[dramatic tango music] ♪ - it's not just about the photograph. it's the outdoor experience. [up-tempo percussive music] ♪ keep in mind everything that you need to know about photography-- f-stop, shutter speed, lens selection. nice photo op. we got beautiful light now. oh, my god. i'm your host, doug gardner, and your wild photo adventure starts now. captioning by captionmax www.captionmax.com thank you for joining us on another edition of wild photo adventures. i'm your host, doug gardner,

and this week, we got another great show planned for you. we're in the great smoky mountains photographing wildflowers. now, if you'll remember back in season one, we met up with kevin adams, who's a professional nature photographer, and he shared with us some of the most magnificent waterfalls the appalachian mountains have to offer. in addition to waterfalls, kevin's also an expert in photographing wildflowers, and he's going to share with us his techniques for photographing these amazing little plants. [upbeat instrumental music] ♪ i tell you what. kevin did this to me last year. he is never where he says he's gonna be. - hey, doug! - hey, man. - how you doing? - what are you doing? - just hanging around till you got here. - well, tell you what; have you seen any good wildflowers? - man, there's some good ones right up the road. - really? - yeah. let me grab my pack. let's go shoot 'em.

- cool, let's do it. - let's go. - you know, these cove hardwood forests are really beautiful with these spring wildflowers in here. - they're really beautiful this time of the year. later on in the year, though, you know, when the leaves come out on the trees, you won't see the wildflowers like this. that's when we get out in the open, get along the roadsides where we get sunlight, yeah. ♪ - kevin, this is a beautiful patch of large flower trillium. but you know, we're gonna have to work fast. that sun's getting ready to peek over this mountain. - in just a minute. we better-- - and it's gonna be harsh. - we better shoot quick. and because this is such a nice patch, we want to shoot with just a little bit wider angle instead of just a close-up of one or two flowers, and we'll take advantage of the patch like this. and we can't control the light over a small area like that, so when that sun does clear the horizon-- - that's gonna be tough. - we're out of luck. too much contrast, so we need to shoot very, very quickly. - especially with white-- the white petals.

it's gonna be very high contrast. - and i'll tell you what else, doug. as much as i hate it-- because we have a slight wind here, and that is a problem-- i've got a polarizing filter on. and ordinarily, i wouldn't do that, but i tested it out with this, and it really makes that foliage pop, saturates it, looks really good. it's causing problems with my shutter speed, so i'm having to shoot a faster shutter speed, and something i typically don't like to do with wildflowers is crank up the i.s.o. so much, but i'm doing it here. i'm shooting at i.s.o. 800. so i can get my shutter speed down to-- right now i'm shooting at a quarter of a second. and that i.s.o.-- - and that's gonna be borderline too with this--with the little bit of wind we do have. - it is very borderline. i'm trying to wait for just a little lull and shooting a lot of shots. i've found that if i keep shooting, even though it--maybe it looks like the stuff is blowing,

when i go back and look at it on the computer-- - you'll find one. - i may find one that's good and sharp. - right. in the digital world, that's a nice thing. you can shoot a lot and just delete. - and one thing too, and we're starting to get the sun now. we probably, for the next couple of minutes, can do pretty good with the sun shining. uh, yeah, i think so. once it gets up, completely clears the horizon, then it's just gonna be terrible light. - yeah, we'll have to move. - but just for a couple minutes, i think we can get some good light here. - and this is a nice overall shot. we got this nice rock here, gives us a little bit of contrast in textures. - it's a good place. - this is a really nice situation with the wide-angle lens, but with this light starting to sprinkle in, and we've got some areas that are lit and some areas are still in shade, i think it's about time we try to tighten up our shots a little bit with some tighter, longer lenses. - it's starting to get real contrasty. you know, and we can't--

