Outdoor Photographer December 2019

Get Ready For Winter Photography Tips to protect yourself and your gear and to make stunning exposures of the season. Tip Of The Week Available on our website—or delivered directly to your inbox—our “Tip of the Week” provides shooting and processing techniques to sharpen your photography skills. Sign up today. Solve Creative & Technical Challenges George Lepp’s “Tech Tips” column explores practical solutions and gear advice for a wide range of photographic subjects. Assignments Share your best shots in our weekly “Assignments” photo challenges. Submit your images that fit the week’s theme—you may be our next Assignment winner. Connect With Us Get the latest news and be inspired by great photos from the Outdoor Photographer community. Newsletter Subscribe today for updates on the latest features, how-to articles and photography news. outdoorphotographer.com/newsletter/…

Photographer: Ted Gore Location: Mt. Assiniboine, Canadian Rockies Equipment: Nikon D600, AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm F2.8G ED Situation: I was in the Mt. Assiniboine area for a few days of shooting at the end of September, in the hopes of catching the changing colors of the larch trees. I also was treated to a fresh covering of snow, which was really making the entire region extra spectacular. The image is of Sunburst Peak, with Cerulean Lake flanking its base. Mt. Assiniboine, the most prominent peak of the area, stands tall behind and to the left of Sunburst Peak. The forecasts had been predicting clear skies for the day, so I set my aim for a twilight image. Twilight is such a beautiful time of day, especially in the morning, when the air is crisp and…

Photography, as a medium, sits at the crossroads between interpretive art and objective documentary. For some, it’s too mechanical and literal to be considered a high art, while for others any subjective departure or manipulation on the part of the photographer borders on nefarious deception. Recently, during a panel discussion in which I was a participant, one of the other panelists, a prominent professional photographer, was strongly opposed to the repeated suggestion that photographs should be made with some practical purpose toward the betterment of the world as their reason for being, that they should be literal and factual and not simply something beautiful for the sake of beauty. The photographer rejected this assertion, stating that his prime motivation was simply the joy of making images. Certainly there’s room for both…

Ted Gore is an award-winning landscape photographer and outdoorsman based in Southern California. To see more of his work and learn about his workshops and video tutorials that explain his creative approach and process, visit tedgorecreative.com. Gary Hart is a professional landscape photographer and writer based in Northern California. Hart leads photo workshops, sharing his more than four decades of photography experience around the U.S. and abroad. See more of his work at eloquentimages.com. Dave Welling has been capturing evocative nature images for over 25 years. He is a charter member of NANPA and the author of Sanctuary, a book celebrating the work of Wildlife Waystation. See more of his work at strikingnatureimagesbydavewelling.com.…

CAMERAS CAMERA OF THE YEAR: SONY A7R IV With its 61-megapixel back-illuminated sensor, the Sony a7R IV is not only the highest-resolution Alpha camera yet but it’s also currently the resolution leader in full-frame cameras. Considering the size and processing requirements of those files, it’s also incredibly fast, capable of capturing images at up to 10 fps while maintaining continuous autofocus and autoexposure tracking and sustaining that speed for seven-second bursts. The sensor’s big resolution also makes the camera’s APS-C crop mode more useful, recording 26.2-megapixel files with the advantage of the telephoto magnification effect that comes with crop-mode shooting. The high-resolution theme continues with the camera’s 5.76 million-dot UXGA OLED Tru-finder EVF. Sony has put a lot of thought and development into its EVFs, and it shows. Shooting with the a7R IV,…

Location Christmas Meadows is located about 4 miles off the Mirror Lake Highway between Kamas, Utah, and Evanston, Wyoming, in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The dirt road, which can be a bit rugged, ends at the secluded Christmas Meadows campground at an elevation of 8,800 feet. The Stillwater Fork of the Bear River meanders through the meadow, and on a windless day, you’re rewarded with a reflection of the 12,718-foot Ostler Peak looming in the background. Visitors are required to purchase a recreation pass to use the facilities along the Mirror Lake Highway. Weather Mirror Lake Highway is a seasonal byway; it’s open through the fall until the snow is too deep to plow. and then it opens again once the snow has melted off the road. The dirt road to Christmas Meadows is…