. Detail is removed as distance increases. Taken along Mormon Row road.

Even small bodies of water can create steam or some form of morning fog. Taken along the East Boundary Road.

This isn’t your normal summer, mid-day tourist’s shot of the Grand. At the edges, fog can become a welcome ally. With no wind, it can linger in the valley for hours, and it can change from light fog to thick fog and back again over periods of only minutes. Taken on the Gros Ventre River near the town of Kelly.

It takes a little patience and luck to get the elements to work. I waited for the fog to start lifting to expose the Cathedral Group, but there was no guarantee the tops of the peaks were going to be visible. Many fog shots are called “high-key” images. In other words, they are heavily weighted towards the white or light side. On those kinds of shots, the camera is trying to average all the white down to neutral gray, resulting in underexposed images. It’s a good idea to check the histogram on the back of the camera regularly and add some “plus EV”…as much as a full stop. Still, I don’t like overdoing that step as there usually isn’t a lot of noise in the lights and most fog shots have a fair amount natural grain. Taken at the Old Patriarch Tree east of String Lake.

This is the exact same image as the one above it. Besides the initial capture, which is an artistic endeavor all by itself, I later get to take some control of the image in post processing. Without seeing he bottom image, you’d know there is a layer of fog between me and the wrangler in the top image. That’s the more natural version. In the lower image, I simply adjusted the “black point” slider in the negative direction. In some images, going too far with the adjustment can strip the fog element out of the capture in a negative manner.

This bull moose was roughly 40 yards away. Details are missing, but that’s exactly the point on a foggy morning shot. Taken on the floor of the Gros Ventre River bottom.

Fog is a fairly important “player” in this shot. It helps emphasize the buck rail fence and thus the cowboy way of life still going on in the Tetons. Taken of a Triangle X wrangler.

There are no “wild mustangs” in GTNP. These trail horses were photographed near Triangle X Ranch a few years back. I have lots of photos or running horses, but adding fog, Mt. Moran, and buck-rail fences can help “build” an interesting shot. Normally, I’d want to hold some details in the black horse, but on a foggy morning, I can live with losing some of the features.

This Bull Moose was in the Kelly Warm Springs. I’ve lived here 28 years and never seen that before. Bison—yes. Geese, White-faced Ibis, kids, and kayakers—yes! I shot away, as anyone else might have done that morning. I like the shot, and I am happy to have it, but the photo leaves me wanting “more” information.

Personally, I like this simple shot better. It puts the tiny flock of geese in a huge environment. Taken from the highway across from Triangle X Ranch.

I walked out into the opening back in 2007 and snapped this sterile looking image of the barn. It might be the perfect shot of the T.A. Moulton barn for some purpose (like a blog talking about fog), but similar to the moose in the springs above, I think it needs something more. (click the image if you want to see it larger)

This was taken the same morning, but I chose to include some foreground subject matter. Close elements are full of detail and saturated in color, but both are reduced by the fog as the elements fall farther back into the scene. Taken at Mormon Row.

I am always watching for this kind of fog opportunity. The fog layers various “zones of elements” in the scene. Fog can also used to simplify otherwise cluttered scenes, even in town! Of course, I captured this on Mormon Row.

These domestic horses were photographed along Spring Gulch Road on my way North. Another herd is commonly seen across from Elk Flats near Moosehead Ranch. This is another example of adding something recognizable to the bigger landscape scene, even if the mid-ranged subjects are still partially featureless.

On many cold, foggy mornings, hoar frost clings to branches and twigs. This image was taken only minutes after the fog lifted along Mormon Row. Distant low clouds and fog turned blue that morning, complimenting the orange hues in the old homestead. I also like to do close-up shots of leaves, berries, and branches on mornings with hoar frost.

Fog can lift and reveal all kinds of hidden treasures! I captured this one at a “secret spot“…er…Oxbow Bend.

I drove up Shadow Mountain on this morning to find an “ocean of fog” below. Anyone on the valley floor would be seeing white fog for quite a while, yet it was clear above it all. Skiers are always talking about inversions. They can get above the fog and cold along the valley floor and stay above the cloud line for a much warmer day. While I covered mostly ground fog on this page, it is possible on some days to drive up Teton pass and get “into the clouds”. I am sure there are plenty of distinctions between hovering clouds and low ground fog, but most of it is the same for photography.