- and with the longer lenses, we'll be able to isolate in specific areas if it's full shade or full sun. - well, and that's-- that's the key, and that's what you do. you deal with what you have, and what we have now is a sunny day, and we're shooting wildflowers, and we can't control the light over a large area. - right. - but we can control it over a small area. - a small tight area. - we can use diffusers, reflectors, all types of things to control the light and control the wind over a small area. i think that's what we need to do now because this is getting really contrasty here. - this is some really good subjects right there for doing extreme close-up stuff. but we got some challenges here. - this is a prime specimen here. it's right at peak flowering. i want to do a close-up shot right in the flower. but yeah, you're right. there's a couple problems here. one is the lighting. - right. - but because we're shooting such a close-up, i can control that lighting, and i can control the wind blowing here, which is the other problem. i'm just gonna have to use a little--

few little devices to do that, but i can make that work. i'm gonna have to add-- i'm using a macro lens here, which will get me to about life-size, but that's not gonna be quite enough for this. - right, have to get a little tighter. - that's right; so i'm gonna add a close-up diopter to the front of the lens so i can get more magnification too. it'll take a little while to set it up. - you know, one of the biggest problems i see with amateur photographers is, they don't take the time to go through the effort to--to get the setup that they need to get really good shots. and it's not really that hard if you know a few little ins and outs, things to do. - it's not hard at all. it just takes time. - right. - and you have to be careful too, you know, with all this contraption, you don't want to harm the flower, so you have to be careful how you set everything that you're not tearing up the flowers. and the more magnification that you use, it seems to be the longer it takes and the more you have to do to get it set up. and we got a number of things we're talking about that we're trying to do here. we're wanting to control the wind to keep the flower from moving, so i have this--this apparatus attached to it to keep the stem from blowing in the wind.

it helps a little bit, makes me able to shoot it. and we have to control the light because the sunlight is very harsh, and it's creating this contrasty lighting. so i have this-- this diffuser here, and you want to get this diffuser as close as you can to what you're shooting. if you have it back here, then it just creates a shadow. - it creates more of a shadow. - so you want to get it clos so that you have nice soft diffused light, and of course, that creates the problem, you know, of setting it up and getting it in the way. and i could cram this down here very easily, but then i'm destroying the flowers. - that's right; you run the risk of-- - so we have this open area here where i can set up the tripod and have this set up and--where it's fine. - you still have to be real careful about even where you're gonna put a tripod that we don't mash down the plants. - have to be careful about everything. and one thing that helps here because i am shooting such an extreme close-up and it's very difficult to move the tripod around, by using a focusing rail, that really helps to--to get in close on that. - yeah, 'cause with macro photography, focus is critical. - oh, very critical. - and, you know, just a short distance,

you can be completely out of focus, so the rails really make a big difference trying to get that precise movement, real small increments. you know, when you look through a really strong macro lens, it opens a whole nother world. the macro world-- - it is another world. - it is a whole nother world. it sure is. - exactly. - but, you know, you walk by, and you look, and you say, "wow, this is really pretty." but when you really start getting into it, get the macro lens and get in for extreme close-ups-- - and you've got to look through it. you can't just walk around from 5 feet, 10 inches high and figure out what it's gonna look like. you've got to put that camera up to the eye and get down on your belly and look at it. - take the extra effort. - yeah, you have to do that. oh, yeah, you're getting those two flowers there, aren't you? nice shot. - these large flower trillium are really, really spectacular, even though-- - they are, and these are at their prime.

- yeah, and we're a little early for the overall spring flowers, what, about a week, week and a half early? - probably for this location. - but this is still-- you don't have to have the whole area blanketed in flowers to have-- - no! - a really fantastic time. - this one is fine for me right now. that's all i need. - if possible, i'd like to try to find a nice little stream with some wildflowers along the side of that. - i think there's one right down here, doug, actually. - it'd be a really nice contrast with the water behind it and that kind of thing. - yeah. - oh, this is a really nice fall here. - yeah, that's really good nice little cascade. look at the trillium on the bank over there. - oh, that's beautiful. - yeah, i think we can do some good work there. - yeah, let's do it. can't wait.

