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Photographic opportunities for anyone willing to brave the elements.

We’ve had snow here in Jackson Hole on the 4th of July, so getting a blast of it in April should not be a surprise to anyone. It’s great for the high country snow pack and the reservoirs that hold the water it produces. My kids are always saying something is “bad” when they really mean it’s good—like “that’s a bad ride”. So, when it’s “bad” outside, it can be “good”. If not good—unique!

On most snow days, the majestic mountains in the Teton Range are covered with clouds. This more or less forces me to look for alternative angles and views. Most shots of the two historic barns are taken from only a few spots. Right? I enjoy just milling around and looking for interesting compositions—even if the Tetons are not part of the picture.

Half Mile Barn: I took this shot from Antelope Flats Road using a Tamron 150-600mm lens on a D800. This image was captured at 600mm.

Chambers Barn: Taken from the same spot with the same equipment.

Heavy Snow captured at 1/125th second: The flakes are mostly frozen.

Heavy Snow captured at 1/8th second: The flakes streak as they pass in front of the subjects.

TA Moulton Barn — Front View:

TA Moulton Barn — Front View: On snow days, I typically take dozens of the same shot. They won’t be exactly the same, of course, because of the endless concentrations of flakes. This is a random pick out of the group. On a “real” project, I’d go through all of them looking for the best one. When photographing animals in the snow, like moose, I shoot even more! I end up looking for images without a big flake across their eyes.

Long Distance Shot to the John Moulton Homestead: I’ve never measured it, but I’d guess the distance between barns is around half a mile.

Windmill:

Remains of the Old Fences:

Chambers Homestead:

Chambers Homestead: The snow lasted long enough for me to walk around the various homesteads. The Bed & Breakfast is still privately owned and is marked with signs, but tourists and photographers are allowed to mill around the rest of the areas.

Cart: This cart is actually on the Bed & Breakfast property, but I don’t think they care if you shoot from outside the fences. It helps to find subjects with dark areas behind them to show the falling snow.

 

The Gate: I shot this one with a telephoto lens from across the road with a wide open aperture. It helped blur the background and isolate the gate.

Gate and Wheel: The snow was not coming down as briskly on this shot of the corner gate at the Bed & Breakfast. Here’s their link: Moulton Ranch Cabins | Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Chambers Shed: For a lot of the images on this page, I “opened up the shadows” by dragging the Shadows slider to the right in Lightroom. Doing so helps reveal some of the snow flakes against the dark zones.

TA Moulton Barn: For the snow shots today, I set my camera up with “back button focusing”. Large flakes can play havoc with the camera’s auto focus. With back button focusing, I am able to put the center focusing sensor on the corner of the building. When the focus locks down on the corner, I let up on the back button. That sets the focus. I can recompose the scene. When I press the shutter button (even half way), the back button focus settings prevent the AF from trying to find a new position. On a daily basis, I go back and forth between the default focusing and back button focusing, but this is definitely a good time for the latter. Here’s a YouTube tutorial if you are not familiar with the feature: Back Button Focus : Steve Perry on YouTube

TA Moulton Barn: I moved back and shot through the cottonwoods on this one. I am not sure if I like it, but it was worth a try.

Moulton Barn with Wintering Robin:

A Softer View: The artist side of my training is always tugging at me after a photographic shoot. For this image, I dragged the “clarity” slider to the left instead of the right to create a soft layer in Photoshop. I made a second version of the image in Lightroom with more traditional settings and brought that into Photoshop. I used the “Find Edges” filter in Style group of Photoshop filters on that layer, then desaturated the results. I pasted that image on top of the soft layer, and changed the blending mode to Multiply, then adjusted the opacity to fit. This little image took only a few minutes to make (for this blog post). If I were doing a more serious version, I’d soften or reduce the dark edges on the branches at the bottom. If someone asked, I could do a tutorial on this technique in a future Feature Post. If you were to scroll up to the gate image, you might notice this is just a cropped area of that image. On a personal level, this image trips my trigger more than the literal photograph.

Winter Robin: For this image, I desaturated everything but the Robin.

High Key: This is the same image as the one at the very top. I did a quick “curves” adjustment. Snow day images leave you will tons of post processing flexibility.

Comments: “Bad” weather is all the more reason for me to want to be out. I am not a big fan of heavy, steady rain, but I love being out as storms are moving in or moving out. Snow storms usually offer opportunities at showcasing familiar subjects in an entirely different manner. We’ll probably get additional snow days through April and possibly into May. Count on me being out, and if you are around, I’d suggest doing the same!

Please, if you like this post, share it on any of the Social Media sites like Facebook and Pinterest. And, please respect my copyrights! MJ

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Click to view slideshow.

Images Captured Either Late in the Night or Early in the Morning.

After the sun drops behind the clouds, most photographers and tourists are diving home or heading into town for dinner. When conditions are right, I might just be getting started. Who needs sleep! Images on this page are augmented with a little artificial light—usually a flashlight. The size of the flashlight varies based on the subject, the distance from the camera, and the amount of ambient light. I used a small pen light on a few and a 2 million candle power flashlight for others. The image above illustrates how just a little light can help tremendously.

Note: I processed the images for this post larger than normal. Click each image to get a better view!

T.A. Moulton Barn: When I set up to take this image, I never knew the bison were there! I started the 10 second timer, then ran down the little trail on the left side of the scene. I turned on the flashlight and lit the scene as normal. That’s when I saw the dark shapes. I only got one capture before they moved off to the right.