Thick fog can turn into ribbons of thin clouds before quickly disappearing. “At the edges” conditions change quickly. The hillside is Blacktail Butte along the Gros Ventre Road.

Shooting Comments: I don’t think there are too many special considerations for taking photos of fog. I watch the histograms on the back of my camera to make sure I am not blowing out highlights.I normally shoot with Custom White balance set to around 5200K, but Cloudy or Sunny would work, and if shooting in a raw format, I can always change it in post production. Many fog shots are taken early in the morning, so having a solid tripod gives me a few more options as far as shutter speed goes. Most of the shots on this page were taken with a 24-70 lens, though a few might have been taken with a 70-200mm mid range telephoto. The last shot above was actually taken at 200mm on a 200-400mm lens. I was out in the sagebrush taking photos of a nice bull moose when I saw this lifting fog.

Final Comments: Foggy days are a “great equalizer” as it strips the majestic Teton Range away. Fog can occur at various times in just about all areas of the country, so you don’t have to live in Teton County in NW Wyoming to capture it. Similar scenes to the one above are abundant across the US. This is the T.A. Moulton Barn at a slightly different angle.

Watch for the Edges! Sometimes you can get in the vehicle and drive a few miles up or down the valley to find the edges of the fog. In most instances, that’s where most of the interesting shots will be. >>MJ

Please note: Images on this page are fully protected with an official copyright at the US Copyright Office. No unauthorized use is granted.

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December 1, 2014

Flehmen Response or “Lip Curl” in GTNP Moose

During the fall rut, Moose commonly display a Flehmen Response—or lip curl. Anytime a moose bull smells the urine of a cow, you can expect a Flehmen Response to follow. Savvy photographers click away!

In reality, “Flehmen is performed by a wide range of mammals including ungulates and felids.” (Click the link for more information at Wikipedia or do your own searches for technical definitions). Images on this page will include Moose, Wild Mustangs, Mountain Goats, and Bighorn Sheep. Elk and cats like Mountain Lions also perform a lip curl, even if I don’t have photos. The image above is typical of a bull moose in a Flehmen Response. The mouth is open with his head pointed high into the sky. Often, their eyes close, as in a trance. The whole event can last a roughly minute. According to Wikipedia, “The behavior facilitates the transfer of pheromones and other scents into the vomeronasal organ located above the roof of the mouth via a duct which exits just behind the front teeth of the animal.”

Moose in Velvet: From my experiences watching moose in the fall, the big bulls show little interest in the cows before they strip their velvet. Bulls seldom spar or fight while still in velvet. Still, this bull felt the need to do an early season lip curl.

Early Fall: Most moose strip their velvet in September—a few days or a week either side of Labor Day. Leaves are still usually lime green as seen in this morning capture.

Fall Bull and Cow: As fall progresses, a bull finds a potential mate and stays with her until she goes out of season, then he moves on to find another cow.

Young Bull: This bull is probably three years old and is already getting into the act. Prime cows will not let him breed, but he will still play out the fall routine. It is always nice to have a young bull in the area. They have much more energy and keep the larger bulls active running them away from their potential mate.

Fog: Weather doesn’t deter the fall rut. Rain, fog, snow, sleet…it doesn’t matter!

Moose Rut in the Stream: I’ve always been able to get my best moose images in the early mornings. They are active for about the first hour of light, then bed down for most of the warm and bright hours. Early morning steam added some character to this shot.

October Bull: Bull moose cover a lot of ground searching for ready cows. This bull spent much of the early fall under the Snake River bridge at Moose Junction. Later, I found him at Schwabacher Landing, and again at the Shane Cabin. A few days later, he was along the Gros Ventre. I last saw him out in the sagebrush near Ditch Creek.

December Bull: I photographed this nice bull on December 7th of 2013. Most of the rut is usually over by then, but bulls still display a Flehmen Response if they smell the urine of a cow.

Mountain Goat: Many other ungulates display a Flehmen Response during their fall rut.

Bighorn Ram: Both young and old rams do a “lip curl” as seen here.

Wild Mustang: I photographed this beat up old Mustang stallion near Rock Springs, WY. Watch for a Flehmen Response in hooved animals (ungulates) and cats.

I am probably prejudiced, but I think Flehmen Responses in Moose and Elk are probably the most dramatic. Their large antlers roll back as their noses reach for the sky.