- this is really nice, doug. - this is absolutely beautiful. you know, when we started shooting the wildflowers down the road, we were in a nice cove forest, and that shows one environment, but this is a totally different environment. you got the beautiful waterfall and the moss-covered rocks. you know, it puts it in a whole different light. - well, it's showing the-- it's showing those trilliums in their environment. close-ups are nice, and i like shooting them, but any opportunity i have to include a lot of wildflowers in a natural setting i think is pretty cool. we're gonna have to work quickly, though. you see that sun line up there? - yeah, it's gonna be on us here shortly. - very soon, yeah. - and we're gonna have major contrast to deal with. - i'll tell you one issue i'm having now, doug, with that log coming down there-- i like it okay because it's been there for a long time. so it's got some tenants on it. it's got moss growing on it. it sort of looks like it's part of the environment.

- right. - but i am having to be careful with it, though. i don't want to make that a prominent part of the scene that i'm doing. - yeah, 'cause it is much bigger, much bolder than the delicate wildflowers that we're actually trying to shoot. - and the other one-- the really rotten one that's coming up there is-- i have to be real careful with that. i was trying some verticals over here and looking at, but having those two logs coming out at a "v" like that in the background-- - really distracting. - it didn't work good. - yeah. - it didn't work good. and i don't want to move those. those have been there a long time. they've got critters living in them. we probably just need to leave those alone. i think i'm gonna change lenses and get a little wider here. - i'm switching it up a little bit now. i'm going to my tighter lens to isolate some specific scenes. - yeah, this is a nice one to do that here. are you still shooting the wildflowers? - i'm still tightening up on wildflowers there. - okay. - using the wildflowers and that rocky shelf there. having a cable release for doing this is real important too,

because when you use these longer macro lenses, the more lens you have hanging on that tripod, the more susceptible it is to camera shake. - and one thing i like about use-- i'm using 17 millimeters here. i don't have to worry quite as much about the flowers blowing. - right. yeah, the wir angle you get, the less of that movement you're gonna pick up. you know, you don't realize how long three seconds is until you sit here waiting on the camera-- - waiting for that little light to come on? - [chuckles] - yeah. - it's really nice. i'm gonna move up above you a little bit, a little different perspective. this is a really neat spot, kevin. you know, that whole rock face right there is just completely covered with the... - it's beautiful. - white trillium. - boy, i tell you, doug, i love situations like this

where i'm getting right into the scene with the wide-angle lens like that, but it sure does take a long time to get it set up to get the tripod into place and everything. - yeah, 90% of our time is just setting up and getting in position. - that's right. - or even making the way from the truck all the way up to here. - up this hill anyway. - this is a pretty nasty climb. - yeah. - we're at the very top of this falls. - yeah. - and all the way up, we've actually had opportunities. you can find the trillium and other wildflowers in the cracks and crevices all the way up. - that's right. - it's really neat. - yeah. - you could spend all day here if the lht allowed you to. - right; unfortunately, i don't think we have that much longer. - yeah, that sun line's coming on down. - it's coming down. - you know, basically what i have right here is, i've got one really nice trillium in the bottom right of my image here. i've got some beautiful ferns coming out of the rocks. i've got a nice cascading waterfall,

nice green rocks, a lot of texture. it really shows the plant's place in this environment. really nice. really nice. that light is coming up fast. we only have a few more minutes to shoot. and then we're gonna have really high contrast. but it has been good while it's lasted. kevin, that looks like a pretty interesting angle you got there. - doug, i'm trying to make lemons out of lemonade in a way. but just like you, your photography, wildlife photography especially, is just trying to find all different compositions, different angles. we pretty much beat this area to death as far as things,

so i've got the wide-angle lens here, and i'm actually shooting a wide-angle scene with this as the--these flowers, these trilliums, and these fiddleheads as the foreground. and i've got the sky in up here and that. i'm just trying it and see what it looks like. just a overall environment thing. problem that i've got here is, i've got shade here, and i've got sun up here. so we'll see what it looks like. i'm shooting a--bracketing a wide range of exposures. sometimes situations like that can work out where you've got the shade and sunlight, and it looks okay in one frame. but the other thing i'm doing is, i'm bracketing exposures to cover the full range, and i may go back and combine them all together and see what that looks like too, if i can get the dynamic range right. - get that range-- that tonal range spread out. - exactly. - it's a really nice angle looking up through them. you know, we've been looking pretty much eye-level to them the whole time.