Chapel with Night Stars: Several of the popular spots work well for light painting. Man made objects like barns, windmills, and fences make good subjects.

Oxbow Gold: You can image most photographers and tourists were long gone as I was making this photo. The “window of opportunity” for a shot like this is typically very short and you have to be a bit on the lucky side to hit it right.

Moulton Barn and Milky Way: Royce Bair was in town last year doing a night photography workshop. We had lunch together and he showed me an image he had captured. It presented a bit of a challenge, so I went out to see if I was up to it. This is actually a stitched “panoramic” image consisting of three or four vertical, wide angle captures.

Schwabacher Landing: In 2013, the Park Service closed Schwabacher Landing to vehicles and bikes for the summer. I drove to the pull-out at about 3:00am and walked down the road in the pitch black darkness—armed with my bear spray of course. I photographed it during the dark skies, but liked this one captured during the “blue light” period an hour or so before sunrise. I stayed for the morning sunrise. Others were walking in as I was heading back to the vehicle. In the light of morning, I could see lots of bear tracks in the mud along the road. The road has been reworked and, beginning again in May, people can drive to the parking lots as in previous years.

Snowman: For this shot, I rolled up three snowballs at home and loaded them into my truck. I made a “snowman kit” complete with hat, scarf, arms, corn cob pipe, and the face elements. The hat came from a Halloween shop on the Internet. I added the band and holly sprig. We used this image for our Christmas cards that year and we had a custom puzzle made for the Grandmas and Grandpas.

Carriage: One of the advantages of living here is being able to make friends with ranch owners and concessionaires. I doubt many people could get access this property for a night shot like this. A bright light at the ranch cast a strong green cast into the scene. I would have preferred it to be off, but that’s sometimes asking too much!

Saddle and Tack: Other shots like this one are a little easier to set up. Last year, I bought this old saddle, lariat, blanket, bridle and cinch strap. One of the local ranchers gave me a worn out pair of gloves and I borrowed the chaps (chinks to be specific). I also found an old hat off eBay, for for this shot, the hat was too white and dominated the shot. I took this shot at the buck rail fences at the Shane Cabin last fall.

Tools of the Trade: Unlike the other images on this page, I set this still life up in my office. All the items have a lot of character and texture. This particular image is a composite of maybe six images, lit at different times.

Twin Barns: These two beautiful historic barns are well off the beaten path here in the Tetons. It took a little work to obtain permission to shoot there. The property went up for sale not long afterwards and I probably couldn’t get access again.

Night Barn: I probably have hundreds of night shots of the two Moulton Barns taken over the past six or seven years. I like the clouds mixed in with the starry night on this one.

Cactus Flowers: Not all night shots need to capture a large scene. Wildflowers work well, too. It helps to try to photograph them on a windless night, but that can also mean doing so with swarms of mosquitoes buzzing around and biting.

Columbine: I had to go back several times to get this shot. Wind was a problem on the earlier attempts.

December Barn: Winter light painting usually requires just a “touch” of light. I typically don’t do much light painting on full moon nights. A crescent moon is normally okay, but it doesn’t take much of a moon to overpower the night scene.

Boise Penitentiary: I included this image to illustrate there are light painting opportunities just about anywhere. You don’t need Tetons to go out at night! Still, if you are IN the Tetons, why not include them!

Chevy Truck: Some subject matter works well “grunged” to taste in post production. A little contrast, grain and texture can add some interest and mood.

Old Patriarch and the Milky Way: After taking the shots, this capture requires a 3/4 mile walk back to the truck in total darkness. The golden/green light in the lower left is light pollution from the town of Jackson. Even so, our little corner of Wyoming contains some of the darkest, least polluted night skies in the country.

Comments: It’s easy to lose a lot of sleep to get images like these. During the summer months, it is not uncommon to be dragging into the house after midnight or getting up at 3:00am. I prefer the evening shooting the best because I have a bigger window of time to take the photos. Light gets too bright too quickly in the morning. Spring and Fall are great times to stay out late. I prefer the “blue light” period, but many Milky Way photographers thrive on the time between the two blue light periods. Typically, I start shooting after I can see the first dozen or so stars. If photographing objects like the saddle and fence, I can start a little earlier, but it takes a while to balance the mountain silhouette with the subjects. Exposures range between 10 seconds and 30 seconds on most of the images on this page. ISO can go up to 4500 to 6400, but I prefer 3400 or below. Most of the images on this page were captured with one single image, but I am not against taking two or three and merging them if it takes the extra frame to get the better final image. That’s a personal call. And speaking of personal calls: I tend to like to keep my night shots at least somewhat believable. For my way of thinking, they still need to look like night shots—dark and moody. It is possible to brighten the sky, milky way, and stars to a point the scene becomes unbelievable. On a personal level, that point of believability swings from one extreme to another from year to year. Over the years, I’ve begun to fall back to “a little light goes a long way” and I like my night sky to look like a night sky.

Additional Resources

• Night Time In the Tetons: – Mike Jackson
• Nightscape Gallery – David Kingham
• Into The Night Photography – Royce Bair
• Workshop at the Ranch – Dave Black
• Art of Light Painting – Harold Ross

Please, if you like this post, share it on any of the Social Media sites like Facebook and Pinterest. And, please respect my copyrights! MJ

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