Cat Skiing

Monashee Mountains British Columbia, Canada "Cat skiing", that is riding this massive snow crawling machine called a caterpillar up rare and fantastic mountains to ski in the most untouched powder one has ever seen.

Sometimes I joke that we just strap cats to our boots, hence this is why ski hills need lots of groomers :P

Photographic Details: I know that the first thing many people will say is "wow is that an HDR (high dynamic range) shot?" or "did you photoshop that?" The answer is no to both. The secret here is RAW photography. Getting the most optimal exposure that covers both the highlights and the shadows in an exposure that is picked with such precision there is no room for error. In Lightroom I'm able to edit the raw file to coax out the details I want in the shadows and the flecks of light on the highlights while preserving the textures where they are needed most. This way I don't need a tripod, I can quickly snap off shot and move on my merry way knowing it will only take a minute for me to process this photo for presentation.

In addition one might wonder what created that fantastic star of a sky, shooting at F16 I employ the most aperture blades in my lens which makes bright objects shine in this wonderful pattern, sunny F16 is a rule for shots like this!

Canon 5D Mark II, 16-35mm Lens 1/160s f/16.0 ISO160 16mm

Shooting landscapes with wildlife lenses

The Spires of South GeorgiaSouth Georgia, Antarctica

After one has gone to South Georgia, it is easy to talk about how dramatic of a place it can be. With seemingly calm weather that can turn hostile in a moment, to the great stories of exploration and survival that haunt the mountain sides, it’s a combination of history, geology and abundant wildlife that contributes to the grand atmosphere it exudes.

Photographic Details: This photo is no exception, with shafts of light piercing the clouds and mist settling in the valley this little scene stood out from the distance but in the grand scheme of things was only a small portion of the overall view. I had to zoom with a big (400mm) lens to get the scene as I saw it. Our eyes and brains are good at filtering out the things we aren’t interested in and instead, focusing in on the things we find attractive. In order to express what I felt photographically I had to zoom in. Traditionally scenery photos like this are taken from up close to the mountains with a wide angle lens, it just goes to show that the type of lens doesn’t necessarily restrict it to the type of photos a photographer can make with it.

The photo processing exactly emulates my film darkroom process. Dodging and burning (darkening and lightening) areas of contrast to bring the areas of detail to light, I pay homage to the days of silver images in my digital darkroom.

If you like the work I put into this, help me out by sharing it!

To see the colour version or get a print see my smugmug here: http://kylefoto.smugmug.com/Antarctica/Antarctic-Worlds/19589737_M4DwLg

In album The Master Collection (64 photos)

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