this is a nice angle. - right; or--and close up to them and stuff. this is a 17-millimeter lens, so i'm covering a very wide area here with this thing. i think maybe we need to head on to a new location now. - yeah, we need to head on, maybe find an area where we can control the light a little bit better. - yeah, i agree. [upbeat instrumental music] ♪ - what a beautiful place, kevin. i'm glad you brought us here. i mean, we got wildflowers everywhere. it's absolutely beautiful. even though we're a little early, it's stunning. but, you know, i do see some things that could be distracting in our backgrounds. you know, when i shoot wildlife, that's one of my main concerns is, what's behind my subject? i could have the best subject in the world.

i could have a big elk bugling and, you know, a knotty old tree that's really not very appealing but mostly distracting in the background. so i'm always trying to clean up those backgrounds and, you know--and make sure the subject pops out of the frame. - well, exactly; i mean, it's the same-- same principle applies. you want to have those nice, clean, poster-like backgrounds for your wildlife, and i want to have them for my wildflowers as well. fortunately, for shooting willowers, i have a little bit of control over that background. there's four things that i keep in mind for the backgrounds that will give you those nice poster-like backgrounds. one is the subject-to-background distance. the farther that distance is, the more that background is going to appear out of focus. another is the aperture that you use. obviously, the wider aperture, the less depth of field you have, which means the background's gonna be out of focus. you know that well from shooting wildlife and shooting those open apertures. another is the focal length of lens that you're using.

i like to use the longer focal length lens, like the 180 that you've got there. - it tightens that background up. - it does; it narrows that field of view so you're not including as much of the background. and then of course, the final thing is the magnification. the more magnification that you shoot at, the less depth of field that you have, so the more the background is going to appear out of focus. - well, in an area like this-- i mean, it's beautiful. there's no question about that. but you do have-- it's a wooded area. we're in a forest, and you're gonna have areas of bright light and dark shade, and that can create its own problems. - well, we're shooting the early spring wildflowers, and that's where they grow is in the forest. they're here because the leaves haven't come out yet. but the sun's shining down now, and it does create the contrast when you're shooting on a day like today. but again, because you're shooting wildflowers, you're shooting close-ups, you can have some control over that lighting because you can control that little space that you're shooting. and there's a lot of things you can do. you can buy ready-made diffusers or the diffusion umbrellas. - now most of the time when i do wildflowers or other macro work,

i mean, i have a 180 macro lens, so i pretty much start there. i also have a 100 macro, but i use macro lenses. now, i've noticed that you have some other techniques where you didn't necessarily use a macro lens to get the magnification that you wanted. - well, i do, but i like the macro lenses too. in fact, one of-- what i use most for close-ups is a 70 to 180 macro lens. but there are times when i use other things. i love to use my 70 to 300 lens with the close-up lens screwed on the front where it's just like a filter. you can get them in different sizes. it screws right onto the front of the lens. and what that does is, it gives me more magnification with a longer focal length lens. so if i want to narrow that field of view even further, it allows me to do that. plus, it lets me shoot the close-ups from further back. i don't have to be as close to the subject. so with certain things like dew-covered wildflowers or insects, that can be very helpful. another thing that i sometimes use is extension tubes. i don't like to do that.

it removes some of the auto functionality of the camera when i put the extension tube on. it costs light when i put it on, but there's some things it works well, and one thing in particular is a very thin extension tube that i use with wide-angle lenses when i'm shooting this big field of flowers or something and i want to get right in on the closest flower and get it in focus. - gives you a much different perspective, puts you into it. - exactly; it makes you feel like that you're right into the scene when you're looking at the photograph. there are a lot of different ways to achieve magnification, but those three methods are what i use for all of my photography. it simplifies things. i don't have to think about all this other stuff, and they work very well. it'll allow me to do anything that i want to do. - looks like we've got some-- what's that? purple phacelia? - oh, yeah, doug, that's a nice one. - nice little clump of it right there.

