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Coastal Brown Bear blonde cub, Katmai National Park, AK. This image was created while I was seated in a low spot near a creek with the tripod-mounted Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +1 stop: 1/200 sec. at f/5.6 set manually. |
Help Needed with Outdoor Photographer Article Title (with Image Lightbox)
After I get back from a morning of photography on Jame’s Shadle’s Hooptie Deux with James and Clemens van der Werf (and lunch on one of Clemens’ yacht transport ships!), I will be working on an article for a spring issue of Outdoor Photographer magazine. The article details the advantages of getting on the ground with big glass. The working title is in fact, “Getting Low with Big Glass.” If you have a suggestion for something a little more catchy or clever–heck, that should not be too difficult–please post it as a Comment. If someone suggests a title that winds up being used in the magazine we will gladly send you a bottle of Lens Clens as a thank you. Note: Don’t suggest “Down and Dirty” as I have used that one before 🙂
To give you some ideas, here is a link to the Lightbox that Jim and I prepared for OP editor Chris Robinsion:
I’d love to hear which is your favorite image from the submission and why you picked it.
Here is the article lead:
Getting Low With Big Glass
by Arthur Morris
It was a stifling late August morning. I lay in wet mud on the South Flats of the East Pond at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, New York. A thousand no-see-ums chewed on the exposed skin on the back of my hands. Ten feet away, a gorgeous juvenal Least Sandpiper slept peacefully.
I typed those words (on a typewriter no less!) nearly 25 years ago. The capture medium was film: Fuji Velvia 50 pushed one stop. The lens was the Canon FD 400mm f/4.5, the camera the T-90. The magnification with that rig was 8X. Today it’s a whole new world: a Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card, the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6 L IS lens, a 1.4X teleconverter, and the EOS-1D Mark IV. The magnification? An astounding 29.12 X.
Though a lot has changed in those 2 /12 decades, one thing remains the same: getting down on the ground with your gear will enable you to create images that are both pleasing and intimate. And with a telephoto lens and good technique, your subject will be in sharp focus while your foregrounds and backgrounds will be rendered as suffused swatches of out-of-focus color.
Even though it’s a bit more difficult getting up and down today than it was back then, I do not hesitate getting down and dirty when I encounter birds and animals in flat areas like beaches and fields. Even when feeling tired or lazy I do so at every opportunity. I can’t help myself; I just love the look of images created at the subject’s eye level.
Shopper’s Guide
Here is a list of the gear that I used to create the image above. Thanks a stack to all who have used the Shopper’s Guide links to purchase their gear as a thank you for all the free information that we bring you on the Blog and in the Bulletins.
Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens Right now this is my all time favorite super-telephoto lens.
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body And this is the very best professional digital camera body that I have even used.
And from the BAA On-line Store:
Gitzo 3530 LS Tripod This one will last you a lifetime.
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head Right now this is the best tripod head around for use with lenses that weigh less than 9 pounds. For heavier lenses, check out the Wimberley V2 head.
Double Bubble Level You will find one in my camera’s hot shoe whenever I am not using flash.
Delkin 32gb e-Film Pro Compact Flash Card Fast and dependable.
If you are considering the purchase of a major piece of photographic gear be it a new camera, a long lens, a tripod or a head, or some accessories be sure to check out our complete Shopper’s Guide.
Artie, The common thread in all of these photos is the feeling of intimancy. In anthropological research, intimacy is considered the product of a successful seduction. So I would suggestg that what you are doing is
The Art of Wildlife Seduction.
Artie – It’s in your 3rd paragraph… “Down on the Ground!” or as a variation “Down on the Ground and I’ll Shoot!”
“The Big Low Down”
You have some really good suggestions. There is a sense of awe and wonder (perhaps, worship) with the images that I found myself playing with the word “prostrate” as a synonym for “getting low.” However, I’ve yet to come up with a keeper using it.
Photographing from a bird’s eye view.
Lying Low for Outstanding Results
Lying Low for Superior Images
Big glass in low grass?
The Grounded Eye (I)?
I think you have a lot of great suggestions and will be interested in what you choose!
Artie, I want to revise my suggestion ; “Size Matters, try making yourself small when using big glass!”
Get The Lowdown with Big Glass
Or how about “Belly Down, Big Glass Up”.
I’m going to refine my suggestion “Shooting from the Belly” to “Shooting Big from the Belly”. (The expression “shooting from the hip” is the reference.)
Harvey, You got me! It is the best camera that I have ever used. (Thanks for catching that; I am a stickler for having folks say exactly what they mean :).
Joerg, I agree that using short lenses on the ground can be very effective but I wanted I am emphasizing the effect of long lenses low on the look of the BKGRs and FRGRNDs.
There is some great stuff so far…. There are two that I really love; will let y’all know in a day or two.
Artie, these come to mind:
Long Lenses in Low Places
From a Lower Point of View
Getting Close-Crawl, Don’t Walk
From a Worm’s Eye View
I also like Rob’s “Glass in the Grass” or “Big Glass in the Grass”
“Eye-to-Eye from the Ground Up”
Eye-to-eye with nature
The lowdown on nature
SuperTeles Just Millimeters High
“Tripod” Earth
Travel Light with Green Support!
I also thought of “Low & Behold”, but I see that I was beaten to it. 🙂
Forgot to mention they are all great eyeball shots but the “sleeping bear” is my favorite!
From the ground up!
I second Prem’s suggestion using “Eye to eye” in the title. In fact, I wrote an article not two months ago, with similar subject matter, and the title, “Seeing eye to eye”.
http://blog.hankchristensen.com/2010/11/seeing-eye-to-eye/
How about
‘Get intimate at the eye level’,
‘Intimate moments at the eye level’,
‘Close encounters at the eye level’,
‘Seeing eye to eye with a long lens’?
“Low and behold“.
We have a winner!
the upside of getting down
upside of shooting low
the upside of down
the upside of down low
down low upside
Low and behold
Reading Joerg’s comment, if you like mocking a movie title, there’s also “Being low” (from “Being there” by Hal Ashby, with Peter Sellers).
Show them what a hip dude you are – 411 on the DL (info on the down low)!
Get Low
The View from Down Under
Intimate Perspectives
The Unbearable Sweetness of Being Low (obviously a reference to the Unbearable Lightness of Being by M. Kundera)
Views from the Ground Level
By the way, why limit yourself to discussing the advantage of low perspective with big glass only? There are some great wide-angle shots taken from the ground as well. Just a thought… JR
Glass in the grass.
1- Getting Down To Business
2- The Lowdown on Using Big Glass in Up Close Situations
3- Get Down With Your Big Glass Self
(number 3 is for your amusement )
“When Using BIg Glass, Make Yourself Little!” or “Make Yourself Little When Using Big Glass!”
Get down to groove with your subject.
I love the sleeping bear too:- After a heavy night out, the light is just too bright.
“Bear Necessities”!
Dirty photograpers make cleaner images
… with possible variants such as “Pushing yourself down will pop your subject out”.
Push yourself down, pop your subject out!
successfully down
It’s for the Birds!
Shooting from the Belly.
What a sweet image.
Is it the best Digital camera that you have every used or the BEST Camera that you have ever used?
The Ground Is My Tripod
Grounded Photography
How Low Can You Go ?
Sleeping With My Tripod
The Lowdown on The Low Down
Low Life
Get Low for High Quality
My favorite image is the sleeping bear. So many of the others have been seen before, but when you get low down with a sleeping bear it feels like you are right there, someplace special.