- yeah. oh, that's one of the better ones i've seen. i think we can do pretty good with that. - yeah, we can get some extreme close-ups, and we can back out a little bit and try to get some foliage and-- - yeah, yeah, the close--i like to do the close-ups on that because of the way the stamens project out from the wildflower, so it looks really good. - what's the light? what do we got for light? - well, if we had been here 15 minutes earlier, i'd say we need to set up the diffuser, but right now, we almost have-- i won't quite call it shade lighting... - right. - but the sun is so much-- i believe we have our spring trees up there are diffusing the sun for us today. - a bright overcast kind of. - but you know what the problem we do have, though. - what's that? - look where we're gonna be standing to shoot this thing. - it's gonna be a nasty-- - it's gonna take a while to get set up. but i think it'll be worth it. - well, let's take our time. let's try it, see what we can get. - yeah. - see what we can accomplish here. this thing is covered in poison ivy. it's growing up through the middle of it.

- yeah, there's some right there going right up in it. - leaves three, let it be. - i never like to get my tripod set, locked down in exact position, until i'm positive it's where i want to shoot from. - i like to do two different things when i'm shooting these macros. one, i like to try to-- what you've always been taught-- try to get the face of the bloom parallel to the film plane. you know, and i like that-- i like that, 'cause you get much more in sharp focus. but at the same time, i also like looking at an angle where the front edge of the petals and the back edge of the petals are completely out of focus and the stamen-- - and that's--that's what i want to do with the close-ups when i try that, i think, so i'm just getting just part of it, and the rest of it is just in-- - right, have the stamen in sharp focus. - this one shot i'm looking at here, though, has got--is a little bit more in focus. - all right, i think we've got a little bit of a light change here.

we need to change the white balance. yeah, it was definitely getting a little bit blue. i still shoot like i shot when i'm-- when i was shooting film. i try to shoot everything-- get it right in the camera the first time. - if i want to get the-- i want to get the tight shot, so i just put in the close-up diopter, and now is when it's gonna start getting tricky. - yeah. - 'cause it's got to be just in the right spot. - i can't stress enough how critical the focus is when you're trying to do this super-tight stuff. - you could spend, as you know well, i mean, you could spend hours just playing around and shooting extreme close-ups with all the different-- different possibilities here. i like this setup.

but i don't have quite the magnification that i want, so i've got a little bit at the top and bottom of the frame that i'd like to get out because i can't get in quite close enough. - right. - but that's okay. i'm gonna shoot it like this, and then i'll just crop that out later. - what f-stops do you generally try to achieve when you're shooting this extreme magnification? - as a rule, i will typically try to shoot at the higher f-stops, 16 or 22, just because i might need that just to get that one part of that petal in focus. - right, it's tough. - because of the extreme magnification you're talking about. - and a lot of times when i'm looking at these wildflowers, it takes me a while to really decide, what do i want in sharp focus? do i want the stamen? do i want the outside petals?

do i want midway up the petal leading to the stamen? - and sometimes you want it all. so you bracket f-stops so that you come back with all of them, and then you pick it out later. - kevin, that was pretty awesome. - that was pretty good. - yeah, we're getting marginal light now, though. - yeah, it's time to pack it up, i think. - well, that's all the time we have for this week. i hope you've enjoyed this week's show and learned a little more about photographing spring wildflowers. more information about this week's show and kevin adams' work is available online. remember, it's not just about the photograph. it's the outdoor experience. i'm your host, doug gardner, and thank you for joining me on another wild photo adventure. one of my main concerns is my backg--backdrop. you know, back-drown-- back-drown.

- let's go. - you got a little-- - i've still got another one? - a little booger. - a booger? - yeah. - a booger? - all right. - a what--are you serious? - a big green one. - no, you're serious. - no, i'm kidding. - oh, okay. - oh! - oh! female announcer: doug gardner's book, the nature of wildlife, and dvds of the wild photo adventures series are available online at: [dramatic tango music] ♪

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